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=About Me=



Welcome to my virtual notebook for Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century Classroom- Summer 2011!

Personal Information
I have always had a passion for science and learning. After attending elementary school and high school north of Boston, I received my Bachelor of Science in Biology with Highest Honors from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. I then continued at Emory to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching for Secondary Science Education. I started teaching at Malden High School in Malden, MA in the fall of 2008 as a science teacher. During the past academic year, I taught 3 sections of College Prep Chemistry and 2 sections of Honors Chemistry. I anticipate a similar course load for the 2011-2012 year. I am also a co-advisor for the "Lucky" Class of 2013. Outside of school, I enjoy reading, skiing, golfing, jogging, practicing yoga, and spending time with friends and family.

Project Goals
This summer, I am excited to learn more about how to make my courses "21st Century"-ready. In the past few years as a teacher, I have toyed with incorporating different forms of technology into my curriculum, but by no means consider myself an expert. With the advent of state-of-the-art chemistry laboratories next school year, I would like to learn ways that I can incorporate technology daily into my lessons and labs, as well as how to properly train students to use this technology. I am particularly interested in learning how to integrate the Labquest software we have acquired and have students collect, analyze, and report experimental data collaboratively. I would also like to become more familiar with Moodle and learn how to create better online lessons and assignments, so that students can access science and interact academically with each other outside of school.

2.1 The 21st Century Classroom
After viewing Changing Times - Newsweek Article, I was struck by the statistics on letters, newspapers, and CDs. I am particularly amazed that within my own lifetime, CDs quickly became ubiquitous, only to become a thing of the past a few years later. The digital revolution is certainly here to stay. While the statistics in the article were interesting, nothing surprised me much. I was more taken aback by the first comment underneath the article which read, " These stats prove that American society is moving away from scholarship and knowledge and towards mind-numbing, time-wasting activities." I have to disagree and claim quite the opposite.

While the so-called digital revolution has certainly brought about its fair share of distractions, it has also made scholarship and knowledge more accessible to individuals all over the world than ever before. As stated by Thomas Friedman in //The World is Flat// (which, by the way, would be a highly applicable supplement to this course), the digital revolution has leveled the playing field for communities and individuals around the world. Students are now able to take online courses, look up information at their fingertips, and communicate with like-minded learners globally. The repercussions are invaluable. Now, obviously this has rocked the boat for those who prefer to keep their scholarship locked away in ivy-covered towers. But truly, what is gained by keeping knowledge to oneself? The digital revolution has allowed knowledge to be shared like never before, and there's no turning back.

At the same time, the comment also reaffirms my previous thoughts on creating my own 21st century classroom. Many of our students do come to school only knowing how to use technology for "mind-numbing, time-wasting activities." While texting, Facebooking, gaming, etc. have the ability to be used in productive ways, students do not innately know how to use this technology appropriately in a work environment. We cannot provide students with technology and assume that they will use it to its scholarly potential. My 21st century classroom includes providing much of the necessary technological scaffolding to students so that they can learn to use these tools for "scholarship and knowledge," rather than purely social interaction.