This class has made me think of what I want to do in the future with myself and furthering my education. I have always told my family that I believe one day school will no longer be brick and mortar and then the pandemic hit and made this true. I already had my mind made up to get the endorsement for online teaching, but I never thought I would be thrown into a situation where I would need the skills this soon. I thank God for what I have learned in this class because it gave a steady foundation on how to teach online and because I started implementing what I learned in this class to my own classroom from the day one, my students were already knowledgeable about the tools I have given them.
The first tool I learned about was Flipgrid. I never heard of Flipgrid and I could not use it correctly myself during our initial assignment. If I remember correctly, I had to make two or three videos just to introduce myself to the class. After I started exploring this web 2.0 tool, I found that it was useful for many aspects within the classroom for discussion and Socratic seminars. During the pandemic this has been a pivotal tool in keeping my students and I connected. Then, we started learning about add-ins for Microsoft, and Google. Not only was I able to share these with my students, I was also able to use MyScript in my quantitative research class. Just by recognizing the add-ins, which I did not know existed before, I was able to figure out a lot of other options Microsoft Word offers that I was not aware of before this class such as voice to text, language, and translate. All of these are useful tools in the classroom for students with disabilities and ESL students. I have also started using these tools with my students along with Duolingo so they can start learning a new language.
During the ITEC class, we then ventured into augmented and virtual reality. Since the pandemic, I have actually been able to use augmented reality with my students on a “create a game” challenge. It has brought many smiles to all of our faces because they saw my game about me as a teacher, so they also made a game about me being their teacher although I did not tell them too. They are very funny such as the game “No Homework From Teacher,” one of my students created where they must dodge papers that I throw at them. During this hard time, it is nice to know that something I have learned from this class has brought joy to my students, even if it is to make fun of me.
Finally, I would like to thank all of my classmates that took the time to comment and respond on my blogs. The input that you provide helps me to improve myself. I hope with all of my heart that the suggestions or information I provided helps you in some way in the future. Mr. Justice, I thank you for the kind words and encouragement. Thank you for being a teacher that had a video conference week one and more opportunities throughout the class for your students to have complete understanding of your expectations. Thank you for being nice when emailed or called with questions concerning topics you already explained more than once. I appreciate you!
Yours in Learning,
Tara Felts
Am I done now 😊