Blog Post 5: Revisiting your personal learning goals with a focus on mindset, net-savviness, and diversity (the filter bubble)

I think that  the goals I set for myself in week one are coming along nicely.  My goals were as follows:

• How to implement technology into the classroom and increase student technological fluency.
• Use this technology to build an inquiry based platform for learning in order to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts.

 Many of the things we have done such as the Google searches, curation activities, blogs, and other tools have helped me in the classroom.  I am beginning to introduce these things into my classroom slowly and the students seem to like it.  We were working on a lesson a couple of days ago and I listed a couple of concepts on the board along with an activity.  The students were instructed  to first research the concepts and write down any questions they might have.  They were also to begin the activity and get as much done before I called time later in the block.  I am happy to report that they did a great job with the Google search techniques we have worked on and they were very successful at completing the given task.  I followed up with them and went over any question that the students had.  This, to me, is what technological fluency is about and the more we build a platform of student learning, the better off we all will be.  I told the students that by you discovering the information, it will mean more to you than me just telling you about it!
In terms of having a growth mindset I really feel like this reflects my own beliefs about many portions of life.  I am not saying that I have always been with this 100% but I have always believed that people can improve and be successful if they have the desire/work ethic to get the job done.  I admit that there are some aspects I have considered fixed, just as many people have, but the growth mindset (even though I did not know what it was) has always been in the back of my mind.  Mostly this applies to sports or games I played when I was growing up.  I have always believed that no matter the sport, there is a method to it and if a person works to emulate successful people, they too can have success at some level.  Working to get better at anything you do is what I have always tried to achieve.  As far as how the growth mindset will help me achieve my own goals in teaching will be to always believe that I can do better.  Keep an open mind and always try to increase the use of technology in my classroom to make my students better.  Never set a limit on what I believe a student can achieve, and talk to my students in more of a growth mindset voice.  Praise the students for the process and effort instead of fixed values such as intelligence.  By applying these characteristics to my own classroom I will be a better teacher and my students will become better learners.  I hope you have enjoyed today's blog.....see you next week.  RR