This has been a very busy week trying to finalize all the last minute projects for the end of the semester. My partner and I communicated back and forth over cell phones, email, and Google documents to finish up our teacher work sample. That was a huge amount of work. I saved the TWS in numerous different places because I wouldn’t want to loose it and have to redo it. I have lost information when computers die and it is not a pretty sight. My laptop of six years finally died, but never fear, I was prepared by saving files on two different computers. Windows 2007 and Vista are becoming more familiar to me as I have had to start using them on a new laptop. In addition, I have used technology to communicate with family, friends, and professors this week. I have done some research for final projects on the internet. The most valuable piece of technology that I have learned to use this semester in Instructional Media would be the ability to work on and share documents with others through Google documents. I don’t know why any other instructors haven’t suggested it before, it would have been so helpful with all the group work we have done in the past. In class, I enjoyed trying out everyone’s Webquests. It was interesting to see what others had thought of. I look forward to the final, when we will be able to watch the digital stories.
I watched the video Do You Believe In Me? and was impressed that the young man was able to get up in front of 20,000 people and deliver a speech. Dalton Sherman, a young man of about 12 was the keynote speaker at the back-to-school convocation in Texas. He gave a motivational speech to school personnel. He said that he has confidence in his abilities because they believed in him. He said they better believe in the students because they would all be showing up in their classrooms next week. He said they better not give up on them because in many cases they were all they had. He asked the audience to believe in, trust in, and lean on their colleagues. He asked the audience to believe in themselves and to believe that every child needs to be ready for college or the workplace. He told the audience they had the most important job in the city. I was impressed with this young man and hope that each day I will be able to believe in the students in my future classrooms and give them the confidence they need to succeed.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Week 14 Reflection
Okay, I'm going to try again to load my gabcast. I think I might be able to do it this time. Otherwise, I will try something else new. This week our pod was able to finish up our webquest. Working together, we were able to get it looking great! Well, here's my last attempt at gabcast!
Gabcast! Media Blog #1
Success! I have attached the gabcast!
I watched the video Schoolhouse Rock - A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing and it reminded me of when I was a little girl watching Saturday morning cartoons. I loved Schoolhouse Rock! It is amazing to me that it is around more than 30 plus years ago. That just shows that good things last forever!
Gabcast! Media Blog #1
Success! I have attached the gabcast!
I watched the video Schoolhouse Rock - A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing and it reminded me of when I was a little girl watching Saturday morning cartoons. I loved Schoolhouse Rock! It is amazing to me that it is around more than 30 plus years ago. That just shows that good things last forever!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Week 13 Reflection
Well, I have tried three different times to connect my gabcast to this week's reflection and it hasn't worked yet. I used up my five free minutes so if I want to try again, I will need to pay for this experience. The cost seems to be rising as I have already expended my time and patience on this type of technology. Apparently, with this particular form of technology I have been unable to navigate through the "shark infested" waters on my way to "Success Island." In the past, when I have been able to observe what I am to do and then I am able to try it on my own I have been successful. Without any idea of what to do for a gabcast, my results seem to be just be just the opposite, failure.
On a much more cheery note, this week during my field experience I have used various forms of technology. I put the finishing touches on a PowerPoint presentation I had created about the differences between gothic and Romanesque architecture use in cathedrals during the Middle Ages. I spent a great deal of time refining lesson plans with my partner as we prepared a print and digital copy for our cooperating teacher. My partner and I sent a huge amount of time communicating through chat, email, and working on shared documents. In addition, I spent time submitting my technology interview and communicating with other students in the program to finish up our web quest and a presentation for a creative arts methods class.
I have found that I depend quite heavily on internet research when I am learning about topics and creating lesson plans. It must have been very different for educators when the internet was not available. They must have taken most of their information from textbooks. Research must have taken place in the libraries instead of in the comfort of your own home. While creating my teacher work sample, I have remembered to save it in several different locations. I would hate to loose all of my hard work. Learning about shared documents and groups has been my most valuable tool I used daily in my educational experience.
Anyway, I have had three technology filled weeks during my field experience. I will miss the teacher and students we have been observing, but I am ready to finish up the semester so I can get busy in my garden!
On a much more cheery note, this week during my field experience I have used various forms of technology. I put the finishing touches on a PowerPoint presentation I had created about the differences between gothic and Romanesque architecture use in cathedrals during the Middle Ages. I spent a great deal of time refining lesson plans with my partner as we prepared a print and digital copy for our cooperating teacher. My partner and I sent a huge amount of time communicating through chat, email, and working on shared documents. In addition, I spent time submitting my technology interview and communicating with other students in the program to finish up our web quest and a presentation for a creative arts methods class.
I have found that I depend quite heavily on internet research when I am learning about topics and creating lesson plans. It must have been very different for educators when the internet was not available. They must have taken most of their information from textbooks. Research must have taken place in the libraries instead of in the comfort of your own home. While creating my teacher work sample, I have remembered to save it in several different locations. I would hate to loose all of my hard work. Learning about shared documents and groups has been my most valuable tool I used daily in my educational experience.
Anyway, I have had three technology filled weeks during my field experience. I will miss the teacher and students we have been observing, but I am ready to finish up the semester so I can get busy in my garden!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Week 12 Reflection
This week I spent a great deal of time on the internet researching different aspects of the Middle Ages. I found it interesting that on a given topic you can find two completely differing views from what I would think are reliable sites. One example of this I found during my research into the Crusades. I came upon some interesting information concerning the Children’s Crusades. Several sources on the internet claim that two different children’s crusades were led by young twelve year old boys which led thousands of children on a holy crusade. Several other sites state that this information is untrue. Another example of differing opinions concerned the children’s rhyme of Ring Around the Rosy. Several sites claim that this rhyme was made up at the time of the bubonic plague to describe what happened to plague victims. Other sites state that this is completely false and that the rhyme is simply a rhyme with no meaning at all. Dr. Ramirez suggested that the way to present this information is to state that there are differing opinions on these topics.
