Peaches Thurston on What I Wish I Knew Then

I have grown so much as a teacher this semester. My basic use for technology in a classroom was making printouts to post around my room, buying computer games that taught my kids concepts, researching information and activities to do with my kids. I reflected back to my first blog about my goals that I wanted to reach during this semester, and I have found that I have reached every single one! I wanted to learn about wikis, podcast, and assistive technologies. I have heard about Wikipedia but the way we had to create our wikis gave me a greater appreciation for the wiki world. A lot of hard work and research goes into creating this source of information. Learning about podcast was not that shocking for me because I was familiar with podcast but just did not know that it was labeled a podcast! I certainly learned a lot about different assistive technologies and I plan to save all of the websites to my delicious sites to always have as a reference. This was especially important for me because I want to open a daycare for children with physical handicaps and the technologies that need to be provided for them will be very important. I did not know that they made certain tapes that refrain the children from slipping in their chairs as well as placing the material on their desk so their stuff does not slip away. All of the tools and supplies they are provided with are a great help. I have learned so much this semester!
Cognitive: This has helped me cognitively because I have the information stored in my memory so if I am ever crossed with a dilemma I know of the resources that are provided to me and I will just have to go and get it!
Physically: I’m not sure how any of this has helped me physically but when I think of how I will let you guys know…if anything it has definitely helped my fine motor skills on this computer at all times of the night! Lol
Social/emotionally: This class has definitely helped me socially because it has shown me the benefits of working with other people in creating greatness for our future America. It has dwelled in me quite emotionally because I feel like I have been depriving my kids from great resources within the classrooms to extend their learning.
I have already began downloading more video and podcasts to show my children at work. When we talked about birds, I just didn’t feel as though a picture would do them justice so I downloaded videos and podcast to get them excited about their size and movement. They were very intrigued. Creating this wiki has caused me to be able to dig deeper and do greater research. I have some kids who were lacking in certain areas with their fine motor skills so learning about the different utensils has definitely been a great help on how I can help them