Reflective Learning Blog #2

             Since my last post to this blog, we have completed one more project for our unit plan. This project was a newsletter that was to be done as if we are the student. I had never thought of using newsletters for a student assignment. I had just thought of them as a tool for communication between parents and teachers (which is also a great way for sending home assignments and fun things for parents to do with their children to further the lesson plan at hime). For this assignment I had my imaginary class get into groups and create a newsletter all about a certain character from Peter Pan. The particular group that I presented as did their newsletter on the Lost Boys.

          The newsletter is an interesting tool to use for a writing assignment. It seems to me that it would seem less like a writing assignment and more like an art project for the students. This could be a great tool for any teacher to use. By making assignments fun and allowing them to be creative, students have more fun and sometimes do not even realize how much they are learning. A teacher would also be able to cover many standard; everything from language arts to art to mathematics because these newsletters can be used for any subject.

          This project really made me think about different ways I could use technology to teach and to use as assignments. I feel like by allowing students to explore their creativity for projects is the best way to really see how much the students know.

Reflective Learning Blog #1

            So far in EDT 300 we have completed two assignments. The first of these two assignments was our Unit Introduction. The Unit Introduction was very similar to a lesson plan in that it contained a summary of the unit, Alabama core standards, and learning objectives. This project basically set up what would be needed in all of our other projects.

            Through these projects I have expanded my knowledge Microsoft Word and Power Point. I have learned how to do several things that I did not know how to do before that could be very beneficial to my future class. These projects have also pushed my use of critical thinking and creativity. Also, they have required me to think about how a student would think or approach a project instead of just looking at it through the point of view of a teacher. This will be extremely helpful in the future when I am assigning projects to actual students.

            The second project that we were asked to complete was a multimedia project in which we should approach the project as if we were the student. I found this to be somewhat tricky because there was so much being asked to be put into this project and yet I was to be a 4^th grader. It really made me take a step back and think how I would assign this project in the future to my own class. I would obviously have to evaluate their own knowledge of Power Point before assigning the criteria.

            So far this class has been helpful in expanding my knowledge of technology and how I can apply this in the classroom. I hope to continue this learning process throughout the rest of the semester.