Fortunately, the sixth grade classroom where I am completing my field experience has an overhead projector and a laptop connected to projector. However, both of these technologies are on rolling carts which make it highly improbable to use them at the same time. While preparing a lesson on the Silk Route for the students, I realized that it would be very useful to have a projector that was attached to the ceiling of the classroom. I gave the students a map and a chart to record different goods traded along the Silk Route and I wrote the items on a chart I used on the overhead projector. However, I also created a PowerPoint presentation with a slide show of the different cities and landscape along the Silk Route which would have been a nice addition to the lesson to give them a visual representation of the route. If I were to do this lesson again, on one day I would take the students on a virtual field trip along the Silk Route through my PowerPoint presentation. On a following lesson, I would use the overhead projector to record the student responses of the goods traded along the route. I think the most optimal situation would be to have a smart board, I bet you could record information right along with showing the slide show. I will need to research into this, as I believe it would be extremely useful in the classroom.
Fortunately, the sixth grade classroom where I am completing my field experience has an overhead projector and a laptop connected to projector. However, both of these technologies are on rolling carts which make it highly improbable to use them at the same time. While preparing a lesson on the Silk Route for the students, I realized that it would be very useful to have a projector that was attached to the ceiling of the classroom. I gave the students a map and a chart to record different goods traded along the Silk Route and I wrote the items on a chart I used on the overhead projector. However, I also created a PowerPoint presentation with a slide show of the different cities and landscape along the Silk Route which would have been a nice addition to the lesson to give them a visual representation of the route. If I were to do this lesson again, on one day I would take the students on a virtual field trip along the Silk Route through my PowerPoint presentation. On a following lesson, I would use the overhead projector to record the student responses of the goods traded along the route. I think the most optimal situation would be to have a smart board, I bet you could record information right along with showing the slide show. I will need to research into this, as I believe it would be extremely useful in the classroom.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Week 11 Reflection
This week during my field experience, I found several uses of technology in the classroom. The teacher emails, takes role and lunch count, does research, uses programs in the classroom, and has the students take tests in the computer lab. The students spend two days a week in the computer labs with the goal of having one half hour of typing and one half hour learning new technology. The first thing Monday morning, the teacher had the students go into to computer lab and take a computerized test on planets. I had the opportunity to help a student by reading the questions and answers aloud to assist her in taking the test. One afternoon, the teacher used the Starry Night program to enhance the classroom discussion on constellations which was part of their current science curriculum. Through this technology, the students had a much better understanding of the way the constellations moved around the North star in the sky than if the teacher has tried to explain it.
During the week, I had the opportunity to speak with one of the computer technicians and gather some interesting information about the technology philosophy at the school. They students go to the computer labs twice a week for one half hour each. During one lab time, the students spend the time practicing typing. Once the students were finished with their typing drills, they were able to get on their email or play games. I found it interesting that each student has an email through the school. During the other lab time, the technician teaches the students different programs. It was interesting to me that next week the students are going to begin using Movie Maker to make digital stories. I asked the technician about this and she said she had recently been to a district training in which she was trained to use Movie Maker and now she now planned on teaching it to the students. This district has training for computer technicians four times a year.
I used a PowerPoint presentation I had created on the geography of Europe in my first lesson I gave to the class. My partner and I used a web quest we had found on the Middle Ages to introduce the student to people of medieval times. Our cooperating teacher told us a trick that she uses to facilitate getting the students to the right site. Through experience she had learned that it was easier to email the link to each of the students because inevitably the students have a problem typing in the link no matter how simple it is. The following day, that is exactly what we did and it was much easier for the students as they did not need to spend a great deal of time trying to get to the right site.
From my experiences in the classroom this week I found that the students were very skilled in their use of technology. I was impressed with the computer technician’s willingness to learn new technology and immediately expose the student to it as well. I thought it was really neat that all the students had email and could sent emails to their friends and that the teacher could use it to help facilitate learning. I am continuing to make additional lessons in which I will incorporate technology as I found the students are very sophisticated in their use of technology. It was very interesting to see the different ways technology is being used daily in the classroom.
During the week, I had the opportunity to speak with one of the computer technicians and gather some interesting information about the technology philosophy at the school. They students go to the computer labs twice a week for one half hour each. During one lab time, the students spend the time practicing typing. Once the students were finished with their typing drills, they were able to get on their email or play games. I found it interesting that each student has an email through the school. During the other lab time, the technician teaches the students different programs. It was interesting to me that next week the students are going to begin using Movie Maker to make digital stories. I asked the technician about this and she said she had recently been to a district training in which she was trained to use Movie Maker and now she now planned on teaching it to the students. This district has training for computer technicians four times a year.
I used a PowerPoint presentation I had created on the geography of Europe in my first lesson I gave to the class. My partner and I used a web quest we had found on the Middle Ages to introduce the student to people of medieval times. Our cooperating teacher told us a trick that she uses to facilitate getting the students to the right site. Through experience she had learned that it was easier to email the link to each of the students because inevitably the students have a problem typing in the link no matter how simple it is. The following day, that is exactly what we did and it was much easier for the students as they did not need to spend a great deal of time trying to get to the right site.
From my experiences in the classroom this week I found that the students were very skilled in their use of technology. I was impressed with the computer technician’s willingness to learn new technology and immediately expose the student to it as well. I thought it was really neat that all the students had email and could sent emails to their friends and that the teacher could use it to help facilitate learning. I am continuing to make additional lessons in which I will incorporate technology as I found the students are very sophisticated in their use of technology. It was very interesting to see the different ways technology is being used daily in the classroom.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Week 10 Reflection
This week, I have been busy using many forms of technology in preparation for my field experience. I have been emailing a few professors, my cooperating teacher, and my field partner getting ready for the upcoming field experience. I have been surfing the web, looking for reliable websites to learn all I can about the Middle Ages. I have been creating and sharing lesson plans with my partner. I have been creating PowerPoint presentations on feudalism and medieval architecture. I have been looking for an appropriate webquest for my students to complete; and the week is not even over yet. As I prepare, I try to keep in mind if I am truly creating technology rich lessons. Am I using technology to inspire the students I will be teaching? Are the sites I am considering really interactive educational sites? Will they be of benefit to the students? I hope I will make wise choices that will inspire the students and help them learn.
