Standard 4

Ava Long

Technology in the Classroom

Taskstream Signature Assignment

December 3, 2013

• Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
• Meaning: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices (http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf).

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences:
• Designing Lessons: This was an aspect of this class that did not occur to me that I would have to model and teach students because it seems so obvious to me, but then again I am 28 years old and have been using technology for some years now. As I was designing lessons I had to be extremely aware of how to model digital citizenship and responsibility and it was hard to figure out how to do something that seems so second nature to me. The importance of this then became really apparent to me when I started to think about the bullying aspect of today’s school environments and because I already was planning on building a classroom based on a strong foundation of community, I thought to myself to just extend this into the use of technology in the classroom. Respect and smart choices is something I want to instill in my students, especially when using technology resources. As I created my lessons for this class I tried to implement this core component and ideal into every aspect that included technology usage. Even though we try to teach students how to be responsible and respectable in the face-to-face world, it is even more important that they understand that with the world at their fingertips, there is an even larger sense of responsibility they must learn and adhere to. The legal and ethical behavior that we expect from students, the teachers must exhibit it first through continuous modeling while using the technological resources throughout teaching. We cannot expect students to be responsible and respectable if they do see us doing the same. I hope my technology integration in my lessons show my advocacy for a classroom full of technology responsible and respectable when it comes to their usage.   
• Teaching Lessons: If the importance here in this specific standard is to exhibit, advocate, model, and to teach safe and legal use of technology resources, I feel that this class and my personal years of using the world-wide web has taught how to do this effectively for my students. As for teaching in the classroom, I believe that students always need to be reminded and kept continuously aware of their responsibilities to be safe, to abide by law, and to make ethical choices in regards to using technology resources and systems. It is difficult to imagine that young children would abuse the wide availability of communication channels to bully other children or to plagiarize documents, but this does in fact happen, and teachers always need to be on their toes. Social interactions has become almost a natural way to communicate as compared to face-to-face interaction, so it is vital to teach students how this communication is to occur abiding by legal and ethical expected behaviors. Teachers are not at home with students to watch their behavior online, but they can try to teach them what is right and wrong in regards to appropriate usage and behavior so as to not become a victim of crude, unsafe, and illegal behaviors while using technology.
• Assessing Student (Peer) Artifacts: Teachers need always be guiding and facilitating students in their learning, keeping them fully aware of what is expected of them. In order for teachers to assess their students, the students need what is expected before they begin completing the assigned task at hand. As the teacher, I need to first teach the students what ethical and legal responsibility is in regards to technology use in the classroom, and promote the behavior that aligns with these expectations by modeling it myself. If they see how I use the technological world, then the hope would be that the students would mirror that behavior. It is important to develop this behavior from the beginning of year and then be consistent in the exhibition of it throughout the school year. As for assessing students’ artifacts, I will ensure that I am always checking for understanding guidelines for exhibiting the safe, legal, and ethical behaviors while using technology in the classroom. If students do not abide by these expectations, then there usage will be demoted to paper-pencils-and books. I believe technology in the classroom is somewhat a luxury and if students do not understand that there is a certain, expected behavior that goes along with the usage of it, then I would agree that it should be taken away as an Xbox would be taken away for punishment. I do expect to “raise” responsible and respectful students, and will try to instill these character traits in all aspects of my classroom.
2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers:
