Reflective essay

 Reflective essay

As any child starts their first day of class all over again each year they have the same reaction. Who will be in my class? What will I wear? Is my teacher cool? But the one that gets us the most is the excitement of walking in through those doors and wondering where we will be sitting in the classroom. There is nothing like the first day of school, I would have never thought that I would have learned everything I have from this class. Before intro to technology for educators, I would have never thought of using technology in the classroom. My thoughts were students will take advantage and the reason I say this is because I once was a young kid who never went directly to do their homework. One thing to realize is that you have to introduce technology to the students slowly and in a productive one which can grasp their attention. One website that helped me understand more about integrating technology in the classroom was EduTopia which the describes the many different ways to use technology. I thought that the one of the best ways to use technology in a classroom is in a way they would never expect it, for instance when you have a field trip planned but you can't go because of the weather you can always surprise them by taking a virtual field trip where they can do the same things but within the classroom. I enjoyed this class because of the many ways I learned how to use technology; for instance we used GPS devices to find clues throughout the school about questions we had to answer in the classroom for extra credit or a grade.We also learned about teaching with educational websites, like DIIGO you can use to highlight websites and bookmark them, as well sticky note important parts that you find interesting. I thought it was a very interesting website because it allows you to share with others different things you find interesting like Educational websites like PBS or if you found a video that was captivating and you wanted to share it with others.

Resources

Edutopia | K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work." Edutopia | K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. <http://www.edutopia.org/>.  

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. 
 <http://www.pbs.org/>.

Maloy, Robert W.. Transforming learning with new technologies. 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print. 

Journal post 11: Engaging Teachers and Students in Learning and Self-Reflection

How can teachers and students use digital portfolios as tools for learning?

Though this maybe something difficult to use in a classroom it would be much useful towards both teachers and students; my theory is based on the fact that teachers could track how affective everything the kids learned throughout the school year. Like what our Professor Cole is doing she is giving us a project that is to make a website and put it together using all the tools that she has given us throughout the semester. Remembering all of the difficulties that I had throughout high school with keeping up with all of the material I had learned in class I find that this performance based web portfolio would be very helpful towards students, especially those who are in high school that aren’t doing that great in a subject; it helps them focus on the material they aren’t doing so great in. I also believe that giving students the opportunity to have their own portfolio not only gives them the opportunity to better themselves but it also helps them learn a new way of organizing themselves, that way in the future they are able to track their own progress.

Tech Tool: Task Stream

Task Stream is a popular digital archiving tool used for web design and portfolio building.  Task Stream provides users with a variety of design options including presentation portfolios, learning or work portfolios tailored to document one’s learning process, and resource portfolios that can be accessed by both the world and a specified closed community. Other features include a standards manager, lesson plan and unit builders, and customizable measurement tools. The below link gives a further explanation on how to use e-portfolios in the classroom.

Summary:

I enjoyed reading this chapter because it has so many different choices in order to introduce ways you can use technology to track your students as well as have them track their own performance. It explains how to use the performance web based portfolio for your students and your own convenience. But it is not just about helping the students keep track of their performance but also about finding new ways for the students to improve themselves as well as the teachers come up with new ways to help the students further their education.

Journal Post 9: Creating and Sharing Information with Multimedia Technologies

How can teachers use video resources in their teaching?

As technology progresses in our everyday lives, it does as well in the classroom. Teachers not only have to learn new ways to teach students but they also have to learn ways to captivate their students attention in the classroom. With technology playing such a big role in the classroom; whether it be using videos, podcasts, or movies we have to use all of these many new yet old resources. I remember when I was in fifth grade my teacher Ms. Youngberg would always make us watch these videos from the magic school bus in order for our class to learn about science, social studies, math etc. This cartoon show helped us in so many ways to learn about our bodies immune system. I learned that using different types of technologies in the classrooms can be so productive such as YouTube can teach you how to fix your computer or change the oil in your car. A lot of people have the suggestion that YouTube should be the replacement of teachers, although we know that will not happen. I taught a class how to make a solar system from home, what I did was made a video putting together the planets and coloring them. I would like to use A type of video blog in my classroom with the students where they can make a video blog teaching their classmates different types of subjects based on projects that they had to make within the class.

Tech Tool: Annenberg media learner.org

Annenberg's media website provides access to streaming video educational materials in math, science, history, literature, the arts, and foreign languages.




Summary:

This chapter focused on how to integrate different types of technologies to be able to teach better in the classroom such as with YouTube or podcasts. It really wants to combine technology into the classroom so students can learn different ways to be able to communicate through multimedia tools.

Journal Entry 8: Communicating and networking with websites, Blogs, Wikis and more

How can teachers use a website or a blog to improve teaching and learning?

In our technology class we use blogger so others in our class can see what we have learned and/or our thoughts. I love to use this in the classroom because it gives me a different perspective on what everyone is thinking on that chapter we have recently read. My thoughts are this would have the students very engaged in the classroom specially if they can share and discuss with other class members. For instance, about 99% of students in a classroom have a facebook account and only use it to post about what they have been doing during the day so their friends know what cool things they have done. What if we use facebook to have students share about what they have been working on throughout the class, it would be easier then having seperate blogs although having a seperate blog gives it a much more personal touch to it, I think it's easier to use one single facebook page so that students can post updates on their projects or within the class.

