RILS_Reflection of Past Month

A Reflection of This Past Month

Sorry about the quality, the lighting is authentic to the 1880's and it is nighttime.

Thomas Edison's Library

I finally had to find the time to learn iMovie. I had to upgrade to "11, thank you. "11 has so many more options it was really fun playing with all of the features. I had wanted to do a lot of things that I keep putting off because of time issues. Nothing like a deadline to find time.

I think the biggest impact for me is having to do the Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario and finding StoryJumper.com. I think that this one site is going to open me up to many more possibilities for lesson plans. I have used the Internet for lesson plans and many other things, but I never took myself out of the norm. It's a lesson plan, just like any lesson plan, but it's on the Internet, so I thought that made it special. Nope, Web 2.0 is the way to go!

My new goal is to get out of the old way of doing things and let the students create with the Web 2.0 tools. StoryJumper.com changes everything! Their motivation and engagement was tremendously different. The kind of different that means, I can never go back to the old way because it would be depriving the students of authentic and valuable learning tools.

I belong to the New Jersey Technology Teachers Association (NJTEA). Once you belong, your membership entitles you to free workshops, field-trips and professional development. Thursday night we went to Thomas Edison's Laboratory, which is now a national park. It was a private tour with a small group of 15.

Because Full Sail has encouraged me to get "out-there", I am now doing so, not only in Cyberspace, but in my state on a real, physical, and tangible way. I am experiencing live people with like interests and expanding my life. I didn't think I would be so excited about learning new things and sharing that with people. I haven't been a real people-after-school-person. My group in EMDT, has been so nice and encouraging, I went and found people near me to experience our New Jersey World together with. They even climbed to the top of the George Washington Bridge! They showed me pictures that were incredibly high on the towers. I don't know if I would have had the courage to go that far up, not everyone in the group that day did get all the way to the top, but they all had the opportunity to do so.

They are living a challenging, exciting, and learning-filled life for their students. I am glad I did something finally with the group. I had belonged for a year, but didn't get involved. Now, that has all changed because of Full Sail. After having all of these differing experiences, we all come back to the classroom with our lives having been enriched, and we can pass that on to our students.

Thanks.