Friday morning reflection

Today, (Friday) was another great, learning filled morning with my classmates.  I enjoyed reading about the Connectivism article and how it allows students the chance to bring their own ideas, opinions, and differences into the classroom.  We need to be teaching our students that it is okay to have opinions that are different from others, and that being exposed to an opinion that differs from yours could lead to an opportunity for growth, knowledge, and change.  Hearing something from the perspective of someone in another country, or who is on the front lines of a current event/issue can allow a person to "walk in their shoes" so to speak and give them a different lens to view an issue from.  I think as a future teacher that it is important even for myself that I am open to the difference in viewpoints and that even as an adult I can still be taught something new and see how my views can still be shaped by learning and sharing.

I enjoyed the fishbowl activity and thought that it was a great way to interact, without being directly involved in what the "fish" were talking about.  There were some challenges to listening and processing what was being discussed and also trying to type at the same time and process what our chat room group was saying.  It forced me to really focus on what was being said and interpreting what I thought my cohorts were trying to express.  I see this as a great method to use in my own classroom someday, although my 4th graders might not get as deep as our discussions got, but who knows, they may totally surprise me!

Screencastify was awesome to learn about using.  I appreciated and loved the idea of being able to video your desktop and still have your face being recorded at the same time.  However, I was no fan of watching myself and listening to my voice.  But, under different conditions, like not sitting outside on a pointy rock and having a domestic argument happening in the background along the road, I think that this is a tool that I will be utilizing in my classroom regularly.

This morning I was watching Darynn play on my old laptop and she signed into her school google account (she lives in Ohio during the school year.)  She has been using so many of these pieces that Jeff was teaching us about this week.  I couldn't believe it that my almost 10 year old literally has 2 very long legs up on me in the tech area already.  I was so impressed to see how her classroom has been using this technology throughout the year.  This is pushing me to really step up my game and seek out new ideas and ways to incorporate some of the ideas we learned about over the last two days and take it with me into the future.