Reflections on MD 400 so far...

My reflections on the course so far are mostly positive. I’ve learned a great deal of new ways of bringing technology into the classroom. Such as: When my students studied a lesson on China, we used images from iPhoto that were digitally altered. The kids loved it and helped create them on the Smart Board, too. I think this was the most useful out of everything we have studied so far. Though, I am somewhat biased because I love photography and try to put it into my curriculum as much as possible! The students enjoy it and appreciate how helpful it is to our class, as a whole.

The most challenging is keeping up with the blogging. It’s rather tedious and since we talk about it in class, I find it hard to discipline myself to blog. Though, I am working on this. I haven’t found anything too frustrating, except for the navigation bar on the google website. It is hard to remember how to do things and I find I have to keep re-learning how to navigate that side bar.

It is incredibly rewarding to see the learning I achieve from MD 400 be transformed into my classroom. To see the delighted looks on my students faces when I teach them something new to me…and sometimes to them, as well. It is hard to keep up with them today, but they see I am learning right along with them and I think they respect me more for this. This is incredibly rewarding! I give and receive respect at my elementary school. My great “ah-ha” moment came later on as I really grew comfortable exploring the capabilities of the Google website. It was amazing to have it all suddenly click! There’s a lot to learn, but I am confident I can make another site for my portfolio. It will be even better because of the reflections I will have by then. Plus, I’ll know more of how to navigate through the site. Neat!
My hopes for the remainder of the semester is that I do a good job on the website. I want it to look clean and interesting. It’s been a struggle for me to create it and I have tried to show information in an enticing way, so the navigator would easily be able to go through the pages. My aim is that it will flow consistently, share similar qualities and meet the requirements of the rubric provided. I also hope to do a nice job with my blogs. I see they were kind of short in October, so I am trying to elaborate more by giving specific examples.
I’m really enjoying what I’m learning in MD 400!
Thanks,
Laurel