As I began this journey in CTER2, I thought that I would follow the way to "Big K" knowlwdge. The instructor appeared to have mapped out the way, and all that I would have to do was follow.  As I completed various activities, I sensed that their relevancy was not always clear to me. Why should I wonder?  How does the topic fit in with the path to CTER2 knowledge? As I complete this reflection piece, the topics of information technologies, communication technologies, curriuculum, policy, and evaluation frame my new understanding about my role in technology integration in the classroom.
 

While I had been using some of the technologies that were introduced in CTER, I found myself using them with a new understanding. Word processing was used not just to replicate the appearance of a typewriter making papers easier to read, but to have students show their thinking in a more concrete way. For example, I had students use the table feature of Word to break out ideas and visually construct their understanding of a literary work.  Using this strategy required the student to slow down his or her rendering of an interpretation because he or she had to continue to address the actual text. Looking at a work in this manner gives the student the opportunity to become more aware of his or her strategies for constructing meaning. Sometimes thinking about what is known "within the box" can lead to deeper understanding and thinking "outside the box."

Another technology that I used was e-mail. I encouraged students to participate in the National Council of Teachers of English(NCTE) student listserve--NCTE-Talk Zone. Communicating with other students about Oedipus or Hamlet helped them to clarify their own understanding or raise new questions about their understanding of the respective works. While participating in NCTE-TZ was optional, even those students who just lurked were  moved to respond outside the list to their fellow classmates. Some did not create the posts or copy their responses for credit, they "just did it."

A new technology that I had an opportunity to use was Inspiration. This program provides a way for students to create graphic organizers that again help them to see their thinking. This tool helped some to map out essays of comparison and contrast with regard to interpretations of character, presentation of setting, and causal relationships to plot. The results were more coherent essays, or presentations. Some students who disliked creating outlines, found this tool more meaningful. Somehow it appeared to be less ridged than traditional outlining formats.

What I would like to learn more about is developing database-driven web sites. I think that sites with this component could be used to enrich real-world learning, and real-time communication.
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The area of communication comes with the territory of the teacher of English. We are always looking at the ways in which our world communicates with us. What teacher of English has not drawn the "communication" diagram? One of the topics when discssing communication with my students is the issue of barriers to communication. For me the use of CTERbase and WebBoard have been barriers. In my experience this semester, the technology hampered me in feeling in control of my learning. The navigational aspects of locating, accessing, and processing assignments nearly did me in. I know that part of the problem has been in my equipment. I have upgraded the memory, reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled programs after a hard drive crash, and dealt with ftp problems as I uploaded files to my space on the CTER server. I have been with my ISP service for at least two years, and have never had any access problems. During this semester, however, I have had system servers fail in at least two instances while I was uploading work to the CTER server. The server at school is actually less reliable, and has remained so this past semester. While the school server informs you that it is disconnecting you from the service in one minute, it is more likely to do this during the weekend. . .  I have been more empathetic toward my students who are devasted by computer freezes, or printing nightmares. My attitude toward these technology glitches is less panic and more of annoyance.I do not even take the error messages personally anymore! Jim Buell has been quite responsive, but the infrastructure of online learning is probably an area that needs frequent review.

The WebBoard "discussions" seem too artificial and unfocused. The conversations were difficult to follow. People seemed to be randomly disconnected at times, and since the comings and goings of indviduals were reported onscreen "the flow" of the discussion lacked coherence, focus, and at times intellectual connections. The exploratory conversation that occurs in the classroom environment as students work through an understanding of topics under review seems to be hampered in online discussions. Technology distractions are difficult to deal with since "fixing" them is often out of your control. The navigational distractions were barriers to online learning.

As far as what tools I feel that I need to learn, I know that I will have to practice using the WebBoard so that my comfort with it will add to my learning. This is personally important to me because of the advantages of online learning for me: working full-time, meeting family commitments, and earning a degree. I am also purchasing a new computer that should help in my working with the technology.
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Curriculum development and technology integration were the crux of my class project, and I have discussed them in greater depth in my final project.
I have found that integrating technology pushes students to take more responsibility for their own learning. As a student, I was pushed through circumstances to develop technology trouble-shooting skills. During two separate weeks that my son was ill, I was able to use the technology to continue the work in my classroom through e-mail and the class web site.  My curriculum has a more fluid sense about it. I can adjust the tempo to meet new content needs, or introduce new content when the context heightens my student's readiness to work with the content. Planning is especially important when using technology because you need to structure learning opportunities to create contexts for the natural infusion of technology. In addition, since we have limited access to the communication center, the tension to prepare students to make efficient use of the technology and encourage the exploratory aspect that using technology accomodates is never far from my mind. I have also found that while my seniors are less enamored in learning new things with technology, my juniors seem to look forward to using the technology.  My basic juniors struggled with the basic aspects of research: locating information about a topic, summarizing and paraphrasing, and citing sources. As this is an inclusion class, my special education co-teacher pointed out to me that the students seemed proud about the more sophisticated research we were expecting of them. Most of them completed at least five slides for their PowerPoint Birthday Project. Of those, the higher functioning students completed the slides that dealt with evaluating sources. She pointed out to me that the multi-dimensional tasks inherent in the project were first time experiences for many of them. She helped me to see how to break down the end product into many, many pieces so that it was managable for these students. The project took longer to complete, but the technology helped the students to keep their information organized and to store their research for them. This last point was important since they often lost "paper." Since their folders were stored on the server, they did not become frustrated because they could not find their work in their book bag. We spent more time helping them to write their reports than trying to find their "stuff."

