PDP - Strengths and Weaknesses

According to the Net Standards and the UNI Survey my strengths included basic technology equipment operations and concepts, tools to access information and software applications. My weaknesses illustrated that while I have a solid understanding of these things as they relate to productivity and professional practice, I lack the knowledge I need as a teacher to successfully integrate technology in the classroom. Specifically, I am not as aware as I could be of instructional software and how to match that software the to the needs of the students. Also, I am not sure how to plan and design appropriate learning opportunities that integrate technology. In addition, I have absolutely no knowledge on how to use a Mac. Taking this survey helped me to see that although I had strengths in some areas, in no area was I an expert. This opened my eyes to the fact that there is still so much to learn.

As a future teacher who desperately wants to implement technology into her lessons across the curriculum, I have chosen two goals to help me achieve this successfully, (based on the weaknesses mentioned above). The first goal I have is to seek out and learn about the instructional media available to teachers, and how to match the software to the needs of my learners, so I can better implement technology in my future classroom. The second goal I have is to learn how to use a Mac. Knowing that these are the computers that I will using in my classroom gives me some fear because I have absolutely no knowledge about how to use a Mac. During our field experience mishaps, that largely were a result of not knowing how to use a Mac or make our resources compatible, I was frustrated and decided that learning how to work a Mac was an important goal that I needed to accomplish.

While in this program I have come to learn that there are many programs and resources available to help teachers. A resource I found that would help me accomplish my goals of integrating technology in the classroom, according to the needs of my students, is found here, at the Utah Education Network site. There are many Professional Development classes available to take but this one focuses on helping teachers integrate technology into the curriculum. There are 2 different classes to take. As part of the course it highlights the many instructional resources that are available for both the students and the teacher. The second class extends beyond the first class and goes further helping the student and teacher become "creators" of such projects. Also found on the UEN site is a tutorial I would take to help me become familiar with a Mac. It is found here. I believe taking a tutorial like this now would help me be effective in implementing technology in the classroom from the get-go. I fear that if I started teaching with out the knowledge of how to use a Mac, I would be at a great disadvantage. By taking a tutorial such as this before I get into the classroom, I can be at that much more of an advantage and be that much more prepared to integrate technology in the classroom.