Judy+Holmes+reflection+April

I am excited to be a part of this program for myself as a teacher, but especially for my students. This work is so important to give them the best learning experience with the benefits of online and face-to-face instruction. They will be better prepared for life, their future education, and the 21st century. After day one in April, I was more than a little overwhelmed. I thought what did I get myself into. However, I wanted to hear more. I was thankful for our team of English teachers from across the state with varying degrees of experience with online teaching and online courses. Also, I appreciated the vast knowledge about technology. Day two still left me overwhelmed, but my mission was now a lot clearer. When I returned to my school to report back to my principal, I told him I wished I was 20 years younger because the future in education with our students was going to be so exciting. Some points I took away from our April training include: 1) increasing student engagement; 2) increasing student choices in their own learning; 3) there is not one right answer; 4) peer evaluation can be an asset; 5) the never ending importanace of clear objectives and direcitons; 5) using the Iowa Core to direct how we will get "there"; and 6) better together! As part of the Critical Friends Leadership Group, we developed a set of survey questions to compile feedback from our English teacher colleagues. This was created by Shawn using a googledoc. I have had no prior experience with Moodle, but I strive to be a better teacher who listens to her students and does whatever it takes to meet their needs. Again, I do feel overwhelmed but excited at the same time.