Final Reflections

The class is over! I can't believe that it went by so fast. In comparison to my other courses taken at UT over the past four years, I can say that this class engaged me much more than the others! I felt like I was learning something beneficial EACH day, and this class made me excited and eager to start teaching. I feel that the things Jeff taught us will be very helpful in the future.

One of the last things we learned how to do was build a website. When the time came to start, FEAR was an understatement of my feelings toward this assignment. I was used to dealing with the html stuff and being frustrated by all of these codes that I had NO CLUE about! However, with google sites, web design was easy----and, dare I say----FUN. It is amazing how quickly one can create a wonderful, creative, unique site that still serves as an information tool for the classroom. I especially enjoyed how easy it was to create and organize new pages and add them to the sidebar. There's no telling what all I will be able to create for my classes in the future.

I had heard many horror stories about IT486 and the demands of it, but in hindsight, I can say that our class had a wonderful, PATIENT teacher who was willing to show us over and over again how to do things that seemed impossible!

As a future music teacher/band director, I couldn't see how on earth technology could be used in a bandroom where it is already a challenge to get students to operate their instruments! However, after taking this course, I can say that many of the things taught will make my teaching easier. I plan to create a band website, use Webquest, Google Docs, and iMovie (for band banquets, senior gifts, and performances) just for starters. I hope to try all of the technology taught in the class, at least once, to see how it works in the bandroom.

imovie!

I just finished creating my first imovie! This application on the Mac was by far the most fun yet. I could edit videos, share photos, and apply cool transitions and effects with ease. It was also pretty cool that I could add music. It took me forever to finish, but I am proud of my movie. Now I have a little movie re-capping my college years that I can look back on when I'm old and gray (hehe). This tool can definitely be used for lots of different teaching methods in my class. I cannot wait to make another one! Anyway, here is the "My College Years" iMovie---it's kind of long. I didn't know when to stop! Nonetheless, enjoy!

Racing through...checkpoint!

I cannot believe we are midway through the semester already! I have enjoyed this class SO much, and it has been one of the most useful education classes I've ever taken. I can think of so many ways that I can incorporate the technology used in the class into my future classroom and other areas of life.

Working with Inspiration today really helped me to put my future lessons into perspective, and also helped me to find a new way to teach music. I can definitely use the Ear Training diagram for students who are visual learners. My students can see this diagram and map out the directions of the program, instead of being overwhelmed by my lengthy explanations.

I am very excited about using what I have learned, and cannot wait to see what else Jeff has up his sleeve to teach us!

Out with the old...

Today in class we learned about Google docs, a site provided by Google that gives easy access to editing, displaying, and sharing information with others. I thought email was great...but it actually proves to be useless compared to Google docs, which allows for everyone to see and edit the document at the same time. This is pretty much amazing.

Website reviewing

In Tuesday's (6/9) class, I learned to properly evaluate the credibility and reliability of websites that could be used for my students. I previously thought that I knew how to evaluate website---I believed it to be easy to tell whether or not a website was sufficient enough for students to use---however, the criteria that Jeff Beard taught us to look for helped me to investigate the websites more. Consequently, I found more mistakes in websites and their credibility, and in turn I found better sites for my class to use!

First day of blogging!

I never thought I'd be one of the people who would ever blog! I have always wanted to, but never knew how. Wow, this class is helpful already! The setup was much easier than I thought, and I hope to continue to do this.