Week 15 Reflection

This has been a very busy week trying to finalize all the last minute projects for the end of the semester. My partner and I communicated back and forth over cell phones, email, and Google documents to finish up our teacher work sample. That was a huge amount of work. I saved the TWS in numerous different places because I wouldn’t want to loose it and have to redo it. I have lost information when computers die and it is not a pretty sight. My laptop of six years finally died, but never fear, I was prepared by saving files on two different computers. Windows 2007 and Vista are becoming more familiar to me as I have had to start using them on a new laptop. In addition, I have used technology to communicate with family, friends, and professors this week. I have done some research for final projects on the internet. The most valuable piece of technology that I have learned to use this semester in Instructional Media would be the ability to work on and share documents with others through Google documents. I don’t know why any other instructors haven’t suggested it before, it would have been so helpful with all the group work we have done in the past. In class, I enjoyed trying out everyone’s Webquests. It was interesting to see what others had thought of. I look forward to the final, when we will be able to watch the digital stories.

I watched the video Do You Believe In Me? and was impressed that the young man was able to get up in front of 20,000 people and deliver a speech. Dalton Sherman, a young man of about 12 was the keynote speaker at the back-to-school convocation in Texas. He gave a motivational speech to school personnel. He said that he has confidence in his abilities because they believed in him. He said they better believe in the students because they would all be showing up in their classrooms next week. He said they better not give up on them because in many cases they were all they had. He asked the audience to believe in, trust in, and lean on their colleagues. He asked the audience to believe in themselves and to believe that every child needs to be ready for college or the workplace. He told the audience they had the most important job in the city. I was impressed with this young man and hope that each day I will be able to believe in the students in my future classrooms and give them the confidence they need to succeed.