Five Things I've Learned

*A personal reflection on five things I have learned and how each relates to education.*

1 "I didn't give you an 'F', you gave yourself that grade."
This is a quote many teachers have said to me. One specifically engraved it into my mind last semester when I took Diversity in Schools, Families, and Communities.  There was a lot of work required for that class and we had different assignments where we had to put in time and effort to come up with lessons to teach our class.  In the beginning of the semester the professor said this quote to us; if we did not try and do our best, we were only cheating ourselves and giving ourselves that grade of a 'D' or 'F'.  I could not agree with him more; I know I will be saying this to my own class one day.  When a student does not try and put in the effort to their work, they do not deserve a high grade like the ones who spend hours on end making everything almost perfect. 
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." - Vince Lombardi

2 Not everything always goes as planned.
Thinking about all my years in elementary school through high school, up to college today I've realized this is true.  Before college there was always that possibility of sitting and class during a lesson and the fire alarm going off.  It would interrupt the teacher, or the test/ quiz we were taking and push us just a little father back to where we may or may not need extra time the next class.  Some teachers lesson plans also may not go the way they wanted them to.  Maybe the copier machine was broke that day so he/she couldn't make the copies we needed for class.  I have learned that this is okay though, not everything can be perfect and always go the way you plan them to.  You have to make do of what you have and "roll with the punches," work with the material you have and the time that is given to your class.

3 "Can I go to the bathroom?"
I don't think I have ever met a student that has not had their teacher say this to them; "I don't know, can you go to the bathroom?"  Reason being, us as students never wanted to hear it because all we wanted to do was get the answer "yes."  Instead, since we were using the wrong grammatical terms, the teacher would correct us and we would have to re ask saying, "may I go to the bathroom?" and that is when we were allowed to go.  Growing up around that engraved into our minds as students that when asking to use the facilities that is the correct way to ask and from that point on you would say "may I" instead of "can I" so you wouldn't get that question.  I have learned that all a teacher is ever doing is their job, helping you grow and expanding your education just a little more because that is what they are there for; no harm done there!

4 Cursive forever.
Throughout elementary school we were always told that we would have to write in cursive forever for every paper written and project due.  I personally have maybe written one or two papers in cursive and from there on out everything is now typed.  Teachers today and professors never want handwritten work due to the fact that everyone has a different way of writing, some may be illegible.  Also, we now type papers and reports so that we can email them and post them in locations where in one click the teacher can see your work done without any issues of not knowing what this or that says.  It's crazy to see how technology has became a huge impact on so many lives and how much of a help it is when it comes to education; not losing students papers, getting things done faster because typing is in most cases faster than writing, having everything in a Google Doc or even in a small flash drive.

5  Every student has their own way of learning.
I can look around a classroom full of students and see not everyone doing the same thing.  Some are on their phones, taking notes, sleeping, listening and not writing, or buried in their book trying to follow along with the teacher.  I feel that everyone learns differently, whether its by one of the ways I just listed or another way.  No one should ever be judged if they are just sitting there listening in class because maybe that's how they remember everything, or if someone is looking down all class that, maybe they need everything written down so later on they can study and go back to their notes for a homework assignment. 

Second Post in my new blog

So I've decided writing in this blog is actually kind of fun and really cool. We can write about anything we want that relates to our technology course. This Wednesday in class our minds were once again packed with loads of information. Professor Ross always is ready to go and makes class fun.

I really enjoyed how we got to follow along with the slides right in front of our faces. I honestly don't like when professors stand in the front of the classroom and just do a slide show for the whole duration of class. I enjoyed doing the little blogs and activities that were set up for us so we could practice using Google Docs, Drive, and Slides. My favorite one was when we got to play around with slides and we typed three things about us and one of them had to be false, then the class would have to guess which one was the "odd one out." I know there is so much more to learn with Google and I am looking forward to further classes to learn all about it.

I'm finding that Google could be very helpful in my teaching career. When students are going to be assigned projects and need to save their work for a presentation they could easily use Google Docs and Drive to do so. Considering the fact that I want to be an art teacher I may fid Google Drawing to be helpful too where students can submit their artwork onto it and I have been told you can draw right on the computer too using your mouse?, I have no had the chance to look a it yet but it is something I will definitely look further into. I know we only had two classes so far but I am getting used to the "brain stuffing" and looking forward to class more and more as the weeks go by. I think I'm almost ready to see what Gamification is all about... a class game sure sounds fun! 

Well I am signing off for the night, until next time!!
- Brianne

September 3



I walked into my first day of class a little nervous and not knowing what to expect.  Intro to technology did not exactly seem like the class for me considering that I am not the "technological type." As soon as Professor Ross walked in a weight was somewhat lifted off of my shoulders because she seemed like a nice professor. She started talking and explaining our class materials and outline of what the semester was going to consist of. In my opinion it seemed like a lot but at the same time I know it was all going to be helpful for the future and interesting. It made me excited for the course and see what kind of work we would be doing.


Not only did we learn about the syllabus and course material but also created gmail accounts which I have never had and also created our OWN webpage which I thought was awesome.  I did not even know there was such a thing out there.  It was fun to see what we could do and what we could change to make our profiles more fun and outgoing.


We made this Blogger too, I have never had a blog in my life before but got excited when I found out because I have always wanted one. Writing on this will be fun to me and will let me express how I am feeling about the class and let me say what I have been liking and not... so far I can't foresee not liking something in this class. It is only the first day and does seem like a lot of work but I'm ready to learn and take on the rest of the semester!








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