Foundation of Educational Technology Class Reflection

           At the beginning of this first class, Foundation of Educational Technology, I knew I really wanted to improve my technology skills and how to incorporate them in the classroom to help my students be engaged learners, but I felt very intimidated.  I had never used social media and when I was told that I'd have to create a Twitter account and handle, my gut reaction was, "Oh no!"  However, I can now happily say that I feel relativity comfortable tweeting to the world and I have grown so much as an educator using it to connect with others.  Being an educator can often be somewhat isolating.  You're in your classroom all day with your students trying to squeeze in a moment to discuss a student or plan a lesson whenever and wherever you can.  Schools should call the copy room the "collaboration think tank" because often this is where I catch my colleagues and quickly hash out an idea.  Technology is a game changer for many of us who choose to overcome our fear and embrace it.  By using Twitter to create an online professional presence I have been able to leave the four walls of my classroom and my school to see and learn about what is happening in other classrooms.  This is amazing!  This is one of the biggest take-aways from this class for me.
          I also loved learning about new apps and technology that I could use right away.  This class gave me information and the encouragement to try it.  I used quite a few new tools with my students then next day.  There are others that are still on my list to try out.  One of the frustrations for me with technology is when you try it and it doesn't work and you feel like so much valuable teaching time gets wasted.  I've learned through this class and the many fails that I have had that it's okay.  That usually the value of using a new tech tool far outweighs the difficulties or problems I may encounter when trying it for the first time.  Now I just go in assuming it's not going to go perfectly the first time, but that I'll get it or a student will help me and that's great!  This used to make me feel so inadequate, but now I see it as a great teachable moment and one that let's my techie students shine.