Looking Back, Looking Ahead

REFLECTION

Looking Back 

“Free Images : Light, Car, Photography, Window, Glass, Driving, Reflection, Vehicle, Blue, Rear View Mirror, Fisheye Lens, Automobile Make, Automotive Exterior, Automotive Mirror 5018x3219.” Free Images : Light, Car, Photography, Window, Glass, Driving, Reflection, Vehicle, Blue, Rear View Mirror, Fisheye Lens, Automobile Make, Automotive Exterior, Automotive Mirror 5018x3219 - - 148155 - Free Stock Photos - PxHere, pxhere.com/en/photo/148155.

and Looking Ahead

Galyonkin, Sergey. “Anna Bashmakova and Oculus Rift.” Flickr, Yahoo!, Sept. 2013, www.flickr.com/photos/sergesegal/10166365646.

Cha-cha-cha-Changes

Out of all the changes I've noticed from the start of this class, is my confidence that I have in my tech abilities and my decision to go back to school. The Google Doc I've kept of tools to try to enhance my teaching and use with my students include:

Padlet with lots of novel links --I'm going to share with the teachers this week. I already added The Giver activity to my Drive folder for this novel study.

HyperDocs --I've heard of HyperDocs but never used this tool. The great explanation of this by Amy, motivated me to definitely use this tool.

Makerspace --Adding tech with science in my classroom will be a big hit with my students.

Ted Talks --I used this site a couple of times a few years ago, but this class reminded me of what a powerful tool this is.

Design Thinking --This is new to me, but any tool I can find that will help me get my students to think critically by working through a problem and designing a solution, is one I want in my teacher toolbox.

Augmented Reality --I used this technique when I was a in the Beck Blended Learning Fellowship program, but it went by the wayside. I think my students would enjoy trying this tool.

Nearpod Virtual Field Trips --What's not to like about this idea? Nearpod makes taking a VR fieldtrip easy and you don't need special glasses to do so. Now that this site/app has added VR fieldtrips my first stop is Egypt.

Screencastify --After seeing Nicole use this on a regular basis and seeing the icon sitting in my Chrome toolbar, unused, I got out of my comfort zone and tried this. My go to is usually, Explain Everything, but I wanted to try something I never did, and I'm glad I did. I hope to use this with my students to demonstrate using steps in a process. 

Working through the content and tasks in this class has sparked my interest in being a technology coach. I have no idea what is involved in achieving this or how to go about finding more about this field, my goal is to find out. 

The topic that stood out in my mind is more like a combination of some of the modules. Taking a serious look at what footprints and tracks I have left either as a resident or visitor and how easily someone can gain personal knowledge about me, kind of creeps me out. Being someone who has been conscious of what I do on the Internet, only causes me to be even more aware of what I choose to post or not. This goes along with the concepts of the digital tattoo and digital citizenship, and how we need to educate our parents and students about the consequences of posting everything you do online. This is a challenging task with technology capabilities changing every day. 

I enjoyed this class and learning from Nicole and my other classmates. Jigsawing the tools and having us explain how to use them, made the learning engaging and understandable. As everyone moves onto another class, I sincerely wish you the best in all your endeavors. Thanks Nicole for making my first class in grad school a meaningful one.