Reflection 1: Introduction

My name is Stephanie Hughes and this is my first semester of Graduate school in the Instructional Technology Program. I graduated from USM in 2006 with a K-8 degree and an emphasis in English and Reading. After graduating, I got a job at Jefferson Middle School in Columbia where I teach 7^th Grade Math.

Last summer I took my first graduate course, MAT 510, where I learned how to incorporate technology when teaching math. In that course, I exercised my technology software skills by discovering how to use them in the math classroom. To create math test I was able to use Microsoft Word with Equation Editor. With Microsoft Excel, I was able to take my students to our school computer lab where they created spreadsheets with interest, discounts, and charts. I use Power Point to present math lessons everyday in the classroom and have used it for tutorials such as using the TI-84 calculator. Understanding this allowed me to copy and past screens from the calculator to the presentation. Math 510 introduced me to a new program, PAINT, which I incorporated into my class giving my students a more hands-on experience when learning about transformations. I have used all of these programs numerous times through out this past year allowing myself to become very familiar and comfortable using them. Earlier in my college career, I took an on-line English class. It was real basic with only a few assignments to submit.

Over the years, I have become very content with using e-mail and social networking websites for my personal and professional pleasure. Having gone through college, I discovered a long time ago the importance of communicating with e-mail. I have used it for sending attachments such as “homework” for school, job applications, and even pictures to family out of state. Being a member of a social networking site, I have had numerous experiences with posting blogs (although, I never had to create my own blog) and getting access to podcasts and video clips. YouTube and TeacherTube are two sites that I enjoy getting video clips from. For my own personal use, I have an IPod which I enjoy downloading music and video files to. I worked at Circuit City my last year of college. There I was introduced to all the latest technological advancements and gained an interest for it all.

As much as I enjoy social networking websites and posting my own blogs, I hope to learn what really makes it all work? How did one guy “Tom” create MYSPACE? I hope this class can take me “behind the scenes” of these things that strike my interest!