5364+Reflections

 [] At the beginning of this class, I imagined a hands-on approach to embedding technology with lessons. It did not take long before I realized the group activity was one such example, and I like how it also taught us about UDL. We experienced our learning and can now take this format and use it in our own classrooms. The outcomes proved to be what I expected. I enjoyed working with my group and learned much with their help, feedback, and critiques. I was excited to work in a collaborative group setting as I have always been a team player. This class allowed me to work with some incredible individuals and learn from the lessons, videos, and readings. I enjoy reading, but prefer doing and lectures over reading my classes. I am grateful for the UDL lesson building and the creation of a professional development session, and only hope that one day this training/class will become a mandatory training for all teachers; regardless of their experience. The course did meet the outcomes I envisioned in this respect. I had other expectations as well, but speak of those in the next few fields. Yes, the course outcomes did align with those that I envisioned. The information I acquired in this course will be relevant to my work upon my return to work. The information attained in regards to UDL lesson plans will become a part of my planning process which demonstrated to me how to create lessons that will meet the needs of all learners. Prior to this class, I had always felt the need to meet all my students’ needs, but was told it was impossible to do so and forced to administer exams I did not agree with. I know better now. As a fairly new teacher to the field (1 ½ years), it can sometimes be difficult to be taken seriously by individuals that have been teaching 25+ years. I did not care for the “one-size-fits-all” approach and hope that more educators change their styles of assessment and presentation. The implementation of the use of technology may be a little challenging for me in my current district, as Spanish classes (especially on the Intermediate level) do not have technology in the classrooms. I am aware that Klein ISD is in the process of providing all students with a one-to-one computing situation, but until that happens, I will have no choice but to use my trusty old overhead projector and transparencies. I was hoping to see more activities centered around the technologies we were learning. I felt that we should have had more opportunities to brainstorm the various uses for each form of technology within a classroom. Many of the technologies we used were found while searching for pieces to our “puzzle” assignment. I would have liked to have seen something come from our discussions such as “50 ways to use Wordle in a classroom”. It would have been helpful to share the various tools and how they could be integrated in the classroom. This is the biggest problem with professional development courses, I believe. We need more tangible information on how we can use what we have learned in our classrooms. I understand this class was instrumental in teaching us how to teach all learning styles, but UDL also emphasized that one of the essential elements should be technology. The course outcomes in this respect did not align with my personal expectations of this course, however, I learned more than I expected in other regards. There are some things that just become habit after doing them regularly. The updating of my wiki and blog became more of a habit rather than an assignment, and I now enjoy posting to both. The group work kept us on track and encouraged us to complete the assignments in a timely manner. I felt the directions were somewhat vague and clarification took too long to acquire. It is my understanding that the assignment was designed this way for open interpretation; however, it brought frustration and doubt amongst the group and its individuals. Thankfully, we had the conferences (both the class and the group ones), and they proved to be very helpful. I am a person that prefers to have clarity in my work. At times I felt there could have been more experimentation with technology in the classroom setting. How fun would it be for us to brainstorm the many ways we could blog or Jing in our classes. We could share these ideas in the large group and see how many uses in the classroom we could come up with. The main thing I consider to have been a discouragement was acquiring the answers when we needed them. I have always been a team player and prefer helping others while helping myself. I enjoyed working with my group and learned much from their feedback. Being the individual with the least experience in the field, I was unsure as to what I could bring to the group and pleasingly found that I have more of a “coach” approach. I was chosen as the leader; however, I did not feel I was the best individual in the group for this position. I did what I could to ensure the team was staying on track and focused. When I needed help “rounding everyone up” to complete the assignment, Karen stepped in and did a nice job of giving direction to our group. I learned many technology skills in which I look forward to applying in my classroom and anxiously await teaching my students how to use them as well. This group experience has changed my perception of group work due to the negative encounters I have experienced in my high school past. This group was professional, supportive, ingenious, creative, and collaborative. We were able to stay focused and give constructive criticism successfully. Meritte introduced us to Tokbox, which was an invaluable source for communicating online. Our group met four times on Tokbox as a means to clarify and direct our project. I like how the professor chose the project we were charged with as one we could use in the classroom once customized for our students. It focused on the group for assessment as well as the individual, and I have always felt that collaborative groups must have both assessment components to be fair to all involved. Overall, this was a positive experience and I leaned much about myself.