Final Reflection


This semester has been a whirlwind of crazy but also a great learning experience for me.  I thought I was pretty tech-savvy before this course.  I know that we live in an always-changing world so the things I tried way back then maybe different now. I was not wrong and I can see why teachers tend to shy away from new programs. For this course, I was at 90% familiar with and 10% had no clue. It was a great learning experience that left me with so many ideas for use in the library and the classrooms. 

I am a mom to a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, and I had to work late to get things done because my days were soon taken up with online lessons and no time for me. Thanks, Corona Virus! Sometimes I was just overwhelmed with learning all these programs but other times I felt like a pro because I had already done something with them in my teaching. Thanks, VIP program! I was pretty excited to show my classmate and partner new ways to present information and it was awesome to learn things from her. It made me think about my job as a librarian. I began implementing ideas in my lessons, emailing ideas for use, and posting the things I learned so that my teachers could see them in action.
What excited me the most and what I found to be the most beneficial for the library:
  • Blogging was a great way for me to reflect on what I was learning. I don't have much time to read other blogs but I look forward to more time to do so in the future. There are some great ideas out there and I can't wait to see what there is to offer. 
  • Facebook and Twitter have been a great outlet for communicating with parents and our community. I found that many of our parents have Facebook and we are growing followers on Twitter.  Our district encourages teachers to have Twitter, because of the benefits for learning and growth in our profession.
  • I like Infographics but I dislike making them! I had made a few infographics before this course and they took such a long time to make. It's the perfectionist in me, but I could see each time I made one the benefits of implementing them in the classroom. Students would love making these rather than writing out a research paper.  I also think teachers would enjoy reading these more than a plan research paper. Which to me is a win!
  • Students love YouTube and Instagram…Our district recently learned this when the Coronavirus led us to handout Chromebooks for home use. Our district did a survey of website use and found that Youtube was visited most by our students. Why not create a Youtube channel for your library? Students would love to see what our library is doing especially on Youtube.
  • Cartoons and comics are pretty awesome and if the circulation of comics in the library didn't tip you off your students think they are awesome too.  Pixton was pretty cool and was a great program that I definitely want to share with teachers and students I just wish it was a bit cheaper for use. My daughter wants to create a comic every day with this program. I figure if a 6-year-old can create cute stories with it then any age kid would excel with this program. 
  • Podcasts are pretty cool and I really like Podbean. I have enjoyed making every podcast that I have and I wish I had more time to do more. I also follow a few that make me think and reflect on how I’m teaching as well as give me great ideas for implementing in the library. We have a teacher on my campus that is going to try Podcasting with her students next year and I look forward to the results of this journey.
What did I think was the most challenging?
The most challenging thing about this course was getting everything done on time. It seemed like after I was finally understanding how to use one thing I had to drop it immediately to start something new. Something that was not on my radar but should have been was our district’s acceptable use policy. I had never read the entire thing and I should have.  After reading through it and thinking about our students and teachers, I think that teachers need to really go through this document and discuss it with students…not just scan and sign. I'm not saying everyone doesn't take the time to do this but I know I was a skimmer and can't be the only one.
In the end, I had a good time working within all these programs and it was a good time to think more about how I could implement these ideas in the library.  It was great seeing how my classmates used each program differently than I did so I could take more away from each assignment.  All of these programs will be great to use in meeting goals in teaching using Universal Design for learning. Allowing students to create, collaborate, and use higher-level thinking. 
To finish out my course I tried a program from Tech & Learning 

Storybird was fairly easy to use and I could see so many possibilities for creation with all of my students. I was able to use their 7-day free trial to create a book that you can share digitally or print and share in the classroom as a paper copy. I may look into implementing this in the library so I will definitely be looking at the membership plans. 

Here is the book I created about the journey I had through our LSSL 5391 course. Enjoy!

Click the image below to read my book.




Comments

  1. readingisabreezeMay 5, 2020 at 6:23 PM

    I agree it was a great learning adventure . I'm glad we took this course because it prepared us for this innovative world of technology. In addition, to give us resources in providing learning opportunities for all.

    ReplyDelete

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