Reflecting

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I enrolled in this class, but I have definitely learned about a lot of good resources and tools that I will be able to use in my classroom. One of my favorites was the website that we created with Google Sites. It will be extremely beneficial to my classroom since our world is gravitating towards everything being digital. Parents need to stay informed so that their child has the best experience while in school, but getting them to a desired level of participation is a fight (for some). A quick click of a button (or touch on a screen) is all it takes to be connected to a website, and if everything is easily accessible, there really isn’t an excuse to not be informed. It is my dream (as is many other educators) that every child would have access to internet outside of school. Having homework on your website is a great thing because it eliminates the beloved “I forgot it at home” or the classic “my dog ate it” (but how many times does that really happen…) and even “I didn’t know how.” Granted, the latter is probable, but with tools such as a portaportal, students can access different links on a regular basis that assist them with their work outside of the classroom.

It is my dream to have an ipad for each of my students, but this is not a reality. The funding is just not there, but it would be an amazing thing if it was!  There are other options out there that are accessible, such as an ELMO or promethean board. In years to come, I am very sure that more options will become readily available to teachers as far as integrating technology into the classroom. Hopefully more funding will become available through grants and other gifts. We need to educate our younger generation for the future otherwise we are setting them up to fail. A teacher needs to be able to teach and also be taught all throughout their career, and this is something that has stuck with me throughout this course. I will take away this: things are rapidly changing around us, but we don’t need to be scared. We have to grab the bull by the horns and go into it headstrong with a mindset that is positive. Saying it this way makes it sound like it’s scary, but it really isn’t. I’m more excited than anything to be able to integrate new things into my lessons.