Final Reflection Blog Post

Think back on the work you’ve been involved with this semester in CI 306. What have you learned this semester about technology and how it might be implemented in a classroom setting? What have you learned to do? What have you learned not to do? What technologies do you see yourself integrating into your classroom? What technologies do you see yourself not using and why? Have your thoughts about using technology in the classroom changed since the beginning of the semester and, if so, in what way? What advice do you have for yourself for future situations when technology is involved?

I really enjoyed C&I 306! I think I learned a lot from the class. I love working with technology, so I had great time learning about new types of social media, technological devices and systems. I know for a fact that I will implement technology into my classroom. I hope to have a few computers in my class, a smart board, a projector, radio, TV, etc. I think kids have so much fun with technology and it is becoming so popular now that almost every classroom state wide has some sort of technology involvement in their classroom. Since I plan to teach a younger age level I think I would be controlling the technology more than I would at an older age. I hope to teach my students, even at a young age to be able to make podcasts, movies, and PowerPoint’s.

One of the first things I learned in class was how to use a WebQuest, which is where teachers have introduced different lessons to do with students. It is a great way to get ideas for teaching and to learn ways of implementing different types of information into your own lesson plans. I also learned more about PowerPoint. I learned some new techniques and features in PowerPoint that are really neat. I love working with PowerPoint and love learning from teachers PowerPoint presentations, so I hope in my future classes I will be able to implement PP into my classroom. I learned about a new wiki website called www.wikispaces.com. I previously worked with WetPaint, which is another wiki website. I really enjoyed learning about this new site because it was something new and different than what I had worked with before. I learned about RSS which stands for “Real Simple Syndication.” When using RSS you subscribe to different pages and get new feeds every time you enter your RSS. This is a simple way of getting information fast and without trouble. I also learned a lot more about the social web. It was great to get a chance to experience different social networking sites such as, Twitter, Diigo, del.icio.us, and Flickr. These sites are fun to work with and there is a lot of amazing features each site has to offer. I especially liked Diigo because it is a website where you can arrange a collection of different websites that are your favorite and have them on every computer you use. You never have to worry about not having your favorite website list with you ever again. I also learned how to make a movie and how to put it together. I had made movies in high school before, but it had been a very long time since then, so it was great to have a mind refresher. I had a great time working in groups and making the movie. We got to incorporate both video and still picture into the movie so it was great to learn how to work with both still and moving picture. We learned how to make a podcast and I really thought that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed making my podcast and I hope to make podcasts in my class in the future. They can be used for so many different things such as, reading poems or stories. The last thing I learned about was Google Earth. This is an amazing web program. It is so fascinating and I know it would be a hit in any class. I hope to use it when I am doing a history lesson in my future classroom.

I have learned not to create a bad digital footprint. With so many different captivating websites available to us today it is important not to create a bad footprint. For example, don’t put up pictures that are inappropriate on you Facebook or MySpace, don’t make crude comments on your social networking sites either, and don’t let anyone get your passwords. Since these sites are so popular many people have them, maybe including your future co-workers, bosses, or even loved ones. By putting inappropriate pictures up you could possibly ruin your career or even your relationship with friends/family. By giving out your password you could run into the problem of friends messing with your information on your sites or posting inappropriate material on your sites.

I definitely want to integrate a lot of technology into my classroom. I would like to use pretty much everything we learned in this class in my future classes. It might not just be for the students, but for parents, other faculty, and for me. I would like to use WebQuests, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Movies, Podcasts, Diigo, Google Earth, Wikis and Blogs. I already use Facebook, MySpace, Hotmail, and Yahoo. I think integrating these resources will help my class improve greatly in the technological field. The kids would learn a lot and they would be more prepared for future use of the programs. I don’t think I will use RSS, Flickr, del.icio.us, and Twitter, because I already am using a lot of different social networking sites. Also I don’t feel that the grade level I want to teach will need to use them as much as the others. For example Twitter would be great at the middle and high school levels, because kids have cell phones to tweet on and they are more into that form of social sites, but since the kids I want to teach will probably be Kindergarteners, they won’t have access to a cell phone and be unable to tweet. Also I like photobucket, Indesign, and Photoshop a little more than Flickr. Flickr is convenient since it is on the internet, but since I already like working with the other programs I don’t know how much I would use it. Diigo is pretty much the same as del.icio.us so I think I will just stick with one or the other and since we actually set up a Diigo account I would rather use that site. Also with the RSS, I just am not into that sort of site. I am not a very avid reader so I don’t think I would use it that much.

