New and Emerging Technologies

I have learned so many valuable lessons throughout this course that I will be able to carry with me throughout the remainder of my career. While I feel that I have been a mostly effective teacher for the last ten years, I do feel that I have not always given my students as many authentic learning experiences as I should have. While I have always been open to new technologies, I have not always felt the confidence to teach them to my students. Now I know that I have not been giving them all of the tools that they need to become successful students of technology. One emerging technology that I have implemented in my classroom is blogging. My students had grown tired of pen and paper journaling so I taught them how to blog as an alternative. They enjoy the feedback they receive from their peers about their posts.
Another technology that I plan to implement for the upcoming school year is the use of social networking sites. I have begun construction on a Facebook page that will be used excusively by my students. I have receive the full support of my administration. It is my goal that my students will find this page a positive tool to share ideas with their peers in a manner that they find comfortable.
The most important fact that I have learned from this course is that there will always be new and emerging techologies and I is my job as an educator to continue to learn as much as I possibly can. By learning new tools to teach my students they will be prepared for a technological society. I plan to discuss with administration ways in which they can teach us new tools. We must keep open minds when it comes to technology so that we are not left behind.