• Lessons: Coming to the end of this comprehensive reflection, I can say that what I have learned about being prepared and teaching from my peers has been extremely helpful to building background knowledge that I will be able to activate and use when I finally become an educator. Teaching has been my goal for so many years now that I feel I am so close, but this class has shown me that I still have so much to learn. It astounded me when I first came to this class feeling that I was not going to gain much more than what I thought I already knew, but alas that was not the case. Quite the opposite actually and I am glad that my peers and teacher did not shut me out and accepted that I needed some guidance in learning how to integrate technology into the classroom. Our teacher must have said several times how important reflection was for improving my teaching. My knowledge gained throughout this entire education program cannot be measured in any written formula or expression, only in who I will become as an educator, but it will be thanks to the collaboration and discussion within this program and the many realizations and willingness to open my eyes and see past what I thought I knew and expose myself to the endless possibilities that technology has to offer. I can even say that I learned more about being safe, legal, and ethical in the technology world and what I can do to ensure the safe, legal, and ethical use of my students.
• Feedback: Feedback is so terribly important for all parties involved in the educational realm because it is reflection on what is happening inside and outside the classroom. I hope to encourage strong feedback from my students, peers, collaborators, teachers in my schooling programs, the administration of the district I work in, and parents. Feedback is just one of the many aspects of teaching that helps teachers become better educators. The feedback I received from my teacher(s) and peers during my duration of this education program has made me a better future educator. I know sometimes I come off as someone who thinks they know everything, but I know I do not know everything and even though there have been times that people have had to pull me aside to give me advice or point out an area I need to fix or improve on, I have had to take heed of what they said or thought. I take everything personally and immediately see fault in everything I do, but if I have learned anything about feedback when it comes to education, while being a part of this program, is that I will not be a good teacher, colleague, team member, or collaborator if I do not take feedback as a positive way to fix and improve on areas. How do I expect students to improve if I do not give them feedback? How would I expect to improve if I did not have teacher friends and peers, fellow colleagues, teachers in my education programs, and administration and parents giving me their thoughts and feedback? The ability to recognize this and accept the reality that feedback is a mirrored reflection and is truly helpful in becoming the best possible teacher I can be is something I must thank my teachers and peers over the years for.
3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences. I am aware that my peers wrote about 2,400 words for their entire Phase III and I am now passing 7,000, but if someone tells me to write a comprehensive reflection of my overall experience for a class, I tend to be extremely extensive. I did not realize until this moment while coming to the end of my reflective journey, just how much I truly took away from this one class. I guess as my education program is coming to an end, I have learned so much and the culmination of my experiences that range from online classes, to on-ground classes, to classroom observations, to teaching lessons, and my almost four years of observing, volunteering, and working at Desert Valley Elementary, I just feel ready to put my education to good use. The impact that my education and all the lessons I have learned will definitely reflect onto my future students. I hope that my growing and continuous knowledge and learning will come in handy in more ways then just the box of the classroom. I want to open the eyes of my students like mine have been opened, but keep in mind that they need to learn how to safe, legal, and what is right and wrong. The world is so much larger now that technology has opened the doors up to places like Egypt and China, where children in Bullhead City, Arizona can chat with E-Pals from these countries. Who could have imagined the strides we would make in the years since the first computer was conceived. The experience this class has given me allowed me to write a comprehensive reflection of over 7,000 words. Thank you Mr. Weilke for your wise years of knowledge and experience and sharing all your tidbits that helped make me a slight technology guru.  

