This course
on Integrating Technology into the
Content Areas was a course that I was looking forward to taking. Technology is a passion of mine. It is something that I love to learn about
and experiment with. There are so many
resources and options that are available and become available on a regular
basis. There are several things that we
focused on throughout this course. We looked
at the GAME plan, social networking, digital stories, and other ideas for
integrating technology into all subject areas.
I
created a GAME plan with two different goals.
My first goal was to learn how to teach students proper and ethical use
of information and resources by joining a professional learning network (PLN)
and completing online searches. My
second goal was to learn about how other teachers incorporate technology into
their classroom and what tools they used.
My plan to accomplish this was to again join PLNs, create a PLN within our
school and within our district. I made
progress towards each of my goals. I
found some great resources that included suggestions to teach elementary students
to cite information. I also joined several
PLNs. There is a technology committee
within my county that focuses on interesting uses of technology within our
schools and technology opportunities. We
also teach each other how to use some of the technology resources that we use
within our own instruction. I talked
with one of the county’s technology supervisors about creating a place where we
can share a variety of resources with each other. She thought it was a great idea and is working
with the other supervisors to create a Livebinder version of this. I think I have a great head start to reach my
goals this coming year.
Another
thing we focused on was actually integrating technology into our classrooms. I think prior to this course I used a lot of
technology within my classroom. We
created glogs, podcasts, and blogging, but I knew that I was still working out
the kinks. This coming year the goal is
to use blogging more often so the information on social networking and having
to create a social networking lesson was a great opportunity for me. It was also helpful to get some feedback on the
lesson to see if anyone else had any ideas to add. I think the biggest moment for me in this course
was the focus on digital stories. I
tried digital storytelling my second year of teaching, and I just started way
too big. I got stuck about halfway
through the process and was not sure of the next step. After working with the resources, I know that
it can be a lot easier than what I was trying to make it. Students could create a digital story about
an animal, math problem, science experiment or even about themselves (Laureate
Education, Inc., 2012). I like that I
also got to see some examples of digital stories that students created and ways
that other teachers use it in their classroom.
My new plan is to try to create a digital story of my own so that I can
walk through the process. Then I think I
can effectively incorporate it into my classroom. I am excited to try digital stories again with
my students. Overall, I have benefitted
greatly from this course and I know my students will also.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).
(2012). Program twelve: Spotlight on technology: digital storytelling, part 1
[Video webcast]. Integrating Technology
into the Content Areas. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1341773_1%26url%3D.
No comments:
Post a Comment