Reflection Assignment #1
What I Learned:
I learned that as a teacher it is a good idea to get to know your
fellow faculty members and students. Knowing the people you interact
with everyday can help make your job a fun place to be. You can get
advice from other teachers or make friendships with faculty members
that will last a lifetime. I also learned about my classmates and their
backgrounds. Reading about fellow aspiring teachers was so much fun.
Its a joy to meet people that share the same passion for teaching that
I do. Even though I have never personally met my classmates I feel like
I know them.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
I couldnt find the weakness of this assignment. My strengths
pretty much explain why. The assignment wasnt too difficult. It was
fairly easy writing about myself and why I want to become and
educator. Having everyone write about his or her passion for teaching
is this assignments biggest strength. It was really cool seeing
everyones reasons as to why they want to be a teacher.
Student Activity:
I would ask my students to make a small poster board with
pictures that describe who they are. They could also write facts about
themselves on the board. My Spanish teacher had us do this when I
was in sixth grade and the class really enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning
about my classmates this way and having visuals helped to see
everything our fellow classmates liked.
Reflection Assignment #2
What I learned:
I learned what is in a traditional classroom design. The students
desks need to be neatly organized so the classroom doesnt look
cluttered. There needs to be computer stations, trashcans, and a
whiteboard. I learned a lot about tools on Word that I have not used
before. The shapes tool was very handy to help create trashcans and
desks for the computer stations in my design. The textbox feature was
helpful when I was labeling the items in my classroom.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The only weakness I found with this assignment was that we had
to label everything in our classroom. I understand why we labeled
some stuff that wasnt easily recognized from a birds eye view.
However, stuff like the students desks, blackboard, and my desk were
items that I felt shouldnt have been required to be labeled. The
strengths greatly outweighed that one weakness. It was really fun to
design my future classroom. I got to picture what it would be like to be
a teacher and have my classroom reflect who I am. I cant wait to have
my own classroom one day.
Student Activity:
Since I want to teach middle school Spanish Im not sure how to
have an activity like this tied in to a lesson. I could have my students
look at my classroom and ask them to list the things they like and
dislike about its design. That would help me make my classroom more
enjoyable for my future students.
Reflection Assignment #3
What I Learned:
I learned how to use the borders tool to help bring life to my
flyer. The WordArt tool was help for creating the title of my school
event. I learned what information is required on a newsletter for my
students. This will help when I need to notify my students about an
upcoming classroom event.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
I couldnt find any weakness with this assignment. I feel that it is
crucial to know what information needs to be on a handout so my
students are well informed. The borders and WordArt is also important
because it makes the page look more appealing to read. The strengths
of the assignment are my defense as to why it has to weaknesses.
When I was handed a bland piece of paper in school I never read it I
just put it in my backpack.
Student Activity:
I would write all of the information for an upcoming event on the
board and have my students go home and either draw or design one in
Word. They would bring me their flyers the following day and turn them
in to me. I would pick my favorite and use it as the handout. I believe
this assignment would be good because it allows my students to show
their creativity as well as show me what they think an interesting flyer
would look like.
Reflection Assignment #4
What I learned:
I learned all about the education department website, the CSN
website, and the CCSD website. The resources on all of these pages
are very helpful and I feel they will be of great use to me. Learning
about Weebly was also very cool. Its an essential website for EDU
majors and setting my own site up will help me keep track of all of my
assignments.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The strengths of this assignment were why I enjoyed doing it.
Learning about the resources available to us on the various sites was
very enlightening. The Weebly website is a necessary item for all EDU
students and its good that we had to make one. There werent any
negatives I found with this assignment, I really enjoyed doing it.
Student Activity:
This assignment was perfect, and Id hate to steal it. I love the
idea of a scavenger hunt of websites with resources they would need
for the school year. So first of all I would give them a similar
assignment where they look for a specific page and answer questions.
They would need to look for specific information on the page to answer
the question posed to them.
Reflection Assignment #5
What I Learned:
I learned a lot about what is important to know while shopping
for a computer. I learned how Mac computers and HP computers can be
so similar yet so different at the same time. I learned what RAM was
and that a Terabyte is equal to 1,000 gigabytes. I also learned that due
to budgeting it is important to pick the best option in a certain price
range to give your students the best experience.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The strengths of this assignment were I learned the inner
workings of a computer. I found out a lot of information that I have
never looked for when buying a laptop or desktop. The weaknesses
were that I dont see this situation happening in real life. Although it
was enlightening to see all of the details I dont get why the student
would pick the computer. I found researching the separate computers
details tiresome.
Student Activity:
Split to class into groups and ask them to research computers of
the same price from different brands. I would give each class a
computer that they need to do research on. Then report their findings
back to me.
Reflection Assignment # 6
What I learned:
I learned a lot about PowerPoint doing this assignment. I learned
how to choose a theme and change slide designs. I also learned about
action buttons. I had never used them let alone heard of them before.
They come in handy instead of having a hyperlink to a website in your
presentation. It was also great to know what should be in a
presentation for my future classes.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The strengths of this assignment were that it helped refresh my
memory when it comes to PowerPoint. I havent used PowerPoint in
awhile and it was refreshing to use all of the tools again. Preparing us
to make presentations for our future students is a great idea. I could
not find any weaknesses in this assignment. I enjoyed putting my
presentation together.
Student Activity:
I will instruct my students to put a short ten -minute presentation
together. The presentation will be on an activity the student enjoys. They will
teach the rest of the class on how to do that activity. I will provide them with
a list of things that need to be in their presentation.
