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Great friends got engaged(congrats Amy!), mine and Daniel's first married new year, spent the day with both families. 2012 will be a great year!

My goal is to post a picture each day for a year... We will see how this goes! :)

This first one is in honor of our first Christmas decorations coming down tomorrow.

I have learned several things in this class. I have learned that technology can be very useful in the classroom, especially with my students. I have learned that I can use photostories to create social stories for my students. I have also learned creative ways to use blogs and wikis to allow my students to practice certain skills. I have learned that there are a lot of reasons why teachers may not use technology in their classrooms, and that it does take some time and effort to use technology effectively within the classroom. I came to this class with a very realistic view of how things are in the world, but this class challenged us to not look at the way things are, but the way they should be. Teachers should try to go above and beyond for their students to make a difference in their lives. Everything is not cut and dry, and sometimes teachers need to get outside of their comfort zones to teach students effectively.

What I have learned

In this class, I have learned about numerous ways to use technology in order to make learning more fun and enagaging for students. Some of these ways include the use of wikis, photostories, podcasts, and Inspiration. I especially enjoyed learning about technology uses that allow for student teamwork and collaboration. I have also learned about the importance of using technology, not just for technology's sake, but to enhance and facilitate deeper learning. I enjoyed the class we had on project-based learning and the excitement and opportunities that it can provide for students. I have learned some new ways to incorporate technology that I had not thought of before. I also learned how to utilize new types of technology and applications that I had not been exposed to previous to this class. I plan to incorporate several things that we learned in this class into my future classroom cirriculum.

EDMD 7210

In this class I have learned a lot about different types of technologies that can be used in the classroom. I also feel like I gained more confidence in working with the technology that was newer for me. As a teacher, I see the benefit and importance of using technology in the classroom. I plan on using the things that I have learned in this class in my own classroom to help benefit my students. In this class I also gained a newer perspective on different types of technology and also more creative ways to use them in the classroom.

What I've learned this Semester

Throughout the semester I have learned not only how to use new tools of technology, but the positives and negatives of using technology in the classroom. The tool that I will take the most from is the photostory. I plan to use the photo story when I have my own classroom. Photostory allows you to select pictures of an event or person and put music in the background. This can be a very effective opening activity to a lesson that can introduce a new topic in an interesting way. The podcast is a very unique tool that can be used in the classroom. Most students have an IPod and posting study guide podcasts allows students to "study on the go." The articles we read every week for discussions gave me an insight on what research what saying about using technology in the classroom. We also read articles that gave me insight on ways to effectively incorporate technology in the classroom.

I have a learned a lot from this course. All the technologies that we learned, such as how to create a photostory, how to create a wiki and how to use twitter, were all new to me. I also learned why some teachers are reluctant to implement new technologies into their classrooms. The most important thing that I learned is that technology should be used as a tool to help supplement lesson plans and that teaching strategies can be adjusted to include technology. I think most of the technologies that we studied in class will benefit my future students.

Week 14 Reflection-Katie

The material presented in this class has been a mixture between review and new items. I think the most helpful skill I will take away from the class is how to operate programs such as audacity and photostory and how to use a wiki. It can be difficult to break down technology for young children sometimes but I think by becoming familiar with the programs I will be able to do so now for my class. Learning how to use a wiki will be helpful later on when creating a website for my classroom to share with coworkers or parents at home. Also knowing that websites like that are out there is a great search tool for new ideas for my own lessons. The most important thing I will take away is that technology is changing quickly and we need to keep up in order to better educate our students and prepare them for a technology rich future.