Reflection
The word journey would definitely describe my participation in this year-long project. I have to admit that I've learned quite a bit. It has been frustrating at times and I have really had to push myself to get it all done. Because this is a reflection, I would probably have changed some of the things that I created and do lots of different kinds of work. It's like you are learning a new concept as you're creating the project and then you are out of time and must turn it in as an artifact. At that point you understand the program so much better that you want to create something completely different. This is what I did with my extra artifacts. I added some things that I created later on in the year that I liked much better. This project is not for everyone. All the people at my school didn't hang on until the end. I'm glad that I did and I'm glad that it's over. I forced myself to learn a lots of information in a relatively short period of time. It has really made me become a better teacher and I've used lots of the stuff in my classroom.
Standard I - Informed Decision-Making: I have actually grown in this area. Because I teach computers, lots of people ask me what do buy and what to use. Realistically, some of this sofware is a bit tedious for just anyone to use. You can, however, modify it to fit your students' needs.
Standard II - Acquire, Analyze, and Evaluate Information: You have to really manage your time and decide on what information is important. When you're in the help area for some of this software, you have to decide what things you can and can't do in a specific amount of time.
Standard III - Task-Appropriate Tools in Problem-Solving: In the area of audio production, this really holds true. I found that many of the freeware versions of mixing software do NOT work. You have to use the best equipment for the job, even if it's pretty hard sometimes.
Standard IV - Communicate Information: Because you're essentially a ghost behind the computer screen you have to learn to communicate in a very different way. You are forced to include all of the information and make sure that the info gets to the other end. This was a challenge.
Standard V - Instruction that Incorporates Technology: I have come up with even more material for my students. All the ideas of my other classmates also have helped.
Standard VII - Desktop Publishing: This is my strongest area, but I still learned a lot more about PDF's and how to make DP work for you from anywhere.
Standard VIII - Digital Graphics/Animation: It took awhile for me to grasp the sofware because I had never used it before, but once I did I think that I can use it in my classroom. The kids will simplyi love it.
Standard IX - Multimedia: I learned lots more about web building. GoLive was especially challenging but fun.
Standard X - We produced the first-ever video yearbook for my high school. We are going to market it in the fall. Without this class and its projects, I proably would have never been able to complete such a daunting task.
Standard XI - Web Mastering: Excellent opportunity for hands-on learning. I really enjoyed adding sound and video to my stuff.
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