When I started working on the Educational Technology Endorsement Program about a year ago I was just getting my feet on the ground as a new teacher. I had two years behind me, teaching Family and Consumer Sciences and learning about FCCLA. I'd spent two years following what other people had done in their classes that they found to be successful and I was beginning to understand where I might want to make changes in my classes but was a little bit afraid to do so. I knew a little bit about technology, only enough to get me in trouble though, and wanted to be able to make my classes more interesting, more fun and to help the students find direction in their own education. I've found that as I make changes, they make changes too and classes become more about the students and less about the teacher.

In this course I've learned how to create a website using Google Sites and explored various formative assessments, I created a hyper doc - which I learned about at the URSA conference last fall but didn't feel that I knew where to put that in my classes, and I learned how to create educational videos to help with a flipped classroom or with a sudden change from standard classroom learning to mostly on line learning. In the middle of my own learning I've been pushed harder than expected to make changes to my classes to make them more accessible on line and to create the on line learning that is necessary today for my students to finish their school year.

I know how important it is to integrate technology into the classroom and to do it safely with effectiveness and while teaching responsibility and good digital citizenship. One of the classes I enjoyed most and that was strengthened with this Classroom Integration of Educational Technology class was Teaching Digital Citizenship. I learned how important it is to teach and help the students understand what being a digital citizen is. It is important that we teach about digital tools and the importance that they are going to play in the future and with that comes the responsibility to to be a good citizen, digitally and otherwise. I really enjoyed teaching that section in each of my classes and even though it is emphasized some in more classes than others, I spend time now at the beginning of the semester in each class and then throughout the semester during the assignments to emphasize being careful in what we do on the internet and otherwise, personally and in our assignments.

I had hoped to integrate technology into my classroom but hadn't really focused on how I was going to do that. Using the tools from this endorsement program, I've been able to include multiple assignments and methods of delivering information and testing that have changed the overall value of my classes. I've learned how important it is to have a student-centered learning environment as opposed to the teacher-centered environment I was creating at first. I've been able to base my class lesson plans on a variety of blended learning models that allow the students to either learn new ways or use the tools they've learned in other classes to learn, discover, create and then present and share the current class information in fun and informative ways.

I've learned that integrating technology can be done easily and effectively when it is planned with a purpose in mind. I've learned not to be afraid of new things and to just jump in and give them a try. The students actually have some fun with that when they know that I'm trying something new and they are awesome to help with suggestions or even answers sometimes when I'm struggling with getting something to work the way I want it to or to accomplish the leaning goal that I have in mind. I've definitely had some failures, or things that didn't work but usually I've been able to find something better or different that does work when I start looking. These classes have transformed the way I think and want to teach; they have given me new ways to look at the issue and new ways to solve the problem at hand. I love learning and I love that there are so many fun ways to learn what we need to learn - there is something that can work for everyone.

I've noticed that I need to give more explicit instruction and that I need to model more to reach the impact that I'm hoping for. I think that some of the assignments need to be more for fun while learning the application such as Padlet, Adobe Spark, Prezi or Thinglink and then we can move on to implement the course assignment. I've learned to not be afraid to let the students know that I'm learning too and we all have a learning curve to overcome. It is fun to learn together.

I was thrown into using Canvas when I was a student and then again as a teacher and now I have had time to learn many of the tools that are available because of working my way through this endorsement. The more I learn, the more effective I can be and the easier it becomes to get all the things done that I hope to get done. The tools I've learned about and continue to learn about are making teaching more fun, learning more fun and just playing with the digital world more fun. I hope to continue to learn more and learn to apply what I learn effectively.