Five things that made me think:

1. voice thread- my big ah-ha moment with this was discovering how easy and useful this tool can be! With just a few steps you have an amazing tool for projects.

2. I really liked all the great tools we were introduced to. As someone who is not tec savvy, I have a hard time integrating it into classrooms smoothly. With all the tools I have learned about in this class I can definitely see myself using them more often.

3. I didn’t realize how useful a simple microphone and a computer can be. There are so many ways to do podcasts, voicethreads, and more. The integration possibilities are endless.

4. My big ah-ha moment was when I was talking to my mother about this class and discovered that I knew about more internet tools than she did, and she is a big tec person. I realized how indespensible this information is and now I am in a position to share and teach my colleagues and peers about what I know.

5. My second biggest ah-ha moment was realizing that I will have to keep researching these tools and others to keep up with my students and all the technology they will use now and in the future. So much has changed from the time I was in elementary school and it is exciting to know it won’t stop!

The tools I plan to use from now on are letterpop to make newsletters and other great announcements, voicethread for more projects than I can even think of right now, webcasting/screencasting for great information sharing, and my PB wiki for various projects and networking. I also really liked eyejot and gliffy for communication and sharing photos.

I think my favorite podcast presenter was Kevin Honeycutt. He had some great ideas, interviews, and presentations. I am not great at sitting and listening to people talk for long periods of time, but He was interesting and motivating.

Out of all my classmate’s websites, I could only open a few. Out of the few I could open, I really enjoyed Melissa Miller’s and Kelsey Simon’s. They were both creative and used attractive templates. I honestly hadn’t thought of putting my resume, philosophy or any thing like that on there. I really like the idea of making it look a little more professional!

I certainly hope my website was able to open! I like my website because it is easy to change and update and and play with. Pb wiki doesn’t offer much for templates without paying for it though so I am afraid that it is a little boring. If I changed anything it would be adding more professional documents for viewing by administrators.

I think NCLB is just too idealistic. Not every student has the mental capabilities to reach the main stream standard so forcing SPED students to work three times as hard and stress them out is ridiculous. Also, gifted students are completely left out because there are no programs for them and they are falling below thier potential. I like the idea that teachers are held responsible for where their students are at only because it means they pay attention to every students rather than just the students who make progress or the students who “get it” right away. NCLB needs to be modified and refigured to add programs for gifted students and take into consideration that the entire nation can not be held to the same standards with all the diversity we hold. I am not saying they should be lowered, just modified and made more realistic.