I transferred more of the breaking down of tasks for my general junior class, and I found more of them completing the assignment, presenting the assignment, and learning how to evaluate sources. One parent shared with me that her son asked a younger sibling who was doing research for his grade school class about his sources. He pointed out to the younger student that some of his information was not reliable. She noted that he seemed to very interested in researching his topic for his final exhibition. While this is only one student, others have shown through their cooperation in the Communication Center, on task behavior in the lab, and completion of project check points that they are engaged in this project. At midterm I had fewer failures in this class.

My honors juniors have done quite well with the technology-using assignments. As they prepare their works for their Short Story Fair, many are advancing their basic skills in word processing, graphing, and multimedia. Many of these students are reporting outside work on their final exhibitions, and frequently check the class web site for additional information.

I have learned that having the end result in mind, organizing learning, being flexible, and revisiting assumptions about teaching and learning is critical and technology can help make it happen.
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At least half of the courses that I teach bring the issue of access to the forefront for me. My junior inclusion American literature class is mostly boys, of which half are African-American. There are seven females in the class and most are African-American and three of them have children. In this class of twenty-seven, only three report having computer access at home. If we have an assignment that requires the use of computers, we must plan to do the assignment in class. Most students think that using the computer is important and when you do work that requires the use of the computer it is a harder assignment. Since attendance is an issue in this class, many students are assigned to the in-school holding room.The supervisor, however, will allow students to attend our class if they need to use the computer or view a video to complete their work. For the student on homebound instruction, completing computer-based assignments becomes impossible. Although one parent noted that they lived close to the library which would give the student access to a computer, she reported that her daughter did not feel that she knew enough to use it. As a department, we have given priority to the Communication Center to those classes that most serve students who lack access to technology at home.
Lack of attendace on the part of students diminishes the priority initiative. We continue to grapple with serving these students.

As a result of the readings on access, I am particulary sensitive to providing instruction and opportunity to these students. When these students are in the Communication Center, I know that some staff feel that the students are wasting an available slot. This is a feeling that comes from limited resources. We are participating, however, in the ZapMe program that is a take off on the Channel One program;instead of a television with advertisement, students will have access to computers with advertisements. The catch with ZapMe is that students use them an average of four hours a day. Our library is also adding four iMacs for internet use, so this may ease the demands on the Communication Center and open it up to other disciplines as well.
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Evaluating resources for research purposes has been a part of the English curriculum, so we are extending instruction to the information found on the internet. The Illinois Standards for Learning encourage student inquiry and the presentation of the results through the Applications for Learning componets that appear with the standards for each of the fundamental learning areas. Just as I would evaluate the manner of presentation of any lesson, I approach the decision to include technology-based curricula to course goals, state standards, and the developmental level of my students.

Evaluating students work appears to be multi-dimensional. I try to evaluate the thinking, the process, the content, and the product. I have found many rubric sites which point out criteria that should be present in well-developed web pages, project-based assignments, and products using presentation software. Most of these include critera that relates to the English teachers mantra of audience and purpose. What I have changed in my rubric for the Birthday PowerPoint project is a section dealing with basic technology skills related to accessing files on the computer and saving documents. I have also included skills necessary to use the software, and finally content present that demonstrates that the student effectively addresses the assignment.

Since I am moving to a more standards-based model of assessement, creating assignments that show student learning are better aligned with the rubric used to assess.
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Following our orientation to the CTER program in August, I was thinking that the course for this fall familiar and manageable. The path would be fairly linear. What I have found is that the path that I thought was prepared did not really exist. The path that I found myself on challenged my perseverence and tenacity. With four preparations, two that were completely new, and co-teaching an inclusion class for the first time, I found myself struggling to meet the demands of the course. Throw in some critical family decisions, and I honestly questioned whether this program was a good fit for me.  As I completed my final project report and prepared my notes for this final reflection, I find that I have read and reflected upon many issues that until now, I had only dealt with on a surface level. I found myself returning to many of the topics and re-reading and re-thinking. I don't think I would have done that as much in an on-campus setting. While I miss the personal, face to face, nuances of discussion, I know that this program meets my need for intellectual challenge and real-world application. I know what adjustments I need to make so that I can benefit from the WebBoard discussions(be less shy!) and with my new computer, perhaps, I will feel less challenged by the technology glitches. Know that my commitment to the program and my professional development is intact and that I appreciate the opportunity to create my own path.

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