I think that my thoughts about using technology in the classroom have changed tremendously since the beginning of the year. This is because I learned a lot more about how to use different programs and what programs were available for use in the classroom. I really enjoyed working with technology and I am always open to learning more about it. I think since my eyes were opened more with the different features in different programs I am more open to integrate the programs into my classroom. Also since I have a better understanding of how to work the programs I will be more likely to use them in the classroom. If I do use some of the technology that we learned about in this class, which I hope to, I definitely want to be prepared for anything, whether it is problems with the server, computer problems, site problems, or multitasking with students who need help. I want to have a good lesson plan set out for the day if I am using technology, because it will be a lot of work working with 20 +/- students and answering all of their questions about problems with the programs. I want to be able to help the kids to the best of my ability. The advancements we have made with technology are just phenomenal and I want to be able to share them with my future students, because I believe it is very important for them to learn about technology.

Google Earth

I really enjoyed working with Google Earth today. It was quite fascinating to me. I really thought it was neat to see all of the different features you could use to view different places around the world as well as planets, the moon and the sky. I have looked at Google Earth before, but never learned about the features, so it was a great learning experience for me. I will definitely try and incorporate Google Earth into my classroom in the future. I think it is such a neat program and everyone should see that great things that it can do! It would be neat to have my students find where they live and find out some neat features around them. It would also be a great way to incorporate it in to science lessons on the constellations or planets. Also if the kids were learning about physical features you could show them using Google earth what the different features are and how they are located all around them. Google earth is such an amazing website that it needs to be shared with everyone.

You and Me-Podcast

You and Me (For Michael)
By: Shanta Bisch (Me)
Music: freesound.iua.upf.edu (44090__hammerklavier__Sitar_by_Kaiho_2_Octaves_Up)

Podcast Practice #1

Twitter in the Classroom

I think this is a great idea. I think it would be fun for the students and a great way to keep in contact with the teacher. It is a way that students can express themselves in a way that they don't have to speak up in class if they are shy and a way that students can be creative with their tweets. The students have a 140 character limit when tweeting, which means the students must think about what they are going to say and how they are going to say it. This way most post should be good, thought out reflections, answers, etc. I would definitely consider using this form of social networking in my classroom. I think I would need to become a little more familiar with it though first. It seems sort of similar to Facebook and MySpace which I am familiar with, so it shouldn't take too long to get it under my belt. I would think, however, that this sort of social networking site would be used in a higher grade level than what I hope to be teaching in. I want to teach some where between KG and 2nd grade and I'm not sure if I would like to use twitter with kids at that age. But you never know a few years from now all kids at that age will be up to date with all of the newest technology and social networking sites. I always wondered exactly what twitter was and now I know. I was always curious about it and knew of friends that had it, but I never wanted to join, because I have so many other social networking sites I belong to/joinded.

Using Google Docs

I was so happy to learn how to use Google Docs. I thought it was such a great way to get information and put information together. It basically takes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and makes those programs available to anyone for no expense. There is also a place where you can make forms, this is a great application to use in your classroom. Say you want to give a test, you can do it online or if you want to go on a field trip you can send out a bulk form to all of the parents. I think that Google Docs is so practical for the classroom and for personal use to. I will surely use Google Docs in my class.
I actually have gotten some different Google Doc spread sheets from people who use it for contact information and for a sign-up for activity participation. I think it is easy to use and it is just so practical. With Google Docs you also don't have to worry about having a USB drive to carry around and have the chance of losing, you just have to have a Google account and do all of your work online.

Wikispaces

I thought that using the wikis was quite fun. It was fun to learn about the different things you can put on your page and trying out the different tools too. In the wikispaces you can put music, videos, calendars, links, pictures, and many other features. I think it would be great to use in your classroom as a teacher, for your students, for yourself, or even with other faculty. It is a great way to communicate, be creative, be expressive, and teach in your classroom. As a teacher you can put assignments on the wikispaces, have your students make a portfolio of some kind, have your class schedule and class syllabus on the wiki, have different projects on your wiki for your students to complete, have a study guide for your students, or incorporate more than one class on the wiki. Since I have used a wiki before in a class in high school I felt more comfortable with the material presented. I knew about the widgets, links, files you can attach, and other features involved. However, it was good to have a refresher with the wikispaces, because I had forgotten how to use some of the features. I will surely use the wikispaces in my classroom or in the future as a teacher. I just think that wikis are a great technological advance and are a bunch of fun to use.