Let's Reflect ~ On What I Expect ~ On This Subject

I started my day by waking up last Thursday (January 14th) and packing up my books for my first day of classes.  Before I walked into the classroom, I read the title of my textbook, "Preparing to Use Technology: A Practical Guide to Curriculum Integration."  First, I thought to myself, "Seriously, this book is the SECOND edition!  Have we really been using technology in high school long enough for there to be a 2nd edition on using technology in school?!"  So obviously, I walked into class scared because I consider myself to be technologically-challenged.  After a fun interactive get-to-know-the-rest-of-my-classmates game, realizing that the professor was very laid-back, going through the syllabus, and a few Hershey Kisses later... I walked out of the class feeling just as scared as I walked in -- Hahahaha.

Today, however, I actually am extremely excited about this course.  I'm a blogger now!  What kind of class assigns me to get online and create my own AWESOME blog site?  THIS CLASS!  I feel like I'm learning so much already, and it doesn't feel like busy work... It almost doesn't feel like doing schoolwork at all, because I'm finally "catching up with the times." I'm getting 'hip to the scene'... I'm starting to get 'down with the get down.' Ok, I know, that's enough.

So what are my learning expectations for this class?  Let's see... Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is to become familiar with all of the facets of technology available to be integrated into a classroom.  I don't remember anyone ever bringing a laptop to class during my years from K-12, so it will be very interesting to see how the dynamics of a high school classroom has changed with the implementation of technology.  By the end of the semester, I expect to be able to utilize effective software in order to create papers for my students such as worksheets, quizzes, and other assessments.  I am also interested in getting to know the "Pros and Cons" of supporting engaged learning through technology.  As of now, I cannot think of any cons, but one of the biggest pros for me, as an educator, would be that my students would hopefully have more 'fun' with learning the classroom material through the use of a digital game or through some sort of online program.  And we all know that fun = attention = memory storage (right?) ... That's why I feel that using technology not only brings in creativity to the classroom climate, but it'll hopefully show students that learning is not always all about constantly writing notes and listening to monotonous lectures.

This leads to the biggest expectation I have for TPTE 486 -- and it's that, for the most part, I'll be learning by being more HANDS-ON with my coursework.  Although we do have to read a textbook, I am having so much fun doing what we're reading.  For instance, I read Chapter 5, which touched on blogging... and after an hour of being hands-on in class on the topic of "web logs," I'm now officially a blogger -- and it's actually pretty fun.  By the time this Spring Semester ends, I know that I'll be so much more confident in my future career as an educator --> all because I'll be up-to-date with the tech world.  I'll end this long post by writing, "I'm very glad I had to take this class, and I can't wait to see what else I can use in/for the classroom."