Personal Learning Reflection

1) What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?


     I really was not sure how to respond to this question when I first read it. Looking at state standards I arleady knew that integrating technology was important and I have seen how it can be effective through lessons that I have created before taking this class. However, after reading this question again I believe that the most important thing that I have taken away from this class in regards to effective teaching strategies is that the most effective strategy is to just try! I know that when I first started teaching (albeit just three years ago) I was afraid to try anything new for risk of extreme failure. I lectured and I played some video clips and that was about it. What I have begun to realize through teaching and through this course is that failure is going to happen and technology requirements are not going to go away so to be effective you have to take risks and practice.


2) How did integrating the Internet help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?


     The internet is an amazing thing! As an educator I can open so many doors by teaching students how to use it and providing them with various technological tools (like Blogger) to enahnce their learning. The trick for me with this class was to not get overwhelmed by all of the pieces introduced to me, but to rather begin to implement one or two of those technological pieces for now as a starting point.


3) Which of the assignments that you turned in do you feel really exemplifies good teaching with technology and why?


     For me I think that the SIG Proposal that my group turned in using Googledocs really exemplified good teaching with technology. To answer the why portion allow me to digress... Flashdrives use to be my friend as a teacher. My students were able to work on projects in class, save them to their flashdrive, and then take them home to complete. However, if I have to continue to hear these statements throughout my teaching career, "I left my flashdrive at home," or "Everything just deleted off my flashdrive," or "My flashdrive won't open on this computer," or my new favorite "Our group saved the assignment on his flashdrive and he is not here today," I really believe that I will go insane. Learning how to work with Googledocs has given me hope for the future. I have already begun to direct my students to save things to Googledocs as opposed to their flashdrives for their personal work. I plan on brainstorming in the near future to come up with some group projects in which they will collaborate using Googledocs. Doing this assignment for CEP-810 just may have saved my sanity!


4) How have you met your goals established in your Personal Growth Plan?


     So far I think I am well on my way to meeting the goals I established in my Personal Growth Plan. In my plan I stated that I wanted to use Googledocs and RSS feeders to improve upon the Media Log assignment that I currently have my students do. Although I have not begun to implement this quite yet I will be starting in our third trimester. What I have begun to do though is stress that students set up a Googledocs account and start to work with it and get familar with it.


     I did include in my plan that I wanted to continue to work with Go-Animate and I have continued to work with this. Further, I have had students start to work with Prezi. So I am bringing technology slowly but surely more and more into the classroom.


5) Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?


     My new goal is actually just a slight tweak to my original goal for the Media Log project. I plan in the third trimester to have students work with Blogger to create their Media Logs for my Current Issues course. I want my students to collaborate more in this course and so what I plan is for them to post their Media Logs on a class blog and then have students comment on their classmates posts. Not only will this help fulfill technology requirements but also I hope that having students interact with each other by adding comments that it will stimulate more in depth conversations not only on the blog but also in the classroom.




6) What did I wish to learn more about?


     I think that the technology piece I wish I would have been exposed to more was Prezi. This was not really covered in the class, but it was something that I learned about through my SIG group. I think that this is a very interesting way for teachers and students to package information. I learned how to use it on the fly for my group's SIG Proposal, however I would like some more time to work with this and really see how it can be used in the classroom. As I mentioned above I have had students begin to work with it, but that was more so because they have already learned how to use it from another teacher.