Although I watched the video We Didn’t Start the Fire and I enjoyed it, today while watching the NBC News they referenced a video created by students at Village Academy High School in Pomona, California. They are students in Mr. Michael Steinman’s advanced placement language arts class. As part of their studies they had been reading The Great Gatsby about the American dream. Mr. Steinman asked how the students were doing in this economy. Every student had something to say. As a class they talked and did many writing assignments and then they decided to create the video. The experiences they relate are very emotional, so emotional in fact that President Obama mentioned them in a speech on March 10th and actually paid a visit to the classroom today, March 19th. This is an example of an authentic use of technology in the classroom that made some very important people see the economic crisis from the eyes of teens. I recommend watching it. Is Anybody Listening? A testament by Village Academy High School Students on the Economic Crisis can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WMTTrOrKVI.
Although I watched the video We Didn’t Start the Fire and I enjoyed it, today while watching the NBC News they referenced a video created by students at Village Academy High School in Pomona, California. They are students in Mr. Michael Steinman’s advanced placement language arts class. As part of their studies they had been reading The Great Gatsby about the American dream. Mr. Steinman asked how the students were doing in this economy. Every student had something to say. As a class they talked and did many writing assignments and then they decided to create the video. The experiences they relate are very emotional, so emotional in fact that President Obama mentioned them in a speech on March 10th and actually paid a visit to the classroom today, March 19th. This is an example of an authentic use of technology in the classroom that made some very important people see the economic crisis from the eyes of teens. I recommend watching it. Is Anybody Listening? A testament by Village Academy High School Students on the Economic Crisis can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WMTTrOrKVI.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Week 8 Reflection
During the week, I finished working on my PDP. I feel as though I need more instruction in order to be able to create lessons that use technology in the classroom. Therefore, on the surveys I was only a novice or apprentice. Today in class we had the opportunity to work together to figure out what was necessary to turn in for our PDP assignment. During class, I checked my grades and and watched the video for the week.
The video Did You Know? 3.0 was very similar to another video we have already watched. The information that I got from the video was that we are preparing students for jobs they will have that don't exist today. The United States is insignificant compared to the populations of many other countries in the world. We are living in exponential times. What is a exabyte? The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. This applies to me as an educator because I will be teaching the children that will one day be running our country. I need to keep current on technology and include it in my classroom in a real, rich, and relevant way.
The video Did You Know? 3.0 was very similar to another video we have already watched. The information that I got from the video was that we are preparing students for jobs they will have that don't exist today. The United States is insignificant compared to the populations of many other countries in the world. We are living in exponential times. What is a exabyte? The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. This applies to me as an educator because I will be teaching the children that will one day be running our country. I need to keep current on technology and include it in my classroom in a real, rich, and relevant way.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Strengths & Weaknesses
Although my level of competency in any area on the UNI surveys did not exceed that of apprentice, I feel that I have many strengths when it comes to technology. First, I feel as though I consider both the positive and negative effects of technology and I do not intend on adding technology to my classroom unless I feel it with create a rich, real, and relevant learning experience for my students. As a “digital immigrant” I continually strive to learn about new technology and strive to stay abreast of current technologies. I am able to use many technologies and frequently have my children “teach” me how to use new programs to enable me to use the technology myself. Through my instructional media class I have become effective in communicating and collaborating with my classmates of different class projects. I believe this will benefit me throughout my career as I continue to use technology to communicate and collaborate with others.
According to the UNI Surveys, I have weaknesses in several areas. Three areas which I would like to work towards strengthening include learning to use graphic organizer software, learning and understanding the copyright laws as they relate to educators, and finding instructional software through professional review sources to insure matching software to the needs of my students. A website that offers help learning more about graphic organizers is http://www.inspiration.com/Educators/Trainer-Resources. I had a very brief introduction to the Inspiration program and would like to more fully understand the possibilities that its counterpart Kidspiration has to offer teachers. A website that I can learn about copyright laws would be http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml. I have been concerned with copyright laws and the legal parameters an educator needs to work with in preparing lessons for the classroom. Finally, I believe that I can gain valuable information from concerning educational software reviews from the website http://www.superkids.com/. Using this site with help me evaluate which software might be appropriate for use in my kindergarten classroom.
A definite weakness that I can see from the UNI surveys and section two of the NETS standards is that I have not designed any specific learning activities for diverse learners to teach any of the competencies listed on either surveys. At this time as a student, I feel as though I need explicit instruction and direction into how to plan and design effective learning experiences that are supported by technology and how I could incorporate them into the classroom. On this topic, I have been able to find a wealth of information concerning technology use at Kathy Schrock’s website located at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/.
According to the UNI Surveys, I have weaknesses in several areas. Three areas which I would like to work towards strengthening include learning to use graphic organizer software, learning and understanding the copyright laws as they relate to educators, and finding instructional software through professional review sources to insure matching software to the needs of my students. A website that offers help learning more about graphic organizers is http://www.inspiration.com/Educators/Trainer-Resources. I had a very brief introduction to the Inspiration program and would like to more fully understand the possibilities that its counterpart Kidspiration has to offer teachers. A website that I can learn about copyright laws would be http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml. I have been concerned with copyright laws and the legal parameters an educator needs to work with in preparing lessons for the classroom. Finally, I believe that I can gain valuable information from concerning educational software reviews from the website http://www.superkids.com/. Using this site with help me evaluate which software might be appropriate for use in my kindergarten classroom.
