My Journey Through Technology in EDTS 325

At the beginning of this course, when we were first introduced to technology in the classroom my initial thought was “I don’t think I can use any of this in my classroom.” As the class went on I definitely changed my mind and outlook on technology. I realized how important all of these different technologies really are and how I can incorporate them into my classroom.

SMART Notebook

This course opened me up to a whole new world of technology that I didn’t even know existed. Thanks to this class I can now say that I am able to use SMART Notebook software to create interactive lessons and modules. Learning to use SMART Notebook technology has prepared me for when I enter the classroom. All schools use this technology and learning how to use it will give me an advantage in the future. Learning how to create lessons using the SMART Notebook technology has helped me see how to create fun lessons that will get students involved and engaged. This will be a huge asset for organizing and running a classroom.

PLN’s

After taking this class I can now establish, maintain, and grow personal networking sites such as Twitter, Pinterest and personal blogs to communicate and share ideas. I learned that teachers for multiple different reasons and in multiple different ways could use these digital platforms.

With Twitter teachers can use it as a way to communicate with other educators and stay in the loop of the ever-changing technologies. We see this communications with the use of twitter chats and commenting.

With Pinterest there is so many different ideas and experiences that educators can share amongst each other. It is a great resource to use when you’re in a bind and need ideas for a specific lesson or even organization inspiration.

With blogs this is a great idea for classrooms and I had no idea before taking this class. I have learned that you can use blogs to send information to parents and students. With students you can keep a list of what you did that day so they can go back if they miss a day. You can also post videos of a lesson if students need a more in depth explanation. When communicating with parents you can have calendars for lessons or field trips along with announcements on the blog. This would be a huge asset for the teacher parent communication relationship. I can definitely see myself using blogs in my future classroom.

 Web2.0 Tools

I can now create quizzes and learning activities using interactive learning systems. A lot of systems I have never used before this class and quite honestly I really wish I had. Systems like Kahoot, Spiral, and Plickers are amazing technologies to use in classrooms. I feel that learning how to use these systems now has given me a huge advantage for teaching one day. Using these tools can enhance the learning system of students and make the environment a fun and engaging place to learn.

Google

One point I absolutely loved learning more was about Google and all that it has to offer. Before taking this class I just saw Google as a search engine and a drive to hold and share files. I didn’t know that Google has so many different layers and applications to it. Learning about things like Google classroom and forms was something that shocked me completely. I wish that we had gotten to learn about some of the other Google apps and what they have to offer such as Google sheets, vault, hangouts and slides. Learning about these and seeing what they have to offer could have been really interesting. I also wish we did more on Google classroom, we didn’t really do much with it so getting a more in depth picture might’ve made how to use it more clear. All in all though I really did love learning about Google because I had no idea all of that existed and I would definitely continue to use and explore the applications.

What excites me about entering the workforce?

This class opened me up to the opportunities and the ways that technology can be fun. I am most excited to use the movie and screen casting tools in class. As a teacher if you can go on and video of yourself with relevant information the students are most likely to have fun. If you are learning about something in history and you go and make a video about relevant history moments, and have fun with it the students will listen and have fun. I feel having a fun, as a teacher will allow the students to see that teaching can be fun. I am so excited to make the classroom alive and fun, teachers shouldn’t be boring and traditional at all times, they need to have fun with what they do.

 My Final Thoughts

This class was a great tool to get us Pre-service teachers ready to enter the real world of teaching. It showed us that there are so many opportunities and resources out there and we should take the time to keep up and learn about them. The one thing that this class made clear is that there is a reason that I didn’t get to use technology like this in the classroom growing up; this is because technology is forever evolving. I feel that we are not even at the peak of what technology will have to offer; it will continue to grow and improve the way we teach and learn. I am ready to embrace and continue to learn about all that technology has to offer. I am excited to see where it leads and how much it improves teaching in the future.