My Beliefs

I have always thought it is good to use technology in the classroom, although it can be frustrating to learn how it works. During my field, I learned that students absolutely love hands on learning, and technology is a great way to accomplish this task. The students absolutely loved doing a webquest. I think it is a great way to get them excited to learn new material.

Although I am all for using technology, I do not think it is necessary to use it all the time. Some people seem to believe that technology is the best way to learn just about everything. While technology is definitely a great resource, I believe that there are other great methods to teach students new concepts that are also beneficial. My field experience also taught me that technology rich lessons take a lot of time to prepare, which is another reason I do not believe in using it in the majority of lessons. When I become a teacher, I will not have a lot of extra time on my hands, and it is important to prepare good lessons in a decent time frame. I will use technology in my classroom, but not to teach every concept.

Lessons Learned

After reading the articles and watching the movies, I learned that technology is growing exponentially these days. Within the last few years, we have gotten to the point where we can use whatever, whenever, and wherever (WWW). Technology has improved leaps and bounds over the years which is both beneficial and worrisome.

Most of the world uses technology on a daily basis whether it be the internet, cell phone, or other hand held devices. We now have the ability to access any type of information at any given point throughout the day. This can be great for both school and business purposes. Many teenagers use the internet to do research for papers or complete online assignments. The concern with this WWW technology is that it also creates distractions. One example of a distraction is Social Networking. Because many teens have access to the internet through phones, they can access social networks such as Facebook or MySpace during class. They can also chat online. In the "Teens Disconnect" article, it states that most teens use abbreviations when they have online conversations and the majority of them believe that this does not influence their formal handwriting. However, research shows that sometimes the words or abbreviations used in these online conversations tend to slip in with their formal writing. It is important for today's parents and teachers to help young people use technology wisely and not let it consume their lives.

Strengths and Weaknesses

After reading the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), I have learned that my strengths include: a basic understanding of technology, finding age appropriate uses for technology in the classroom, and using technology to collaborate with peers. Although this website has been beneficial in pointing out my strengths, it also shows areas that need improvement. The UNI surveys showed me that I have A LOT to learn about technology. For most of my answers, I marked that I was at the "Novice" level, which means I have a basic understanding of technology usage. According to UNI, I am good at communicating electronically (example: e-mail or chat), finding useful web resources for research, and I can use informational and reference sources such as CD-Roms. The area that stuck out to me most that I would like to improve in is Audio/Visual usage. I would like to gain a better understanding of how to use Windows Moviemaker so that I can make short, educational, videoclips for my students. I would also like to become more familiar with the 2007 version of Microsoft Powerpoint.

After reviewing the NETS and taking both UNI surveys, I would say that I have an okay knowledge of technology. On a scale from 1-10, 1 being no knowledge of basic technology and 10 being complete mastery of complex technology, I would mark myself as a 5. To me this means I either know how to use basic technology or I could figure out how to use the basic functions of simple to moderate technologies with minimal problems.

For my first year of teaching I have two goals: Develop a basic understanding of Windows Moviemaker and become very familiar with Microsoft Office Powerpoint 2007. The following tutorials will help me develop a better understanding of both of these programs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DOmXMAuIE (Microsoft Office Powerpoint 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DHFKVzG8Zw&feature=related (Windows Moviemaker)

The reason I chose these two programs is because they are widely used in schools. I would like to use them every now and then in my own classroom, but I definitely need to improve my limited skills with these programs.