From+My+Heart

**...It's been a //journey//. We started the wiki back in September when the weather was still balmy and the end of the semester seemed so far away. I was a little intimidated when I heard the words " personal webpage " and wondered if this class would be more than I could handle.** As each week passed by, I learned that opening my mind to technology and embracing the wiki project was the only way to success in this class. Admittedly, my main goal at first was to do what was assigned and move on until the next week. By about week 3, I learned that I was actually going to enjoy the technology I was learning! I surprised myself when I was able to do most of the assignments without emailing my prof a //million// times. I started to gain confidence around week 6 when we started with the web 2.0 tools. Have you heard of web 2.0 tools? They ARE //**s.i.m.p.l.y**// wonderful! The main part of the wiki was to design a unit of instruction. What I learned from this was to have patience and to be ready to do some editing. This was basically my first full unit I've written and I can see how involved it can become to do. I can see that being a teacher is going to involve __a lot__ of prep work. In order to stay in the game, I'll need to anticipate deviations and obstacles in my lessons. As a result of my products, I'm most proud of my PowerPoint presentation. Although it was one of the more familiar technologies for me, I still was challenged with being cre ative and making it my own. I've always thought it was next to impossible to make a PowerPoint presentation interesting. I'm hoping with my product, I've proven some creativity can make this technology **//more//** interesting! One thing I would do differently next time I write a unit with technology, would be to do more " prep " work upfront. I would come up with two or three ideas of a unit and write a rough draft of what the lessons would entail. I would see which one could involve technology the most and be the __most__ __effective__. I'm most concerned with knowing //less// about technology than my students. This is my biggest FEAR. As a teacher, I want to be comfortable with technology in the classroom. If I allow my students knowledge to overcome me, I will be lost. But if I continue to be confident in my abilities and open my mind to solutions, I will be fine. We can learn together and grow in our classroom! Technology aside, I'm most concerned with successfully including every benchmark and standard. This is one area where I want to do well and I want to learn as much as I can before I enter the classroom. To avoid battling with this concern, I'm going to educate myself and become aware of the guidelines. As I study the standards and continue to make more and more lesson plans, I believe the standards will become second nature. I'm //__very excited__// about using technology as an organization tool in the classroom. I plan to take advantage of Engrade or a wiki to keep my grades and classroom up-to-date. I'm also excited to plan units that include technology as a tool to educate my students. I want to include projects where students can display their efforts on the computer to share with their family. I want my students to feel like technology empowers them! I want to share a love for technology with them:)   What will I be most excited about when I become a teacher? The words that come to mind are... LEARNING - ENVIRONMENT - CREATE - EXPLORE ! These words describe how I want my classroom to be and what kind of teacher I want to become. I'm looking forward to the adventure and the journey...and the surprises! Some might be good, some might not be so good. I want to experience it all and learn everyday how I can make someone's education worthwhile.   --- 21st CENTURY ---is what I will choose to teach in when I become Mrs. DeWeese to my students. When students walk into Mrs. DeWeese's classroom they will see opportunity. Picture web-based programs, interactive whiteboards, laptops and ipads. Electronic assignments and eGrades will be the norm in this classroom!   I hope to make a difference by bringing my knowledge of technology and love of teaching to my students. I plan to do this through teaching them not only content area but life skills and strageties. I want to teach ENGLISH but I want to teach this to real life. I want to know what they want to be when they complete school and how ENGLISH can be applied to them as an individual. If each student has a few applications they've learned that they can apply to their profession, I will feel I've made a difference.
 * Wow! I'm done with my wiki! I want to tell you some things ...**