My Thoughts About My Experiences in Technology Tools...

My experiences in this class have been wonderful. I have learned a lot and liked working with my group members, it was great getting to know them. This class at times was a huge challenge for me because I became ill during week one and two, the wrong thing to do in a graduate program. Trying to keep up with the huge amount of work, reading, and the work I had to do as a classroom teacher became overwhelming at times. The upside was that I love learning and learning something that I can and will use.

I learned how to evaluate software, set guidelines for when technology is necessary and what some challenges other educators face in using technology their classrooms. I also learned more about how PBL(Problem Based Learning) would look using technology in today's classroom. I felt really good as I read through the textbook because I am using some of these strategies already, but I got some terrific ideas on how to extend these techniques. I will definitely keep this book and refer to it often.

I was also inspired by an idea presented in the book and reiterated in one of the videos we watched during class about student creativity. These were moments that I reflected on my own education and my first years as a teacher compared that time to the present. I have always thought that allowing students to feel free during the learning process to express their natural talent was the magic ingredient in a great classroom. In this class, I was reminded of that and at times felt re energized about my teaching practices, free to be creative myself.

How will I use what I've learned? Well, I am using them now. I used the presentation and comic strip I created for one of our assignments with my students during one of my lessons. I shared some information I found on Edutopia.org with several of my coworkers during a professional development session. Everyone has benefited from my efforts and that makes me feel the value of my experience more deeply.

Oh, did I mention some of my students were emailing me during Christmas break saying that they couldn't wait to get back to school to see what they were doing next. This kind of excitement in the third quarter... well lets just say that is priceless.