FINAL POST

1. What i have learned from using these following tools:

• blogs- At first I was really skeptical about blogging, because the only way I heard it being used before is by celebrities and I did NOT want to do it! But over the weeks in the course I have come to know that you can learn form blogs, and teach through them. Which I think is pretty cool.
• wikis- The only wiki I know about (that everyone else does too)is WIKIPEDIA! Which I think is horrible! The little upside to wiki's is that everyone can see them, the downside is that everyone can change them! So no matter what you put out there, it can always be changed! I do not like wiki's all too much.
  
• presentations- I liked them a lot especially using Google Docs, it is so much easier than Power Point.I will probably have my students use these because not only are they easy to use, but they are free!!
  
• Google Docs- A great way to share documents with your class and make presentations.
• Google spreadsheets- These are a pretty good tool to use in making questionnaire, but I prefer to use Microsoft Excel.
• Picasa- I like how it recognizes faces and immediately organizes people by who they were.I am still not that familiar with it though.
  
• Podcast- These are a great way to give your students your lectures or your general thoughts about a subject. They can be very useful in studying for tests! And they were very fun to make.
• Videocast- Are basically a podcast with video. I do not know which one i like better. It just depends on if the person in the video is doing anything interesting, if not I would rather just do a podcast!
• YouTube- I've used you tube in the past to watch funny videos/music videos. It's a great tool for that but it is even better when used for educational purposes, or to learn something! Seeing what your learning helps a lot, therefore you tube can be very helpful.
  
• Movie Making- I did not make a movie.
• Posts you read- I loved the Last Lecture by Andy Pausch!!! And reading the kid's blogs from around the world was an amazing experience.
• PLN's- Are very useful because they show you everything you are "following" on the internet. Mine is not that well-developed but I expect that to change over time.
• Twitter- I personally do not like Twitter. It has become an over-glorified status update!! I do not plan on using Twitter anymore!
• Other teachers and students outside our region- The teachers gave me a lot of insight into some of the struggles and some of the reasons why I want to teach.The kids were amazing and most found a way to touch my heart.
  
• Comments 4 Kids- Probably the best thing we ever blogged on in this class. I think it is amazing the things that they are learning at such a young age. Keep this around, because it brightens those kids day up when they see that they got a comment on their poem or project!
• Comments 4 Classmates- Was pretty much a waste of time. I see the benefits it could have, but most of the time people are just being nice and agreeing with the other person regardless of how they really feel.If people could be real when they commented it could get very interesting and worth having to do.
  
• Comments 4 Teachers- This was actually a good thing, I wished we would have done this the whole year. Teachers give amazing insight to the world of teaching in their blogs! It's a great way for us teachers in training to learn a thing or two!
• iTunes- Great way for downloading music. But it still has a long way to go on the educational side of things!! Still a great tool for music!
  
• iTunesU- This is the educational side of iTunes i was talking about! It has started to be a pretty useful tool. But it just hasn't reached its full potential yet, when it does it will be amazing!
• Accessibility issues and the use of html tag modifiers to address some of those issues- ???????
• Who you are as a professional- Right now, I am not very far along. I believe that professional maturity, like anything else, comes with time! So get back to me after I graduate and start teaching for a couple years!
  
• Google Forms- Like I mentioned earlier I love Google tools! They are so easy use and FREE!
• Data Bases- ???
• Google Earth- A very useful tool, and could be a good tool for me being a science teacher in showing volcanoes, oceans, wetlands, and the different climates throughout the world!
• Delicious- I do not really remember using this.
• ACCESS- Our group did our podcast on this. It is a great system that is being used the public school system. This program has the potential to be great for our students in Alabama! Hopefully it will become a great way for our students to learn more!
• ALEX- I liked the website because it gives fun activities to use as learning aides! I think its better suited for elementary classes than on the high school level.
• Technological literacy- I knew that when I started this class I was no where near technologically literate, and for good reason too: I'm horrible with computers! Now I feel as though I might have some things under my belt that will help me be a little more technologically plugged in! Thank you for that!
  
• The future of schools- Schools need to implement technology in every classroom, not just one typing class!! This way our students are better prepared for life and jobs!! If they don't the future will be a very sad place to be!

• My "intellectual trail"- I do not know how to rate my intellectual trail as of right now. But I can say that it is not at the bottom of the barrel and I will be improving it everyday from here on out.

2. You have actually taught me more than I would have asked to have been taught! I do know that I would have liked to have learned a little more about Smart boards, other than the one video we got to watch on it.

3. There are things that I dislike that I have learned about such as Twitter, that I will not use. But I am glad that I did get to dabble in it because it showed me that it's not for me!

4. Doing my own podcast did excite me, because I had a lot of fun doing it! I also got excited doing the comments for kids, just because I knew that it would excite them knowing that I took the time to read their posts!

5. Nothing was super intellectually challenging! Not that there weren't a few things I had to get extra help on, but that is expected when you are learning something new an out of your comfort zone!

6.Personally doing the blogs every week had me bored, like the comments 4 classmates and the regular blog! (Not the comments 4 kids or the comments for teachers!!) These things I found to be repetitive and had me making myself to do them by week 5.

7. The only thing I would really change about this course is the in class time. Some may not see like me, but I like being showed how to do things in person, and being able to be corrected then and there when I do something wrong. Therefore more class time and teacher-student communication!!

8. I would say that I am in the low-medium range of being tech-literate! Just because there is always more things to learn and room to grow. I have just begun to scratch the surface!

9. I plan on growing in my tech-literacy by exploring what new tools come out, and keeping up with my blogging. That way I can stay in touch with the "tech world", and see the different ways I can use these tools in my classroom!