A definite weakness that I can see from the UNI surveys and section two of the NETS standards is that I have not designed any specific learning activities for diverse learners to teach any of the competencies listed on either surveys. At this time as a student, I feel as though I need explicit instruction and direction into how to plan and design effective learning experiences that are supported by technology and how I could incorporate them into the classroom. On this topic, I have been able to find a wealth of information concerning technology use at Kathy Schrock’s website located at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/.
Lessons Learned
This activity helped me to explore my strengths and weaknesses related to teaching technology, helped me realize there are many options available when it comes to ways I can present lessons to my students using technology, and helped me see that the students I will teach in the future do not want to be taught the same was as I was taught in the past. I have realized that I have a great deal to work on in regards to technology if I intend on helping my students learn in a technology rich environment. I have many strengths, but need to strengthen them as well. There are so many options when it comes to educating students today. From a link on one of the websites we were asked to read, I found an article titled Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky. From this article, I learned that I definitely am a digital immigrant. As such, I need to accept that I don’t know much about many technologies available and I need to take the opportunity to learn from digital natives in order to integrate. The students that I will teach are digital natives and they think and process information differently from me. In order to engage my students I need to find effective ways to incorporate technology into the traditional curriculum.
This activity helped me see various forms of technology used in the classroom including online courses, web quests, classroom websites, electronic books, social networking, and computer games to name a few. Technology is growing at an exponential rate and to be of service to the students I will teach, I need to use technology in the classroom in a useful way. The article titled The New WWW helped me to realize that students today are accustomed to having whatever they want, whenever they want it and getting it where ever they want it. As an educator I can help students make satisfying choices through engaging them in technology rich learning activities and helping them engage in service to others.
This activity helped me see various forms of technology used in the classroom including online courses, web quests, classroom websites, electronic books, social networking, and computer games to name a few. Technology is growing at an exponential rate and to be of service to the students I will teach, I need to use technology in the classroom in a useful way. The article titled The New WWW helped me to realize that students today are accustomed to having whatever they want, whenever they want it and getting it where ever they want it. As an educator I can help students make satisfying choices through engaging them in technology rich learning activities and helping them engage in service to others.
My Beliefs
As I prepare to teach kindergarten, I have often wondered how much technology it would be possible to incorporate into a kindergarten classroom. The articles and videos mostly focus on students far older than five year olds. I decided to do a search for “technology integration in kindergarten” and found some very useful information that gave me better insight into how I can use more than just computer software, PowerPoint presentations, or digital camera projects in my classroom. From a link on Kathy Schrock’s site, I found a very useful site that gave ideas using iPods, podcasting, and ACTIVboards and SMARTboards. I discovered that there are many ways available to incorporate technology in a meaningful way into my kindergarten classroom. I can use iPod shuffles to make a take home pre-reading program, I can use podcasts to share information from Back-to-school nights and other school functions with parents unable to attend the activity. I can use smart board technologies to help students actively engage with the curriculum. Two sites that I plan to obtain more information are http://prometheanplanet.com and http://www.pre-kpages.com/ipods.html. I intend on learning more about the use of iPods and ACTIVboards in kindergarten classrooms. From my personal research on technology integration for kindergarten, I now realize that I can find many useful and meaningful ways to incorporate all kinds of technology into my classroom. I just need to keep looking, keep an open mind about the possibilities, and be prepared to write grant proposals in order to help pay for the technologies I would like to use in my classroom.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Week 6 Reflection
This week, although we did not attend class, our pod got together and watched our finished digital story and got it loaded onto YouTube. One of our pod members created an account and then we loaded our video. After a few minutes of processing, we were all able to get out video linked onto each of our classroom websites. We were able to put this project together using technology we have previously learned in class. Through our pod discussion group we are able to communicate with each other and plan meeting times when we need to get together to finish off our projects. Through our documents that are shared we are each able to take care of our assignments at our convenience. These two technologies have helped our pod communicate throughout the process of building our digital story.
This week, I have discovered a way that I can use digital stories to achieve my classroom objectives while helping my daughter with her science fair project. I asked her if she would like to create her own digital story to show with her display. We had taken pictures of her as she worked on her project and made a couple of videos of the actual experimentation stage of the project which I showed her how to import into Movie Maker. She went on the internet and found additional pictures she wanted to include for additional information. Next, she created a storyboard with the narrative for each slide all on her own. She plans to use the video to complement her science fair display. My daughter was extremely motivated and wanted to do the work on her own once I demonstrated how it was done. Students could easily use this technology to demonstrate what they have learned and what they are doing in our classroom as well as on projects. This would enable parents to become more aware of what we are doing in our classroom.
Unfortunately, the video link on the classroom website did not work; however, I did find a video on YouTube. The video titled Millennial Generation that I was able to watch on YouTube was created by Motorola Corporation and showed that students of today are moving ahead with technology. The students asked questions as to why certain things were not possible yet with technology. The students said that when their parents needed help with technology, they came to them, the students. As a non traditional student with children the same age as the students featured in the video, I can relate. When I need help with technology, I turn to my kids for help. I feel as though I am getting additional technology information that will be very useful to me as well as my classroom. As a future teacher, it is important for me to be in a position to know about technology and be able to teach my students instead of them teaching me. I cannot afford to be left behind in my technology skills.
This week, I have discovered a way that I can use digital stories to achieve my classroom objectives while helping my daughter with her science fair project. I asked her if she would like to create her own digital story to show with her display. We had taken pictures of her as she worked on her project and made a couple of videos of the actual experimentation stage of the project which I showed her how to import into Movie Maker. She went on the internet and found additional pictures she wanted to include for additional information. Next, she created a storyboard with the narrative for each slide all on her own. She plans to use the video to complement her science fair display. My daughter was extremely motivated and wanted to do the work on her own once I demonstrated how it was done. Students could easily use this technology to demonstrate what they have learned and what they are doing in our classroom as well as on projects. This would enable parents to become more aware of what we are doing in our classroom.
