CLASS REFLECTION

I really enjoyed this class and learned so much! I cannot even believe how much knowledge I have gained over this summer!

I feel it is important to be aware of the different teaching strategies when using technology. I also believe technology should be used in an authentic way for real learning to take place. Whatever the students are doing with the technology it has to be made using simple steps and be very clear for them. It also needs to engage them.

The technologies we have used in this class have been wonderful for me! I never thought I would have my own Blog...and here I am. I really want my children to be able to use Blogs this year with some of their writing and commenting to others. My plan is to start them off doing book reviews on their Blog. Then students can comment on them, too. I think this will be a very exciting way for them to do book reviews. The WebQuest and STAIR projects are my favorite. I will be making more of these for my class to use. I'll also be checking other WebQuests to see what I might be able to use that is already out there. This has just opened a whole new resource for me!! I also learned more about using Wiki and am thinking this might be good for homework. I have to play around with it some more.

I have not only met my own personal goals, but exceeded them! I do know there is even more out there and I have much more to learn. I am excited about this! My goals now are to keep learning more and to keep up with what I have learned already. My immediate goal is to go back and bookmark any sites and WebQuests I think I can use, and download any STAIRS I might be able to use. I haven't had a chance to look at all the STAIRS yet. My goal for now is to use what I have made with my class, make more, use resources I have found, use Wiki with my students, and have them Blog as well. My classroom will be a different place this year! Luckily for me, I am going to have 8 or 9 computers in my room...it will be a mini-lab. I am so excited!!

Teaching & Learning in an Internet-based Environment

I think it is very interesting that MI is going to require on-line learning with a minimum of 20 hours for graduation. I believe this is a very good thing. I wonder which of the three ways the schools will do this, or if they will leave it as a choice for the students. I also wonder what some of the teachers think of this.

Being a 3rd grade teacher the MI Merit Curriculum Guidelines don't specifically "speak" to me, but I do think using computers for authentic uses (not just to play games) is a very important thing for younger students, too. I know in my class the children do a lot of research using certain sites we have found for them. They have also made web pages using Wiki. Now that I have my WebQuest and STAIR project, they will be able to use those for authentic learning on the computer. I am very excited for this. I've also been thinking about how to use a Blog, and I'm thinking I might use this for certain responses for their homework. In the article it also said you could use Wiki for homework. I haven't checked that out yet, but I will.

I can definitely see our classrooms changing! I'd be interested to know if any of you have done Podcasting or anything with electronic portfolios.