I will be using the SMART board as well as making a movie to introduce the book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson to a class.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Reflection #6
I was curious what the most "cutting edge" technologies are in education. In looking this up I found that colabortive enviroments or virtual classrooms were towards the top of the list. The possiblities as far as joining classrooms with those all over the world sounded very interesting, as far as I know these ideas were just speculation but that would be awesome to experience a virtual classroom with students from other countries. This could be really cool but I could see some dangers in it as well. I believe there is value in actually being in a class, not just a "virtual" class. I see our society moving farther and farther behind a screen and it is kind of freaky. I value real life experience, real conversations, real interactions and sometimes I get worried that people don't see the difference between face to face communication and virtual communication. There are some awesome possiblities though, especially for multi cultural education.
Reflection #5
I relected earlier that in my mom's school district there were only a couple of classrooms that got SMARTboards, I reflected that I wasn't sure whether only having a couple was a benefit or a hinderence to the school as a whole. I decided I wanted to look further into this, and I found out that the reason they don't have more is because people of the community had to vote on whether to raise the budget for these and they voted no. It is going to go again, however the school district is pretty much at the mercy of the community on this. This got me interested in how many school districts actually have interactive white boards. I was surprised to find that when taking the whole country into consideration most school districts don't have interactive white boards. Many schools are fighting to get them but budget cuts make it very difficult to raise money to pay for new technologies. I am excited to learn how to use them anyway, and hope someday schools will be able to integrate them into the classroom, they make such a difference!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Reflection #4
I am a nanny for two school age kids in the morning, ages 9 and 11. The 9 year old boy was so excited last week to tell me about the new net books his classroom just got. It was very funny because I actually got to talk with him about them, having just went and looked at professor Adair's netbooks. He said that so far they have only gone over rules and recieved his assigned net book, however he said that they get to actually use them soon. I asked him what kinds of things they will get to use them for and he said they will get to do programs and research. He seemed very proud that they got to do "research" on them. I thought that this was a neat example of how excited kids get about technology! He is very excited to use them and to learn them, I'm sure they will benefit his learning greatly.
School website
I looked at the Vaughn elementary website. I went there for elementary school, and I am fairly surprised with the website. The school is not very big and out in the country. The website however is actually fairly complete. There is a link to the principle's blog, pictures, schedules, programs, class of the month and a bunch of other cool things. I didn't see any individual classroom blogs, but other than that I couldn't think of anything that was missing! It is cool to see how far that particular elementary school has come!
Generation IM
Wow, this article blew me away. I was the most shocked to find that 67 percent of preschool children are using computers. I know that technology is definitely being used more than ever now, I just didn't realize that children so young were into it too. I learned from this article that using these technologies helps students develope their literacy skills, social skills and expands thier content based knowledge. I had never thought about these benefits before. I was always of the opinion that video games turn your brain into a marshmellow, but I suppose things like blogs and IM would help students want to develope their communication skills faster. The one question I did have was what age group are they calling natives. Because, the things they talk about such as researching a paper, texting and listening to music is a very common thing for college age students to do-I do that all the time! Are we included in this new age they are talking about? Or is it the generations after us? I learned in this article that the three main barriers preventing teachers from incorporating tech in their classrooms are lack of professional development, lack of time, and lack of support from administrators. I found the seven ways to incorporporate tech into your classroom to be very helpful! The two that I found the most exciting were creating a social network for your classroom, and using the wiki for your classroom.
Technology Literacy Paper
TEACHER PHILOSOPHY, TECHNOLOGY, AND FIELD EXPERIENCE: FACTORS AFFECTING
LEARNING GAINS FOR STUDENTS IN A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS.
Thomeczek, Melissa. "TEACHER PHILOSOPHY, TECHNOLOGY, AND FIELD EXPERIENCE: FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING GAINS FOR STUDENTS IN A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS." 2009, Vol. 59, p114-117. Education Research Complete. Web. 7 March. 2011.
Summary
This paper begins by discussing a problem arising in school districts. Due to pressures placed on teachers to boost standardized test scores, standards, curriculum and budgets, hands-on experiences outside the classroom are shrinking. They go on to explain that the philosophy of constructivism is that students need to "build their own understandeing of new ideas based on what they already know." Bringing in technology in the classroom works hand in hand with the constructism philosophy because with technology students can demonstrate their understanding by creating, and visually presenting. Technologies also allow many hands on opportunities that keep students engaged and motivated in the classroom. They did an experiment using 4 different elementary classes (67 students) using a Lewis and Clark unit and testing different learning gains throughout the unit. The thesis was "that hands-on, constructivist activities
(including technology integration and field trips) would
enhance student learning." They experienced a 97 percent increase in learning using the constructivism approach. The students learned better "doing" something. In this particular case it was a virtual field trip.
Reflection
This article didn't neccessarily say that integrating technology in the classroom was the reason for this increase, infact the article says that the learning experience is what is important, connecting the content with experience for the children is what made the difference. I found this to be helpful because they didn't zero in on a single cuase for the increase but they found out what really sticks in the brain of elementary students-experience. Technology is one of the many tools that teachers can use to make this happen!
