Today's post, as I understand it, is supposed to be about organizing my online life; more specifically, my presentation to two of my classmates about Evernote, and to theirs about BlendSpace and Google Drive. It was quite interesting, because while I like Evernote, after listening to my classmate's presentation about Google Drive, I was sold that using it would help me out tremendously. Ironically, when I was giving my presentation about Evernote, she became convinced that it was what SHE would use most often. I also enjoyed learning about BlendSpace, but had some concerns about how to use it and still have the things that I post to my class (like quizzes, tests, and lecture notes) be secure.
I really enjoyed this opportunity to learn more about what's available to help me become more comfortable with technology and to help me become more organized. The thought of having multiple classes and students to keep up with as a teacher makes me a bit apprehensive. It's hard enough for me to keep up with ME and MY STUFF; how in the world will I be able to handle the work of one (or many) classes of 30 students? Knowing that there are programs and applications to help me make me feel a lot better about my ability to manage a classroom...and my life.
So, I could tell you about the advantages of Evernote. I really like the fact that it automatically saves everything that you post, so you don't have to go looking for it or worry about losing it. I can tell you that you can post and/or organize everything from pictures to recipes. I could also tell you that it is a great way to communicate and store communications with students and other teachers. However, I think that there's definitely more to this assignment than that.
I really enjoyed giving a presentation to my classmates in this manner, because of a formal lecture, it was more of a friendly conversation. It promoted a spirit of collaboration and collegiality, and took quite a bit of pressure off of me. At the same time, it was quite daunting, because I really had to know what I was talking about in order to explain the advantages of Evernote in a clear and concise manner. What made it easier to do, however, was being able to do this with my peers, who were very supportive and helpful (thanks guys). I look forward to being a teacher and having this type of atmosphere with other teaching professionals, and it helps to know that I can use technology to assist me in this process.
Jessica, I can appreciate the fact that you were excited about learning new tools for organization because, like you, I have a hard time keeping myself and my own thoughts organized. I also presented on Evernote and I feel like it is a great tool for both my personal life and my collegiate/professional life. It is a great research tool because it is so easy to save URL's and I think it's great that as teachers we have to ability to share notebooks with students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you! Talking about some online tools has been refreshing. I feel like I always forget how much the web has to offer! While I can't quite see myself using all of these tools, I did find it helpful to learn about some new websites. I hope that in the fall semester we can do this again with three new tools. I still feel like there are things a teacher does that could be handled online. For example, I wonder if there are any really good free websites that share lesson plans from other teachers. I feel like this could be extremely useful because it never hurts to have a different lesson than usual.
DeleteI enjoyed this post, Jessica, and I was happy to read your reflections on the process of giving (and being in the audience for) a presentation, and to know that you were impressed with the tools that you learned about. Our hope was that this would be a help to all of you tied into an assignment, and it sounds like that might have been the case for you....that's great news!
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