Final Reflection

Not trying to suck up here, but this class has been so effective to me.  Talk about hands on and real world connections.  Talk about honing your writing skills and stepping outside your comfort zone.  Talk about appreciating the perspectives and ideas of others.  I've done so much in such a short space of time in this class, I honestly, can't believe this is my final assignment.  I appreciate this final assignment though because in order to reflect, I've revisited my blog entries and pondered what I learned and re-evaluated how I can apply these digital tools to various parts of my future profession.  Some of these tools came more easily than others, but even those that I struggled with pointed me in a direction for self-improvement.

Not knowing what grade level I'll end up at, I'm excited about using different pieces of technology for different reasons.  I wish I had a roster of my new students right now to get them signed up for Biblionasium.  This site offers such a novel way to engage students' reading. When I tell my department about it next week, they are going to flip out (in a good way)!  I'm doubly excited about all the different online comic strip and cartoon-making sites.  The possibilities for using these are unlimited!  By reading another student's blog, I found that for her example, she had make classroom rules on a comic strip.  I am SO doing that.  My plan is to put my kids on a long-term project to make a graphic novel using this tool.  I also can't wait to make an orientation video for my library like Norman High School's YouTube video starring their school mascot.  If I stay in my current district, I'm sure I could get our mascot to volunteer for this task (I taught her when she was in sixth grade, so I've got a connection).  Also inspired by a video on Norman High School's YouTube channel, I'd love for my students to make "commercials" promoting the library.  How fun would that be?  If I end up in a secondary level school, I would really like to use QR codes to engage students.  The QR codes, I'd generate would be for book recommendations, special events advertisements, information for contests; it would be a surprise every time.  I could place the QR codes on my website, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook as well as print hard copies on flyers or bookmarks.  Facebook and Twitter will be most effective at the secondary level as well since these populations are most likely to engage with those apps.  It is really important to me to develop a brand for my library and market it and these two tools will be highly effective in achieving that goal.

I am also excited to use a couple of digital tools as professional resources for both the library and to share with teachers at my campus.  The  Twitter accounts of professionals and the blogs I have followed post a wealth of information applicable to so many content areas and grade levels.  My only struggle will be to carve out the time to mine through these to pull the gems out.  Speaking of mining,   the PEW Research Center site truly is a gold mine!  I will most definitely look to this site in the future for research to inspire or back up proposals I write to implement programs at my school.

Some digital tools that I'm going to need more practice with are Tumblr and Vine.  Tumblr is just SO MUCH.  It's a lot of information coming at you all at once and I need to really sit down and look at it more in-depth and more frequently.  I've been trying to visit the app on my iPad mini at least once a day in an attempt to slowly to unravel its secrets.  In regards to Vine, I just need ideas.  Knowing what I know about myself and the way my brain works, this will have to just sit and marinate for awhile.  An idea will come to me and then I'll run with it.  In the meantime, I will continue to learn to use the tool effectively, I had a bit of difficulty remembering to caption my Vine before sharing it.  I also keep just tapping the screen to record rather than holding it down for longer shots.  A weakness that has nothing to do with the technology but is something I struggle with is my narration on podcasts and screencasts.  My voice:  I am not as clear and concise as I'd like to be.  I feel that I have a tendency to ramble and speak too fast and not enunciate as effectively as I should.  I'm thankful that Tellagami features dictation and I can rely on that until I get my voice up to snuff.  Listening to the bang-up job some of my classmates did on their podcasts really let me know this was an area to work on personally.

This class made me realize that I'm not as tech-savvy as I thought I was.  I thought I was hot stuff because I used Instagram, Piktochart, and Screencast-o-Matic.  There was so much more out there that I was exposed to as a result of that class, so much REALLY GOOD STUFF that I am excited to use and share with others.  I will need to discipline myself to continue seeking out new digital tools and other technology.  Luckily, I already have a path to take on that mission because of this course.