Reflective Post

Reflection

Wow! Just like that and the semester is over! I entered this class, on technology, somewhat arrogant. I consider myself savvy when it comes to technology and computers and was not very optimistic that I would be learning something new.  I was certainly wrong!  

I enjoyed the projects that were assigned to us during this course.  The teacher web page was a fun opportunity to "play" teacher while giving relevant information that I can use in my classroom.  The collaborative lesson plan and web-quest were also enjoyable but I would have preferred the web-quest to be collaborative instead of the lesson plan.  I definitely learned some communication skills during the lesson plan but I would have had a more enjoyable time if I had done it on my own.  The web-quest took me many more hours than it should have.  I had a hard time finding relevant websites to use so it would have been nice to have a partner helping.  On both of the assignments I was able to grasp a decent idea on how the Florida standards work, searching the website for standards and then using those keywords in searching for materials.  

Critiquing is a skill that received some advancing while reviewing websites and tools that may or may not be utilized in the classroom.  I now realize how important it is to ensure that a website I might use in the classroom is relevant.  

The tech tools that were suggested for use on our blogs this semester were great.  Although I was familiar with most of the tools suggested, I learned a lot about the ones I had not known.  However, I do not see myself utilizing them in my career.  I have  many friends that are teachers and I sat down with them to pick their brains on technology.  I spoke with one friend who teaches in a charter school with top notch technology and another who is in a title l school with very little to work with.  My title l teacher said that she has more important things to focus on, like getting her 4th graders on a 4th grade reading level.  She said that she uses her smart board and that is it.  My charter school teacher uses tons of amazing resources.  She even offered to go into my title l friends classroom and help set her up on some things she can utilize, like apps on her phone!  All in all I loved this technology class and I am taking so much away from it but I would have preferred to learn about some technologies and websites that I would actually use in the classroom, like Kidsblog, Ozobots or Plickers.com.  

Plickers app was a little mind blowing to me!  What a brilliant idea!  I spoke with numerous teachers who use it daily and rave about it.  I know that once I become a teacher I will learn about many loved or hated technologies.  I came into the class skeptical of actually learning new technologies and although I may not use everything that I learned, I feel like I received a great baseline and understanding of how I can incorporate new technologies into my lessons.  

Resources

 Kidblog. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://kidblog.org/ 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

 Ozobot. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://ozoblockly.com/

 Tech, L. R. (2015). Teacher Tech Tips - "Plickers" Retrieved May 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCM9nqikcjs

Digital Blog Post #F

Information Alerts

Information alerts are a wonderful way to stay informed on topics of your choice.  Google Alerts is a great service to use.  Until this assignment, I was not aware of the free alert service offered by Google.  I decided to give it a test run.  So far I think it is wonderful!  This is going to be a fantastic resource to have in the classroom.  Using an alert system like this allows you to filter out all of the news that is not of interest to you or your class.  It allows you to stay up to date with the most current information available.  After adding the topics of your choice, an email is sent when there are new Google search results.  While I was researching Google alerts I stumbled across another alert system.  This one is called IFTTT which stands for "If This Then That".  It takes the idea of Google Alert and expands it greatly.  It brings two programs together.  For example, if I want an update every time a new planet is discovered I would connect Space with my email.  You can also request things like the daily picture from NASA to be saved, daily, in your virtual pocket.  There are many amazing sources that can be combined using IFTTT not just for your classroom but also your daily life.  

One to One Laptop Computing

One to One Laptop Computing is a term used to mean that every student has a type of computer or tablet.  This may not necessarily mean an entire school, it might be that only one class in each grade level has a device.  I have not yet been to a school that has individual computing devices for every student.  I have been in an elementary classroom that raised money for ipads and the principal matched her donation but she was the only classroom at their grade level with tablets. One to One Computing is very expensive.  Our textbook states that Maine's Learning Technology Initiative has placed laptops in the fingertips of a majority of their secondary students.  This has a yearly cost of $18 million per year! (Maloy 306)  The fees are certainly hefty but the outcome can be outstanding.  More and more schools, districts and teachers are working together to build a bridge between low income students and the latest technologies.

