From+My+Heart

1. What did you learn about yourself (as a person) as a result of doing this wiki and the technology products; By creating this wiki I learned that I really want to work with kindergarteners as well as special education. I felt that special ed was were my heart lied and there was no doubt in my mind that that was what I was going to do. By creating lessons and technology productions for a regular ed kindergarten class, I realized that I could have a lot of fun with these lessons and create assignments using various technologies that some special ed kids would not be capable of doing. Even though I am going to continue to get both a regular and special ed degree, I have realized that their are more opportunities that I am interested in pursuing.

2. What did you learn about being a teacher from writing your unit; From writing my unit I learned that being a teacher is a very hard and exhausting occupation. Just creating lesson plans can be exhausting. When writing your lessons you also have to keep in mind that nothing is set in stone. You must be flexible and willing to accept change and alterations with your lesson. It will never go as planned because things change. I'm excited for being a teacher, but I realize that it's not as simple as lecture and homework. You have to work hard for your students to get the learning experience that they deserve.

3. What you are most proud of as a result of doing your products; The thing I am most proud of is the knowledge that I have gained from creating these products. The knowledge I have learned will help me to teach others, but it has also brought a lot of learning into my life and given me knowledge that I can use to grow as a student to become the future teacher that I am hoping to be. I am also proud to know that people in the class would refer to my wiki when needing ideas for lesson plans. It has given me a strong sense of confidence, and it's a wonderful feeling to know I'm helping others even before I get my teaching certification.

4. What you would do differently next time you write a unit and use technology Something I would do differently is to make the units a little more interactive with the students. Many of my lessons involve them sharing the final products among peers, but I would like to have lesson plans where the students are required to do the technology portion of assignments with their peers. This can give them the opportunity to combine ideas and build off of each others thoughts for even more extraordinary learning and assignments.

5. What you are most concerned about with using technology and how you will overcome obstacles with technology; My biggest concern about using technology is that some of the technology maybe over the heads of some of my students. They are young and I am just not sure that they all have access to the kind of technology being used in class. I plan to do most technology portions of assignments in class so as to avoid the problem of students not accessing the internet or other pieces needed to complete the technology projects.

6. What you are most concerned about with teaching and how you will overcome obstacles; My biggest concern about teaching is that I will get frustrated with the technology. I don't feel like I will get frustrated as much with my students, but with myself because I am implementing technology that they may not understand or feel is helping them to learn. I need to just remind myself that if they see my frustration they will become frustrated and it's not worth it. If the technology seems to not be working, I can always change up the lesson plan because part of being a good teacher requires that I just go with the flow. Nothing will work out perfectly.

7. What you are most excited or intrigued about with regards to using technology; I'm excited to see how the students take to the technology being implemented in the lessons. Will they be really excited and awed? I am excited to work with them and teach them what I know so that they can build strong learning habits and learn impressive uses for technology that they can pass along to their parents, peers, and etc.

8. What you are most excited or intrigued about with teaching; I'm most excited to watch my students minds grow when I'm teaching. I can't wait to change the lives of students like some of my teachers have done for me. I hope I can impact students in such a way that they always want to continue their education and be the best that they can be. I can't wait to watch my students learn and grow and change throughout the time that I am fortunate enough to teach them.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">9. Which century will you teach in--the twentieth or twentyfirst and what indicators will be present that most epitomize your classroom? <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I will be teaching in both centuries. I think it will be beneficial to implement both centuries together. I can use technologies to help learn, but in order to not over stimulate my students we can still have good old fashion lesson plans with lectures and assignments. I think a steady use of both will help my students learn and we aren't jumping forward, but slowly moving forward into the technology world.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">10. What difference will you make? <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I will teach my students in a way that they haven't been taught before and I can teach them to use technology that they will be able to use throughout their entire education. I think this will make a difference in their lives but also in the lives of people around them. As they pass on what their learning so will their friends. The spread of technology will continue and so will the learning of people everywhere. I can't ask to make a better difference than that.