Interactive White Boards

I was lucky enough to attend school in the Carlisle School District in Carlisle, PA, because when I was in 5th grade the district received one of the largest technology grants ever given to a single school district. With it, every student above 8th grade had a laptop made available to them, there were three computer labs in every building and, most importantly, every SINGLE classroom in the school district had it's own Smart Board.

I think that this technology revolutionized the way that I learned and made it clear to me that technology is so important in the classroom. I was taught in a much more digital environment than some of my peers and I feel that that will only help me to incorporate it into the classroom. While I know that not every school or classroom will have a Smart Board or any other type of interactive white board, I think that they are something that all schools should strive for. They make technology so accessible in the classroom and they are such a good idea for students of all ages. 

Podcasting

Making the podcast was probably my least favorite assignment. I felt awkward talking to my computer but not making it a video. Maybe it's because I dislike my own voice, but hearing it recorded was very strange. For some reason, I felt that the Web 2.0 project was better,because I was actually doing something with my computer and not just talking at it. I don't know if I would use this technology in my classroom, but if the opportunity arises at least I know how to do it.

Creating a Webpage

This assignment was definitely my favorite of the class. I really enjoy being creative and putting together the page.  Designing the page was easy enough and I liked that Google Sites was so simple. I am considering using this exact website when I become a teacher and just adjusting and tweaking it a bit to make it more accessible and fitting for my own students and their parents.

Lesson Plans, Scavenger Hunts, & Webquests

This session was particularly easy for me, as in every class I have had I have made a lesson plan. For the lesson plan I wrote, I actually just used one that I had written for another class and tweaked it a bit to make it cater to technology a bit more.

Lesson planning is, similar to grading, one of the more boring parts of teaching, but it also the most necessary. Getting as much practice as possible in creating a lesson plan is essential to a future teacher, as it is a large portion of our job. This lesson plan was good practice for integrating technology into the classroom and made me understand how important it really is to try and incorporate some form into my every day teaching. It's so easy to do so, whether it is through a powerpoint or any other means, and it is so important to our students.

Creating a Good Website

This session was a very good introduction to creating a website, as it gave us the process and the information we needed to make a good one. 

Making a website is so crucial to running a good classroom in this day and age, as it is our first and most convenient means of communication between ourselves, our students, and their parents. This session not only ensured that we knew how to do it, but allowed us to see what makes a website accessible and clean for a user to navigate and learn from our page.

Desktop Publishing and Digital Imaging

I really enjoyed figuring out how to make the flyer and the newsletter. It was never something that I had to do before, so the experience was definitely worthwhile. I had some trouble inserting photos and moving things around, so it was definitely the project that took me the most time to complete. However, I think the final product was some of my best work and the entire process is something that I will easily be able to repeat again. 

These types of publications make it so easy to communicate with parents and keep them aware of things that are going on in the classroom, the school, and the community. I think that knowing how to make a decent flyer or newsletter is something that I will definitely use many times in my future and I consider it a very valuable skill. 

Web 2.0

In my opinion, this session was one of the more important ones. This session is when we were really introduced to the different applications and devices that we can incorporate into our classroom and make learning more accessible for our students.

There was a plethora of applications that we learned about during this session and each one seemed easy enough to incorporate into a classroom setting. Using these applications is absolutely necessary for the success of our students, as otherwise they will without a doubt grow bored in our class. They need to be challenged by this technology and learn how to use it, both because they are used to it and because the world is only going to get more technologically advanced. The world is not going to slow down, so we need to make sure that our students are ready.

I have already created a word document on my computer with a list of these applications, because I plan on using them quite frequently in the future.