Final Post

Looking back at my expectations of this course, I think that they were all fulfilled. I learned many different ways to integrate technology into a classroom. I also learned how to use each tool in an effective and fun manner. Technology is growing everywhere, especially in schools and I now feel more prepared to use classroom technology instead of going in "blind." My favorite project was the ActivInspire because it was a way for us to learn how to incorporate students into a lesson in a "fun" way. I know that these white boards are used in just about every classroom now and now that I know how to create these interactive presentations, I will be using them more. This course as a whole was very informative and I am so glad that the University of Tennessee requires it before our internship!

Website

Coming into this class I heard about creating our own classroom website. I was ecstatic to make my own, but I felt like we did not spend much time on it. I feel like we hurried to finish it on our own at the end and it was not focused on in class. I know we had many other things to do, I just thought we would have more class time do work on it. On the other hand, I loved that we learned different ways to use Google Sites. I know so many teachers that use this website and I know that I will use it for my own future classroom as well! I love the decorating and integrating different projects to our website. I definitely feel that I learned a lot from this project that I will use in my future.

Inspiration Project

This was not one of my favorite projects that we did all semester, but I did find it helpful. I like that we have learned many different ways to use technology to present information. This digram project was interesting to make because we could present the diagram in multiple different ways with whatever topic we chose to do. I think I would use this tool with my students if I had upper elementary grades. I would have them make their own digital diagram for a book report or many other activities. I think this will be most helpful to tie in the main ideas of a topic into a organized way. 

ActivInspire

When we first started this project I was very confused because of all of the different tools. There were so many that I did not know how to use, but the papers describing what each one of the buttons were for really helped me. Almost all of the classrooms that I have volunteered in have used the interactive white board for multiple lessons. I know that this will be something that I will use in my future classroom as well. ActivInspire will really help me to create future lessons using the interactive white board and I definitely find it very helpful to students. This gives students an opportunity to learn as a classroom as well as individually at the board. I really liked making this project, I think it was a great software for us to learn about now instead of being extremely confused when we are set in a classroom.