Section 7 Reflection

E-learning is a huge factor in the 21^st century classroom. It is rare to walk in a classroom and not see at least time of technology being used either by the teacher or the student. When I first started teaching, I had a document camera and a teacher laptop. I was also able to check out portable labs to use in my classroom. Now, I have 1:1 ratio of students to tablets, 4 laptops, interactive whiteboard, teacher laptop and document camera. This is now my third year to teach, so if we can grow that rapidly in just 2 years, I can only imagine what the classroom will look like in the future! With the tablets, we take tons of pictures and post on our classroom blog. Apps are another great resource I use on the tablets to engage students. The laptops are a great resource to produce pieces such as stories or projects. Keeping students engaged and active is one of the hardest jobs a teacher has, and I have noticed over the past 2 years e-learning experiences help tackling the issue a little easier.

Reusable objects make my planning life so much better! I really like to review for tests using a game of some type. In my classroom, I have a mimio which turns my whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard. Through different sources, I found different games where you can edit and put in your own questions and answers. My students love this during review week. It is a fun way to keep students engaged but learning at the same time. It is also much easier on me because I don’t have to create an entirely new game or program each time. I also really like blogging as a reusable resource because students become familiar and independent with the task. It is an easy check for understanding that after practice doesn’t require much prep time.

Rich media is a very huge part of my everyday instruction. I am a third grade teacher, so we learn a variety of different step by step processes. It is imperative for students to both hear and practice those steps, but they also need to see sometime of visual, whether it be an example of fun little graphic. I also love to use different videos in my curriculum. I use a majority of my videos from United Streaming or Brain Pop. Incorporating these videos not only engages my students, but they also give them something to refer back to when completing different projects or assignments. Rich media is a great resource to use within e-learning and reusable resources.

Virtual learning give students the opportunities to have those experiences they might not get to have to do. My students love a gaming website called Sumdog. It covers both math and writing. The students create their own avatar and play different games. As they play the games, they receive points which can be used in the store. The students have the ability to play against different classmates or people around the world. I have really enjoyed this resource because I have control on what skill or skills they work on during the games. The students also enjoy playing against each other and competing. I also love to use Google docs. It is great for writing and giving feedback. It is easy enough for students or teachers to give the feedback to others. This has been a great resource because critiquing others helps students get ideas and make their own writing better! Web 2.0 tools can be overwhelming based solely off the newness and lack of experience, but the best thing to do is get in there and try!