Technology has always played a major part in my teaching and educational experiences. For my first 2 years of teaching I was a "floating teacher", meaning that I didn't have my own classroom and every period I had to use another teacher's room while they were on conference. This experience made me such a resourceful teacher. It was cumbersome to transport a class set of textbooks and handouts from room to room so I had to get creative. I was fortunate to have computer labs as my classrooms so I utilized that to its fullest. I was constantly searching for online resources and looking for ways to make my floating teacher situation easier. I found so many awesome sites and resources, but it is a bit of a blur now as it was almost 10 years ago and my first years teaching, which are hectic to say the least. I now wish I would have blogged about those years and maybe helped out other first year teachers.
Having had the experiences I had with technology really made me eager to take this course. I know that technology can really be a lifeline for teachers, especially those with limited resources. I have learned so much over this course and found many new resources that I am excited to use with students, parents, and teachers. For example, I am really excited to create a blog for my future library. My vision for the blog is to share book recommendations, summer reading activities, and helpful research resources. I am also looking forward to managing social media accounts for the library, like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This course has given me the opportunity to see so many great examples of well executed social media account for libraries, and I am excited to start my own. While these platforms for sharing information came easy to me, others we researched did not.
I love watching YouTube videos and listening to podcast but creating them is a different story. I have always been uncomfortable with the editing of these and wish I knew more about it. There are so many ways to create and edit videos and podcasts that I am overwhelmed and confused by it. I hope to learn more in the future and get over my hurdle of editing. I feel these have the potential to be incredible tools for students and I need to become accustomed on how to make a quality video and podcast.
The tool I learned this semester that will benefit students' the most is screencasting. I can see endless possibilities for how this could be utilized in the classroom. For example, a drawback of introducing new technology is the time and patience needed to become familiar with it. With a large class, it can be a headache to demonstrate over and over again, and this is where screencast come in. You complete 1 thorough video and it can be shared and viewed by every student as many times as they need to see it. This will free up the teacher to monitor and give hands on help to unique problems.
I feel so fortunate to have learned about all these incredible tools this semester. I can't wait to share these tools with students for them to use on their own classroom presentations and assignments. Another awesome tool we learned in this class is digital story telling. I used the website Zimmer Twins At School to create an quick overview of some of the highlights from this semester. This site is set up for private classroom use so I uploaded a screencast to view the video (see below).
It was a pleasure having this class and I can't wait to see what is in store for all my fellow future librarians!
Reference:
Kapuler, D. (2018, September 07). 30 Sites and Apps for Digital Storytelling. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/30-sites-and-apps-for-digital-storytelling
Having had the experiences I had with technology really made me eager to take this course. I know that technology can really be a lifeline for teachers, especially those with limited resources. I have learned so much over this course and found many new resources that I am excited to use with students, parents, and teachers. For example, I am really excited to create a blog for my future library. My vision for the blog is to share book recommendations, summer reading activities, and helpful research resources. I am also looking forward to managing social media accounts for the library, like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This course has given me the opportunity to see so many great examples of well executed social media account for libraries, and I am excited to start my own. While these platforms for sharing information came easy to me, others we researched did not.
I love watching YouTube videos and listening to podcast but creating them is a different story. I have always been uncomfortable with the editing of these and wish I knew more about it. There are so many ways to create and edit videos and podcasts that I am overwhelmed and confused by it. I hope to learn more in the future and get over my hurdle of editing. I feel these have the potential to be incredible tools for students and I need to become accustomed on how to make a quality video and podcast.
The tool I learned this semester that will benefit students' the most is screencasting. I can see endless possibilities for how this could be utilized in the classroom. For example, a drawback of introducing new technology is the time and patience needed to become familiar with it. With a large class, it can be a headache to demonstrate over and over again, and this is where screencast come in. You complete 1 thorough video and it can be shared and viewed by every student as many times as they need to see it. This will free up the teacher to monitor and give hands on help to unique problems.
I feel so fortunate to have learned about all these incredible tools this semester. I can't wait to share these tools with students for them to use on their own classroom presentations and assignments. Another awesome tool we learned in this class is digital story telling. I used the website Zimmer Twins At School to create an quick overview of some of the highlights from this semester. This site is set up for private classroom use so I uploaded a screencast to view the video (see below).
It was a pleasure having this class and I can't wait to see what is in store for all my fellow future librarians!
Reference:
Kapuler, D. (2018, September 07). 30 Sites and Apps for Digital Storytelling. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/30-sites-and-apps-for-digital-storytelling
Hi Jackie! You wrote an interesting description of what it’s like to be a floating teacher. I can now imagine how difficult that must have been for you. I too often wonder how YouTubers edit their videos. Although I created a YouTube video this semester I barely dipped my toe into the editing portion. This course has given me the confidence. I know I can learn anything I want if I invest some time and effort into it. Have a great summer!
ReplyDeleteI feel uneasy with YouTube and podcasts as well. It's because I'm often self-conscious but it lets me understand that students may feel uneasy as well. I also consider myself a teacher that keeps up with technology and this class confirmed the need to do so in education.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this course was challenging because I had to use technology to create something when I was used to just being a consumer of it. I think you came a long way and did an excellent job! I know this course took me out of my comfort zone especially in regards to using social media, but I can see now how effective these tools can be to reaching out to students, parents, and teachers, so it is worth getting out there into cyberspace!
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