Author: Carolyn Faulkner-Beitzel

Information technology has the potential to reshape how we teach in the classroom by allowing students to combine words, images, music and video into a single product. This places students into the role of creators of their own materials and meanings.  Computers provide students with the potential to become active constructors, rather than passive recipients, of their own knowledge. The classroom can have instant access to experts, online research and publications, cross-cultural communication, virtual field trips and an almost unlimited amount of resources to include in curricula. The greatest power of new technology is to allow students access to more primary sources. These resources take the student beyond the textbook and secondary sources, which are limited to those on hand and enhance teacher instruction to better engage the students. Many curriculum standards propose that students be taught with primary sources as well as textbooks and lectures. By encountering voices from the past and present students can discover that learning is a life-long process.

Our universe has been transformed from a globe based on analog technology to a digitized universe, where bits of information can travel at the speed of light and are constantly changing. The classroom of today is one in which most information can be transmitted via the digital information highway, the Internet. The role of teacher can change along with technology. No longer do we have to lecture in teacher-centered, text-based classes with neat rows of desks. Rather, we can become mentors and guides in an instructional environment that is student-centered, discovery-based, collaborative, and accommodating of all learning styles and intelligence. Given a classroom computer, video projecting equipment and online access, it is possible to move the classroom into the cyber-world. The teacher can develop web pages to enhance communication with students and parents, provide a venue for publishing student work, include multimedia presentations and direct students in assignments. You can also better prepare your students to select materials critically, and to interpret, evaluate, analyze and synthesize the information so that they become intelligent and efficient information processors.

Information technology and the Internet must still utilize well-crafted lessons: teachers must ascertain if an online source is central to the knowledge needed to be learned. I believe it is important to our classrooms and students to have the ability to connect and interact with this vase amount of information if we are to prepare our students for the challenges of the future.

An interview with Dr. Faulkner-Beitzel

What are the three most important reasons to being a teacher?

I have been in education for nineteen years as a teacher, coach, and school administrator. I would like to return to teaching to 1) be able to provide more direct instruction to students and teachers in technology integration, 2) be a part of a student’s life to hopefully make a difference, and 3) to stay professionally motivated and inspired in education through the feeling of community an active school building provides.

How much do you want to know about your students to be helpful?

For me to be helpful to students I most definitely need to develop a trusting relationship. For that reason, I want to know as much about my students as possible, both as a learner, but also about each of them as individual people.

What three things do you most want to know about your students?

The three things I most want to know about my students are 1) their hopes and dreams, 2) how I can help them reach their aspirations, and 3) how I can best provide them instruction to fill in any learning gaps to better propel them to academic success

What do you need to know to begin lesson planning?

To prepare an engaging and effective lesson plan I first need to know what the learning purpose is for the lesson. Is it to meet an academic standard? Is it to build a skill? Is it to provide individual instruction for students’ interests?

What four components are in the plan?

The four most important components in an effective lesson plan include 1) the lesson’s objective, 2) an engaging lesson starter to hook students’ interests, 3) a mini-lesson to ensure all students are on the same page academically, and 4) an exit strategy to provide me the data needed to determine if students have mastered the topic or I need to re-teach, remediate, or better differentiate in the next day’s lesson.

How do you want to influence your student’s lives?

The ways in which I would hope to influence the lives of my students would be to ensure that I am there for them, no matter what. I would like to provide them the skills to be successful, the confidence to keep trying and the desire to learn more and more. Mostly, I would hope to provide children an education where they get the freedom to understand the world and its inequities and feel so moved to make a difference.

What core teaching strategies to you use?

My instructional philosophy is grounded in growth mindset empowering students to achieve. Two areas in which I embed this philosophy is in letting students know that mistakes are opportunities to learn and feedback is a gift that should be taken with acceptance. The strategies I use to support these ideas are 1) to provide process praise and critique through specifics and 2) normalize mistakes. More specifically I like to use “ask three before me”, and “open-ended questions” through discussions and reflective journaling.

Abnormal times calls for some innovation and ingenuity.

Technology in education is especially important in today’s health crisis as students learn virtually. The integration of technology tools allows students to learn and apply skills to learning and problem-solving preparing them to manage issues and events in the real world. Our world is changing fast and technology is ubiquitous in our daily lives that to not include it within an educational program would be a disservice to the growth opportunities of students.

Understanding the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown upon educators and education systems is to look ahead to devise ways in which education is not interrupted like this again. Envisioning a new normal for students that includes components of blended or distance learning will become ingrained in schools from now on.

As an educational leader in an online school and with the knowledge background of an advanced degree in online teaching and learning I can bring to your district the needed skills, understanding, and vision that will contribute to the continued successful endeavors currently in your programs. Technology does not replace good instruction, but when identified correctly and used appropriately it greatly enhances engagement and participation of students.