Technology Inquiry Reflection

I exerted quite a bit of effort on this task.  It took awhile to find the resources, actually read through them all, and create a synthesis on the material.  On top of that, we had to use and apply this knowledge to create best practices and produce a screencast.  All of these tasks each had their own requirements that had to be met, so it took some time making sure they were all up to standard.  I feel that this project should have been on the A contract, instead of the C contract because I feel that it took more effort than almost all the other projects.

There are many values in completing this course task.  The most important value I gained from this was that I became much more informed about how to use weblogs in my classroom.  I also learned more in depth about creativity and critical thinking, how to use them in my classroom, and the importance of these skills. 

Completing this course task impacts my future teacing because I became more informed of teaching strategies to use.  Not only did I take away knowledge from my own research, but I also have the research of all my peers.  I can use my classmates as a resource to find additional information on specific topics related to technology and can use this in my classroom.  By completing this assignment, I have also became more aware how much students can learn if I have them apply their knowledge, just like we had to do.

iRLO Reflection

I exerted quite a bit of effort creating this iRLO project.  It didn't take long to think of an idea, but the actual creating the game was pretty difficult.  I watched some tutorials, played around with all the different tools, and got some ideas from other people's iRLO.  Once the basis of it was created it, it didn't take that long to brush it up.

Designing and sharing an iRLO impacts my future teaching because I learned how to use one more additional resource to use.  Many students enjoy playing video games and this is an interactive way to engage them as learners.  By designing an iRLO I not only learned how to create a game, but I also realized the importance of using resources.  Without the tutorials, fellow classmates, and yourself I would't have been able to create as an effective iRLO as I did.  In the future, many new technologies will continually be developed and I won't be an expert on using them right away so it is important that I am able to communicate and find other resources that can help me incorporate it into my classroom.  By sharing our iRLO's, I now have many more lessons that I can use in my future classroom.

Book Chapter Project Reflection

As a group we spent a fair amount of time planning our project.  We met together on two occasions to ensure our success.  Members in our group also spent time creating a slideshow and making cut outs. 

Facilitating course content to my peers is valuable because I get pratice teaching and talking in a professional way.  By allowing us to teach, we also have to learn and comprenhend the material in order to facilitate a discussion.  We learn the material in much more depth because we have to know it forward and backwards.

Discussing course content with my peers impacts my future teacing because I get practice communicating with others and how to share information.  It is the start of social network that allows me to expand my ideas. 

Exist Slip Week 12

This week I learned about the importance of using consistent techniques so the students have a familiar activity that they can fully participate in without having to question what the expectations are.  I also learned about the R's of relevance, rigor, and relationships.  I agree with these three and will work to achieve these in the future.  This brings me to my next point that was brought up in class about whether I am just saying I will use technology in my classroom or if I actually will.  It will be easier to carry this out realizing that I can use other resources and can work together with other teachers to enhance my lessons.

Exist Slip Week 11

These week I learned about some of the benefits of using tools such as scribble in the classroom, instead of using face to face interaction.  I liked the idea of how all the students need to discuss about the ideas and not just the same people who normally do in groups.  This also ties into the question mentioned about whether or not I will be an innovative teacher.  I do have a lot of ideas that I want to carrying out and with all the information I'm learning there are new tools I would like to try.

Interactive Whiteboard Reflection

I feel that I exerted quite a bit of energy on this assignment.  I spent time looking at examples on Smartboard Exchange and playing with the various tools that are provided in notebook.  It was somewhat difficult figuring out how the different tools worked and which ones would be the most beneficial for my lesson.  The peer reviews were useful with determining which tools were developmentally appropriate and taking time to lock everything in place.

Designing and sharing my interactive whiteboard lesson will impact my future teaching because I learned how the Smartboard can create more problem-based lessons.  The students will be more motivated to learn because these lessons are more hands-on and fun.  By sharing all these lessons with my peers, I can build a great resource for myself.  In the future it maybe beneficial to use some of these lessons, depending on the grade level I teach.  It was also a good way to learn about new tools, what works good, and what doesn't.

