Reflective+Journal

As a teacher I want to incorporate technology in excess in my classroom. Students today are immersed in technology and it is the language that they speak. No matter how many courses I take my students will always have the advantage over me concerning knowledge and use of technology. My nine year old nephew is familiar with some of the websites and resources that we are discussing in this college level technology course. I was with him the other day and told him that I was going to learn how to make cartoons in my summer technology class. He responded, "oh, yeah..I know how to do that Aunt Frances...I can help you out." I was seriously surprised but very impressed with his third grade teacher who obviously is using technology in the classroom and teaching his students how to use extravagant programs. It is not uncommon for my niece and nephew to "educate" me about how to use various types of technology. With technology the students are going to have the upper hand but as teachers we can direct our students to incorporate their knowledge into their educational experience.

I am going to be teaching High School English when I finish my masters degree. I want to be certain to have a strong understanding of what the most current programs are related to learning of reading and writing. I want to incorporate technology to help ESL students grasp the grammar and use of English more easily. Reading and writing are changing rapidly with the incorporation of blogs and text message communication. In order to obtain a job students will have to be manipulate the social networking world of the internet. I want to equip students to communicate with their world and navigate healthy relationships with other students, teachers and businesses. I have a strong concern about cyber bullying and internet predators and I will educate my students how to make wise decisions in their use of technology. One of the most important uses of technology for my student writers is going to publication of their work. Students do not get enough opportunity to publish their work to a reading audience outside of their instructor and fellow classmates. In my classroom I will use blogs, wiki-spaces, voice threads and other emerging websites to allow students an opportunity to share their writing with the world and receive feedback from internet browsers. Publishing is a very important part of the writing process and I want my students to experience the thrill of creating a piece of writing that is appreciated by people they have never met before. I would hope that this could operate as an international exchange program.

Throughout this semester I have gained some valuable tools in technology and I feel confident that I will be able to incorporate blogs, voice threads, wiki-spaces, digital stories, pod-casts and animation videos into my lesson plans. I also feel confident that I will be able teach my students how to create their own projects in my classroom using these projects and make their learning experience more engaging and interesting. I am especially excited about the podcast portion of this class! I definitely want my students to feel that element of "stardom" that comes from performing your own podcast! Animoto will be a wonderful tool for quick and easy power point style teaching and I will use it to introduce various units and novels that we will be reading. I want to use voice threads as a tool to encourage writing skills and public speaking confidence! All of the technology tools that we have used in this course are going to be a valuable asset for my future as a teacher in the technology age! I feel that I have become a better digital citizen and that I am now equipped to educate my students about digital citizenship! My students are going to really enjoy their English class because of this experience!