A Final Reflective Blog on the Class

Now I finally know what all of those little icons and abbreviations on my favorite websites mean! I no longer feel “out of the loop” or like a Neanderthal. I now have the confidence I need to go into a classroom and actually teach and encourage students to use technology. Better yet, now I don’t have to learn from the students-like most parents have to do. I can now speak the “language” of the digital natives-aka Net Geners.

Having taken this class has been valuable to me. I now know how to set up links and tags on a social bookmarking site. I can now encourage my students to do the same so they will have easier access to sites covered in class and to those discovered by them or their friends. I’m grateful that I was able to access and save technology lesson plans to be used in my elementary classroom. This will make my job easier and more exciting even though I will have to modify some of the plans to fit the needs of my class. The term Web 2.0 was virtually new to me before this class and I had no idea what a wiki was. Now I can direct students into collaborating and sharing information online. I’m also glad I got a chance to see the many uses of Excel for the classroom. I took a course on the application several years ago, but was not taught how significant it can be to teachers and the classroom.

I will be using United Streaming and Teachertube videos for my classes as well. These are great educational videos that are efficient to use as additional or main material for unit plans or brief lessons. I look forward to videotaping student projects and posting them to YouTube or to a class website.

I also enjoyed being able to share and receive information from the other students in the tech class. It seems we all came up with different ideas for our presentations and sharing times which made the class that much more valuable. Of course creating my very own blog in Blogger and a website in Webnode were my favorite activities in the class. I can now show students how to create their own blogs and/or set up classroom blogs. This will be an excellent way for students to express themselves and share knowledge that they may not get a chance to share in class. I think the best thing overall is how many of these tech tools can be combined to create an educational and engaging lesson in a short period of time. For example, using interactive whiteboards along with a PowerPoint presentation can be exciting for students. Lastly, learning how to create my digital portfolio has been invaluable. This will be something I will keep up with as it will be necessary for my professional development. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to learn it before I got ready to actively search for employment upon certification.

Unfortunately, if I’m not able to utilize these newly learned skills on a regular basis, they will become like a foreign language to me. Many districts do not have the type of technology listed here set up in their classrooms. Sadly, if I don’t use it…I’ll lose it. I’ll just have to be an advocate for up-to-date computer equipment in the school for which I’m hired. Students and teachers should have these tools readily available and at their disposal in every district. We can’t expect our students to go out into the world and compete without first giving them the proper tools they need to be competent. I feel it’s very important that all students are equipped with how to use the latest technology. If not, they’ll be behind before they even get a chance to try. That’s sad to me. Therefore, on my part, I will make a conscious effort to integrate technology as much as I can in my class. The students deserve nothing less!