IT 645 has become eye opening with the endless possibilities of integrating technology within the classroom. I have learned how to use many different free online sources that will change my classroom environment forever and for the betterment of the children I am teaching. I already had some basic knowledge when it came to certain software, but I still obtained a more in depth knowledge of them. I have come to figure out that using these different technologies within a classroom is not always a difficult task, which I thought before. It is much less time consuming and will help class progress. I have more knowledge of interactive technology that I can use to keep my students focused and engaged with the process of learning.
There were many projects throughout this summer course and I feel as if all of them helped make me a better teacher. I know I have not utilized any of the technology yet because it is the summer, but my mind is always thinking of ways to make a classroom better. With my experience in the classroom, I am able to develop my curriculum based from what I expect and I look forward to integrating technology as soon as I know my grade level for this upcoming school year.
Project one took some time to create, but it helped the entire class flow once it was published. We were required to make a blog site using Weebly.com to write our reflections and share our class projects with our group members and teacher. The other part of project one was creating a lesson plan, which we would integrate technology into by the end of the summer course. The blog site, although time consuming, was my favorite project throughout the entire summer. I think it will help me drastically when it comes to getting students to evaluate their own works because it allows them to write in a private manner and share with anyone they choose. Along with creating an in-class portfolio, I will have my students create their own blog site to talk about their own projects as they work on them and as they complete them. The lesson plan actually helped me with lesson plan creating because I found a great format to use compared to those I used previously.
For project two, we created a technology survey using Google Forms to question how much technology our students had access to when they are home. I really enjoyed this tool and think that it will help for more than just figuring out how much technology my students have access to at home. I thought of it as a simple way for student to take quizzes or pre-test before going into a lesson, which I discovered later in the course could be done using other programs. I plan to use this in my classroom so that I know how much technology I can use in a way that is fair to every one of my students. Because I really want to integrate technology, I plan to check with the school library or computer lab to figure something out.
Google documents and slides were in project three used to create and share information with our group members and also learning how to share these documents and slides in order for our group members to edit them and add photos. I enjoyed this project, but have used it in this past so it was not about learning a new thing for me. This project became more about becoming better with both of these programs and I feel that was accomplished. These tools are extremely helpful for me for a handful of reasons. First, I own a Google Chromebook so I work through Google Drive for everything. Second, many schools are using Chromebooks because they are much more affordable and their storage is through the cloud. I also think it becomes helpful because anyone with internet access also has access to Google and it’s programs. I already use this in my own teaching and definitely plan to continue.
Project four may be my least favorite of the summer course. We created podcast as method of delivering information through the computer. I did not like this because I felt strange talking into the computer and planning out word for word what was going to be said. I do see how such planning could be beneficial. I could see this as helpful if I were teaching a class online, but I am a fan of explaining things in front of students so they can ask questions as we go. I doubt I use this in my classroom because part of my week should be having discussions about the materials with students and making sure all of their questions are answered for their sake and the others in the classroom as well.
Project five and six worked together to create a movie story and interactive video. The interactive video was created with the same video developed from the movie story project. I did enjoy both of these projects and look forward to recreating them when I have more time because I am a perfectionist. I want to make sure everything is included for the different videos and add more interactive questions to the movie story in the future. I do think this project is helpful because it will make sure my students are paying attention to the movie story I create because they will need to information in order to answer questions. Because of this, I will be using this in my future classrooms to ensure they are getting the best opportunity when it comes to obtaining content knowledge.
Project seven is either my second favorite project all summer or tied for first with the blog website. The possibilities created by a course website and endless and I cannot stop thinking of things I want to accomplish with it. This tool, along with the blog site, are the two most helpful projects in my experience and I cannot wait to use them in my own teaching. A course website gives me a hub for my students to visit instead of printing everything out for them. It allows me to share assignments, resources, etc. in a singular location, making it convenient, which students love. Students absolutely love recognition when it comes to everything; artwork and personal creations are no different! The course website allows me to post a student gallery of work so they can show friends and family what they are accomplishing.
With the use of our course website project we were able to accomplish project number eight. Both parts of project eight were integrated into the website assignment page. For the first piece of the project, we embedded a quiz using the sidebar of Weebly.com. Although free members are only allowed to use five questions, this can be used to gather plenty of information. I know I will utilize this tool because I plan to use a course website with an assignments page. The other part of project eight was to create an online forum and share the link on our course website assignments page. I plan to use this forum for many projects because it allows students to express what they think or feel and they can also have classroom discussions in different threads.
