Reflection

During my experience in Technology and Instruction, I have gained a lot of insight into using technology to my full advantage in the classroom. I learned how to create a blog and a wikispace, which is something I was unfamiliar with. Both of these tools will allow me to effectively communicate and promote collaboration in my future classroom. Throughout the course, we learned about using web 2.0 tools in our classroom. It amazed me when I learned about how many free tools are available for teachers to use in their classroom. I have always considered myself a "tech-savvy" teacher, but I never knew about many of these online tools. Aside from learning about Web 2.0 tools, I learned about the many tools that Google provides. I have always had a Gmail account, but I never knew about different tools on my account such as Blogger and Docs. Both of these will be extremely useful in my future. Docs allows you to upload documents and share with whoever you please, while given the option to have others work collaboratively and edit the document. "The Flipped Classroom" was a new term that I learned and that I hope to one day implement in my own classroom one day. Using this method literally "flips" the roles of the teacher and student. I also learned about the Kahn Academy, which is amazing and actually inspired me to hopefully be able to do something similar one day. I think this idea is a brilliant way to communicate and teach others using technology. Creating a lesson plan with my partner using Web 2.0 tools really opened my eyes to the advantages it has for both students and teachers. Me and my partner Karen were able to create a really great lesson on Figurative Language for 5th Grade students using two incredible tools- Wallwisher and Animoto. Also, I learned how to create a Podcast, as well as a Screencast using the free software Audacity and Jing. These will both definitly be utilized in the future in my classroom. Overall, I learned how to use technology in order to create a partnering classroom. I have gained so much knowledge about different tools available that I feel confident using these tools in the future.