Unfortunately, the video link on the classroom website did not work; however, I did find a video on YouTube. The video titled Millennial Generation that I was able to watch on YouTube was created by Motorola Corporation and showed that students of today are moving ahead with technology. The students asked questions as to why certain things were not possible yet with technology. The students said that when their parents needed help with technology, they came to them, the students. As a non traditional student with children the same age as the students featured in the video, I can relate. When I need help with technology, I turn to my kids for help. I feel as though I am getting additional technology information that will be very useful to me as well as my classroom. As a future teacher, it is important for me to be in a position to know about technology and be able to teach my students instead of them teaching me. I cannot afford to be left behind in my technology skills.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Week 5 Reflection
Things were moving along smoothly last week on our digital story. By this Tuesday’s class we had written our storyboard, collected all the photos, recorded our narrative, and inserted all of our photos into the Movie Maker program. A small glitch was eventually overcome in getting the narrative into the proper type of file; then we thought we were ready for smooth sailing. Wrong. After two hours of class, our only accomplishment was that we had successfully got the narrative to import into the program. Disequilibrium is the state I found myself in for the next several hours. Eventually, I found my way back to equilibrium and all is well now.
Learning a new program without guidance brought both frustration as well as a sense of accomplishment in the end. From our experiences working with movie maker, it seems as though to be successful all the production work must be completed and a finished movie produced on the same computer or else all is lost. Even after hours of struggles, I now feel successful because in the end I could complete the assigned task. Now, I have a working relationship with the movie maker program and feel as though I can use the program successfully to create and present information to my eventual students. However, I am not so sure that I would use it as a project I would have my kindergarteners use until I was much more successful and understood the limitations I had to work with so that I could guide them through to success.
I feel that a problem with the digital story project is that the final production of putting all the information together rests on one person. Although each member of the pod gathered and participated in the first stages of the project, only one person could work on the project to put it all together. I feel that there should be a more collaborative way for many people to work on the digital story all at once. This could work similar to a Google document. There probably is a program that allows for this type of collaboration that professionals use daily.
The overall message from the video Did You Know? is having us ponder the type of education we are providing to students and if that type of education is going to be useful for the students as they enter the world of tomorrow. Shift happens. Change happens. Are we changing to meet that change or are we resisting and sticking with what we already know? The video challenges educators to step up and make the education we provide useful and relevant for our students. We have to use technology to engage our students.
In the video A Vision of Students Today, two hundred students collaborated on a document to create the message that educators need to change the educational environment. There needs to be change if the education that is provided is going to useful and relevant in their lives. I looked up the word digital ethnography on the web and it stated that said “application of new technologies to the process of ethnography. Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that deals with scientific description of specific human cultures. The students we teach tomorrow are part of a digital culture. We as educators need to seize the opportunity to include technology into the classroom if we plan on helping them achieve their goals for the future.
Learning a new program without guidance brought both frustration as well as a sense of accomplishment in the end. From our experiences working with movie maker, it seems as though to be successful all the production work must be completed and a finished movie produced on the same computer or else all is lost. Even after hours of struggles, I now feel successful because in the end I could complete the assigned task. Now, I have a working relationship with the movie maker program and feel as though I can use the program successfully to create and present information to my eventual students. However, I am not so sure that I would use it as a project I would have my kindergarteners use until I was much more successful and understood the limitations I had to work with so that I could guide them through to success.
I feel that a problem with the digital story project is that the final production of putting all the information together rests on one person. Although each member of the pod gathered and participated in the first stages of the project, only one person could work on the project to put it all together. I feel that there should be a more collaborative way for many people to work on the digital story all at once. This could work similar to a Google document. There probably is a program that allows for this type of collaboration that professionals use daily.
The overall message from the video Did You Know? is having us ponder the type of education we are providing to students and if that type of education is going to be useful for the students as they enter the world of tomorrow. Shift happens. Change happens. Are we changing to meet that change or are we resisting and sticking with what we already know? The video challenges educators to step up and make the education we provide useful and relevant for our students. We have to use technology to engage our students.
In the video A Vision of Students Today, two hundred students collaborated on a document to create the message that educators need to change the educational environment. There needs to be change if the education that is provided is going to useful and relevant in their lives. I looked up the word digital ethnography on the web and it stated that said “application of new technologies to the process of ethnography. Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that deals with scientific description of specific human cultures. The students we teach tomorrow are part of a digital culture. We as educators need to seize the opportunity to include technology into the classroom if we plan on helping them achieve their goals for the future.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Week 4 Reflection
This week in class we began learning about digital storytelling. At first, I thought digital story telling would be a book created with digital pictures that includes narration that is online. Now I understand digital storytelling is telling a story which includes photos, video, narration, and music. The three digital stories we viewed in class invoked deep feelings. The story tellers had emotional life stories to tell. All digital stories do not need to be emotional. The digital story that our pod is creating is light and informative as we are focusing our efforts towards kindergarten.
Our pod is working together very nicely. During class, we looked at the kindergarten core, found a standard and objective we wanted to cover, wrote our script and found the pictures we wanted for the digital story. All the members of the pod were working together on different areas of the presentation and things are moving along very smoothly. I hope when I am at a school, I will have a good working relationship with the other kindergarten teachers and faculty in order to make things work.
Digital storytelling would be a tool that I could use with my colleagues to create stories to present to meet our standards and objectives using technology. My kindergarteners could create an online story that we could use to show parents what we are learning in the kindergarten. As the students of today are accustomed to using technology, I believe with some guidance, they would be successful. This project would require commitment but I think the end results would be positive. Digital stories help provide information and can evoke deep feelings. Creating digital stories can be time consuming to create but can be used to teach students who are accustomed to using technology.
