Reflecting back on my learning

As I reflect back on where I was technologically-wise and where I am now, I realize I have done quite a lot and I'm even amazed at myself at how much about technology I now know. I recall being somewhat reluctant at first, but thank goodness Nicole, our school technology teacher kept on believing that I would learn, she kept e-mailing me website after website for me to try until finally I decided to give one of the websites a try. Let's just say the first time there were a few barriers, for starters I was in the portable, the website I used didn't seem to work well, there were a number of problems when I was working with my class. Well I was about to give up on the whole idea of using technology in my classroom, it just seemed more work than anything else. But there was Ms. Nicole again, and so I decided to give it another try just for her sake and the truth is I'm glad I had Nicole because thanks to her I learned that it's important first to have an open mind and be willing to try new things and take risks. Having such a wonderful support system in which you are given the opportunity to learn and grow made it easier for me to give technology a chance in my classroom. For example Nicole was willing to teach me how things worked or to go to her if I had questions. I have used a number of websites with my students, many that have been successful, others that have had drawn backs. But in the end the learning experience has been amazing. I have learned that it's okay if you don't know all the answers and letting your students know is perfectly find. I have also learned to ask for help from my own students, some who are more technology savvy than myself. I learned to have a second plan just in case technology just isn't working well on that particular day. I've learned not to be afraid of technology and to show no fear and believe it or not the computers can sense your frustration. In this particular school year I have done various projects with my students using various websites, I have also created a twitter account - a fantastic tool!, I have also created a blog, which is helpful in giving me insight as to what has worked and hasn't worked for me and I have created my own website using webnode to communicate more with my students in terms of checking out homework, important events, etc... What I would like to work on for next school year: How to know how many of my students are using my website, as it's difficult for me to know how many students are finding my website useful or not. I want to make my website more interactive, in which students can feel comfortable providing feedback either to me or each other, as I have a section right now where students can write but nobody has written on it. Linking my website to the school website for easy access to my students cutting down on oral exams during class and having students record themselves and have them evaluate themselves Get my students to write or use avatars to post in spanish/french so that there can be more peer evaluation and they can improve the target language [in this case spanish/french] Difficulties: One of my difficulties has been updating my website, I often find it hard to update with videos, tips...etc....but perhaps next year this will be easier as I won't be starting from zero Engage students on my website Update my blog more often Students not having access to internet at home and be absent on the days in which the class works on projects