In what ways have you grown as a professional while taking this course? How can you use the knowledge gained to increase your leadership within the corporation?

I think the biggest thing that hit me was more authentic assessments.  It can be so easy to get wrapped up in the necessities of lessons and textbooks that you forget about the true classroom meaning: to teach kids to survive in this world. For example, earlier this school year we discussed argumentative letters in business format.  My goal was for the students to write a letter about an article we had read.  The assignment fell to the side as other things seemed more important.  Maybe that letter is more important than inferences and reading. Maybe expressing their ideas is more important.

I am new to my corporation so I'm not a leader here.  I've seen a few projects that have been assigned.  Leaf collections, posters, relationship trees, storyline posters etc.  I always think how could we do that digitally.  Kids are trying to cram posters and leaf collections into their lockers.  There must be an easier way. They could create the posters on piktochart.  They could create on relationship tree on a mindmapping website.  The leaf collections could be Prezi presentations or videos of them in a park.

I think my way of thinking is changing which I think was the point of this course.  Start thinking digitally and three dimensionally.  See technology in a different light.  Your classroom in a different light.  See these students as technology masterminds that need to be turned lose.  What will they create?

What Tool Would I Use in My Classroom

I would love to have my students do a blog of their writing.  I love, love, love writing prompts.  I like to switch it up with different medias.  Students could also submit their journal entries and interesting essays.  I could even see them just writing about their life in general outside of my assignments.  My hope would be to post definitely weekly.

I would most likely use Blogger since I know I already want to use Google Drive.  Blogger is obviously on a web-based platform.  Blogger can let them express their individuality through a digital web log or diary.  They can post pictures that correspond with their writings and really make their blogs personal.

What is my digital footprint?

I'm 32.  I've been on the internet since I was 14 when all we had was dial-up and American Online.  We didn't even know about internet safety!  I once searched my name and found a bio of my younger self that talked about how I loved to sing in the shower.

I didn't find anything that seemed negative today when I searched.  Thankfully.  You tend to forget things!

The social experiments that are being posted on Facebook are a great example to kids about your digital footprint.  Especially how quickly things spread.  Then when you demonstrate that things last forever . . .Through examples and experiments we can hope that students will take control of the digital footprint at an early age.

Scenario: Susie spent hours collecting and curating resources for her upcoming unit on cells. She is able to successfully use much of what she has found when implementing her plans.

The following year, when it is time to begin the unit on cells again, Susie forgets about the resources she curated. She essentially starts from scratch, performing the task of searching, saving, and sorting once again.

Create a plan or provide suggestions for ways to make your curated resources a regular part of your planning.

Please write your response in your blog. Use the attached rubric as a guide while you write your reflection.

I am quite concerned about this problem as I am amassing resources and technology.  Even now I download 5 powerpoint presentations on reflexive and inflexive pronouns and cannot remember on the day of which of the 5 I actually like and plan to use.

Right now my only thought is to create a computer file titled with the topic, for example pronouns.  Inside that file I want to create a Word document as a table of contents for lack of better words.  I can include any weblinks and document titles.  Also in the file can be any downloaded files such as powerpoints or Smart notebook files and worksheets.

I know that this is something I need to work on to make my future years as a teacher easier.