CFF+SYNC+POINT+DISCUSSIONS

===Throughout the course you have completed numerous self assessment tools. What are your growth areas and what specifically can you do to improve your transformation? === ===I believe I need to tie together more planning to bring the 21 century classroom to full circle. I need to have meetings with others in my subject as well as other subjects. I need to look past scheduling and find creative ways to tie other things into my curriculum. I want to get some stakeholders from outside of the school to get involved with what I teach. I will have to call Edinboro and see if they have any students from foreign countries who would be willing to come and speak about their countries. BK Let me help you with this. We can make connections through the state and see if we can connect from one classroom to another--Jerry C. has been very successful with a contact in DC just to let the students realize the difference in demographics--BP === I need to connect my content area, writing, to the 21st century for my students. I also need to infuse my class with relevant technology. Working more collaboratively with colleagues and stepping up to be a teacher leader is also an area where I must take action.  My areas of growth lie largely in taking risks and exploring how other technologies might be useful in my classroom. I'm clearly skeptical when it comes to using various technologies to "improve" education, but I have realized and accepted that some tools may be useful and may enhance student learning and participation. -MS I have realized, after taking this course, how important communication and collaboration are in creating 21st century lessons for my students. The more I talk with others and take the necessary steps to improve my lessons with technology, the better a teacher I hope to become.CC I struggle between relevancy and entertainmnet. My students desperately desire to be off task and entertaining themselves. While I understand we are training students for jobs that do not exist, what about students who do not exist intellectually. Giving them educational freedom is far different, in my mind, than classroom technology to entertain them. FSL

What can you do to improve teacher interaction?
===I plan on finding time outside of class to collaborate and discuss what can be done to make the Social Studies curriculum more interesting. I will have to look for more activities from outside of my comfort zone to tie things in from the 21 Century Classroom. BK ===

I plan to discuss with my department ways that we can make our meetings more productive. I would be willing to work with everyone to create a meeting agenda and keep minutes so that we can use the limited time we have together worth it.  ===I would like to make our math department meetings more productive by having a topic or goal each time we get together. I will also love when eventually all of our classrooms are close by so that it is easier to communicate with the math department. For the time being, we will have to use emails and the phone to communicate the best we can.CC Why not have all of you communicate through a wikispace? When it is convenient each of you could respond and share thoughts on the wikispace. We could be sure that the wikispace is private so that only the members of the wikispace can edit and see the wikispace.--BP ===

One of the instructors at a LEARN Conference suggested that we create a wikispace for our English department to collaborate and post/share resources like lesson plans, organizers, etc. Although this may take a significant amount of time and effort, I believe our department would certainly benefit from this. It may be just around the bend. -MS

What can you do to improve stakeholder communication?
===I believe I could fins more time to meet with others who teach my discipline. Just looking to get people together from the high school or elementary would be great. Have better communication with administrators so they are not in the dark about what is goin on in my classroom. BK ===

I could do a better job of keeping in touch with parents of students. Getting involved with our teacher's union is something I need to do to get more involved. I would like to communicate better with parents. I am finding out a lot of times, emailing a parent is much easier than callling because they get the messages quicker and it is easier to give them a list of assignments their child may be missing rather then giving them the list over the phone.CC

How can you contribute to the shared vision and departmental activities?
===I would be willing to be a part of discussion for a shared vision. I might even be interested in heading the discussion and leading the shared vision for the Social studies department. BK === I am willing to help do whatever necessary to contribute to the success of our students and school. I want to be a part of the discussion on how to create a better vision and department activities!CC ===<span style="color: rgb(255,0,255);">As departments, we each need to communicate and discuss what our vision. We know we have standards to meet and curriculum to teacher, however, we do not always discuss what it is we expect our students to be able to do at the end of the year.--BP ===

What have you learned and what insights gained from this course?<span style="color: rgb(26,239,52);">
===<span style="color: rgb(26,239,52);">I have learned that I am doing a lot of these things already in my classroom. There are areas in which I need to ikprove or revisit. Overall, I believe the only area in which we need to improve as a group is in the area of Shared Vision and working in teams. It just does not beem possible in the middle school to get these things done. BK === I need to stay current and fresh with my professional development so that I can provide the best possible educational experience for my students. I need to be willing to try new things in the classroom beyond my comfort zone. We as teachers also need to make the time to meet and learn from one another. <span style="color: rgb(251,9,9);">I now understand how important it is for the math department to work together to create a better learning environment for our students. I now realize that communication between everyone will also greatly benefit our students. Finally, I also realized that in order to become a better student and a better teacher...one can never stop learning!CC ===<span style="color: rgb(255,0,255);">In the FLBSD, I see many 21st century skills being addressed. The important things are that we all realize where we are deficient, the need for all of us to continue learning and to collaborate and support each other in order to make changes. ===

What unanswered questions have been raised in your mind?<span style="color: rgb(79,243,84);">
===<span style="color: rgb(79,243,84);">Is this whole 21 Century Classroom just another one of those bandaids to try and address a few issues or is it something we are going to adopt and use as a whole district? We always see these programs and they come in and are done before we even get to really implement them in class. Are we going to have a 21 CFF person who is going to be in charge to make sure everything is working well in the schools? Is everyone going to eventually be involved in this? Are we going to over prepare our students for what will come in college since most universities do not have or use the technology that we do? Just a few thoughts BP! BK === == Who can help me implement and give me ideas on how to bring my class into the 21st century? <span style="color: rgb(255,0,255);"><span style="color: rgb(255,0,255);"> If you ask me, I can assist you with this. BP ==

BEEPS! BP is the woman when it comes to technology and 21st century learning. We couldn't ask for anyone better! -MS

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