Blog post #6:
As a future educator it is so important to learn about technology and how to integrate it into teaching, especially in today’s day and age. W310 taught me ways to keep learning with technology fun. There are so many cool resources that I discovered in this course. Now I want to go over my 5 top takeaways from this course!Â
My top takeaway from this course is learning how to use the smart notebook software. The reason I am choosing this as my main takeaway is because smart notebook is used in the majority of classrooms I substitute in, and before I learned about smart notebook I had a hard time using it. Not only did I learn how to use it in ways that will enhance my teaching, but I also gained knowledge on how to use it now for my daily job! One of my favorite features that smart notebook offers is being able to create games and activities that relate to the material that is being taught. I cannot wait to hopefully be able to use smart notebook in my classroom someday!
My second takeaway is from our textbook, “Design for how People Learn,” by Julie Dirksen. It comes from chapter 5, “How do you get their attention?” To get the learner’s attention you have to talk to the elephant. When it comes to getting someone’s attention you have to talk to the brain like a rider and an elephant. Talking to the elephant is where you have to be the smartest because it is the automatic, emotional, visceral part of your brain. A better way to explain the elephant is it is the devil on your left shoulder. A lot of times the elephant tends to challenge the rider, and the majority of the time the elephant wins. In order to attract the elephant to go along with the rider you have to tell it stories, surprise it, show it shiny things, tell it all the other elephants are doing it, and leverage the elephant’s habits.Â
My third takeaway is also from our textbook. It is about using practice and feedback when students are developing certain skills. For example, if I am teaching a lesson about verbs I would first introduce verbs, give students a lot of practice with verbs, and once the initial lesson on verbs is complete I would continue to go over verbs once a week. Then while students are using verbs in writing I can give them feedback on well they are using verbs, or if they need improvement. It is important to not give up on someone just because they need a little extra practice or help.
My fourth takeaway is learning how to spot clear cultural representations and confusing representations. This assignment taught me to not only pay more attention to things around me, but it also taught me that someday in my own classroom I need to make sure everything I display for m students to see makes sense. For example, some things might not make sense because they don’ t know what certain things mean yet, or maybe it’s something they’ve never been exposed to before.
My fifth takeaway from W310 is to just be more resourceful with technology. There are so many resources out there that I never even thought about before this class. I loved being able to find online resources I will continue to use in my educational journey. It is incredible how much technology can enhance lessons, and students usually respond well as long as the technology is being used correctly.















