Final Reflection

• How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

I'm always striving to learn something new.  17 Things pushed me to try technology that I didn't know about and would have had difficulty finding on my own.  In addition, the demands of the typical school day and new curriculum usually take priority over finding new technology (like animoto) on my own.  I'm thankful that Alicia posted specific "things" for us to complete. This program has pushed me to think about how to integrate these tools into the classroom.  I love it!

• Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Lots of take-a-ways, as I mentioned above.  With each project that we completed, I learned something new and have wrestled with the question--how can I use this in my classroom? 
There weren't too many unexpected outcomes.  I thought I would learn a lot of useful tools, and I did!

• Do you think it's important for all teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum, or do you think it should be up to the individual teacher's preferences?

That's difficult to answer.  Some teachers are amazing teachers, but use minimal technology, while others are the opposite.  Technology is one tool of many tools that can be used in the classroom.  So, I suppose I would land on--it's up to the individual.
Personally, I would like to integrate new technology into the classroom.  My struggle is that sometimes technology can get in the way of my learning goals.  For example, I've spent a lot of time try to get my students to use google documents, but they've struggled to embrace it.  Therefore, the technology has almost gotten in the way of the assignment.  I don't think that's true of all technology, and I would like to continue trying! I'm looking forward to using this new technology in my classroom next year!

• How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote the program in the future?

Fantastic!

Animoto Video

Dinner?

Animoto

This is super cool!!  It wasn't that much work (compared to other programs where you have to choose all of the annimation), was fun, creative, and I love how they put everything together! 

I like the idea of Animoto.  I think it would be interesting to use in American Studies.  I use a lot of pictures and music to talk about history, so having the students create an Animoto project would be interesting.  I wonder if it would be difficult to grade, though.  Perhaps I could have the students present their Animoto video to the class.  Students could give a brief intro and then we could watch the videos.  That might be interesting!

Edmodo

Edmodo reminds me of facebook, which I'm assuming was the creators' intention.  It's a fantastic website and I think it could be really useful.  I'm going to play around with it more to see if it's something I'll use next year or perhaps during 4th quarter this year. 

Voicethread

I checked out the voicethread today.  It's a really cool idea.  I especially like that you can draw on the picture as you're explaining something.  I would consider using this to explain a concept to my students and if possible post a link on my website.  To be truthful, though, I probably won't use it.  I don't think the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost.

Wiki

Well, I created my first wiki.  Fascinating.  I'm trying to decide if I want to use a wikispace or weebly for my class website.  It concerns me that my students can edit the page, but I also read that I can restrict who edits the website.  Any thoughts?  I like the freedom that I have with the wiki and it seems like I can do more with it, but I'm just not sure... 

The wiki is really basic.  But here you go!  http://bontragerbriefs.wikispaces.com/ 

Website

I actually email Alicia this summer because I wanted to create a website and build it throughout this year.  I did some work on it earlier this year, but have had a hard time trying to figure out what I want on it.  I'm thankful for this assignment because it has pushed me to work on it more. 

I'm hoping to work on the website over break and actually use it in my macroeconomics course next semester.  If I don't feel like it's ready I may hold off until next year; however, my hope is that I do a trial run next semester. 

If you're interested you can view it at http://www.bontrager.weebly.com/  Enjoy!