Wednesday, December 14, 2011

REFLECTION


 My journey through this class has been one of much growth and reflection.  It's crazy to think that this is a Learning and Technology course, when I reflect on what I got out of it.  Yes I did learn, but not only in the context that I had thought I would be when signing up for the class.  And this is a good thing...a great thing!  From the technology standpoint, I have been introduced into various vehicles to do some pretty neat things.  Each and every tool that I have learned about will be a valuable resource for me in my teaching and education endeavors.  From the learning standpoint, I was able to take ownership of my learning, which made it so powerful.  I learned through trial and error, figuring out what I liked and didn't like, forcing myself to be one step outside of my comfort zone, and being challenged to break any preconceived notions.  In addition, I learned a great deal about myself.  Between finding my passion and the whole piece on Dan Pink, I found myself lost in the awe of it.  For me, those two parts of the class had the most impact, as it forced me to stop and really think about who I am and what I'm doing.  It was definitely a breath of fresh air.  When you bundle learning and technology together, that is a powerful phrase.  I have recognized more than ever, the power to technology in one's quest to learn.  It is the way the times are going, and yes I do miss the smell and turning of a page in a book, or speaking to a live body on the phone, but we cannot miss out on this opportunity to take advantages of all these resources.  So I really do feel that as an educator it is important to find ways to use technology within your classroom and more than just in a word processing format.  We need to allow our students to delve into it head first and to get their hands dirty---with monitoring and expectations of course!  But this is how they are going to learn and what they need to learn to be able to be a member of our ever changing society.  So my challenge to myself is to continue using and exploring the tools that we have been introduced to over the course of the semester, and truly make them my own.

In my attempts to be high tech, I needed to revert to some low tech...


Here you go..I hope you enjoy.