Journal #1: A Personal Reflection

My own experience with education in high school was a pretty neutral one. I had some teachers that were a very positive influence on my life and others that really discouraged me. I enjoyed going to school half the time and the other half I could not wait for the weekend. When I started attending college, that changed. I started to truly value education and to want to get the very most out of each of my classes. College has introduced me to teachers that I can only hope to be half as influential as they were. I hope that in my own future classroom, I can make my students feel like my professors have made me feel about learning.

In high school, my teachers did use a lot of technology. They mostly used projectors. Those were used to show videos, project the notes, or anything else they needed to show the class. Some teachers had document cameras that were normally only used to project practice problems or notes. I remember that the creative writing teacher let us type all of our papers using Chrome Books and then we would submit them via email. In my post-secondary education, a lot of my professors make good use of the smart boards (something my high school teachers had, but no one knew how to use). My professors would do practice problems and notes on the smart board and then save them to be uploaded onto the class website. Professors use a program called Canvas to post assignments, grades, announcements, and to interact with the students. I have found this very beneficial and the application makes accessing my classes possible from almost anywhere.

In my own future classroom, I plan to make technology an everyday aspect of my classroom. I want to have something like Canvas that allows my students and parents to see what is going on in the class at all times. Technology will also be used to help me save time as a future teacher. This may look like having all of my files stored digitally instead of searching through filing cabinets or distributing files to students electronically instead of constantly making copies. This way, I have more time to focus on the students and teaching them. I would also like to use technology for assessment quite regularly with applications like Kahoot. I believe that technology is the future and teachers have to prepare students for that future. That means integrating technology in a meaningful way that shows students the capabilities and endless opportunities.

Ms. Brower working with students at a Family Math Night