Week 12...

I found the teacher librarian role the most interesting. I think one day I would like to try this role. I really like it because I would still be able to work in a school and get to know students. I would be able to work with teachers to create meaningful learning experiences. I also observed Jeremie Knutson who is a technology coach at Ames Middle School. I thought this job position was interesting as well. It was fun because he got to collaborate with teachers and his day was never the same. Jeremie was also in charge of teaching how to integrate technology into the classroom to his fellow teachers. I think this would be fun to do and interesting to see the growth of each teacher.

One theme I saw while watching the videos was that a lot of them started as classroom teachers. They then started taking classes or just fell into the technology positions. I also found that a lot of school are using chromebooks. I really enjoy chromebooks and their abilities so this was interesting to me. I think it is interesting that Apple has not really stepped up and found ways to make their devices education friendly.

I learned about what the Google App Certified teacher program is. You can become a trainer and teacher about Google Apps. The Google Apps for education is a program where educators can train and become certified to show they understand the content and are willing to share about that information.

IGNITE

The IGNITE presentations were a little bit more stressful then I would have liked them to be. I did not like that we only got 20 seconds on each slide. I felt like I had so much more to say. However, I did learn that it was somewhat easy to talk about something I was passionate about. After listening to my classmates, I came to a conclusion that we are all kind of on the same path. It felt like a whole new generation of ideas and philosophies were being created from my Iowa State classmates. I think I would have added a few things to my teaching philosophy after listening to my peers. One huge thing that I am a firm believer in is creating a community within the classroom. If I could do my presentation over I would definitely add that in. Another thing I would add in is creating a safe place for my students. I want my students to feel at home and safe in my classroom. I want my students to know that I am accepting of all of them.

One huge thing I learned from this class was about being a connected teacher. I really enjoyed learning about how to be a connected teacher through blogging and social media. I think this is the future for teaching. I love the idea of connecting with educators across the world through blogging and social media. I think this is a great way to become a better educator! I want to create a blog when I am a teacher. In this blog I was to share things I am doing in the classroom and reflect on my lessons. This helps me become connected and a reflective teacher.

Tech Review Presentations...

For my tech review presentation, I decided to present the ReadWriteThink Timeline tool. Preparing for this presentation I was excited to tell my classmates about this tool. I think when a lot of people first saw my tool they did not think much of it.It was not until I explained why I chose that tool that they took another look at it. I think my explanation of the classroom idea is what changed their minds that it is in fact a good tool. I also think that when I explained that I chose it because it would be a good tool for younger students they understood why I liked the simplicity of the tool. Some things I would do differently would be to go into more detail about how it fits into 3 levels of the SAMR model. I also would want to maybe include one of my own timelines to show another example. One other thing would be to add in pictures to entertain my audience a little bit! I enjoyed learning about all the different tools that my classmates presented. These short presentations could be a huge success in a school. If one teacher from each grade researched a tool and then did a short presentation to the staff every few months, teachers could learn a lot. I know I learned a lot by listening to each presentation.