Fare thee Well
My class and semester is about to come to a close. Though it hasn't always been easy I have learned quite a bit from my Instructional Education class here at Stockton. I have to admit that when I first signed up for this class I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. I have often referred to myself as "technologically challenged" and figured that this class and I would not be getting along very well at all. However I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I am not always horrible when it comes to different technology. I have been able to incorporate different aspects of what we have learned in class into potential lessons plans for my high school English class.Some of the things I really loved learning about where the different uses of the iPad, Sophia online, flipped classrooms, Google docs, and of course everyone's favorite the smart board. Though we didn't go over it extensively the flipped classroom is something that really stuck with me and is something I would love to learn more about and even become certified in teaching one day. Taking the lectures home instead of in the classroom is a great idea to free up classroom time for further understanding and fun learning activities that make students want to learn more. The ipad and gamification can help in an inclusive classroom where students can "level up" at their own pace so no one is being left behind and no one is being held back. Smart boards are perfect for reviews of a lesson, reading assignment, discussion topic, or sub day, and even teaching the lesson. The different activities and options can be applied to almost every lesson plan and the possibilities are endless.
Sophia and Google Docs make it so the students never miss a beat, even when they miss class. In this way all of the lesson plans, activities, notes, and help videos can be found in one convenient place (or two if you want to use both). Students can upload their assignments straight to a class folder in Google docs, the dog ate my homework will never again be an excuse nor will not having any ink in the printer. These are both something that I can see myself greatly incorporating into my own classroom later on and am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to learn about it all.
Though we learned a lot and some I will probably not use every little thing in my classroom I love that we have all of these options. I am no longer quite as scared to use technology, though I have also learned you cannot always depend soley on technology and that you should always have physical back ups. Just because we have all of this wonderful and amazing technological devices doesn't make them infallible. We have to take that into consideration as we create our lesson plans that way a technical difficulty won't ruin the whole lesson.
All in all I am grateful for this class and all that I have learned. These techniques will be able to enhance my classroom and overall lesson plans. I may not use every single technique that we learned but I have the option too which will open more doors for me in the future.
