Reflective Post

Reflection

Wow! Just like that and the semester is over! I entered this class, on technology, somewhat arrogant. I consider myself savvy when it comes to technology and computers and was not very optimistic that I would be learning something new.  I was certainly wrong!  

I enjoyed the projects that were assigned to us during this course.  The teacher web page was a fun opportunity to "play" teacher while giving relevant information that I can use in my classroom.  The collaborative lesson plan and web-quest were also enjoyable but I would have preferred the web-quest to be collaborative instead of the lesson plan.  I definitely learned some communication skills during the lesson plan but I would have had a more enjoyable time if I had done it on my own.  The web-quest took me many more hours than it should have.  I had a hard time finding relevant websites to use so it would have been nice to have a partner helping.  On both of the assignments I was able to grasp a decent idea on how the Florida standards work, searching the website for standards and then using those keywords in searching for materials.  

Critiquing is a skill that received some advancing while reviewing websites and tools that may or may not be utilized in the classroom.  I now realize how important it is to ensure that a website I might use in the classroom is relevant.  

The tech tools that were suggested for use on our blogs this semester were great.  Although I was familiar with most of the tools suggested, I learned a lot about the ones I had not known.  However, I do not see myself utilizing them in my career.  I have  many friends that are teachers and I sat down with them to pick their brains on technology.  I spoke with one friend who teaches in a charter school with top notch technology and another who is in a title l school with very little to work with.  My title l teacher said that she has more important things to focus on, like getting her 4th graders on a 4th grade reading level.  She said that she uses her smart board and that is it.  My charter school teacher uses tons of amazing resources.  She even offered to go into my title l friends classroom and help set her up on some things she can utilize, like apps on her phone!  All in all I loved this technology class and I am taking so much away from it but I would have preferred to learn about some technologies and websites that I would actually use in the classroom, like Kidsblog, Ozobots or Plickers.com.  

Plickers app was a little mind blowing to me!  What a brilliant idea!  I spoke with numerous teachers who use it daily and rave about it.  I know that once I become a teacher I will learn about many loved or hated technologies.  I came into the class skeptical of actually learning new technologies and although I may not use everything that I learned, I feel like I received a great baseline and understanding of how I can incorporate new technologies into my lessons.  

Resources

 Kidblog. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://kidblog.org/ 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

 Ozobot. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://ozoblockly.com/

 Tech, L. R. (2015). Teacher Tech Tips - "Plickers" Retrieved May 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCM9nqikcjs