Personal Learning Reflection

There were numerous ideas I have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology.  One of the first projects we completed was creating an RSS Reader.  This was a new tool for me on google and helped me find educational blogs and websites that could benefit me as a teacher.  I checked my RSS Reader daily in order to find new feeds that I could integrate into my classroom.  Also, I learned a lot about technology through my group’s SIG Presentation.  Our group decided that we were going to prove the effectiveness of using personal learning networks in the classroom such as twitter, blogs, collaborize classroom, and websites.  I created my own website which I now utilize on a daily basis.  I had never created a blog or website before and found out how easy it was to do.  I had never heard of collaborize classroom before.  I like the idea to set up a interactive blog for classroom discussion and have students vote and comment on their vote.  It is a way for students to reason in an interactive manner.  

The Internet helped my SIG group and I enhance our proposal on the usefulness of personal learning networks in the classroom.  We found many useful articles and blogs that we read and incorporated into our final SIG Presentation.  We also used a variety of personal learning networks.  I got the opportunity through this class to create a blog, website, twitter account, learn about online safety, and join professional organization such as MACUL.  I had never used any of these online resources.  

After I created my initial blog on blogspot, I really felt the desire to start my own web page and blog for my classroom.  Although I haven’t had a lot of people respond to my blog or ask questions, I hope to use it more in the future.  I think having a blog where both parents and students can go, can positively effect student learning  Students have the opportunity to help others, not only me helping them.  

I believe that I have began to meet my goals that I established in my Personal Growth Plan.  One of my goals was to utilize technology and become more knowledgeable with using technology.  At our school, we have CPS which is a handheld remote that can be used as a review or assessment tool.  I learned how to incorporate that into my teaching.   Also, by starting my own classroom website napieralanews.weebly.com, I achieved another personal technology goal from this semester.     

I will continue to find ways of incorporating more technology into the classroom.  Just from one semester, I have learned so many new educational sites, as well as social sites that people turn to all around the world.  I am excited that this class is the first class and that I have many more to go to feel more confident in my abilities to incorporate technology into my classroom.  My long-term goals are to discover many more free online technological resources that are user-friendly that I can implement into my classroom.