Learning Today for a Better Tomorrow...

As a future teacher, attending conferences such as this one get me really excited about the potential we have as teachers and the tools we have to our advantage to engage children. At first, I was overwhelmed by all of the technology this semester, but as we are now coming to a close, I feel myself more excited about the possibilities. For anyone who couldn't attend this morning, the following is a LINK to one of her websites.

Listening to Shelly Terrell first thing this morning was great! She is well educated, informed, and obviously loves what she does, which is traveling around the world educating others on the use of technology in the classrooms. She had a lot of great information, as well as links she made available to use for future reference. The information she provided was very useful in how to connect with teachers and classrooms around the world, different technology and educational sites available for both teachers and children.

One critical topic, I believe she discussed, is digital citizenship and how in this computer driven age we tend to lose sight of being human. It's easy for some to comment or say things they may not usually say to someone in person over an email or a text, and how important it is for children to realize that as they learn to use technology, there are still people on the other end! We need to teach children to consider other people are feeling when they say or post anything. Bullying or hurting someone's feeling because you can't see them is NOT o.k. She also spoke about having the class participate in making the class rules regarding the use of the internet. In-class contracts would allow students not only to be more responsible but to realize there are repercussions to the way they act.

I recently used Thinglink in Science to create our Earth Science lesson, and it was easy to use! Today's training regarding this programs was informative providing us with great ways in which we as educators can expand on its use. Thinglink is one tool I'm looking forward to using in my classroom!

And last but not least, Virtual Reality, if only each district could afford to have it. It's amazing what the world has to offer these days and SOOOO much different than when I was growing up! While I don't think it would be useful for every and could get children wound up, if used correctly, could be an excellent tool in which to engage students. One thing we were able to do in this workshop was to travel through someone's arteries, and in doing so, the program displayed educational information as you moved. Another video we saw was a child visiting the safari as if he were there. Could you imagine how engaging we could make our classrooms with technology such as this? Imagine being able to step into a new Country for your lesson today, or traveling into the Rainforest tomorrow? Overall, it was a great conference, and I'm looking forward to more like it!