Alas, I believe I've finally reached the Emerald City! (See my second post where I was on the Yellow Brick Road...) At the beginning of 599 it felt like I could see the city in the distance but it still seemed so far away. Now here at my last post, I've come to realize how much I am able to do with technology and my classroom. Not only that, but it's helped me develop more patience and tolerance for the little issues that arrive. I was looking back over my blog from the very beginning and I sounded pretty pathetic, complaining about access and speed issues and I realize that I was using those problems as excuses as I really attempted to resist the change and shift necessary to embrace technology and all it has to offer.
Just last night, my husband came home with a flash drive that contained 3 videos of he and two co-workers getting "tasered" at a taser training. The video format wouldn't open on either the mac or pc - all we could get was the audio. A year and a half ago, I would have blamed the technology and gotten upset, but now I was able to problem solve and figure out how to change the format so that the videos were able to be viewed. My husband was pretty impressed (so was I with the fact that in a full 5 second taser blast, he didn't utter a sound!) that I could find a way around the technology "issue". So instead of coming to the Emerald City to see if the Wizard could magically fix my problems, I'm able to rely on myself for most work-arounds. I get less frustrated, knowing that there is usually a way to get around the issues rather than be stymied by them.
So with my last post, I'd like to thank the cohort and all of the instructors for sticking with it and with me to see this through to the end! The last thing I'll ask of you is to check out my teacher training site and help me spot check all of the links to be sure they're working and you have access to all of the pages and links! THANKS!!!
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Looks good Ann, we are working on a similar project for our school and I like what you have done in terms of giving them the programs with a short introduction and a video clip. That should be enough in most cases to peek some interest and get the curious student to look deeper. Is this a site that will be used by both staff and students? I hope so, because if your school is at all like mine, many teachers would benefit from incorporating some of these tools into what they do. Good Luck, I'll be interested to see how it goes this year.
ReplyDeleteAnn, thank you for sticking with it. This was a magical journey for all of us! Continue to learn and grow, work hard, and share all of your new found knowledge!
ReplyDeleteJason - Yes, the plan is for the teachers to have access to this site first for the next year and a half until we really start focusing the portfolios for the students, then I'll tweak a few of the pages and open it up to the students, giving more suggestions as to how they could use the tools to facilitate creation of their e-portfolios.
ReplyDeleteAwesome work on your project. I'm glad that we all got to go through this learning experience and enlighten ourselves on the technologies. Hopefully we will continue to share these tools to advance our learning
ReplyDeleteCongrats Ann! I think it's awesome that you are already putting your knowledge to use in your personal life. Like anything the more use you can find for the knowledge in your personal life, the more passionate you will be about implementing it for your students and when they see that passion it will make them taht more excited to learn it. Your project looks great and I'm sure it will bring your co-workers together.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on not only making it to the "Emerald City", but on realizing that you are the one who makes things happen. Not a "wizard" or any other individual. You've come a long way on this journey. It has been a pleasure to work with you and the others in your cohort. Best wishes on your future as you make a difference in the lives of students.
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