As Fall '11 Semester Comes to a Close...

This semester I took 3 classes; Mathematics for Elementary Teachers II, Psychology and Sociology of Diverse Cultures, and Integrating Technology into Curriculum (later class is what pushed me into blogging). In wrapping up my Psy/Soc class, I came across my first assignment at the beginning of the semester regarding the importance of discussing diversity and its importance in curriculum. After completing this course, I stand behind my original statement and thought I would share.  "It most certainly is important to discuss the issues of diversity. I believe that because we live in such a diverse society we must be educated in the differences each of our cultures contributes to society. It is completely selfish to assume any one culture is the best or that any one race is superior. We all contribute equally both negative and positives to the world we live.  As an educator I believe it becomes even more important to be educated on the issues of diversity. Most children’s first interaction with such an array of diverse cultures begins when they enter school. If their teachers are not equipped to handle the multitude of challenges that can arise, they cannot properly educate their students. It is also important for educators to understand and be sensitive to the many diverse cultures’ traditions and beliefs as well as patience while some might be learning to adjust to a new culture themselves."

How My Students Will Learn With Technology

Assessing students' progress is an important part of being a teacher. Assessments help educators know the degree students are learning what is being taught. There are many technology tools that can be used to measure students' learning. If you use rubrics with your students, Rubrician.Com offer a list of educator submitted rubrics and Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators has lists of rubrics and graphic organizers which both are great sources to use when building your own. Qwizdom is an interesting concept where students can participate with their personal clicker to answer questions without interrupting the lecture. The teacher can take the information collected to evaluate the lessons as well as the students' learning. Inspiration software that gives visual learners a variety of strategies to organize and analyze information, but this site works best for older students. For K-5th grade students, Kidspiration would be a more appropriate tool. These sites offer students graphic organizers, outlining, Venn-diagrams, and many more tools that allow students to utilize visual strategies while effectively organizing their thoughts and ideas.

When looking back on this semester, I have learned about many technology tools to help me and my students process, organize and effectively deliver information to others. There is so much to take in and I want to use so much of that information. Of course what I use is dependent upon what I teach. If I am teaching general education K-2, I will be using interactive online story books like Tumblebooks or Story Time by Barnes and Noble, I would use Kid Pix to build their writing confidence and expand their communication abilities, and Symbaloo to organize all of the class websites to make it easy for students to easily access approved on-line tools. For general education 3-6, I would use Kidspiration to enhance organization of students' thoughts before writing, teach and model proper Netiquette, while helping them understand Copyright and Fair Use laws. Now if I am teaching students with severe disabilities in Elementary Special Education, I would want to use Starfall which is a fantastic site filled with games that will enhance my lessons of letter recognition, phonics, and promotes early reading.

This is just a drop in the bucket. I will be using technology to keep track of my students grades, their work, my work, to help my team create newsletters, send personal letters home with my students, keep up to date in the latest in education, and the list goes on and on. I am almost overwhelmed thinking of all the possibilities. I will slowly incorporate what I can when it best suits my students and hope I can effectively guide them toward a successful learning experience.

Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills

TEKS for Technology Applications, Grade 3-5

(7) Solving problems. The student uses appropriate computer-based productivity tools to create and modify solutions to problems. The student is expected to:

(C) use a variety of data types including text, graphics, digital audio, and video.

Students should have some experience with computer-based tools by 3rd grade. This TEKS is to make sure students learn to utilize the computer's tools. Adding a variety of data to a research paper is an important attribute to learn. As students grow in education, more will be expected from them. Here is a good way to prepare them for those High School and College research papers as well as on-line projects. Its best that our students are learning the proper way to use these tools through us rather than learning them the hard way or the wrong way on their own.

TEKS English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 3

(16)  Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to:

(C)  compare various written conventions used for digital media (e.g., language in an informal e-mail vs. language in a web-based news article).

