Semester Reflections

Well the semester has finally come to a close. Reading through my previous posts I can say I enjoy what I am taking from this class. Especially after looking through my initial blog post on my expectations for the class. I went in to this class wanting to be better acquainted with technology and the different tools available to be used in the classroom. Prior to the class I had never created a website or used any of the Web 2.0 tools we worked with in class (excluding a very primitive form of Google Docs). This blog right here is the first time I have done anything with any sort of blog.

At the conclusion of this class I feel very confident in my ability to use a variety of web based tools to further enhance learning in the classroom. IBA's, IWB's, wikis, movies and so on will be great ways to keep learning fun and interesting for students. Without this class I would have zero preparation for the challenges the future classroom faces with the growing role of technology.

Teachers who have little experience with technology will face numerous challenges as the years pass. So many things have become easier or replaced thanks to technology. Now, after a semester in TPTE 486, I feel confident that as technology's role in classrooms continues to grow I will be fully prepared to adapt and work with it. I have a feeling that I will often be remembering the lessons learned in this class during my time as a teacher.

Wait, I made a website?

By far the thing we worked on the most throughout the semester was the website. Each one of us created our classroom websites as if we were preparing to spend a year teaching. It was a pretty cool task that incorporated everything we did throughout the semester. The sites themselves have information about ourselves the authors, resources taken from our awesome subject area wikis, our technology projects and some of the artifacts we created using Web 2.0 tools. The websites are almost complete and will be a cool little remnant of the class to use in the future when showing off technology skills while job hunting. It was definitely something that you couldn't completely slack on because it needed constant updates throughout the semester. You've bothered to keep up with this blog for this long, so why not give this whole website thing a look as well? Check it out!