Reflections

Like the various other blogs I've attempted to maintain, this one has suffered the same neglected fate. 

I recognize that technology is becoming an increasingly  large part of our everyday lives, and I'm doing my best to accommodate its pervasiveness; however, I am an analog girl through and through. 

I don't know why, but my brain just doesn't seem to process all this tech stuff very well.  For example, I can skim online articles, but if I want to have a truly engaging experience with a text, I have to print it out.  Perhaps I'm a kinesthetic learner?  I find that holding the pages in my hands helps me remember information because I can situate it spatially within the text itself.  Also, annotating texts is another mnemonic tool as the physical act of writing notes improves my information retention.

Like I said, I am trying to adapt, especially since technology will play a large role in my classroom, and I will be interacting daily with my tech-savvy students.

While the tech aspect of this class proved to be challenging, I greatly enjoyed other aspects of class such as the group presentations.  Typically, I prefer to work on my own; however, I really enjoyed the projects in this class because the members of my group were wonderful to work with.  Each contributed meaningful insights, and provided a unique perspective on the subjects.  Most importantly, we worked together very well, and I greatly enjoyed getting to know each member better. 

Class discussions were usually very lively, and I appreciated everybody's willingness to contribute.  I learned much from each person's unique perspective.  My fellow students' group presentations made an impact upon me, as well, particularly the one concerning video games.  That presentation not only introduced me to the foreign world of video games, but it also made me think about including video games into my understanding of literacy.

I appreciate that this class made me analyze my approach to the classroom.  It really re-organized my perceptions of what the classroom can be because it modeled an interactive discussion-based style of teaching in addition to forcing me to engage with technology and the variety of literacies made possible by technology in the classroom.