Rethinking education in a technological world

This chapter was all about rethinking how our education system is set up.  We need to rethink what learning is, what is important to learn, how to motivate students, the role of government, students’ future careers, and how to prepare them for the future.  Learning is becoming life-long and we need to teach students how to continuously find new information.  This is important because information is changing so much lately and as soon as we teach a topic, many aspects will probably be changed already.  This brings up the topic of what is important to teach.  I feel that it is important to teach students the basic subjects, but the way, in which, we teach them should be altered.  We should have students solve large problems or complete projects that involve them learning about the various subjects.  This information should be integrated into the project so that the students are learning how to apply this knowledge, instead of just memorizing it.  I think this would also be helpful in motivating students.  Kids will be more excited to solve these meaningful tasks, instead of completely boring worksheets.  I also feel that by completing these large projects, educators can grade students differently.  Instead, of the usual grades, we could begin to use written assessments or some other form that is geared away from grades.  This would help remove the competition between students and help them focus on competing with themselves.  They can work on beating personal goals and improving their own knowledge.  This would increase their motivation too because, not only do students like to obtain goals, but their learning would become more intrinsic. Students often get stressed out about earning high grades and their interest in learning the material decreases.  When students learn to just learn they will be more rewarded.

                As a future teacher, I will put this knowledge and rethinking into consideration.  I will create lesson plans that allow for problem-based learning.  Although, I can create great lessons, I can’t necessarily avoid grading.  The government has a big part in education and schools have to comply in order to obtain support and money.  This is the topic on rethinking government in education.  Even though, it may be nice for education to regain power from the state, the government is gaining more and more of a power hold on schools.  They can help provide equal opportunities for all students by providing this public institution and supplying technologies, along with other necessities.  Not everyone may be able to finance individualized education or afford to stay home and home school.  The school system is important to provide social interactions, along with all the extracurricular activities it can offer.  I feel that the foundation of the educational system that was formed years back is a strong platform.  We just need to reform some of the bricks that can help the educational system become the most effective.

Contemporary Issues Podcast Reflection

Creating a podcast was a little difficult at first.  It wasn’t hard finding an article and writing a script, but actually figuring out how to create a podcast was more challenging.  It took me a little while to figure out how to move the various tracks and export it as an mp3.  After I watched some tutorials on Lynda.com, these tasks became fairly simply.  If I knew all the features and how to work with audacity, it would be fun to create podcast and the actual writing a script would become the most challenging and longest task to complete.

                Creating and sharing a podcast with my peers, impacts my future teaching because I became more aware of the potential it can have in the classroom.  My students or I could use podcast to create lessons or projects and share them with each other.  This would be effective because it is more interactive and more fun to develop and listen to.  In this technological era, sharing information is becoming more interactive, as such, because we are using our voices, videos, pictures and other tools that can enhance the quality of our products.  The more engaged we can keep our audience the more they will think about our message and understand our viewpoints or concerns.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/education/09ipod.html?pagewanted=2

Exist Slip Week 10

This week I became more aware about the capabilities of scratch and the interactive white board.  I learned about how to make sprites moveable, how to make it more reusable, and that directions or text should be on the screen for twice the amount of time it takes me to read it.  I also took away the importance of representing myself in a professional manner.  I need to complete my projects to the best of my ability including, correct spelling and grammar.

What does it all mean? Chapter 9

This chapter sums up the idea that we need to see the potential in technology, if not totally except it into education.  For example, the chapter mentioned how many parents are hesitant to letting their kids play video games.  They fail to see the possibilities these games have in developing critical thinking and communication skills.  Parents need to begin to be more optimistic about technology and how it can be helpful.  If we can get kids to play educational type games and remove all the violent ones, many positive outcomes can occur.  Another reason parents maybe be hesitant in using video games is because their kids won’t be getting as much exercise.  I think this is an important issue to address, especially because obesity is on the rise.  As much as we stress students learning about technology, I think we need to just as much, if not more, stress the importance of exercise.  It would be neat if we could continue to develop more active games such as the Wi to get kids moving, learning, and gaming.  I also think that parents need to become more involved to understand this potential, which can help quicken the change.  They should be learning how to use all the technology or programs their kids are for a couple of reasons.   One, it would be a good relationship builder and two, it can help the parents keep track of what the kids are doing for safety reasons.   

As a future teacher, I will need to continue to understand and explore more deeply all of the possible uses of technology.  It will be interesting to see how much things will change in the upcoming years regarding education and student dynamics.  The way students interact and present information or ideas to others may drastically affect who and how they grow up to be.  What values will they learn and how will their respect for others grow or change?  Will they be better critical thinkers and communicators?  So many unanswered questions that I feel in time will unravel, but they all point back to the same source of change – technology.  One topic that was brought up in the chapter was about how kids can develop their interests and become more encouraged to learn about it because they can communicate with people who have similar interest.   I think this is very beneficial because it is one way students can take pride in the things they like and can be proud of who they are.  They can develop their self-esteem from different sources, besides just the classroom.  This is powerful because with the pop culture and kids just wanting to fit in, their communication and friendships with people of similar interest can decrease the cases of depression.  I feel that because they have this one place where they fit in, their self-esteem may rise and they will be motivated to learn and come to school.

