For my final reflection I started off by reading what I wrote at the beginning of the semester.  After this 16 week course, I can honestly say that I have learned a great deal on how to use technology in the classroom.  What I wrote down was the basics about incorporating technology into the classroom but now there are so many possibilities.  After the first day, I thought that there are a lot tools that I will be learning this semester and how will they all work in the classroom.  Well after 16 weeks, I can say that all the tools have some place in the classroom.

Reflecting on what I have learned about technology and its use in the classroom; the number one thing that I learned was that technology creates differentiated learning.  Differentiated learning is a great way to cater to all the different learning styles.  Some students might be visual learners while others might be auditory.  No matter what tool is used it will be beneficial to all learners.  To go in hand with differentiated learning I would say that technology is important because it actually gives the students more responsibility in their own learning.  In our last class meeting it was said that the blog is for the teacher and the wiki is for the students.  This really does go with the idea of responsibility.  Educators can post lessons on Wikis and it gives the students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. 

With the countless tools that I learned over this semester, I would have to say that my favorite tool would have to be tie between GOOGLE Docs and Diigo.  I love GOOGLE Docs because it gives students the opportunity to collaborate on a variety of document types.  Diigo is another great tool because educators can create groups for different classes and it gives them a opportunity to bookmark webpages.  Also I love that teachers and students can use sticky notes and put questions that can be answered directly from the text.  Both teachers and students can use the tool to highlight text so the main parts can be remembered.

In conclusion, I want to say that I'm really glad that I took this course.  Also I want to thank my blog buddy for great semester.  I know that the technology that I have learned this semester will only enhance my abilities as a teacher.  Finally, I want to thank Garth for a great semester. 
 
Picture
 Clink here for my Wikispace and my lesson plan.

For the pass couple of weeks in the ED Tech class everyone was to create a wiki that included a lesson plan in our content area.  There were certain requirements that every student had to meet.  These requirements were both content specific and the incorporation of technology into the lesson.  I'm currently doing my student teaching at the MCCTC in a American Government class.  I wish I would have done this in class but there was not enough time during the past 16 weeks.  But in this case I wanted to create a wiki and lesson plan that I could use about the U.S. Constitution and the system of Checks and Balances.  A lot of work goes into make a wiki but I can see the benefits of them.  There are countless possibilities of present content with all the widgets that wikis offer.  These range from a picture to a survey. 

Here is the technology I used in the wiki:
  • AnswerGarden:  This was used to determine prior knowledge about the Constitution
  • Quizlet:  The was the U.S Constitution vocabulary words the students has to learn
  • Wordle:  Visual learner will loves this because I took the Article I of the Constitution to see what words appear the most. 
  • ThingLink:  I used a checks and balances chart for visual learners again to help explain each branch and what they do in this system.
  • Microsoft Word
  • GOOGLE DOCS

Benefits of a wiki:
  • Students both visual, auditory and kinetic will benefit greatly because every way of learning content can be combined into a wiki.  Which demonstrates differentiated learning.
  •  Students are able to collaborate and work together on projects or assignments.
  • It displays the best possible work by each student.
  • Students have the ability to work at their own pace.
  • The widget tool allows teachers and students to have multiple way of completing or creating assignments.

Here are two pictures from the student and teacher page from my wiki:

    Author

    My name is Jonathan McClure and I'm a history buff who also loves sports.

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