Where Do We Go From Here? Blog #8

I think this has been the fastest eight weeks of my life. I have really enjoyed this class and learning about the different technologies each week. Each one has given me ideas about ways to use them in planning lessons or in my classroom instruction. My biggest “aha” moment had to be when we set up our blogs. I really didn’t understand their use and my first thought was, “Oh no, not a journal”, but this blog has been so much more than that. I enjoyed reading other people’s perspectives on different things and actually learned quite a bit. I can see how this would be a great tool to use as a classroom webpage to post assignments, links to worksheets and even keep parents informed as to our activities. As I work toward my librarian certificate I am thinking of ways to use this effectively for the school library.

To tie everything together, I feel I learned a little something different from each one. I loved constructing the Wikis, the Podcast, the Wordle and putting together the Electronic Portfolio. I would like to use the portfolios in the future as a tool for students to display their best work. This would be a convenient way to store the information and add to it later. I could see how each of these tools could help students grown in their learning if used properly in the classroom. I really don’t use technology enough in my classroom now, probably because of lack of useable equipment, but now I am excited to talk with our principals, show them what I learned and how they could help our department.