This course has really opened my eyes to technology and the importance of integrating technology within the classroom.  This was my first course that I have taken regarding technology within the classroom.  Up until now I have experimented with technology and various computer uses but overall I would have considered myself to be computer illiterate.  I have grown over the past couple of months since being in this class.  Initially I was nervous about learning new things on the computer because I was nervous that I would just make several mistakes, but I have learned that it is all right to learn new things to be able to teach your students later on.

     I have learned a great deal within this course, including how to utilize a computer successfully in the classroom.  There are many uses for a computer rather than just allowing students to browse the web or fulfill a meaningless task on the computer.  We have learned how to make a lesson meaningful and with a goal set for the end product.  We have learned that it is important to  plan what we want  our students to achieve before just setting them in front of a computer and letting them go off on their own. There is more to computer techology than just usine the internet and computer software programs.  We can incorporate many other factors of computer technology within our classroom including Webquests and E-portfolios.  Technology can be fun and interactive if planned and prepared ahead of time.

    As I stated above, planning is a large component of making anything successful within a classroom.  Technology is just one of the many things that must be considerably pre-planned before being presented to our students.  It is not technology integration when you sit a student in front of a computer sith no end product outlined for them to follow.  We must follow the Technology standards as we follow the NYS standards within our classroom.  By following these standards we know that we are making good use of the technology that we are presenting to our students.

    Before entering this class I felt that I had little to offer to my students regarding use of technology.  I have had units where the studnets would do a project with the help of surfing the net for information.  Whenver I used technology within the class I did have clear expectations outlined for my students to follow, but there were limitations on what source of technology was being used and how it was being used.  Now I feel that I can enter my classroom this year with a new light on the world of technology for my students.  I am excited to explore these new techniques that we have practiced over the past couple of months together.  I feel much more comfortable now with the various uses of the computer and I wish to share these new ideas with my collegues and especially my students. 

    I found the discussions within the class to be very helpful because I found that many of my classmates also felt that they were limited just as I felt in the beginning.  It was really interesting to watch each of us grow over such a short amount of time in class.  I have read several reflections of my classmates and it is a common response to talk about how much each of us have grown in the technological world.  I think that the readings and tasks that we performed within the class helped us understand the material better and made it possible for us to ask the questions that were necessary to let us make sense of the material.  We have learned the difference between tutorial and tool lessons.  We have learned how to blog and use tripod as an informative tool.  We have learned how to create a successful Webquest and e-portfolio to use in our classroom.  We have even layed out what exactly makes a website a 'good' website from a 'bad' website by following our very own rubric that we created. 

    I included two artifacts that I liked creating for the class.  My first artifact is my tool lesson plan/projest for my junior high school special education students.  The final project that the students will complete is a power point presentation comparing Earth to the other planets in our solar system.  I clearly outlined what the expectations are of the project allowing my students to fully understand what is expected of them.  Within this project i have also clearly labeled and addressed how the students will be evaluated by representing a rubric that explains what they will be graded on for the project.

    My second artifact is from the tutor module and it is a lesson plan as well.  Since I am a special educator for junior high, I decided to dedicate my artifacts to what a typical junior high classroom may see in a school year.  This particular artifact is a lesson plan dedicated to educating my students of words with blends.  Again I outlined specifically what their expectations were and how they would be graded by showing them the rubric that I would use to grade them.  I included a worksheet for the students to complete as well which is also outlined in their lesson expectations.

    Overall I feel much more comfortable using technology now.  I have done things that I have never done before on the computer including blogging, exploring Webquests, using tripod, working with e-portfolios, learning about web-site evaluations, working with Excel and Kidspiration; just to mention a few.  I am excited about trying these new skills out with my students and I jsut hope that they are as excited as I am to learn these new tasks on the computer.  I have just entered a whole new world on computer literacy and I want to share it with everyone!