Digital Pens and Notepads

Digital pens have the ability to record what someone has written and turn it into a file that can be saved and opened on a computer.  A digital notepad can also take what is written and convert it but it can also take drawings and convert them to images.  Originally, I felt that digital pens were not a very useful tool for the classroom.  I can write my notes and then I can scan them into my computer if I needed to make a file.  I guess the digital pen could make notes easier to read.  However, I wonder how many mistakes the pens make in translation.  I did read about one pen in particular called a LiveScribe Pulse.  I do see a very beneficial use in this type of digital pen because it not only records your writing but it also records any audio while you are writing.  There have been many times in my note-taking past that I would have loved to have had something like that.  The best part about the digital notepad, in my opinion, is that it converts your drawings.  My son does not typically bring home any of his artwork from class until the end of the year.  This could be such a great way to allow parents to see what their children are drawing, the same day they draw it.  The teacher can convert the drawing and then email the file to the parents.  I would love to have that!  Boogie Boards are also a popular notepad that is inexpensive and although it does not have wonderful saving and converting features it would still be great to have for handwriting or math practice.  

Resources

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Wood, Brittany. "Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds." Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

 

Digital Blog Post #E

Approaches to Lesson Planning

  Understanding by Design is a new concept for me.  Unlike Student Learning Objectives, I have no previous knowledge of this particular approach.  After reading in Chapter 4 of our book about this style I have come to like it but I am more comfortable with the learning objectives approach. The style seems to be very simplistic.  Stage 1 of planning is to identify the desired results of the lesson.  What is the main idea and/or information that we want to be the most memorable to the students?  This is also when the planner would determine essential questions to be answered and then can begin to organize the topics.  I like Stage 1 of UBD (Understanding by Design) because when the planner understands what it is they want to teach and what they want the students to absorb then the first major hurdle of planning is reached. Stage 2 is to determine how the students new knowledge will be measured.  Typically, this would be one of the last items I would work on and in the past it has been one that I have had the hardest time planning. Stage 3 is to plan the objectives and methods to be used. 

Performance Assessments

  Performance assessments are, in my opinion, incredibly necessary for the development of students and teachers.  While I was student teaching, at my last college, the final part of my lesson was always to assess the students.  I would be able to ensure that I did my job teaching and that the students were able to learn and retain the topic taught.  While I was teaching a lesson on renewable and non-renewable resources I handed each student a post-it note.  Each note had a resource or man made object written on it.  I wrote three sections on the board and one by one I had the students walk up and put their note under the appropriate heading.  After viewing all of the students I was successfully able to see which students fully understood and which students would need extra attention.  Performance assessments are also very important for teachers.  I recently was talking with some of my teacher friends and one of them had her assessment done by the principal.  She was very excited and boastful in telling us that she received "highly effective" on a few of her results.  While I was listening I was excited for her because I thought this sounded like a great achievement to receive from the principal.  However, one of my other teacher friends responded that she had once been told that as a teacher you do not want all of the highest scores in your assessment.  I think what she was trying to say is that to be highly effective that means you were close to perfect in that area and you have the data and information to back that up.  If a teacher is receiving highly effective in all areas then that means you are meeting all requirements at a higher stand point. There are so many changes in the academic world that there should always be room for improvement and change. To achieve highly effective should be extremely hard to do with so many things in consideration; diversity, academic levels of the students, co-workers, administration etc.  Assessments are key to educators and students growth.

Multimedia Technologies in Schools Today

  I found this section of Chapter 9 to be very familiar.  I taught a lesson, that I planned,  to a 4th grade classroom on the water cycle.  I was able to incorporate how much or how little technology I wanted in my lesson.  I used a document camera to display lyrics to a song that we sang about the cycle.  I made a PowerPoint presentation that also included a short YouTube video.  Then we did a few other worksheets, and a hands on experiment with ice in a mason jar to view condensation that had formed on the lid.  After reading this section of the chapter I have thought of ways that I could have incorporated more technology into the lesson.  If the classroom had access to computers I could have the students build their own PowerPoint.  If I had a digital camera or camcorder the students could have recorded their hands on experiment.  The students could have also used their own video clips and pictures to make their own Animoto.  As the lesson planner I think it would have been fun to also make a Prezi that I could have shown to students, possibly instead of a PowerPoint.  The students could have the opportunity to the view the Prezi at home as well.  

