Final Entry :)

The past 5 weeks have been a bit crazy a times, but taking this course has opened my eyes to many programs and tools that I never even knew existed online. I look forward to using a Blog or a PWS for my students and their parents. I was exposed to so many things, like creating virtual classroom and how to make a video with your still clips and video clips using Animoto! These are just a few of the many things that we learned about, that I plan to take with me into the classroom!

A is for Apple: Grading Achievement in Schools

This quick video hits on a couple key ideas when it comes to schools and the way they assess and measure their students. The first thing stated was they if you have a school that is not meeting their needs and requirements then it deserves to change or close. I believe this is known as a schools Annual Yearly Progress. The schools must be at a certain level, and if they fall behind on this, they must improve. If they fail to improve, then they must close their doors. I agress with this. Why should we spend tons of money to send students to a school that is not educating them to the best of their abilities. I also agree with the point that there is to much time preparing for test taking, and getting ready for the test. This interrupts on class time and lessons that teachers may want to plan for their students. I believe that some people are confused, because they think that doing well on these standardized tests is the sole purpose of education. In all honstly, these standardized are creating more problems than anything. I love the girl who asked, "Can creative thinking be evaluated on standardized tests?" This is a wonderful question... and the answer is NO! Although this video was no more than 2 minutes long, it covered many important topics that need to be discussed.

David Warlick's 2 cents worth

David Warlick had some interesting topics dealing with education. His one blog submission on June 19th, 2010 was titled "Zero Tolerance." The title and the picture that he has on here truly caught my eye. As I was reading, I realized that what he was talking about greatly relates to what we have been learning about in our TwT class. For instance, David Warlick stated, "We’ve waited long enough. It’s been 15, 20, 30 years depending on when you want to start the count. Teachers have had enough time to accept and adapt. They’ve had enough time to decide if they want to teach today or yesterday — enough time to decide if they want to prepare their learners for the future, or for the 1950s." I though this was a great quote, because I goes back to everything that we have been learning in our class. Teachers today must be tech-savy. They should understand the many forms of technology that their students are currently using. They should teach in a way that their students will appreciate and understand, rather then to their own preferences. Teachers are there to educate the students, and in order to do so, they must accept and adapt to the new technologies they exist. Similar to what David Warlick said, if the teachers aren't willing to accept the new technologies, then its time for them to find a new career. The whole point behind what he wrote about here, stems back to why we as graduate students are required to take this class called Teaching with Technology. I most definatly agee with what he is saying here.

Mind Mapping (HA 3 MM)

Final Project

Here is the link for my Prezi:

prezi.com/wj2ngx9zdpvy/


This was the fist time I have created a Prezi. I learned about it through a classmate last semester, and have always wanted to try making one. From this assignment I learned that it's not always easy exploring new tools online. The more you work with different sites the more familiar you get with them. I learned not to give up if you are having trouble, but rather to keep trying, especially when it comes to technology. Unfortunatly my microphone was not working on the night of presentations, so it would have been difficult for me to actually present. I did give everyone the link for my Prezi, and I also have it posted again here on my blog. I would have like to have talked everyone through the differences in the video creating/sharing programs that I did my research on. These different softwares Animoto, Vimeo and YouTube can be used in a number of way in the classroom. Animoto is especially good for a beginning of the year project. Instead of writing about, or making a poster or slideshow of what you have done over the summer, students can now take their own pictures and viedo clips, and create their own movie with their own music selection to go along with it. Vimeo would is great for all teachers to use because it breaks videos down into different categories. So a history teacher who may be doing a lesson on The Great Wall of China, can go onto Vimeo and find a video from someone who may have been there and taken great footage. YouTube can also be used in schools, but I know there are many schools that have it blocked. YouTube has a wide variety of information on it, some of which is true and can be educational, but there is also a lot of garbage on it, that is not appropriate for the classroom. I advise any teacher using YouTube in the classroom to be careful, and fully watch the clip that you plan to show on your own, before you show it to the class. I was nervous when I first chose my topic because Animoto and Vimeo were two names that I have never even heard of. I am truly glad that I had to opportunity to research them, and I plan on using them in my classroom one day!

Experience with Google tools

I have truly enjoyed creating a gmail account and creating an igoogle page. I love that it gives me the ability to to chat instantly with my contacts, or even video chat. This feature has come in handy many times throughout this course!

Critique of Engrade

I found Engrade to be an awesome program for teachers to use. It has everything that the teacher needs about the student academic wise right there in one program. The teacher can quickly go from grades to attendance to the class calendar with just one click. One thing I might add to the Engrade program would be a parent contact list. This way if you ever need to contact a parent, all of their information will be stored right there next to the student's information. One way this program would not be useful is that some teachers may not actually evaluate a student's work, rather they can just click a button to assign the student a grade. Students and parents may like this program because all of their information is kept organized and together.

