This haiku was inspired by a recent Lounge topic. I used to be embarrassed and ashamed that I had a freak metabolism and would constantly recieve snide remarks about it. But now, today, *sniff, sniff* I am able to hold my chin up, stand proudly, and say…… “HA!! Suckers!! Na-na-na-na-na-nah! What, no seconds? What? A diet? Sucks to be you!!! That’s ok, you just drink your supplementary shake–I’LL finish your food for you!*stuffs face in front of them*Muah-hahahaha..MUAHAHAHAHAHA *chokes on food for a few seconds, compose myself* MUAHAHAHAHA!!…”

Another point of constructivism that I like is the fact that there aren’t any “right” or “wrong” answers. The student is able to take prior knowledge and make it into something else of their own (http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm), which makes their learning more personal. I don’t think constructivism should be contreversial any way. Learning should be individualized as much as possible, and the constructivist approach is adaptable to each child’s learning, since they make their own conclusions and build on them. I believe constructivism is highly integrated with technology because people use what they already know about it to create their own projects. They are active in their own ideas, rather than focusing on other students’. We used constructivism in class. We learned about PowerPoint (some of us already knew a little), we created a project about ourselves, and we can use the knowledge we have on PP to use it later in our own classrooms or jobs. There are enless possiblilites with incorporating technology to our personal lives now to make it work for us later. Constructivism is an efficient way of learning, and I hope to incorporate it into my classroom in the future as much as possible.

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”
-Doris Lessing

Well, I think this class has been a tremendous help. When I first signed up for this class, I figured, “Ok, Computers in Education….probably just how computers are helpful in the classroom.” But right away I figured out that we (as future teachers ourselves) needed to know the basics before we could understand how to integrate technology in our classes. It’s surprising to learn how many basic things I didn’t know (and I’m assuming, others as well). I liked how we got a quick (but helpful) lesson on how PowerPoint and Excel work. These are two very important programs to know, at least for myself. The Atomic Learning site was also extremely helpful and easy to understand. It was cool to be able to keep going back to it for reference. Another thing I like about this class is how the assignments are (sometimes) fun to do. For example, last week’s photography lesson taught us the basics about digital photography, but being able to use our creative juices to take pics and then edit/display them was fun and it gave us a hands-on way to figure out the regulations for our pictures. Personally, I like online classes more than live classes. I am able to complete the labs and assigments at my own pace and on my own time. I am also a person who works better alone than with other people (not saying I’m anti-social by any means), so I can concentrate better at how I want to approach assignments/posts. Also, I’m a huge fidgeter. I can’t sit still for too long, which makes sitting in a regular class a little hard for me. I always am tapping my foot or wanting to get up and walk around, or something. It’s nice to be able to do that with an online class. The only slight disadvantage is that being a natual-born procrastinator (especially more now than ever with my kids), I tend to “forget” that I have assignments due sometimes and try to hurry and get them done accurately. But if I had the choice, I would take all classes online if I could. The professor is always available for help BECAUSE it’s an online class, and because students might need help a bit more than with a regular class. As far as this class goes, I don’t have any gripes thus far.