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When I started this class I honestly felt like a new bright red pimple on picture day. I came from a town that consists of two thousand –sixty nine people. I have never grown up with all the modern day things such as IDVDS, iPODS, and or high speed internet! I wasn't completely technologies like the ones that you see everyday here in Las Vegas. I have been going to school here in Las Vegas, Nevada for three years now, and I can honestly say that since I have been pursing my education at the University, I haven’t really felt like I have been taught or that I have learned anything new in any study areas that I have taken.
That is until now. This class has opened my eyes to what the twenty first century has in store for me. I have realized that I need to be up to date with today’s world in order to be the best teacher that I can possibly be. Before this class I knew how to do the basic clicking around of a regular P.C. I knew how to use Microsoft Word, Excel and most other programs you would find in a P.C. computer. Now in PowerPoint, I know how to change the back ground colors, and add music and images. This hasn’t only just helped me in this class but I find myself now trying to do all my projects in Power Point because I feel that I can make my Power Point come across as a professional rather than a student. My Power Points presentations are now something that I receive complements on, and even my teachers ask about how I was able to do particular things. This is only one of the many programs I was taught how to use. I must say that my favorite new software that I had never seen before is Inspiration. This software is something that everyone from a student at a young age to a college student can find uses for in the classroom. Inspiration helped me become better organized in my studies. It helped me create a new flash card technique that I can use to study for test’s with.
This class wasn’t just about the technologies that you can use on a computer, it was about making sure that we as teachers know what is available to us. When I first started college and thought about technologies, I was completely thinking inside the box. I just thought of computers, and things we use everyday like Microsoft Word. Now, I know that there are so many different types of resources at our fingertips on the World Wide Web. I as a teacher now know that I must be careful when choosing material off the web. When reading “Teaching Kids To Be Web Literate” I found that it taught me also how to check links, to make sure that the website I am getting information off of is actually an accredited resources. I realized that I must make sure that the author of the page is legitimate so that I don’t teach false information. For my students this reading is one that I will make sure to understand, because I feel that some students are more vulnerable to believing everything that is posted on the web. Also, another reading goes right in hand with the last reading because copywriting is something that we should all make sure we pay attention to. I know when I write a research paper that I always give a reference page to make sure that I am not plagiarizing but I never understood the laws of copywriting that goes for teachers. I never knew that teachers are only allowed to copy and print off a certain amount of pages from a book. This reading was one that was eye opening to the limitation that teachers have before crossing the line of plagiarizing. Honestly, I never do my reading assignments for the most of my classes because I never really have the time and they are usually not worth my time, but I found that I enjoyed the reading for the class because it has better made me a teacher. The knowledge I gained from spending the five extra minutes on the reading is something that I know will last throughout my career as a teacher.
When my Professor entered the classroom on the first day, she found all of her students sitting at a P.C.. Dr. Keeler questioned us, asking if anyone had ever even used a Mac before, we all laughed and continued to sit where we were comfortable at. Soon I would learn that every time I stepped foot in the door way of her classroom, I would be challenged to learn something different about today’s technologies. I was scared to use anything but a P.C. computer, and I honestly never even knew the difference between the two types, but the Macs looked so funny to me. Just like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a Mac either. About every other class period, my professor would sneak in a way for us to get away from what I’ve been used to and work on a Mac. Midway through the semester, I found that Macs were actually much easier to convert programs onto. I found that don’t tell but it was so much easier to maneuver around a Mac computer. When it came time to do our e-portfolios, I did my whole project on a Mac. Even though every time I sit down in front of a computer, a Mac that is, I still think it looks funny, and I know that I was going to struggle to find some programs I would need, because I was so new in using it, I am beginning to feel much more comfortable using it. I know that every challenge I received when using a Mac will just make it that much easier because the next time I will know where and how to fix the problem.
In today’s world I know that students are different than they were when I was growing up. When I read the article, “Digital Tools, for Digital Students”, I couldn’t help but laugh because the article discusses the true average students of today world. Most students now are in daily contact with cell, phones, iPods, emails, the Internet, and so many more high tech devices that they use to keep in touch with friends and family around them. When I watch my nine year old nephew it amazes me how he can be watching TV, and playing a computer game at the same. I agree with the article when it says that the digital students are multitaskers because in today’s life they mostly definitely are. I know that my first experience with technology way back in the days when I still lived at home in Oregon, I felt extremely lost in the advanced world. Now I can’t believe how dependent I have become on computers, whether they are P.C.’s or Mac’s. I won’t call myself an expert on computers, but I must say that I have advanced my knowledge and my ability to work with a computer a lot this last semester. I can not wait to go back home to my town of thousand and sixty nine people, and show them my e-portfolio. I will show them what I am now capable of doing, but better yet I realize now that if I want to be a successful teacher I must keep completely up to date on all sorts of technologies. This will ensure that I am an effective educator.