Reflection of this Class

I gotta be honest, I did not have an "Aha!" moment; I did have a giddy moment when I thought, "Can I get away with that in class?" I was listening to the idea of podcasts and blogs. I suddenly thought, "I can set up a website (given enough time and polish) I can make an on-line, multimedia review of English Language Arts!" One of the biggest obstacles I saw in the schools as a student, job interviewer, and now as a substitute teacher; every time the teacher says,"Well, they are not on level." The Internet has an answer to this.
So, they idea that I can cover extra ground by employing the web and getting my kids to read, write and create on-line is great.
This Friday, I was subbing in a classroom were 80% of the students had an iPhone. The teacher leaves the room and her parting shot to me is, "They can use their iPod- If you don't mind!"

I wanted to say, "MIND?! I would love it! I prefer it! Do you think we could download a geography quiz/vocab test/map/app to all of them? Could I get them to sync up with me to take attendance? Can we show them that their smart phone not only helps them learn about world geography, but they can plan a trip across the world."

I had to sit, mere feet away from literal mobile supercomputers and unlimited information; and the teacher was fully prepared to back me up, if I wanted to power down all these devices. Needless to say, the only people more bored than me, where the students.

One thing that I think kids are going to have to continue learning is research skills. Myself, I never felt like I was prepared to research when I got to college. A lot of instructors and professors also thought, "That if my students got into college they must have some sort of basic understanding of research", and I did not. I see wikis as an excellent place to help my students, provide feedback immediately, and allow them to learn from each other.

I think my students will groan and moan through the intial step, but as they learn to use wiki's I expect them to find that they can use wikis in their clubs, churches, homes, and later careers. Really, I am glad that I took this course before I got into my certification deeply. I think that I will be able to transform several different projects with technology. Very Exciting.