Reflection

The biggest thing that I have done towards my "Personal Theory of Learning" is to increase student engagement and increase student participation in class. With this class, I have learned many ways that I can help my students become more attentive and become more interested in the material that is being taught. This class has me interested in doing lots and lots of research on ideas from other teachers on how to integrate technology in the classroom and being successful.
Two technology tools that I would like to use in my classroom would be a smart board and an Ipad lab. The smart board would help make it easier to diagram sentences for the students and to show information in a large format so all my students can see easier and participate. The Ipad lab would be cool to use because they are easier to use than laptops and they are much lighter and easier to store. In the classroom, it helps the students to work with others or themselves more efficiently.
Two long term goals that I would like to achieve regarding technology integration are: being more proactive on integrating new technology in classroom and attending more technology professional development opportunities. These goals go hand and hand with one another. I need to be more willing to integrate more technology in the classroom and by attending technology conferences it will help me become more aware of the opportunities of technology that are out there.
 

Voice Thread

With my issue for voicethread, I may have done something totally different that others. I decided to post some pics of antibullying with the last slide showing statistics on bullying. Here is the link http://voicethread.com/#q.b2094730.i0.k0

Social Learning in the Classroom

I like to use cooperative learning in my classroom because it makes the students to work together and to come up with their own ideas and opinions. Most of the time they stay on task and are more engaged and interested in the lesson. In using this method, it becomes more student centered and they don't have to listen to me lecture the whole block. Another reason I like using this type of learning is that it creates an atmosphere that the students will become more creative in the classroom and to critically think. If we as teachers just stand up and lecture the whole time then the students become stale and are not using their ideas. Also for the students that don't necessarily participate in the classroom, it eventually helps them become more comfortable in discussion and projects. It is so important that our students learn these important skills so they can translate that into the 21st century workplace.