Final Reflection

I signed up for this class to meet a requirement to go from a temporary teaching certificate to a professional certificate.  I hadn’t taken a college course in nine years.  Technology sounded more interesting to me than Ethics; those were the only two classes I had to choose from this semester.  I also thought a Tech class would be easy.  I was wrong!  I thought I was pretty tech savvy, but I was wrong again!

Every week, this class has challenged me to do things that I didn’t even know existed.  At times it was stressful trying to complete all of the tasks in such a short amount of time.  It was also frustrating to work on collaborative projects with people who didn’t have the same schedule as me or didn’t seem very motivated.  Despite all that, I persevered and got the job done. 

The digital badges seemed a little repetitive, but I did like how you wanted us to explore a different Web 2.0 tool each time.  Had that not been a requirement, I wouldn’t have learned about Emaze, Storybird, Canva, and the others I used.  I have already shared these sites with friends and colleagues.  A good friend of mine will be teaching a high school technology class this year for the first time.  He was thrilled when I told him about the Web 2.0 tools we were using in this class.  He was familiar with some, but others were new to him as well.

I’m looking forward to teaching a science unit on animal habitats so I can put my Webquest to use.  I think my students are going to love it and I know the other teachers on my grade level will too.

For the last two years I have said I was going to create a class website, but have never found the time.  This class has enabled me to do that, as well as, create an ePortfolio.  It will be easy to maintain and add to the site now that it has been started.  For that, I am thankful.

I think the following photograph sums up this class very well.  I will be able to use everything I have learned in the years to come with my students.  Thank you for making my return to college an enjoyable experience!

Photo credit to Curtis Palmer.

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. 1st Edition. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.