Animoto Video I Created

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity

Ken Robinsons main foucs was the children are not able to be as creative as they one were able to. He said that "creativity is as important as literacy." As being literate is vital, so is creativity according to Ken Robinson. Through his humor and stories, we can learn from Ken that not everyone learns the same way. Some people have to move around to think. Some people can not just sit still in desks with a direct instruction lesson from the teacher, they have to explore and be active in order to learn.

Twitter in the Classroom

There were 3 ways that using Twitter in the classroom appealed to me:

1. I would use Twitter to allow parents to see what is going on in the classroom.

2.I would use Twitter to monitor students learning. My students would be able to tweet to me the stuff that they have learned, the difficulites that they may be having in class or on an assignment, or other information like tips they could share, or resources they have come across. This would replace a journal or a log.

3.I would use Twitter to have a scavenger hunt. I would have students find pictures, websites, or other online documents that relate to the topic that we are learning in class.

Although I am not very familiar with Twitter, I see how it could be a good tool for the classroom!

Inquiry-Based Learning

"Inquiry" - a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeing information by questioning.
The Key features in an Inquiry-Based lesson are questioning, searching for answers, and generatin knowldege.

Assure Model

I think that the Assure Model is a perfect guide for teacher to use from pre-lesson plan to post-lesson plan. Using this model, the teacher is guaranteed to create a well planned lesson for the students. He/She will also be able to go back and make improvements in their own lessons. I will be sure to use the Assure Model with creating and finishing my lesson plans.

Textbooks of the Future

This article foucuses on the choice between a standard textbook, or using a CD-ROM which has the textbook on it. Today, many students are given the choice of whether they would rather have the textbook on a disc, or have the traditional book. In today's world, I believe that many students would find it appealing to have their book on the computer. My sister who is transfering to a different college, now has the opportunity to get her book through an online program, where everything in the book will be the same, and she can also highlight information, and compare notes with other students, all over the computer. I believe this is a brilliant idea!

Connected Classroom YouTube Video

I must say that I totally agree with this video if the fact that we must prepare students for THEIR world. We must teach students the way in which they learn best, which in todays world usually revolves around some form of technology. Finally, I also agree that in order to connect to your students you must connect them to their world. In other words, we as teachers need to be up to date on the technology that our students are using, in order to make a connection with them.

The 5E’s

1.Engage – The students are first introduced to a topic, where they must start making connections. You can engage them by asking a question, defining a problem, or talking about a specific event.

2.Explore – Students work directly with specific materials, sharing their ideas in groups or teams.

3.Explain – Here there will be communication between peers and the teacher. The students will explain to the teacher what they have learned so far, and the teacher will be able to see the student’s level of understanding.

4.Elaborate – Now the students must expand on their basic ideas that they have explained to the teacher. There must be lots of research and fact finding during this stage.

5.Evaluate - Evaluation in ongoing. The ongoing evaluation allows the teacher to see how much the students have understood or attained from their work individually and together.

The 5E’s Model is similar to Inquiry Based Learning. In Inquiry Based Learning, the lesson is driven by questions from the students, rather than a lesson delivered by the teacher. The students must be given a question, idea, or statement and then do research.

4 Models of Instruction:

1.Social - Cooperative Learning - Students must have skills needed to work in groups.

2.Information Processing -Inquiry Training - Reasoning and interpretation of information, data, or facts.

3.Personal -Individual Instruction - Focuses on personal awareness and creativity.

4.Behavioral Systems -Direct Instruction - Highly structured, teacher directed.
Mastery Learning – Given enough time and quality instruction, nearly all students can master the objective.

Instruction Systems Design:

1.Analysis – The study we do in order to figure out what to do, or where to go.

2.Design – Once we get the results from the analysis stage, we can then develop what will be taught, or the learning objectives.

3.Development - This phase elaborates and builds on the Learning Objectives and learning Steps that were produced in the design phase

4. Implementation or Delivery – The teacher must be prepared and ready to teach their students. Preparation is key in delivering a lesson.

5. Evaluation – evaluation must be ongoing and is used to make sure that the goals and objectives of the lesson were met.

***This reminds me of inquiry based learning.

Portriate of a Digital Native

Today, students are used to multitasking and working with different technological tools. This is something that we as teachers must be aware of. I know there are many teachers who have been in the field forever, and they think that all of this technology is bad, or getting in the way of teaching their students. Rather they should hear what this article has stated about students and their use of media. They said that students who use media the most also spent more time with friends, family and other activities. It is important that they realize that when students use the internet they aren't always using the computer and all of its resources innapropriately. The kids using the computers seem to be pretty bright and social beings. When talking about constantly being surrounded by technology, a student, Meredith Fear, says it exactly right: "It's they way we've all come to be raised." This is so true! Like Marc Prensky, the created of the term Digital Native said, "they've had digital technology surrounding them from the time t hey were infants." This is the world that kids today know. It's not their fault, it's just how it is, and teachers need to train themselves to work in the technological evnironment that their students have grown up in.

Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants

Compared to past generations, our students today are completly different in a number of ways. The most important difference deals with technology. Today's students are very technologically advanced, and the trouble with that is that the school systems are still set up to accomidate the past generations. The kids in school today are so infatuated with the digital world, but many schools are not teaching their students at this level yet. These kids are known as "Native Speakers," because they were born into this world of computers and the internt. Those who were not born with these advances are known as "Digital Immigrants." One of the biggest problems in schools are the Digital Immigrant teachers, who have little to no intrest in the digital world that their students live in. I can remember having some teachers when I was in school that were very "old school," and used the overhead projector, and literally used chalk on the board! This is not going to interest students today, and teachers must be willing to relate to their students.

Redefining Literacy

Today I learned what data smog is. Data smog is when there is too much information, which can create a barrier in our lives. I also learned to cope with data smog we must have Information Literacy, which gives us the skills to know whien we need information and where to locate it effectively and efficiently. I believe that this is a very important thing to teach to our students. There is an enormous amount of information online, but know what is junk and what is valid can sometimes be hard to tell. As noted from Linda Ellerbee, "media literacy will make the difference between kids being a tool of mass media or whether the mass media is a toold for kids to use." I aggree with her statement one hunderd percent! We must prepare our students to gather information, evaluate it, and further interpret what they have found. They also need to know that everything they read online in NOT true! This is the importance of researching and discovering!

Learning Styles 2.0

It is without a doube that Generation Y had different expectations and learning styles than previous generations. Previous generations were not exposed to the internet and all of the advances theat Generation Y has been brought up it. This sight also talked about the numerous digital learning styles, such as blogs, podcasts, Wiki's flicker, and twitter - many of which we are experimenting with right now through our Teaching with Technology class. I believe that it is important we understand how to use these tools, because using them in your classroom will allow your students to have a greater appreciation and respect for you as the teacher. Not only will the students look up to you for being technologically advanced, but they will also be more motivated - this is key!

Classroom 2.0 Reflection

I found it utterly amazing that a 1st grade class is blogging! Watching this made me realize the importance of learning the vast array of tools that the internet provides. These young children will one day be in my classroom, and I msut be parpared and at their level of technological intellignece!

LoTi

In many of my observations so far I would say that the level of LoTi I have witnessed has been level 3, Infusion. For example, the 8th grade social studies class that I was observing was working on a computer project that was generated by the teacher. The teacher had gone through a number of website and came up with specific questions for each site. The topic of this research was the Roaring Twenties. Then she gave the questions to the students, who were taken to the computer lab during class time. While in the computer lab the students need to access the websites and record the answers to the questions provided. Once they finished their research, they needed to create a powerpoint presentation on one of the topics that interested them during their research. I would say that my level of LoTi is about a 3 or 4.

Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment Outcomes

Perennialism = 11
Essentialism = 11
Progressivism = 16
Reconstruction = 16
Information Processing = 17
Behaviorism = 19
Cognitivism/Constructivism = 17
Humanism = 21

From this self-assessment I was most in favor Humanism. Humanism is a study that focuses on human values and concerns. Humanism does not only have to be viewed philosophically, it can also be viewed educationally. Humanistic education focuses on basic skills such as reading, writing and computation, as well as skills in communicating, thinking, decision-making, problem-solving and knowing oneself.
Humanistic education also helps students believe in themselves and their potential, and it encourages compassion and understanding, which fosters self-respect and respect for others. Humanistic education also focuses on basic human concerns, for example, issues throughout history and today that are of concern to human beings trying to improve the quality of life--to pursue knowledge, to grow, to love, to find meaning for one's existence. (http://www.humanistsofutah.org/1994/art2jun94.html). Students have to have a drive to learn, you can not force them to want to do well or to be interested in what you are teaching. Humanism in education can be seen as how a student will controll his or her own destiny in class. The teacher should obvioulsy motivate the students, but in the end, it us up to the student to decide how much effort they will put into the class, and I happen to agree with this. I also favored the Reconstructionism/Critical Theory statements. I believe that is the history major in me, because this category foucuses on thea analysis of world events, controversial issues and diversity to provide vision for better world and social change. These are all topics that people who are interested in history enjoy learning and talking about.


I came up with my own education philosophy statement last semester, it goes as follows:
1.I want my students to have respect for themselves and for others.
2.I want my students to appreciate diversity inside and outside of the classroom.
3.I want my students to feel comfortable in my classroom.
4.I want my students to show willingness to learn.
5.I want my student to be successful.