 I chose 3rd grade because I will be interning there next fall, but also because it is one of my favorite grades to teach, and Language Arts because it is one of my favorite subjects. The topic of formal and informal language is taught beginning in Kindergarten. By 3rd grade they should have the basic understanding of how to write a personal letter. I think it is 4th grade when they begin learning how to write persuasive and augmentative letters. With this TEKS, 3rd grade students will learn the how language can differ between an informal e-mail and articles found on-line. A casual e-mail will be personalized between the sender and the receiver, while an article will be information based and to the point. This is an important concept to learn because the interpretation of what is being said depends upon the reader understanding between the two languages.

TEKS for Technology Applications, Grade 3-5

(3) Foundations. The student complies with the laws and examines the issues regarding the use of technology in society. The student is expected to:

(B) model respect of intellectual property by not illegally copying software or another individual's electronic work.

I believe the TEKS above is the most important concept our students must learn before they continue expanding their knowledge in technology. Students should understand the usage law of electronic work before they can properly use internet sources. As educators, it is important to teach and model to our students respect of others' work. Students start researching on the internet beginning in Elementary school, and as they move on through school and into College they will use internet sources more and more. By beginning to install the laws regarding the use of electronic work while still in Elementary school, students can build on these expectations and properly give credit when needed. Anytime I am teaching a lesson that will end with the students doing research, I will, not only model writing the paper, but also include this important information in the lesson. With the projector on, I will be able to switch between my on-line search and the paper I am writing. I will show them how to read the information, take the information needed, put it on paper in their own words, and then give credit to the source. 

Visualizing with Technology & the Learning Process

How do I feel about it? Awe, come on! With the teaching tools we have available to enhance our lessons now only a click away, this is a great time to be a teacher!

Technology brings learning alive. It gives students the opportunity to explore and manipulate the basic concepts we teach. Play is an important learning tool for younger students, why not continue that concept for older students? Allow students to have fun while instilling important concepts and learning valuable information. There are so many amazing web-sites that aid in the learning process and they are getting better every day! And technology is not just for the visual learners. Verbalizers can aid from technology tools, too.

Drawing and paint software is a great way to helps kids express themselves beyond the written word and expand their communication abilities. Many of these allow students to add print to their drawings, too. Now students can write a story and add pictures to support it. The Kindergarteners where I work write a research paper on their favorite animal (simple pages, E.g. "My animal is a tiger. Tigers eat smaller animals. Tigers hunt at night.") When they are finished, they use KidPix to draw and/or stamp a picture, then type all of their sentences under the picture. The K students always do a great job!  Sketchcast is for students a bit older and allows them to make a movie of their drawings.

Looking for a way to put excitement into Math data and patterns for your students? Key Curriculum Press offers software called Tinker Plots that is designed to help the middle grade students understand data and recognize patterns. For high school students, check out the Fathom Dynamic Statistics software. This site also offers Geometry help with the Geometer's Sketchpad. For Chemistry, Wavefunction, Inc. has software called Spartan that students can use to, not only see molecules represented with different materials, but allows them to experiment with different bonds to make new molecules.  

What better time to be a teacher, or better yet, a learner, than this day and age of vast selection of technological aids? I love the face to face interaction I have with my students, I also enjoy the group interaction when teaching them how to use new technology tools, and best of all, I love watching them use these new ideas to teach each other.

Putting Prezi in Your Presentations

Prezi.com is a web-based program that puts excitement into presentations. Check out this video for more information on how Prezi can spruce up your presentations.

I took the information from the Emergent Technology project I wrote earlier in the semester to design my first Prezi. I can't take credit for this idea...it was an assignment, but I did enjoyed playing around with this unique, on-line presentation tool. Check it out here...& remember, this was my 1st attempt. I welcome feed back, but please be kind. 

I'm not sure when I will have the opportunity to make my next Prezi, but I have so many great ideas on how to improve it by what I've learned so far. I just didn't realize how much better I could have made it. Hummm....sounds like a challenge to me!

