Reflection

I've loved taking this class and learning about how technologies are going to benefit my classroom. I think the most useful thing I have learned in this class is being aware of how to keep your students safe on the internet. I love that classes can have blogs now where students can post their work and collaborate together on things -- the internet is such a good way to get students excited and involved and I'm glad we took the time to learn about keeping them safe because that is really important. The privacy settings are important to know and also basic things like: don't list your full birthday. Things I hadn't thought of before but I see the importance of and things I will definitely teach my students if we use the internet together.

I think blogs and other sites, like a class wiki, are great ways to get students participating in active learning. The one thing I think is really neat and what I want to be able to do with my students is have a class website where they post their writings. I think this would be so fun if we do a poetry unit or any creative writing pieces because those are always so fun to read and when students know that their work will be read by other people rather than just their teacher I think they will be excited to make it worth reading. I know in high school, I kept an online journal and I always wanted it to sound as good as I could make it so my friends would think I was intelligent and a good writer. haha. Think of how that could improve student writing if they felt that way! I want my studnets to share their writing with other students, their friends and family; and I think a class website is a perfect way to help them do that.

I'm excited for being a teacher and having all of these technologies available to enhance my teaching. :)