As I looked back at my first post, I feel like I'm still in the same place. I've always been pretty techie, I've always used tons of technology applications, and the course I took enhanced my knowledge. I also looked at using technology from other viewpoints - How do you manage a class of students who are using technology? How do you convince teachers to try new things? How do you deal with tech support? What do you do when you see teachers or students who are doing it wrong. A big issue of mine is being too critical. I need to let people do their thing. Of course there is a learning curve, and I need to be more willing to accept people who are trying to do something new.

I really enjoyed this class, and I really liked doing something I think I'm pretty good at. I liked looking at it from a Professional Development standpoint - How would I teach teachers how to do this in their classrooms? Since a lot of the students in my class hadn't been teachers before, I think they will be surprised at how students are willing to try anything that gets them away from watching lectures and doing handouts. Ultimately, who does me learning how to implement technology in the classroom benefit the mo

If you were to just Google, "How to write a blog," you get 707,000,000 results. There are a ton of people out there who want to tell you how to write, how to make money, how to get seen, and how to put a blog together. For the purposes of a technology class, or really any educations type of class, I think I could offer some suggestions (that have probably already been suggested a bazillion times).

If you're writing your blog for a class, DON'T WRITE EVERY TIME "Today in class..." Who wants to read your blog, knowing you were just doing it because you HAD to? How will that blog help you in any of your future endeavors? If I want to use this blog professionally, AND I TOTALLY DO, then I should use my blog like I'm writing for my readers. I want my readers to know, "Amy totally knows her stuff when it comes to Biology and Technology. I can see by all the categories that she writes about, that she is knowledgeable and professional and has some serious skills!" I also have a writing style that somewhat reflects the way I actually talk and the way my brain actually works. So, as I'm sure you can already tell, I'm hilarious and fun to be in a room with, all the while taking care of business.

You also need to limit the amount of content you copy and paste. Copying a few lines and linking to where they came from is fine and dandy, but turning your blog post into the FAQ from the technology's page is worthless. If I wanted a manual, I would go read the manual. What I want from a blog post is opinions and real world examples of how the technology is used. I'm a Biology teacher, so I write about how I use, could use, or did use the technology with my students, with my peers, with my teaching assistants, with fellow teachers, or in a classroom or professional development. I try to use personal examples of what I've done, what I've seen, and how I did it. That's what makes this blog different and special, and worth checking out.

By having the opportunity to check out 25 blogs from pre-service teachers, current teachers, and people who are interesting in (or terrified of) technology, I have seen some great posts, and some really sad posts. I have seen great writing style, and I've seen people who can barely string together a coherent sentence, which makes me sad that they are going to be teachers. I found one thing that really surprised me - I checked out the blog of a pre-teacher whose second language is English. Even with a few grammar mistakes, she wrote so beautifully and eloquently, I was just amazed. Since I have attempted to learn a second language, and I know how hard that is, I was just dumbfounded by her amazing grasp of English, and her insight and beautiful style. I could only hope to be so fluent, and so eloquent. Just WOW!!!