Where Do We Go From Here....

This actually is the title of a very old song and the next three lines say, "Do we walk away, or do we keep on trying? After the thrill is gone..." Where I go from here is simple to me, I must keep using these technologies and increase my proficiency with them and learn about others. So many times we learn great technologies and tools we can use, but we don't use them or they don't work like we envisioned and then the thrill is gone. Of course like with anything else, if you don't use it you lose it or forget about it. I have made myself a promise to keep using the technologies that I have learned in these last eight weeks and find various ways to incorporate them into my lessons so that I can expose my students to these current technologies. Technology is every changing and I must do my part to keep up so that I can keep my students current. I knew that I wasn't the most technology savy person, but I had no idea how far behind I was and how much technology had changed in the last few years. This course has brought me back current on available technology and I have promised myself that for the sake of my students, I won't fall behind again.

Do I Google?

Anything I teach, I think first and foremost how my students will be able to relate to it. Many of my students have never been out of Texas, and a good number of them have never been out of southern Dallas. In order for them to get excited about learning anything, they have to see how it connects to them right now. The vast majority of my students don't have internet at home and so just to introduce them to this kind of technology I think would be pretty exciting to them. I chose blogging because anytime my students don't have to do pencil and paper writing they are excited. I thought the blogging would give them an opportunity to express themselves in a different capacity. I know they will enjoy creating the Meez (avatars). I chose the Animoto program as well as the Tripwiser because both give my students an opportunity to express their creativity, but document their learning while at NASA. Many of my students are truly creative. When we complete these activities after returning from NASA, I am expecting my students to gain knowledge of programs that they can use for other school projects and assignments. Not all assignments have to be paper and pencil and using these technologies allows me to gauge their learning and allows them to be creative.
My instruction right is changed forever. I am learning so many things that I am anxious to try with my students. Some of the applications I thought might be too advanced for them, but then I remembered children have an easier time picking up on these things than adults do. What's a struggle for me, will probably take them "playing" with it for ten minutes before they are experts on the software.