Reflection

Where I was

Honestly, before this class I was skeptical of technology in the classroom. I knew that as teachers we were supposed to be incorporating it into our classrooms. During my observations, I had only seen a couple of teacher use technology effectively. I grew up in a generation where technology was growing and starting to be used in a classroom, but we weren't allowed to have personal devices on us. That made me biased because I'm not much older than some of these high school students and I got through school just fine without a lot of technology. At this point I did not see technology as an aide, just a distraction.

Growth

After finishing my Educational Technology class I feel like I have learned so much.It truly has been one of the most interesting and useful classes that I have taken during my grad work. I think there are two main areas where this class has allowed me to grow.

Growing out of my comfort zone

Getting out of my comfort zone is a big one. The blog in and of itself is WAY out of my comfort zone! In the past I have always been a little self conscious about my writing and so to do it on a public forum was very nerve wracking for me. Now, I don't really think twice about it. My peers have been supportive and offer good points in their feedback to my posts. I feel more comfortable as a writer. It was also a little daunting when I was asked to create something on and an app that I had never used before, like Adobe Spark. When I tried Spark for the first time I literally had no idea what I was doing. However, after continually trying new apps or resources, it gets easier to learn the works and functions of new tools quickly. Towards the end of my semester I started recording voice over tutorials. I really had to force myself to do this because I don't like the sound of my voice and I was totally inexperienced at this.  I made myself do it because it was going to be the easiest way show how to use a resource and I knew I might need use this tool later and I wanted to get familiar with doing it. I don't think I'm totally comfortable at this yet but I know I can get there!

Growing in knowledge and understanding

I've learned a lot about different technology tools and resources that I can use in the classroom, like Kahoot! or Seesaw. I've learned how to enhance tools that I had already been using, like making Google Slides interactive. I've also come to better understand the ISTE standards for educators and what they mean. I feel like I have became a better learner of technology. This doesn't just include exploring new apps but learning when certain technology is good to use and when it isn't. Sometimes technology doesn't work for your purpose and that's okay. I also feel like I've grown in being a leader for technology. I've been able to have conversations with those outside the education field and advocate for technology in the classroom. Not everyone understands its importance and it might be our job to explain it. I've also learned more about leadership in technology by modeling different apps and tools to my classmates, and them to me. That collaboration is something else that I now have a better understanding of. Discussing these apps and tools with each other really helped me learn more about them. Even if we were reviewing the same thing, like Nearpod, one of my peers might be able to show me something that I didn't know or think of. While creating content on technology, I have also had to think about how I could modify it for students so that it can be best used for their learning. 

Where I am now

So where did all this growth get me? I have a much better understanding of technology and its purpose now. I like technology and I find it fun to create and explore new things. I believe in its usefulness and I feel like I can share that with other teachers or staff in the educational field. I also feel like I can explain its value to those who are skeptics and don't understand it's place in the classroom. I'm reminded of some of the lesson plans that I have created for past classes and now think about how they can be enhanced by specific apps or resources. 

Where I want to be

This is a little harder for me to know because I'm not in a classroom yet so I don't even have a baseline to work with. I do know that I want to be a teacher that effectively uses technology.  I want my students to be able to use it effectively as well. I want to continue to learn new technologies and be a leader to my peers and students.

References and resources mentioned



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Assessments Using Google Forms

Image
My assessment I created a formative assessment on the three branches of government. I could use this as an exit ticket after a lesson or as a warm up in the next class period. My quiz is broken up into three sections for the three branches, with 2-3 questions per section. Why I chose Google Forms First of all, I personally find Google Forms easy to navigate. Since this is a short, formative assessment, I didn't want to spend too much time on the set up. Google Forms also allows you to break up groups of questions into sections. I found this particularly helpful for this topic because I could look at an individual's responses for a certain section.  For example, I can see how this person (me on my trial run) did on the Judicial section. If all or most of the answers are correct then I can infer that they have a good grasp on the judicial branch. Conversely, if they didn't do well on this section, I would infer that they need to review and refer them to an acti
Read more

Canva

Image
What is Canva? That was what I asked myself when I was asked to use it for an assignment in grad school about a year ago. Our professor wanted us to make an infographic about something and told us that this resource would be a good one to use.  Canva is a graphic design resource that is available as an app and from its website. I have used both the app and website versions and both run pretty smoothly. I only have the free version which limits what you can do through the app. The upgrade is $12.95 per month. Below are the different features between the versions. There is also Canva Enterprise, but that is primarily for groups of people with 30+ members.  I'm really fine with only having the free version of Canva. I don't think I would use it enough to warrant the Canva for Work version. However, if I ended up using the app a lot I like it enough to consider paying for the upgrade.  One feature that is only in the upgrade is the resizing of designs. I've use
Read more

Reviews of Padlet and Nearpod

Image
Experience with Padlet This week I had decided to review Padlet as a resource. There is a desktop and app version of Padlet. I signed up for the free version, which gives you a limited number of Padlets that you can create and you can only upload files of smaller sizes. You can, of course, upgrade with prices starting at $8.25 a month. To create a Padlet, you can either pick from templates or you can start from scratch. If you start from scratch, you will pick a type of Padlet to create. Below are the options: I wanted to do discussion questions on the U.S. Constitution so I picked the Canvas format, although Backchannel would have worked as well. This is what my Padlet looked like when I was finished: This would be the view as both the creator or someone who is just contributing. To add a comment, you click on the pink + button at the bottom right hand corner. You can the connect the comments with an arrow. One thing that I liked about this app is there are a variety of
Read more