Reflection Post

EME 2040

Finally we are finished for summer! I have learned many new and creative ways to enhance learning in a classroom through technology. Through this course I have struggled, as well as, succeeded with the various tasks at hand. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and what it had to offer...especially in such a short time period. The assignments that I was most proud of when completed were the collaborative lesson plan and the teacher webpage eportfolio. Both of these assignments allowed me to be creative and expressive in my own way. While completing the collaborative lesson plan I learned that not all group projects are going to be all discombobulated. I was very pleased that my group all communicated and gave suggestions in a cooperative and timely manner. I was overall very impressed with this experience. Let’s just say my eyes are more open to the many technological advancements that occur within a classroom setting. Please click the links to see my two favorite assignments 1. Collaborative Lesson Plan  2. Teacher WebPage. However, even though I had these assignments that I felt successful with, I did have many trials and tribulations with other technological elements. For instance the group instructional wiki page. This specific assignment at times made me want to scream. I felt like it had a great layout and was easy to follow, but was a lot more work than I had expected…especially in this condensed amount of time. Although, I had an up and down battle with some of these goals I do think I gained a lot of knowledge. I feel like I am now ready to take on the technological world in education.

Here is a video that I would like to share with my future students on internet safety and how to use the computer. 

Overall, this class gave me great insight into technology for educators. After completing all of the assignments, projects, blogs, and discussions there are a few things that I would like to suggest. For starters I felt at times that we did not have enough time to finish and submit our products. I say this because, with group projects it can be difficult to communicate with each other and make sure that all components of the combined project is being completed (with quality work) within a weeks’ time. Also, I feel that a majority of these assignments were geared for students in grades 2-12. This made it hard for me coming from a pre-k through 1^st grade background. I do feel like I adapted to the assignments, but felt like certain technological enhancements would not be needed in a lower grade classroom. However, I do feel like after learning about many of these technological resources, I do think that more primary school teachers should look into these to help within their class.  I do feel that kids learn best by doing, using, creating, and exploring with technology. One thing that I wish I could have learned in this class is how to create a SmartExchange Lesson. But overall, I do think that I will use some of these tactics in my future classes…especially the teacher web page and my "delicious" account!  Here is the link of my "delicious" account del.icio.us/katelynneg. 


References

George. (2016, June 12). Delicious. Retrieved from delicious: del.icio.us/katelynneg

George, K. (2016, June 11). Lesson Plan. Retrieved from Word Processing: https://fsw.instructure.com/courses/1035359/assignments/7382413/submissions/1968802?download=60401916

George, K. (2016, June 20). Miss George's Class. Retrieved from Weebly: http://mskgeorge158.weebly.com

Maloy, R. V.-O.-E. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. .

Youtube, I. U. (2011, May 17). Internet Safety for Kids K-3. Retrieved from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89eCHtFs0XM