Get To Know Me:
Welcome to my website/portfolio. I am Caitlin Hallam. I am originally from Central Jersey, and moved to South Carolina in August of 2018. I am a sophomore, Elementary Education major at Coastal Carolina University! I am also working towards a minor in French. I am an honors student enrolled in the HTC Honors College at CCU. I am also a part of Phi Eta Sigma, which is a National Honor Society. On top of that, I have worked as a Residential Support Mentor (RSM) on campus. This requires me to act as a mentor to fellow students that have special needs. I work with these students to foster personal growth and strengthen independence. Aside from my previous work on campus, I am the president of the organization, CCU First, which supports and advocates for first-generation students enrolled at Coastal.
My Educational Philosophy:
My philosophy for education is Progressivism. This education philosophy means that I think education should focus on each individual student as a whole, instead of focusing on the educator or curriculum being taught. I think students should collaborate to solve problems, think critically, and learn what it means to utilize what is around them. One of the best ways for students to learn, especially elementary-aged children, is to do things themselves to experience it, rather than listening to a teacher tell them about on. My philosophy is that students should learn things that interest and apply to them by experiencing it hands-on.
Reflection Questions and Answers:
Explain in detail how the artifacts to collected in your portfolio contributed to your learning.
The artifacts collected in my portfolio contributed to my learning by giving me the opportunity to experience new apps and types of technology. All of the technology utilized and learned in this class can aid in my ability to effectively teach elementary school. Creating the lesson plans was helpful because I learned how to not only integrate multiple types of technology into them, but I also learned how to use technology in order to teach to every learning style. Many of the apps or programs used in each Module and Mastery Project were foreign concepts to me before this class. However, after completing each module and project, I feel as though I can confidently use each of them in my lesson plans and in my classroom. Looking up apps to include in lesson plan modules also gave me more options to use when teaching my class through technology.
Which artifact do you feel stretched your knowledge and skills and why?
Smart Notebook was definitely the artifact that stretched my knowledge and skills. Before this class I had never personally utilized this program before. I have used it in school, but that was when I was reading things off of it or writing on it during a class. I never needed to create my own Smart Notebook lessons. After looking up how to do things like boxes that disappear upon a click, I found it to be very simple. After using Smart Notebook multiple times, I feel as though I will not have as many issues with it in the future.
Which artifact would you like to do over or modify and what are the reasons why?
If I could redo an artifact and modify it, it would definitely be the Screencast video. I could not figure out how to do it on my MacBook, so I ended up doing it on my iPad. I thought that the video turned out to be less effective than I thought it would be. I thought it was just one of the worst modules I turned in. I would modify it with the fonts, font colors, and shape before creating the video instead of randomly clicking buttons as I went along.
How does the portfolio and the process fit into a larger framework of life-long learning which goes beyond simply completing graded assignments?
The portfolio and the process fit into a larger framework of life-long learning which goes beyond simply completing graded assignments because I had to learn how to use each program and app. Through learning how to use these programs and apps, I got to figure out ways in which I could utilize each to teach my future students. These assignments will continue to be useful throughout my career because technology will always be in classrooms and the education process. Therefore, they will continue to aid in life-long learning.
The artifacts collected in my portfolio contributed to my learning by giving me the opportunity to experience new apps and types of technology. All of the technology utilized and learned in this class can aid in my ability to effectively teach elementary school. Creating the lesson plans was helpful because I learned how to not only integrate multiple types of technology into them, but I also learned how to use technology in order to teach to every learning style. Many of the apps or programs used in each Module and Mastery Project were foreign concepts to me before this class. However, after completing each module and project, I feel as though I can confidently use each of them in my lesson plans and in my classroom. Looking up apps to include in lesson plan modules also gave me more options to use when teaching my class through technology.
Which artifact do you feel stretched your knowledge and skills and why?
Smart Notebook was definitely the artifact that stretched my knowledge and skills. Before this class I had never personally utilized this program before. I have used it in school, but that was when I was reading things off of it or writing on it during a class. I never needed to create my own Smart Notebook lessons. After looking up how to do things like boxes that disappear upon a click, I found it to be very simple. After using Smart Notebook multiple times, I feel as though I will not have as many issues with it in the future.
Which artifact would you like to do over or modify and what are the reasons why?
If I could redo an artifact and modify it, it would definitely be the Screencast video. I could not figure out how to do it on my MacBook, so I ended up doing it on my iPad. I thought that the video turned out to be less effective than I thought it would be. I thought it was just one of the worst modules I turned in. I would modify it with the fonts, font colors, and shape before creating the video instead of randomly clicking buttons as I went along.
How does the portfolio and the process fit into a larger framework of life-long learning which goes beyond simply completing graded assignments?
The portfolio and the process fit into a larger framework of life-long learning which goes beyond simply completing graded assignments because I had to learn how to use each program and app. Through learning how to use these programs and apps, I got to figure out ways in which I could utilize each to teach my future students. These assignments will continue to be useful throughout my career because technology will always be in classrooms and the education process. Therefore, they will continue to aid in life-long learning.