The NASA digital story was both informative as well as thought provoking. I have often wondered why our country spends so much to go back to the moon and into space when astronauts were loosing their lives. From the digital story I learned that the technology gained from NASA goes to benefit the medical field, transportation, engineering, energy consumption, weather forecasting, safety and much more. For every one dollar spent on research and development it is estimated the country receives tax revenues of seven dollars in jobs and economic growth. Something that I did not know was the large number of lives lost in space travel. All the individuals were named with the tragedy that took their lives. This made me realize they are real people who made great contributions to the life I live today.
Our pod is working together very nicely. During class, we looked at the kindergarten core, found a standard and objective we wanted to cover, wrote our script and found the pictures we wanted for the digital story. All the members of the pod were working together on different areas of the presentation and things are moving along very smoothly. I hope when I am at a school, I will have a good working relationship with the other kindergarten teachers and faculty in order to make things work.
Digital storytelling would be a tool that I could use with my colleagues to create stories to present to meet our standards and objectives using technology. My kindergarteners could create an online story that we could use to show parents what we are learning in the kindergarten. As the students of today are accustomed to using technology, I believe with some guidance, they would be successful. This project would require commitment but I think the end results would be positive. Digital stories help provide information and can evoke deep feelings. Creating digital stories can be time consuming to create but can be used to teach students who are accustomed to using technology.
The NASA digital story was both informative as well as thought provoking. I have often wondered why our country spends so much to go back to the moon and into space when astronauts were loosing their lives. From the digital story I learned that the technology gained from NASA goes to benefit the medical field, transportation, engineering, energy consumption, weather forecasting, safety and much more. For every one dollar spent on research and development it is estimated the country receives tax revenues of seven dollars in jobs and economic growth. Something that I did not know was the large number of lives lost in space travel. All the individuals were named with the tragedy that took their lives. This made me realize they are real people who made great contributions to the life I live today.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Technology and Butterflies
I believe that the site Explore butterflies! at http://www.ansp.org/museum/butterflies/new_interactive/butterflies.html is an excellent educational website for students to learn about butterflies and reinforce the kindergarten core curriculum standard II, Objective 2 to observe and describe animals in the local environment. This site has four sections to explore including: test your butterfly smarts, build a butterfly habitat, field observation, and butterflies and climate change. The site provides information, provides immediate corrective feedback, rewards correct answers, and encourages improvement. One section I particularly liked was the “build a butterfly habitat.” Students get 2 minutes to create a meadow habitat and try to attract five species of butterflies. Students must choose between host plants, nectar and host plants, and landscaping and add or subtract items from the meadow. As choices are made, the numbers of butterflies increases or decreases depending on if it was a good or bad choice. Hints are given so the students can make better choices.
I would use this as an interactive learning activity that should be completed at home with a parent to reinforce what has been taught in class concerning butterflies. This site is simple to use, it provides useful feedback, and graphics are well done. The problem with the site is that it does not include a narrative or sound of any kind, thus, making it necessary for an experienced reader to assist non-reading children. This actually could work as an advantage as it requires parental participation which has been shown to improve children learning. I would encourage parents to explore the site with their child to reinforce their child’s knowledge about butterflies. Another problem with this site is that for people who do not agree with climate change this site could be disagreeable to them.
I would use this as an interactive learning activity that should be completed at home with a parent to reinforce what has been taught in class concerning butterflies. This site is simple to use, it provides useful feedback, and graphics are well done. The problem with the site is that it does not include a narrative or sound of any kind, thus, making it necessary for an experienced reader to assist non-reading children. This actually could work as an advantage as it requires parental participation which has been shown to improve children learning. I would encourage parents to explore the site with their child to reinforce their child’s knowledge about butterflies. Another problem with this site is that for people who do not agree with climate change this site could be disagreeable to them.
Technology and Dental Health
In order to teach the kindergarten core curriculum standard I, Objective 1, indicator a – describe proper care of the body; the American Dental Association website located at http://www.ada.org/public/games/marty.asp would be useful. This is an interactive storybook titled Visit the Dentist with Marty. The option to have the audio on or off is available enabling this site to be used by readers and non-readers alike. Students can navigate easily forwards and backwards in the story by clicking the correct arrows. The story encourages interactions with the children because it makes a little twinkle on things you can click on. There is a page in the story which allows students to make choices about what Marty should eat for breakfast. Correct choices are read aloud; incorrect choices are read aloud with an additional “not a healthy choice” added. Students can click around the room to identify different things in the dentist’s office. Throughout the story there are little twinkles which the students can click on to make different actions, sounds, thought and labels appear.
This site is geared specifically for younger children and helps reinforce the importance of proper dental care. Students would enjoy “reading” along with the narrator and would like to click on all the twinkling spaces to discover something new. I would inform parents that this website would be useful in helping students learn about taking care of their teeth, eating health foods, protecting their teeth, and feeling comfortable about visiting the dentist. I would allow students to go to the website during class and also encourage parents to visit the site with their student at home. I like that the story includes many cultures and includes a female dentist in order to avoid stereotypes. I do not believe that older children would engage with the site as it is very simple.
This site is geared specifically for younger children and helps reinforce the importance of proper dental care. Students would enjoy “reading” along with the narrator and would like to click on all the twinkling spaces to discover something new. I would inform parents that this website would be useful in helping students learn about taking care of their teeth, eating health foods, protecting their teeth, and feeling comfortable about visiting the dentist. I would allow students to go to the website during class and also encourage parents to visit the site with their student at home. I like that the story includes many cultures and includes a female dentist in order to avoid stereotypes. I do not believe that older children would engage with the site as it is very simple.
Week 3 Reflection
It may be hard to believe but this was the first time I had ever been to the You Tube website. I had heard of it, but never explored it. Teacher Tube seems to be something that I may be more likely to use over You Tube. I spent quite a bit of time looking for videos to download that might be useful for kindergarten. During my search I realized that not only could I download something to show my students, I could used the technology in another way, and have my students create something to put on teacher tube. I could have my kindergarten students make a video about something such as the ABC’s and we could watch our creation when it was finished. I believe that the students would be engaged and excited to create something their parents and the entire world could see and learn from. I found it would be easy to spend hours looking for just the “right” clip. This could be a real problem.