Standard 3

Ava Long

Technology in the Classroom

Taskstream Signature Assignment

December 3, 2013

• Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
• Meaning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society (http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf).

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences:
• Designing Lessons: So this standard is a little bit harder for me to address because the modeling of digital-age work does not come easy for me because I am not what people would consider “technology savvy.” It was hard for me to sit down and design lessons that not only incorporated technology on a surface level, but to really use it as a source of and for the teaching of the lesson. It was humorous when my teacher looked at me one class night and said in regards to my insecurity of implementing technology into my lesson plans, “Ava, this class you’re taking, it’s called Technology in the Classroom. I understand your comfort levels and insecurities with the idea of it, but you cannot get away from the fact that you must be learning how to use technology as a tool in the classroom.” I looked at him and knew he was right and also knew that he saw me as a challenge, so I took heed of this obvious, relevant piece of information and moved forward in my planning. It should be understood by most educators that being comfortable in teaching content to students is important, but I also know and realize that as human beings we are always learning and everyone starts off not knowing anything about something, and that was where I stood in the idea of modeling digital-age work and learning. I get it. The teacher can learn along with the students, but what I am most afraid of is that I am going to be labeled a teacher who does not know how to teach this or that, and I am not comfortable with the idea. And it terrifies me even more that so much of the world and specifically the classrooms nowadays, revolve around technology as a resource or tool to assist in teaching. How do I feel comfortable in a classroom that I have envisioned myself in for years now using books-paper-and-pencils whereas now I will be using computers-tablets-and Smart Boards? My understanding of the importance of modeling digital-age work has changed immensely from the beginning of class until now because before I thought that I would not necessarily need to use technology to get the point across, but now I understand that it makes my job easier and my students more engaged and well-rounded in education as a whole if I do. I work at Desert Valley Elementary as a Title One aide and during the last five months in this class I discovered I was using the idea of implementing the use of technology into my lesson plans (which I have never done before). For example, we were reading about polar bears and some interesting facts, like they have fur on their paws. I could see that my students were not quite getting what they were reading from the story, therefore their reading was not smooth and fluent (and I firmly believe being able to read and comprehend go hand-in-hand). I decided to go online and find images of the facts we were reading about. Some of the students had never even seen a polar bear let alone some of the specific facts we were learning. The moment these facts became images they could turn into concrete content in the minds, their reading and understanding of the material just soared beyond my expectations. It was amazing. I then decided to make my lesson plans thereafter to include a day of “Internet Research” and even though in Title One the main goal and focus is on reading, I have proven to myself and others that improvement came when they cemented the content. It was a wonderful discovery and that is how I learned how to better design my lesson plans where I model digital-age work and learning.
• Teaching Lessons: So much of what I ended up with at the end of this class came from when I presented or “taught” my lesson. The presenting of the lesson showed me how it would come across to a classroom full of students. I took what my peers and teachers questioned and multiplied it by 100 and figured that was what I would be dealing with in a real life situation. It was important to make this connection in order for me to improve upon what I had created. You know, when it comes to modeling digital-age work and learning in front of peers and a technology teacher, it can be extremely intimidating, but in fact it was the best scenario I could have imagined because it gave me the opportunity to understand what was coming across the way I wanted, what I needed help with understanding, and to inquire how I could do it better. Under this standard, it says for the teacher to be fluent in technology systems and in the beginning I feel I was far from this happening, ever, but seeing as I was my teacher’s challenge student, I knew this would come to pass. I would not say I am an expert, but I definitely felt more confident presenting and teaching my lessons than I would have in the beginning. I see the classroom world much differently since discovering what the technology world has to offer. I will be a better, better-rounded teacher coming into the education realm having learned what I did from this class. I feel that I would have been completely blindsided if I had stepped into student teaching without this prior knowledge and wealth of knowledge. I mean, I did not even know what Smart Boards were. J It is like anything else in life, you must learn before you do. Now, when I build lesson plans, even for my Title One aide position, implementing technology resources is at the forefront of my mind because I have personally experienced how beneficial it is for the students’ learning.