Personal On Demand

PODcasting sets up a connection between a website and your computer so that new shows can automatically show up when available (Podcasting-In Plain English). Anyone with a microphone, computer, and connection to the web can create their own show and make it available to everyone else in web-land. Is podcasting something you are wanting to do? Do it now, tweak it later, but check out this article in About.com for guidance. When you come across a great podcast you can subscribe to the site and, as long as you have a podcatcher, you will receive any new shows automatically. You are then able to download your podcastings to any portable device and listen to them anywhere you go. Just make sure the battery is charged! I guess what I didn't know about podcasting is the names. I knew all of this could be done, I just didn't know it by name. So when I saw at the first of the semester we would be learning about podcasting, I didn't know what to expect. 

Lets compare podcasting to another Web2.0 tool from a previous blog post, VoiceThread. From what I understand the difference between the two is that Voicethread is an interactive tool that allows us to attach images and record audio comments to an online PowerPoint presentation, which could be viewed and shared with others. And although you need a microphone and computer for both, the Podcasting can be downloaded to any portable device. Podcasting is also like a personal broadcasting show. I would love to hear indepth comments to help better distinguish between the two. 

I personally do not have an MP3 player or iPod of any type. My girls have iPods and my husband has an iPhone, but I have not taken that leap. I find myself too busy to listen to music other than when I'm in the car, and even then I listen to whatever comes on. I see how I could benefit. There are times when I could have download a lecture from a class or a song I was practicing for church choir instead of being tied down to my computer. Other than that, I am not too familiar with that type of portable devise.

I have been very interested in investing in an iPad to utilize with my students. A teacher I work with uses an iPad with his students and I love the possibilities. Most of my students are cognitively below grade level. I could use the iPad to engage the student while teaching them numbers, letters, colors, shapes, even words. My behavior students could earn time on the iPad and then in turn learn while they play. Hook the iPad to the projector and it becomes an interactive game for the whole class. The great thing about the iPad versus the computer is there are apps that can help the students work on fine motor skills, too. The possibilities seem endless. Feel free to offer up any other ideas!

Tell Me, Tell Me Do You Know All About Web 2.0?

I feel as though I should know more about technology than I do. I mean most of what we are learning I’ve heard about but I didn’t realize how little I understood it. Web 2.0 has revolutionized how the internet can be used and yet how many of us actually take advantage of what it offers? Social bookmarking is a way to take your “favorites” with you to any computer and even share with others. What I find great about this is now I will be able to add keyword tags to my favorite sites making it easier to find the sites I need. I also look forward to looking through respected teachers’ favorites. You can find a list of the top 100 Social Bookmarking Websites by Pagerank here.

Wiki is a place where I could create a site and, unlike a blog, anyone could add or change the information that appears. I could see this being a great use for creating a group project for 4^th graders through college years. A few years back this would have been a much better solution to a group project I was working on. It was an on-line college class. The three of us e-mailed back and forth until we found a date to meet. We split the parts up and then we worked on our parts individually until we found another date we could meet to put everything together. It was a huge hassle to find a time to meet. I think a wiki site could have eliminated a lot if not all of the time we wasted trying to coordinate our schedules. This "Wiki In Plain English" YouTube video explains how Wikis could be a useful tool in teaching and learning.

VoiceThread would be a great use in elementary schools to create a presentation for a parents’ night. I know many schools are trying to connect with students from around the world and I could see this as a wonderful tool in bringing them all together on one presentation. VoiceThread is a way to put a voice to an on-line presentation. Pictures, videos, power points, and other things can be brought together with just a few clicks of the mouse. Here is a video showing how students from around the world came together to create a fantastic presentation.

Here’s what makes me sad. Time….I just don’t have enough of it to explore and play around with all this great stuff!! I really look forward to finishing my degree, in part just to have the time to explore and try all of the amazing technological tools available. I know this is just the icing on the cake and that once I dig into that cake I am going to find a unlimited concoction of flavors. It is exciting to learn all the tools available to us all, but the new things I can bring to my students to enhance their learning is even more phenomenal!

