A Look Back and Ahead

This semester I have learn a lot about technology and about myself. Now that I have gained a little knowledge of all the amazing technological tools available for teachers my plan is to continue to learn all that I can about these tools. My hope is to become comfortable enough to use technology daily in my class room. At the beginning of the semester I was very hesitant about taking a course on technology, but now I know that technology is something to explore and never be afraid of.



I really see the enhancement technology brings to a classroom when it is used correctly. It can incorporate all learning modalities, which is something that is very important for me to include. Kids love technology and so I understand that when technology is used in the classroom environment it makes kids ready and excited to learn. I love learning and it is my hope to bring the joy I get out of learning and influence my kids to find that same joy so they can experience the fulfillment learning can bring. School doesn't have be dull. It can be just as exciting as going to Chucky Cheese and technology can be just one tool to bring that excitement into a classroom.

Reflection #10

Looking back that the entire year I'm happy to see my growth in becoming a teacher. I feel more confident and I think my new skills in technology will help become a better equipped teacher. I hope I will continue to explore technology and how it can make classroom learning a more exciting and engaging for elementary age students. I'm still not very talented when working with computer type stuff, but I will continue to educate myself and hopefully I will someday become an expert.

Reflection #9

Sometimes I wonder if what I'm saying makes sense to people at all. I can be in front of a class and their faces make me think I'm just blabbing away and not getting anywhere with my words. I'm starting to feel more comfortable in front of people, I just wish their faces would tell me how I'm doing more accurately.

Reflection #8

I'm all done with student observations for this semester and it saddens me that I don't get to spend any more time in the classroom. I will miss those kids! I wish I could have seen more technology integrated into the classroom, but maybe there is hope for next semester.

Assignment #5

For my final project I decided to create a website about bugs for "my class" to use to find more information about bugs. I also added a podcast to the website for my second technology tool. Ideally, this webpage would be attached to a classroom webpage that the students can easily access from home.

I decided to create a webpage using google as my host because they have page templates already for me to use. I choose one and then tweaked he colors a little bit to get the look I wanted for the page. One feature I became really close with is the add a link button. I used this feature to add picture, websites, and other pages that I created my self. Something that hit me while creating my webpage is how consuming it is to add pages and pictures to it. I chose to make a webpage thinking that it would take no time at all to make a nice final project. Boy was I wrong. I can spend a lot of time on my webpage but then it looks as if I hardly spent any time on it at. Its very frustrating but at the same time I now realize why people who can create nice webpages make a lot of money. Its hard and long tedious work to get a page the way you want it. I was not even using HTML, but a pre-made webpage site. I can't even imagine the work that would go into completely writing he script for a webpage.

My next technology feature is I made a short welcoming podcast for my bug website. I have a program on my computer that has a program that I can record my voice on called Garageband. After recording my podcast I was able to send it to Itunes the I converted the recording to an Mp3 and saved it into my itunes music folder. Next, I logged into my Box.net account and uploaded my Mp3 on to the site. The site then gave me a URL to add to my page. I added it as a page link because I was not able to add it directly to my page. It took me about an hour to figure out how to get my short little podcast message to my page but it was well worth it because I now know how to make podcasts.

I have to admit I still don't feel very confident when it come to technology. I feel like I'm still stuck at the basics of technology. There are so many cool things I could add to my page, but I have no knowledge of what those would be. Maybe someday I will become more savy with technology, but today I'm still very new and I still have a lot to learn.

Here is my final project!
It's a Bug's World

The Classroom in 5 Years?

Since there hasn't been that many changes made that I've noticed in the last 15 years, I would think that the classroom in five years will be almost similar to what it is today. There are usually little changes made. In my generation we went from chalk boards to dry erase boards. So I can see something like the dry erase boards being replaced by smart boards. I also think that maybe PC computers will be replaced by Apple Mac books. I only say that because I know currently school districts are loaning all students Mac books to use. It's all about the settle changes.

Web Safety

I don't really think about the dangers in having kids use the internet. I know that there are predators out there searching for children to prey on, but for some reason I just assume that people are know will never face this type of danger. I think the best way to protect my students is to make them aware of the dangers in using the internet. They should know that they should be careful of who they give their information to, and never give it without their parents permission. Just having the students aware I think is the number one key in keeping children safe.

Another way to keep children safe while using internet is to show them how to use the internet properly. If they have the skills to maneuver around the web I think that they will be less likely to stumble on something that was not meant for their eyes.

One more thing that I need to do to keep children safe is to also have awareness about the dangers lurking out there in the internet.