Reflection #5: Vidcasts

This week our assignment is to create a vidcast or an enhanced podcast. I really loved playing around with this assignment and using the different technologies. I really like photo story 3. i love how it is in steps. it makes things really simple and easy to use. i am really excited about this program. i have downloaded the free version on my computer at home and i am excited to be able to use it in my other classes or just for personal use. i will be able to make videos and things for my roommates, family, or even for me personally. This program will be easy to use to make some of our lesson plans for field more technological and interesting to engage the students. It will be easy to use as a partnership and not be confused on what we are doing and different things. This program will be really easy for my future students to be able to make their own videos. I can come up with different types of assignments for my students to use this program and others like it. We will be able to make different types of vidcasts as colleagues as well. I am way excited to be able to work with my colleagues and have fun with programs of this sort. I am excited to be able to use these programs in the future and new technologies of the same type that they will come up with in the future. I love this type of technology and creativity. It doesn't help that i am a perfectionist tho :) but i love it anyway and cant wait to make the best of it in the future!!

Reflection #4: Podcasts

For the assignment this week we had to come up with a PSA, Public Service Announcement. I had a lot of fun doing this assignment. We did an announcement on a Book Drive and it was fun to use the different tools to record an audio message. We ended up using Garage Band on the Mac and it turned out really good. I am really impressed with the technology that we have today. It makes life so much easier sometimes!! I could use this technology and information in some of my classes today. I think the reason we do/learn things like this is to make our lives easier in the future. Without this class I wouldn't know half the stuff about computers and technology that i do now. I feel as though without this class i would be lost and not know about google docs and google sites and about all the things we are learning in this class. I would be like my great grandma and not know how to even turn the computer on (okay maybe not that far, but close). I am excited to use this information and technology in my classroom. It will be a great addition to my websites and even my lesson plans. I can even have my own students make a podcast and see what they will come up with. I cant wait to be able to make all sorts of podcasts and things. It makes me even more excited for my future as a teacher! I love learning about technology and how it will help my classroom grow and adapt and be engaging. It will help me become an even better teacher!

Reflection #3: Google Sites

I learned a lot about google sites this week. For our assignment we had to create and include items on our own google site. I really enjoyed this assignment. Putting the google site together was a lot of fun. I will use it in my classes today and use a lot of the information that i put onto my site. I think we are doing this assignment because technology is becoming bigger and bigger in our classrooms. With the google site you can upload items and assignments and have announcements and things so the parents can be involved if they want to be. A lot of times parents don't want to take the time to contact the teacher or the school to find out what their student missed or whats going on at the school, with the google site option the parents can look up all of that information if they want from anywhere that has an Internet connection. i have learned a great deal by doing this assignment. If i as a teacher do all of this to help out my parents and students then i can become a better teacher and have more input from my students parents. We as colleagues can use google sites as well to collaborate on different things as needs be. I really love that option! I can use this technology and make a different google site if i wanted to because i now have that option. I can give my students assignments on my site that they have to do at home. It can be games, interactives, virtual field trips, or all sorts of different things..the options are endless. I am excited for my options as a future teacher! With this type of technology and the technology that is yet to be created, we as teachers will have so many options that we wont know what to do with ourselves! I LOVE IT!!!

EDEL 3250: Reflection #2: Google Docs

This weeks class we learned more about google docs. I remember using them last year in our intro computer tech class. I thought they were pretty neat but to be honest with you i never used them after i was done with the class. I am excited to use them again and be able to collaborate with my class and the partners i have for assignments. Google docs has definitely been beneficial these first few weeks of school. A couple of my classmates put together a contact list of everyone in our cohort and a calendar of things that are due for each class. I am so glad they did this otherwise i would be stressed out to the MAX!!! I am so excited to be able to use this in my future classroom with my future colleagues. It will make life so much easier!! I am looking forward to learning more about the programs that google has to offer. i really like the calendar and the i google application. it makes things more interesting. I can only imagine what they will come up with in the future that will be even better for my students! I plan to include tons of technology in my class room when i begin teaching. I cant wait to start getting started with the future! I love the idea of technology in my future class room. I can only imagine what the future of technology will bring to students and what they will be able to do with it. This day in age if you don't know how to use a computer you are pretty much out of the loop. More and more people, no matter what age, are having to figure out what technology is about. I am glad that i have learned about it at the age i have because otherwise i wouldn't know anything and technology is the way of life now days. I just want the future to be here already!! :)

EDEL 3250: Reflection #: Goals/Expectations/Fears

My goals for Instructional Media EDEL 3250 include some of the following: becoming better at using technology, become a better student and future teacher because of technology, be able to teach using technology fundamentals, love the technology, and use technology enough that i will know where to find things and what i am using. Some of my goals for the education program itself are becoming a teacher that my students can look up to and feel safe around. I want to be a teacher that has had an impact on a student and 20 years down the road that student can look back and be thankful for the teacher that i was. I want to be able to care for each student as an individual and love them for who they are.

Some fears that i have are that i will be inadequate. That i wont have an impact on my students. That i will be the mean, ornery, grouchy teacher that no one likes. I'm afraid that my students wont love me. I'm afraid that i will fail them. There are many more but i don't want to get too in depth.

I am very grateful to be in the program and look forward to graduating and having my class and students. I know i have quite a few fears, but what is happiness if you don't have fears? Why let fears rule your life? You have to take risks if you want to get better at anything and love life!