21 Things Reflection
Creating the “21 Things Modules” was a wonderful and frustrating learning experience all at the same time. I learned a lot about applications that can improve my students learning and make their experience in my classroom fun! I also found multiple resources that I will use to improve my teaching skills. This experience also made me aware of the importance of keeping a pen and pencil in a child’s hand. I found many of the websites to not be useful or hard to manipulate. I also feel as though society is becoming too dependent on technology when not every student has access to these tools. This process has made me understand how to keep a balance between traditional learning techniques and technology learning techniques.
My favorite experience from this process was perfecting the image of my website. I noticed as I continued through the 21 modules I became more apt to showing family members my website because it was something I had become proud of. I loved showing my parents the different things I learned or created to help my future classroom. I also became more aware of how important the image your website is and what is says about you as a teacher. Creating the 21 things made me proud of the hard work I put into creating a tool for my future.
The first tool that I will implement in my classroom is the use of a Smartboard. In Thing 15 I came across a video that taught teachers the different uses for a Smartboard. Watching this video gave me a sense of excitement! I learned about different games that teachers can use to make their students learning experience fun. I also feel as though many teachers are afraid to use their Smartboard because they don’t know how to use it. This tutorial taught me how to use it and where to get the applications to make it more than just an interactive whiteboard!
The next discovery I will be implementing in my classroom is safer database search engines that my students will use for researching. I found these databases in thing 10. The first one is called BookFlix. When students search a topic on this site it a book and a video that relate to one another appear. I found this to be a fun site that would help younger children engage in research. The next database I will use is called Kids Infobits it is a database that has only kid friendly articles. They are easy to understand and contain the type of information a younger child will be able to comprehend. Also this database is safer for the children in my classroom to use because the articles are hand selected for them.
The final thing I see myself implementing into my classroom is the homemade smart board I discovered in thing 21. This video explained to teachers how to create a smartboard in your classroom if one is not already provided. The cost was only about $60, which is very manageable for a teacher. It also demonstrated the different tasks this interactive white board can accomplish. I think that this will be a huge time saver and fun tool to use in my future classroom.
Creating the 21 things was a long process with lots of learning! I learned how to implement many different technologies into my classroom that I would have not have otherwise heard of. I also learned how important it is to have a balance between technology based learning and traditional learning. This experience opened my eyes to different ways you can make your students learning experience fun.
Creating the “21 Things Modules” was a wonderful and frustrating learning experience all at the same time. I learned a lot about applications that can improve my students learning and make their experience in my classroom fun! I also found multiple resources that I will use to improve my teaching skills. This experience also made me aware of the importance of keeping a pen and pencil in a child’s hand. I found many of the websites to not be useful or hard to manipulate. I also feel as though society is becoming too dependent on technology when not every student has access to these tools. This process has made me understand how to keep a balance between traditional learning techniques and technology learning techniques.
My favorite experience from this process was perfecting the image of my website. I noticed as I continued through the 21 modules I became more apt to showing family members my website because it was something I had become proud of. I loved showing my parents the different things I learned or created to help my future classroom. I also became more aware of how important the image your website is and what is says about you as a teacher. Creating the 21 things made me proud of the hard work I put into creating a tool for my future.
The first tool that I will implement in my classroom is the use of a Smartboard. In Thing 15 I came across a video that taught teachers the different uses for a Smartboard. Watching this video gave me a sense of excitement! I learned about different games that teachers can use to make their students learning experience fun. I also feel as though many teachers are afraid to use their Smartboard because they don’t know how to use it. This tutorial taught me how to use it and where to get the applications to make it more than just an interactive whiteboard!
The next discovery I will be implementing in my classroom is safer database search engines that my students will use for researching. I found these databases in thing 10. The first one is called BookFlix. When students search a topic on this site it a book and a video that relate to one another appear. I found this to be a fun site that would help younger children engage in research. The next database I will use is called Kids Infobits it is a database that has only kid friendly articles. They are easy to understand and contain the type of information a younger child will be able to comprehend. Also this database is safer for the children in my classroom to use because the articles are hand selected for them.
The final thing I see myself implementing into my classroom is the homemade smart board I discovered in thing 21. This video explained to teachers how to create a smartboard in your classroom if one is not already provided. The cost was only about $60, which is very manageable for a teacher. It also demonstrated the different tasks this interactive white board can accomplish. I think that this will be a huge time saver and fun tool to use in my future classroom.
Creating the 21 things was a long process with lots of learning! I learned how to implement many different technologies into my classroom that I would have not have otherwise heard of. I also learned how important it is to have a balance between technology based learning and traditional learning. This experience opened my eyes to different ways you can make your students learning experience fun.