Week 5 Reflection on SAMR

The SAMR Model certainly provoked much thought and soul searching. Firstly because it made me reflect on how I use technology in the classroom. Is it for my own benefit to make lesson planning easier and the final product more stimulating for the students? I know that access to a much wider range of information and resources than we have had access to previously. This means we can use and adapt and transform the information in a multitude of ways using a host of different applications and multimedia methods. Or do I use technology to meet the needs of my students with their different abilities and learning styles?
To answer these questions I need to go back to where we started. I need to have a clear view of my educational beliefs about what I consider to be good pedagogy based not only on the research of educational theorists but on my personal experience as a teacher. I need to consider what has worked for students and what hasn't worked as well as I hoped. How can I best use web2.0 tools to inform my practice as a teacher in order to get the best results from students.
Working in a primary school setting with students requiring learning support usually requires me to firstly engage the students and then maintain their interest whilst trying to teach them basic skills in literacy.
 Add to the mix that many of them have very poor self esteem about their learning abilities and the limited time I have to work with them on a weekly basis. Some groups of students come to me for 2 one hour sessions per week. Others for 4 half hour sessions per week and still others for 2 half hour sessions over a two week period.
I could honestly say that at this stage majority of the use of technology would fall within the substitution, augmentation and maybe a little into the modification areas of the SAMR model. Yet these students are probably the ones that could have their attitudes to learning turned around by the use of communication technologies and maybe even their attitudes towards learning.
My challenge I guess is to tap into my educational beliefs and look for a way that the pedagogy can best be demonstrated through technology suited to influencing my students in ways that direct them to the learning goals they not only need to achieve but want to work towards because of their belief in themselves as genuine learners.
The reflections of other group members about ways they have used technology for modification has stimulated my interest into delving into some of the technologies that I am not quite as familiar with as perhaps I could be.
What a great source the Voice Thread is! Maybe I can get responses from students in their own time through this form of technology.
 Now the challenge is to investigate more of the newer technologies and how I can get the students immersed into the learning process by tapping into their personal learning styles and abilities. I've already thought of a few things to try. I'll let you know how it goes.