Blog

Reflection I think is key in trying to improve anything you are doing.  Exercise, eating better, relationships, parenting, teaching.  These are some of the things we are told to reflect on in order to make sure what we are doing is working for us and we are continuing to improve.  As a teacher I have always reflected on the different things I have done in the classroom to see what went well and what could be improved.  For me I have always just reflected to myself and not written anything down.  I do at this point wish I would have kept a journal or started a blog to see how I have grown and changed as an educator and also how I have stayed the same.  I think reflection is such a big part of learning and something we should have our students doing on a more regular basis.  I always try to remind my students if they did not do well on a test or a project did not turn out how they wanted to stop reflect.  Could they have studied differently or more.  Did they put enough into the project.  Sometimes I feel students will learn more from their own reflection of a situation then they do from us.  Reflecting is something that I do naturally and I like the idea of putting it down in words.

Video Reflection

The video let me know that I can still be a good teacher and not use technology but that I am not really doing my job.  I agree I need to demonstrate to my students that I am also a life long learner.  Technology is ever changing and we need to do our best to incorporate technology in our daily lessons.  Unfortunately the MAP test is still driving our instruction and it is hard at times to incorporation the technology into all the MAP prep.  There has to be a good compromise.  Technology is important and needs to be incorporated it is just hard to find the time to do everything.

Unconference - Moodle

I went to the Moodle course and learned a lot.  I think the Moodle is a great tool to keep your subject areas organized.  I would like to start creating my Moodle and begin using it with my science classes.  I know it will be a work in progress and I need not get overwhelmed with the finished project because it really is never finished.  It will be a great place to organize website by topic.  She showed us how she blogs with her students during social studies.  This is an accountability piece and also keeps the students engaged.  I plan on trying this in the near future.