Marly's Blog: Reflective Blog

Education is very important and I believe that each child is a unique person who needs to grow and mature socially, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. I also believe that my teacher Mrs. Coleman has allowed us to do just that, which is why she is such an inspiration to me. Even though I am a grown adult, I feel as though she helped me become more socially mature, and more emotionally stable with my assignments, especially, when I when two of her classes; i felt so behind. She gave me the chance to catch up in class and allowed me to think for myself. It's a good strategy, because in the long run no one's going to do the work for you, only you.

My experience in the classroom was great because it was all about technology and completing assignments in class that was fun and very time consuming. She made the effort by always giving us a tutorial on how to do certain projects. I had so much fun being able to learn about technology because this class made me realizes how much of it I had been missing out on. I learned that if you’re going to be an educator, you have to educate yourself in technology. Technology is never looking back, it’s always moving forward and we all have to grab on and go with it too or else we’ll be behind completely. Since I want to be an elementary school teacher, I learned how to make my own digital story, and I was also able to create my own website and call it Marly's Kinder Class. I want to be able to use these resources for my future classroom! Marly's Kinder Class website has all of my assignments and projects i did for the class. I never thought I was able to create so many things from technology.

I learned how to use my blogger as a way to do my homework and communicate. Mentioning communication, I believe a future teacher, communicating electronically might be good for engaging and creating productive activities. Technology is also a good way to socially network. I cannot believe that amount of students who use it for social networking and meeting new friends. I learned so many good things about technology that it really opened my eyes to a whole new level of teaching. I like the fact that im learning how to use technology so that in the future, I'll be able to teach my students about technology and give them the best experience in that classroom; perhaps they'll teach me too.

Here are several of my thoughts and experiences in the classroom and within the projects as well. First, the Wiki Project with my group was good. Everyone did their own assignment, but I belive because of time issues, not everyone in the group go to make their wiki page ellaborate. Very few of us in my group communicated through the wiki and even though there was barely any communication, everyone learned the new technology on their own; which was very good. Another thing I really enjoyed in the class was the assignments. Being able to create a webpage or even a story was so much fun; there was no text book, just technology. Although, time was crucial, all the assignments were very helpful and motivational because it allowed me to think about all of the things i can do for myself through the assignements. Prof. Coleman opened a new window for me and I very grateful. All the of projects, whether it was the Collaboration Lesson Plan or the Instructional Wiki, I had a great experience. I don't recall any negative experiences, because everyone, I believe did their own part and were responsible enough to do it. All of the projects seemed very positive and I had so much fun working with my teams.

Technology just keeps growing and I can't believe how far we've come and in my opinion, a great teacher should always a how the importance of fun and in life. I love having fun and being able to include that in learning is why i would enjoy teaching, especially about technology; it's all the kids know! As a future teacher I want to show my students that i can have fun while getting work done. Having an ipad in the classroom or keeping them engaged in other forms of technology helps them become multitaskers and learn to stay focused. We all have to start somewhere and having these positive attributes and many more, I know will help me become a good teacher in the future. Just because this class is going to be over does not mean i am going to stop learning about technology. Im going to school for special education and I want to learn about all the technologies and new assisstive technologies coming out so that I may be able to make my students' life easier.

I remember coming into the classroom and starting off on a bad note, but I caught up quite quickly and Im very glad I did. This class was definitely a challenging one, but I believe the hard classes are better because they make you do more for yourself; it's a place where you earn your grade, it's just not given. Thank you so much for the opportunity to learn and focus on matters that are truly important. "Good teachers are costly, but bad teacher cost more"- Bob Talbert. This quote made me think on the importance of a good teacher, and having a positive outlook everyday in the classroom.