What Did I Learn?

Going through EDM 310 has been a very good experience and has taught me a lot about the new technologies that I will be able to use as a future teacher. Some of the things that I learned this semester include how to create my own blog, how to write and record a podcast, and how to create an iGoogle account. All of these things were fun to do and will be very beneficial to me when I become a teacher.

Blogging is now becoming a much more popular teaching tool in schools and opens up many opportunities for students, teachers, and parents. Through this course I have learned many different uses for having a classroom blog. One thing that blogs can be used for is connecting with student and teachers in different schools. I have looked at many different teacher blogs, and I can see how these teachers are connecting with teachers in different schools, sometimes across the world, and allowing their students to work together on different assignments. Classroom blogs also allow teachers to display important information for parents and students to view from home. Some things that teachers have posted on their blogs include school notices and newsletters, school or classroom awards, class assignments, online tasks, and photo and video galleries. All of these things will be great for the classroom because they will provide students with different types of learning opportunities and allow parents to see exactly what their children are working on in the classroom.

Having an iGoogle account in my classroom is also going to be a good teaching tool that I can use to help the students and parents in my classroom. IGoogle accounts allow teachers to post resources that they want parents and students to view and use at home. Some of the things that I have currently on my own iGoogle homepage include educational games, Math exercises and games, links to help student with reading, weather information, a class email account, to-do lists, and birthday reminders. All of these gadgets on my iGoogle homepage can be used to help or entertain students while away from the classroom. IGoogle accounts are easy to create and can be accessed from any location. The only thing that parents and students need to have to access these sites are an email address and a password, which I will provide to the students and parents in my classroom in the class syllabus. I have really enjoyed creating my iGoogle homepage, and I cannot wait to see how well it works as a resource for the students and parents in my classroom.

Podcasting was also a great experience that we were able to have this semester. Before I entered this class I had never heard of a podcast. Being able to write and record our own podcasts was really interesting and helped me really to think of ways that I could use this type of technology in my classroom. I believe that podcasts will be very useful in the classroom, and I plan to use them as an aid for teaching instruction. There are many podcasts available on the Internet that cover different subjects and material, so as a teacher I will be able to view different podcasts and use the podcasts as an aid when teaching a lesson. I believe that this will be a good way to gain students attention, and for me it will help to incorporate the different learning styles of all of the students in my classroom.

Overall, I think that this class was a fantastic learning experience. I learned a lot of new information that I was unfamiliar with before entering the class, and I am going to be able to take all of this information and apply it in my classroom when I become a teacher. Ms. Averitt was an excellent teacher and did a great job in covering all of the material that we are going to need to know when we become teachers ourselves. Thank you Ms. Averitt.