565 Week 1

This week we started our teacher leadership course. This year, I moved from the middle school to the high school, and switched from German to social studies. One thing that I was greatly looking forward to was having a department to share ideas with! When I was at the middle school, I was the only one teaching German. Now, I have eight colleagues who are also teaching social studies, two of those are teaching the same courses that I teach! Having others to discuss curriculum with has made the transition to the high school easier. The department shares curriculum ideas with me, and I share my technology knowledge with them........

555 #3: Culminating proposal is done.....

Writing my culminating project proposal was an interesting undertaking. I write objectives for my students on a very regular basis, but writing them for myself was difficult. I wanted to make sure that my objectives were achievable, but not superficial. It was also interesting to try to provide a time line for the project. Using technology always seems to take a little more time than I anticipate it will. It was also interesting to make a rubric to assess the project. Knowing that I will be expected to meet the standards that I set was a good exercise. And, it also made me think about standards that I set in other arenas of my life.

I continue to work on my online portfolio. It has been gratifying to sift through all of the work that I have completed to get to this point in the program. It is hard to believe that we are almost done!

555 Post #2

My computer was acting a little crazy the other day, and I thought back to how much information I used to store on my computer. During our last class with John, we had to think about what we would lose if we lost everything that was on our computer. So, I was so thankful that I store so much online, and not so much on my computer! My computer ended up being fine, but I was concerned...until I realized that I would not lose all that much. Thanks for the lesson, John!!

My portfolio for this course is still in its infancy. But, I finally feel caught up and think that going back and looking at all of the work I have done will be satisfying. So, I am actually looking forward to remember all of the work that I have put into this program, and realize where I was when I started!

I tweaked my final proposal idea to working with student and staff collaboration. Then, I can add in the Google Apps component that I want to, while focusing on students' building 21st century skills with their peers.

555 Post #1: Online Portfolios and Proposal Ideas

While looking at educational online portfolios, I realized that they varied quite a bit. I am a very visual learner, so I immediately noticed that some of them were very clean and professional looking. Others were very busy and less than professional looking. I was also amazed at how personal some of these supposedly professional portfolios were. I am not sure that individuals should go on and on about their pets in their online portfolios. Additionally, I was also frustrated with some of the navigation (or lack thereof) that I encountered. I will try very hard to make sure that my site is easy to navigate and looks clean and professional.

I have heard mixed reviews of Google Sites, but I am excited to use another Google application. I use Google quite a bit at school, and I like the web-based aspect of it for my students. I hope that it will be easy to use, and give it the look that I am hoping to achieve.

I have also begun thinking about my final project for this program. I would like to explore Google Wave a little more, but I am not sure that I want to commit to it for my final project at this time. I have been using a classroom ning with my sociology kids this year, and I am also thinking of delving into that a little deeper. I will continue to think about the final project and make a decision soon.......

550 Final Reflection

It is hard to believe that we only have three more courses to complete before our program is finished!

I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by making sure that I check in more frequently with my online students. Sometimes I do not check in as often as I could. And, I will also work on providing better feedback to them!

I will use what I learned in the next year by implementing online discussions with my online students. It would be nice to check in with them face to face and learn with them in a virtual classroom.

After completing this course, I would like to learn more about how to use Elluminate. Perhaps I don't need to learn more about it, rather I need to spend more time practicing using it.

550 Week 2

After facilitating a small part of last week's discussion, I was surprised at how difficult it was to run the discussion. There were so many things that I needed to keep my eyes on. It was difficult to ask meaningful questions, keep the discussion moving, and include everyone in the discussion.

Not being able to see individual's reactions also make facilitating difficult. I am a very visual person, who is quite animated in real life, and I thrive on interpersonal interaction. So, not having immediate nonverbal feedback was challenging for me!

550 Week 1

I am shocked at the degree that online instructors are making themselves available to their students. I facilitate a group of online students, but I do not make myself so available to my students. I remind them to breathe, and that few things are so important that they cannot wait until morning.

As an online facilitator, I do not, and will not, make myself available to my students during all of my waking hours. I know that instructors need to be accessible, but I feel that sometimes I am walking a very fine line. I want my students to be successful, but I need to have some separation between work and my personal life. The first year that I taught, I was working 12 hours a day, and going in on the weekends. I was miserable. Having balance in my life makes me a much happier and more content instructor who can meet the needs of her students!