Scenario

After completing my undergraduate degree, I believe I will be highly equipped with the knowledge and resources that would enable me to enter into a classroom prepared, but still ready to continue my education and professional development at the same time. While I know I only have a short time left in college, I am committed to being a lifelong learner and plan to seek opportunities to sharpen my own knowledge and skill set whenever possible. This is very important especially today because of the fast-paced, quickly changing society in which we live.

As a future educator, I believe I have a very strong sense of myself and my abilities making it easier for me to focus on the task at hand, which is enhancing the learning experience for all students and setting them up for success. While I am very confident in my abilities, I realize that teaching day to day is not always as easy as it might seem. With such great emphasis placed on standardized testing, mainly in reading and math, I think one of my greatest challenges will come in planning lessons which cover the core content areas while still making the lessons new, creative, and interesting for the students. In order to do so, I would be diligent in planning coherent lessons which are aligned with the standards, while focusing as much as possible on integrating technology into the daily curriculum.

Although there was not much technology integration happening in my elementary school, there are several benefits to using technology in today's classrooms. First, technology helps to engage learners because it allows them to create and view much more interesting presentations, play fun educational games related to the curriculum, and it can help teachers alter lessons to fit students' individual interests. It can be very visually striking, which is especially beneficial to visual learners (although they are not the only students who benefit from its use). Technology is a great way to link the classroom and home, allowing parents to become more involved in their child's education and at the same time providing students with a great tool for organization for their classwork. In addition, technology is very effective approach to providing accommodations and modifications for students with special needs, as we saw earlier this semester when learning about the Universal Design for Learning. (A recent example of an accommodation is the Text to Speech tool that we used for our final reflections.) Last but not least, familiarizing students with technology in the classroom is a great way to teach about internet safety and equip them with relevant skills they will need upon entering many different career fields. 

As you can see, there are many benefits for using technology in the classroom. However, with budget cuts and decreasing finances, it is sometimes hard to convince educators to jump on board. The good news is that there are several places for educators to go where people are willing to help out with funding for technology. One of which is the Grant Wrangler that can be found on our Kan-Ed desktop.

My Wow Moment

Throughout the course of the semester, we learned about several online tools and resources which could enhance the learning experience for students and educators of all ages. We moved at a very fast pace, and each week there was a lot of work to be done in order to keep updated with the course. Therefore, I am not sure I really had one wow moment, but instead I had several wow moments. One of the biggest things I will take away from this class is the creation and building of my blog and website. I believe these will be great tools for me to have when I begin applying for jobs and establishing myself as an educator. Also, I am very excited to be familiar with the process of publishing and updating these tools because I would really like to use them to keep parents of my students informed and connected with what is going on in their child's education.

Podcast Favorites

When it came time for weekly reflections, I tried to sample a variety of different podcasts since I was just getting my feet wet and did not quite know which I preferred. After doing twelve weeks of reflections, there are a couple of podcasts from the list Cyndi gave us for which I developed a preference and found very entertaining. For example, I really liked the Tech Chick Tips. Their frequent podcast episodes are rich with resources for educators to explore which could help them incorporate technology into the classroom in various ways. What I really liked about their podcast was how they included the list of resources and the working links they discussed within each episode, making it very easy to navigate to those pages, check out the resources while they were being discussed, and then bookmark them in your delicious account if you thought it was useful. Doesn't get much easier than that. Their podcast can be found on their website, iTunes, and also through their Facebook page.

The second podcast that I really liked was Learning In Hand by Tony Vincent.  Because I have not had much experience with using iPads, iPods, and other handheld devices in the classroom, this is definitely a resource I will refer back to numerous times when I am in the classroom and need new tips for using these tools. To find out more about Tony and his quest to incorporate handhelds into classrooms, visit his website follow him on Twitter to receive frequent updates about cool new tools and resources.

Semester Favorites

During this semester, I learned how to use a great number of tools and resources which could easily be used during my future in education. However, there are a couple in particular that I really liked and found myself referring back to or using for different things time and time again. The first tool I really love is Delicious. This bookmarking tool made it so easy to save any webpages or resources I thought I might use later, and organize those bookmarks using tags, or descriptions about the specific page I was using.

After signing up at the beginning of the semester, I have already bookmarked over 150 pages on my personal Delicious site, and I'm sure this number will continue to grow throughout my educational journey.

The second website I found especially interesting was Animoto. This website allows you to upload any set of pictures you might want and create a short video slideshow of your pictures set to music. As we explored in class, this is a great way to not only get creative and organize your personal pictures, but also make creative lesson introductions which will capture your students' attention for the upcoming lesson you are going to teach. Here is an example of a video I created as an about me for DED 318 class.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

While there are many other tools we learned about this semester, these two stood out to me the most and I really love using them inside and outside of the classroom.

Twitter Reflection

Twitter is a social networking site where individuals can sign up for free and the select individuals they would like to follow based on their personal interests. After following someone, their updates and posts will automatically pop up on your homepage, allowing you to stay updated with everything they tweet on their own twitter page. Basically, it is sort of like a website dedicated to Facebook status updates. Because you choose whose tweets you want to follow, it is a great way to find educators who post tons of great resources daily. Also, whenever you post a tweet, individuals who choose to follow you will get to view your posts on their homepage along with everyone else they follow. While I am not quite sure how Twitter could be used within the classroom itself, it is a great place to find resources and tips that you could use for your classroom as well as professional development.

Podcast Reflection #12: 0082 TCT- YouTube Plus

In the 82nd episode of Tech Chick Tips, Anna and Helen share a long list of resources that can enhance an individual's use of YouTube. The first tool they discussed was Minus, which is just a very easy way to share online by adding the shortcut to your browser toolbar. Next is EmbedPlus, a tool which allows you to take a YouTube video and edit it, add placemarkings, your own comments and information, and embed the new version of the video onto your website or wherever you want it. This allows you to modify the videos to fit your needs, as well as increase the safety of your students by embedding the video instead of having them view it directly through YouTube. Another really cool resource is Smories, which is a big collection of stories created by children and read online by the child creators themselves. These videos are accessible through iPhones and iPads, and offer a cool way for students to show off their talents and share their stories with other students. If you are interested in a few other tools to support your use of YouTube, be sure to check out this podcast.

Podcast Reflection #11: Musical Expression throughout the Curriculum

Teachers TV is a website that provides a number of videos about new ideas or events taking place in schools. On this website, I came across a series called Sharing Your Great Practice which chronicles a different school in England each week and gives you a look into exciting things that are happening at that particular school. In Musical Expression throughout the Curriculum, viewers get a look into Bayards Hill Primary School where students are getting the opportunity to receive special weekly music lessons which are linked with the curriculum students are learning in their particular classroom. Therefore, students are getting the opportunity to learn an instrument and express themselves creatively while still focusing on the core subject areas at the same time. After beginning this program, Bayards Hill has improved attendance records as well as overall student achievement, including those with special needs. This cross-curricular approach seems very beneficial because of the connection researchers have found between music and student achievement. Moreover, learning the core curriculum becomes a bit more fun and exciting for students when different methods are used for teaching the material.