Course Reflection

 Course Reflection Video

    Upon reflecting on everything I have learned, accomplished, and experienced throughout this course I have realized how many new tools and resources I have been exposed to that I will use in my classroom in the future. Of all the courses I have taken throughout my time at Peru State, I believe that I have learned the most new information from this course specifically. Not only was I introduced to a wide, wide, variety of resources, tools, and websites, I was also challenged to dive right in and put them to use! Using technology and  navigating social media has never been my strong suit so I was honestly very intimidated by this course in the beginning. However, I feel that I am leaving this course with a whole new level of confidence, comfortability, curiosity and determination to grow my skills and knowledge in this area. A few of the Educator ISTE goals that I feel I have met throughout this course are:

    2.1 Learner

    Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and     promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning.

 

    2.4 Collaborator

    Educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover        and share resources and ideas, and solve problems. 

    2.5 Designer

    Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate     learner variability.

    2.6 Facilitator

    Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for     Students.

    Some of the most useful tools I have gained from this course is learning how to screencast and how to use Canva. As for screencasting, I feel that this is such an important and useful tool for both me as a colleague as well as an educator. I already have so many ideas for putting this tool to use for new members on my first grade team such as creating videos for accessing and using various resources including Infinite Campus, Clever, curriculum websites, district resources, etc. as well as inputting quarterly grades, taking attendance, and locating student information. This will be such a great tool for new teachers on my team because I will only have to make these screencasts once but they will be used over and over again to help new teachers feel more prepared. I also plan to use screencasting to help teach parents how to access and use our communication app, Seesaw as well as Infinite Campus where they can access all of their students' information. Lastly, I plan to use screencasting to make tutorial videos for my own students on how to get on the various educational apps the district requires and more importantly how to log out of these apps so that their progress is saved and recorded. This tool will be a lifesaver! I also think learning how to use Canva is a total game changer for my classroom. From creating educational resources for my students to use to creating resources for parents such as weekly newsletters, posters for upcoming activities, and various schedules, I plan on using Canva for everything I need to create. I love that you don’t have to start from scratch and it will look amazing no matter what. I am very particular about the information I share and want my resources to look a certain way, so Canva gives me the power to personalize as much as I want to get it just right! 

    Overall, I plan to continue to utilize multimedia tools in my classroom by constantly asking myself  “would this be easier, more accessible, better comminuted, by using multimedia tools?”. If the answer to that question is “yes” then I plan to use multimedia tools to get the job done. I want to use multimedia tools in my classroom to make activities more engaging, information more easily accessible, and resources reusable so anything that falls under that umbrella will cause me to get creative and use the skills and resources I have gained in this course. I am excited to see what the next year brings with all of this new information over multimedia tools I have gained throughout this course.