Thing 3

I think that the easiest of the 71/2 habits of lifelong learners is using technology to my advantage. I have always been intrigued by technology and always want the latest and greatest. When I encounter something new, it usually isn't long before I am imagining a myriad of ways to make the new technology beneficial to the learning of my students. Even when the technology is for my own personal use, my cell phone for example, I find a way to incorporate it to engage my students and create resources in my classroom. One example of using my phone in the classroom involves magazines. While teaching students about independent variables, dependent variables, and graphs, I had them all look for graphs of any type in magazines. When a student found an interesting graph, I would take a photo with my phone, email the picture to myself, and open it on my computer. From there I was able to project the graph on my screen so the whole class could see it. Together, we were able to identify the dependent and independent variables, the type of graph, and even make some guesses at the question this research was answering. It was a VERY effective lesson and the students were highly engaged.

The hardest of the 7 1/2 habits for me is probably viewing problems as challenges. I do this well in my own personal learning, but not as well in my classroom. I think that I can work on adjusting my mindset to view problems in my classroom as challenges. This would be an excellent thing to model for my students as well, since middle schoolers tend to be daunted by failure. Sharing my problem solving processes with students in the right situations could be beneficial to me and to them!