Wow, I cannot believe that the semester is three days from being over! It seems that it was only a few short weeks ago that I created this blog and it has actually been about four months since then. The past four months have definitely been some of the busiest. This semester was my first in the School of Education and I loved it. I feel that every class that I took this semester simply placed me one step further to becoming an elementary school teacher. By far, I think I learned some of the most interesting new techniques in my Designs for Technology class. This class was designed to “introduce students to computer-based and networking educational technologies, while emphasizing instructional designs for our curriculum-based uses in teaching and learning.” However, upon entering the class, I felt as though I knew almost everything there was to know about technology. Looking back on the semester as a whole now, I was definitely incorrect.

Growing up in the world today, it is definitely important to have technology in your life. In my opinion, I highly doubt that when older teachers were taking the classes required for certification that one of them included a technology class. Today, it is essential that teachers become accustomed to the thousands of different types of technology. If not, their students will know more about it than them, which is not a characteristic that school officials, principals, and superintendents want of their staff. Therefore, this class furthered my knowledge of technology to a completely new level. I now feel as though I am very experienced with several different aspects of technology that my students might also be familiar with. I now definitely feel comfortable with using technology such as blogging, wikispaces, webquests, electronic portfolios, podcasts, etc., that I had previously been inexperienced with. Along with feeling comfortable and understanding the uses of these different types of technology, I truly understand the importance of developing lessons that incorporate technology into the classroom. Previously, as well as when I was growing up and going through school, I did not experience the technology enhanced learning that students experience today. Furthermore, my elementary schools did not have access to the technology that elementary schools now do today. Elementary schools today have funds and access to a vast supply of technological equipment. For example, at my field placement, D.J. Montague Elementary School, there is a lot of technology that is available for teachers and student teachers. Equipment such as digital microscopes, LSD projectors, ELMOs, personal response systems, laptop carts, and computers in every classroom allow teachers to infiltrate technology into their lesson plans as much as possible.

As an elementary school teacher, I feel that it is my duty and responsibility to provide my students with a complete knowledge and understanding of the importance of technology into the world today. Along with that, I completely understand that each of my students are going to come into the classroom with a different knowledge base of technology. I feel that it is important for me to understand that individualized students come from different cultures and backgrounds that are going to influence their understanding. Therefore, I need to take this into consideration when allowing my students to venture and work individually with the technology. Overall, I think that Designs for Technology has prepared me for entering the teaching work force. I value all of the things that we have learned and created throughout this semester and will without a doubt, infiltrate many of them into the classroom. Also, I am certainly going to use the technology standards in my teaching in order to provide my students with the best education that is possible!