MST PORTAL – Promoting Open, Reflective Teaching & Learning

I want things beyond technology. Peek into the MST PORTAL room and you’ll spy some great technology tools that we already have at Klem South. In this room we have a Smartboard and ceiling mounted projector, both the Senteo and CPS response systems, 35 Palm Tungsten E2 hanhelds, Pasco and Vernier sensors including force and motion, temperature, pH, and more, Imagiprobe software, 4 iPod Classics with both voice recorders and speakers, handheld microscope, color printer, scanner, & fax, Tablet PC, digital binoculars, multiple Garmin GPS units, 6 Samsung Q1 UMPCs, Kestrel pocket weather trackers, a digital camcorder, and lots of great software. The majority of these tools were purchased through grant awards and I love using them in the classroom, but I want more. More technology? Perhaps…there is always something out there that interests me. But what I truly want is to improve student learning in science and math and continue to discover how technology can be used to support a student-centered, constructivist environment. To make this happen, my list of wants grows.

I want students to inquire, think and reflect, problem-solve, test their ideas, take risks, develop creativity, collaborate, seek and share information beyond our classroom walls, expand their view of the world, and imagine the possibilities that await them, and never doubt their abilities. I want to push, not lead. I want to ask, not tell. I want to wait, not rush. I want to spark, not extinguish. I want to change, not maintain.

My wants are not about the technology.

What do you want?