Growth

When told to measure your growth without data, it can be hard to visualize where you are from where you were before. I find it hard sometimes, to really be able to narrow down what I've learned over time, but this is not the case for this class.

Let's start with Twitter. I've used Twitter personally, so walking into a class where a professional account is necessary was not favorable for me. I've seen how wild twitter can be, and I really didn't think that I would be able to use it in a way that would be beneficial as a teacher. In fact, I thought the opposite. I thought as a teacher, the best way to keep the idea of being a good role model is to not use social media at all, and if you did, it had to be private.

I've learned that this is simply not true. I couldn't believe how extensive "teacher twitter" really is, and I really couldn't believe how much I enjoyed using it. After a few days of using Twitter, I thought to myself, "How am I supposed to teach children in a technological way, if I don't even use the services myself?". It has really flipped my view on the importance of being up to par with students when it comes to tech and the knowledge I need to have.

The other tech tricks we learned really impressed me. I think that getting a taste of all the different things that can be used by teachers for students really sparked my interest in learning how to use them better. I feel that when leaving this class, I have broadened my horizons to so many supports and websites to help me be a successful teacher in the classroom and online.