Reflections

Recovering after a jam-packed weekend, (fri. concert, sat. my birthday and a friend's bachelorette, sun. a friend's birthday in CT) I could finally relax today and think about this course thus far. It's hard to believe we only have 3 more weeks left. I am more excited I took this course (my one and only elective) more than any other at UMASS. Considering I only have 2 more classes left before I am finished with the program, this is a pretty impressive statement.

The main reason for this is the usability and functionality of the powerful web tools we have learned how to use. I can incorporate all of these news tools into my classroom when school starts up again in a few weeks. I will be using a blog to communicate with my students and parents. I will be posting events, schedules, homework on my blog and texts via LibraryThing. I’ll have a RSS feed on this blog with educational information. I will use NetSmartz to educate my students and their parents on internet safety. We will use blogs and wikis for language arts writing workshops and science projects. I can use podcasts for greetings and a fun interactive way to communicate. I can now use Flickr, YouTube, bookmarking, del.ici.ous, Google, my new Gmail account… all as tools on a daily basis.

Most of all, this class has made me critically aware of the gap between digital immigrants and digital natives. I need to make sure I can help close this gap and reach all of my students in a way they understand and are accustomed to learning.