Unit Plan Reflection:

After completing my unit plan, I felt very accomplished. Overall, the unit plan was

not as difficult as I originally thought it would be, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the

process. When I heard we were going to be making robots I was terrified. I thought

there was no possible way I would be able to build a robot that actually worked, but in

the end the robot was my favorite part of the unit plan. It gave me an opportunity to be

hands on and learn how to think critically and outside of my comfort zone. It pushed

me to think of ways I could later incorporate it in my unit plan. When making the video,

I was nervous that it wouldn’t turn out right, or would look like a second grader had

made it but when I completed the assignment I was very proud of my video and felt it

was a great accomplishment. It looked and sounded like I had intended for it to.

I feel that using Facebook, Twitter, and a Blog in my unit plan will only benefit the

students. It wasn’t difficult for me to create a Facebook page, and now students can

discuss and collaborate about the day’s work on a forum they spend hours on every

day. I would never have thought, before this class, that it would be okay to have a

class Twitter, but by allowing students to reflect on the day through a social media site

they are already familiar with will give me more of an analysis of how my teaching

ability is affecting each child. I believe that by using Twitter they will be more inclined

to actually give a reflection because they are probably on Twitter in the evenings

anyways. It no longer feels like homework. By creating a WebQuest, I will be able to

evaluate my students in a way that isn’t a test. I have always had test anxiety and

couldn’t stand that all of my grades were based off tests. By allowing my students to

use a WebQuest I will be able to evaluate what they know and they will have the

creative freedom to write their article how they feel is the best way to get it across to

the reader. Also, by allowing the class to be largely based off of in class, and out of

class (in the Blog) discussion, I am able to evaluate my students in ways that again are

not tests. This keeps the stress level of each student lower and many times this allows

them to have a better mind set when going into the topic.

Using a Voki to ask my students their bell ringer will increase the amount of

technology used, as well as making a simple bell ringer more fun. The students won’t

have to come in, read a question from the board, and answer. They will be able to

interact with the Voki. The Podcast also helps break up a class that would usually be

primarily a lecture. The topic of pulsar astronomy is tough and is a lot of information to

grasp, but by using a Podcast the students have a time to walk away from lecture and

learn at their own pace. They can listen once, or some may even listen twice, to the

Podcast until they understand the topic. I also enjoyed making the Glog. Making a

poster is a way to informally assess the student’s progress, but many times in my

educational career when I was assigned a poster I couldn’t get it to look the way I

wanted it to. With Glogster, I am able to create a poster that it not only exactly how I

want it to look, but I can also embed a video. This increases the amount satisfaction, as

well as the amount of material a student can put on a Glog and therefore I can assess

what they know better. Even a student that is not artistic is able to create a poster

through Glog that completely gets their point across.

After completing my unit plan, I now understand the importance of planning and

technology used in the classroom. Today’s generation was born with a computer in

their hand, by allowing them to use this technology in the classroom will only be

beneficial. It also takes time and planning to make the unit plan work. By using the

ASSURE method, you are forced to take everything into consideration before you start

teaching your unit plan. This helps in deciding which technology is best used, and on

which day it is best used on. Overall, I felt that by learning how to incorporate

technology into my future teaching career will not only benefit me, but also my

students.