Technology Autobiography 2

As the end of our class approaches, I read my original autobiography and reflected on it. I find that my views have not changed, but strengthened. I hope that I will one day teach to a class that has their own laptops. The course text states over and over how important it is for students to have constant access to technology. I am lucky that through a grant from General Electric, I will have a tablet laptop and LCD projector because I teach science. This will help me to include technology in my instruction, but I also hope to have at least a few computers in my classroom to utilize. Most schools only have one computer lab and time can be hard to come by. I am also willing to look at used or refurbished laptops that I can purchase at a discount to use in my room if we are without classroom computers. After this class, I think of computers as a necessity rather than a luxury.

At the start of Teaching with Technology, I thought that I would learn some new technologies. But I never imagined I would want to use them all! I did come into this class hating blogs and seeing no real use for them in my classroom. I have now changed my mind. I forced myself to use blogging as a technology for the midterm project. After doing so, I really do want to use it in my classroom. And selfishly, I love the fact that I can grade all my students' work without a huge stack of paper to go through.

As the semester progressed, I tried to look at each new technology as a middle school student. I found them all to be fun and something that my students will be capable of doing. And because of our midterm and final, I have found a way to use each of my favorites within the standards. This will be immensely useful when I go to actually teach those lessons, I will already have an idea in mind on how to make it interesting for my classes.

I am thankful that this course was a part of our program and hope that I am able to take more like it in the future. Technology is ever evolving and I need to keep up, so that my students don't totally pass me by.