Reflective Post

Photo credit to Brad Flickinger on Flickr

As stated in the text, technology plays a huge part in the youth of today. In our current society technology is everywhere. Today's youth ages 8-18 are called the iGeneration. They have grown up using computers, the internet and cell phones. (p.3) Just walking around a grocery store you will see a toddler on a phone or tablet. And every teenager cannot survive without their phone. So as educators it is time to bring the classrooms up to the 21^st century and bring technology into the classroom.

When I signed up for EME2040 I thought to myself, “Here we go again, another class to get thru.” But now at the other end, all I can say is “I learned so much, this was the most useful class I have ever taken.” I say this honestly, I came in knowing next to nothing about technology, and now I have my own Blog and Webpage. I have created a part of an Instructional Strategy Wiki, created my own WebQuest, rubrics, cartoons, add videos to my assignments and the list goes on. I wish I could say it was easy, but it was not. I spent hours upon hours reading thru everything, watching tutorials and experimenting. But in the end it truly has been worth it.  And even after all the new information I have acquired, I know I still have a ton to learn.

A part of the class that I found uncomfortable for my learning style would have to be working in the groups. Having to meet on message boards was a little difficult. The Instructional Strategy Wiki was easier because we were given a topic and just had to choose the strategy. And ultimately we were mainly responsible for our page. If another member’s page seemed weak we did not have to worry about it. Our grade was mainly based on our individual part. For the Group Lesson Plan, I had a great group. They were helpful and supportive. But choosing a topic was difficult since the choices were endless. It was difficult to critique another person’s work.  Also, for this assignment we were all responsible for the entire project.

As a whole, I think this was an excellent class. Professor Coleman was very organized and thorough in the information provided for us to complete the assignments. The tutorials were very helpful and easy to understand. She made herself available to the class and took the time to help when I asked questions. I am thankful for this learning experience. All the new knowledge I have gained will be very useful in my future career as a teacher. I am looking forward to bringing technology into my classroom.

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.

Chapters 11 and 12

After reading chapter 11 and 12, I would like to inform you of my thoughts on the materials I have just read. I will inform you on the connection that I have with these two chapters, of the new ideas that I got from reading these chapters and of what I think will be challenging for me to do in the classroom.

First, I made a connection with the teacher assessments and performance evaluations (p.278). I am all for evaluating the students to see how much they have learned in a particular subject. Students and teacher should be held to a higher standard. I have issues with a teacher performance evaluation being based on the assessment of the students. Their jobs could depend on this evaluation of the students learning ability. What if the student does not want to learn and has been disruptive for the majority of the year? Why is the teacher performance evaluation based on the performance of a student that may not put any effort?

   

Second, it is not a new idea but, it is something that I have witnessed firsthand in a science classroom. On p. 288, the text talks about reasons for teaching with clickers. The students were working on a science activity that required a lot of reading. So the students were becoming bored with the lesson and not staying on tack. The teacher began handing out the blue clickers and the students had no idea what the clickers were going to be used for, but they began to pay attention. Then the teacher announced that they had to complete the assignment. But instead of writing the answer on regular notebook paper, they were to input there answer with the clicker which showed on the overhead projector. The students loved it and they were almost immediately engaged again in the assignment. This was a great way to open up the interaction with a game like activity.

Lastly, something that I think will be challenging to me would be involving student in learning through feedback. On p. 294 it talks about asking the students for their feedback so that they can feel a part of something. It also talked about BYOD (Bring your own device to school). This is something that will be challenging to me, allowing the students to have a cell phone out in class. The students will often say they are using the phone to research some things, but in all reality they are on Facebook or some other unauthorized website.

Yes Mr. Groce, I am just doing research...(Yeah right)

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.

Chapters 4 and 9

 

After reading chapter 4 and 9, I would like to inform you of my thoughts on the materials I have just read. I will inform you on the connection that I have with these two chapters, of the new ideas that I got from reading these chapters and of what I think will be challenging for me to do in the classroom.

First, I was able to connect with the information about the performance assessments (p.88). For years I have been working in the school system with at risk kids. These kids are from poverty stricken areas, single parent homes and most of them do not have internet services. So when it comes to assessments I think they are bias in some ways. In order to do an assessment appropriately all individuals involved must have the same tools and assets to work with. I am not a big fan of the pressure that is placed on teachers, to have their students perform at the same rate as children who do not deal with poverty, single parent homes and no internet services.

Next, the text it talks about handcrafted videos being made to farther educate the student (p. 226). It talks about Khan Academy and the short film and lesson that are made to instruct people. I have used Khan Academy on several different occasions, mainly in math. Programs like this have been a tremendous help to me and it is one that I would like to definitely extend my knowledge in so that I could use it in the classroom. 

Finally, if I had to ask myself a challenging question it would be “How will I select the best technologies to promote education and engagement rather than solely entertainment.” This question was present in the reflection of chapter 9 and it really made me think (p.241).

With technologies constantly changing, I feel that this will be an increasing and constant battle to try to keep the students engaged and learning in the classroom.

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.

Chapters 6 and 10

In chapters 6 & 10 there were several good points made about technology in the classroom. Virtual Learning classes (p.142) are something I connected with. The Assistive technologies are concepts I would like to extend my knowledge of (p.259). The WebQuest (p.139) is something that looks like I definitely will enjoy, but challenging at the same time.

