Looking Back

Looking back on this course I wasn't sure what I was expecting in terms of what I was going to learn, and what was expected of us. In all honesty I was a little terrified this class was going to go over my head and I would be dreading going to class every week. Having experience in a classroom and working in a school environment, I have learned the importance of technology in the classroom. I wasn't sure how this class was going to expand my knowledge about that topic. This class has turned out to be the exact opposite. I looked forward to coming to class, and looking ahead to see what new things were going to be covered that night. I have learned how technology has a great impact on how students can learn and grow, especially in ways that can be confidence builders. There are many aspects of this course that I hope to take on into my future classroom. From learning about the different educational websites out there for students and teachers to use for instruction to how to set up a google site in order to get your name and image out in the educational field.

With so many different skills that I have learned in the last 6 weeks it is hard to focus on just one, but the three that I find I have gained the most knowledge from are Twitter, google forms, and TED-Ed. When I was first told that we had to create a twitter account I was not to thrilled with the idea. I have always had the notion that twitter was filled with useless content that anyone could through up there some what like Wikipedia. It was always a social media that I tried to avoid if I could. Once I started writing my twits and following educational organizations I found that twitter is a great resource in getting new or improved ideas from millions of people around the world. A teacher in Hawaii can post about a lesson that they did on History in their classroom and you can take the same concept that you never thought about and us it yours. It is also a great tool to answer questions about how to implement a topic or getting new ideas for a student who may be struggling. Another great aspect that I love about twitter are twitter chats. Twitter chat is another forum that allows me to learn more about a topic that I am interested in by the use of questions asked by fellow teachers.

The second tool that I found very useful are google forms. In google forms you can make everything from a get to know you form to a check in quiz about a reading that was assigned in class. This is a great tool for teachers to use with students that limits the use of paper and keeps in one place that can be referenced at any time by the teacher. The tool also allows you to see who has done it and who has not. This is a great way to know who has been on task and may need some help focusing as well as those who may be out of the class and missed the information.

The final tool that I found useful is TED-Ed. TED-Ed is a website that has hundreds of ready to use lesson plans about different topics. Some can be used as fun brain breaks as well as getting more information about topics that they are interested in or reiterated what has already been taught.  https://ed.ted.com/lessons?content_type=animations&direction=desc&sort=publish-date&user_by_click=educator