Reflection of Class

To start out with what was most usefully found from this class was Read, Write, Think.org.  This website, its lessons, and its philosophy really set the standard for everything else that I scrutinized in this course.  I found myself reverting back to this website to see what it offered in comparison to other lesson plans on different websites.  And, because it is associated with NCTE, the professional organization for teachers of English, I became aware of the professionalism that goes into designing and analyzing lesson plans.

This class has allowed me to become aware of the possibilities of incorporating the internet and technology into the classroom.  Since the majority of this class is internet based, a lot of the lesson plans I found utilized the internet and its potential in the classroom (i.e. blogging, Wordle.net, SAS Curriculum Pathways, and Discovery Education United Streaming)  Also, from these and other websites I was led to programs  and resources such as The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) and SchoolsMovingUp a WestEd Initiative.

All of the academic articles in this class I found most useful and inspiring and I saved them on Furl (which is now Diigo), which I also found to be a previously unheard of tool.

However, I do have some complaints  and concerns about this course as an online course.  Well, I should reiterate.  I have complaints about online courses in general, this being my first one.  Having to stare at a computer screen for hours at a time and having all my resources (links, websites, multimedia) online is a tedious and boring process.  I constantly found myself tired of looking at the computer screen and reading text–often I think I just starting skimming through text.  I most definitely had to print out, otherwise I don’t comprehend the material.

From this course, I realized how much I value paper, paper books, and writing with ink.  Even though we are entering the 21st century and lots of our reading materials are entering the world of the web, I don’t see it improving my ability to read–it is actually the opposite.  There is something organic about the interaction between the hands, eyesight, and paper and ink that makes online reading too sterile, too dull, and too irksome.  I am really concerned about technologies such as Amazon’s Kindle.  Synthesizing this information, I have realized that I want to achieve a healthy balance between online and paper material in the classroom.  Personally, I want students to analyze the difference.

As far as my blog goes, I think I will continue to use one for my personal use.  I don’t know about using this actual one again, but this summer I might document my learning using a blog during a nonacademic internship.  For classroom purposes, I think there is a time and a place for class blog and personal blogs, and I hope to make this time at some point in the future.