Blog Assignment #15

Final Reflection

The first part of my blog assignment reflects on Blog Assignment #1. This was my very first blog assignment, and in this post, I answered the following questions: "Imagine your classroom when you start teaching. What will be the methods of teaching that you will emphasize? What tools will you use, and what tools will your students use?" After taking EDM 310, I have learned so much about technology. However, many of my responses to those questions in Blog Assignment #1 are still the same.

My major is still Secondary Education (Mathematics), and I still hope to teach high school students someday. As I stated in my first post, I hope for my classroom to be inspiring. I want it to be an environment that encourages learning. In my first post, I said that I would decorate my classroom with posters and bulletin boards that would encourage my students to do their best. Through Pinterest, I have discovered many creative ways to achieve that goal such as incorporating interactive bulletin boards which would allow my students to work on certain skills in a creative way.

In my first post, I said that I would love to incorporate technology into my classroom. However, I was unaware of all the possibilities that existed. Before taking EDM 310, I never imagined that resources such as Blogger, Skype, and Twitter could be used for educational purposes. However, I now hope to incorporate all of these activities into my classroom so that my students will be able to create their own Personal Learning Networks and make connections with people all around the world.

As far as what teaching methods I will use, I still think that I need to be flexible, and I still hope to incorporate projects that go along with the lessons. However, I think flipping the classroom is an interesting concept that I will consider trying. All students learn at a different rate. If these students are allowed to read the material and watch videos explaining the material outside of class, then this will help them learn at their own pace. As a teacher, it would allow me to expand on what they have learned, and it would allow me more time to help the students who may be struggling with a certain concept.

As I discussed in my first assignment, I still would love to teach high school mathematics. I also hope to teach more upper level math courses. My two favorite math courses are still Trigonometry and Calculus, and I would love to be able to teach those subjects. So, my overall thoughts about how I would like to run my classroom have not changed. However, I have gained more knowledge of how to effectively incorporate projects and technology into my classroom.

Not much has changed from the beginning of the semester until now as far as the way I want to present myself as a teacher. However, I have learned the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom, and I have learned how to effectively do so. I have learned how to use resources such as Pinterest to create a classroom environment that is interactive and that will hopefully inspire learning. I have also learned how to make connections with other educators by using tools such as Blogger, Edmodo, and Skype. This will help me to continually learn new ideas from others that I will be able to incorporate into my classroom.

The biggest change from the beginning of the semester until now is my view on educational technology. I knew tools existed such as Blogger, Twitter, and Skype. However, I had no intention on using any of this in my classroom because I was unaware of the possibilities. At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea that these tools could be used for educational purposes. Now, I see that it is important to incorporate technology into the classroom. It allows a different type of learning to take place, and I definitely intend on incorporating these tools in my future classroom.