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There are a lot of things I have learned in the journey through this course. Some of it is new knowledge that I am excited about implementing into my classroom. Others are confirmation of my skills in certain areas.
The emerging technology assignment was my favorite because I feel like I learned the most from it. From perusing research and completing the activities, I have a whole list of ideas to use in my classroom. I am a third grade teacher, so any way I find to enhance literacy is a gold mine. Although I am still not sold on using wikipedia for research, I think it would be very valuable to create a wiki for my class. One idea I have is to use it as part of an author or genre study, with each student adding his or her part.
Until completing website activity I did not know the extent of my fluency in building a website. I maintain the website for my school, but it is simple to keep up with the way the county has it set up. It used to take me sometime to build a website, between adding all the links and finding the resources I needed. I picked the website activity because I was hoping to increase my capabilities. Now I know that I have what I need to complete a website easily and quickly.
Thank you!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

Surprise!!!

Well, I just found out I am pregnant! I don't know how far along or anything because I haven't been to the doctor yet. My husbands family all claims that they knew, I wish someone would have clued me in!!! But this explains my exhaustion and not feeling myself lately. Now that I know, I can get back to work because I can't use the excuse that I am sick anymore!

Every technology I use in my classroom is new to my students. Although a few of them may have computers at home, not many of them have internet. For them to do projects with PowerPoint and even Microsoft Words is an exciting process. It is a lot like when I find a new technology and have an idea of how to apply it to the classroom. I received a grant for a site licensce of Kidspiration and it just got installed on my computers and in the Media Center. I actually got excited about doing my lesson plans because I could find new ways to infuse this new technology. I know it is not new as in just out, but it is new to my plans and my students, which makes very worthwhile.

FCAT

I breathe a big sigh of relief as FCAT ends and spring break is on its way. Now comes the wait until the beginning of May when the 3rd grade scores come out. I feel good about this year, although it was a challenging group. We are going to Medieval Times next week and it will be a nice break from the ordinary. Keeping 8 year olds quiet and still for hours on end is not an easy feat, let me tell you!!!!!!!

Trouble with Digital Images

I loved this module, as it comes straight from my heart. I love enhancing, editing, and creating with photographs. The worst part of this module was submitting it. I seriously spent from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30p.m. yesterday trying to get everything to upload. I would get one file uploaded thent he upload screen would freeze on me. My slideshow took about 2 hours to upload. Needless to say, I am a bit tired and worn out today.

Digital Image Project

I have been working on my digital image project, but it doesn't seem like work to me at all. From all the classes I have taken with this degree I have done a lot of "photo-story" type projects. I really enjoy doing them, especially when it is documenting part of my life. I have even used a photostory at my housewarming party to show the steps in building our house and to introduce Ancient Civilizations to my third graders. I am having a lot of fun with this!

Word and Publisher

I enjoyed completing my "taking off" activities. I especially enjoyed the publisher activity. Writing the book and deciding what pictures are included was fun and interesting. Although I knew how to use many of the skills I applied I have not used them in that way. Doing these activities also gives me new strategies to use in my classroom. :)