The collaborative classroom approach that we learned about throughout this course has largely impacted my thoughts on using technology in the classroom. Throughout this specific lesson I realized how helpful technology can be while using it correctly in the classroom. From this I have learned about the variety of ways students can collaborate with one another or outsiders with technology. Learning from others is something that comes naturally to children and therefor makes collaboration so important. After taking this course, this lesson has changed my perspective and led me to excitement in using technology in the classroom. Leading with online presence was a concept I had never thought of before. This is something I can even bring into the classroom to lead by example of how my students can grow to be leaders. This has impacted the way I will use technology in my classroom because I want my students to be aware of what they are posting online throughout their time growing up and do something good with social media. Design thinking is one of my personal favorite methods i've learned about during this course. I think this is an amazing idea that exercises different parts of the brain. This gives students a change to be creative as well as analyze while problem solving. Using technology to research and collaborate is brilliant! Students can gain so much insight and come up with amazing findings when given a space safe to learn and the correct tools to do so. Technology is impacting learning in the classroom so much and students are passing our expectations each day. 
A resource I will use in the future is the document "Redefining Learning in a Technology-Driven World". This document highlights different methods and how students grow within the classroom. This document is something I can and will turn to when checking to make sure I am doing everything possible to give my students a meaningful learning experience. https://id.iste.org/docs/Standards-Resources/iste-standards_students-2016_research-validity-report_final.pdf?sfvrsn=0.0680021527232122 
Student-centered learning is an approach I would like to learn more about. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-starts-with-teacher-john-mccarthy This link allows me to refresh on what I already know about the idea and walks me through how I would take action. I will be referring to this resource in my future to remind myself how important it is to incorporate student-centered learning.
Before taking this course I did not like the idea of using more technology in the classroom. I thought using technology would take away opportunities but instead it is just the opposite. Through research and assignments i have come to the conclusion that technology in the classroom gives students endless possibilities. 

Throughout this module I have gained insight on what the world of being a teacher involves outside of the classroom. Growing up I remember teachers talking about going to conferences or workshops and sometimes even traveling for these, but I never really knew what these were. From this module I have now learned that these were probably Professional Learning Communities. It sounded silly when I was younger but I now realize how important these communities are. This lets educators from all over the country collaborate and talk about what has worked and what hasn't worked for them. Giving each other new ideas or theories to test and even encouragement from the education community. 
Knowing what to spend time on and what to move past when using technology in the classroom has always been a difficult balance for me. Thankfully, this module gives a variety of lists I can follow to receive links with credibly sources that I can use with my students. This module suggests using youtube as a learning platform which I absolutely love. I know many of my teachers have shown or used youtube videos in my classes and it has been very helpful. 

An important takeaway that I took from this module was how to incorporate technology into our lesson plans. This was a question I constantly asked myself throughout this course so far and I am thrilled to have it answered. This module taught me not to base the lesson on the technology but instead to come up with the lesson and then add in technology where it will fit. Another takeaway I took from module 6 was backward design. This was a foreign concept to me but after reading over the lesson and diving in I think this is a tool I will use throughout my career. Backwards design basically has you assess what the students already know and what they should know by the end of a lesson. The way I look at it, it's almost a goal to reach as a teacher. The last takeaway I want to address is planning the learning process. This is something that ties in with both of my other takeaways. Planning your students learning process along with what they will be learning is so important. Without a plan of how they are learning, how is the teacher really ensuring their learning experience? Essentially, planning your students learning process involves asking questions about your lesson then answering them for yourself.
This website found in the module 6 resources was extremely helpful for me and interesting to look over and explore. This link took me to a website full of resources for teachers of all areas. They have different subjects grouped out so that you can find educational websites for any subject you are looking for. I hope to keep this resource so that I can use it in my career as a teacher. https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2017/02/the-ultimate-edtech-chart-for-teachers.html 
This youtube video on formative assessment was extremely helpful in understanding how to use this method. This took me into the classroom and showed me how this method looks while taking action with it. Formative assessments are so important to the growth of students because without them it can be difficult to see where the student stands in your classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exgr8HIlejE&feature=youtu.be
I don't think I have a muddiest point with this module, everything was pretty clear and to the point with the extra resources given to us. I am so thankful i've had the opportunity to learn all of these things about the classroom that I wouldn't have known before.

Top 10 Most Important Ideas from Module 5
1. Design thinking is a more creative approach to problem solving, this allows students to think outside of their comfort zone to problem solve.
2. Design thinking uses both creativity and analysis giving students a taste of both sides of problem solving.
3. Some of the key principles behind design thinking include divergent thinking, user-centered, empathy, collaboration, integrated thinking, and experimental.
4. Student-centered learning approaches have the potential to help students gain motivation in the classroom by giving them more freedom when it comes to learning.
5. Scaffolding is using strategies to engage in and assist students self-centered learning such as support mechanisms or a variety of tools.
6. Building empowerment in the classroom is essential to providing a deep and meaningful learning experience.
7. There are so many ways we as teachers can build empowerment within our classroom, one fo these ways include letting students lead and take on conversation with their peers instead of it always being a student to teacher conversation. 
8. Creative thinking is the act of coming up with new ideas where there may not be a correct answer to. 
9. Creative thinking encourages students to think abstract thoughts and outside of the box with new ideas.
10. A creative classroom provides a safe space for students who want to take risks in their learning development.

