Week V

This week I designed an electronic teacher portfolio to provide some insight into my individual talents and beliefs. The electronic format allowed me to be selective in what I displayed, and it will be easier to update than my traditional hard copy portfolio. I had some knowledge of the electronic format from my undergraduate program at Kent State. We were just beginning to work with these types of portfolios when I was finishing my degree. Even though I had some experience, I had a difficult time developing the internal links going from page to page and in linking the artifacts. After straightening out the links, I think it turned out rather well. Check it out for yourself. Here is a link to my portfolio.

I liked completing this assignment because it displays my growth in the use of technology, and it has given me more confidence to pursue my future learning goals. My plan is to continue adding elements to my portfolio which will display my growth. This will give me a strong tool to evaluate my progress, and it will give me a concise snapshot of my abilities to display for future employers.

This course has been difficult at times, but overcoming those difficulties has made me more confident in my abilities concerning technology. I’m excited about installing these tools in my classroom this school year, and there implementation will give me more strategies to reach my students varying learning styles.

Week IV

This week I learned how to develop a WebQuest as well as gain an understanding of their applications. I had no previous knowledge in how to create them so I was a little nervous. Creating it was relatively easy though using the template I found online.

Lesson planning at times can be a difficult task if one truly makes a conscientious effort to address various learning styles. I have found that technology is a great way to bridge these learning styles and get kids engaged in the lesson. With the knowledge I gained this week on WebQuests, I will have another exciting tool to get students involved, and it will allow them to become self-directed learners.

I had fun with this week’s assignment. The WebQuest is a great way to promote critical thinking skills and motivate students. I feel the extra time it will take to develop these types of lessons will be clearly outweighed by the increased knowledge my students will gain in the classroom, and these skills will allow them to be more marketable for the workforce of the 21st century.

Another thing, I learned from the readings that was most interesting and helpful was how to apply the use of WebQuests in any classroom setting. The article from Internet4Classrooms even described a scenario of how they could be installed with the use of no computers by making a master copy of the information from each website. This seems to be a flexible tool that can be easily implemented, and I’m looking forward to installing it into my classroom next year.

Have a Happy Fourth everyone!