Reflective
Statement
Table of Contents
I cannot believe Spring Semster
07'
is almost over, boy does time fly. It seems like just yesterday I was
taking the Tutorial on how to use the SUNY Learning Network (SLN)
website back in January. I
can remember taking the Tutorial and asking myself "What did I get
myself into"? I thought I would never be able to get through an
Online Class. I am glad I stuck it out. ETAP 526 has been a great
learning expierence. I have learned so much in these few short
months. Since taking this class, I have learned how to create
lesson plans, develop a website, participate in discussions, use
programs such as SnagIt, Inspiration and Hot Potatoes, maintain a blog
and many other things. There were a lot of first's for me in this
course. This course has exposed me to different
types of technology and allowed me to use my creativity. I feel
that this course has helped in preparing me for my career as well as my
personal life. Feel free to visit my EPortfolio,
which contains links to different projects that I have created
throughout the semester.
At the
beginning of the semester, I can remember looking over the first module
and being a little concerned about creating lesson plans. I had no
prior expierence in creating rubrics or lesson plans. I had heard of
them before, but I never had the chance to actually create one.
Thank goodness for Sabrina's template on lesson plans and
rubrics. It was a huge help. After reading over it, brainstorming
on ideas and asking a few friends (teachers) for help, I was able
to create one. In the third module on Tools, I really enjoyed creating
my lesson plan on the Circulatory
System. Seeing that it was my second lesson plan, I felt a
bit at ease that I already had one under my belt. I enjoyed
creating all of the worksheets. After I completed the lesson plan, I
was proud of my accomplishments. I decided to add this as one of
my Portfolio Artifacts on my EPortfolio.
Creating a web blog and photo album
were interesting tasks. I had never participated in either before
and I can definately see how they can be beneficial in a
classroom. They allow you to share your ideas, feelings and
communicate with others. A web blog and photo album allows for
interaction students, educators and other members of a community.
Both can be used as an aid in teaching. A web photo album allow
educators to take different photos that may relate to their lesson that
they are teaching and let students view the pictures. It also gives
them the opportunity to leave messages. With my web blog and
photo album, I kept it more on a personal level because I am not in the
classroom yet. Plus, I don't have that much experience in
Education. I enjoyed sharing with my classmates, what was going
on in my life. In creating the photo album, I used pictures of me
and my ski equipment. Throughout the semester, when I was viewing my
classmates web blogs and photo albums, it was interesting to see the
differences between them. Some focused it on their career with
different links to websites that they use, others were more personal
and talked about what was on in their life. On a few of the web blogs,
I copied down some of the websites that I can possibly use down the
road.
Using the programs SnagIt and Inspiration were also
a first for me. I really enjoyed using both of them. With SnagIt,
I plan on using it in my personal and career life. After graduation, I
would like to obtain a job as a Corporate Trainer. I will be able
to create tutorials for my students to help aid them when they are
learning a new program or product. Tutorials are very
helpful. With SnagIt, I will be able to create tutorials and
upload them to documents, web blogs or even print them out to give out
as handouts. Inspiration was also another great program.
Creating concept maps in Microsoft Word or Publisher is helpful and can
get the job done, but your creativitiy is limited. With Inspiration,
you can add pictures, audio/video clips and a bunch more. I also
find it easier to add information. When I created my concept map
on Italy, I choose several cities throughout
Italy to explore. Italy is known for it's beautiful cities and great
sites. I am going to Italy in September of 2007 and I plan on
seeing all of these great sites. This is another project that I
wanted to add to my EPortfolio.
With the creation of my WebQuest
and WebQuest Lesson Plan, I plan on
teaching my students about the Digestive System. Using a WebQuest
allows for my students to learn using different teaching tools. They
will use the WebQuest that I created to take a journey through the
Digestive System, perform research using the websites I have provided
them, and create a story and Microsoft PowerPoint presentation using
their knowledge and resources. We have already covered the
Circulatory System and the Respiratory System and this is the next stop
in the human body. By incorporating a WebQuest, it allows them to
have a hands on experience and use different learning strategies.
This is my first WebQuest that I have created and I can definately see
how it can benefit both the educator and the student. WebQuests
should not be the sole provider of information but can act as an aid to
curriculum.
I have really enjoyed taking ETAP 526. I have
learned a great deal of information by creating different projects,
reading different literature on technology, participating in
discussions and having a hands on experience. All of the
information that I have learned throughout the different modules will
help me in my career as well as my personal life. Taking this
class has allowed me to explore programs that I probably would never
learn. It is nice to have a foundation in the different programs
that we touched upon throughout the semester. I would like to thank
everyone for all of their help throughout the semester. Good luck and
have a great summer!
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