Reflection Assignment #7
What I Learned:
I learned everything I did in this assignment. I believe I had a
class session on Excel in middle school, but that is all of the experience
I have with this program. I learned how to flip the text vertically & how
to wrap the text in each cell. The coolest thing I learned had to be
using the formula to add a sum and an average for my students
grades. It was really enlightening to see how a teachers grade book
should look. Replying to my fellow classmates assignments also
helped. I saw that some were using colors to differentiate their
Assignments, Averages, and totals.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
I found no weaknesses in this assignment. It taught me a lot
about the Excel program. Its strengths are teaching us how a teachers
grade book should look. It also teaches us how to use Excel for the off
chance that our school uses it for grading.
Student Activity:
I will have my students use Excel to take down their grades in
each class. They will have a column with each class name and a row of
scores. They will input each grade on any assignment under the
respective class. This will help my students become familiar with excel,
and help them keep track of all of their grades!
Reflection Assignment Midterm
What I Learned:
I learned just how important current educators think technology
is to the curriculum of todays students. The schools have open nights
that center around showing parents the technology being used in the
classroom. I also found out that administrators and teachers have
different views on the digital divide in our school system. The
administrators dont believe that there is, but the teachers believe that
here is a divide.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
There was no weakness in this assignment. As future educators
we need to learn about the emergence of technology in classrooms. It
is important that we learned from current educators about the
technology they use on a daily basis to help aid their lesson plans.
Student Activity:
I can ask the students to interview another teacher at my school.
I will ask the students to get information about their background. As
well as see which technologies they use in their classroom. This will be
a great way to learn about different teachers views on technology.
Reflection Assignment #8
What I Learned:
I learned that tablets can be a great educational tool for the
future. They are just as powerful as computers, but are a lot more
affordable. Many companies are making applications specifically for
school use. As for part two, I learned that there are assistive
technologies for blind students. There is software that turns a line of
text into a line of braille.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The strengths of this assignment were great. Learning about
tablets being used in schools was interesting. I never saw them in that
way, but I do believe they are the future of education. It was also great
to learn how schools are helping students with disabilities learn. The
weakness was in part two of the assignment. It asked for technologies
used to assist the students with special needs in the classroom. When I
chose the computer I got a 0 out of 100. Different wording wouldve
prevented this confusion. Thankfully you let me re-do the assignment.
Student Activity:
Students will experiment with different assistive technologies I
bring to class. Then I will survey them on each technology to figure out
which one helped them understand or improved my lesson.
Reflection Assignment #9
What I Learned:
I learned a lot doing this assignment. I had never used or even
heard of Prezi before this. I learned that Prezi is very easy to use, and
although being another software presentation site, it has a very
different layout.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
There were no weaknesses doing this assignment. I liked the
subject matter of the presentation and it was cool to learn about Prezi.
I loved designing another presentation on a P.E. unit I am passionate
about, soccer!
Student Activity:
I will have my students get in to groups of three or four. Then, I
will have them choose a sport that they will use Prezi to do a 10-slide
presentation for me. They will need to give me some history, rules,
equipment, and an activity we can do as a class.
Reflection Assignment #10
What I Learned:
I learned that the online educational community is very big. My
favorite website was ABC Mouse. They are a company that gives your
child a lesson based on their age or grade level. It is very easy to use,
and the games were fun to play even for a 20 year old.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The only weakness I had with this assignment was that we had to
do three software instead of two. It wouldve been better to compare
and contrast two different software. The strengths of the assignment
were that I learned about cool sites for children to use when they
arent old enough to be enrolled in school. I will have my kids use ABC
Mouse when they are born.
Student Activity:
I will have my students use ABC Mouse once a week during
computer time. They will have to complete the levels of the map each
time. The map will give them varying subject matters and activities to
do. After a month I will ask them how they like the website, and if they
think it actually made learning both fun and effective.
Reflection Assignment #11
What I Learned:
I learned how to prepare a lesson plan. The student example was
my inspiration for this assignment. Using Microsoft Word, I learned how
to use the shapes function to put together a flowchart. I also learned
how to change the color of the boxes to differentiate the different days.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
I did not find any weaknesses with this assignment. The
strengths of this assignment were very great. It is important that we
learned how to create our own lesson plan, and organize it. Using word
for my flow chart was very helpful as well; I learned how to use Word in
a different way then I ever had before.
Student Activity:
I will have my students use Microsoft Word to create a flowchart.
They will use the Shapes and arrow functions to organize their flow
chart. The flow chart can be on any activity they choose. The purpose
of the chart will be to teach the class how to perform the activity.
Reflection Assignment Final
What I Learned:
I learned that a teacher lesson plan must be organized and
detailed. This will help the lesson go smoothly. I also learned how to
create my own lesson plan from scratch. The use of PowerPoint as a
script also helped me learn how to use the software differently than I
ever had before.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
There were no weaknesses in this assignment. I feel every
component required in the assignment was necessary. The lesson plan
was a great way for us to be put to the test and create a lesson that
was both interesting and fun. The twist where we had a disability
student was also great because we need to be prepared, as teachers,
for any situation. The rubric was also fun to create. It allowed me to
think on how I wanted my students to respond to my lesson and how
effective I hoped it would be.
Student Activity:
Students will be put in groups and assigned a part of history like
the Boston tea party, or the Civil War, etc. They will have to create a
lesson plan and teach the class about that historical event. This will be
helpful for aspiring teachers or kids who are passionate about history!