I didn’t know that you could copy videos off the internet. During class, I took notes on how to use zamzar.com but I didn’t try it until I got home. It worked just as described in class. I can see that this technology tool would be useful as I could save a copy of what I wanted and then if the site every disappeared, I would not have to go without the video. Having my own copy would alleviate any fears of not having what I need when I need it. This experience made me realize that I just do not know what is available to use. There must be dozens of technology options available to help teachers meet the needs of their students yet how are we to know just what is available? I guess explore, better yet, I think I will continue to take technology classes when available to update my skills.
I really liked the National Geographic interactive site and will continue to look for sites to bookmark that I think will be useful when I become a teacher. These interactives will help me show students things they may never have a chance to see on their own.
I didn’t know that you could copy videos off the internet. During class, I took notes on how to use zamzar.com but I didn’t try it until I got home. It worked just as described in class. I can see that this technology tool would be useful as I could save a copy of what I wanted and then if the site every disappeared, I would not have to go without the video. Having my own copy would alleviate any fears of not having what I need when I need it. This experience made me realize that I just do not know what is available to use. There must be dozens of technology options available to help teachers meet the needs of their students yet how are we to know just what is available? I guess explore, better yet, I think I will continue to take technology classes when available to update my skills.
I really liked the National Geographic interactive site and will continue to look for sites to bookmark that I think will be useful when I become a teacher. These interactives will help me show students things they may never have a chance to see on their own.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Week 2 Reflection
Effective communication is a vital part of any successful organization. A successful classroom requires effective communication between teacher, students, colleagues, and parents and guardians. One method of communicating with students, parents and guardians is through a classroom website. Setting up a website that provides vital information concerning the classroom including a calendar, homework assignments, announcements, information about the teacher, school information, and provides a method of recognition for the students is an excellent way to communicate with parents and students in my classroom. Initially, the amount of time necessary to set up a classroom website is consuming, but once the major items were in place, it would be very useful to communicate vital information to all who need it.
Students could go to the website to look up homework assignments, see their work displayed, receive recognition, and connect to links that would take them to fun educational sites that correspond to what is being taught in the classroom. Parents could check on classroom policies, look up school schedules, check announcements, and stay connected to what is going on in the classroom. The classroom website is certainly a tool that will be useful in helping me meet my classroom objective of communicating information to my students and their parents and guardians.
I understand the importance of communicating with my class members and know that effective communication will be essential here in our cohort as well as with my future colleagues. Emailing is an effective way to discuss things with others in my many groups and my pod. I send out questions and receive replies to help me along the way. Hopefully, I can be helpful to others as well. The discovery of the ability to share documents on line and carry on discussions in our pods has come in handy already. With so many group projects, it certainly is an ingenious way to manage all the projects in a convenient manner. This mode of communicating with my classmates will apply to my future communications with colleagues as well.
There are many pros and cons associated with using technology into the classroom. One pro is that it provides different options to present information that might reach students. Technology can be used to motivate and engage students who are accustomed to working with technology daily. Technology provides a convenient mode of communication. Technology allows for collaboration among colleagues as well as among students. Technology provides a wealth of information accessible with a few clicks of a mouse. However, with so much information available, a teacher or student could become overloaded and never find their way out! Another con is that although most people are embracing the use of technology, a few may not have the resources, knowledge, or even the desire to use these new technologies. Another con is that there needs to be a balance in all things. A human touch is still better than dealing solely with technology; it would be a cold and inhumane world if we resorted solely to technology over human interactions.
In regards to the video clips, although I could not get the link to “Mr. Duey Fractions” to work, I simply googled the name and it connected me to the site. I thought that Mr. Duey is an awesome teacher who has gone to great lengths to provide a creative and fun method to teach his students fractions in this case. Looking at his website further, he makes CD’s for purchase on numerous topics and takes requests from teachers for more. I believe teachers need to be creative and ingenious in order to engage students in the learning process. The Web 2.0 appears to be a way to communicate and collaborate using technology to engage and motivate students. Going to the Digital Sandbox site, I found that they are encouraging teachers to integrate new technology into the learning environments in order to engage students and allow for reaching additional learning styles as suggested by Howard Gardner.
Students could go to the website to look up homework assignments, see their work displayed, receive recognition, and connect to links that would take them to fun educational sites that correspond to what is being taught in the classroom. Parents could check on classroom policies, look up school schedules, check announcements, and stay connected to what is going on in the classroom. The classroom website is certainly a tool that will be useful in helping me meet my classroom objective of communicating information to my students and their parents and guardians.
I understand the importance of communicating with my class members and know that effective communication will be essential here in our cohort as well as with my future colleagues. Emailing is an effective way to discuss things with others in my many groups and my pod. I send out questions and receive replies to help me along the way. Hopefully, I can be helpful to others as well. The discovery of the ability to share documents on line and carry on discussions in our pods has come in handy already. With so many group projects, it certainly is an ingenious way to manage all the projects in a convenient manner. This mode of communicating with my classmates will apply to my future communications with colleagues as well.
There are many pros and cons associated with using technology into the classroom. One pro is that it provides different options to present information that might reach students. Technology can be used to motivate and engage students who are accustomed to working with technology daily. Technology provides a convenient mode of communication. Technology allows for collaboration among colleagues as well as among students. Technology provides a wealth of information accessible with a few clicks of a mouse. However, with so much information available, a teacher or student could become overloaded and never find their way out! Another con is that although most people are embracing the use of technology, a few may not have the resources, knowledge, or even the desire to use these new technologies. Another con is that there needs to be a balance in all things. A human touch is still better than dealing solely with technology; it would be a cold and inhumane world if we resorted solely to technology over human interactions.
