Reflection

I am amazed at the amount of new information I learned throughout this course; and how much I can use in my classroom next year. I knew of a lot of the tools we studied, but I also learned of so many more tools that I did not know existed! I think my favorite part, is that they are all free!

When comparing week 1 to now, I realize my theories of learning and teaching are still the same! But when comparing my technology tools that I knew week 1 to now, I am very pleased with the amount of knowledge I gained!

I always said I wanted my classes to be hands-on, but after this course I learned a lot more about hands-on learning that I will immediately be changing for my next set of students. For basic note-taking, I have always used PowerPoints, but now I know how to make my PowerPoints more interactive and interesting. Also, once completed with notes, or a way for my students to organize their notes, they can use Webspitation or Kidspiration. Here, I can make webs and organizational charts for my students, or they can create their own way to organize! This will enhance my students learning because they will be taking the large amount of knowledge and organizing it in a way that it makes sense to them. They will have to categorize, incorporate, and explore the endless possibilities of the notes at hand and summarize the important pieces for clarification.

Another very useful tool I already used this year after learning it in this course is VoiceThread. I am so excited to incorporate this more and more in my class. I plan to use this for my pre-classes. I feel it is a great way to introduce new sections by including clips and real-life images. Also, I plan to surprise my students by making VoiceThreads that will teach them about current events, or interesting facts. This would enhance my students learning because even though we live only one hour from the beach, many students have not had the opportunity to travel there (or any other destinations). By using VoiceThread I can turn it into a virtual fieldtrip and have my students put a real-life image to what we are discussing in class.

In the future, I set my goals high as I hope to be considered a 'master of technology in education'. Goal 1: (My master goal) I want my co-teachers to come to me looking for technology ideas and ways to incorporate ideas in their class. I want my classroom to be completely hands-on with technology by using various tools. I understand this is not an idea that can change over-night, or even over one summer. Next year I plan to slowly incorporate more and more technology. As stated before, I am most excited to use VoiceThread and blogging... but that is just the start! Goal 2: I want to have a class blog set up that includes all information for my course. This would include notes, calendar of events, and any assignments and tests that are coming up in the future. With this goal I would also like to have a Marine Biology club or group of students that would like to manage the blog. They would be in charge of uploading pictures, VoiceThreads, or whatever else we learn! I think that would be great for my class. I plan to achieve my goals by slowly incorporating the tools next year and really focusing on my students to see which ones they enjoyed and did not enjoy. I also plan to start a blog next year, and to continue to add links and ideas to the blog. I hope that by the end of next school year I will have a good idea of all of the links for the next school year I plan to include!