Thing 12:Final Reflection

I decided that it would be important this year to do the final reflection since I worked hard on completing 10 items this year. I feel the having a final reflection is important this year to help keep everything I've done straight and to note what I have been able to continue on with throughout the year and what I hope to use in the fall.

1: What did you learn? This year I chose to complete 9 items plus the final reflection. I thought it would be best to complete more items this year and really dive into the learning activities provided. There were a few activities that I have completed in the past but I found new aspects to look at this year such as Thing 5. While at SSL I was introduced to Buncee and I really wanted to explore that more. I also learned that Twitter isn't as "scary" or "overwhelming" as I thought. Overall I feel that this year I was able to dive into more topics and really discover new ways to better myself in the library. 
How did you put what you learned into action at school? I will be using Buncee in the fall with one of my collaborative classes. I have also discovered the many uses of Google Keep and I will be using that more in the future for both school and home.I also hope to show some of the students fotojet, and many of the apps that I looked at. I'm very interested in looking at using seesaw for my elementary students. I'm looking forward to implementing new projects and trying out new media next year with my students.  Personally? I have been using Google a lot more both at work and at home- I will be using Google Calendar and Google Keep a lot more in the future.
What challenges did you face during the workshop? I felt that this year I was able to fully manage my time better and submit pieces throughout the year as opposed to at the very end. So although this was not a challenge I faced I did want to mention that I feel like I was better able to manage time and do more thorough work this year. 
Other thoughts? My job changed this year to where I was part time in a school district and part time at our media library at the BOCES.  I found that this set up was fantastic for me and I was able to really dive into pieces of this workshop more. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity through my BOCES to participate in this program each year. This is my third year and I'm happy to say I could finally complete ten lessons. Every year I've been trying to complete ten but struggle with hitting five and I'm happy that this year I had the time to do all ten that I wanted to do. I hope to have the same opportunity next year. 

2: What’s next? Are you planning to share what you’ve learned with others? I will definitely be sharing out some of the products I explored. I'm most excited about Buncee but I also want to show teachers how I will have my library calendar set up on Google in the fall. I am hoping to pull in more teachers this year and really dive into projects with the students. I think it is best for students to learn through collaborative projects and what better way to do that then show them teachers collaborating. I'm hoping to be able to collaborate more and branch out from my three normal teachers and pull in a few more. Fingers are crossed :-) 
What other professional development projects will you be pursuing? I continue to attend any and all conferences made available to me. I am hoping to apply for a scholarship for AASL this year and travel to Phoenix (but we will see). I'm also hoping to attend workshops to become better involved with the new science standards along with reading and writing programs going on in schools. My summer is booked up with teaching summer school however, I do have a few PD items scheduled for the summer. 

3: Did you like learning this way? For some of you, this might have been your first experience with this kind of independent, self-driven learning. Did this work for you? What did you most value about the program? What didn’t work well? Would you do it again? Other thoughts? This is my third year participating in Cool Tools and I absolutely love it. I have always loved participating in this program since I was first introduced to it. I find it to be a great resource and I love that I can go back and find the information again to continue exploring. I also love that many of the things remain the same you just update them as the technology changes so you can go back to the thing and dive in deeper and learn more about it. This I feel is one of the most beneficial pieces to the workshop. You're not pigeon holed into one topic you can choose topics that best suit the needs of you, your faculty and the students. So I will definitely continue to participate in this workshop until it is no longer available at my BOCES. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to this program!!