525 Final Reflection

This was one class that I found extremely beneficial.  In looking back over our previous classes, we learned a lot of great tools that I was able to implement in my classroom.  Actually, when I realize all the tools that I learned through this program, it feels like I've been using them forever.  Speed of technology I guess.  But I was happy to get the chance to start analyzing these tools in terms of strategy in the classroom.  It's this line of thinking that will be the difference between effective use of technology and the "Do something, just do anything" approach.  

I think increasing my use of finding similarities and differences will be the biggest change in my classroom.  In the past, I always looked at that activity as just another way to reflect on a reading- something to throw in with a bunch of other strategies to bring some variety.  But this activity, as opposed to something like putting events in chronological order, really makes students think about the content.  And with a wide variety of potential answers, adding it to use of wikis, blogs, or other tools for students to share information can be very beneficial.

On a semi-related note, I taught my first lesson that centered around cell phone polls.  I had used them extremely sparingly in the past, but never as the bulk of a lesson.  The kids went nuts.  My last question was "On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you like answering questions this way?"  I had a bunch of "10"s, a "1000!" and one "Mr. Granger needs to shave his beard."  So I'll definitely be using it more in the future, but I'm not shaving.