Welcome and Expectations

Welcome to my TPTE 486 blog! For my first post, I am going to tell you a little bit about myself and then explain what my expectations are for TPTE 486 this summer. First off, my name is Colbi Galyon, and I am in the Elementary Education program here at The University of Tennessee. Currently, I am finishing up my undergraduate degree, and I will graduate in August with a major in Psychology and a minor in Elementary Education. This fall, I will begin my year-long internship at Mooreland Heights Elementary School in Ms. Hutson's fifth grade class. Mooreland Heights is a small, arts-integrated, Title One school in South Knoxville, which is exactly the type of school I would like to work in one day. Throughout my time in the elementary program at The University of Tennessee, I have discovered that I have a passion for working with children who come from lower socioeconomic communities, and my experiences working with these children have inspired me to become an elementary school teacher. In my own personal experiences, I know school has been one of the major factors that has help me better my life, and I want to become a teacher because I want to help put other children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds on a path to success. I think teaching is one of the most rewarding professions in the world, and I am excited to spend everyday educating children and helping them better their lives through education.

In order to help put my students on a path to success, I need to be a well-rounded teacher who can successfully use technology in the classroom. To be completely honest, I am terrible with technology and usually end up somehow breaking every electonic device I own. This is unfortunate because today's generation of students have always grown up with computers and enjoy being able to use as much technology in the classroom as they can. Fortunately, TPTE 486 is designed to help me learn about all the different tools I can use to help bring technology into my future classroom. In this class, I expect to learn how to use a variety of tools, such as wikis, blogs, interactive white boards, flip charts, and other programs I have never even heard of before. I am sure this process will be a little frustrating for me at times, but I am excited to learn as much as I can about technology so I can use it to engage my students and help them learn. I expect to put a lot of hard work into this class, and walk out on the last day feeling more confident in my abilities to use technology in my future classroom. So, let's begin Colbi's tech travels through TPTE 486!