Hello and welcome to my Blog! My name is Elizabeth and I am an intermediate teacher. I have 15 years of teaching experience and am happy to be here to talk a little bit about that. When I am not teaching I manage my own household of three children and one dog. I sometimes consider my significant other my oldest as he continues to keep me young. We love spending time with our children and doing new things. Life is busy.
Professionally, life continues to be busy, and I look forward to finishing my Master's Degree this fall. I recently switched grade levels and that is an adjustment as well. My district continues to look for innovation and cater to 21st-century learners. Our curriculum has shifted over the years and we have thoughtfully adopted new and improved teaching materials. It's visible that there are a lot of lifelong learners here.
Learning something new can sometimes be a challenge, that is how I would describe my personal relationship with technology. Believe it or not, I am a very private, yet outgoing person. I do not participate in social media for many reasons. I do browse Pinterest and teachers pay teachers for resources and ideas although I have never posted on either site. In the classroom, I use Google Classroom and different online curriculums. I have dabbled in some video creations within my classroom and used basic technologies daily with a sprinkle of VRs and online PBLs. In my opinion, nothing significant really stands out.
In reflecting on my own practice, technology has been a tool that increases student engagement at times but can also be a distracting factor within a lesson. Students might spend more time creating an avatar or using points in the Piggy Shop than actually doing their work. My professional goal this year especially is to create a balanced classroom. Building off foundational skills and incorporating digital literacy into lessons will increase student learning. I am looking forward to incorporating more technology within the classroom to increase student growth and keep that motivation to drive students to want to find out more about a topic. I am hoping this course will help me to be a more technology-driven, effective teacher.
Image Souce: erintegration
