Thing 24: The Final Frontier

This definitely was a journey but an enjoyable one. I honestly never realized how many useful tools there were out there on the world-wide web. It was nice to have a program that allowed me to tap into several of them that can help me in my future career as a teacher.

My favorite discoveries in this program included all the photo sharing programs, such as Flickr and Animoto, because I love to have pictures of everything. And in the classroom, parent permitting, I would love to keep a yearly photo journal of all the activities we do in class so parents are able to be involved when they aren't able to be there physically.
This program has affected my lifelong learning goals in the way that I feel a little silly not knowing about so many of these sites. It has made me want to explore and create more than ever because there are so many wonderful tools to make my future classroom a warm, loving, and educational environment for kids to be open and grow. I have had a taste of what is out there and I want more!

There were several unexpected outcomes to this program because I learned so much, not only with the sites listed on the blog, but on sites that I found while working on the others. I was able to take-a-way a wealth of knowledge and physical experience with these program, so when I go into teaching, I will be knowledgeable and ready to present these sites to my students for assignments. I honestly do not think there is anything I can think of changing in this program. No part of it was absolutely dreadful and dull and I learned something with each individual assignment. It was well formatted, wonderfully instructed, and I didn't even feel the need to ask the instructor additional questions because it was extremely instructional.

This program will influence my practice as a teacher because I will be able to keep up with the newest innovations in technology, which will also benefit my students. My future students will be growing up in a world that requires ten times more technological intelligence than when I was in school. So understanding these programs and knowing how to properly instruct my students on how to maneuver them will be a wonderful experience.

Keeping up with Web 2.0 will no doubt be a challenge because it is ever growing, but I will do my best to keep up with most or all of the websites I have explored and find ways to create new and interesting assignments for students to keep them interested and excited about school. Symbaloo, once of the sites discussed, would be a wonderful program to help with this. I can bookmark several of the sites on one page and make it my homepage so that I can access them with one click of a button.

Where do I go from here?

I like the idea of placing a blog URL into the signature on your teacher e-mail or even sending out a letter at the beginning of the year with the web address so that parents are able to keep up with what is going on in the classroom. The majority of parents loved to be informed and involved in what their children are doing and learning, especially when they aren't able to be there physically, and this allows for them to access the class from anywhere. Even parents who are overseas in the military would be able to see their kids building their first science project or decorating the class for Halloween or winning an award for Spelling.

The options are LIMITLESS! And the more I type about it, the more ideas come flooding in. The opportunities are endless and I can't wait to get started!