Teaching+with+Technology

===__***Week one**__ has given me a good insight of what is to come in this next course “Teaching with Technology”. One of the first things that I was informed of was how it not only important to know how technology works, but also how to present information with technology. I feel this course will allow me to have hands-on experience with a variety of activities that can __help__ me become a better technology facilitator. Another important aspect that I learned was the different forms of __learning__, specifically constructivism. This was something I was not very familiar with. I am looking forward to __learning__ how to __apply__ these skills in my future. Also, it was good to read about ways that technology can have so much positive feedback. This week also consisted of forming three to five group members for a project throughout the course. I made sure to respond right away when classmates were looking for groups to __form__. I feel that the google document will be very beneficial for my group and am looking forward to __working__ with them. This was a great introduction to the course for week one. ===

===__***Week 2**__ was very successful in this course. First, I was able to interact more with my group members and brainstorm a lot of great ideas for the project. So far, we have decided to focus on English and a particular novel. We plan to use various activities and strategies in technology that allow diverse __learning__. We are continuing to brainstorm together ideas that we have used before in our own classrooms or strategies we are familiar with. I feel that the readings helped us see evidence of how technology has not only challenged, but interested students more. It made sure to let us be aware that it is okay to go beyond the barriers of standard teaching and make students play their own __active__ role in __learning__. I noticed that some ideas that were mentioned is that we need to let students make their own learning goals and not just gear them towards the teacher. This definitely helped me open my eyes on new ideas. I hope to gain a lot more insight into this course and working with my fellow group members on our project. ===

===__***Week 3**__ was very informative, but also overwhelming at the same time. I was able to learn a lot of interesting __teaching tools__ for my own classroom as well as hope to introduce to other educators. A few topics that grasped my attention was information over E-books and UDL __#|lesson plans__. I vaguely knew much about E-books expect that they were books that were found online. I now feel they bring a different perspective to teaching students especially visual learners. It also lets the teachers and students have a creative side to learning. I feel the use of the auditoral enhancements in the E-books can truly gain a student's attention. Also, I think the UDL lesson plans are a great way to utilize all needs for student learning. I have been wanting to familiarize myself with a way to reach out to different diverse learning and I feel this planning will help. I like the step-by-step process that the UDL lesson plan follows. Finally, my group members were able to get together and have a __web conference__ over our scenario project. It ended up being very benefical and I felt a lot better after interacting with them over the project. ===

===__***Week 4**__ gave me a great outlook into several educators' experiences with __#|digital media__. One technology teacher that truly caught my attention was the one who worked in a small rural town and did not always follow the "standard" teacher __jobs__ like standing in the front of the room all the time. She made sure to get her own students involved and even do some of the teaching themselves. She also admitted that she does not know everything and that it is ok. I also felt this week really focused on why you integrate technology in the classroom and the many benefits to it. In the "Web 2.0 new tools, new schools" book, focused on how many teachers tend to want to use the various forms of technology, but don't really know how to develop it further in their classroom. I believe this is something critical in teaching and I, at times am at fault as well. I want to use a new form of technology in my classroom, but I really don't have much professional development on how to use it, but introduce it to my students anyways. I think if my school was provided or encouraged to participate in professional development, it would help me become a stronger technology facilitator. Finally, our group has been very busy working together on learning activities over "Romeo and Juliet". We are definitely branching out into some new ideas and learning a lot from each other. ===

===*I truly believe __**Week 5**__ gave me some of the best insight into using Web 2.0 tools and reflecting on our solution for our unit over "Romeo and Juliet". I think the video clips over the "big thinkers" informed me about a lot of useful opportunities in technology, especially the one by Howard Garner. He is someone I was learning about since high school and his thoughts and opinions seem to impact so many people. My own opinion over teaching with technology is that I feel we have the statistics and data to inform parents and students of how effective it is in the classroom. Twently years ago, it is safe to say that technology did not play as big of an impact on learning like it has today. I have also learned throughout this course, that working as a group can be just as challenging for grown-ups as it is for your own students. I do think though it does help to get different viewpoints and ideas. My group provided me with some new "tools" that I had no idea about and hope to use very soon. I believe our solution to the project was very detailed and expressed each of our learning and personalities very well throughout it. ===