Thing #24

The End of 23 Things

Here I am at the end of this blog, I am happy to be done with the blog but I have also learned a tremendous amount when it comes to technology in the classroom. I think if this had not been a graded assignment I would have never done it. I never wanted to be on Twitter and I never wanted to Blog  to name a few things but in light of all that I am happy to have done it. I now have a ton of new passwords to remember for all the things that we needed to sign up for. (I'll just add them to the list of all the other passwords we need to remember in this age of technology!) The "things" that stand out to me the most are Animoto, Flickr Mashups- Spell with Flickr and Live Binders. I think I have used Animoto at least ten times since I learned about it. I think it is a fun way to display pictures. At first I was annoyed with Live Binders because I didn't know how to navigate putting different tabs into the binders but once I got a hang of how to work with them, it was easier and I have noticed that some sights ask if you want to put a file in your live binder, which I would have never noticed before and makes Live Binders even easier to use. 

I truly believe that everyone is a life-long learner but you decide what you are going to learn. I know have decided that I will try to start learning more about Webtools so I don't fall so far behind with current technology. I think it is important to stay up to date with technology because certain things can make my life easier and more professional. I feel like I have made the leap from dial-up Internet with the knowledge I have learned in this class. I think that staying current with technology will also help me connect with my students as well. With the need for more authentic teaching, I think using technology is just the way to do it. It gives me the freedom to differentiate my instruction based on the needs of my students. 

I think I will use my blog as a reference tool in the future. I think that this would be a great idea to look back and pick the tools that might be most useful depending on the grade I will teach in the future. I also have a terrible memory and it is nice that I have this to keep and refer back to as needed. I can also show it to my students to show them that if I can do it, then they can do it. As far as continuing to write in this blog... probably not going to happen. Especially now that the weather is getting nicer, I would prefer to do things instead of sit behind a computer and type my thoughts and feelings. I may however when I do become a teacher start a different blog using Blogger for my own classroom. It depends on what grade I am able to teach, it may be for students but it may be just to inform parents about the goings-on in the classroom. 

I am happy to check this off my list of things I have accomplished!