I know that the technology classes at UW Bothell are going to help differentiate me from other school's teacher candidates. I am trying to embrace and learn technology so that it can help me be a better and more efficient teacher (and student). It feels like slow going this week!
We videotaped our read-aloud lesson and it took some help from our master teacher to get the file onto my flash drive. I smugly headed home with thoughts of getting "ahead" on an assignment. Three computers later and although I can see the video, the sound is gone. It might be just as well since the video itself has shown me that I have many lessons to learn. I am still smiling.
I chose a "virtual field trip" for a social studies assignment and got completely lost in a rich and engaging website. I was hoping for a developmental opportunity as I do not gravitate to digital resources. Next time I will either just head to a museum or I will plan for more time to mine the web for information. I am still smiling.
My home scanner would not cooperate and so I headed to my local Kinkos to scan some old photographs for my digital vignette. I missed half of one of my kid's soccer games trying to figure out how to use the scanner and get the photos onto my flash drive. I am still smiling.
I have struggled with unit plan templates from two different sources. One is a pdf file that I cannot copy or write to and another is a Word document that causes me difficulty when my lesson is longer than one page. I spent WAY too much time and ended up creating a new template. I am still smiling.
I did the Weebly tutorial as I knew that I would need remedial assistance for this assignment. I think I finally created a portfolio with a link on our Wiki. I am still smiling.
My own blog now has links to my blogging circle and I have managed to figure out how to comment on all of them. Now that I have seen a lot of different blogs, I think I need to mess around with some Widgets so that my blog is easier to read and navigate. I am still smiling.
I cannot imaging doing this week's Literacy Running Record without a recording device. That means that I will need to borrow and use more new technology. I am still smiling.
Wish me luck!
Still smiling? After a week like this? I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteAnd when I got to a place like Kinkos or Office Max to scan things, I hand them to the staff and pay them to do it for me... You know that the librarians will help you with the scanner in the library?
Someone here wanted you to fill out a PDF template? Uh oh..
You're way ahead on Weebly -- we're starting that this week :).
And blogs are never "done". They can always be tweaked -- long-term bloggers change their widgets and lay-out often. So you're right on target there, too.
And the campus media center will gladly help you with your video file -- you only have to ask.
The good news is that learning tech isn't a constant uphill learning curve. It really is a curve that is somewhat steep at the beginning and then levels off as similar actions create similar effects across platforms.
It will level out. I promise.
But thanks for continuing to smile, even if it's through clenched teeth...