Final Post

As I reflect on my time in TPTE 486, I am truly amazed at how much I have learned. At the beginning of the summer, I was terrified by any type of technology and believed that I was doomed to break every electronic device I touched. I did not have any experience using a Mac computer and was completely overwhelmed by many of its features for the first few days of class. Even though I was a little nervous and inexperienced, I was excited to take TPTE 486 so I could learn about the different tools I could use to incorporate technology into my classroom. At the beginning of the summer, my main expectation for this course was to learn about all the different tools that the web offered. I expected the process to be a little frustrating at times, but I knew as long as I worked hard and followed all of Ginny's directions, I would learn to be an even more effective teacher. 

Throughout this semester, this class has completely transformed how I see technology. After working on the Mac computer for almost two months, I am a lot more knowledgeable about its features and am more confident in my ability to effectively use it. At the beginning of the semester, I did not even know how to log out of the computer. Now I am able to use the Mac computer for three hours twice a week with relatively little help. Although this is not one of the major goals of TPTE 486, it was one of my personal goals. Now, if I walk into my internship and am faced with a school system that only uses Mac computers, I will not panic and have to ask my mentoring teacher a million questions. Instead, I will have a basic understanding of how to work the computer and the skills and confidence needed to attempt to figure out the things I do not understand on my own.

As I reflect on my time in TPTE 486, I am amazed at how many tools I have learned how to use in such a short amount of time. Thanks to this class, I now know how to create a website, blog, wiki, Picasa album, Google Presentation, digital diagram, digital story, WebQuest, flipchart, inquiry based activity, and wordle. Even though I expected this process to be frustrating at times, I was surprised by how easy many of these tools were to use. Even though I had to work hard to get all of my projects done in a timely manner, I was surprised how much I really enjoyed creating these assignments. This class taught me, not only that technology is essential in the classroom, but that technology can be a fun way to liven up the classroom. Now that I am more familiar with all of these tools and have used them to create my own projects, I will definitely try to incorporate them into my future classroom as much as possible. In the future, I see myself using a lot of these tools to create materials for my students, and I see myself asking my students to use these tools to complete their assignments. Now that I have taken TPTE 486, I understand that in order for me to engage my students and optimize their learning potential, I have to incorporate some level of technology into my lessons. Luckily, TPTE 486 has given me a new found love and appreciation for technology, and I know this class will help me be a better teacher. So, as I reflect on Colbi's tech travels through TPTE 486, I consider my experience to be a success!