Reflective Blog #8

To wrap up my ETEC blog I would have to say that my "aha" moments would have to be every week.  I have never in my life learned about so many technology resources in such a short period of time.  My biggest "aha" was that there were so many resources available to me.  I also realized what I could have been doing this whole time in my classroom versus what I actually have been doing.  Thinking back to lessons that I have done with my students and ways that I could have improved them not only for my students but for myself as well.  Thinking back to my philosophy that I created at the beginning of the semester it has guided the development of my projects by making sure that I have been a reflective teacher and also a student.  In many of the projects that I have created I have been able to go back and think about what I have done, why I have done it and what I could do to make it better.  This blog for example has been a great way for me to look at the projects that I have developed and really think about them and has let me learn and grow from what I have done in this class.  My philosophy has changed as a teacher overall simply because I never realized how important technology really was.  I have been told many times use this resource, or this resource is so great you should try it, but I never really thought it would make a difference.  After using just a small amount of the tools that I have learned about in my class I have seen what a difference it can make.  It makes it more interesting to teach, and to learn.  My students are collaborating more, they are more engaged in their learning and are showing true ownership of their knowledge just as I hope they would.  Overall I would say this has been a great learning experience for me and I am very interested in continuing my development in the field of technology.