• Assessing Student (Peer) Artifacts: In regards to modeling digital-age work and learning, I think assessing student artifacts is one of the key facets to being a well-rounded educator. Assessment is extremely important in finding out what the students know, what they have retained, if they know how to apply it, and if they understand what they have learned on a critical-thinking level. Assessing nowadays has gone overboard and seems to be hindering students’ learning more than helping it. I believe through a strong collaboration team (be it with students, peers, colleagues, administration, and/or parents), teachers can find an effective way to assess the digital-work and learning of students. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard during my years of schooling how beneficial and effective it can be to let the students be a part of the decision –making process, and I can see that it would help the students help the teacher assess what they have learned if they were in fact part of the assessment process. There are so many standardized assessments nowadays that students are almost acting as drones who just fill in bubbles and guess. They do it so often they do not take it seriously. What ends up happening is that the results are not authentic because the assessment was not authentic to begin with, therefore it is all a waste. Assessments must be authentic if teachers are to find some kind of use for the data. Teachers must assess students, I get that. But in my mind, with my experience, where we assess must be where we are teaching. The gap between these two aspects of the educational world is too far for the data to be useful. My peers really helped me see how many different ways I could use technology to assess my students’ digital-age work and learning. I can see that it would not make sense to teach digitally and test by paper and pencil. Teaching must coincide and be consistent.  
2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers:
• Lessons: As far as my lessons go in regards to this specific standard, it was obvious that I would need to really keep an open-mind for what my peers had to say about my plans and ideas. Because I am not technology fluent or savvy with technology systems and resources, the collaboration with my peers in preparing my lessons and what I could do to better model digital-age work and learning was vital to me. They were not shy about letting me know what I could change, add, and improve upon. They understood better than I did what I could do to engage and incorporate ways to model a digital-age work and learning environment. My lessons that I first brought in to my teacher included some aspects of technology, but it had not been truly integrated and my “classroom” was not transformed into a true digital-age environment. Part of the reason for this was because of my own insecurities about the transferring knowledge into the tech world. I was very hard-headed the first couple of classes that were held in the beginning of the semester because I insisted that students should know what real books feel and smell like, what a pencil and paper assessment was like. My teacher saw me as a challenge because of this outlook. My lessons changed along the way because I realized I cannot fight the monster that is technology. Almost every person I know has a cell phone and whether they like to admit it or not, there are people that feel completely lost if they lost it. I do not live in that mindset, nor do I understand it. So much of what I learned in building lesson plans came from my walls being broken down by my peers and teacher.
• Feedback: This class was so helpful in the way of opening my eyes up to what the technological world has to offer for educators. Their feedback is what turned my lessons from surface technology usage to a fully developed digital-age classroom. It was apparent to me that it was this feedback that made such a difference in learning about what teachers can use to better their teaching, teaching styles, resources, and applications. It is unbelievable to me still how much I learned from just five people in so little time after working with them through this program for over three years. It never occurred to me that I knew so little about integrating technology into lessons because I was so paper-pencil minded. And if someone had asked me about technology in the classroom before this class and experience, I would have answered to them (and/or thought to myself) of course I will use it…but the first night of class I realized I had no idea about technology in the classroom, how to use it, what to use, when, and why. My experience has been amazing because of these reflective revelations that have occurred and affected my position in the education realm presently and for the future. Feedback, both from my peers and to my future students, is integral to a human being’s growth, as a student, and as a future teacher. I can see that I have grown and my feelings, insecurities, and beliefs have changed immensely over time and could not be more grateful that I learned the technology ropes before I stepped into student teaching. My Title One students already benefit from these lessons I’ve learned and I know my future students will benefit and excel in their learning due to my learning here.   
3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences. I believe that my experiences in this class will impact my future teaching more than any other class has up to this point in my school career. I have been able to apply and integrate what I have learned here into my position now and have begun to reflect on what creates a truly digital-age work and learning environment. I realize that the technology integration is integral to students’ learning nowadays because they have been exposed to it for a few years now on a regular daily basis in the world around them, so it only makes sense to do the same in the classroom. The modeling and facilitation of technology in the classroom must not be something that is added in on the spot though because it does not always work properly and that is something I was happy to learn because it brought me back to my comfort zone of paper-pencils-and books. I am glad to have learned what I can do to better my students’ education, but know that I will always be able to fall back on the traditional learning and teaching strategies when need be. Preparation is key in using technology in the classroom because of the steps that need to be taken in order to teach a lesson smoothly using the technological resources you have chosen. My experiences here have taught me that if I integrate technology use to always test it and prepare it beforehand. Another important lesson I learned was that the amount of resources, strategies, tools, suggestions, ideas, communication lines, venues, and advice that are available is unknown and goes beyond what I have even begun to realize, but that the world is literally at the tip of our fingertips, so why not use it to let students live outside the box of the classroom. Technology has expanded the horizon from the dull and boring exploration of national symbols and monuments to actually being able to explore and visit them on the web. Virtual tours? Oh my gosh. This class has just blown my mind and I know I have not even reached an “inth” of the possibilities. I am excited to see what the future has in store. 

