After taking this course, what can I add to my knowledge of myself?

What can I add to my knowledge of my content area?

I'm not sure my knowledge of myself has changed much because of this course. Most of what I learned in this course has, instead, affected my knowledge of my teaching area, specifically in terms of expanding my instructional strategy toolbox. I really, really enjoyed that I was required to explore blogs and make a website, and that I was encouraged to choose creative, not standard, expression when it came time for assessment. I played around with blogging a little bit, years ago, but not recently, and have never made a website, although I've always wanted to. I'm glad this class made me try it. I now feel more confident about assigning blogs and website creation to my students, and I also now see the possibilities of using such tools to create a class site. I also appreciated being given the option of how to demonstrate that I understood the material. I have always been a big fan of providing students some choice in assessment, but have never really been given the chance, myself, to actually try it. Every single time, I was relieved that I didn't just have to type up a standard paper, and found that I was way more willing to do the assignment when I got to choose either ablog, PowerPoint presentation, or Prezi, instead. I think it's very important for our National University courses to demonstrate and model what they are teaching us, and for us then, in turn, to model and demonstrate the same for our students.

I also appreciated having to pay close attention to pre-, ongoing-, and post-assessments. I of course knew I should always be doing them, but having to actually plan out a unit plan with them, specifically, in mind really helped. I had to pause and think about if they contributed any value, if they accurately measured what I wanted to know, and if they allowed students to sufficiently practice material before the final, summative assessment rolls around.