Project nine was another format for creating a quiz using quizizz.com followed by creating a lesson rubric utilizing Rubistar. Quizizz was very neat to me and reminded a lot of Kahoot. I could use quizizz for either studying materials or to proctor actual quizzes. I found it very user friendly and because of this I plan to use it in my assignments page regularly. I loved the idea behind Rubistar, but could not get the files to download properly in the excel format. I have a set art rubric for projects so I doubt I utilize Rubistar in my classroom. I will just continue to use the rubric I created previously.
Thinglink and Scoop.it were utilized for project ten and they were exciting to learn how to create and share. Both programs were easy to use and give me new ways to deliver content to students. Thinglink allows me to upload interactive links to a photo, which is simple and effective. For my classroom, I think I will use this for studying materials or extra credit style assignments. Scoop.it was very interesting and I plan to use it often in my classroom. I plan to post a certain amount of articles and resources each week and have my students read one and reflect on it. I find both of these tools very helpful with delivering a fair amount of information.
Strengths I possess when it comes to technology are prior knowledge and my ability to creatively use the tools provided. It may be because of my age, but I have grown up around technology and it’s progression and integration my entire life. Because of this, I have spent a lot of time working with different technology which I think helps me when learning new tools. The tools can only take a teacher to a certain point before it becomes the teacher's responsibility to make the best use of the tool. I am always thinking of creative ways to use what is provided so it gives me an edge when it comes to utilizing technology tools in my classroom. Weaknesses I possess involving technology include patience and feeling uncomfortable when I use certain tools. I need to develop more patience because these different tools take time to utilize to their best abilities. I do not feel comfortable hearing my own voice in things such as podcast or videos and it could because I do not sound enthusiastic enough. I look forward to attempting to change this to better myself and how I use technology.
I will without a doubt be integrating technologies into my classroom because they make delivering information easier and more effective. These tools allow endless possibilities from assessment to student recognition and this will help create a good classroom with great classroom management. My future learning goals are to provide myself with the most practice I possibly can to make sure I become much more technology literate. I also look forward to searching and utilizing tools that were not covered in this classroom so I can continue learning because I feel that is an extremely important part of being an effective professional.
There were many projects throughout this summer course and I feel as if all of them helped make me a better teacher. I know I have not utilized any of the technology yet because it is the summer, but my mind is always thinking of ways to make a classroom better. With my experience in the classroom, I am able to develop my curriculum based from what I expect and I look forward to integrating technology as soon as I know my grade level for this upcoming school year.
Project one took some time to create, but it helped the entire class flow once it was published. We were required to make a blog site using Weebly.com to write our reflections and share our class projects with our group members and teacher. The other part of project one was creating a lesson plan, which we would integrate technology into by the end of the summer course. The blog site, although time consuming, was my favorite project throughout the entire summer. I think it will help me drastically when it comes to getting students to evaluate their own works because it allows them to write in a private manner and share with anyone they choose. Along with creating an in-class portfolio, I will have my students create their own blog site to talk about their own projects as they work on them and as they complete them. The lesson plan actually helped me with lesson plan creating because I found a great format to use compared to those I used previously.
For project two, we created a technology survey using Google Forms to question how much technology our students had access to when they are home. I really enjoyed this tool and think that it will help for more than just figuring out how much technology my students have access to at home. I thought of it as a simple way for student to take quizzes or pre-test before going into a lesson, which I discovered later in the course could be done using other programs. I plan to use this in my classroom so that I know how much technology I can use in a way that is fair to every one of my students. Because I really want to integrate technology, I plan to check with the school library or computer lab to figure something out.
Google documents and slides were in project three used to create and share information with our group members and also learning how to share these documents and slides in order for our group members to edit them and add photos. I enjoyed this project, but have used it in this past so it was not about learning a new thing for me. This project became more about becoming better with both of these programs and I feel that was accomplished. These tools are extremely helpful for me for a handful of reasons. First, I own a Google Chromebook so I work through Google Drive for everything. Second, many schools are using Chromebooks because they are much more affordable and their storage is through the cloud. I also think it becomes helpful because anyone with internet access also has access to Google and it’s programs. I already use this in my own teaching and definitely plan to continue.
