Professional Development in Technology Integration

     I followed Kelly Tenkely's blog iLearn Technology in order to explore more about integrating technology into the classroom. Although her blog focuses on the use of technology, I found that she posts about many other topics that I find meaningful and relevant to my future as an educator. The way she writes her entries are very useful, as she often starts by introducing a technology and then explains how it can be used in a classroom. I found that many of these posts may not be relevant to my future classroom as they apply more to younger students. However, most of the technology could be adapted in a different way that could be used in my teaching. Although these posts were not related to technology, I really enjoyed what Kelly had to say about body image and self-confidence. I think that, as a teacher, it is important to instill confidence in students. At the high school and middle school level, where these issues typically arise, is where it is especially important to do this. There is one post on the blog about going "naked" for a day, meaning not wearing makeup. I think that a good way to instill confidence in others is to model that confidence yourself. Kelly also writes about general issues and views that come with being a teacher. In one post, she wrote about how teaching is not a job, it's a worldview. This is one of the issues that I have been thinking about in the past few weeks that have made me question whether teaching is something I really want to do. As I had to do things for teaching in my mentor teacher's classroom, I began to consider the amount of time that teaching will take away from my personal life. However, Kelly writes that teaching is a job that does not feel like a job. I hope that by the end of practicum I feel like teaching is not a burden that takes time away from my life, but something that I actually enjoy and want to do.