MANDATORY POST!

I have learned things in this class that I did not know that I was going to learn. First of all Blogs. Before entering this class I had heard of blogs but had no clue what they were or what they could be used for. Blogs are probably the thing that I will take from this class and use. I hope to use blogs to communicate with the parents of my students and for other uses.

The Presentations were helpful. I already know how to use the PowerPoint and so I did not learn too much new information, but it was nice to know that there are other ways to do Presentations other than with PowerPoint!

All together I do like using Google Docs! My favorite thing about Google is that I can access it any time any where that has Internet! (The dog can never eat my homework!) I also did like learning about the payout tables on Spreadsheet. I think people should know how to calculate things like what they will owe on something they purchase and so many people have no clue. After class on the day we learned about the payout table I went home and entered my information for my vehicle into the table to see what my "results" were.

I was glad that we learned about podcast. I do not think that I will ever use them in my classroom but I did enjoy making my own podcast. Videocast are something that I will use in my classroom. For one of our blog post we had to watch 2 videocast of our choice and I choose sea life which grabbed my attention and I think that it would do just the same for my students.

Picasa was interesting to look at, I enjoyed playing with the pictures and making new files. I have a program on my computer already that I use but I was glad to see another option in case I ever needed a new program to use.

I can not express to anyone enough my hatred for twitter!! I guess that I do not see the use for it in my classroom and that is why I dislike it so much. I searched about Twitter on Google to try to find information on how to use it in an effective way. Every time I open twitter up I just sit there with blank stares trying to get started and I just can't. I really DID try to make an effort but I felt like I was at a wall trying to climb over with no ladder! ( I just wasn't going to get very far.)

I did reach a teacher and she was more than helpful. She manages a blog that is designed to help parents with their children's math homework. Reaching a teacher that had passion for school and technology showed me that I will most likely be using technology in my classroom in one way or another. I thought that having to contact a teacher was a different but fun learning experience.

Google Earth is something that I hope to use in my classroom. I could take my class on a field trip without leaving the classroom and children love things that are different so I think that it would be beneficial. Google Earth could be technology and Social Studies/Geography integration which I think will work in helping the children to learn, rather than reading out of text books.

Foliotek is a great way for the State of Alabama to easily access the records they need about future teachers. I think that if i have to keep up with all the papers that would be required for me to have to have I would be LOST! Foliotek takes a burden off of me and I also think that it makes life easier for my professors. Foliotek is a great tool and I am so thankful that we have it!

I did not know about ACCESS Labs until I researched them in this class. I came from a very small school and did not know that that kind of technology was available for high school students. I think that without ACCESS some students would not get the full education that they deserve and that ACCESS will only expand any school that it is in!

All together I feel like I am coming out of this class with more information than I had when I went in ( and isn't that the point?)! I have enjoyed this class and learning about how I can use technology in my classroom. There were some parts of this class that I thought were not as valuable as others but I am glad to of had the experience. I hope that I can remember everything that we learned and use it in my classroom!