I am going to begin with my self-evaluation for this portion of the blog. I'm waiting for my classmates to conclude the activity component, so while I wait, I figured I would start here. :)
Evaluation
Using the rubric as a guide, I honestly feel the only area I was lacking was the "handout." I honestly feel that I deserve a "1" here. It is my fault as I didn't access the rubric until after I had submitted my presentation, etc. I remember discussing the handout in class, and at the time had assumed I would submit my PowerPoint for the handout. When I put my handout together, my idea was to give a bit more detail to my PPT file. Lesson learned: read the rubric first.
I feel that I was able to find information that was relevant to my topic. The sites provided in the syllabus gave good information about blended and online learning. I went out on my own and found other helpful sites. I took into consideration the variance of grade levels represented in this class, and I knew I couldn't focus on the blended classroom for the entire presentation because it's not practical for all of us in our professional lives. I hope I was able to give the other members of the class something to think about and some ways to implement technology. It was really tough to get this all narrowed down. It's a very broad topic. Choosing where the focus should be was difficult. Overall, I feel that I earned a "4" in this category.
The activity was kind of difficult for me to come up with, but I was able to pull one from the supplemental material provided in the syllabus. It was interesting to me to look at everything to be considered when choosing curriculum. (4)
I feel that the overall presentation (the video) was done well. For this being my first time creating a project like this, I think I did a good job! I found relevant information, presented the information, created a PowerPoint to go along, and found an activity to coincide. (4)
I'm going to include the participation in others' questions and activities in this portion of my blog. While we were all frustrated with the amount of "dead" time, etc,. I found the discussions to be really interesting. I wish we had been able to conduct those via the same format as the activity. I really enjoy hearing the different POV's from the other members of the class because we are all teaching different subjects at different grade levels. During the activity portions, we had good discussion and were able to help each other through it. (4)
Summary
I really enjoyed listening to everyone's opinions about the cell phones in the classroom. I'm still not sure where I stand on it, but to hear Kaylie's opinion as someone who "has been there," really opened my eyes to the drawbacks. I especially liked her point about the drama coming into the classroom. This is a totally different world that we're teaching in right now, and there is no way to prepare for the impact social media has on our students. It's bad enough that they see it when they go home, but to have it interfering at school is something I hadn't considered. I like the idea of "airplane mode" at school. There are all kinds of questions that come up, though, about monitoring the activity. It's so easy for kid to simply swipe things on and off...interesting conundrum.
I also enjoyed the class discussion regarding the importance of the characteristics in choosing curricula. The 3 of them all have differing viewpoints, so it was interesting to hear what is important to the different teachers based on the makeup of their classrooms. I think it's important to not discount any of the characteristics as unimportant, but recognize what criteria are most important for individual grade levels and subjects. However, ALL components are important.
Reflection
This was a frustrating assignment for me because it wasn't "easy." I'm one of those people who gets frustrated if things don't go perfect the first time out. However, I did learn a lot about different ways of implementing technology in my classroom. I know I do an "ok" job, but this research has given me new ways of looking at what constitutes technology. I'm excited because I will have access to a cart of Chromebooks this coming school year, so hopefully I can get the kiddos more into tech from an educational standpoint. I appreciated everyone's honesty with this topic. We all agreed that we did "some" technology implementation but could do more. I think I always knew that technology was here to stay, but this assignment just drove it home! Finally, as I implement technology, I can expect my students to become frustrated...because I have been frustrated...and I can better relate to them.
