Final Reflection

My final closing thoughts are that I learned SOOO much!! There is so much out there that I had never heard of before. I am a little frightened by where we need to be going with technology. I do think we are going to lose a lot of the personal contact. I don't know if this is all making our lives easier or just giving us more to do?

While I learned a lot, this course took me a lot longer than 15 hours. I think the last section could almost be a course in itself. Looking into the future of technology could be a course. They made a lot of great comments on how we need to change and where we are going, maybe we could look more into what other countries are doing for their education using technology.

I haven't taken an online course before and I can tell that this is not the best way for me to learn. I think going to a computer lab and having someone lead it is a better way for me to learn. That is why I am so concerned for kids who will not be good at learning this way if this is the future of education. How are we going to keep those kids engaged in learning?

This course was very organized we knew exactly what we needed to do from day one. Thanks for your patience with all of the technical glitches!

Lesson 12 Reflections

This past section was pretty advanced for me as to where the future of education is going and what we need to be doing as educators. While some, most, of it was over my head I know that I need to be doing so much more with technology to stay up with my students. I need to be creating many more projects that allow my students to be using the internet to complete projects. I need to also stay more current with technology because like Dr. Zhao stated our students future jobs haven't even been invented yet. We don't know what we are preparing them for so we need to prepare them for everything. They said even the libraries can't keep up on a day to day basis, the best we can do is just keep trying and know that what we learn today will be different tomorrow.

Lesson # 11 School 2.0

What strikes me most is how connected everyone is together. I like the concept of using technology for everything and I definitely feel that many teachers in this district are doing it. I am even trying it by using the tablet and projector in Global. I am not that comfortable with it yet but I learn something new everyday. I know many teachers are using Smart boards as well and students are really involved in their own learning and teaching of others.

I am concerned about how fast technology is moving and everything keeps pointing to going in this direction. What about the students who don't like learning this way? What about personal interaction? I know people say there still is, but we already do it so much less.

If I could add one thing to this school...maybe some subsidence farming? If we are making it one big community why not add the food part and be more self sufficient? Or if that is too drastic the online Wegmans store right in town where you place your order and they deliver your groceries. I don't think that is too far off!!

Lesson #10 Dr. Zhao

I think what struck me most as I was listening to these podcasts was how he said "Gaming is here to stay." I have been doing everything I can to stay away from gaming and keep saying I won't let my own kids have video games. Here at school we don't allow them to go to game sites, even though they always manage to find a way around it, this should tell us something! He states that gaming really demonstrates cognitive ability and that is how students today want to learn. How many times have we said to students, we aren't video games, we aren't always going to be singing and dancing up here, you need to be able to focus on us, how come you can spend hours on video games and be able to concentrate but you can't even pay attention to me for 5 minutes? I know many of us have said these things and even more.

I guess we need to get more into game theory. He was describing a game he was currently working on about going into China and having to interact with people for example for exchanging money, etc. I guess I would love to say that you can only experience something like that if you actualy go to China but realistically how many of our students are going to be able to get there? At least they could experience it through a video game.

The amount of online learning is just going to keep increasing and we need to be more on board with it. He said the more competitive a school wants to be it will depend on how their online learning is. It sounds like China is spending a lot of money on online education, hopefully we are doing the same.

We need to change a lot about our education because of the new jobs that are going to be created because of technology. If we aren't educating our students that way jobs will be given to students from other countries.

How to keep up?

Lesson #9 21st Learners

Since I am a resource teacher I don't really create lessons but listening to these pod casts really made me think....

I am so far behind the times and I am so afraid of where it is going. I feel like I don't know anything and I have to do a lot of changing. Before listening I thought that if kids wanted to do these extra things with technology on their own great, but school is school and not everything in life can be as exciting as a video game. But after listening I realized that I have to change. I thought my job was to teach them how to get through their curriculum, to help them pass and learn to make them successful in life. Now I am realizing I need to be teaching through technology or I will not only be not teaching them but hindering their future. I wish I could have seen Kevin's face, he was such a motivational speaker and had so many good on liners. He makes me wonder about my future as a teacher. Will we even have jobs??!!! Everything could be done on line just like in college and there might not even be a need for a building.


One big point he made was about how kids' brains are wired today. Their brains are made to learn this way, not the slow paced book, lecture but the fast paced video game style. I even am going to have to change the way I parent. I have frequently said that my kids won't have video games and they don't need to be on a computer there is plenty of time for that later. But now I am realizing that if I don't let my kids on the computer before they go to kindergarten am I already setting them up for failure? How far behind will they be if they have never played a video game or logged on?

I need to do some more thinking on this!!

Lesson #8 Reflections

It is hard to say which one I would use more in school. I really like the idea of a Wiki and I will talk to my co teaching partner and see which unit it would work well for.

For sure I will be using delicious!! I loved it and I had no idea it even existed. I never remember which sites I have been on and I only bookmark them on which ever computer I am on but I wished I could get sites at home that I have bookmarked here at school and vice versa. At the end of the year last year I bookmarked a bunch and saved them in my favorites and I didn't have them over the summer adn now I have to go in the folder to get them. When I have time :), I am going to put all of my bookmarks on delicious so that I will be able to access them where ever I am. I love this idea and wish that I had known about it earlier.

I also know that it would be a great way to do a project in Global where we give the students the sites we want them to go to specifically. This way we will know exactly what info the students will be getting.

Lesson #6 Wikis

I guess I didn't know a lot about Wikis, they can be such a useful tool. I loved what the one teacher said about how you can't use "my dog ate my homework", their homework is now time stamped! I am not sure what unit yet but I know I will be able to use wikis in my co taught Global 9 course. Taking this course is making me realize how much more I need to learn about technology!!

Comparing Online Video Resources

I found that all of the sites were very easy to use with the exception of Clip blast. I was not able to access that one here at school as it was blocked. I am still working on getting access. I was very impressed with the number of math videos on Next vista. I spent a lot of time searching through the light bulbs and global views sections. I know I will be able to use some of the videos for my Global Studies class. Also with all of the math videos since I am in the Resource room and have to help students with so different topics I can just do a search on how to do a problem and then I will be able to help my students.

I was very impressed with TeacherTube, I didn't know it existed! What a fun way to introduce a new topic. Loved the perimeter and area rap! As for YouTube, I know there are many wonderful things on it, I am just a little concerned with my highschool kids having access to anything on there. Even some of the postings have inappropriate language. Maybe they don't have access to everything on it, only the ones I found but I an just a little worried. I guess if teachers only showed videos then there wouldn't be as much of a concern.

Technology is changing the way we are teaching, talk about tapping in to all of the senses!!

Welcome to my Blog!

HI All,

This is my first attempt at blogging. I am hoping to use it with my students and their parents to assist them with homework completion, helpful hints and to possibly comment on tests taken.