Standard 2

Ava Long

Technology in the Classroom

Taskstream Signature Assignment

December 3, 2013

• Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
• Meaning: Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf).

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences:
• Designing Lessons: You know, it is funny how in just a short five months a human’s thinking and feelings can change so much and can contribute it to a small classroom with only four peers and an interesting teacher. I am extremely stubborn, so when it came to designing lessons based in the idea of developing them around digital-age learning I was slightly dumbfounded because I really had no idea what that meant. When I first sat down to design lesson plans that had to include implantation of technology I had no clue what I was doing. Our world is so driven by technological devices around us all the time that this sounds funny, but my husband even jokes that I do not know how to web search on Google. Who does not know how to do that in today’s world? Especially someone who is going to be a teacher and surely will be utilizing everything that the world-wide web has to offer. Me. J I brought in the drafts of my lesson plans to my teacher and he commended me on my depth, ideas, and details, but I was missing the idea of the class we were enrolled in: Technology in the Classroom. The component of technology was not an easy concept for me to accept into my lessons because of how paper-book-pencil minded I am. After we sat down together and went over section by section and discussed where I could easily turn a paper-based project into a Prezi presentation where the students would possibly be more engaged and definitely in the middle of designing and developing digital-age learning experiences. I really had to be open-minded and understanding of the idea that students nowadays need to be learning and applying their learning in a way they feel most comfortable even though I do not. I see young two-olds holding and playing with Iphones and I get upset that the parents are just using these as a mechanism to keep their child quiet or entertained, but having my own baby recently it has come crystal clear that it is almost impossible to keep the world technology out of their hands. I am still against my child having their own cell phone or tablet at the age of five, but as I was designing lessons I kept in mind that there are so many students that do and this is how they learn. The digital-age learning experience is not something that is a brand-new concept…it is the way of teaching and learning nowadays, and I have got to get with the program.  
• Teaching Lessons: As for teaching lessons regarding this specific standard it was after a long and elaborate deliberation with my teacher that I came back with two lesson plans to teach that did in fact revolve more around and implement more technology into the classroom and learning the lesson at hand. It is so vital that students learn in an environment in which they are most comfortable. This is how I understand the importance of teaching lessons that incorporate the widely available technological resources to aide in students’ learning of content. In order to design a lesson and teach it to students in their own language teachers need to be knowledgeable not only in the content, but what way is going to be easiest for students to grasp, retain, and apply what they have learned to the outside world. Since students are coming into classrooms already aware of the unbelievable amount of apps and websites that are out their for both pleasure and education, then it only makes sense to build on this knowledge and use it to the teacher and students’ advantage. I learned through “teaching” the lesson to my peers and my teacher is to keep in mind how the students want to learn and go with that. Because engagement is so vital to students learning and wanting to sit through lessons, then if technology makes that part easier, I am behind it all the way. It has to be about maximizing the students’ learning and through using the available resources to teach the content, I understand that I can succeed at doing this more so than if I were just to hand out construction paper, markers, and glue.
