Final Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/home

Final Project (Prezi)

http://prezi.com/i4uqfj3i0da7/edit/#7_5720088

Final Project

Week #16

At the beginning of the semester I admit I was a bit skeptical of technology in the classroom, but I learned techniques about technology that helped me see how it can be useful. For one, I had no idea how easy it is to make a blog. I always thought that an email to parents is just as good but after using it, I see that having a blog makes it easier for parents to stay informed. They can easily go check the blog whenever they have questions or want to know what is going on. I also learned about the smart notebook. I had never heard of it before. Now I know that there are many activities or lessons that you can find online. I also learned that there are so many ways students can show or practice what they are learning. I could see myself giving the students time to use storyboard, flipsnack, vocaro, and Prezi  in my own classroom. I still think there is value in having student creating work and doing assignments without technology but I have come to the conclusion that if used at the right time and in the right way, technology can enhance student learning. 

This class was the first time I have ever worked with NETS but I feel like this class gave me a good understanding of them.  The ones I have practiced the most are  

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and 2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. I feel like these two are important because they talk about teachers using technology to enhance learning and creating assignments that can easily be assessed and include substantial content. Technology should engage students and help them better understand what they are learning about. It should also include all the areas they are working on and Teachers should be able to asses where students are at so they can modify their lesson to help their students gain a better understanding. Technology should not be the main focus of the lesson, but instead, a tool.  

Week #15

I found a lesson about different cultures. It was called Holidays around the world. The teacher was going to skype classrooms in Mexico, Germany, and Israel with her class to find out about  their holidays and then discuss the differences in the holidays celebrated in these three places and where they live. In a classroom of first graders I would skype these three classrooms with the class and then have  the students draw pictures about three new holidays they learned about from the lesson.

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct
knowledge, and develop innovative products and
processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas,
products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of personal
or group expression
c. Use models and simulations to explore complex
systems and issues
d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning
and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter,
teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate
experiences that advance student learning,
creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face
and virtual environments.
a. Promote, support, and model creative
and innovative thinking and inventiveness
b. Engage students in exploring real-world issues
and solving authentic problems using digital tools
and resources
c. Promote student reflection using collaborative
tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual
understanding and thinking, planning, and
creative processes
d. Model collaborative knowledge construction by
engaging in learning with students, colleagues,
and others in face-to-face and virtual environments

Reflection #12 Clocks

Today, people don't usually wear watches or look to analog watches. If people want to know the time they pull out their cell phone. Even a lot of classrooms have digital clocks. This made me wonder how important it really is to continue teaching children how to read analog clocks. I found this article about more and more children needing help reading clocks. The article said that it is possible that the analog clock may become a thing of the past. Most clocks in student homes are digital so they are getting less practice and have less need to learn how to learn clocks.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/teachers_say_children_are_beco.html

  

Reflection #11 online books

High schools will often have to buy two sets of books. One set to send home with the students so they can do their homework, and then another to keep at school for instruction and school work. There is also a risk that the students will ruin or lose the books they bring home. Buying books online would be a great way to avoid these problems. First, the school would only have to purchase one online book per student because they would be able to access it online no matter where they were. In my own experience, I have noticed that whenever I have the option to buy a book online or the physical book, the book online is cheaper. The students would also be unable to lose or ruin their books if they were online.

Reflection #10 Internet

Yesterday, I had a large break in my day so I decided it would be the perfect time to catch up on my homework. However, my internet decided not to work and I needed the internet to do almost all of my homework. This made me think of how important it is for educators to think about the limitations of technology. Teachers should use technology and encourage my students to use it, but they should be careful when giving out homework that is dependent on technology. This could be anything from giving the students a back-up assignment if something goes wrong or if they don’t have the technology at home, or giving the students extra time to complete assignments at home so they will still have more time to finish it if their power goes out or their computer breaks. 

