Week 5 Part 3: Course Reflections

As a new teacher, finding ways to integrate technology in the curriculum was tough, and this is the reason why I enrolled in this Master’s program. The outcomes that I envisioned for this course were to complete all assignments, learn about web tools, and learn new ways to implement technology in the curriculum. I was able to complete all assignments on time. In addition, I have grown tremendously from this course, because when I started I didn’t have an idea what web tools were and how to implement them into the curriculum. At the end of this course, I now know what web tools are and how to implement them into my lessons. This course did a great job introducing and explaining many different kinds of web tools. I am excited about my new profound knowledge and experience with web tools, and I cannot wait to share my new ideas with other teachers.

Being a fourth grade teacher, every web tool that was presented in this course was relevant. Most of the web tools that were presented in this course I had never used or heard about before. The wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, animoto, and Wordle were all new to me. I also learned the difference between a blog and a wiki. Since I started this course, I have talked to my principal about setting up a blog for my fourth grade students on my blackboard site. She and I are very excited about implementing this idea in my lessons. Every week I will ask a critical-thinking question in relation to the topic that we are covering that week and they will have until Friday to answer the question. I will have it set up so that I will be able to accept or decline the answers. This will be a learning experience not only for my students, but for me as well.

Even though I completed all of my assignments, I still need to work on my writing and references. I believe that with time and practice my writing and ability to cite references correctly will get better. I haven’t written a research paper in while, so I need to learn how to cite in APA style again. I also had trouble following the different documents in Epic. For example, the course overview in the announcement section, the course overview that was posted in assignments, and the to-do-list all had different information. This course was very overwhelming because it was a lot of work and research, so I struggled to find out what exactly I had to complete for each week’s assignment. Epic could be a great system, but they must find a way to present information without it being scattered throughout the system. This was my first course, so by next course I hope maneuvering and finding information will become easier.

I was able to turn in all my assignments, but I did run into a few problems. The first time I tried to submit an assignment on Epic was tragic. I uploaded my assignment from my jump drive and then hit the submit button. From there I received an error notice saying that my assignment was not submitted. I began to freak out because the assignment was due that day. Something told me to hit the refresh button and when I did the page reloaded and I receive the message that said assignment submitted. Now, every time I submit an assignment I must refresh the page to allow my assignment to be submitted. I was so grateful to have a wonderful Instructional Associate and group members. They were all very nice and answered my questions to the best of their abilities and I really appreciated it.  Overall, I believe that this course wouldn’t have been so overwhelming if the information wouldn’t have been scattered throughout the Epic system.

During these past five weeks, I have learned about different ways that I can implement technology in my lessons.  I also learned that I am not as “Tech Savvy” as I thought I was.  I have come to a turning point in my life where I just don’t want to be a good teacher but, a great teacher.  I realize in order to become that great teacher, I must teach my students the basic technological skills so that they can have an equal opportunity to succeed in this digital world. Some say implementing technology in younger grades is a waste of time but from this course I have learned that it is never too early to introduce basic technology skills to students.  I have also learned a lot about myself from this course. I learned that when I am put to a test I will always pass because I believe in myself. Plenty of nights I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the assignments but in the end I pushed myself and I was able to complete all of the assignments. I can now say that I am a better and stronger person.  I always have considered myself a leader, but now I want to be the best leader and teacher.  I feel that this program will help me achieve these goals.