Kayla+Final+Reflection

Kayla Final Reflection

Dear Dr. McGregor, Thank you for responding to emails in a timely manner, keeping in contact, creating invigorating and thought provoking assignments. Throughout this classI learned that I am too much of a perfectionist. I do not expect perfection from my students, it is unrealistic to expect it of myself. I also learned that I can not make I will need to do a lot of teaching about the software or app first, do an introductory activity so the students can play with the tool. I also learned that in some of my courses, these tools would not be feasible as my classes involve a lot of cooking. The products would be created when we had a substitute or as the written/textual proof portion of assessment. It is easy to loose the fun of teaching. I am proud I am still having fun and trying to be innovative. I enjoyed creating things that we can use with our new technology (1:1 Chromebooks). Next semester I will be giving my students printed written, online written and oral instructions when we use technology. I have learned that they need a transition between paper and paperless learning. I also need this. I printed the instructions for some of the assignments so that it could make notes while watching the tutorials. My brain is also in the transition phase of paper to paperless. Anywhere I teach, not just where I am currently, we will have the issue of non-connectivity for at least 50% of students. Integrating technology is wonderful but I will need programs that can be used off-line also. Audacity is great but my student’s chromebooks can’t hold the file and the lame file, it is too much (we tried! ) So homework using technology will be limited. I have been motivated to talk with our administration about leaving the wireless accessible for a longer period after school is out so that our students can have access to internet in the evenings for homework. In the town that I live in we have a couple of public hot spots. I have brought this up with a local council person in the town I teach at. Hopefully this will help our students but we are a consolidated district and very rural so it is impossible to reach everyone. I am concerned about modifying these lessons for when I have a substitute. I would have to either modify the lessons or teach the substitute if I have another child during the school year and would be on maternity leave. As cost saving measures most schools do not keep a long term sub in the classroom for more than 10 days so they do not have to pay long term sub pay, just regular sub pay. To overcome this, in my sub notebook I already have step by step instructions (with pictures) showing how to connect the EZ Cast (like Chromecast) to the 65” TV and then how to open the document and project it and for some substitutes even that is too much. I have 1 student per class that is trained to operate the classroom technology and we have Google Classroom so sometimes I just print the power point for the sub and then push out the slides to the students but that is not fun for them or the sub. I am excited to be creating a habit of appropriate use for my students. I am excited to show them the possibilities with technology and help them develop products they are proud of. Being in a rural area, my students often think their careers are limited to teaching, daycare, welding, farming/ranching, nursing and working at the bank or diner in town. They do not understand that there are people with all sorts of degrees that work in rural areas and that they do not have to move to the city to have a good job. There are jobs that they will have that haven’t even been created yet and if I can help them become comfortable with different technology they may take a leap in their career also. I am trying to teach in the twenty-second century where our students are doing tasks we don’t even know of in jobs we have yet to create. Preparing my students for an unknown and unlimited future is my goal right now. Integrating technology into basic parts of their life and how to use them for good, and for more than uploading funny YouTube videos about cats. Sincerely, Kayla Taylor