So this is blogging!

I never thought I would be a blogger but I guess you never know what life will throw at you. So, I was thinking from my narrow understanding of what it means to blog, that blogging would be like a cool inner monologue from a good movie. I could envision blogging as an ultra smooth outpouring of my deepest thoughts. Then, I had the sudden realization that no one would be interested in a blog about obscure medical facts and food. So……I was glad that this weeks reading and text explorations gave me a better understanding of blogging.

This week’s assignments also introduced me to a number of technological applications that I will be able to use in my classroom that will help me to enhance student learning and make my job as teacher easier. It is good to see that there are so many resources available that I will be able to use in my classroom in the future. Of course, if I were teaching now I would not have to wait for the “future”. However, being a social worker I will not have the privilege of applying what I’ve learned for at least a little while longer. 

The discussion on the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS *T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers was interesting as I was unaware that standards for integrating technology in the classroom had been established or put in place. I believe that it is really important to use technology in the classroom as students need to have experiences that are relevant to the world in which they live.  It is important to make sure that students obtain a level of technological literacy that will allow them to thrive in our digital world. I think that the Youtube video “A Vision of Today’s Students” made a poignant statement about the need to adjust curriculum delivery to suit the students of a digital world.

The technology explorations were particularly informative as they introduced me to several new resources that will be easy to utilize within my classroom when I start teaching. The PB Works site will be very helpful for setting up a classroom workspace for students and parents to utilize. The Tikatok and Tumblebooks websites also appeared to be useful resources for using in my classroom. It will be fun to allow students to place themselves with in their own story books. I think it will increase student interest and make reading more fun for them.

Overall this weeks reading and assignments were very informative and provided lots of useful information that I will be able to easily apply within my classroom. I really cannot recognize any challenges for implementing the resources in my classroom. All and all I think it will just be a matter of staying motivated and actively seek out new/useful technologies and applying them in the classroom.