My Shape-Shifting Portfolio

Over the semester, I have gone through a myriad of feelings from anger, resentment, confusion, pity, guilt, and (thank goodness, or else I would be in a mad house by now) happiness. The different articles and discussions we have had made me go through these changes. At first, I was completely unresponsive to the new age of technology in the classroom. I then transcended to a level of enlightenment, where I decided that, "okay, some of these things I can deal with." Now, I have graduated to a more openness about change. Some of this openness to change has been a direct result of other things going on in my life that have made me come face to face with changes, and others were direct results of this class. Either way, I have changed my perspective. No, I certainly have not done a 360...maybe a 180...or a 175.8. Still, I have develop a tolerance toward the subject of technology in the classroom. Who knows where I will be in the future.

When I read the article by William Kist, I enjoyed seeing how he traveled through changes, as well. In the beginning of the chapter, he talks about how he was, at first, only faced with communication involving mostly film, and he found it extraordinary. Now, though, he has seen more technology and is using it to his advantage.

In terms of my shape-shifting portfolio, people like Kist say it well: "A few writers have tried to imagine what the new literacies classroom might look like[...] with students becoming apprentices to the teachers who model for their students their own symbol uses" (8). I think part of this goes back to how teachers need to know the technology their kids are going to use. Ultimately, we are the professionals in the classroom, but we are also the leaders. We are authoritative, but friendly. We are facilitators, but project-makers ourselves.

I have seen that my views on such an idea as Kist says has changed. I used to think of myself as, yes, the teacher. But not as much as the learner. This class, as well as others, has taught me that teaching is lifelong learning.

Kist also says that "Proponents of the arts in education have always advocated for more media -- such as music, theater, and visual arts -- in schools. These forms allow for "multiple ways of knowing" (9).

I used to believe that media was not as important in schools as the theater and visual arts. And some inkling in the back of my mind, always itching at me, says I am still right. But there is another part of me, influenced by the many writers I have encountered, that says media is another form of these other stated areas.

In summation, the entire semester has been a whirlwind of emotions. I am still pretty emotional about it all, but I have more of a focus now.