Week 14 Blog : Due April 25, 2010

Honest Reflection

1. There are so many programs out there that I did not know existed. I think one major thing I've learned from this class is that if I need something done, there is probably a program out there that can help me do it quicker and easier. I loved the blogs because it opened my mind to a new way of learning in the classroom. I learned quite a bit about Google in this class. I had no idea you could make a powerpoint presentation on Google. Before, I simply used Google as a search engine only. GoogleDocs has so much to offer. I still have not really become fascinated with Twitter. I'm more of a Facebook girls I suppose. I've always loved YouTube because you can find practically anything there. iTunes and iTunesU are nothing new to me. I used iTunes immediately after buying my iPod my sophomore year in high school. iTunesU was popular at Auburn University where I spent my freshman year of college. GoogleEarth is interesting, but I don't really know what its use could be. I suppose it would be an interesting way for students to see sights around the world. The podcasts were really fun. It's pretty fascinating to know that I am on iTunes. I think my favorite assignment all semester was the Comments4kids assignments. I'm majoring in early childhood/elementary education so kids are obviously one of my passions. It was great to see how hard these children were working in class. It was also great to see the assignments the teachers created. It gave me some great ideas! Those were the projects that had the most impact on me.
2. I can imagine that there is so much left to learn about technology, but I had little to no idea that what we did learn in this class even existed. I have no idea what else we could have possibly learned.
3. There really is not anything I would like to forget necessarily. There may be some things that we learned that I may not use in my classroom, but it doesn't mean I want to forget how to do it. Some things may be a little too complicated for me to attempt at first, but as I become more comfortable in my teaching career, I will become more comfortable trying new things. I think everything we learned in this class is useful.
4. I can't really say that this class excited me, but that's mainly because I don't have a profound interest in technology. This class excited my interest in technology if that makes any sense, but that's as far as I would go.
5. I wouldn't say that the blog about teaching someone technology was intellectually challenging, but it did make me think in a new way. It was difficult to give detailed instructions to someone when I did not have a way to give them visual instructions as well. It wasn't a challenging project, but it did take me a bit longer than most other ones because I had to determine the best way to explain everything, and I had to make sure I did not leave any step out of the equation.
6. The time spent in class was sometimes boring. Most of the projects we did could have been completed at home with no class at all. This is actually being corrected, if I understand correctly, by slowly making this an online class. I think this is a great idea. The only time I really needed an instructor was when I needed an assignment explained further. As long as instructors were available to students when they needed additional help, making this an online class would be a great idea.
7. I can't really say that I would add or delete anything from this course. I'm sure in the future things will change, and new things will need to be added. Deleting things from the course is not necessary because, even if I did not feel as though I benefited from something, someone else may have gained quite a bit from the experience. I don't think the workload was overwhelming. I think some things should have just been explained in more detail.
8. I would say that I'm in the middle on a technologically literate scale. I've definitely increased my literacy through this class, but I still have so much to learn. I think I learned a great deal that I can use in the field of education, and that was my major goal in this class. I feel as though I've succeeded.
9. I plan on keeping up on the blogs and websites in my PLN. I feel these sources will help me stay up to date on the latest in technology for education. Also, I think we will be seeing more technology used in our classes at South. (At least I hope this is the case.) I hope to never be very far behind in technology.

Two Questions

I watched a video about two questions you should ask yourself daily. The first is "What's my sentence?" This may not make any sense to you now, but it comes from the quote, "Every great man is a sentence." This means that you could be described as a great person in one sentence. Your sentence could be something along the lines of " I helped educated children" or "I created something useful." This gives each of us a goal.
The other question we should ask ourselves daily is "Am I better today than I was yesterday?" This is a very straight-forward question, but it's great motivation. We should all strive to be a little better each day. We don't have to be the best, but we can all improve on parts of our lives I'm sure. I could improve my patience one day. The next day, I could work on procrastination. It's another goal we should have for ourselves.

Comments4Kids

This weeks comments4kids assignment led me to Matthew T.'s blog about the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He really seemed to love this sports team and had high hopes for them winning all of their games. I hope they do well!!