Monday, April 26, 2010

FINAL POST! :)

1. Blogs- Blogging has really been a great tool that I have used this semester. I have used my blog as not only a voice for my feelings and opinions about things, but as a record of things I have created this semester using technology. Following other peoples' blogs is a great way to learn and grow as an educator and a person. Commenting on other blogs can also introduce them tho your blog and maybe they can learn from your blog. Blogging is a GREAT tool to use in the classroom.

Google Docs-Google docs is a great place to create presentations, spreadsheets, surveys, etc. This semester we used google docs to create a survey for our class mates to respond to. Google automatically created a spreadsheet using the survey responses which I feel will be very helpful in my classroom one day. We also created presentations about ourselves using Google docs. The best part of google docs to me is that it is FREE! I think google docs was very helpful this semester and I plan to continue using it.

Podcasts- Our podcast assignments were a great idea! Before this class, I did not know what a podcast was. Through our project I not only learned what a podcast was, but I learned how to create one on my own using Audacity. I now listen to podcasts, as well as video-casts, on itunes.
YouTube- I have been using YouTube to watch videos for years! We used YouTube a lot in this class to watch videos for our blog assignments. YouTube is a great free tool that allows people all over the world to access videos. It was a big help in this class and I know it will be in the future as well.

iTunes- iTunes is a GREAT tool for the classroom! Before this class, I used iTunes simply to download music to my iPod. Now I know that iTunes can be used for SO much more! Through iTunesU, you may now listen to podcast or watch video casts from different Universities all over the world! This a great way to expand our country's education knowledge. I use iTunes more for podcasting now than for music!

Timetoast Timeline- Timetoast Timline is my favorite project we did all year! Not only is this free tool easy to use; it's really fun too! I created a Timetoast Timeline on the history of cheerleading. I also taught my friend Rachel how to use Timetoast and she create one for her life. I will definitely be using Timetoast in my classroom.

Skype- I came into this semester with negative thoughts about Skype. I found it to be a little weird and I was skeptical about trying it. When I saw that one of our projects was for Skype, I was forced to try it out. Now I use Skype all the time to stay in touch with my friends that attend colleges all over the country! We used Skype in our EDM class twice and it really was neat to be able to communicate with other educators not just verbally, but visually. Skype is a awesome tool for the classroom!

Technological Literacy- Technology is a HUGE part of our world today. Being technologically literate does not mean you should take a course, or learn how to surf the web. Being technologically literate means that you have an ever growing range of technology use. You should continue to learn about technology everyday. Being an effective educator means that you should continue to educate yourself. Technological literacy is one of the most important aspects of being an educator in today's society.

2. I really wish we would have done a project in which we had to use the Smart Board in our EDM310 classroom. Smart Boards are in almost all classrooms now, so we need to be aware of how to use them to their best ability.

3. No. I feel that everything we learner in this class will be very useful in my classroom.

4. This class had its exciting moments. for example when I first learned how to use Google docs to create a survey, I was excited because I found it to be very useful.

5. I found a few of my blog posts to be intellectually challenging. Most of them very not difficult, however a few of them left me sitting in front of my computer for a while, pondering how I should respond.

6. Yes! I quickly got bored in the early part of the semester with blogging. There is not much work at the beginning of the semester except for the blog posts. Some of the assignments were long and not always exciting and I had to force myself to do some of them.

7. Like I said in #2, I would definitely add a Smart Board project. Maybe a collaborative project in which groups have to create a lesson using the Smart Board.

8. I would say that I am moderately literate when it comes to technology. I know enough to incorporate technology in my classroom but, I still have A LOT to learn.

9. I will continue to expand my PLN and follow some educators via Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Technology is going to continue to change and grow, therefore my technological literacy has an ever changing need to grow and expand.

3 comments:

  1. You did a good job on this post. It is very believable that you want to be the best teacher that you can be. I also think that blogs are a good thing to use in the teaching field and in your own life.

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  2. I will incorporate a smartboard lesson as an assignment next fall.
    Blogs - glad you found them so useful.
    And Skype. How did we get along without it?
    "...a few of them left me sitting in front of my computer for a while, pondering how I should respond." Great. It's good to have to think!
    "...I had to force myself to do some of them." You will find that teaching is OFTEN like that!

    Good luck!

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  3. Kelly,


    Take what you learned and apply it in your future as a teacher.

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