In regards to the video clips, although I could not get the link to “Mr. Duey Fractions” to work, I simply googled the name and it connected me to the site. I thought that Mr. Duey is an awesome teacher who has gone to great lengths to provide a creative and fun method to teach his students fractions in this case. Looking at his website further, he makes CD’s for purchase on numerous topics and takes requests from teachers for more. I believe teachers need to be creative and ingenious in order to engage students in the learning process. The Web 2.0 appears to be a way to communicate and collaborate using technology to engage and motivate students. Going to the Digital Sandbox site, I found that they are encouraging teachers to integrate new technology into the learning environments in order to engage students and allow for reaching additional learning styles as suggested by Howard Gardner.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Ideal Classroom Reflection
My kindergarten classroom is something that I have been envisioning for the past 15 years. Beginning with the physical description, my classroom will be a large and spacious rectangular room located in a beautiful brown brick building. There will be an abundance of natural sun light illuminating my room. The walls are covered in neutral wall paper and host a variety of whiteboards and bulletin boards. Neutral industrial carpet covers 2/3rds of the floor and the rest of the floor is covered in neutral linoleum. There are plenty of shelves and cupboards to store all my puzzles, manipulatives, supplies, games, puppets and more. Neat little student cubbies line the wall between the reading corner and the glass door exit to our exploratorium outside. Near the glass outside door we have a drinking fountain and of course there is a child-sized restroom accessible right from our classroom. There is a large child-sized counter along one wall with a little sink for washing hands. In the middle of the classroom, on the carpeting, there are 4 large round tables each surrounded with 5 student-sized red chairs. There is a teacher’s desk, counter, and filing cabinets in one corner. There is a horseshoe desk with a teacher chair and five student chairs near the teacher’s corner.
Although the walls are neutral in color, I have decorated the many bulletin boards with colorful displays of the helper of the day, our word wall, birthday chart, calendar and weather watch, student all about me board, and student best work. Of course, I have large and colorful alphabet and numeral cards up on the walls, along with a colorful train which we add to daily counting up to our 100th day of school. I have a nice rocking chair which sits near the large colorful rug which the students sit on during story time and morning time. There is a small portable easel with a dry erase board on which I write the message of the day.
I have the following as centers in my classroom: computer, writing, block, math, puppet theater, housekeeping, science, listening, and reading. All of the centers are stocked with high quality supplies and located strategically throughout the room in order to create order and an appropriate learning environment. The science center and paint center are located near the sink and counters on the linoleum floor. In the science center there is a butterfly habitat where we are observing the formation of chrysalis. The paint center has five little easels all in a row with a coat rack designed for hanging our paint smocks while not in use. There is a very cleaver device that holds our paintings with clothes hangers on a line while they dry. Our reading corner had a variety of books to accommodate the interests, levels, and languages of all our students. Tiny colorful beanbag chairs are surrounded by child-sized book shelves which encircle the reading corner.
My classroom will have a smart board with all its great technology, five student computers with learning software, a teacher computer and printer, an overhead projector, a CD music player, and five student tape recorders. I will have my very own laminator and book binding machine for assembling class created books.
We have a wide variety of student personalities which brighten and enliven the day. Our students’ parents value education, love their children, and appreciate their students’ teachers. The colleagues that work at the elementary school are as varied as the students which they teach; yet they all have chosen to be teaching professionals, love their careers, love their students, take every opportunity to expand their personal abilities and work together like a smooth running machine.
I will employ the most up to date theories and practices to teach the state core curriculum to the students. I will use a variety of strategies and methods to give the students ample opportunity to find a learning style which works for them.
My goals include: creating a safe learning environment that accepts and embraces diversity; ensuring each student, guest, and parent feels welcome and appreciated in my classroom; filling every learning opportunity with wonder and enthusiasm; and instilling in each child a knowledge of their personal worth and ability to succeed.
Although the walls are neutral in color, I have decorated the many bulletin boards with colorful displays of the helper of the day, our word wall, birthday chart, calendar and weather watch, student all about me board, and student best work. Of course, I have large and colorful alphabet and numeral cards up on the walls, along with a colorful train which we add to daily counting up to our 100th day of school. I have a nice rocking chair which sits near the large colorful rug which the students sit on during story time and morning time. There is a small portable easel with a dry erase board on which I write the message of the day.
I have the following as centers in my classroom: computer, writing, block, math, puppet theater, housekeeping, science, listening, and reading. All of the centers are stocked with high quality supplies and located strategically throughout the room in order to create order and an appropriate learning environment. The science center and paint center are located near the sink and counters on the linoleum floor. In the science center there is a butterfly habitat where we are observing the formation of chrysalis. The paint center has five little easels all in a row with a coat rack designed for hanging our paint smocks while not in use. There is a very cleaver device that holds our paintings with clothes hangers on a line while they dry. Our reading corner had a variety of books to accommodate the interests, levels, and languages of all our students. Tiny colorful beanbag chairs are surrounded by child-sized book shelves which encircle the reading corner.
My classroom will have a smart board with all its great technology, five student computers with learning software, a teacher computer and printer, an overhead projector, a CD music player, and five student tape recorders. I will have my very own laminator and book binding machine for assembling class created books.
We have a wide variety of student personalities which brighten and enliven the day. Our students’ parents value education, love their children, and appreciate their students’ teachers. The colleagues that work at the elementary school are as varied as the students which they teach; yet they all have chosen to be teaching professionals, love their careers, love their students, take every opportunity to expand their personal abilities and work together like a smooth running machine.
I will employ the most up to date theories and practices to teach the state core curriculum to the students. I will use a variety of strategies and methods to give the students ample opportunity to find a learning style which works for them.
My goals include: creating a safe learning environment that accepts and embraces diversity; ensuring each student, guest, and parent feels welcome and appreciated in my classroom; filling every learning opportunity with wonder and enthusiasm; and instilling in each child a knowledge of their personal worth and ability to succeed.
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