Reflection

In week one I addressed my "Personal Learning Theory". While most of this has stayed the same through this class, some of it has changed. I still believe that reinforcing effort is very important, but now know that I can do this through use of technology. Students love to use the computer and I can reward the effort students put into assignments by allowing them to use technology to complete projects or assignments. I feel like this reinforcement will benefit both the students in many ways by allowing them to enjoy the material they are learning. The topic of homework was also brought up. As I said before, homework should not be "busy work" but work that allows the students to review what they have learned for that day or lesson. This allows the student to prove to themselves and the teacher that they know the material. I would like to create a blog or wiki that would allow students to post questions, thoughts, or ideas about homework and which would maybe create a classroom community that would be there for the students. Support is always critical.

Because of this class, once school starts, I would like make a lot of technological adjustments to my lessons. I feel that this class has been the most influential class I have taken so far at Walden. This class has shared SO many things that I would like to use in my classroom. I will use Voicethreads, hopefully on a weekly basis. This should get the students so used to seeing them that they are able to create their own and share them with their classmates. Students always learn better when they do the teaching themselves! Another tool I will be using come August is Skype. As a Social Studies teacher, I would like to be able to hook up with students from the areas of the world that we study. My students can learn so much more from having actual conversations with students just like them. I think that Skype would be able to show my students that children all over the world are just like them and create more tolerant, knowledgeable students.

There are two long term goals I would like to reach in my instructional practices. The first one would be to get my county to allow more online social websites. While this will most likely not include Facebook or Myspace, I would like to have access to Skype and Wikis. In order to have access to Wikis, I will create my own and share it with my school technology leader. My hopes is that she will share it with administration and then the county and this can show how beneficial Wikis can be. I am not sure how long this will take, but I am willing to work on in until I get a definite answer.

The next goal I have is to integrate much more technology into my classroom. While this goal seems basic, there are important reasons behind it. The technology class at my school has been cancelled due to budgeting. This happened during my time in this class. During this class I also realized how important technology truly is and how I can take the loss of this class and help my students. I would like to teach my normal course of studies, but also teach technology. I can integrate the two and the students will truly benefit. I will create lessons that include basic technology programs such as Word and Power Point, but also have lessons that have newer technology programs like Voicethread and Blogs. Hopefully this will guide my students in the right direction and prepare them for a world that relies heavily on technology.
I have loved this class. At first I was scared of all I didn't know, but now I embrace it. As in all of my technology classes so far, I look forward to taking all I have learned and sharing it with my students and peers. I think they will both benefit so much from all I can now share. School is still a month and a half away, but I am already planning lessons in my head. Thank you so much for this!!!