1. How did the use of technology help my students to learn this subject matter in away that is more effective or would not be possible otherwise?

I found the greatest strength of the integration of technology into our curriculum through the MITTEN program to be the increased interest levels shown by the students.  The students were extremely engaged throughout every lesson.  This heightened investment in the activities, increased the time that they were able to pay attention, and thus extended our window to teach the science concepts.

The MITTEN program also helped to increase the comfort level of our students in their daily use of technology.  The students quickly became more proficient in the manipulation of both the hardware such as the mouse and digital camera, as well as through the maneuvering throughout the different programs that we used.  I am delighted to say that our students are now acquainted with programs such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel, which are all programs that many 2^nd and 3^rd graders have not used.  They now have an appreciation for how these programs will be utilized in their higher education as well as within the business world.

2. What worked and didn't work in the lesson you planned?

Possibly the greatest weakness that I discovered within our MITTEN experience was that when taking a whole class into a computer lab you are ultimately taking them into a whole new world.  The few hundred steps that it took the students to get to the computer lab was in actuality an intergalactic travel.

Mrs. VanHauter and I had to establish new classroom management techniques to ensure efficiency.  We had to anticipate where students would struggle and we had to anticipate where students would find opportunities to misbehave.  By the end of the project, we had the students working extremely proficiently, but in the beginning moments of chaos were had in the computer lab.

In a classroom, the students know what to expect.  They know that what they write down on paper will be in their folder when they return to it the next day.  It was a very difficult lesson to teach the students that technology was unreliable.  Often times we could not explain why a file was missing or an application would not work.  Young children need concrete answers and our abstract responses were often not satisfactory for our students.

Finally, the use of technology can bring out frustration in all students.  The students who struggle with technology become frustrated, because they are not proficient with manipulating the software.  While the students who are comfortable around computers, become irritable when the pace of the lesson is not moving to their satisfaction.  It is difficult to find the happy medium.

3. What would you change to improve the lessons in the future?

In the future, I would spend more time examining the WebQuest. I feel that in the short amount of time that I had to introduce the lesson, the students did not have an opportunity to ascertain all that was available to them. I would also attempt to introduce more meaningful lessons early on in the unit. Although I see the value in creating a concept web or typing in a Word document, I believe that technology has many more meaningful applications available that would have improved the lessons. Now that I have had more exposure to what is available to me upon the internet, I would integrate more streaming videos into my lessons to introduce ideas and reinforce concepts.

4. How has teaching this lesson changed the way you think about integrating technology into teaching?

The experience has also benefited my professional growth.  I now see how the use of technology in the classroom will allow me to reach a broader spectrum of learners.  I now find myself looking for other types of multimedia to bring into my lessons beyond large scale MITTEN activities.  The internet has proven to be an extremely useful tool when searching for video clips or games that reinforce what we are learning in class.

I have also learned to appreciate the benefit of the WebQuest.  Although it takes time and effort to develop the content and then create the webpage, the time and effort are well spent when the students begin to synthesize information and successfully work cooperatively.

5. As a result of this experience, what learning (both formal professional development and informal self-teaching) do you think you need to continue your professional growth?

I am constantly informally searching for new avenues to explore in order to enhance my technological growth. New ideas and techniques that I have found are often the result of conversations that I have had with my colleague or found searching the internet.

I also plan on continuing my education which will ultimately result in exposure to the newest forms of technology. There will be many professional avenues that I can explore such at the university level as well as through Wayne County RESA.