What+do+I+think+about+the+Edtech+courses?

I once read that one of the main reasons that people feel hurt is because of predetermined expectations. When a person is expecting something and then it doesn’t happen, that is a recipe for feeling let down. In life, I have taken many courses and attended countless conferences and workshops, and what I have found was that there were times when the higher the expectation was that I set for the event, the higher my letdown was too. To that note, I decided from then on to at least only attend those events that triggered my curiosity, and to lower my expectations. This way, the worst case scenario would result in me not feeling too bad, and the best case scenario would be for me to leave pretty impressed.

When I first heard about the Ed tech course being offered through YU, that immediately caught my attention. When I heard that it was Dr. Eliezer Jones who was facilitating this course, I was sold. Based on my past experiences, I still had to keep on reminding myself not to set any major expectations, and if I can at least take away from this course one or two key ideas, that would be great.

Here I am, eight months later, writing my last official blog, and I am still almost speechless. Not only do I now have a much better understanding about what 21st Century skills are, I now have practical hands on experience on how to utilize web 2.0 tools in my classroom. More importantly than both of those key items, I now have a group of colleagues who I can turn to for guidance as well as share some of my own successes too.

These three courses have really opened up my eyes to a whole new world. Now when I sit down to prepare my lessons, there are so many other things I consider. How can I enhance my lesson to be more collaborative? How can I encourage my students to think more critically, and be more creative? I am so appreciative to everyone who made this course possible. I was able to benefit from it and was able to encourage other teachers to take this course as well.

Mazal Tov to all of us who have experienced this journey together these past eight months. My Bracha to all of us is; may we continue to be successful in reaching our students, and may we continue to feel comfortable to reach out to one another for a helping hand whenever we need to.