Last year was my first year teacher, so I was just simply trying to teach the kids and find my identity as a teacher. This year, I am really focusing on how to meet the students' needs while integrating technology. To be honest, I have had a lot of failures, but I have also had many successes and opportunities to learn my students. As we are beginning to head toward the end of the year, I feel much more comfortable with my ability to instruct and then serve as a facilitator.
The first Web 2.0 tool I implemented in my classroom was Edmodo. Every single student I have is on Edmodo. I first learned about Edmodo from colleagues. When I asked about it, I received vague answers like,"Facebook for school." That comment was true, but left me with no way to implement it in my classroom. This past summer I took a class teaching the fundamentals of Edmodo and it completely changed my outlook on teaching. That particular class is what inspired me to have a technology theme in my classroom.
Some of the other tools that I have been using in my classroom this year are PowToon and Weebly. These are three of the most engaging tools I have used in my teaching experience, which is why I evaluated in the PowToon video embedded below.