All right, last week I’m podcasting and now this week I not
only created a webpage (albeit within a super user-friendly context) AND am
considering joining the world of Twitter??
What is happening to me?? My only
answer is an epic experience called ED 504.
Silliness aside, I am truly beyond impressed with the
technological feats that have been tackled in the past few weeks. Redundant as this comment will seem,
progressing from a Facebook-only realm to one in which I am diving into an
array of electronic resources is something I did not expect in such a short
amount of time. These tools will not
only enhance my efforts at procuring employment following the MAC program but
also allow me to be a much more effective teacher! I’d say that’s all-around win.
What I enjoyed most about today’s class—from the
professional portfolio site to the utility of Twitter—is that each
topic/tool/idea discussed was extremely simple, unintimidating, and grounded in
realistic application. I found the Weebly
site to be very intuitive and I look forward to “jazzing up” my page—when free
time becomes a bit more abundant (is it August yet?). I also really enjoyed our guest speaker,
Tom’s demonstration of how to incorporate something as popular and seemingly
non-academic as Angry Birds into a math lesson.
He raised the bar for taking a creative, engaging approach to teaching
more difficult content, and made a strong case for being mindful of the
sacrifices that are often necessary to keep our students from drifting off into
the abyss. Though the authors of the
Core Curriculum Guides will call me crazy, I think sometimes quality needs to
trump quantity.
Totally unrelated... In an effort to broaden my blog skills, I'm inserting a picture. Though something the spirit of Angry Birds would be more appropriate, I decided to go with one of my dog, Mason :-) This is his "Mommy, please stop working and take me for a walk" look.
Creating a website was so much fun for me. I was constantly falling slightly behind in the instructions because I was "jazzing up my page" as you would say. I was constantly changing my default photo, and adjusting my template. Sacrificing a couple of days to help students understand a concept more deeply is something that we will have to get comfortable with; even though it seems difficult now. I am also someone who does not tweet, but I too was considering joining ( I can't believe I'm saying this :D )
ReplyDeleteI LOVE YOUR DOGGY. AH!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the technology we worked with in class was very intuitive. I'm glad that technology is becoming more welcoming to novices like us.
I was also wary about the use of Twitter, but I was amazed by how efficiently educators were able to share ideas in an ongoing discussion/ feed. Tom's presentation impressed me, but I was afraid I would never be as creative as he is!
I want to spend some more time playing with the bells and whistles! Where does all my time go?? I felt like my student from Scarlett, battling an internal struggle to stay on task and play around later.
I sometimes feel like my brain is going to explode with all this technology being thrown at me, I hope some sticks!
Yes, EDUC 504 can make you feel like a kid in a candy store, and not to sound anti-technology, but there that saying about too much of a good thing. I'm just taking note, and putting aside most of these technologies until I have more time to absorb them.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Mike's right, some of what we are learning will get set aside. Goes in the category of "is useful to know."
ReplyDeleteWhen spring rolls around, I'd like to see us sharing our self-marketing websites. Collectively, there will be great ideas, and we'll see how people have started to use these tools.
@Pete - Great idea.
ReplyDelete@Mike - absolutely.
@Mason - YAY! Summer vacation = more walks for you!
@Rachel and @Musetta - aha! You've just discovered a key piece of the tech puzzle. Tech is so sparkly that, just like our students will, we can lose a lot of time. So finding a balance between content and presentation is an ongoing challenge!