Final Reflection

Wow this semester has been very intense. Part of me feels like I took to big of a bite trying to finish up my last 9 hours of course work for my graduate degree, prepping for my Practicum, Cub Scouts, family activities, and remodeling our home.  That being said, it has been a very interesting summer that has flown by. Although I have felt overwhelmed at time (like right now), I am glad I pushed myself this summer.

From creating classroom social media pages, writing grants, reading materials about and within the other cultures, and creating digital projects to utilize in the classroom, I have learned quite a bit.

With so many options available, it seems that it can be overwhelming in finding what would fit best for your classroom, library, and the study body. This course helped weed through some of the options. Some of my favorite activities this summer were the YouTube, Animoto, QR Codes, Snapchat, Screencast, comics and cartoons, and Goodreads online book community. My students already have access to this blog to follow for reading recommendations, but I think Goodreads will be beneficial to them as well.

I like that I can utilize many of the items we discussed and created in this class with my students. I want to have my students create QR Codes for their favorite books each six weeks, use either Snapchat or Instagram to take pictures of current readings and snap pictures or videos of things they come in contact with that relates to things we have discussed in class or something they learned outside of the classroom and to share their accomplishments or anything special to them. I want to use Instagram or Snapchat to capture and to share so the students can follow what I am currently reading, but refer to the blog and Goodreads for recommendations.

The podcast and screencast are great ideas for me to utilize this fall semester as I will be missing days completing my Practicum or any other reason, such as my children or my self being sick. I will be able to leave verbal instructions for my students and supply them with videos for navigating our learning management system, Schoology, or any other digital or social media activities. I can only leave so much of the limited space of a chalkboard.

I cannot wait to try the online cartoons and comics for our Edgar Allan Poe unit. Each fall, around Halloween, we look at the 5 most popular death theories and the students practice reading articles, choosing a theory, supporting their theory with evidence, and presenting to the class their theory. Honestly, I am becoming bored with power points. This will provide them an opportunity to be creative using digital tools and practice for future projects.

I only really worry about using social media in the classroom and the students using it inappropriately. With our daily schedule changing from 6 to 7 classes and every core teacher receiving an intervention class, I think I will utilize the social media with my intervention class and facilitate the small group testing it out. Having the software to monitor their activity will help keep the students on tasks and eliminate any activities that are not appropriate and off task.

Some assignments I did have some issues with, but with time, research, trials and error, I was able to work through them. I have come into issues with some software for Windows only when having a Mac. As an Apple house, we come into this a lot. Luckily, my husband has a Windows laptop for me to use. It was just an inconvenience to bounce between the two formats. It was time consuming going back and forth, saving to the USB or making sure his laptop was available to use when he was not on it for work (he monitors a major oil company’s security system world wide).

I struggled with a few things. At times I had a hard time focusing, I felt I was always running out of time and worried I would not keep up, miss an assignment, or not complete something accordingly. I struggled with the scavenger hunt and trying to get it done, responding to classmate’s blog posts, as well as the 150 pages of article readings. I was so busy with my regular assignments and managing the family, it kept getting pushed aside. It really bothered me. Many, many times I was up all night, I mean like 3-5 in the morning, trying to get things done.

Although this was the most stressful semester, I am glad I did it and was able to complete it. I have really enjoyed my time with SHSU and the LSSL program. I knew if I had not applied and began grad school when I did, I knew I never would. I am so glad I did this. I cannot wait to graduation and meeting my professors and classmate’s.