Blog Post # 15

Final Reflection/exam

Part 1

As a future educator, I imagine my classroom as being a fruitful environment for students to learn. I will strive to be an educator who is fully dedicated to their students. I want my students to be independent learners and for them to possess the desire to always want to know more. I plan to incorporate the use of technology in my future classroom. I imagine my students using computers or even their own iPads to blog about what they have learned and what they have gained from the experience. I will be teaching on the elementary level, but I believe my students will be able to successfully learn from the use of technology as well as a student on the high school level. Mrs. Cassidy's first graders, whom we did a blog post about, are a perfect example of that idea. I'm not completely sure exactly what grade I will be teaching, but I am thinking along the lines of 3rd or 4th grade. Since I am minoring in English, I will likely plan special activities when teaching this subject since it is my strong point. I may also continue my education in the future and teach English on the college level later on. I see my students striving to be the best they can be in all that they do.

I could see Skype being used in my future classroom to gain insight from other educators or even special people the students could learn about. One example of a special person might be an author of a particular book we read in class that the students liked. I'd like my students to be hands-on learners because I believe this is the best way to learn. You learn from the experience itself rather than just simply reading about it in a textbook. Hands-on learning also incorporates an aspect of fun into learning.

I plan to make use of the SmartBoard in my future classroom. I knew a few things about using a SmartBoard through my experience with using them in high school, but in this class and a few other education classes I have learned many new tricks and tools which can be used on a SmartBoard. I also plan to use blogging not only for myself to record a reflection of the school year, but also for my students to record what they have learned. I will most likely wait a few years before beginning to blog about the school year. I will do this so that I can look back on my journey and where I've been as I continue to move forward.

I will try out using Google Drive to collaborate with other educators on lesson plan ideas. As I have learned in this class, there are so many people out there with their own unique opinion from which we can learn. Google Drive could be a way to learn from other educators because even after you have your own classroom there is still always room for improvement.

As I look back on what I wrote at the start of the semester, I see I had a plan for how I see my future classroom. I would not want my classroom to be about "burp-back" education. I knew I wanted my students to have fun learning. I would make a change to add more technology into my teaching. At the start of the semester I was not sure about how I felt about the use of technology. I see how much I have learned from the use of technology and I know my future students will learn just as much if not more from the use of technology in the classroom. I still plan to keep some aspect of lecture in the classroom considering I will be teaching elementary students, but I plan to find a different way to test the students. One way I could evaluate the students on what they have learned is by assigning a project based on the material they are studying.

I never knew by the end of the semester I would be thinking about making my future classroom centered around technology, but I feel I have been warmed up to the idea. I like the idea of technology in the classroom. One reason I would make this change is because we are such a technology based society. Technology and the use of the latest gadgets is what the students know best. This will encourage and help them to learn.


Part 2