A little bit about me and why I want to teach and what I want to teach

I am a Junior at the University of South Alabama, and I plan to graduate in the Spring semester of 2011, if all goes according to plan. I'm working on a dual certification bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. I hope in my teaching career I will get the chance to teach all K-6 grades at some point. I do not ever want to teach one grade level for too long. I like change and variety. I know sometimes as a teacher one does not always get a choice in that matter, but I can hope. I want to be a teacher because I love children, and the idea of working with them all day as a job choice brings so much joy to me. I also love learning, and I hope I can bring that happiness to children one day. After changing my major multiple times, teaching is the perfect fit for me, and I am so excited and can not wait to get started.

Technology in the Classroom

Technology is here to stay, that is the truth so incorporating it into the classroom is essential. Students enjoy using technology and many use it on daily basis. Students now do not know a world where technology does not exist so, I believe it is needed in the classroom and given educational purposes for students to learn from. There are a few technological tools I want to include in my classroom for my students, which ones I will use depends on the grade I teach. I want to have a podcast of all daily lessons so parents can hear what their children are learning, and so if a child is out of class for the day they will not have to miss the lesson. I also would like for me and my students to have a class blog, where the students can post their work and make connections with others from around the world. I want them to see that others besides friends and family enjoy their work. I want them to have a world wide audience so they can really see that the world is their oyster, and also so they can in some way see that there is a bigger world out there than their hometown. A couple of other tools I would like my students to use is TimeToast and Google Earth. I like the idea of making their own timelines to see events in history. Google Earth has multiple uses such as, taking a tour of an ocean floor or Google Lit trips where if we are reading a novel such as "The Great Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", the class can see the different places he goes. I also want my students to make movies, podcasts, and animations. Technology is the future, and if the purpose of schools and teachers is to prepare younger generations for the workforce than teaching them technology is a must.