Blog Post #15

Final Reflection

In high school I knew that I wanted to become a teacher. My reasoning was that the world needs better teachers. I had teachers that didn't care how I did in the class and always gave out worksheets. These teachers truly believed that they were doing some good in our young lives. This was not the case. I started to hate school. It became a goal of mine to become a teacher so that I can inspire kids to become innovative thinkers and winners. However, I did not know how to achieve this goal until EDM 310. In the beginning of the semester I was close minded about students using technology in the classroom. I believed that it would turn younger generations into zombie like characters and true communication would be lost forever. However, I have grown through this class and my ideas began to change from technology being a complete waist to technology and inspiring our students go hand in hand if we want the world to become a better place.

I have a love for history and I plan on teaching grades 6-12. I firmly believe in hands-on learning. Burp-back education is not an option for my students. Burp-back education are for teachers who don't care about the student's education or future. I plan on getting my students excited about learning by incorporating a project based curriculum with the incorporation of technology. I plan on using a class blog and the class based social network, Edmodo. I plan on using these resources so that I can keep track of my classes and students as groups and individually. I plan my students on using blogging, Google drive, Facebook, twitter, PLNs, and Edmodo.

As I stated before burp-back education is not an option. A project based curriculum is imperative to the 21st Century student. Kids today don't know what the world was like before social networks or even computers. I remember as a child of getting our first family computer. Children today don't know what that excitement is like. They have always known technology. As an educator, it is my job to help these students harness these technological skills so that they can succeed in our technological advancing world. In my field of study, I plan on incorporating technology with history. Students already believe history to be the most boring subject and useless. I plan on vamping up students excitement about history and learning in general through the uses of blogging and Facebook. This will allow them to gain a personal view on their nations past and the worlds.

I can see my future students complaining about the amount of work that they will have to do for my class. The stress and apprehension that they will feel is something that I can relate too. They will learn many skills in my class such as teamwork, time management, and the skills to become technologically literate. They will master these skills through blogging. Not only will they learn the functions of blogging but the writing and thought process to blog. Through blogging they will connect to students all over the world through writing about prompts that connect America's history to other countries. I will also create group projects that encourage collaboration through podcasts, videos, iBooks, and the use of green-screen.

As I stated, I use to believe that technology was a waste of time. My extent of using technology was power point. However, I believed in hands on learning and that idea has not and will never change. I still believe in fairness, equality, independence, and teamwork.

However, I have changed my view on technology. I now believe that technology is vital for students learning experience. I would use these tools to help my students to become a citizen of the world and to respect other's ideas and beliefs.

Final Reflection Video