Standard 6.1

Quizlet

Colonial WebQuest

Google Drawing Classroom

6.1      

Candidates integrate instructional technology to facilitate learning in their classrooms, to supplement instructional strategies, to design instructional materials, and to enhance hands-on experiences and problem solving

A teacher needs to be able to implement many facets of technology into his/her classroom. With technology surrounding everyone of nearly every day of their lives now, it is virtually impossible to keep it out of the classroom. I need to be able to include plenty of opportunities for my students to use technology to learn. This will help to keep them interested because it will seem more like the things they do in their everyday lives. They can take virtual tours of Williamsburg to see the day to day life of Colonial Americans. They can create a vacation plan to follow the trek of Washington's army, checking for memorials in different locations for a virtual field trip. By implementing various technologies into the classroom, I will also be given all my students the chance to learn in ways that will suit them best.
I really like the Quizlet. I think that will be wonderful for setting up flashcards for the students to use that they can access from anywhere they have an internet connection (with most people having smartphones these days, I expect most of my 8th graders will have access to the internet). The students can also help me with creating future flashcards that they feel will benefit future classes. While I will probably use WebQuests that others have created, I'm not sure yet that I feel confident enough in my abilities with it to create one for my students. I know I've created one that's linked to this blog, but to be honest, I'm not sure I completely understand the process of creating a WebQuest. That and despite the fact that the platform has already been set up for me to create one, I do not feel internet/tech savvy enough to create one that looks polished properly. This will be something I will have to spend more time with. I'm going to ask my sister (she has 5 kids) and a few of my aunts/uncles (I have several cousins that are close to the 8th grade range) if they will allow their kids to look at these WebQuests and see if they are something they would like to try. Maybe if I get some feedback from the demographic I'm aiming for, I'll find some ways to work on what needs to be improved.
I hope that whatever school I end up working for in the future has some of these technologies already implemented in their curriculum. I plan to work with other teachers to help myself stay up to date on what is in use and the best way to use these technologies. I expect that this particular class, Instructional Technology, will continue to be offered and to that end, I'm thinking that it may be beneficial to retake the class every few years to help keep myself up to date on what sites are out there for teachers to utilize.