Digital Blog Post #L

(Edward) 

Chapter 12: Engaging Learners with Digital Tools

 One of the many wonderful things about becoming a teacher is that as teachers we will never stop learning. In a society today where so much is changing and new discoveries and technologies are constantly being created or discovered, we will be forever learning and adapting in this ever changing society.

In Chapter 12 it brought up the topic of technology integration issues which should always be addressed. Even though we are aware of these issues at times we might find ourselves caught in the middle of them. Some of the issues that stood out to me were the teachers who are so set in their lesson plans that they just simply forget that they can add different elements into their old lesson plans, personally just doing the same old same old lesson plan sounds a bit monotonous to me, although I understand the philosophy "If it's not broke don't fix it", yet if we can continue to enhance our lesson plans with newer technologies that benefit our students I think that's a great thing.

Another issue that was brought up was rewarding or punishing students with technology use. The textbook stated "Students with higher test scores are given one kind of technology-based experience while the student with lower scores get another kind" (Malloy). I don't see a problem with rewarding students every once in a while, but this statement bothered me. Just because a student received a low test score in one subject doesn't mean they're an idiot, or can only handle minimal technology, every student has their own unique strengths and weaknesses, if we only judge and focus on a students weakness they will only see their weaknesses. What if one of those low scoring kids was actually tech savvy, and that was one of their strengths. By punishing them you would never know about this strength. As teachers I feel we need to play on students strengths, and help improve their weaknesses.

The third issue that I wanted to elaborate on was one that was brought up and one I witnessed first hand throughout my school career which was just the fear and uncertainty with technology. "Teachers with less knowledge of technology worry they will not know how to use all the different types of technologies that students might bring to school" (Malloy). To me this is silly, I've grown up with technology, my family has always had a personal computer, so I'm used to figuring technology out, but not doing something because you're afraid of failing or just worried to incorporate it is ridiculous. As teachers we should be striving to discover the ways and means that will benefit our students the most, in some situations this means using technology. I know technology is not the end all be all for education, but it definitely has it's benefits. As humans were bound to fail, but we should not be afraid of failure. Below I included a video from youtube from one of my favorite Disney movies Meet the Robinson's and their personal views about failure.





My challenge is to remind myself to think creatively with the technology resources available to me. "The key is for teachers to think creatively about using the technology they have to create new experiences for students"(Malloy). Also constantly reminding myself that technology is not limited to computers, there are so many outlets, just because you might not have the resources doesn't mean you can't be a great teacher.

"There is always more to learn, to try, to add to ones repertoire of knowledge and interests. One enormous upside of technology is this: It keeps you and students learning, growing, and leading learning together" (Malloy).



Resources:

Edward, A. (2015, December 1). The Perfect Blend – Poster by Alexis Edward. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from https://www.canva.com/design. 

Hill, R. (2014, September 1). Meet the Robinsons - You Failed! Retrieved December 1, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtRadR4zYM

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #J-Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning

Throughout this chapter a large focus was placed on the Digital Portfolios, and rightfully so, I think that Digital Portfolios are so interesting. When I went through school I loved the classes that made us keep portfolios, it kept me more organized, I knew exactly what I needed for my binder, and it was personal to me. I wanted my portfolio to look nice, because it reflected who I was as a student and I took pride in it. In the chapter, when talking about introducing the digital portfolio to a class, it said,  "A new spirit of involvement in learning emerged. Everyone, even those she thought might complain about the amount of time and effort necessary, welcomed the opportunity to assemble a personal portfolio" (Maloy). I personally love the idea of keeping a Digital Portfolio, I know as a future teacher it will be beneficial to me, and for my future students it will be very beneficial.

"Failure to give students a voice in educational decision-making is an opportunity lost" (Maloy). This is a profound statement, students should have a voice, and it's very important for me to help students find their voice. I loved when the book started talking about the clicker system. It would be amazing to witness the class discussions and learning opportunities in a classroom that puts this into use. The greatest part about using the clickers is that "...The process of voting leads to a discussion of key ideas rather than to 'I got it right; you got it wrong' contest" (Maloy). I only ever used clickers once and it was in the fourth grade when we were given the chance to play a review game of Jeopardy. I remember wishing my other classes had used them.