Project four may be my least favorite of the summer course. We created podcast as method of delivering information through the computer. I did not like this because I felt strange talking into the computer and planning out word for word what was going to be said. I do see how such planning could be beneficial. I could see this as helpful if I were teaching a class online, but I am a fan of explaining things in front of students so they can ask questions as we go. I doubt I use this in my classroom because part of my week should be having discussions about the materials with students and making sure all of their questions are answered for their sake and the others in the classroom as well.
Project five and six worked together to create a movie story and interactive video. The interactive video was created with the same video developed from the movie story project. I did enjoy both of these projects and look forward to recreating them when I have more time because I am a perfectionist. I want to make sure everything is included for the different videos and add more interactive questions to the movie story in the future. I do think this project is helpful because it will make sure my students are paying attention to the movie story I create because they will need to information in order to answer questions. Because of this, I will be using this in my future classrooms to ensure they are getting the best opportunity when it comes to obtaining content knowledge.
Project seven is either my second favorite project all summer or tied for first with the blog website. The possibilities created by a course website and endless and I cannot stop thinking of things I want to accomplish with it. This tool, along with the blog site, are the two most helpful projects in my experience and I cannot wait to use them in my own teaching. A course website gives me a hub for my students to visit instead of printing everything out for them. It allows me to share assignments, resources, etc. in a singular location, making it convenient, which students love. Students absolutely love recognition when it comes to everything; artwork and personal creations are no different! The course website allows me to post a student gallery of work so they can show friends and family what they are accomplishing.
With the use of our course website project we were able to accomplish project number eight. Both parts of project eight were integrated into the website assignment page. For the first piece of the project, we embedded a quiz using the sidebar of Weebly.com. Although free members are only allowed to use five questions, this can be used to gather plenty of information. I know I will utilize this tool because I plan to use a course website with an assignments page. The other part of project eight was to create an online forum and share the link on our course website assignments page. I plan to use this forum for many projects because it allows students to express what they think or feel and they can also have classroom discussions in different threads.
Project nine was another format for creating a quiz using quizizz.com followed by creating a lesson rubric utilizing Rubistar. Quizizz was very neat to me and reminded a lot of Kahoot. I could use quizizz for either studying materials or to proctor actual quizzes. I found it very user friendly and because of this I plan to use it in my assignments page regularly. I loved the idea behind Rubistar, but could not get the files to download properly in the excel format. I have a set art rubric for projects so I doubt I utilize Rubistar in my classroom. I will just continue to use the rubric I created previously.
Thinglink and Scoop.it were utilized for project ten and they were exciting to learn how to create and share. Both programs were easy to use and give me new ways to deliver content to students. Thinglink allows me to upload interactive links to a photo, which is simple and effective. For my classroom, I think I will use this for studying materials or extra credit style assignments. Scoop.it was very interesting and I plan to use it often in my classroom. I plan to post a certain amount of articles and resources each week and have my students read one and reflect on it. I find both of these tools very helpful with delivering a fair amount of information.
Strengths I possess when it comes to technology are prior knowledge and my ability to creatively use the tools provided. It may be because of my age, but I have grown up around technology and it’s progression and integration my entire life. Because of this, I have spent a lot of time working with different technology which I think helps me when learning new tools. The tools can only take a teacher to a certain point before it becomes the teacher's responsibility to make the best use of the tool. I am always thinking of creative ways to use what is provided so it gives me an edge when it comes to utilizing technology tools in my classroom. Weaknesses I possess involving technology include patience and feeling uncomfortable when I use certain tools. I need to develop more patience because these different tools take time to utilize to their best abilities. I do not feel comfortable hearing my own voice in things such as podcast or videos and it could because I do not sound enthusiastic enough. I look forward to attempting to change this to better myself and how I use technology.
I will without a doubt be integrating technologies into my classroom because they make delivering information easier and more effective. These tools allow endless possibilities from assessment to student recognition and this will help create a good classroom with great classroom management. My future learning goals are to provide myself with the most practice I possibly can to make sure I become much more technology literate. I also look forward to searching and utilizing tools that were not covered in this classroom so I can continue learning because I feel that is an extremely important part of being an effective professional.