Reactions to Virtual Class

I must say, that I did enjoy the premise of todays class. I saw some many different ways to use technology in an educational and fun way that some techniques I can't wait to try. I was very interested in the iMovie that Kailey, Liz and Tara made that showed different important places and facts concerning England. I think that this particular technology tool, whether using a Mac or a PC, could be a fun way for students to work on researching a topic and then presenting their findings to the class as a whole. I hadn't thought about using this technology prior to our virtual class because I worried that it might be too complexed for students to use, but once I had the chance to talk to the group we were able to start brainstorming unit plans and lessons that could be used with the goal being a movie at the end acting as a performance-based assessment.

Another technology that I thought meshed well with literacy development and cultural literacy was the idea of using E-Pals. This project could be an on-going lesson on writing skills and also a chance to learn how peers in other places around the world approach the same issues related to growing up. I feel that E-Pals is an easy-to-navigate technology that could be utilized as a literacy tool, as well as a geographical tool.

I feel that this class was useful because I have seen how different technologies that I had once associated with social time can be used to excite students about learning and creating. I would like to thank my fellow classmates for taking such a creative approach to this assignment because I was able to see implementation of technology in the classroom that I had feared I would just never have the time to personally explore, let alone try to incorporate into my future classroom. I don't believe that in my first year of teaching that I will be able to use all the technology tools that I want, but I now think that it will be beneficial to illustrate the skill of fearlessness and challenging yourself.