My first blog post

Blogging is a concept that I am familiar with, although the reflection part of the blogging is more up my alley. During my undergraduate years I minored in leadership, which involved a ridiculous amount of critical reflection and inner searching. Reflection is messy, doesn't make sense a lot of the time, and is a great way to really understand what you are feeling (not just thinking). Due to the chaotic nature of reflection, my blog will have grammatical errors and may not have a "flow" like an essay would, but I think we can all get over that.

The "What":

1. I am taking EDHI9040, which is a course about technology in the classroom. It is taught by Sherry Clouser and so far this is my first assignment.
2. I also took the teaching inventory and I found out my dominant  teaching perspective was nurturing. I read the article associated with this inventory and found out it may not be a good thing to have a "dominant" perspective but a little from each category.

The "So What":

1. I want to take this class to improve myself as a teacher. I can barely make a powerpoint in an efficient time span, so certainly this class will be beneficial to me. There are too many instances in my career as a student that I remember professors being total failures with their technology attempts. It was to the point where it was almost hindering instead of enhancing. I want to avoid these failures (but not fear them) by taking this class so I can use technology in a beneficial matter, especially since I will be teaching to a new generation of students who's lives are run by technological products. 
2. After reading about nurturing, I am not the least bit surprised this was my dominant perspective. As a student myself, I can think of many times where I did not answer a question in fear of answering the question wrong. As a teacher I try to create an environment where failure is not feared, but fostered. Failure is an everyday occurrence and fearing it will make your life a living hell. I want students to know that there is no way you can know everything and that's okay. I also want them to know that if their neighbor knows the answer and they dont, that's okay too! Who cares if your neighbor thinks you are stupid for not knowing the answer, your learning should come first, not your social acceptance. I also (as stated in class on my name card) enjoy building relationships and a nurturing perspective encompasses this as a strategy to build trust to understand emotional and intellectual needs. To me a student is a person, not just an ID number. 

The "Now What":

1. I will continue to grow and learn in this class and will try to understand the different technologies available to me. I will approach each form of technology with a critical eye to determine if it is the correct technology to teach the subject material.
2. I will continue my nurturing perspective, but perhaps I should also work on my other perspectives to be good well-rounded teacher. Hopefully this will be good for me and my students by creating a challenging but intriguing teaching strategy.