What it all means

This book has brought to life many topics and ideas of how and why the educational system should begin to change.  Chapter ten sums this up fairly well and helped me determine my goals for my future classroom.  I think it will be important to incorporate technology because it is becoming a way of life.  When my students enter the work force, they will be asked to collaborate with many others across the globe.  They need practice in school of how to work with others and what it is like to have their work reviewed by many others, besides just the teacher.  This is where technology, such as weblogs, can make this a possibility.  Students will also have to learn how to be critical thinkers when assessing articles or information because anyone can publish their thoughts online.  Building off this, students will need to be taught how to interact by responding to and discussing their ideas.  This makes me wonder if we should be teaching students how to type at a much younger age such as when they are first learning to write.  One day the only think they may have to actually write is their signature and I feel that we should be stressing typing more than writing.  Another reason why I think technology is important is because it will motivate and engage the students more.  One strategy that I am surely going to use is primary sources or having guest speakers come in.  This will give the students the opportunity to realize that there are other resources available to find reliable information and begin to build a network.

                As a future teacher, I will follow the five C’s mentioned in the chapter.  These include being a connector, creator, collaborator, coach, and change agent.  The first three C’s I feel are necessary to carry out because that is what I’m expecting my students to learn and do.  If I can’t follow through with these three components then my students will feel the same worthlessness about them.  I have to show why they are so important.  The coaching component I feel is the most important and really pertains to what my job truly means.  The concept of a teacher isn’t what it used to be, in that, they provide information to students.  Now teachers are more of a middle man and have to, not only, teach students skills, but also teach them how to find resources to discover new and valid information.  We are they to motivate and demonstrate, but not to give answers or facts.  The last component, change agent is necessary because the world we live in is constantly changing and so is our educational system.  We need to be open to new ideas and strategies.  For example, I feel that although schools are big on testing to get money from the government, teachers need to stand up for their beliefs against this.  Testing students may show if they know the information, but does prove if they actually know how to apply it.  As technology is advancing, applying our knowledge is becoming more important than ever before.

How schools can cope with the new technologies

The way our educational system assesses students is a topic that is under much debate, especially since technology is bringing in new ways or viewpoints on what assessing means.  One question raised is whether students should take exams when they feel ready based on their own interests.  Education is becoming a more individualized curriculum, in which, students can study their interest and become more specialized in their future career.  The dilemma with this is what about the student’s who don’t know what they want to be and can’t study a broad range of different topics/subjects.  Another dilemma is when the chapter mentioned how classes could be based on interests and not age.  Although, there are some pros to this, the one aspect that I was unsure about was having the older students teach or be the lead role in the projects.  This would be great for developing leadership skills and having a mentor, but what if that person isn’t a good role model and can’t help the students learn?  Will there education and learning be in jeopardy?  I do like how our educational system is moving towards problem-based approaches and completing projects that relate to real life and integrating in the basic subjects.  I think that if students can see a connection and now why the material they are learning is important, they will be more motivated to learn.  Another question I raised was that with these individualized, interest based classes will there become a greater need for more teachers who can educate on all these specific areas?  This could be a problem for many schools that already have financial troubles to pay for more teachers.

As a future teacher, the biggest adjustment I will have to make is how I teach my lessons.  With the students becoming more involved with technology, I will have to think of more creative ways to engage the students.  This is especially true for in the educational system because technology is offering customization, interaction, and learner control.  By not meeting the needs of each student, they will find different ways of learning the material or simply become less motivated to learn.  Since the educational system is still using the standard classroom and not creating classes based on interest, instead of age, we need to take into consideration the changes that are occurring.  As I said before about my support for using problem-based learning, I think students will have to learn this way because otherwise they will become bored since they can just look the information/facts up.  They need to see the connections and learn skills for in the future.  As for assessment, I want to move away from grading to prevent kids to just study for the test and redirect think time and effort studying to actually learning.  I also think that if I involve more hands on activities that are problem-based, it will be hard to grade the students when it is more of an observational assessment.

Screencast -- Parentella

For me creating the screencast took longer than completing the SWOT anaylsis.  It took several takes to conduct a screencast without many mistakes and creating a script that was more interactive with the site.  Besides that, I thought this project was much easier and less time consumering than some of the other ones completed. 

Creating and sharing a screencast with my peers impacts my future teaching because it is one way that I can share information.  It could have many purposes from communicating with others from a distance and still being able to see the same things, which helps so that we are on the same page or understanding as each other.  I think it could also be useful to teach students about particularly sites or conduct so students can watch if they missed class one day.

screencast link