Bullies in Cyber-Space

 This week we learned about copyrighting, fair usage, and online safety (including cyber-bullying and netiquette). I have to say, I had picked up most of the copyright information while working as a librarian assistant in an elementary school because the Librarian was our campus copyright "go to" person. Yes, Kelly, I WAS actually listening when you talked and soaked up all the wisdom you offered. (Mega brownie points, I'm sure!)  This is information all educators should, not just be familiar with, but get to know well! A very helpful educator's "Cheat Sheet" can be found at: http://dwb.unl.edu/dwb/courses/CURR880/copyright_chart.pdf.

http://erikjheels.com/803.html; Erik Heel explains copyright laws to a child.

 The topic I was most interested in, and in which I took the most away from, would have to be the cyber-bulling topic. I know it is a topic that we see a lot of, so is it really information that is new to me? No. But this time I actually took it to heart. I have teenage daughters. I have seen first hand how mean kids can behave. Both of my girls have strong opinions of who they are and what they believe and neither are shy about standing up for it, but being strong didn't exempt them from being targeted. My oldest experienced the rumor mill, and it was devastating to think someone would be so hateful to start such vicious rumors. Experiencing the "Did you hear?" was bad enough, I can hardly begin to imagine the pain from hateful remarks being sent to any child directly. 

We need to teach our children Netiquette (etiquette in the cyber-world) and talk to our children about technology. If we are allowing them on social web-sites and in possession of an e-mail account or a cell phone, then we need to make sure they understand the risks. Parents should be monitoring their children's computer usage daily. Know who your children are friending on Facebook. Make sure your child knows how important it is to let you know right away if they come across something that makes them uncomfortable. If anyone sends them an inappropriate message over the internet or through their cell phone, they need to know how important it is to show it to you and not delete it. According to Bullying UK, it is important these messages are not deleted so they can be traced back to the person who sent it if needed. Explain the dangers of posting personal information like the school they attend, their address or phone number, even letting "friends" know when they are home alone. I have had to get on to my kids for posting their phone numbers on Facebook. They didn't see the harm. I mean, come on, only 400 of their closest friends can see it...it's safe! 

 

After several teen suicides and school massacres over the last dozen or so years, you would have thought parents would take bullying, or cyber-bullying as the case may be, more serious. We must get on board and start teaching our children netiquette. The Boston Public Library offer parents fantastic tips called Netiquette for Kids. This is a great way to open this topic of conversation with our children. It might seem easy to a kid to get revenge or feel they can speak more freely on the internet or through text message, but it is our responsibility to help them understand words on-line don't hurt others any less. Children depend on the adults in their lives to guide them. We must take this responsibility serious. Children's lives could depend on it. 

It's a Global Society...Are You Information Literate?

This week’s assignment, "Becoming Information Literate in a Global Society", was a real eye opener for me. I mean, I knew there was a better way to use search engines, I just never took the time to figure it out. I did what most people do, google it and then clicked on the title I liked best. After all, the first few sites had the best information, right? When doing research for school I am careful to avoid Wikipedia because anyone can add to the information found there. I usually stick to the college or city e-libraries. However, when I am doing personal research I do tend to scan the first few, looking for the title I think is most relevant. I probably would have continued on this inefficient way of searching had I not taken this class and been introduced to Dr. November’s MAPping Information. (http://novemberlearning.com/) This is when I learned my way of searching might not produce the best information.

Today, I have begun a new chapter…a new google-ing chapter. Google has always been my search engine of choice, maybe because it’s familiar or maybe because it’s easy to click the google menu box at the top of Firefox. Whatever it may have been before, I’ve learned by reading http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2048976/Major-Search-Engines-and-Directories that google was voted “Most Outstanding Search Engine” and all the other unique qualities google provides; it will continue to be my go-to search engine! I do see the benefit of using other search engines like Ask.com, another one of my favorites, to make sure I have covered all my bases when doing research. If I want to ensure I have explored every avenue on a particular subject, I will do many searches using many different search engines.

