Confession

I’ve got a bit of a confession to make.

Over the past few months I’ve been doing a great deal of learning online and that has been so very exciting!  It allowed me to start the year very excited and pondering the impact technology would have with the students I teach at my new school.  Having watched students and their engagement with technology in the past, I knew it would have a positive impact at my new inner city school.

At the beginning of the school year, I blocked off times in the computer lab for the days and times I would be teaching my two Health and Career Education classes (Grade 5/6 and Grade 6).  I was planning on teaching the majority of our classes in the lab and incorporating technology into all of our lessons, however, we started our classes in an actual classroom.  I thought it might be better to get to know the students a bit before letting them go in the lab.

So… my confession…  it is the middle of October and I’ve not yet had any of my classes in the computer lab.  Knowing what I know and knowing how excited the students are to incorporate technology into their education, I am disappointed in myself for not yet bringing them to the lab.  While I have brought technology into our classroom with the introduction of different tools – prezi, glogster, our wikipage, youtube videos (which have been great, by the way), and 360learn videos,  I haven’t  taken the next step. I haven’t given the students more ownership of the technology use.

It was time for me to reflect.

What am I afraid of?  Why not just bring them in there and have them do some exploration? What am I waiting for?

Then, I realized that this is new to me and I am just a little uncomfortable with the unknown.  Even though I know how important it is for technology to be in the hands of my students, it is difficult to give them that freedom.

I shared my thoughts and concerns with those two classes today and let them know that I am committed to taking them into the lab for our classes starting next week (we have our classes on Wednesday and Friday).  They listened to my confession, my thoughts, and concerns thoughtfully and sincerely and cheered when I told them that next week would be the week.

I knew I had to tell them a day.  Commit to them.  If I didn’t, I’m not sure I’d get over my fear of the unknown. I’m not sure when they’d actually get actual computers at their finger-tips.

With all of this in mind, it makes me realize how other classroom teachers, especially those who may not be as interested and involved with technology as I am, must feel.  The thought of integrating technology must be a real challenge for them.

We must more forth though.  We must.  I must.  It is important for my our students. All students.  Their future. It’s time.

It is important to realize that I will also learn a great deal from my students about the process. About learning. About computers. About personalization.

Next week we start.  We really start.

Wish me luck.