Summer Technology Challenge Reflection

What a wonderful journey this has been.  I am so glad I decided to participate in the NPS Summer Tech Challenge.  Because of it, I have an entire new arsenal of technology tools I can use in my classroom throughout the year.  Every individual challenge has been eye-opening and useful.  I feel confident I can implement some of the challenges I completed into regular lessons.  Not only has this challenge been a benefit to me, but my students as well!

First and foremost, I will use Twitter a lot.  I anticipate that many of my students already Tweet and, because of this, it will be an essential tool for me.  I will include my Twitter handle into all course syllabi, so my students can easily find me.  If they have questions while studying for a test or working on a project, they can Tweet me and I can answer in a short amount of time.  That's the nice thing about Twitter.  I get notifications on my cell phone and can quickly reply to their questions.  It opens up the lines of communication between myself and my students.  I love it.

I am in love with Glogster!  Students have to create presentations in just about all my classes.  This tool is going to make all our lives better!  In the days of old, students would create posters with poster board.  No more!  Now they will be able to create professional-looking Glogs that highlight their findings. I love that students will be able to insert video, audio, websites, graphics, etc. into their Glogs.  I have been searching for a tool like Glogster and now that I have found it, I will never go back to poster board!  Plus, it will really allow me to save more classroom supplies for other activities!

Ted Talks will be awesome as supplemental videos for my classes.  I think my students will love watching portions of them to get them excited about a particular concept or idea we are working on.

I love that I am now a Panther Pinner on Pinterest!  Pinterest allows for a flow of classroom ideas and lessons.

Thanks Mickie spearheading the Summer Technology Challenge.  I can't even imagine how much work it has been for you, but it has been a highly rewarding experience!