Course Reflection

Looking back at this past semester and specifically this course I can honestly say that taking this class was on of the most enjoyable experiences in my graduate studies thus far. Going into this this class I really did not know what to expect. I have never taken an online class and have used very a very limited amount of technology in the classroom up to this point in my career. This class opened my eyes to different ways of reaching out to the children of today. Also it made me aware of the challenges of making teachers become comfortable utilizing technology. Personally, I have become much more open to the use of technology in my classroom because of this course. As a teacher for 11 years, I believe I am somewhere in the middle of the road when it comes to technology. I am not a 20 year+ veteran teacher who refuses to use technology because I never used it and I am not a fresh out of college teacher who is a digital native going into the teacher world either. I believe at this point of my career I could go either way, become more adept with technology in the classroom or never use it at all. With this course I believe I will be much more open to further learning and trying new ideas involving technology. I have come to realize that students learn in different ways in this day and age and through technology teachers can reach them in more efficient and more effective ways. My toughest obstacle will be when I decide to leap into the realm of administration some day and need to convince that veteran teacher to be willing to change his ways. I got a great deal out of this class and I hope the rest of you did also. Thank you Dr. Luongo for all of your help and looking forward to your class in the summer!

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans are vital to the success of a teacher and their students. However, I believe some districts and teaching colleges go overboard in the detail required in lesson plans. I have been teaching for 11 years and have used small boxes for my lesson plans in a book and have recently changed to an online format that uses a similar box set-up. In the day's box the objective, precedure, do-now, instructional strategies and assessments are listed. I agree that all teachers need to be organized and have a plan but with some formats the work can be much too time consuming! Teachers have lives outside of school and families to attend to. Some lesson plans requires hours of work just to satisfy school guidelines. Think about the poor elementary school teacher who is responsible for multiple subjects a day. Those who are required to utilized detailed lesson plans for each of their subjects will spend their entire weekend creating them! I have taught for 11 years, not to sound like an "old dog" but I have never had to do a lesson plan for school that was as detailed as the ones I had to do when I was in college doing my student teaching and I think I am very organized and prepared for every lesson I teach. Let the teachers put more effort into the actual performance of the lesson and less into meaningless paperwork that looks good in administrations eyes!

"Introducing the Book" Video

This was a very funny video! However, relates directly to a lot of people in society learning and struggling to use technology today. In school I have encountered many people who have a fear of computers and technology. I hear comments all of the time "I haven't had a computer for 30 years, why do I need it now?" I have a department member that I need to help him check his email almost daily and still doesn't know how to send an email! I also help another faculty member almost weekly put her lesson plans onto the schools L-Drive! She can't get the concept of Microsoft Word of saving the file with the proper date and opening up the correct drive to save it on! So this I can see what this video is getting at. In reality, the book was a big step forward in relation to the scroll and technology has soared to unforeseen hights. The sky is the limit with what can be done with technology. The only problem is getting everybody on board with this belief and open to the idea.

Web Site Question

I need help with something and I hope someone else out there has the answer. I am currently working on my website. It is a website devoted to my varsity baseball team at Sayreville H.S. The website has team information such as the team roster, schedule, practice times and fundraising information. However there are built in tabs that I cannot seem to change that do not pertain to my website such as homework and reading lists. Is this web page builder just specific to classroom teachers? Does anyone know if I can change these and make them more specific to my website or am I stuck with these? If anyone can be of assistance I would greatly appreciate it!

Web Site Creation

Today I started to create my website. As I began I was very excited to create my website. I was moving along pretty well, had plenty of great ideas, but stumbled as I tried to add images. Then I got bumped out of the sight and couldn't get back in. Once I got back in some of my information had disappeared! I am starting to get that same anxious feeling that I felt initially with building the webquest. Hopefully I will work out the kinks and get the hang of it. I am looking forward to building a web page for my varsity baseball team. Wish me luck and good luck to all of you creating yours!

Blogging

I am quickly becoming a fan of blogging. This class was my first experience at blogging and I am really starting to enjoy it and am starting to see the educational possibilities that can arise from blogging. Looking through the two blogging sites in Module 4, I really started to think about ways that I can possibly incorporated blogging in my health classes. The opportunities are endless! I believe that blogging can be a tremendous tool for my high school students to express themselves and apply knowledge that is being learned in class. Class participation can really extend beyond the classroom! I really believe that blogging in the near future will be a commonplace in many classrooms throughout the world.

Webquests

I have discovered that webquests can be a very valuable teaching tool. This was my first experience working with webquests and I am getting better, but still not comfortable enough to incorporate in the classroom yet. From looking at other webquests, I can see how beneficial they can be in educating the digital natives we now teach. I would love to one day feel confident enough to create lessons on webquest and utlize them in my health classes. This project hopefully will help me get one step closer.