Reflections

Throughout this course, I learned about many new techniques, resources, and ideas that will help me to use technology effectively and efficiently in the classroom. The thing that surprised me the most was that I did not have to do all the work to learn about these things! The community of learners in this class helped a tremendous amount in filling my mind with useful ideas, thoughts, and plans for using technology in my lessons. Without the collaboration that took place in this class, I would not have nearly as many materials that I have now. By sharing our ideas in discussion boards, we were all able to benefit from the learning and work that others did, making the experience one of growth and improvement. I enjoyed being able to explore new techniques that I had never used before (Project based learning, service learning). Through the feedback of peers, I was able to improve myself as a teacher in ways that are not possible by myself.

My first goal was to learn how to use wikis in the classroom, eventually setting one up for my students. While we did not focus on wikis in this class, I am still working on developing one for my classroom. They offer a great chance for students to work together collaboratively in a controlled environment. I plan on talking to teachers in other area Lutheran schools to see how they have used them. (One of the schools in our area has set up a social site to help with this type of dialogue.) I hope that next year I can use them on a weekly basis in my writing and science classes.

My second goal was the enhance my Algebra curriculum with websites that could be used to expose students to alternative methods of learning concepts. I was somewhat successful in this task, as I explored many websites, simulations, and review tools throughout this course. I have used two of them in classroom already, with mostly positive results. One site requires flash, which was not updated properly when we wanted to use it, resulting in plenty of glitches. I plan on incorporating more of these sites into my lessons as the year goes on. I also plan on continuing to search for useful sites that will help students who need extra practice.

My last goal was to find and implement educational simulations into my physical science curriculum. Through the use of webquests and virtual tours from Tramline, I have been successfully able to complete this goal. I was able to lead students on webquests dealing with magnetism, nuclear power plants, and Newton's laws of motion. These were very engaging for the students and they learned much more than they would have in a normal classroom setting. I hope to use at least two or three most simulations or webquests before the end of the school year. I am also looking forward to editing and refining them to be more effective for next years class.

I was able to achieve much more than these three goals during the last eight weeks. The ideas, techniques, and tools that I now have will enable to me to use technology correctly in almost any lesson plan. I plan on saving and bookmarking many of the technology reviews completed by my classmates with the hope of using them in my classroom. I also plan on looking at portfolios an gleaning lesson plans and ideas that I can use in the future. I know that this class was just the tip of the iceberg on how to use some of these technologies, and I look forward to learning more about them as I continue my education. I especially look forward to learning more about wikis, webquests, and digital story telling. All of these give students a chance to be creative, work collaboratively, and have fun while learning.