Branching off of giving the students a voice, it is so important to encourage class discussions; giving students a choice and a voice. I work at a youth group every week at my church and I am the sixth grade girl's mentor and leader. I feel that it is so important to have them talk and really listen to what they're saying, their joys and their struggles. I feel that often times their little voices are stifled, but they have thoughts and opinions too, and by giving them a chance to just be heard is so beneficial to them, plus it build trust and camaraderie between our group. I believe the same thing can happen in the classroom, I've watched it happen in the classroom. Listening to others and hearing what they have to say takes us deeper than just surface level relationships.  Through class discussions we get to know one another, whether its student to student or student to teacher relationships, we start to understand more about who they are as a person, I also believe that it encourages respect for one another.

(Edward)

As far as the challenge point I think I will gravitate toward portfolios, whether digital or physical, because I enjoy making them and I enjoy looking at them. I feel that they are a great assessment tool, but I also need to remember that there are other ways of assessing students and although portfolios might be my favorite, they might not be the best for certain students. I need to remember to always put the students education first, and help them learn.

Reference:

 Edward, A. (2015, November 5). Login - Register at ToonDoo - World's fastest way to create cartoons! Retrieved November 6, 2015.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. 

Digital Blog Post #I - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Designing Lessons and Developing Curriculum with Technology

Within Chapter 4 it emphasized the importance of creating lesson plans and using technology to our advantage as educators. This reminded me of growing up and how I had to do countless projects, presentation, and speeches, I know that if I plan ahead, rehearse and know my content fully I can present a well thought out presentation. I also know that if I "wing it" it's not always the case. In the first section of the chapter it had a little story of how a new teacher couldn't just "wing it" for her lessons, she needed a "concrete instructional plan and regular assessments of her students" (Maloy). Her mentor gave her some advice that you can use educational websites to help develop lesson plans. I am so thankful that I live in a world where we have the internet at our disposal. The possibilities are endless. As a future educator I have access to lesson plans, activities, blogs, and so much more. I can pull up youtube videos to show my students, or presentation apps. I can use interactive apps for my students to use, and learn. It's a very exciting time to be a teacher. What I also love is that as far as making lesson plans, the book talked about how just a few decades ago, teachers had to do so much to develop well thought out lesson plans, now I can just go online and quickly develop my own.

Prior to reading this chapter I didn't realize that the assessments were part of the actual lesson plan. It makes total sense, I just never put two and two together before. I also found it interesting the different ideas on assessment and how there are two main types of assessments; Norm-Reference test and Criterion-Reference test. As a student I never liked tests, I've always preferred doing projects to show I grasp the content, personally I believe that I learn best when I do projects, but this might also be because I'm a tactile learner. I understand though that we need both Norm-Reference test and Criterion-Reference tests. After reading about the assessments I realized that I can teach all I want, but I need to know my students are learning, and to do that I need to assess them. When I start teaching I want my students to learn, I don't want to just give them one type of assessment. This chapter has started turning the wheels in my head as I start to think about assessments. The classrooms that I was apart of throughout school worked the best when the teacher used multiple assessments to see where we stood in their classrooms. I believe that providing a combination of multiple choice test, written test, and projects might work out the best, I won't know for sure though until I start teaching.

The part of the chapter that struck me was when it talked about standardized tests. Growing up as a student in Florida I partook in the FCAT from 3rd to 10th or 11th grade. My thoughts on standardized test vary. I believe that we should have them, but I believe that they should be ran differently. Maybe the new tests are different, but in elementary school most of my learning was geared toward passing a test. I don't believe thats right. I think that we should educate our students to be learners not just test takers. I remember the teachers who would be so stressed out because they wanted their students to pass, because if the majority of their students passed they got a bonus. Also, a student should not have to be held back because of one test, I think thats ridiculous. If a child is having a bad day, or outside things are affecting them, then their test could be affected by that. One test grade cannot reflect who that student is. I also think that we should test our students differently by testing them on knowledge that every student should know across America on a whole, what they should know about their state as a whole, and academically what the average student of their grade should know. Whether those ideas should come through standardized tests or Core Curriculum I'm unsure of.

My last thoughts on assessment through lesson plans is that I will test my students on what we learn, I don't want to trick them, or confuse them, I want to be as straight forward with my assessments as I can be.

After listening to my Podcast I want to clarify that I am not against standardized test, I am against teaching to the test. I believe that we should inspire our students to be life long learners.