Now, I normally look at the domain name and extension once I’ve opened a page, but today I found myself looking before making my choice. For instance, today at work I was looking for sites with free, pre-made, downloadable visual cue cards beyond what I’ve already made. By looking at the extensions I was able to avoid random organizations (.org, .com, .net) and instead find educational sites (.edu, .k12) that were set up to help educators. When I first began reading about MAPping Information, I truly thought about how much time this was going to add to my searching process. Once I started applying the information, I see how this will actually cut down on my research time. I will no longer be reading information that twenty minutes later I realize I can’t use. I can move quickly to sites that are relevant to my search, cutting down the amount of time spent on the internet….theoretically, that is.

There is still so much to learn, so much to remember. I plan on continuing to educate myself and using this new found information (new to me, that is) to educate my family. I have two teenage daughters, one of whom is in college herself, which could greatly benefit from Dr. November’s website. As far as my future students, I know by educating them in technology I can help them become efficient learners. If I am just finding out about this information this far into my college experience, when do I think my students will learn it? The internet is growing faster every day. We have to be prepared on how it works if we plan on entering its world. Otherwise we can find ourselves lost, aimlessly searching, never quite finding what we need, and possible missing out on the best information. I also expect my students to be smarter and quicker with technology than I am, so to help them flourish I can offer them the little bit of knowledge I do have.

Here we go!

I have been thinking about creating a blog for a while so I am extremely excited to get this started. I am a mom of 2 teen girls. My oldest is 18 and in college to become a dentist, and my youngest is 15, a sophomore in high school and has a dream to become a nurse, possible even a doctor. I have been with my husband, Jon, since 1989. He is an extremely talented decorative painter and takes very good care of us. I had the most amazing opportunity to be a stay at home mom for 12 years, and I loved every minute. During this time I struggled to figure out where my future was headed, but I didn’t just want a career. Like most people I wanted to find something I was good at, passionate about, and I wanted to make a difference. I found it all in the most unexpected place, a Behavior Support Classroom. Since that year I have had many opportunities to work with children who are emotionally disturbed and sometime violent, as well as other children with special needs. I teach social skills in which to help them cope with the issues they struggle with on a daily basis and modified curriculum to help them become successful students in the classroom. It is a tough job, but watching these children make friends, work along side their peers, and learn to manage their emotional outburst is the most satisfying experiences.

My vision of technology in the classroom is growing every day. I believe children do learn on computer programs, however I also agree that we have to be careful how these programs are used. We, as educators and parents, need to make sure we are teaching our students how the programs work and enforce what they are learning with hands on activities. I work with elementary school students that many times struggle with a low attention span. Interactive programs projected onto the white board via computers, Elmos, or even ipads are great ways to capture these students’ attention while teaching them vital concepts. This type of learning also gets the students out of their seats and involved. I know one teacher that has a private Face Book page set up for just his students and their parents. Here he posts information from the day’s events which, not only helps keep the parents informed, but also encourage interaction between the students and their parents. Expanding my vision beyond elementary school I would hope to see computers, or electronic equivalency, available for every student in every class. I believe this is our future and therefore we, as teachers, must prepare our students for that future.

As far as the course I am taking, Integrating Technology into Curriculum, I hope to expand my knowledge on what technology can do for my classroom. I have been encouraged to blog but have always put that on the back burner, figuring I didn’t have time to learn how and I’d get to it after I finished college. Thanks to this class I have started my blog and I do plan on keeping up with it. I hope to increase my knowledge on the dangers of technology, as well. How can I teach my students internet safety? How can I teach my students proper internet usage? I would like to expand my collection of educational websites and learn what are the best ways to find on-line teaching tools for me and my students. I hope to learn how to manage computer assignments alongside pencil and paper assignments. I look forward to learning information about new technology and incorporating it into my classroom.