Saturday, May 1, 2010

A pretty cool link...

click here to see my Professional Blog

Self Reflection



1. During the course of this class, I've truly learned more than from any other class. iGoogle has been by far my most favorite thing I've learned about. I love all the gadgets that I can use to create my own personal page. The world of Google really is truly amazing. Creating a presentation through Docs was my favorite project, definitely fun, and learning how to navigate iTunesU was another biggie for me. I actually like blogging and it's something I'll continue to do after this class. Making the connections we did through comments4kids and comments4teachers will help us (teachers) understand others better, and be able to learn from others. ALEX and ACCESS are two of the best websites I've ever used, and I KNOW I'll be using them in the future... I've already used them for other classes this semester! Comments4Classmates was a really good way to get us to read our peers' blogs and to get to know them. Besides the presentations, I probably liked this best.

2. One of the main components of this class was being able to manage time appropriately. Even though I certainly played catch up a lot, this is not something that comes easily to me, and maybe I didn't learn as much as I should have. Through my fault alone I've created a speed bump, however, recognizing this and stating so will allow for future learning (in a more time productive way).

3. I will definitely try as hard as I can to forget about Google Earth! Okay, that's virtually impossible since that project actually brought tears to my eyes! What an annoying program, I hate it! I'm sure the greatest science teacher in the world somewhere has done amazing things with his classroom using this tool, but I think I'm okay with never clicking on that blue and white ball ever again.

4. I have mixed emotions about the excitement I've had for this class. I HONESTLY was excited about it at first... I was excited about starting my technological journey, excited to learn tools I've never used before, and work with students that I had just met. I shouldn't have taken a class that was only once a week, and independent learning is not my cup of tea... I prefer collaboration and spending class time working on projects. I feel my 9 hours outside of class should have focused more on maintenance, rather than production.

5. The most intellectually challenging part of this course was adapting to Dr. Strange's teaching modalities. I feel twisted inside knowing and appreciating his reasoning, yet want to scream at the top of my lungs at the unorganization! Yes, it's there... in black and white, it's on the blog, it's in the post, it's in your gmail, it's in a doc... OMG! Enough already! I think I've become a more intelligent person just being able to make it though that Strange syllabus!

6. Boring is a word that cannot come CLOSE to compare my reflection of this course. In fact, I would have been more happy using our class time to work on more together. The very last night of class was nice when everyone was walking around helping each other out. I would have liked to see that through the entire semester. Although it's physically difficult for me to just SIT for so long sometimes, the work I got done never bored me. The assignments were appropriate, relevant, and effective (there's those two words again).

7. What I would change about the class is I would spend more time in the classroom and less on independent learning. If a student wishes to do online work only, an online EDM class should be available and for those of us who like to go to class, we should HAVE CLASS. I want to learn. I want my teacher to be with me, work with me, and help me along the way. Is that too traditional?? Is that too needy of me? Maybe I should focus more on being an independent learner? The anxiety I feel from this class has been from the lack of guidance (not the workload) which I crave, given my long personal history of low guidance.

8. I am without a doubt technologically literate. I have a LONG way to go, but I am more than well on my way to understanding myself more, as well as navigating though the web, and being able to use resources and tools for my future as a teacher. That being said, I don't have a desire to use technology every single day, and I would encourage more screen time be used spent outside in the sun!

9. The maintenance of my technological literacy throughout the rest of my schooling will be upheld through my blogs and keeping in touch with the people I've made contact with during this course. A lot of the teacher's blogs we've read have great ideas and continuing to collaborate, teaching others what I've learned, and my own person search for intrinsic guidance will improve my technological literacy.