Final Reflection

Coming into this class, I was not sure what to expect .... I had never taken an online class and I wasn't sure how classes like this worked. I came to find I did enjoy most of the readings although they were not what I expected. I think I learned a lot from the Millenials video in terms of the type of students I will be facing in my classroom. The video made me realize I have to be prepared for a technology based group of little ones who are expecting to be reached with some type of technology coming their way .... although this is important, I am not going to devalue a book or doing a hands on project ... I feel that technology is taking away from students' higher order thinking and critical thinking skills.

The readings I did enjoy were the ones I actually understood ... there was a lot of jargon thrown around that had me going bananas trying to follow along but I think I learned that students need blogs or fan fiction websites as supplemental materials in the classroom. The ones described in the readings seemed very in depth and confusing at times but I could find ways to simplify them and keep them within our classroom. I think it is important to let students express themselves and since some students are very shy doing so, I think these source where they can make up an alias and go to town on their feelings would work well for them and give them the freedom they need. Blogs are something I am going to use in my classroom. Whether it is to keep families informed or as a type of readers notebook, I want my students to become engaged in an activity where they can take ownership for their work. Lastly, I think Memes are a great idea I would just need an older audience when teaching so I could get the reaction I need in order to structure a Meme into a lesson. Overall I really enjoyed the class and the readings ... for someone who is pretty tech savvy but limited in ideas of how to apply it in the classroom, this class helped for sure!

As I mentioned above, I would use some of the things we learned this summer and apply them in my classroom. I do believe technology to be important but I think it also needs to be exciting. Teachers are always using technology in the same way throughout the grades and I think this class has opened my eyes of new ways to implement technology in the classroom. By using these different New Literacies, I hope to be able to reach a variety of learners in my classroom and even get families involved in the process.