Water Cycle Prezi

Digital Blog Post #D

Sharing Information with Families

There are numerous wonderful new technological advances in how a teacher can share information with families. Email has become a fantastic communication system, especially now that so many parents will receive the email instantly to their cell phone. Many schools will also have individual links to teacher websites/blogs directly on the school website. It has been in my experience so far as a parent that teachers do not use their websites often. Text messaging is another mean of communication that has been growing in popularity over the last few years. The school district and individual schools can use text messaging as a way to reach parents immediately in the event of a situation at the school, school closings, PTA information, inclement weather, even smaller reasons like fundraisers and school activities. There are also apps that teachers can use in the classroom to reach parents. I have mentioned before about the SeeSaw app, the teacher uses the app to send updates directly to the parents chosen method.  Social media is also a tool that is widely used. My son had a teacher who made a private Facebook page for her class and we loved it. All of these newer forms of communication are amazing but we are still somewhat stuck between old and new. Although I receive everything from my sons teacher through email, she also still writes in his notebook and sends home weekly newsletters. I feel that this place we are caught between must be difficult for teachers. Instead of having one universal mean of communication they are putting out the same information 2 or even 3 different ways. The main reason for that is because not every family has the finances to have computers or cell phones. Some families choose not to use cell phones and computers all together. We are progressing everyday and I would like to believe that the gap is slowly closing.

Differentiated Instruction

Multiple learning abilities was not something that I had ever given much thought to when I imagined myself as a teacher. I have always understood that people learn differently. I am hands on, while some of my friends can listen or read to absorb information. Honestly, the thought of having to teach using strategies outside of my comfort zone was scary. The second lesson that I taught a 4th grade classroom, as a student teacher, I worked hard on planning. I focused solely on making sure that I could accommodate each learning style in my lesson. I had a hands-on project, a song to sing, a story to write, a short lecture, and a review sheet. It was really amazing to see first hand the different learning styles, watching which students fell behind or excelled in each style was intriguing. It definitely opened me up to seeing how successful of a classroom one can have using differentiated instruction. It also made me realize what was lacking in some of the classrooms that I grew up in.

Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards, or Smartboards (as I know them) are such fun learning tools with many possibilities. Teachers are given a quick and effective way to glide through lessons. My sons teacher is able to load their Math textbook straight to the board and use it's touch screen abilities to slide, tap or draw. What I think will be great to have when I am a teacher is the ability to load images, access the internet or add PowerPoint presentations. An interactive whiteboard can be what you want it to be. I know some teachers who use it heavily, allowing students to use it and using it for individual or group work. I also know some teachers who do not really allow students to touch it or use it in any "outside of the box" ways. FlipQuiz is a fun website that allows teachers to create a quiz board that can be much like "Jeopardy".  Displaying this type of review quiz or game on your interactive whiteboard would be a great tool to get students talking and learning.

References

 Wood, B. (2016, March 09). The Water Cycle By: Barwood07. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from http://flipquiz.me/u/barwood07/the-water-cycle 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #C

Technology, through out the years, has opened many options in note-taking for students. Taking notes can be one of the most important things that a student can do to successfully pass a class. There are many ways to effectively take notes these days that do not leave your hands cramping! Cell phone cameras have become a wonderful study tool. I have used my camera phone to take pictures of models during labs, notes on the boards, and even some power point presentations. However, cell phones are typically banned for student usage in elementary, middle and high schools. Electronic Note-Taking has become a very popular way to take, organize and even share your notes. There are numerous websites and apps that bring note-taking to another level. Some popular websites are Evernote, NoteStar, and OneNote. Another favorite way to take notes is by using Google Docs. I have used Google docs and its app in numerous classes. It is a great way to bring other classmates together to work on study guides and notes.

Visual-Thinking and Concept-Mapping Software is very interesting to me. I get caught up in having writers block almost every time I am required to write, especially if it is a topic that I am not interested in. I am the type that can work through it best by talking about it. I have talked my bored husbands head off numerous times! But that gets me through my block and my light bulb comes on! I also need to have an actual pen and paper in hand to begin my writing but I think that has a lot to do with how I learned in school growing up. I did not have the luxuries of these wonderful new technologies like Kidspiration, Inspirations, and InspireData. Brainstorming through technology seems to be a wonderful tool for students to utilize today.  There was a time that I had to write an essay and I had no idea how to get through it. I could not brainstorm, talk it out, draw maps, nothing was working. I emailed my instructor and she sent me a quote that I have since thought about many times. Here is the quote:

