Reflection on Course
This course, although a lot of work, has taught me a great deal. I do not think that the use of technology in the classroom can be view as negative in any way. As time goes on I have become more and more reliant on it. I have gained more confidence from this class as well as more versatility. I have bookmarked many websites; I therefore have a myriad of options at my disposal.
As I have worked with and explored so many different websites in this class as well as computer applications, I have become much more relaxed in my classroom. I remember the first day that I used the Smartboard along with Notebook software in my classroom; I was nervous that I would get “stuck” some place. Although I continue to have a lot to explore, I am open to new software and I am perfectly comfortable to experiment with my students. Sometimes they will even help me and their feeling of empowerment is great.
The only negative that I have encountered and mentioned previously, if you can call it a negative, is that my learning and exploration often take on a “life of its own”. If I have a couple of hours and I want to discover a new website or software application, for example, that allows me to change the angle measurement of quadrilaterals or demonstrates interactively the results of transformations I find myself at three in the morning still working on it. Just as my initial lesson plans when I started teaching seven years ago took time to design, the “correct” integration of technology will not happen overnight.
I am constantly excited by the use of technology that I have explored as a result of this class as well as the proliferation of options that I am now aware of. I am confident that I will continue to explore and integrate what is new in technology with the results being a more exciting and stimulating classroom.