Blog 16

I remember the first day patiently waiting in a chair at a desk, by myself, waiting on EDM 310 to begin. I did not know what to expect. I left so overwhelmed, not sure if I could do it because I would be so stressed! I had no idea what Google Drive was, I had no idea what blogger was. All I knew was I had a blog, and I needed to learn fast what Google Drive was and how to use it. EDM 310 has been a journey! I counted down the weeks at the beginning and could not wait to get done with this class! But now at the end of the semester, I am thinking back to everything I have accomplished in this class and how much I have truly learned.

After reading my first blog, so much has changed! The first is my writing. I learned more about writing in my blogs, than I did in my composition classes. Blogging motivates me to be a better writer because I know that anybody can see it. The second thing that changed was how I thought. When I first wrote my blog, I was not researching to find more, I was honestly just writing to get it done. But now, I look to find more information and think critically to make my work better.

There are also many tools that I did not know about before this class that I could incorporate into my classroom. The first one is a blog. When I found out we had to write a blog every week, I had mixed feelings about it. But after using it for 16 weeks, I realized all kinds of different ways to use it. I really like how you can have a class blog and put important reminders on there so the parents can see it imminently. I also like how it allows the parents to see what the student is learning in the classroom. I also feel like blogging in the classroom would make students want to try harder, especially with people from the outside commenting on them. I hope to someday use this in my future classroom and help push technology in the class.

The second tool I would like to use is Google Drive. This is much more effective than passing out papers when students lose them. With Google Drive you can send a file to all the students in a matter of a click. You do not have to worry about the student losing that item, for they can always go back and have access to it every day in Drive. I feel like this would be very successful to also use during group projects so the teacher could see who all did the work.


The other tool I would use in my classroom is the iPad. Which I found to be the most important in my opinion. I did not know how to incorporate it in the classroom before this class. Now, I have so many ideas to help the students improve their learning through the iPad. I never realized how much you can do with one, but I have completely changed my mind about them, and I actually asked for one for Christmas this year! There are so many apps you can get on the iPad from education to personal. I am really excited to learn even more about the iPad! These are just a few of the many tools I hope to use in my future classroom. I have learned even more than I explained in these short paragraphs. I hope to encourage others about technology in the classroom and push people to end burp-back education.