References:

Edward, A. (2015, November 5). Standardized Test Song. Retrieved November 5, 2015.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #H

Chapter 9 Expressing Creativity with Multimedia Technology brought up a few points that inspired me. I love reading through this text book Transforming Learning with New Technologies because I feel that after every chapter I'm inspired to integrate different technology strategies into my future curriculum.

The first point that I read about that struck me was all the information about PowerPoint. I found it interesting that the book went so in depth about it, I guess I found this curious though because I've been using PowerPoint since elementary school. The book explained positive and negative effects of using PowerPoint, but one negative effect that it didn't address was one that I've witnessed time after time. I believe one of the biggest negative attributes of PowerPoint or Prezi, or any visual slide show is the tendency to read word for word what is on the screen. I believe that more students and educators need to be taught that technology tools such as PowerPoint should be used as visual tools that aids to a presentation or project. In my experience the strongest presenters are the individuals who put key points and pictures on their slideshows and further explain what we're looking at in their own words. The only time I feel that it is acceptable to have paragraphs on PowerPoint is when a teacher is having students copy notes. Overall though I enjoy using PowerPoint as a tech tool, although I love Prezi, I personally believe that Prezi is visually more appealing then PowerPoint.

The Second point I was interested in was the concept of using video recorders in the classroom. I thought this was such a fun idea, not only are students able to learn with it, but they are also given the chance to be creative and work as a team. "...Making videos had not only helped the students learn history, but also promoted a spirit of participation and teamwork that lasted long after these skits were completed" (Maloy). This past week I was given the chance to observe a seventh grade science teacher at Oasis Middle School. The day I observed her students had been divided into groups and created volcano models that they would later fill with baking soda and vinegar. I loved the effort that the groups put into each unique volcano and all of their excitement as they were able to watch their volcanic creations erupt. The teacher allowed her students to use their phones to record the eruptions, and the kids were so excited. After reading this chapter I would've loved to have seen what the students would have done if they had to make a video depicting the volcanic eruption of Pompeii or Mount Hellena. As a future teacher the only part I would be worried about is if the problem arises where a student is not allowed to be recorded or photographed. I guess I will deal with that though if the problem arises.

The third and final point I enjoyed reading about was the concept books. Just another outlet that gives students the chance to be creative, which I love. "Staging the photographs reinforces the meaning of the vocabulary and the concepts for students, particularly those learning English as a new language" (Maloy). The concept book was suggested for young students such as kindergarteners or first graders, but older students could even use concepts books especially if they needed to learn their vocabulary words.

Within the textbook it talked about a website called "Glogster" I decided to use it as my tech tool, its basically a website that helps you make interactive posters to share with your class.




 (Edward) (Learning) (Mali)



Resources:

Edward, A. (n.d.). My First Glog. Retrieved November 2, 2015.

Learning Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015.

Mali, T. (2013, February 10). Miracle Worker by Taylor Mali. Retrieved November 2, 2015.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Blog Post #G

Technology is making it, in many ways, easier to educate our students. In Chapter 10 Promoting Success for All Students through Technology, it talked about how many different ways you can use technology to reach a limitless amount of students. Whether your students don't speak English very well, or you have a Deaf student in your classroom, technology today has given us an opportunity as educators to reach students whom we have not been able to reach in the past.

Through technology we can reach a more diverse group of students, and because of this we can inspire them to become life long learners. A huge issue in classrooms today is trying to make the curriculum relevant. "This issue is very important to diverse students, many of whom struggle in school when they do not find immediate connections between academic content and their own experiences (Maloy)." As educators we must make our curriculum relevant. We can use technology to do this for us. "Technology allows students to access newspapers from around the world, take virtual field trips to international locations, translate materials from one language to another, and communicate with teachers, students, and schools in other places.

Another great tool we have now is Google Translate. Throughout Elementary school I remember having friends come into my classroom who didn't know how to speak any English. I think back to those days and try to imagine if Google Translate existed back then we could've communicated so much better with one another. Now I know that if I ever have a student come into my class who doesn't speak any English I'll still be able to semi communicate with them through Google Translate, or any other translation tools.

