Final Post...For Now

     After reading over my posts from the past six weeks, I agree with my classmates that we have made a ton of progress and have learned so much. My first couple of posts strike me as kind of silly now- I can't believe that I was so worried about incorporating technology into the classroom. I suppose the philosophical basis still exists, but I now feel like I have the tools to be discerning about how I choose to use technology. I can't realistically view it as just a standard to check off anymore; I have learned that technology definitely does have a myriad of benefits in today's classroom.
     I can definitely tell from my posts just when my attitude began to change. In week 3, I finally had my page looking the way I wanted it to and I was getting really excited about all of the things that I was learning. Then came infographics, the flipped classroom, and my RSS feed, which I swear has changed my life. My blog doesn't even begin to cover all of the things that I have learned over a few short weeks! I remember looking at our course schedule and thinking "there's no way I can get all of this done". I remember even more vividly thinking the same thing just last week. But even though the assignments were tough and I struggled and cursed (ok, a lot of that one), I don't think there is a single thing that I would change. I learned how to use an interactive white board and how to use it to differentiate lessons for the whole class; I learned how to edit a video and upload it onto YouTube, which lots of people do, but it turns out is really difficult; I learned about tons of amazing apps, websites, and programs to use in my future classroom for both my kids and my sanity. But I think the greatest thing that I have learned is to keep learning! I am still worried about how to keep up with changing technology, and I sometimes think that that in itself is a full time job, but I know that there are tons of people out there who can help me. I now at least know where to start looking, and that gives me a huge advantage. I'm happy to say that I am really looking forward to bringing some of these ideas and technologies with me when I meet my class this Fall.