Our Final Week

So much information squeezed into 3 weeks!  I have come across many valuable ideas, I especially like the lesson plans and how they are constructed.  I think in the 2 years that I have taught Technology, I have been on the right track but now I have some clear direction.  I always struggled with teaching Digital Citizenship AND making it interesting to students.  I now have a large bag of tricks to go to and some directions as far as what to teach at each grade level.

My project for last week was to use some tech tools and share what I had created.  Most valuable to me was using Screencast-O-Matic to create a "how-to" lesson in another tool I thought was great - Canva.  If I were being evaluated in using these tools, I think the problem solving involved helped me to think about allowing more time in my classes for students to use this valuable skill!  Through trial and error, searching our wiki's videos and searching YouTube for tutorials, I was able to complete the screencast and get it embedded into my blog without asking for help directly.

I worked in Thinglink, always trying to think of how I could use it with my students.  I was not happy with my finished product, feeling it was not really finished nor a fair representation of what Thinglink could be used for.  I will continue to work on this project as I think it is a great September project to use with students.  I am still problem solving that one...when I finally finish it, I will post!

I absolutely loved Padlet and immediately put it onto my Summer Internet Start Page.  No responses there yet, but I think this will work wonderfully as a backchannel device for my littler students.  As far as assessment goes, I am working hard to transfer knowledge learned immediately into what I will use in my classroom.  This assignment gave me practice in using these tools, ideas about how to incorporate these tools into my curriculum, and help in evaluating how I have been teaching Technology up until this point.

They say it takes 2 weeks to build a habit.  I have been starting each weekday with the Summer PD work for about 2 and a half weeks now!  My goal is to review the curriculum materials and begin building a curriculum for my classroom.  I am going to try to continue to work for a couple of hours each weekday morning.  Our coursework has motivated me to get this going!