Personal Learning Reflection

        As technology continues to grow, educators must grow with it. If I fail to integrate technology into my teaching, then I am not giving my students what they need to be successful. I learned that just because you have a great lesson planned, you need to find a way to make it relevant to today's technology world. How can I turn that great lesson into a superb lesson? The answer is with technology. Integrating technology gets students to “buy in” with what you are teaching. Students are excited to learn away from the traditional style, a book and listening to me lecture. Getting away from lectures and worksheets, will allow the student to be more creative in their work. Technology allows me the opportunity to reach students that I may miss through lecture. Technology allows me to create presentations that students will be able to follow at their own pace. A student may not be able to understand my teaching, without seeing a visual representation. I can provide instructional videos in a variety of ways, such as creating movies or providing real life simulation on the computer. Without incorporating technology into my lesson plans, none of that would be possible.

        Over the course of the class, the blog assignment really exemplified teaching with technology. A blog opens some many windows to learning and creating with technology. Blogging allow students to connect to others and contribute their ideas with one another. Blogs become another teaching method that I can use for my classes. Students are asked to find instructional videos from YouTube or TeacherTube, that reflects what we are learning in class and post to their blogs Students are asked to make comments about the video that was posted, which gives them reinforcement. The blog assignment also will help students become organized by adding different widgets, such as calendars, and adding resources that are beneficial to their education.

       

        In my personal growth plan, I wanted to make a difference in how we use the technology that is available. In this course, I was exposed to many different tools that I used immediately in my classes. Tools such as blogs and creating a personal learning network for my students. One of my technology goals is to design a program for our CTE department that “makes sense”. I have been discussing ways to improve our department with our curriculum director. I have been asked to provide documentation and resources about creating a better CTE design. We have had meetings to discuss how we can improve our department that will be beneficial to the education of the students.

        Working through this course has given me new goals that I need to accomplish. I need to be able to work in small groups. The SIG assignment brought that weakness to my attention. My goal is to initiate group contact and be more of a presence. I will have the opportunity to achieve this goal in the next course. A second goal that I want to accomplish will be put what I have learned to use. I want to give teachers at my school the tools that I have gained through this course. My goal is to inform and educate teachers in staff meetings about how they can integrate technology into their classrooms. I plan to continue learning all I can about emerging technologies, with the help of my professors and members of the MAET community.