Below I've included a Bitstrip I made about teaching to learning styles. I was inspired to make this after I read a passage in Chapter 10. "Teaching to include the learning styles of different students is the key to successful differentiated instruction. A differentiated math unit on probability, for example, might open with a choice of two experiences: student-written and -acted skits to introduce concepts, or a series of games that focus on probability using dice, spinners, or multiple choice. (Maloy)" 

Also I apologize for the larger than life Bitstrip, I was having trouble embedding and switching the codes. 



(Edward)

Although we can do so much now with educating we need to still realize we have limitations.
 I fear that we might start getting the idea that we can do anything as teachers, don't get me wrong, we can do so many great things! But again we must know our limitations. I already know it will be something I will have to keep in check, because if I try to cater to each students specific needs and learning styles I'll overwhelm myself. 

References

Edward, A (2015, October 18). How Do You Learn? Created with Bitstrips http://www.bitstrips.com/r/WDP0Z

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #F- Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media offered a unique perspective on using social media within the classroom. Growing up with Social Media as a norm, we were highly discouraged in school to befriend our teachers, whether it was through Facebook, or twitter, or whatever Social Website we saw fit. Within this chapter I felt that it was encouraged to have students, teachers, and parents stay connected through social media.

Although I see how this could be beneficial it's still difficult for me to accept. I think this is because I'm using the term "Social Media" rather than educational networking. Through education networking teachers can still use education and be professional about it, while in my mind I'm thinking about teachers communicating through Facebook, which is a very casual way of communicating.
Granted I was part of many Facebook groups which teachers facilitated and kept up with, that was very beneficial during high school.

I did not agree with teachers and students texting. There are very few circumstances in which I feel educators and students would need to communicate through text. I know in high school I would text one of my teachers, but I was part of the leadership team in their class and needed to be in contact with them when it came to our theatre club. I believe that communicating through educational sites like the suggested blogs, wikis, or edmodo accounts make more sense to me because I see the drawn boundary line between casual and professional relations.

The challenging part about this chapter will be to draw the line between professionalism and casual communications. Finding which social outlook will benefit my classrooms the best in the future.

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Resources: 

Edward, A. (2015, October 9). To be social or not to be socialThat is the question.  - Tackk. Retrieved October 9, 2015.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Blog Post #E- Chapter 7

I grew up playing video games. My grandfather owned a video game arcade so I have memories of playing Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Bros at four years old. My parents got me educational CD's for the computer, and I remember going on cartoon network to play a Powerpuff Girl video game. As I got older I upgraded from the original Nintendo to a Nintendo 64, and then to a Game Cube, I had a gameboy and loved playing video games. Not all my video games were just for fun though, I remember having a number of education video games, that I loved. I enjoyed learning and these games helped me in certain areas.

After reading Chapter 7: Exploring Problem Solving with Software, Apps, and Games, I am reminded of how as a future educator I want to strive for my students to become higher functioning learners. It was encouraging to read about a young girl who learned multiplication through a video game software geared towards math. This chapter encouraged me to search for and really think how many different ways I can incorporate fun and educational apps and programs into my future classrooms.

A great point was made, "Will the child program the computer, or will the computer program the child?" This again goes back to the point of making my students higher functioning learners. I don't want my students just to recite things back to me, I want them to grasp concepts and understand what they're learning and about their environments that they are surrounded by. I want my students to think for themselves.

There was also a part that caught my attention in the chapter and it was talking about the virtual world simulation games, and how there's no distinct winner or looser. They specifically talked about a game called "Second Life" which sounded familiar to me.
(The Office)
When I realized I recognized it from The Office I had to put it in my blog. At the time I thought that "Second Life" was a made up game, I had no idea it was a real entity. Although it's funny by watching it on The Office, it also reminds me that there are plenty of mindless games that my students can waste their time on. I know I personally have done just that. I also know that information sticks with students when they're having fun, and what better way to reach them then through apps and video games, which they are already so immersed in.

(Edward) 

The challenge that I took away, is that not every parent in on board for their children to spend so much time on the computer. Which I respect, but I know that it will be a struggle especially if I assign  specific homework that incorporates computer use. I realized that I have to do research on this topic as well, so I can put the parents minds at ease, and so that I have a foundation and knowledge to back up my teaching style and preference.  

RESOURCES

Edward, A. (2015, October 9). Video Games – Poster by alexisedward94. Retrieved October 9, 2015.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
    
The Office : Second Life is the same. (2007, October 31). Retrieved October 9, 2015.