LL13 - Final Thoughts

What I have learned:

1. Shelfari, blogs, wikis, wordle, GoogleDocs, social bookmarking, RSS feed, Twitter, Audacity
   
2. The main theme in instructional strategies that I learned this semester was to assess each individual student's needs and address them accordingly. I think this flows to each discussion we had in class about instructional strategies, and is of key importance.
   
3. The most important thing about technology in communication is that it takes away the restrictions of time, availability, and distance. With current technologies, people can even see each other and talk while thousands of miles apart.
   
4. The opportunities for technology use in the classroom are endless. From distance learning for sick students to class wikis, from collaboration on documents to research. My favorite technology for use in the classroom is the ability to create a class wiki that the entire class can collaborate on.
   
5. While I used to be nervous presenting, I am not any more. I think this is from lots of experience in other classes, but it also helped that the class was small and we knew each other fairly well. As I have become less nervous, however, I have stopped preparing as much for presentations, which is a disadvantage.
   
6. Problems with internet safety have been over-exaggerated in the media. However, it is important to monitor students' usage of the internet while they are in the classroom. Also, teachers need to impress upon students the importance of internet safety in their homes as well.
   
7. There are many ways to assess students' learning, but the most important thing is to create a standard for grading. Also, students should know what the standard for their performance is before they begin an assignment.
   
8. It is important to be able to see the bias in the media because there are so many exaggerations and deceptions going on today. Students need to be able to tell which networks are more liberal or conservative, and how to decipher their messages accordingly.
   
9. How to compose lesson plans! I had never had another education class that I had to write lesson plans in, and I never realized how much work they are! Rubrics are an important aspect of this, which I had not really considered before this class.
   
10. The learning log was a great way to reflect, but maybe not as many entries where we have to watch long videos. It got tiresome sometimes. It would have been nice to have another break or two during the class, as it was hard to sit still for that long. The class was quite enjoyable overall, but definitely a lot of work.