Let's get this rolling

The course has officially begun. Time to get this show on the road. It seems like a logical place is to start by answering the question about what areas I feel I need to improve on as a teacher and what I hope to learn from this course.

The ways I would like to improve as a teacher are many. Like most teachers, I find daily ways to improve areas of my lessons. I have no illusions of grandeur when it comes to my teaching abilities. I know that there is a lot of room to improve. One specific area, I would like to improve is being able to engage my students to participate more freely in my class. I have access to some tools to help me achieve this but maybe I am lacking the ability to integrate them fully into my classroom setting. One the reasons, I got excited about this course was seeing the syllabus and really getting the sense that the practical nature of the materials would allow me to easily implement them into my lesson planning. Just from one morning session, I think my first impressions were right as I have already thought about a dozen different ways to improve the way I teach.

Another area, I feel I need improvement in is connectivity with my students. I want my students to fully engage themselves into my class but with the language barrier that exists it is difficult to form real relationships with them. Without some sort of connection between teacher and student, a disconnect can occur which can form a barrier to learning. Once again, I think there are already a few ways that this course will help me resolve this issue. I definitely see the potential that getting my students to participate in Schoology could help break down some of the barriers that exist between student and teacher. As we discussed, some students are more introverted than others and given the opportunity to communicate freely via a posting board on Schoology would allow these students to connect with me and the others students in a way they might not be able to in person. As others suggested as well, Facebook can also be useful in creating this type of environment.  Korean students are especially interesting in creating an digital identity so I think using some of these digital mediums above will help encourage them to create one within the context of my class. 

I'm sure there will be countless ways that this course will help me improve but from just a brief introduction I am excited about potentially being able to truly integrate technology more efficiently into my lessons. 

As Bugs Bunny says.....That's all folks.