Course Reflection

The experience I have taken from this class is not limited to the “regular” learning one would get in a classroom environment. I have learned that when you think there are no more questions, there is still a lesson to be learned. The weekly discussion questions kept my vocabulary, comprehension, and cognitive skills working cohesively and the projects taught me that even though a computer is a wonderful tool, it still requires other tools (i.e. software programs) to make it a better functioning unit. Which, we could say for education as a whole. In this is still a lesson, how can a student learn Social Studies but not be able to read? That student has to acquire reading skills to be able to learn Social Studies and this makes learning a better functioning unit for the student to access.
I enjoyed each project with regards to learning something new and being able to utilize them in my classroom. It will be wonderful if I get to expose students to these new experiences before they learn them somewhere else, which, is usually how it is done, especially at the higher grade levels. I would have to say though, the blogfolio is my favorite because in it we can view our work and our peers work and see what we did wrong or just different. Each project gave us a chance to express ourselves, but the blogfolio was “our” space to write what we thought,how we felt, and how we viewed each project versus our perceived success. We had the final say with how it was designed and what it looked liked. It was like each project is part of the whole blogfolio. I liked contributing to the blogfloio immediately after my projects because the experience was still fresh in my mind.
My greatest weakness had to be communication limits. The discussion board was, I am sorry to say, not my favorite. I am normally a person who likes to communicate verbally not technically. I would rather speak with a person than send a text or an email; I have only used those tools in the past as a last resort. However, this class has made me more susceptible to using the internet or a handheld device to communicate. Although, communicating with peers and instructor were at first strained on my part, I did in the end come to utilize this tool quite frequently and hopefully efficiently. I still prefer to speak with a person, but I am not limited to that form of communication anymore.
Each project offered a new experience that was ultimately surprising because 1) all were easily accessible and 2) they had no fees. Both of which are relative reasons regarding our current economical state. This also contributed to lowering the stress factor for me. We all know that budget cuts are everywhere now and to have something that has no cost is the best education we can expose children too, especially children with a lower Socio Economical Status. School supplies plus uniforms plus other costs could equal a very stressful situation. Giving a student a lower cost education without the student’s education taking a cut is a benefit to us all right now. Being creative with education does not mean learning less, it simply means teaching smarter. Thereby, giving us as future teachers, a chance to influence students positively with the knowledge we have acquired.