My First Lesson Plan

Well, it was an interesting week and I learned a lot about the preparation of a teacher. I think it's great that we are writing lesson plans now so that when it really counts and we are creating them for a real class, that we will know what we are doing. Learning these skills now is very important and essentially what we are going to school for. We will be writing other forms in other classes to come, but I thought this was a great activity to help us get our feet wet with lesson plans and expound on our knowledge of technology.

I love Google Docs! Using this tool makes writing, sending, and sharing documents much easier. I worked with Meghan on creating the lesson plan and she was the one who initially wrote and submitted it. We needed to make changes, so because I was a collaborator, I was able to go back two days latter and make changes and resubmit. How cool!! This is definitely one tool I will continue to use when writing professional and personal documents.

I have to admit that I'm not as apprehensive in class as I was in the first few weeks. As a whole, I think we are getting used to using the applications we've been introduced to and they are starting to make more sense.

Webquests

This week was both fun and informative. We experimented with webquests of different kinds and from different sites. I enjoyed working with my curriculum team on the webquest we created and shared in class. It's great working with those who have the same interests as you.

Also, I liked working with Filamentality and finding out how that works. It really makes creating a lesson easy. I think I will use activities like webquests in the classroom because they allow the children to use technology and if it is an activity where they get to choose what they research, they will enjoy it that much more.

I'm feeling comfortable with what we worked on this week and not as overwhelmed as in past weeks. I am familiarizing myself more with Blogger, gmail, and my wiki I set up. Looking forward it looks like we are headed in the direction of lesson plans, and that to me makes my career more of a reality.

Early Days in IT 486

Over the past week in IT 486, we've talked about blogs, wikis, and set up our own gmail accounts.  I have learned a lot over the week and gone into areas definitely out of my comfort zone.  All applications are of much use for the classroom and I am excited about implementing them in the future.

Also, we learned about webquests Wednesday and I enjoyed those a lot.  I would use them in my classroom and I would even like to create one, maybe.

I want to add my photo to my gmail account, PLP, and the Elementary Edu page.  I may need help with this because I definitely want people to know who they are talking to or about.

I enjoy learning about technology but am easily frustrated with it.  From here on out, I want to not stress out so much about the applications and try to enjoy them.