A huge lesson that I took away from this module is how important online presence can be.With technology growing fast and the usage of technology changing, we have to be careful what we are posting online. Our online presence should match our professional actions we portray in person. This just adds one more complicated sounding task to your life when in reality it is actually less stressful to manage your online presence. 
Digital leadership is also an extremely important lesson that ties in perfectly with online presence. Once you have established your online presence it is a good idea to take action with this newfound presence and turn it into something professional. Using social media platforms to lead others in what you believe is right is part of professionalism. This is taking your role as a teacher one step further and going online with your leadership abilities. This also lets others who visit your page know you are passionate about something and take action in that.

In module 3 we talk about collaborative communication throughout the classroom and how technology can transform this. Something that really stood out to me was google docs. This is something I use almost everyday and have been using since high school. I never realized how useful this tool could be in the classroom when taken advantage of. With this platform, students and teachers can keep a collective set of notes or directions and with permission from the owner, others can add to this document. This idea of collaborating learning is a breakthrough. Padlet is a platform that I was introduced to in this module. Padlet is almost like a fancier version of google docs, students and teachers are able to upload notes, videos, links, pictures, and much more to a shared document to enhance the collaboration and communication between students. Global collaboration is another idea that module 3 introduced to me. This is the idea that with technology, students can gain communication and ideas globally and receive information from outsiders. This is something that wasn't even an option when I was a student and I think it could be extremely helpful and eye opening to my future students. 
The website "Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment" informed me of new ways to include students in what is being taught in the classroom. This article has a set of ideas to change the energy of your classroom to be more collaborative. https://learn.teachingchannel.com/blog/2014/09/26/case-study-of-a-teacher-part-2/ 
Another article found within this module that I found extremely helpful is "7 steps to starting a global collaboration project". This article lists out steps to follow in order to assist your students in learning globally. After the step is announced it even explains how to take action with the steps. https://www.iste.org/explore/In-the-classroom/7-steps-to-starting-a-global-collaboration-project?articleid=608 
A question I still have is how will I know if my school and parents are okay with global learning? This sometimes involves facetime or skype calls and without parent and school consent this could be difficult to navigate. 

​From the beginning of this module all the way to the end there was one largely stated common theme going around, they ask the question of what deep learning experiences look like in todays world. This is something I had to step back and ask myself over and over again while going through this module. To stay up to pace with the rapid advancements of todays world we see deep learning experiences through technology. Using technology in the classroom is vital to children's learning because it is something that is used in everyday life now. Another takeaway from this module I gained was technology enhanced learning. This type of learning incorporates technology into the students daily activities to enhance the level of learning being done in the classroom. Different platforms used on technology assist students in analyzing, judging, and problem-solving. Lastly, my biggest takeaway from this module has to do with problem based learning. This method encourages students to think outside the box, the student takes control of their own learning by creating solutions to real world problems. 
The youtube video "The Shift From Engaging Students to Empowering Students" was extremely helpful and let me understand this module in a whole other sense. This video opened my eyes to how impactful a teacher can be on their students when encouraging them to not only be engaged in the classwork but be empowered and do something with the knowledge they now have. https://youtu.be/BYBJQ5rIFjA
Another youtube video provided in this module called "10 Ways to Empower Students With Choice" gave me so many ideas on how to provide for my future students. This video guides teachers to letting their students be empowered by the information they are learning. What really stood out to me in this video was when they suggested to let your students choose their scaffolding. To me, this means let your students determine what platform they want to complete their work on. This allows to students to have more freedom and enjoy what they are learning. https://youtu.be/L08wNizulOY 
One question I still ask myself is how can I make sure my students are getting the most out fo my class? There is so much technology and so many new platforms to work from, I want my students to be able to learn from all of them.

​In module 1 we talk about how technology can be used in the classroom and the benefits to come from it. Three different topics stood out to me and were clearly important to the advancements of technology in the classroom. One of these topics is that technology has always been apart of the classroom. As technology evolves and changes, the classroom moves along with it. Technology itself in the classroom is not new to students, what's new is the rapid advancements of technology in todays world. The second topic I want to address is the expectations of students. In this fast paced and quick to change world expectations for students rises almost as quickly as technology is. Educators set their students up to face the challenges of tomorrow and to be ready for an unplanned event. Lastly, the biggest take away from this module for me was the incredible ability children now have to switch from device to device and understand how to navigate each separately. This is commonly practiced at a young age with video games and different pieces of technology in the home. This skill leaks over into the classroom when technology is present and becomes almost a second nature to the students. 
The resource, "Technology in Education" will be extremely useful throughout this class and in the future because it talks about methods and how they have turned out. This also points out what can go wrong. This will assist me in the classroom because I can look back and see specific methods used in the classroom and try to avoid making mistakes along the way. https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/index.html 
The resource "The Promise of Digital Learning" shows how specific schools are keeping up with the advances of technology and what exactly they are doing to keep their students on top of these advances. I chose this resource specifically because they have examples from different types of schools. Examples from rural schools without as much technology as they would like, all the way to extremely wealthy schools with more technology than they know what to do with. 
One question I repeatedly asked myself throughout this module was how educators can stay up to date and educated on the quickly advancing technology.