Tech tool:

Wordpress is the techtool I would use because it lets students/teachers. This is a free blogging website where people can follow each other and their blogs would pop on each others profiles. For a better explanation, click on the link below.


Summary:

This chapter was about using websites and it blogs as learning tools for the classroom. To use technology to hate ideas and information in the classroom and outside as well. The number one thing that everyone has to learn is how to use these tools properly and this chapter helps you learn how to properly use them.

Journal Entry 7: Problem Solving and Inquiry Learning with Software and Web Tools

How can teachers use computer Games and simulations as learning resources?

To captivate a student’s attention is one of the biggest challenges a teacher has, in a classroom you want students who are eager to learn. There are many students who are willing to learn but there are those few who will make it hard on you to grasp their attention.  In my perspective I thought that using computer games and simulations as learning resources is the perfect way to teach in a classroom. I’m not saying it should over power the overall lesson but you can use computer games for some parts of the class, for instance when you’re doing math students can use websites like abcya it helps students understand the math problems more, they are more involved and it’s a fun way to learn different subjects. I really enjoyed this website called the mighty book, I used it for a low level reading student, my thoughts on this website are how much attention it grabs from students, it not only helps the students read better but it provides them with a fun way of doing it. The students also get to follow along as the narrator sings or reads the book to them. When I was in middle school I remember my class used to do the read 180 program and it was really cool because we used to be able to use tapes and follow along on the computers we would fill in the words to a story and to see if our annunciation was correct we would be read a sentence and we would have to read it back to the computer into a microphone. So there are many different ways to use technology to help students learn more that lets them be more productive.
 

Tech Tool:

For my tech tool I chose Zoombinis Logical Journey, this a game that helps teach critical thinking, problem solving, and mathematical learning to elementary school students. This game has multiple levels of mathematical thinking, where the kids are asked to used their critical thinking skills to solve puzzles and make their way on their journey. The video below gives you more of an insight of what the game is like and how kids should play it.

 

Summary:

This chapter consisted of how we can introduce games into the classroom to help students learn and better themselves in certain subjects. The chapter also discusses the many different types of software's that we can use to teach in the classrooms, as well as prepare students for whats next to come in their journey in life. 

Journal Entry 6: Teaching with Educational Websites and other Online Resources

What are Web Quests and Virtual field trips?

Web Quests and Virtual field trips are resources used in the classroom to help students and teachers learn by using the three learning styles: Visual, kinesthetic, and Auditory. WebQuest helps students learn in a more efficient way that lets them work with a group of websites. Teaching a student the proper websites where they should be looking up information for a project, homework, and classwork. There are so many websites where students can look up information and use it as they please but our jobs as teachers is to show them the proper way. As a kid I found it very hard to find websites that would help me on projects or any kind of homework. In middle school we were given projects but were only allowed to use text books or books from the library which the teacher had to approve. We weren't open to a lot of options in the school I was attending that at times it was hard to do our projects. 

Tech Tool:

Diigo, short for digest of internet information groups and other stuff, allows you to bookmark sites, highlight portions of web pages, add sticky notes that you create, tag the sites, and easily share resources. Once you embedded highlights or bookmarks, your notations appear every time you open the page.

Summary:This chapter has a very interesting look at how teachers should show their students how to properly look up information and use it in the classroom there are specific websites that students can use. As I read this chapter I decided to look up some websites of my own and I came across Fact Monster which helps students do homework and provides information based on any subject they need.

Journal Entry 5: Researching and Evaluating Internet Information

How can students respond to problems of plagiarism when students use online sources?

As a student myself I would say that the best way to deal with this is to sight your sources, most students at the 3^rd grade level will not know what this means and it will have to be explained to them in a way that they will understand. Students need to know the proper ways of collecting information and giving the proper the credits to whomever it may belong to. Plagiarism is one of the biggest problems teachers may have when it comes to students writing essay, doing projects etc. But the question is how do we as teachers control it. In my history class two years ago, the professor gave us all of the students in class the options of using different school based search engines to help us with our essays. Now before we started searching our papers we had to look up our topic find at least eight different resources and type them up in APA format and hand it in if at least five of the eight were not approved then we had to find the ones that we were missing. As this point passed we had to write the essay and within the essay we had to use foot notes for all of the cites that were citing, that way we would not be accused of plagiarism. Teaching a student not to plagiarize is really hard to do from my perspective because some may think they are sneaky and think they will not be caught. In a lot of ways I think that showing students within every project how to use citations and put quotes around sentences that they did not write is one of the ways to go, I do still think this is a very difficult topic. 

Tech tool

For my tech tool I chose LibriVox the reason I chose this tool was because I found interesting how you can go on this website and read books or listen to them, they have been pre-recorded for others by volunteers. This website also made me think of the discussion that we did based on deficiencies and I thought that this would be a great tool to use in a classroom for students who can’t use their hands and or bodies they can listen as they follow along online.

Summary:

This chapter is about teaching students and helping teachers understand how to better search the internet in a safer way where students do not have to put themselves at risk with false information. It is easy to get trapped into a website that may seem safe, but teaching the students how to better surf the internet will be better for them in the future. It also teaches the teachers how there are certain steps they have to take before they themselves could be propper educators of the internet in a classroom.