Final Reflection

Within this course I was delighted to find that many of my projects went very well. Most of the content I knew previous to the class. It was very nice to be able to hone some of these skills. I am still working on the most challenging part, the google site. I have never made a site before and am leaning many new ways to approach the web 2.0.

Within a classroom context I am going to hopefully be able to make presentations for the active board. I want to be able to use technology to give my students a leg up. In the english classroom the students will need to know how to evaluate sources and discover their own. I will be constrained to what resources will exist, but I can at least use a prezi instead of a boring old powerpoint to introduce concepts.

Google Forms

INSPIRATION

My Scavenger Hunt presentation

My scavenger hunt

Time Toast and Wordle

Both of these are fun websites. Time toast could be used for some really cool projects for a history class. It would be really fun for students to make an interactive timeline to learn the chronology of events. I like time toast. Wordle is cool mostly because I am a usage nerd, so an aggregator that takes words and measures usage and creates a graphic is super cool. I can see using these as headings to things. It really has very little practical value but I am going to give it bonus points for being fun. Grades: Time Toast: For history teachers A-, every one else: B- Wordle: A

Delicious & Glogster

Maybe doing the presentation on delicious my opinion is more formed just because I spent more time on the site. I find it that it could be very helpful, but there is no moderation on it. It would be more helpful for teachers than students. The problem would be that students may stumble onto inappropriate materials on Delicious. Glogster is a really fun website. Making posters online is really fun, but I can't really see using it in an upper level english classroom, but who knows? I can think of things to use it for. My opinions: Delicious: for teachers, not students B- Glogster: fun but not practical B

Webquest Blog Postings - Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/mice-men/index.htm Students are asked to track how a character thinks, feels, and acts throughout the novel. There are two assessments for the students. One is an essay that asks the learner to describe the character and how he interacts with the theme loneliness. The second writing assignment is a creative piece that allows students to pick a major event from the novel and develop a news story about it. The rubrics for grading this are attached, but there are better ways to engage a class than simply asking them to write about the book. I believe writing is critically important, but there needs to be engagement with the material that allows students to process. I really like the creative piece detailing a fictional journalism.

Evaluating Websites

The ability to read and analyze a website for a student's benefit is an important skill. Working on this particular assignment just outlined that a discerning eye is needed when looking at technology. My website did not comfortably work with most of the assessments but still has potential to work well as more straightforward websites. Websites that are based more around social media have an extremely customizable interface. It tailors to a student or teachers needs.

My course expectations

My goals for this course are fairly simple. While I have used technology before, I want to become more fluid in my usage. I also want to learn strategies that would allow me to use technology in the classroom. Being an English major I really don't know how to consistently integrate technology in my coursework for the students. I am doubtful that it would be effective to try and use technology in an English course, but that is why I am here...to learn.

An Introduction

I am originally from Nashville, TN. I attended a small private Christian high school. It was a great experience. I graduated in the spring of 2007 and came to the University of Tennessee in the fall. I am a double major in English Literature and History. I want to teach upper level high school English. For fun I read, write, listen to records, and (typically) hang out with my friends. I love cycling and use my bicycle as my primary means of transportation.

My background with computers is fairly standard for people my age. I grew up booting DOS and we didn't switch to a more refined operating system until Windows ME in 2000 (which, by the way, was a terrible os.) Since then my family switched to Macs and I have had a Mac laptop since I started college. I don't care for e-readers.