Final Reflection on CEdu525

It is amazing to me how quickly these classes are passing us by! I can't believe we have finished three classes already!

I have learned a lot in this class, and I have so many new resources to use... I just wish there were more "free" hours in a day so I could sit and explore some of them more thoroughly! I think "Thinkfinity" is still my favorite site we have learned about in this class - there is just so much there. I have gone back to it a few times already while planning lessons for my students, and I have used a couple ideas already. I am sure I will use many more in the future.

Toondo is another site I am excited about. I have not used it with my students yet, but I am planning to use it with my literature classes. I want to have them create a cartoon based on a scene in the novel we are reading. I think they would really enjoy that - it is something different than they have done in the past.

I enjoyed creating the scavenger hunt, and I plan to use that soon. We haven't started the Geometry unit yet. I found a few other neat ones while I was looking for examples and I will have to go back and look at those again.

Trinie and I have had an absolute blast with Facebook. I have never played so many Scrabble games in such a short period of time. It is really a good way to stay connected with people. I didn't really understand how I would use it in my classroom, but then when we talked about the closed social networks, I started to see some possibilities. When Wayne showed us his Chemistry network last night, I realized the potential. I think it would be great for the kids to be able to talk in a "safe" situation about homework and to discuss topics related to the curriculum. I am going to talk to my principal about the possibility of doing this with my class.

The 10 website assignment was a lot of work and at the time I was complaining about it, but now that it is done, I really like what I have. I needed a change in my tessellation unit, and now I have MANY new ideas to incorporate.

Voicethread really seems like an amazing resource. I think it would be great to create a slide show for Open House and let the kids add dialog to the pictures. The parents would really enjoy seeing/hearing something like that.

Finally, I am excited about Web Quests. I found a neat one on M&Ms and statistics. I don't know if I will use the entire web quest with my seventh graders, but I am going to take parts of it and include it in my unit. I want to look for more web quests and maybe, eventually, make one of my own.

I am always excited after class and anxious to implement the things I am learning about!