Reflection on the Unit Plan

Creating a Unit Plan was very educational for me.  Prior to this class, I had never created a Lesson Plan much less an entire Unit Plan.  I found it to be great practice for my career in teaching.  I know that I will be doing a lot more of these in the years to come.  One of the things that was the most helpful to me was having a template to follow.  I would never have thought that so much needed to be considered when planning a Unit.  It was good to see all of the components laid out.  Even though I had created Unit Questions and Learning Objectives at the beginning of the semester, I learned the importance of going back to further align all of these aspects for the entire plan.  This needs to be a work in progress that goes through many alterations to be the most effective.  It was helpful to see everything in one place and tie it all together.

The section of the Unit Plan dedicated to accommodations was very beneficial for me.  It made me think through parts of the unit in a way that I hadn’t really considered when initially creating the lessons.  It really showed me how important that it is to keep that in mind throughout the planning process.  Some of the modifications actually would work for all students and should just be implemented into the plan.     

The Procedures section was a wonderful exercise in creating individual lessons that can be weaved together, like a tapestry, to answer that original Unit Question.  It really challenged me to integrate our individual technology assignments into the overall plan.  By the end, I could really see myself incorporating all of these into my future classroom one day. 

Pros and Cons of Prezi

I have mixed feelings about my first exposure to using Prezi.  There were positives and negatives for me with this experience.   I did not always find it to be very user-friendly.   One of the things that frustrated me the most was having to re-do portions of the presentation multiple times after logging off.  My entire presentation was rotated with no ability to correct it.  I had to re-align everything.  The only solution was to put a frame around the entire presentation to prevent this from happening.  This made my presentation look strange to me.   Some of the slides also would not completely rotate even after framing everything.  That made for tedious alterations that should not have been necessary.   I also had trouble getting the paths to show the specific part that I wanted.  Nothing was centered no matter how I tried to manipulate the paths.  The paths got to be a bit much with the motion, and I felt like that took away from the presentation.  There is also no ability to use audio or podcasting within the presentation.

One of the features that I did like was the ability to put a video into the presentation.  It was just a simple copy and paste.  I can see this being particularly helpful in a classroom setting.  There are so many steps to go through when including a video in PowerPoint, so this was very refreshing.  I also liked being able to see the entire canvas of the presentation at one time.  That was visually appealing and was helpful in knowing what else needed to be included.  It is also nice to be able to access the presentation from any computer with internet access.  For a teacher, this could be extremely useful.

Overall, I am not sure that Prezi will be something that I will use a lot in the future.   It may be because I am just simply more familiar with PowerPoint so that is easier for me to use.   It may be that I just need to play with it a little bit more to get myself more comfortable with some of the features.  I am glad to have been exposed to this as a viable option for creating presentations.    

Another Reflection

I originally felt very apprehensive about learning all of the technology for this class.  I was nervous because I have only basic computer knowledge and skills.  To my pleasant surprise, my anxiety has been unnecessary.   The project that I was most concerned about was the Student Web Project.  What a relief it was to be able to use Wix!  That program was so easy to use – even for me.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I finished the project.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was.  I was worried about how elementary aged students would be able to use some of the skills that I am learning in this class, but I can see now that with a small bit of training implementing some of this into an elementary classroom is certainly feasible.

My biggest challenge, so far, has been in creating the content for the assignments.  The technology aspect has taken some getting used to but has not been that difficult to create and manipulate.  I have also been happy to learn about all of the possibilities for free downloads – like Wix and Prezi.  This makes these programs accessible to everyone.  In this day and time where budgets and resources are scarce, I can see this being very useful in the classroom.  Being aware of what is out there will be very important as the years go by.  I am sure that there are changes and additions almost constantly.  I will have to be very persistent in keeping up with what is current.  The reality is that students today are much more computer savvy that most adults are – certainly me.  I want to be the kind of teacher that is on top of things so that I can be better prepared to engage my future students in meaningful and practical ways that encourage learning. 

Initial Reflections

                I have learned a tremendous amount already in EDT 610.  Because I am pretty clueless when it comes to technology issues, I have been eager to see how all of this will fit into the classroom.  In just a few short weeks, I can already see how incorporating technology into the classroom can be such a valuable tool.  Learning how to use Excel was particularly helpful for me.  I can see how relevant this is for creating a grade book and keeping track of an individual student’s progress as well as the entire classroom.  Utilizing the features of Excel can save so much time and provide a much richer amount of knowledge.  Being able to calculate the percentage of students who scored less than a certain amount on a test is valuable information that will help me know if concepts need to be retaught and teaching methods altered.      

                When preparing for the Unit Introduction, I had a difficult time coming up with a topic that I thought would fit all of the criteria throughout the assignments for the semester.  This was my first time to take a look at the curriculum standards for the various grade levels.  This was a real eye-opening experience for me.  Through this Unit Introduction assignment I am able to see how things can all fit together in terms of planning a cohesive lesson plan while simultaneously adhering to the standards.   Having this exposure early on in the program will serve me well as I will be focusing on this not just in school but when I am a teacher as well.

                The organization of the Unit Plan seems particularly helpful.  It helps to keep everything organized and makes for optimum preparation.  I can definitely see the importance of developing quality essential and unit questions.  Taking a look at the Bloom’s Taxonomy information while frustrating at first has been extremely revealing in terms of expectations for what and how students learn.  It would be so easy to have students just learn the facts, but I can now clearly see the importance and value of the high-order thinking skills that need to be components of all lesson plans.  It helps to guide my creativity when thinking about this especially as a future elementary teacher.      

Introduction

My name is Becca Wilson and I am a stay-at-home mom going back to school for Early Childhood/Elementary Education.  I have a Master's Degree in Child Development but have not been in school for 15 years.  I am not very proficient in computer technology, and I am looking forward to learning all that I can to bring me up to speed with today's technology.  Three things that I expect to learn in this class are how to use Excel Spreadsheets, how to "blog" and how to use web-based technology.