When going into the field of education a major topic that comes to mind is NCLB.  Today in schools it is hard to make sure that every child is on the same page however, with the growing field of technology it is becoming easier to make sure everyone is on the same page. Technology is a way to incorporate hands on activities for your students as well as use it as a way to help those students who are ahead or behind. For the students who are above average in their grade level technology can be used as an enhancement and for the students who are behind in their grade level it can be used as a reinforcement activity. This class has opened my eyes to all the free sources out there and I plan on using them in my own classroom someday.

This semester has been a learning experience for me. I have designed my own webpage before but is was nothing like the one I created for this class. I decided to go with Google page creator to make my website. Google page creator was very easy to use and allows you to personalize your site in many ways. Since my last name is Simon, it seemed only fitting to title my website Simon Says! I really enjoyed creating my own website because it is something that I can use in the future to showcase my accomplishments. http://amberlynnsimon.googlepages.com/home

Perhaps one of my favorite websites that was done by a classmates was Bret Derr’s website. His webpage was so awesome!!! It was very informational as well as very organized. http://bretderr.googlepages.com/home Another classmates webpage that I enjoyed looking at was Jacque’s webpage. Her webpage was very organized and easy to navigate through. http://jlschneweis.googlepages.com/home

The third classmates webpage that I liked was Amber’s.  Her title was catchy and made you want to keep looking on her webpage. Her title was “Amber Alert” Also, I liked the colors of her website as well as the way her webpage was organized.  http://adstoecklein.googlepages.com/home 

My favorite podcast was driving questions by Kevin Honeycutt. I really enjoyed his podcast because they were also a videocast. It was really nice being able to watch something while listening to the podcast. His podcast were always very informational and I always learned so much from them.

The tools that I see myself using in the future as well as now are delicious, scrapblog, Big Universe, GCAST, and letterpop. I plan on still using delicious because it is a great social bookmarking site. I enjoy saving all my websites in delicious that way when I need to go to one all I have to do is go to my delicious account and look it up. Scrapblog I will still use because I enjoy scrap booking and it is a great way to create one. Also, they are great to send as a gift. All you have to do is share the scrapblog with the person and they can view the scrapblog that you have created for them. Another tool I see myself using is Big Universe. Big Universe was such a fun site because it allowed you to create your own children’s book. Also, it would be a great thing to have your students do.  One tool that I will definitely use and continue to use is GCAST. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed creating my own podcast. It is something that I will continue to use because I can create podcast for my substitutes and all they would have to do is play the podcast and they will know what I want. The final tool I see myself using is Letterpop. I will use this tool because it is a great way to get newsletters out to parents.

Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were setting up our Moodle account and getting overwhelmed when we saw all the assignments. When in reality it wasn’t that much, we just freaked out a bit because all of this new technology stuff was something we had never done before.  I can remember going to Wal-Mart and buying a web cam and thinking,  “Oh, my how am I ever going to learn how to use this?” This class has taught me way more than I could have ever imagined. Everything I have done in this class has been a first for me. But, looking back on the semester there are 5 things that stood out to me.

The first being Voice Thread. I thought this was the coolest thing. I really enjoyed putting words to pictures. It was so neat creating a voice thread over a lesson I had taught as well as telling about one of my favorite children’s book. Also, I think it would be great to have your students get a voice thread account because then they could do projects with it and it would be something that they could call their own.

http://voicethread.com/#e88625

http://voicethread.com/share/128394/

The second thing that was a WOW moment for me was Letterpop. I know that as a teacher I will have to create newsletters for my students parents and doing by letterpop is great because it is online. You can just send the URL to parents and they can view the newsletter that way. I created two newsletters on letterpop. One being for the month of October and the other for the month of November. I created them by months because as a teacher I hope to send a newletter out each month that way the parents can know what their child is doing.

http://letterpop.com/newsletters/ambers/84164/ 

The third WOW moment for me was scrapblog. I enjoy scrapbooking so a way to make one online is great. Scrapblog is something that I can see myself using in the future. I have created two scrapblogs this semester. The first one was about me and the second was for my mom for mothers day.

http://www.scrapblog.com/myScrapblog/myscrapblog.aspx?gycid=ce12194

The fourth moment for me that was a WOW moment wasmaking our own audio podcast. I used GCAST and I loved it because it allowed you to create your podcast from your phone. To view all my podcast click on the link below.

http://www.gcast.com/u/alsimon/main

The fifth moment that was a WOW moment for me was when I created my delicious account. This is a great tool because it allows you to organize all of your websites. On my delicious account I have 104 websites.

http://del.icio.us/ambers

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