Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Opening up to Technology

I must admit when I began my "Technology in the Classroom" course I was quite reluctant about having to take this class.   Although I  understood it's necessity, I found it intimidating.  Prior to this course,  I had used some tech tools to complete various assignments in my courses, such as google to search different topics and power point to create presentations but that was about the extent of my technology experience.   So coming into this class and being forced to use so many tech tools felt quite overwhelming.  But I am a person who enjoys learning new things, so I just jumped in and decided I  would make it a pleasurable experience.  After I decided to open up to the new tech tools being introduced I found so many of them very beneficial and extremely fun to do.  

My favorite tech tools

There were many tech tools I enjoyed using once I conquered how to use them.  I found some had very few instructions on the process of making the projects, such as Blabberize and Glogster, but I was able to find many video tutorials on YouTube for any tech tool I was interested in.  Although there were some I  enjoyed more than others.  One of my favorite tools to use was Thinglink, I truly enjoyed being able to creatively express my thoughts and knowledge on a topic in such a graphic way.  Another tool I was quite surprised that I enjoyed was Twitter.  I have always stayed away from social media sites, being a rather private person, I never liked being that accessible to others.  On Twitter, finding various educational professionals and organizations to follow was very educationally stimulating.  I found myself being on this site until the wee-hours in the morning, clicking from educational site to educational site.  I realized that this site could be quite addictive.  I eventually had to develop a separate log book to list sites I'd like to revisit at a later date.  This awakening to technology gave me the incite to realize that technology can and needs to be used in my planning, developing and implementing of curriculum, activities and projects in the classroom.

Technology Today

I've always found myself as a open-minded person, but this class made me realize that my own insecurities in using technology was not allowing me to provide the tools necessary for our 21st century students to expand and grow in a method in which they have grown up on.  Just as my own children have technology in their system (one is a computer programmer and the other just graduated in computer graphics), children today have grown up with these tech tools from a very young age (as soon as they are able to hold a cell phone).  To provide my students with a quality educational environment and curriculum, I must be knowledgeable and experienced in the tech tools that will allow their growth and learning to be done in a global classroom.