I really enjoyed posting in this
blog during this semester. I had truly
believed that this class would be a waste of time and that I had better things
to do. Now, looking back, I am so glad
that this class was a requirement, and I learned much more than I had
anticipated. Dr. Beedle was an
excellent, enthusiastic instructor, and He made me want to incorporate
technology in my classroom.
Our first post in the blog was an
introduction of ourselves. The
assignment was alright, but I was a little unsure how to navigate and decorate
the blog. Blog post number two was about
an article that we read saying that I WILL tell my son he is smart, although
the article said not to. The third post
was about the NMC Horizon Project that is all about technology in the classroom. It consists of reports over the years and
highlights trends in technology that are effective with students.
My 4th and 5th
posts were about technology and privacy.
Both articles were based in the school system, and discussed the rising
concerns with children’s privacy while using technology and how social websites
such as Shutterfly and Facebook can leave children vulnerable to hackers. My next post was some poetry that I love, one
by Robert Frost and the other one was out of the movie “Dead Poet’s
Society”. The next post was the debate
between the effectiveness of podcasts versus print articles in learning. Both sides presented strong debates, but
surprisingly I came to the conclusion that I enjoy podcasts much more than I
thought I would. I am a visual, print
learner; however, I really enjoyed the effectiveness and convenience of the
podcasts on my phone.
Our first lesson post was our
lesson plan that we got to choose our own topic. I chose Number the Stars, and I taught a
fifth grade lesson incorporating history, English, and Mathematics. I really enjoyed this assignment, as it was
both my first lesson plan to ever have written and also my first experience
publishing anything online, especially in a blog. I really liked the concept of the blogger,
and now I can use this blog for teaching as well as keep records of whatever I
want online, such as this lesson plan. I
can also post others for people to see.
Post 8 discussed cyber bullying,
and had some interesting facts in it. My
post 9 was about Common Sense Media, a really interesting app that allows
people to play games, report on books, and even watch television all from a
phone or tablet. I enjoyed this app so
much that I downloaded it for my son!
Our next assignment, post 10, was my favorite of the entire
semester. We have to make videos with
transitions and music on Movie Maker, so I made a movie about my son and our
life together (he is two). I loved the
end result, and making it was pretty fun too- got my creative juices flowing!
My video reflection post discussed
6 videos from a website called 21st Century Learning, a website that
teaches the importance and downfalls of technology in education. I thought they had so many good points. My final post, post 14, was article reflections
from an educational article. I notated
on 4 strategies, describing positive ways to get the most out of learning and
your education.
