Blog Post #16

In 2011 was the first time I took EDM 310 with Dr. Strange and I made a D in the class. The reason why I made this terrible grade the first time is because I was a student that did not take the class seriously nor apply myself to the work. Honestly I was not focused, did not communicate with classmates, terrible with procrastination, and this led to my failure in the class. In 2013 I decided to take on the challenge and give it another shot at conquering the class. Truthfully I waited two years to try this course again because I was intimidated of the amount of work, time that has to be applied, and overall failing again. On this past semester I entered this class for the second time with completely different attitude and ready for a challenge. This semester I have learned how to be professional by being on time with all of my assignments, becoming a team player with my fellow classmates, and not missing a single assignment. This second attempt at EDM 310 has defiantly changed the type of student that I was as well as the type of future teacher that I will become.


My Reflection on Blog Post #1: If You Built A School, What Would It Be Like?

On the first blog post of this semester I summarized two videos called If I Built A School and Sugata Mitra TED 2013 Talk. On this post I wrote about different things that I would include into my future classroom such as the tools the students would use, the tools that I would use as a teacher, how students would participate in the learning process, and the different techniques of teaching these students in the classroom. At the time of writing this post I had a general idea of the tools that a teacher and students should use to incorporate technology in the curriculum but I did not know how to use these tools properly. I explained many different tools that should be included in a classroom such as iPad’s, MacBook’s, access to the internet, Blogger, and many other sorts of social media but did not explain how they should be used. With the information that I have learned from this class I can now correctly inform my future students on what tools to use and how to properly use them.

In this semester of EDM 310 I have learned to use many different forms of technology that can be incorporated into any teacher’s classroom. Tools such as SmartBoards, iPad’s, Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, podcast, Blogger, MacBook’s, Google Docs, iMovie, and Twitter can be used in a curriculum to better their learning experience. In my first blog post I included some of these tools but did not have an understanding of how to apply them to the curriculum. This past semesters experience had an amazing outcome that changed my entire outlook and drive to be an all-around better individual. Blogger is a great asset that I will carry into my future classroom. Using Blogger in the classroom has many benefits that will help a student in his/her learning such as improving the quality of writing of an individual, opens the possibility for a broader audience, to evaluate fellow peers in the proper way, and allows the students to show their own creativity. Blogger opens the door to use other resources within the blog such as podcast, YouTube videos, pictures, iMovie’s, Google Slides, and many other resources that can be included. This class has taught me that even teachers need to be constant learners as long with being an educator. Twitter is another great asset that can help teachers on their learning experience. Teachers can use this resource to converse with other professors to exchange different ideas to use in their class. These tools and techniques of learning will allow students to be able to express their own creativeness and learn how to solve problems independently.

As a future high school History teacher (9th-12th) I plan to use the technique of Project Based Learning into my classroom. This method of teaching has shown me how I can effectively change the outcome of the learning experience of my future students. This procedure has personally made me strive to perform and produce on a higher level knowing that I will have a countless number of people evaluating my production of work. PBL has also allowed me to express my own ideas which have made me take pride in my effort of work. My experience in this class has defiantly shown me how to become a better learner as well as a better educator to the students in my future classroom.

Final Reflection
The video below is my final reflection on how EDM 310 has made me a better student and prepared me to become an excellent teacher in the future.