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I am an elementary education major at the University of South Alabama. I decided to go into this field after changing my major two times. I felt this is where my calling is to help students achieve more than they think they can.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

My final Blog

From the start of this semester to the end we have learned and used a lot of technology. This post is a summary of some of the tools we have learned to use throughout the semester.
The first question asks to think about the things we have learned and and how they will be useful when I become a teacher. One of the first things we did in this class was to start a blog. This blog is where we posted a lot of different things like videos, pictures, text post, and other things. I have enjoyed blogging on my fellow classmates blog, different student's blog from all around the world, and teacher's blogs. This has become something that I found very useful because I got to see how things were done different from person to person. Another thing we have used is google docs this is an extremely important tool in my opinion that I have learned. I was able to create a presentation about myself and then had to show it to the class I was in. This is a good thing that will be useful in my classroom because it will allow students to get to know their fellow classmates. Google docs is useful in other ways as well like you can create a spreadsheet which we used to do a questionaire. Google docs can do everything that microsoft can do except it is free and I think that it is more useful. ItunesU is very helpful because it will help me to learn more about different ways to teach and also share updated information to my students. Podcast are another way my students can get involved in the classroom. We had to watch several podcast and one that really stuck out was PS22 this is a videocast that the students were singing on. It was very powerful and made me realize the importance of students posting their work. I found that it allows the students to get feedback on their work and that can help the moral of the class. Google earth I really enjoyed and thought was a good way to let students learn about different places. Comments for kids was interesting because it showed me how students are becoming more technology involved and how they are doing different things. Comments for teachers helped me see how important developing my PLN early is and also helped me develop one. I did not see the real importance with twitter and maybe that is because I have not fully learned how to use it but I do plan on learning more about it. Skype I enjoyed using but also found it had that it had one major issue if the connection was not good then the video would freeze up and also sometimes the conversation and the movement of the person's lips when talking would not match up.
The second question we were asked if there was something that we did not learn but would have liked to learn. In all honesty I learned a lot this semester more than I thought I would have ever learned. If there is something out there that I did not learn I would be surprised. I would have like to learn more about google docs because I think there are things that I can do with google docs that I did not learn that would be helpful in my teaching field.
The third question asked if there was something that we learned that I wish I had not. Honestly I think I will use everything I learned and see no point in forgetting any thing I learned. I am greatful for everything I learned in this class and hope to continue learning more after this class.
The fourth question asked if I found this class excited us. I found it to be somewhat exctiing because I did not know what to expect and I was ready to learn something new and I liked the fact that it was not going to be taught like any of my other classes I have taken.
The fifth question asked if I found anything to be intellectually challenging. I found the professional blog to be intellectually challenging because I was not sure how to start it out and there were things that I found hard to put into words but I really liked the fact we were assigned to create one because it made me think about things that we will have to know for the future.
He then asked if we were bored at anytime in this class. I will say the blogs I found to be a bit redundant. Personally I might not have so many things to blog about but still require all the assignments and find another way besides blogging about it.
Question seven asked if we would change anything about this course. I do not think that anything needs to be changed minus what I said in the previous question. I would have liked the assignments to have been a little easier to keep up with like how they are organized becuase I like to make checklist to make sure I have completed every thing I need and I found this to be a little difficult. Overall I would not change anything in the course I learned a lot in this course.
Am I technology literate? I would have to say yes more so than I was before I started this class. I would not say I am great but I would most certainly say I am on the good level.
The last question that was asked is how will I maintain my technological literacy between now and the time I graduate. I plan to continue to use google docs for sure, I will also contiue to use all the tools that I have learned and hope to find new tools as well. I firmly believe that I will never be done learning.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Jenny, for your honest reflections.

    I agree with you that we are never done learning. If we were then what else would we do here? This is truly a basic thing, I mean the idea that learning is a life long process. Most people never think about it but to be a good teacher I think knowledge and awareness of this one fact is essential. In my own experience, the worst teachers I ever had were the ones who knew it all. By the same token the best teachers I ever had were those who knew enough to know they had more to learn.

    I think we all have learned a lot this semester. Keep up the good work. SS

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  2. "Overall I would not change anything in the course ..." Really?

    "I firmly believe that I will never be done learning." I hope not!

    Good luck!

    PS I liked your gadget that listed you addresses. But you let out Gmail! I don't mind your not including Facebook, but you need Gmail!

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