Weeks 3 and 4 of this course

I feel as though weeks 3 and 4 of this course have been going pretty well. I feel as though it is starting to come together, slowly but surely. Last week, I spent most of my time working on the blog. Our group session tonight went very well. We discussed our opinions on the different technologies coming out now and how we would use them in our classrooms. This week's readings focuses on the use of google docs. I found that this tool can be wonderful, but I don't think that it would fit the learning needs of all students. I think that this would be perfect for a student in middle or high school who learns new things easily and does not need constant teacher supervision. What about students who have higher needs than the other students? How would the use of google docs help them? Frankly, I don't think that it would. I'm not saying to not use this tool; I am just saying to be aware of the learners in your classroom and use a tool that would work for them.



Here is my reflection for the last 2 weeks:
Reflection:


Bloom's Remembering: What did I do?

Student Reflection: What was the assignment? When was it due? Did I get it turned in on time?

Bloom's Understanding: What was important about what I did? Did I meet my goals?

Student Reflection: Do I understand the parts of the assignment and how they connect? Did my response completely address all parts of the assignment? Do I see where this fits in with what we are studying?

Bloom's Application: When did I do this before? Where could I use this again?

Student Reflection: How was this assignment similar to other assignments? (in this course or others). Do I see connections in either content, product or process? Are there ways to adapt it to other assignments? Where could I use this (content, product or process) my life?

Bloom's Analysis: Do I see any patterns or relationships in what I did?

Student Reflection: Were the strategies, skills and procedures I used effective for this assignment? Yes.

Do I see any patterns in how I approached my work - such as following an outline, keeping to deadlines? Yes- I keep on top of deadlines and try to get started early so that I can tweak my projects as the week progresses.

What were the results of the approach I used - was it efficient, or could I have eliminated or reorganized steps? I find my approach to be affective. It's what works for me. Some people don't like to do things this way, but this is how I learn the best.

Bloom's Evaluation: How well did I do? What worked? What do I need to improve? I need to improve on sprucing things up. The content is there, just making things more visually appealing would be nice.

Student Reflection: What are we learning and is it important? Yes, learning about technology is important because we need to know about what we teach our students to use.
Did I do an effective job of communicating my learning to others? No. I will use the discussion forum more often from now on.

What have I learned about my strengths and my areas in need of improvement? How am I progressing as a learner? I am progressing well, I think. I have a very good work ethic and get things done early, but I need to have more patience when awaiting replies from others, especially when they answer questions that I may have had.

Bloom's Creation: What should I do next? What's my plan / design? I plan to continue working on the blog and figure out how to add more features.

Student Reflection: How can I best use my strengths to improve? I can use some of the new technologies to help me further understand how technology works and what it can be used for.

What steps should I take or resources should I use to meet my challenges? Use the discussion forum and my peers for help with any encountered problems.

What suggestions do I have for my professor or my peers to improve our learning environment? It's a little bit overwhelming. Make sure what is expected of us is clearly stated and that the links work.

How can I adapt this content or skill to make a difference in my life and my future/current classroom? I will definitely be using this knowledge in my classroom. I've already begun to tell other teachers about it actually. I will be planning interactive lessons and will most likely have my students create their own blog, even if they use their written journal entries and enter them into the computer as a blog.



As for me with the technology, I am becoming more comfortable. I am having trouble embedding videos and using pictures on my blog, though. I would like to spruce it up a little bit! I hope that you are all doing well with the semester and that things are starting to come together for you.

Until next time...