The final concept in chapter 7 that I read about was Google Earth. This web tool is a favorite of mine! It is truly an amazing map that can be used in many different ways depending on the subject you are studying. "Students can take virtual journeys throughout their community or across the country to visit places of current or historical interest". ( Maloy, O’Loughlin, Edwards, Sharon A., Woolf, Park 2013)

There is also Google Earth 7 that could be a great tool for teachers in Science or Astronomy. It shows greater details and includes things like the moon and stars. I took a course called the Geography of Appalachia and we used Google Earth in class to get an Arial view of the affects that mountain-top mining had on the geography of land. Google Earth gives students a completely different view of the area they are learning. I look forward to using this in my own classroom. 

Resources

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

 Wood, B. (n.d.). Start designing. Retrieved February 21, 2016, from https://www.canva.com/ 

Digital Blog Post B

Technology is such an amazing advancement that we have available today. However, gaining access to it can be a difficult task. Especially when you wish to have enough tablets for each student. "In recent years, a constant squeeze between the need for expanded technological capabilities and declining educational budgets has forced schools to curtail their technology goals." (31) Budget cuts have many times left technology advances in the hands of teachers. Teachers are utilizing websites such as gofundme.com, fundraisers and asking parents for donations in order to get funds for technologies.

A Student-Centered approach to learning is a style that I will lean to as a teacher. As a student, I learn better with a more natural approach incorporating real world, group activities, and discussions amongst peers so in turn I believe that I will teach better incorporating that style as well. I truly believe that when something is taught incorporating a real world aspect it is more easily remembered. I love the idea of allowing students the freedom to bounce ideas, thoughts, and solutions around on each other. A challenge for me as a teacher will be learning how to teach in styles that are outside of my comfort zone. 

I got really excited when I saw, on page 35 in Connections & Possibilities, that the topic was on TED talks. I absolutely love TED talks. I do not recall seeing any as of yet that might be suitable for elementary age students but I could definitely find it useful for high school. 

According to the book TED launched TED-Ed which is a website for teachers. The website is: http://ed.ted.com/. The website is amazing! It allows you to make lessons around any of the TED videos or even something found on Youtube. This is something I intend on using in my own classroom!

Resources 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Fastest Way to Create Comic Strips and Cartoons - Toondoo. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://www.toondoo.com/

Create a design. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2016, from https://www.canva.com/

Lessons Worth Sharing | TED-Ed. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2016, from http://ed.ted.com/

Digital Blog Post A

   The first concept in chapter one that caught my eye are the statistics of children and technology. I have an 8 year old son who is considered to be a part of the "iGeneration". I monitor his technology consumption carefully because I strongly believe that children today need technology breaks. Page 3 of the textbook states that in 2010 "US children under age 5 were watching nearly four hours of television every day". It also states that "by the time youngsters entered second grade, about 70%  played video games and used the Internet on a daily basis". In my opinion that is too much exposure to television on a daily basis. According to the table on page 4 of the textbook TV content is the area with the largest amount of hours consumed daily. As a future teacher I feel that knowing most of my students will be leaving my classroom to sit in front of a television for the rest of the day will impact how I do things. It will be important to me that I make sure the content and how I teach it are showcasing technology in a positive manner.

   The concept of having a technology-based learning environment outside of the classroom was also interesting to me and is a concept that I have some experience in. My son is in 2nd grade and his teachers have always taken advantage of teacher websites. They post links to games for extra practice and updates for parents. I have found that extra practice outside of the classroom, using technology, can be tremendously helpful. While I was taking a spanish course a few semesters ago we were required to use a program called En Vivo. I have attached a video explaining how the program works.
It was amazing being able to meet with a coach outside of the classroom each week.



   The final concept to catch my interest was the section on technology-based teaching tools. I found this especially interesting because I recently found out about an amazing program that is being used in a friends classroom. Each student has an ipad (paid for by parents and school together) and the students use an app called Seesaw http://web.seesaw.me/. A student can record themselves reading and/or writing and it automatically sends an update to the parents allowing them to see and listen to their child during the school day. I believe that the program is great for a teacher to utilize while they are working one on one or in small groups. Having tools like computers and tablets are beneficial today as they can be used in numerous ways to assist in the classroom.

Resources:

"EN VIVO." En Vivo. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.

  Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

"Home." Seesaw. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.