I am pretty happy with how this week turned out. I completed all assignments (although I am realizing now that I never tweeted my daily create from yesterday – will do that after this post!) and I chose a mashup project that took me outside my comfort zone. I felt more comfortable with the new digital story critique requirements and got more out of the critiquing this week than I did last week when I had a hard time relating the information from the remix chapter to the story I chose to critique. I continue to enjoy engaging in conversation with my group members and love the ideas that I am getting from them to use in my classroom.
The piece that gave me trouble this week also happens to be the piece that I enjoyed the most and where I learned the most. My mashup assignment was the first time I used any sort of photoshop software and even though my project was fairly basic, I struggled with the tools. I ended up pretty pleased overall with the outcome, but it was a challenge to achieve what I was looking for. I learned a lot about how to edit pictures as well as the limitations that using free online tools can hold.
I also learned a lot about the implementation of technology in my classroom, as well as the importance of a participatory culture. I would like to think that a lot of what I read is already a part of my teaching practice, but there is always room for improvement. If nothing else, I think I have learned some new language that I will be using to gain involvement from my students.
This was a pretty smooth week for me, and for the first time I’m not sure that I would have done anything differently. I came back to the text several times to interact with my group members, which I will continue to do in the next couple weeks. I would say I met all of the course expectations. I am tempted to say that I exceeded them, but I have a really hard time giving myself that kind of rating because I know I could always improve my practice!
lhaskins 