• Assessing Student (Peer) Artifacts: It never occurred to me how important a peer’s opinion was until I was open-minded enough to hear it. In my experience with this class and building lessons that revolved so heavily around technology I discovered that my peers’ opinions and advice helped me understand immensely so much that I never did before. From the drafting of my lessons to presenting them, my peers offered up a wealth of knowledge that only improved and added to what base ideas I had started with and their advice and suggestions made them that much better. I had a more difficult time building a digital-age lesson and assessment pairing than I originally thought. To create an assessment that had to use technology was not just about transferring the idea of bubble sheets to a computer; it had to be more extensive than that. My lessons went through a few different assessment attachments before I found one that was agreed upon by the whole class. It seems that my peers saw more technology-use available in places of the lesson that I had not and without those connections I would not have ended up with the final drafts I have today. I do believe that peers’ opinions, advice, and suggestions act as a reflection of you (as the teacher) and it is imperative for me to take heed of what they say, agree or agree to disagree, and build a classroom or lesson plans based on a strong foundation of collaborations.
2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers:
• Lessons: I know how important preparation and organization are for my classroom to be successful and to completely benefit my students’ learning environment, but still to this day I tend to procrastinate. If there is one thing I have learned in my time in this program with me peers it is that my preparation and teaching has to be prepared beforehand. I will not have days upon days to procrastinate planning and lesson building. Especially if I am to take on the task of building a strong technological-based classroom. Another important piece of my “teaching toolbox” has been how super important modeling is for my students. In preparing my lessons before I took this class this semester I had never thought about having classroom examples or of modeling every little part of the lesson, but I quickly realized once my peers were up presenting their lessons that I did not understand what they were talking about until they modeled it themselves. I must understand that these are the frustrations my very own students will face. I say this knowing that I am not 100% fluent in using and implementing technology resources and tools into lessons because I am not comfortable with doing it myself, but then people say to me, “Learn with the students.” This would work (even though I would feel better just knowing how and what exactly I am teaching) if my students were in older grades, like 6^th, 7^th, or 8^th for example, but I intend on teaching 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th. So, it is important that I do what it takes to learn how to teach lessons incorporating the technology resources beforehand, so that students’ learning does not suffer.   
• Feedback: Feedback is so crucial to my own reflection of what I do and who I am as an educator. It is said that reflecting on what you do from day to day as a teacher is what makes you better tomorrow. I think that looking in the mirror and seeing yourself and the classroom is how you learn what you are doing right, what can you improve on, and what to do to better the students’ learning environment. Feedback should help develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes for both teacher and student. The teacher needs to give feedback to the students to let them know how they are doing academically, what they are doing right, what they can improve on, and to answer any questions the students may be having in regards to the content. The teachers need feedback from their peers, colleagues, collaborators, administration, parents, and student even for them to learn where all these parties stand in regards to how they are teaching and areas they can improve on. I would not have improved as a future educator if I did not have the collaboration with my peers and teachers regarding my lessons. I welcome any and all feedback because I know how imperative it is to me becoming a well-rounded teacher and fellow collaborator.  
3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences. My experiences in learning how to better my understanding how build a digital-age learning environment, lessons, and assessments is something I appreciate and will never take for granted. I understand how funny or naive I must have sounded in front of my peers when I asked what they obscene questions in regards to technology, but I was genuinely confused, frustrated, or lost when it came to discovering all that the technology world has to offer educators in the way of building a truly effective and beneficial classroom based in digital-age learning environment. I could not even believe what the world-wide web had to offer in the way of worksheets, activities, lesson plan ideas, and assessments. I mean, you could literally find anything on the Internet, not to mention the available community of educators that are available to communicate with! Blogs, forums, social media, articles…the possibilities are absolutely endless. This class really opened my eyes up these endless possibilities and more. I am so grateful for my peers and my teacher for listening and answering my what seemed ridiculous questions in regards to technology.  

