Class Reflection

This class has been absolutely wonderful. Before coming into this class, I knew very little about technology besides email and facebook. I was very optimistic coming into the class that I would learn many useful things that I can use in my classroom. I must say that I have done so. Throughout my journey I have learned how to do everything from create a graphic organizer, to create my own movie, to making my own classroom website. Above all the things I did in this class, my favorite project was designing my own classroom website. Ever since I entered the education program, I looked forward to having my own classroom website. Now I do! I learned a lot in this class and I am excited about incorporating these projects into my own classroom. For now, my journey is over!!!

iMovie

I really enjoyed using iMovie to create a movie that will introduce myself to the students. I think using movies in teh classroom are a great way of capturing the students' attention. I definitely plan on using iMovie again. An idea that I have is create a movie about our school year as a class and then show it to my students and parents on the last day of school. I feel that this would be a great way of capturing memories.

I was really nervous when I first found out that we had to make a movie because I felt completely clueless.Now, I can say that i am comfortable with iMovie and MOST of its tools and I plan on using many times in the future.

I hope you enjoy my movie!

OME (One Minute Essay)

I have enjoyed this class so much. We are halfway through the class and I am no longer scared of technology. I am not an expert yet, but I feel that I have moved on from being a novice. I now feel more comfortable with using different programs to create things for my classroom. My favorite thing so far has been the Inspiration program. I have always been one who learns better when I have something in front of me so I am glad I learned how to create handouts for me as well as for my students to use. I am looking forward to learning even more about technology, in particular how to design my own classroom website!!

Inspiration

I really enjoyed using Inspiration to design a concept map on plant growth. I can definitely see myself using this in my classroom. It is a fast and simple way to design handouts or even transparencies to use when teaching a certain subject. I really enjoyed using this program!

Digital Scavenger Hunt

My digital collection

Lesson Planning

Writing a lesson plan to integrate technology was a lot harder than I thought. In the beginning, I thought that it wouldn't be that hard to come up with a lesson that has students using technology. Boy was I wrong! My group chose to write a 3rd grade lesson on the solar system. It took us a little while to get started because we weren't sure how to integrate technology into the lesson of making a model of the solar system. After a while, we finally decided that we could use technology by having the students fill out a research guide on their planet. It wasn't too bad once we got past this point.

After writing this lesson, I now realize how challenging it can be to incorporate technology into an elementary lesson plan. Even though it may require a little extra work, I plan to incorporate technology into my lessons as much as possible.