Reflection Essay EDUC-6712D

I feel that I had two striking revelations while participating in EDUC-6712. The first was the process of having students create inquiry questions and the second was to structure the class in such a way that the teacher gradually release learning into the hands of the students. Sometimes I feel as an educator I like to have control over the class and the direction of the learning, however at times I see this method becomes very teacher centered as opposed to student centered. I want to lead my students to create their own inquiry projects and questions and let them have an active role or shared ownership in their learning.
Since beginning the unit plan and class I have looked for ways for students to play the more active role in their learning and have tried to implement a more student responsible role for each class. I have done this by creating folders for students to store their works and reflect upon their own learning. I can see that much more learning takes place when they can see how far they have progressed.
I personally would like to take better advantage of our literacy coach. She offers lessons and one on one help and information to set up video conferences and wikis. I plan to ask for her assistance in integrating more technology in each lesson. I believe the question I should ask myself when beginning a unit should be "How can technology be integrated into this lesson in a purposeful way?"
Overall, I have a stronger desire to create meaningful lessons which allow students to have ownership in their learning, technology based, and allows for reflection.