Standard 1

Ava Long

Technology in the Classroom

Taskstream Signature Assignment

December 3, 2013

• Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
• Meaning: Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments (http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf).

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences:
• Designing Lessons: From the beginning of this course, I was weary and very insecure about implementing technology into the classroom. This was largely due in part to my inexperience and comfort level with technology as a whole. When I first began to design lessons for this course that specifically needed to revolve around technology I was very timid, but after continuous and very technology-driven class discussions, I came to understand that classrooms nowadays are almost never without some sort of technological resources used to teach students. I had to get my head wrapped around this idea because I am so old fashioned and love the idea of pencil, paper, and books. The idea of computers and tablets in the hands of children was something I had not seen myself using in my own classroom. My college instructor saw me as a challenge, of course. J My understanding of the standards in regards to implementing technology into the classroom changed over the course of this class in many ways. Specifically, in regards to facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity, I have to say that I did not realize how large the impact of a student’s understanding of educational content can be, just by being able to pull up a picture of a polar bear, for example. Everything that can open a child’s eyes to the world around them, that they are trying to learn about, is literally available at the click of the mouse. That’s amazing! As I grew more knowledgeable about what is available to assist in helping students learn, the design of my lessons changed greatly. I ended up making countless bullet points and bookmarks on my computer for technology resources and web links and sites for future use in designing lesson plans for my classroom.
• Teaching Lessons: When I presented my lessons (worked through a classroom discussion while going over how I would teach my lesson), I noticed there was still so much more I could do to improve on what I had designed and I think that is where the importance of reflection comes in. During the “teaching” of my lesson, I realized that my understandings of this specific standard (facilitate, inspire student learning and creativity) is the basis of learning overall, because if the teacher does not have this foundation in place, then then anything that comes after will not be as strong in the engagement and motivation for or of the students in what they are doing. One of the most important keys to teaching is students’ engagement in their learning. My understanding of how to do this in lessons came clear to me while I was imagining how I was going to teach the lesson I was presenting. It is so important for the students to be inspired to learn and to be allowed to be creative in their learning. While teaching in a technology based classroom (based on availability) or a technology-driven based lesson, it is important to use technological resources that will directly benefit the students and support what they are learning. The resources should create an environment their world is open to virtual exploration and helps them go beyond the walls of the classroom.
• Assessing Student (Peer) Artifacts: I think it is clear that assessing my peers’ artifacts is a brilliant way to add to my own academic toolbox of strategies and techniques I can utilize in my own classroom. My peers built lessons that were so detail-oriented and had so much depth in creativity and imagination that I could barely keep up with writing my notes as they presented their lessons. My peers’ usage of activities, technology resources, and assessments made it clear to me that there was so much I had not personally tapped into as far as building my own lesson plans. I think this taught me how to look at other teachers and “thieve” their great ideas and use their strategies in a way that will benefit the students I have in my classroom. It is no surprise that one idea that works so well for one person will do the same for the next, but if the idea is of quality enough and is able to be redesigned to fit a different set of students then why not go for it and try. I have to say that is one of the biggest lessons I learned during this class; even if it is scary to me (which all technology is, it does not fit into my comfort zone whatsoever), the students I have will have grown-up in a technological-driven world  and will respond better to something THEY are comfortable with, so I must give it a shot.  
2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers:
• Lessons: I am known for procrastinating and over-developing my lesson plans and although I have good, logical justifications for doing so, my peers have taught me so much that will benefit how I design and teach my lessons from now on. Specifically in regards to this standard, my peers have taught me how to think outside the box and view the classroom from the students’ perspective. They need to be learning within their comfort level, not mine, and with the world the way it is today, exploding with technology all around, even for children as young as two years old with Ipods and Iphones in hand, my classroom should reflect how they are engaging in learning and education today. I also learned from my peers that being prepared beforehand is absolutely key to the success of both the teacher and students in the classroom environment. As I sat and listened to my future education colleagues present and teach their lessons I took notes because I was once told that teachers are thieves and it is okay. So…I stole their great ideas. I think everyone can learn something from the people they are around and as a teacher there is no exception to this idea. I have become a better future educator thanks to the knowledge I have gained from my peers over the years. I will be a better person for having the experience of collaborating, agreeing, and even arguing at times, with these same people I will be teaching alongside.
• Feedback: I am sure it is obvious how much I value my peers opinions and feedback on the lessons I have taught. It is no secret that teachers do not always know what they are doing and those, despite what students believe or think, teachers are imperfect human beings and can make mistakes. I think I have taken pride in the mistakes I have made and that I have come to depend on my colleagues and peers to bring me back and put me on track when I need to be put on track. Their feedback is vital to my growth as a teacher and human being. This standard is such a large part of the foundation the teacher needs to develop in students that I have really taken heed what my peers have to say. After all, they are the ones, along with veteran teachers and mentors that I will be working with in the education realm.
3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences. In regards to facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity, I have learned so much. The first night I sat in class I could not stop writing notes on the intriguing technology that our teacher was showing us how he uses in his classroom. I was astonished at my own personal interest in buying all the gadgets to mirror the classroom he had set-up in my own because of how resourceful I learned using technology was for students. If I was inspired to learn and create at 28 years old, I can only sit here and imagine how inspired and engaged my own students will be if I utilize what I learned from my teacher when I become one. It was wonderful to become a challenge for Mr. Weilke because he worked harder at opening my eyes and expanding my comfort level beyond what I ever thought it could be. Technology scares me, but it became so obvious that my own comfort level is not what is at the forefront of engaging students and inspiring true learning, it is the students’ comfort zones and interest levels that must be at the forefront of my mind. I also learned that if the students are inspired and engaged to learn and be creative that it will make my job easier to let them learn and for me to facilitate their learning journey in the classroom. The moment I caught myself engaged and inspired to build lesson plans that revolved around the use of technology in the classroom, I knew I was hooked. I understood what my teacher had been trying to do the whole time and I am thankful for that.