Comments

1. Bethany: http://bethanylowesblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/technology-project-plan.html?showComment=1354060980286#c2551387313890047217
2. Alyssa:  http://sitzleralyssa.blogspot.com/2012/11/reflection-12.html?showComment=1354418935773#c1024327335988161757
3. Kendra:  http://kendracotton.blogspot.com/2012/11/week-12.html?showComment=1354419273918#c9024820772205957339
4. Heather: http://heatherkristinsadventures.blogspot.com/2012/11/reflection-11.html?showComment=1354419460231#c811790899317627660
5.Angie: http://angiegarza12.blogspot.com/2012/11/reflection-8.html?showComment=1354419773938#c2112762494540234871
6. Whitney: http://wright2whitney.blogspot.com/2012/10/reflection-5.html?showComment=1354420025091#c457299915391062704
7. Sarah: http://sarahstoker.blogspot.com/2012/11/reflection-10.html?showComment=1354420431731#c1840119686878028214
8. Tootsie: http://tootsievasquez06.blogspot.com/2012/10/week-8.html?showComment=1354420766371#c5996736772790890066
9. Trey: http://treybotten.blogspot.com/2012/11/14-future-of-technology-and-education.html?showComment=1354421154793#c3273481819251241704

Reflection #9 Distractions

Today in class one of our professors gave us instructions to find our grade for an assignment online at the beginning of the class and told the students who had computers that they could take a look. After I looked up my grade, I found that I was extremely distracted. I started thinking about my grade and the other stuff that popped up on my computer when I looked at my grade. This made me realize that it is very important for teachers to be careful about the timing of technology in the classroom. If technology is given to the students at the beginning of the lesson and then the teacher does not have the students put it away and enforce that, then most of them will be unable to concentrate during the lesson.

Week #14

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/11/7-ways-holographic-technology-will-make-learning-more-fun/

In this article, I found some interesting ideas about how technology will transform the way we do education. The article first talks about how 3D imaging can be used to demonstrate how to do a certain task. They used the example of students wanted to become doctors being able to see a surgery in 3D. The article also talked about how classrooms across the world can be connected enabling students to learn about different cultures. The idea that I was most perplexed by was called Holographic technology which would allow teachers to teach in more than one classroom at the same time by recording their image and lecture and having it in a classroom. This would allow more schools to have the most qualified teachers but may also make it harder to teach to the individual student.

Reflection #8 GPS Running Watches

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Fitness-Watches-Electronics/GPS-Watches-Fitness/abcat0301006.c?id=abcat0301006

When I was looking at running watches, I noticed how incredible they have become. They now have the technology to put a GPS in relatively small watches. These watches can  tracks time, distance, pace, heart rate and calories burned and even remembers recent runs and personal records. I could see this eventually being used in gym classes to monitor progress and set goals and even in physics classes to calculate the work you are doing in order to run up a flight of stairs based on your speed. They could also be used in a math class to look at the relationship between pace, distance and heart rate.   

Week # 13

Word- Typing, spell check, tables, synonyms function

PowerPoint- slide show, Layout, picture

Excel- I have used it to make a schedule before.

1.       1. . To help students learn how to use word, I would have them make a table with two columns. One labeled vocab words and the other labeled synonyms. The students will type up the vocab words for the week in the vocab column and then they will use the synonym drop down on the computer to find synonyms for each of the vocab words and list them in the synonym column.

2.       2.  To help the students learn how to use PowerPoint I would have them do a research project and make a slideshow with a background and pictures.

3.       3. To help students  learn how to use Excel, I would have them use it to write down their plans for the week moving up to Christmas.

Week #12

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov09/vol67/num03/Teaching-with-Interactive-Whiteboards.aspx

 Dr. Marzano talks about a study on how helpful interactive whiteboards are. The interesting thing he found is that 23 percent of cases, teachers had better results without the interactive whiteboards. I learned from this article that you can insert flipcharts that remind them to stop the presentation students can process and analyze the new information. Something I thought would be helpful for my future classroom is the advice Dr. Marzano gave about using technology in a way that will not distract from the lesson. One of the things I thought was really helpful was that the teacher should have the class discuss why they chose their answer even if they all got it correct.

