Lab 13 reflection

Overall, I feel pretty good about my technology proficiency. I am one of those people that grew up using a computer my entire life so I feel confident and comfortable with technology. This class has made me realize the importance of including technology into my future lesson plans and the different ways to do that. I am more aware of what programs would be beneficial to use for assessment and research. There are still, however, many skills I need to continue to work on. For example, I feel that I am not good at looking at a resource and determining whether or not it is reliable. I’m sure I’ve used less than reliable websites over the years. I also am unsure as to how the security of technology works and who in the school has the right to use them. I am very unfamiliar with using assistive technology. I’ve heard a lot about it but I’ve never used it first hand. Before I have a classroom of my own and am given a student that needs to use assistive technology, I want to become more familiar with it. For my remaining college years I hope to become more comfortable with technology specific to my profession. For example, instead of always working on computers in a tech class, it would be beneficial to get some experience with a smart board or a Scantron machine. Part of being a teacher is being a life long learner, and even though I think I am on the right track to becoming tech-savvy, I will always have more I can learn.

Professional Myspace

This week I learned about things like technology literacy and technology standards and certification when I read chapter 12. I know in high school I felt like a lot of my teachers (especially the older ones) had NO idea how to use a computer for anything other than checking their e-mail. I think it’s a good idea to take a class in technology before attempting to teach a classroom of students how to use it. In our lab we learned about ePortfolios. I think it’s kind of like a myspace for the professional world. It was…boring. Chapter 12 activities told a story of how one state implemented technology. It started with only 5 schools and snowballed from there. It takes a lot of work and a lot of people and resources to do. The video only showed one example of how to start this process but of course there are many other ways. I can’t say the video felt useful for me because I don’t think I’ll ever be in the position to have to start anything like this.

iMovieMania

This week I learned about the trouble with implementing technology in schools in chapter 11. The chapter was good to remind teachers to obey copyright laws and monitor their students and stuff like that. The last thing I would want to lose my teaching license over is a stupid copyright law. In our lab for this week we explored the world of iMovie (the ONLY good thing about Macs?). It was a lot of new info to learn but if I ever fully figured it out I think I would be making movies all the time. I can think of about a million things to have my students use iMovies for. For example, after they read a novel, they could make a movie version of the book. I think that books and movies go hand in hand.

Distance Education

This week I learned about distance education in our Lab School video and also in reading chapter 10. Over the summer I’m taking my very first distance education class so I enjoyed watching these videos and knowing a little more about what to expect. It actually gave me a positive outlook on taking an online class because the students seemed to enjoy the one on one attention and convenient schedule. In our lab we learned about Mac’s Universal Access Platform. This makes it possible for people with disabilities to have full access to everything computers have to offer. One thing I liked about was the VoiceOver feature. It is for people with visual disabilities. The computer will speak the name of the window the person has opened and even read the words on, for example, a page on the internet. I have no idea what kind of students I will have to teach in the future but chances are I will have a student with a disability, so the Universal Access Platform will definitely be useful to them.

Out with the old, in with the new

This week I learned about audiovisual technologies in chapter 9 as well as learning about podcasts, blogs, and assistive technologies for special needs students. It was interesting to learn about new technologies that were taking place of the old ones. For example, iPods and MP3 players are replacing tape recorders. It made me think about how different my classroom will be compared to the classrooms I was taught in as a kid. Before this week I was familiar with blogs but I was a complete stranger to podcasts. It was challenging to learn something completely new but it was worth it. I talked about it to one of my friends who uses podcasts on his sports radio show. One thing I could see a teacher doing is using a podcast to communicate assignments to their students. I think you could use podcasts for is for students who maybe could not read but could listen to a book being read to them.

Cool Tools

This week I read about using the web for teaching and learning in chapter 8. I also explored two websites: Educators Reference Desk and the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. I found it nice to know that teachers had a place to go to ask questions or just get ideas for lesson plans. I’m sure I’ll be using the internet all the time when I have to make lesson plans. One thing I thought was cool from chapter 8 was “cool tools.” It talked about the website 4teachers.org, which provides teachers puzzle, rubric, worksheet, award, and calendar templates (among others). It would save a teacher SO much time (for example) if they only had to come up with questions for worksheets and crosswords but not have to worry about the template. The websites I learned about for chapter 8 activities, however, was more about providing lesson ideas. I do not think that teachers should get every single lesson plan online, but I do think that the internet can provide teachers with good IDEAS and a place to share information with other educators.

Picture perfect

This week I learned about digital imaging and photo editing. In digital imaging I worked with pictures from my digital camera as well as from the internet. I learned how to put borders and shading on pictures in a Word document and how I could use them in a real lesson. I found putting borders on pictures to be such a simple thing that can make a student or teacher presentation look more professional. I like the fact that when students are asked to take their own pictures with a digital camera they have to rely on them selves instead of the internet. To learn photo editing I had to choose videos to watch about topics I did not know. One new thing I learned was how to use i-photo on MACS. It worked a lot like Photoshop, which I am very familiar with, but it was nice to get the experience with both types of computers. I can see a lot of uses for photo editing in a classroom, especially when it comes to presentations and slideshows.