Exit Slip 12/9/2010

How has my thinking about technology's role in teaching & learning changed over the semester?

My thinking has changed greatly. I was unaware of almost every tool we covered in class this semester and if i knew about it I had little or no experience. After this course I Strongly believe that technology can play a very effective role in teaching and learning.

Reflective Learning Blog Reflection

I found the reflective learning blog a very effective form of teaching. Many times professors will assign reading but never ask for a synthesis or reflection of the material. By requiring students to reflect on reading on assignments I feel a much greater amount of learning occurs. I put in a very large amount of time this semester working on these posts. At times it was frustrating but I feel that I gained a lot more from the readings and my assignments when I thought back on them to create my reflective posts.

As a future teacher I now see the benefits on requiring reflection on assignments. I definitely would like to incorporate a reflective learning blog into my future classroom because I feel that it is very beneficial to learning. Also it is a great way to look back on what you have done as well as a possible resource. I found that when I had a question about something often times my summary and reflection provided an answer for me rather than having to look back and read a chapter again.

Technology Inquiry Wiki Reflection

Often I find large projects assigned by teachers to be very useless both for my learning and for my future. While talking with another student about the technology inquiry wiki I said that I actually appreciated this assignment and feel that I learned something. Throughout the semester I exerted a lot of time and effort into this assignment. I am happy that it was assigned in stages and that we had progress checks because that stopped me from waiting to do it all at the last minute. Also I appreciated that this assignment really built off of numerous other assignments, like using resources from your delicious account and knowing how to create a screencast.

This assignment has numerous impacts for my future teaching. First off I realize how easy it is to create and use a wiki, it can be as simple as copying and pasting information about your class for parents to see. Also I found this assignment very informative and I am happy I chose my topic on interactive whiteboards. After this assignment I feel that I can make a compelling argument as to why I should have an interactive whiteboard for my classroom. As a future teacher I would most definitely want to incorporate a class wiki and an IWB into my classroom. I would have the students do their own inquiry wikis on numerous topics because I feel this is a very good form of assessment.

Social Bookmarking (Delicous) Reflection

Currently I have 92 bookmarks on my delicious account. I feel that throughout the semester I did a fairly good job of keeping up with bookmarking and adding useful resources to my account. At first it was difficult because I was looking for sites and trying to find good resources, but as the semester went along it turned more into using a site and thinking oh I should bookmark this.

Numerous times throughout this semester I used the resources on my delicious account for my other education classes. It was very helpful because instead of having to find a site again I knew right where to go for it. I think this will be a very helpful resource in the future. As a future teacher I will be able to look back on my tags and find helpful resources for projects I am working on. Also it will be beneficial to my students and colleagues because they will be able to look on my delicious and find helpful resources.

PSA Reflection

I exerted a good effort in the planning and producing of my groups PSA. My group met numerous times to plan, tape, and edit our PSA. I feel that we as a group put in a good amount to accomplish this assignment. Also I did not know much about video editing especially with iMovie, I feel that going in for help to learn how to use iMovie shows the effort put into this project.

It was very nice to work in a group for this assignment. This assignment was due during crunch time and it was very helpful to know that I had peers I could count on to help finish this project. This was very helpful to my future teaching in that I realize that I am not alone and I will have a support network that I can go to for help. The actual production of the video was helpful to my future teaching as well. I now realize how simple it is to put together a video, in the future I will not be afraid to put together a video for my class.

Final Class 12/9/2010

How will you teach Ella?

Three ways I will intergrate technology into my future classroom.

The first way in which technology will be intergrated into my classroom is through blogging. I will have a blog where I post relevent information purtaining to my class. My students will have a blog to relfect on classroom assignments as well as colloborate together through their blogs.

There will be an interactive whiteboard in my classroom. I will use this daily to teach lessons as well as have students work in small groups on interactive whiteboard lessons. Also I will have students create their own interactive whiteboard lesson. instead of creating a poster or prerparing a speech I will have students present using the interactive whiteboard.

A third way in which I will incorporate technology into the classroom will be through podcasting. I will create podcasts of my lectures for students to listen to later or for students who may have been absent. Students will create podcasts as a form of assessment and colaboration in my classroom.

iRLO reflection

Using Scratch to create an iRLO was a challenging task. It took me a while to figure out how to get things to work. Once I figured out how things went together, the project got rolling rather quickly. The first time I sat down for a couple hours to figure out what standard-based content to address and then how I wanted to address it. After setting up the backgrounds and the sprite I used it did not take very long to write the scripts. I feel I exerted a good effort to create my iRLO.

I feel that iRLO’s are a great way for students to learn and reinforce content. iRLO’s are great because they get students engaged and interested in material. While students are playing a game or working through their iRLO they are having fun as well as getting feedback on their performance. This assignment was intimidating at first but after creating a Scratch project I would not be afraid to create them for my students or have my students create their own. In a future elementary classroom I would use this tool to help students learning of material as well as to introduce them to basic programming.