Course Reflection

This course has really made me re-evaluate my outlook on technology. When I first started this class I thought I knew all there was to know about Word, PowerPoint, email, and social networking. I had no idea that technology could offer me so much more. This course has taught me how to store my documents on Google Docs, improve my lessons by adding in technology, and creating useful resources that parents and students can utilize. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever learn how to create a website. I thought that only technology majors and extremely smart people did that, and now look at me. I CAN DO IT TOO!
I think that I have several both strong and weak points. My favorite assignments that I consider strong points were the “turnitin” and the “web tools” assignments. I have never had a problem with plagiarizing my papers. I was in the gifted program in elementary school and started writing research papers in the Fourth Grade. I have always been proud of my word and how I write my papers. I do not feel like I need to copy someone else’s work to get a better grade. I believe that the grade I get is the grade I deserve, because the work is that of my own. I really enjoyed working with the web tools such as creating the rubrics and tests. I like to get creative with my requirements on rubrics. I have had to write several lesson plans over the past three years, and not one rubric is the same. I also think that it is neat that you can create your own tests, save them, and go back to make changes in the future. Not all of my work is peachy keen. I am after all my own worst critic. My weaknesses include being a perfectionist and not being patient. I also had a really hard time with the “assistive technology” assignment. Designing our websites was probably the most vexing activity of all for me. I wanted everything to be bright and vibrant, because that’s what makes me feel like I accomplished a goal. I wanted my website to reflect my pride in my work as well as capture my personality. I am also not the most patient person in the world. I do not like having to wait a long time to see the finished product. I hated having to take my time in creating my digital story and electronic portfolio. I wanted to hurry and finish it up so that I could see it completed.
There are several things that I would do to work on my weaknesses. I could use extra training for adapting my lessons to meet the needs of all my students. In order to do that I would like to learn more about the accessibility options that are on my computer. I also need to learn patience when it comes to creating websites, and stop being such a perfectionist. I think that those are just problems that I need to work on with myself.
I cannot wait to integrate everything that I have learned in this class into my future classrooms. I will most likely always use Google Docs from now on. It has so much storage and I can go back and edit my work anytime I want. I will definitely create a classroom website so that parents can see what their children are learning through out the year. I want to be able to share pictures and videos of their child/children’s progress. If I were to ever work with older students, I would require them to complete the “Google Groups” assignment. I would be able to keep up with their ability to work in a group with their fellow peers. I think I would like to use the digital story to introduce myself to my students in the future. Since I wish to work with younger children, I feel that might be a little too difficult for them, but I will definitely post a video on my website to share with students and parents. Overall I got so much out of this class that I feel one page does not do my learning experience any justice.