Week #11

http://mrpullen.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/the-war-on-childhood/#comment-3209

This blog discusses how standardized tests in schools narrows the curriculum in schools because teachers are teaching to the test instead of encouraging children to be creative. I learned that part of the problem is educators see children as future adults instead of as children. I commented about how programs that encourage creativity have been cut. My comment contributed to the community of learners because many people forget about the arts in schools and the more they are reminded the more likely it is that they will be supported. 

Reflection # 7 Technology that breaks

A month ago I had to buy a new phone and I noticed that the store was only selling touch screens. This made me realize that new technology is pushing out the old technology. This is all good if the new technology is better.... But is it? Last night, the touch screen on my month old phone broke. I didn't drop it, I didn't take poor care of it. It just decided to stop working. When I told my friends about this, they said, "Touch screens are known for breaking." If this is true then should we be replacing our reliable technology with new technology that is great to use but breaks easily? I think we need to be careful in our classrooms that we don't choose technology based purely on how new and cool they are but that we use technology that will last and not cause problems in the classroom.

Week #10

http://plpnetwork.com/2012/05/15/flipping-blooms-taxonomy/

This article suggests that instead of starting with remembering and eventually getting to creating, Bloom's  technology should start with creating and then move the opposite way down the list to remembering. The article makes the argument that if children start by creating, then they will have an easier time remembering. This is a lot like using technology in education because technology is meant to engage students. It is after they are engaged and interested that they are able to effectively learn.   

Assignment #5

I am planning on creating a project on Native American customs for 3rd graders. I will have each of the students research a tribe and gather information on their beliefs and customs and then they will use glogster to create a poster and then they will write their own legend into a story using flipsnack.
My goal is that the students will be able to: 4.2 Understands and analyzes causal factors that have shaped major events in history. 4.2.2 Understands how contributions made by various cultural groups have shaped the history of the community and world.



Record music with Vocaroo >>

Week #9

In his article, Caught on Video, Bob Sprankle writes about ways you can use a video camera in the classroom. Some of the suggestions I found interesting were, filming the students on the first day of school, asking them what their goal for the school year is, filming student/teacher conferences so students can go back review what the teacher wants from them, and use cameras to capture hands on learning. I learned from this article that their are meany different ways you can use a video camera in the classroom, and it can be helpful for students, parents, and the teacher.  

Flipsnack

Reflection #6 Wiki page sign ups

My coach had us use a wiki page this weekend to sign up for individual meetings with him so we could talk about our races. It made me think of all the ways this could be used in education. In a classroom, the teacher could use a wiki page to have the students sign up for classes. I also think that a wiki page sign up could be used for parents. Instead of parents emailing the teacher to tell them they want to meet about their child and then the  teacher and parent having to email back and forth to schedule a time that works for both of them, the teacher can set up a wiki page with times and dates they are available and then the parent can sign up for a time that works best for them. 

Week #8

When I was looking at twitter, I noticed that there were a lot of posts about tools that can be used in the classroom. One tweeter posted Cyber Community Standards. As an educator, twitter would be a great way to stay current on lessons and to find new ideas that can be used in your classroom. I also noticed that one teacher tweeted that she was having a hard time putting her presenter info on a wiki page. Twitter is also a great place for teachers to ask other educators for their help and ideas. 

Reflection #5 Distractions

 The other day, when I was in class I noticed that three people were on facebook and somebody else was on pinterest.  This was all happening while my teacher was lecturing. Many teachers allow lap tops in class and assume that their students are typing their notes. While some students actually do take notes on their laptops, many others are merely being distracted by technology. I think It is very important for teachers to make sure their students are not being distracted by the technology in the classroom.  

Week #7

While looking at the Mr. Avery’s classroom blog, I thought his home sweet home assignment was very interesting. He had his students use a free design software to design their very own house. Once the students were finished designing their homes they had to find the perimeter, area, and volume of their home. They then had to determine the cost of their home. To find this, the students multiplied the total area by $200. I think this is a great way to get children interested in math and show them how the things they are learning in school can apply to other things.