HeatherLynch@EDIT4300

           Throughout this course, I gained a wealth of new skills and discovered a variety of innovative resources that have broadened my understanding of technology in the classroom. Each module offered valuable insights and practical applications to my current work. As I reflect on the journey through this class, I'm excited to share key concepts that stood out, highlight some of my favorite challenges, and consider how I'll carry these lessons forward in my teaching.      Two important concepts that really stood out to me are the accessibility of technology and the use of videos and screencasting to support families in understanding what their children are learning. Adding closed captions to my YouTube video was more challenging than I expected, and it gave me a new appreciation for the time and effort it takes to make content accessible to all. I also have students who rely on assistive technology, and this course has inspired me to lear...

      In this module we first explored using games in education. We explored resources such as Kahoot, Quizlet, PuzzleMaker, Quizziz, and Duolingo. I am most familiar with Kahoot. I have played it many times during professional development sessions at work, and I have played it in class with my first graders as a review activity for math. One game that wasn't mentioned on the list that I really love is Blooket. I love the interactivity of the game play with other students in the class and that you can choose from a wide variety of game modes. My students particularly love the Gold Quest and Crypto Hack modes. It has similar features to Kahoot, such as the live leaderboard, and it is very user-friendly to both create and play games. I used the PuzzleMaker site to create a crossword puzzle activity to go with my lesson plan topic. I am a huge fan of any word game (crosswords, word searches, word scrambles etc.) I might try a fun end of year crossword or word search for my c...

       Several of the topics we explored in this module have been things that have intimidated me for some time. First, I explored the storytelling and video resources. I haven't made many videos personally for either work or home use and honestly it has been something that has intimidated me. However, when using Adobe Express to make my short video, I found it to be really user-friendly, and anything I needed to figure out was quickly found online. I appreciated all of the available templates, and I was able to find one that included a lot of pictures so I could make a video to showcase pictures from my family's trip to several national parks in 2023. One video project that I've wanted to do for my first-grade families is a video series that explains how we teach phonics so that they can use those same strategies at home. I feel better prepared to tackle that. I'm also going to use Adobe Express to make my video to show families at our end of first grade celebration...