EDCI 505

 Hello! My name is Alec Vaughan and I am currently at Ashland university to get my teaching certificate. I went to college originally for art, but decided to go into eductation to help kids that where in the same situation I was in with an IEP. It is not easy, so I want to make sure I can be there to cheer the kids on and help them achieve whatever they want. 

I have recently picked drawing back up again and I am loving it as a little side hobby to keep me busy! Here is some of the stuff I have made.

Post 1: Reflection

    Technology is something that is always evolving and is honestly hard to keep up with in the classroom. As soon as you get settled in with something, a new piece of tech comes out that is better than before. While it seems like you should just jump on and use it, you have to get familiar with it before you use it in the classroom. If you don't do that, it would be like running straight out into a qualifying session for a race without knowing the track. You will eventually get to know the track and set a fast time, but as soon as you get into the hang of it you are way behind the pack. The school I work at currently has VERY limited technology usage and opportunities. So I have to get very creative with how I use it in the classroom. I also work with kids on the spectrum, so just protecting the technology will be a aspect of the integration as well. I would be lying if I said I have never seen an Ipad fly across the room and shatter, so you have to be careful. 

I view this class more of practice for if I go into a public school system with higher functioning kids. The kids I work with currently just do not have the skills to use any of the tools we are learning about at the moment. That is not to say that no kids can use these tools, because there are higher functioning ones that can, I just currently do not have them in my classroom. 

I think the main thing I think about when I see these tools is how much it would of helped me when I was in school and struggling. I am a extremely visual learner, so with these websites and all these visual aids around it would of made information stick in my brain that would not of otherwise. I hope I can use these tool to help students that where in the same boat as I was when I needed them. 

Part 2: I have been learning a lot but also struggling. It is hard for me to come up with projects in my classroom right now because we do not use almost any technology aside from iPads in the classroom. Every opportunity I try to show videos to shake up the classroom a bit, with Covid stuff is a little more difficult to run a normal classroom and by normal I mean impossible. I like to show Coyote Peterson videos on YouTube to the kids. He has a FANTASTIC channel devoted to showing animals in the wild and is actually from Ohio. This way they are learning from a visual medium and is a least a bit more interactive then reading about something. I like to stop the video and ask questions as frequently as I can, I work with kids on the spectrum so the questions are pretty simple and made to challenge them to answer on more then a surface level. Instead of asking yes or no questions I like to ask what they see, so they give me an answer that is a bit more deeper then just yes or no. For example "what time of day is it in the video?" "Nighttime." "Correct, now if a animal comes out during the night to eat what is that animal called?" "Nocturnal." Stuff like that so it is more than just one layer. 

So while all the stuff is useful I am learning, I cannot really use it at the moment. If we go back online maybe I can, but at the same time it can't be to advanced that they cannot figure out how to use it. The tech may have to be watered down a significant amount for it to be effective in my classroom as while some are pretty academically advanced, conceptually they do not understand most things, so I will have to keep that in mind

Part 3: I have been pretty similar in my stance on this course. It has been nearly impossible for me to implement this in my classroom with where I am working. But I need to keep going not matter how dire the situation is. 

Google Docs has been a benefit on my end in terms of keeping track of data and other things. It has made things way easier. 

If I am honest, just the way things have been given to me in this class will keep me from using most of this from this class. Most of this I have already known and what I have gotten wrong has been told to me in such a way that I do not appreciate it.

I will not look back on this class with a shining light.