Final Blog Post: Technology in the Classroom and the Future

When I first signed up for this class I had no idea what to expect. I was just taking it to fulfill the education major requirement and figured it would probably be somewhat interesting. Then I got the syllabus online. I couldn't believe all the technology equipment we were required to have and programs we were supposed to download. I thought this class would be challenging because I didn't know about (or even heard about) very many of the websites and programs. I thought that this class would be irrelevant because I wasn't used to using much technology besides email, facebook, and blackboard. I didn't think that there could be so many new technology advances that would be useful to my life, let alone in a classroom. I really had my doubts about this class but I'm very glad I took it because it has really changed my point of view.

After the first class I could already see that this class was not what I had expected at all. We were learning how to set up blogs (which I had never done before) and I started to get the concept of using technology in the classroom. Students today use the computer all the time and educators need to engage their students with activities that are relevant to the time period we live in. If you can't engage students in the classroom then they aren't going to be active learners and retain very much of what they are taught. I think that preserving some traditional teaching strategies is important but I do feel that teachers also need to have alternate strategies that are more up to date. This EDST 221 class has given me so many tools that I will definitely use in my future classroom.

One of my favorite technology tools is Smartboard. I hope that when I'm a teacher I can have one in my classroom. It can be used to make lesson plans with activities in every subject imaginable. These lesson plans can just be shown to the class like a power point or you can have the students actively participate and complete games and different activities to learn concepts. I would also use it to organize class jobs or make a class seating chart. Another technology tool I would use would be an igoogle page with podcasts. I would use this to organize all my personal stuff and as well as use it to show parents what is going on in the classroom. I would podcast about things in class or assignments and post it for parent and students to view. I have learned about so many different technology tools and I will use a lot of them but these are my favorites.

This class has been an unexpected but very positive experience. I'm glad that I took it and tried out all the different activities because it has really opened my mind. I wasn't very open to the idea of using lots of technology in the classroom but I realize now that it can be very useful, easy, and help students learn. As our society changes, the styles of teaching need to change as well. It's important for educators to want their students to succeed and teachers need to give them all the available tools to succeed.

Thank you so much Marilyn for opening my eyes to all that technology has to offer. I will definitely take many of these websites and activities into my future classroom. I think this class has been one of the most useful and applicable I have taken.

Web 2.0 guru

I really liked the web 2.0 guru site, it has so many links to helpful websites to use for the classroom. I went to quizegg and I thought it was a very easy and interesting. I would use it to make a "get to know you" quiz for the 1st day of school or test the kids on topics learned in class.

ebistro.com

I think the concept of ebisrto.com is really clever. The website has links to useful tips for how to incorporate technology into the classroom. The different links are organized like a restaurant menu with sections like "Specials" for new updates and "Entrees" for the most used technology tools.

Technology activties for the classroom

Technology Projects as a Teacher
1. Create online games (ex: jeopardy, who wants to be a millionaire, word search...)
2. Voice thread for speeches and projects
3. Art Project with Big Huge Labs
4. Create Smart Board Lesson
5. Create XtraNormal Video for first day of school
6. Create googlesite for classroom (parents and studets)
7. Create News Letter on GoogleDocs
8. Create Wiki to collaborate with other teachers/groups
9. Create digital photo story to share about family/life
10. Create Wordle for art project
11. Create StoryBird for young students
12. Create online cartoons for newsletters
13. Digital Video Project

Possible Future Projects
1. Create Digital Video Story to tell class about yourself
2. Create a vioce thread to show your understanding of new spanish vocab
3. Create XtraNormal video of favorite thing you learned in history yesterday
4. Create Mosaic of your favorite animals
5. Create News Lettter of everything we learned in the week to send home to your parents
6. Create a Wikispace with 5 partners about dinosaurs
7. Create a MixBook Album about internet safety
8. Create a jeopardy game about addition and subraction
9. Create a crossword puzzle of this weeks spelling words
10. Create a Google Earth Tour of our favorite place to visit or wish to visit

Rubric for final project

Here is the rubric my PLN made to evaluate our final portfolios. It was very easy to make and we tried to incorporate different aspects of grading criteria.

classroom website, weebly.com

I played around on the weebly.com site to make a classroom website. I thought it was very easy to use and I added an announcements section, lunch section, and what's on the agenda for class today. I would use this website to make a website for my future classroom.

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