Final Blog

While I was creating my IGNITE presentation on my teaching philosophy, I learned a lot about me as a teacher. As I was going through what I believed in, I found myself being really passionate in some areas. When presenting, I could have talked a lot longer on some of my views because they have grown very strong. Also, through this project, I was envisioning my future classroom. I also heard a lot of amazing philosophies. One thing I would add to mine would be integration between subjects. Although I put integration of technology, I believe it is equally important to incorporate integration between subjects, especially for subjects like Social Studies that may not have as much time during the day. Another thing I would add to my personal philosophy is making the content relevant to students' lives. I did mention this when I talked about meaningful work, but making the content authentic is significant to students engagement and learning. 

Overall, I learned a lot through CI 302. The most important thing I learned was how to efficiently integrate technology into a lesson. I have learned about it through other classes, but this class really made the connection for me and I feel confident about writing technology lessons. This is important because when I use technology in my future classroom, I want it to be beneficial and not just thrown in. Another thing I learned was how to write and find grants. This is so important to my future because I want to be able to fund activities and technologies for my classroom. Now that I have an introduction to grant writing, I believe I could write a grant and potentially get technology for my classroom. This class has prepared me well for my future not only in the classroom but if I want to extend my career to another area in the technology field. I really enjoyed this class and I feel more confident with technology in the future. 

Week 12

After watching these interviews, I personally think the tech integrationist job is the most appealing to me. I found their job description really fun and the aspects of that job are something I could see myself doing one day. I really enjoy working with a variety of new technologies and integrating technology in classrooms, so this job sounds exciting to me. I think it would be fun to show teachers available technology and help them use it efficiently in their classrooms!

One common trend I noticed throughout the videos was integration. It seems as though all of these positions have one focus and that is helping teacher integrate technology into their classrooms in the most efficient way. This spoke a lot to me because if there are people who specifically focus on integrating technology, it reinforces how strong of an impact technology has on education. Another common trend these people discussed was Google for Education. Before taking this class, I only used Google applications when I was assigned to. Now, I use Google applications for everything. Since all of these people talked about it, it is something I need to continue to use and learn more about.

Overall, I learned a lot from these four presenters. I was unaware of the many different job opportunities in the education field and now that I have learned more about them, I am more aware of the opportunities for me. Although I plan on starting in the classroom, and being there for a while, technology integrationist may be a career I consider in the future. It was fun and beneficial to hear all these people talk about their jobs.

Iowa 1:1 Conference

I was lucky enough to help at the Iowa 1:1 Conference and also attend some sessions. When I got there in the morning, I worked on helping set up the speakers and projectors in every room to ensure the presenters had all the equipment they needed. Also, I stayed after and helped put some of the stuff away. This volunteering experience helped me understand everything that goes into making these events such a success.

The first sessions I attended was my favorite one of the day. I learned about how to incorporate technology into the Daily 5 reading rounds. The presenter gave great detail and examples of how she used certain tools in her classroom. She also brought in examples of Osmos, Google Cardboard, and iPad apps to look at. This is the first time I have ever seen Google Cardboard and it is awesome! Another presentation that stood out to me was titled, "Maps for Critical Thinking." The presenter in this was from Heartland AEA. She did an awesome job presenting and I learned so much about interactive maps. Before this presentation, I was skeptical of how she could talk about maps for an hour, but I learned so much and got some great resources for my future classroom. All the presenters were great!

This experience will impact my growth as a future educator because I got to learn about new tools and ideas to bring to my classroom. Also, I learned how to efficiently use these tools to integrate them into my teaching and the students' learning. This was also a great networking experience for me. I was able to talk to some of the presenters and make some connections. A few teachers even followed me back on Twitter! Overall, this was an amazing learning experience.

The Teacher ISTE Standard I fulfilled by going to this conference was number 5, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. This conference helped me become a better educator. Between the tools and resources I learned about, and the connections I made, I expanded my knowledge as a future educator!

**I forgot to take a picture at the event, but Jamie saw me there :)

Technology Presentation

When I was preparing for this presentation, I had to make sure everything I included was easy to understand for people who haven't heard of the tool. It would have been easy to just talk about what I know about it, but since there were people who haven't heard or used it because it was essential to show pictures, examples, and talk about the details. This really got me thinking about my future classroom. When I am preparing and teaching a lesson to my students, I need to take into account that many of them have never heard the content before. Since this is the case, I need to ensure I provide examples and details that fit all learners.

After reviewing what my peers said about my presentation, the first thing I learned was I didn't explain some of the details like I should have. I left the audience confused on some parts, so this is something I would work on for next time. Another thing I noticed in my comments was about my presentation having too much text on some slides. I learned I need to focus more on my presentation and less on writing everything down. For my next presentation, I will work on talking more about my content and not worry about writing it all down.

I can see myself using IGNITE style presentations in cases of review. If the students already know the content and have been already taught it, a quick presentation can be used for review. This would also work before starting a unit. For example, if I was doing a unit on dividing fractions, I would use a quick presentation to review what they have already learned about fractions. Another way I could use this type of presentation would be if I were speaking in a professional development meeting. If I was introducing a tool to teachers, I could use an IGNITE presentation to give them an overview. Overall, this was a great experience and I learned a lot about presenting new content in a quick and efficient way.