Application
I can apply this in the future because I now understand that providing an intelectual environment where the students can experience the content and connect with it in that way is what is important. This will make my teaching more efficient, technology will be a great tool to help this connection happen however, there are many ways to do this!
NETS for Teachers
The NETS that I want to focus on is NETS 3d.
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers : model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
This is really why I am taking this class, so that I can be up to date with technology in Education. This will benefit my students because with how fast things are changing they will need to keep up with their generation and the teachers need to be up to date so that their students don't fall behind. I will work on this by really digesting what I learn in this class, by incorporating it into lessons I need to teach in other classes, and by practicing the new skills so that they become smooth.
NETS for students
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
This is important for my future students because becoming a creative thinker will benefit you your entire life. There is so much in this world that tries to squelch creativity it is so important that students are allowed to express their learning in unique ways distinc to themselves. Two projects I could have them do that fufills this standard is
1. Create a video demonstrating their knowledge of the the unit we just finished.
2. Create your own project. I could have a page of content or questions that must be answered but allow the students freedom in how they do it. The possiblities are enless they could write a song demonstrating their knowledge, they could make a video, write a story the choice is up to them!
LEARNING GAINS FOR STUDENTS IN A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS.
Thomeczek, Melissa. "TEACHER PHILOSOPHY, TECHNOLOGY, AND FIELD EXPERIENCE: FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING GAINS FOR STUDENTS IN A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS." 2009, Vol. 59, p114-117. Education Research Complete. Web. 7 March. 2011.
Summary
This paper begins by discussing a problem arising in school districts. Due to pressures placed on teachers to boost standardized test scores, standards, curriculum and budgets, hands-on experiences outside the classroom are shrinking. They go on to explain that the philosophy of constructivism is that students need to "build their own understandeing of new ideas based on what they already know." Bringing in technology in the classroom works hand in hand with the constructism philosophy because with technology students can demonstrate their understanding by creating, and visually presenting. Technologies also allow many hands on opportunities that keep students engaged and motivated in the classroom. They did an experiment using 4 different elementary classes (67 students) using a Lewis and Clark unit and testing different learning gains throughout the unit. The thesis was "that hands-on, constructivist activities
(including technology integration and field trips) would
enhance student learning." They experienced a 97 percent increase in learning using the constructivism approach. The students learned better "doing" something. In this particular case it was a virtual field trip.
Reflection
This article didn't neccessarily say that integrating technology in the classroom was the reason for this increase, infact the article says that the learning experience is what is important, connecting the content with experience for the children is what made the difference. I found this to be helpful because they didn't zero in on a single cuase for the increase but they found out what really sticks in the brain of elementary students-experience. Technology is one of the many tools that teachers can use to make this happen!
Application
I can apply this in the future because I now understand that providing an intelectual environment where the students can experience the content and connect with it in that way is what is important. This will make my teaching more efficient, technology will be a great tool to help this connection happen however, there are many ways to do this!
NETS for Teachers
The NETS that I want to focus on is NETS 3d.
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers : model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
This is really why I am taking this class, so that I can be up to date with technology in Education. This will benefit my students because with how fast things are changing they will need to keep up with their generation and the teachers need to be up to date so that their students don't fall behind. I will work on this by really digesting what I learn in this class, by incorporating it into lessons I need to teach in other classes, and by practicing the new skills so that they become smooth.
NETS for students
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
This is important for my future students because becoming a creative thinker will benefit you your entire life. There is so much in this world that tries to squelch creativity it is so important that students are allowed to express their learning in unique ways distinc to themselves. Two projects I could have them do that fufills this standard is
1. Create a video demonstrating their knowledge of the the unit we just finished.
2. Create your own project. I could have a page of content or questions that must be answered but allow the students freedom in how they do it. The possiblities are enless they could write a song demonstrating their knowledge, they could make a video, write a story the choice is up to them!
Reflection #3
In my Instructional Design class we had an assignment to teach kind of a mini lesson. It involved an anticipatory set, modeling and guided practice. The other students in the class were the ones being "taught." There were all different kinds of lessons that were taught by various people in the class. However, I realized a significant difference in the lessons taught using technology and those without. It really made a big difference on how engaging the lesson was. This was a good experience for me to sit as the student would and see the difference in lessons using technology and not using technology. Even just the use of a document camera made a big difference.
Reflection #2
My mom is a third grade teacher, and I've been sharing with her some of the things I'm learning. In her school district they only have a few SMARTboards and she talks about how difficult it is for the kids to switch between classrooms with and without SMARTboards every year. She is one of the lucky teachers that does have a SMARTboard in her room and she runs into problems because some kids know how to use them and others don't. The kids that have had SMARTboards in their classroom find going back to a "normal" classroom less exciting. It would be the best for every classroom to have a SMARTboard, but if that is not the case this made me wonder if having only a few SMART boards does more helping or hindering to the kids. I wonder if having either all or none would be better.
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