Let’s see……The Podcast project really turned out to be easier than expected. I spent a lot of time working with it because a download caused me a tremendous amount of computer issues. I spent about a week trying to get everything in my computer to work correctly. In the meantime,The Wiki project was coming due and I was so distracted. Furthermore, I had not written lesson plans before and I could not, for the life of me, begin the project. I knew some of the elements for lesson planning but was not at all confident to create one.
I am so thankful for kindness. My class-mate sat with me for a few minutes as I came up with the idea for my project. She helped me to understand the picture of what needed to be accomplished. The funny thing is……I read the expectations……understood them…. just the picture was not created in my mind. Once I began to work on my Wiki project, the creation of the project was not so intuitive to me. I spent many hours trying to do something that was probably very easy for a digital native.
This has not been a bad experience though. I have truly learned a lot. There is great value in going through “the fire”. I have come through more computer savvy, if you will. If I come across something unfamiliar, I am willing to use a tutorial and “how to” websites more quickly. I realize none of the accomplishments were difficult, once I knew how to do the task. No task was too difficult to learn. I take this version of life’s lesson with me to my future classroom. I understand the frustration of wanting to know NOW……and the greater necessity of taking the time to learn how.
The products created are enjoyable and easy. I want to use QR codes, wiki-pages, digital stories, and podcasts now that my mind is relaxed enough to know how to use it. I am still formulating which project links best with which subject. I’ll let you know my answer to how I will use it in the classroom in my next post.
jm0439 