Overall, I really enjoyed the class and learned so much about using technology in the classroom, which I see as very valuable. I also learned that technology can be VERY overwhelming. There is just so much that you can do with technology and I was just blown away with some of the things I saw other teachers doing in their classrooms. There is just so many different programs out there and going into this class, I was pretty confident I knew a lot about using technology in the class, and now I realize that what I knew was just the tip of the iceberg. I think with technology it is very important to keep up to date and to continue learning - along with continuing on learning about everything else in the classroom!! I'll definately continue on my interest on using technology in the classroom and although I might incorporate it only a little at the beginning, I hope as my career progresses, I will learn to use it more and more. Thanks Michele for a wonderful semester!!!!!!!

In our focused task, I learned how to use comic life, which is something I have never used before. Steph had used comic life in her school experience and suggested that we try it. I was a little hesitant at first to work with a program that I had never used before, but when I tried out Comic Life, I found that it was pretty straight forward. One thing that I really liked about the program was that you could use the webcam rather than downloading pictures from the internet, or pictures from a digital camera.
Using the program, made me feel comfortable enough that I would be able to use Comic Life in my classroom. I think that Comic Life is a program that would really interest a lot of students, especially the ones who are interested in the comic book style and would give them a different option of writing instead of just writing a story.
We never really had any problems with the task, but we when other students were looking at out project, we did have some confusion about the rubric. I thought it was something that we had clearly stated, but obviously not.
I think my weakness in the contribution in the group was the fact that I had no experience using the program, so Steph did all the teaching of how to use the program and was the expert in that part. In the end, I am really proud of our groups final accomplishment.

Cigar Boxes

This week in class, we had a presenter come in and talk about the cigar box project he did with his grade seven's. I thought the whole project was really amazing and was couldn't believe how well the student's outcomes were. Not only was their work amazing, but I think the whole project was something that probably really engaged the students, taught them so much in so many different subject areas and is a project that they will never forget. I think the outcome of the student's work is probably something that they would be very proud of too.
One idea that I REALLY loved was the idea of using podcasting for self-assessment. Last year, I did one on one interviews with each student as part of assessment in science, but if I had taught the students how to use podcasting, not only would they be using technology as a form of assessment, but it would have been a lot less time consuming for me. It also really made a difference in the assessment to hear the student explain why they did what they did. I also think for most students, especially younger students who struggle to write a couple sentences, this would be so much more effective.

Hi. This is my first blog. I decided to take this technology course because I think technology is so important for a teacher know and I think it is one think that future employers will be looking for on my resume. In my year on placement, my teacher had a smartboard in her classroom and we used it all the time. My teacher however, was not very technologically advanced, but luckily for her, her students were, so they would set up the smartboard and turn it off and help her with any problems. This semester, my teacher knew very little about smartboard, but attempted to use it since the principal was pushing that, but we never got very far with it and unfortunately I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned the year before about smartboard. So smartboard is definately something I would like to be a lot more comfortable with, because I think it is something that will help me stand out when looking for a job.
I also think it is important to have a good grasp on technology because I have noticed that the teachers who do know a lot about technology and integrate it into the curriculum get the new technology in their class. It's not the older teachers who are getting smartboards, it's the teachers who know the most about technology and the teachers who are most willing to use it in their classroom.
I would also be interested in learning ways to display students work and ways to let parents know what my students are doing in the classroom through technology. Something like a web page or a blog would also be a good way to let parents respond to me and what we have been learning.