· What attitudes, skills, and concepts have you gained from participating in the course so far?
While I felt like this class was a newspaper boy delivering 100 papers to my doorstep at once, I feel like I’m getting in the groove now. One of the biggest shifts I’ve noticed in myself is the ability to jump into using technology. I always had this fear of doing something wrong, but I’ve learned to let go of this fear and just try! I figure if I expect my students to use technology, then I need to know how to approach learning various tools as well. One additional concept that has resonated with me is that if I’m looking for a particular tech tool, I have so many resources in order to find what I need now. I can search for it, refer to some of the edtech blogs, or twitter the question to get a response. Lastly, I’m proud of the online network that I’m building for myself through this course.
· What have you learned in the course that you will not forget tomorrow?
To be an active online educator! After reading a lot of our readings and watching a lot of videos from this class, being active online is one of my biggest takeaways. In Reach by Jeff Utecht, he writes, “Taking advantage of the constant stream of information available today on the web at any given moment and using it for you own professional growth is what it means to learn in the 21st Century” (p. 85). Of course, this connects to what we want our students to learn as well. Also, some of the tools that we’re using in the class have been really useful. Two of my favorites that I won’t soon forget are Diigo and everything connected to Google, like Google +, Google Reader, etc. Just yesterday I was talking to another colleague who is taking an Edtech graduate class from another school, and I shared these two tools with him. He had not experienced either one, so I told him to check them out and that I’d meet with him this week to show him some of their features. Lastly, I will not forget about Twitter. I didn’t realize how useful Twitter would be and how connected I can instantly feel to so many educators.
· How will you apply what you have learned to your teaching and future learning?
One of the ways I will apply what I’m learning is by teaching others. I have a meeting set up with one of my counselor colleagues this week to show him how he can have counseling resources at his finger tips on Twitter, as well as some blogs that I’m currently following. Also, I’m beginning to question how I can use technology for helping to guide my students according to our three standards connected to academics, post-high school plans, and social-emotional learning. For our group guidance curriculum, we’re always asking how we’ll know that our students have learned the objectives of our lesson. This past year we gave our students 5 question quizzes that we graded on scantrons. Now, I’m thinking we could change that to a tool like Polleverywhere.
Overall, I can’t believe how much I’ve grown and we’re only half way through! I’m looking forward to the second half or our class. This class has helped me so much and has connected me to so many resources. I’m glad that we’ve had the opportunity to actually engage in the tools and not just learn or read about them.
While I felt like this class was a newspaper boy delivering 100 papers to my doorstep at once, I feel like I’m getting in the groove now. One of the biggest shifts I’ve noticed in myself is the ability to jump into using technology. I always had this fear of doing something wrong, but I’ve learned to let go of this fear and just try! I figure if I expect my students to use technology, then I need to know how to approach learning various tools as well. One additional concept that has resonated with me is that if I’m looking for a particular tech tool, I have so many resources in order to find what I need now. I can search for it, refer to some of the edtech blogs, or twitter the question to get a response. Lastly, I’m proud of the online network that I’m building for myself through this course.
· What have you learned in the course that you will not forget tomorrow?
To be an active online educator! After reading a lot of our readings and watching a lot of videos from this class, being active online is one of my biggest takeaways. In Reach by Jeff Utecht, he writes, “Taking advantage of the constant stream of information available today on the web at any given moment and using it for you own professional growth is what it means to learn in the 21st Century” (p. 85). Of course, this connects to what we want our students to learn as well. Also, some of the tools that we’re using in the class have been really useful. Two of my favorites that I won’t soon forget are Diigo and everything connected to Google, like Google +, Google Reader, etc. Just yesterday I was talking to another colleague who is taking an Edtech graduate class from another school, and I shared these two tools with him. He had not experienced either one, so I told him to check them out and that I’d meet with him this week to show him some of their features. Lastly, I will not forget about Twitter. I didn’t realize how useful Twitter would be and how connected I can instantly feel to so many educators.
· How will you apply what you have learned to your teaching and future learning?
One of the ways I will apply what I’m learning is by teaching others. I have a meeting set up with one of my counselor colleagues this week to show him how he can have counseling resources at his finger tips on Twitter, as well as some blogs that I’m currently following. Also, I’m beginning to question how I can use technology for helping to guide my students according to our three standards connected to academics, post-high school plans, and social-emotional learning. For our group guidance curriculum, we’re always asking how we’ll know that our students have learned the objectives of our lesson. This past year we gave our students 5 question quizzes that we graded on scantrons. Now, I’m thinking we could change that to a tool like Polleverywhere.
Overall, I can’t believe how much I’ve grown and we’re only half way through! I’m looking forward to the second half or our class. This class has helped me so much and has connected me to so many resources. I’m glad that we’ve had the opportunity to actually engage in the tools and not just learn or read about them.
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ReplyDeleteAntonette,
ReplyDeleteTrue confession ... when I read your first paragraph ... I did a fist pump and said, "Yes!" right out loud. It's so good to hear that you are achieving my goals and you're growing through the process. Way to go!!
Dr. T