In my opinion Virtual Schools are becoming more and more popular today.  They make it easier for the working class people to attend college to seek degrees that they might not have been able to get when they were younger. For the high school students, the number of virtual school classes seems to be increasing. These schools are perfect for someone that might suffer from anxiety, social disorders or lacking the proper credits to graduate from school.

Assistive technologies are something that I feel a tradition classroom cannot get enough of. In the schools now they have integrated students with learning disabilities (IEP, 504 plans) into classes with student that might not require as much help as others. These technologies, such as the digital pen, can even assist ESOL students.

The WebQuest seems as if it can be pretty challenging. I am not a big fan of research projects. In the text (p.140) they compared the WebQuest to a research project. I personally have never completed a WebQuest, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

As I read over these two chapters I enjoy reading about some of the technology that I have used before. There is so much out there to keep up with, so when I discover something I already know about it feels good.

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.

Chapters 7 and 8

While reading chapters 7 and 8, I was finding myself thinking, wow this is real life information. I was not aware of programs such as Badware. I also found the Wiki to be interesting and challenging. Plus learning about a teacher and her struggles with keeping students interested helps me to realize that teaching is always a challenge.

First the text (p. 164) talked about Badware, which is a type of invasive software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice over how a computer will be used. Known as adware, spyware, and stealth dialers, Badware programs enter people’s computers unknowingly and disrupt normal operation by allowing pop-up ads, redirecting web searches, working against anti spyware programs. I learned the hard way about Badware. Just a couple of weeks ago I received a message from a friend on Facebook. I normally use Facebook only to communicate, and share pictures with my long distance relatives. This day I decided to respond to the message that I thought was from my friend, but it wasn’t. That day alone I must have received at least ten calls stating that I had won money and they just needed a little more information from me before they could send me the money. This was a very scary situation and was just unbelievable just how much information some of the solicitors already had on me. The web is very scary and at the same time it is the future.

Secondly, the new ideas that I learned this week was about the Wikis (p.187) .Wikis is an Hawaiian word meaning quick or rapidly. These are websites that teachers and student create and edit together by reading and revising each other’s ideas and comments. This is something that was definitely new to me. It is fun and challenging to be able to interact with my professor and classmates all at the same time. I actually completed my first Wiki page. This has to be one of the most challenging but exciting classes that I have taken online. It is such a good feeling when I learn something new to someday use in the classroom.

Lastly, after reading about the teacher Michelle and her book reports (p.212) that she has her students complete. She starts off the year with the students being excited but as the year goes on they lose interest. Technology will be a good place for her to start to try to jump start the students to be excited again. It reminded me of a teacher that I worked with that had the students do weekly reading logs. It was the same concept and challenging to some of the students, but over time they lost interest. Especially the ones that didn’t like to read each day. Rather then trying to excite the students she just let the same process continue. Reading and comprehension is a vital part of learning. I can see this being a challenge to me in the classroom.

I found these two chapters to be very interesting. It is directly related to my current life and my future career goals. I feel I am learning things that are and will continue to be useful. It is exciting to continue to learn new ways of connecting with your students in the classroom.

 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.

Chapter 3 and 5

After reading chapter 3 and 5, I would like to inform you of my thoughts on the materials I have just read. I will inform you on the connection that I have with these two chapters, of the new ideas that I got from reading these chapters and of what I think will be challenging for me to do in the classroom.

First as stated in the chapter (p.59) Active learning is the name given to educational activities in which students are directly involved in the learning process. Active learning is also known as discovery learning, learning by doing, inquiry-based learning, or hands-on-learning. I think this way of learning is so important. People learn in different ways. According to Bepko Learning Center there are three main cognitive learning styles, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. I enjoy the hands on approach (kinesthetic). I remember growing up, my most enjoyable classes were the ones where we were active and engaged. Doing experiments, building something or even cooking were my favorite classes.

Secondly, what new information I gained that I thought was interesting was that political activist Eli Pariser suggests that the process of searching for information online is a much more problematic activity than is commonly assumed. The reason is because Google established a baseline of personal interests and patterns that people search for online and this help build a profile of what you most commonly like. By doing that, the technology predicts what search people will get when they try to search for something. (p.108) I was always under the impression that when we searched for something we all got the same results. It states in the text that these personalized searches mean that different people will get different results even with the same key word.  This is kind of scary to think that every time you use your computer it is gathering information on you. And that the computer search engine will give you different information than others when you are conducting a search.

Finally the challenging thing to me is realizing how many different search engines there are out there. I only use a couple of the same ones over and over. It was mind boggling to me to see just how many are being used daily. The one that stood out the most to me was the digital newspaper and magazine publishing technology called Scoop.it! (p.107). This seems like a very interactive website that would keep the teachers and the students engaged but also challenging to work with in the classroom.

These two chapters were full of information and helpful ideas to use in the classroom. Even though I am not a computer savvy person, every time I read a chapter I continue to find more interesting things that I would like to try out in my classroom one day.

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. 

Chapter 1 and 2

The three concepts I am going to reflect upon re. Chapter 1 and 2 are using laptops as a technology device, expanding the use of technology in the classroom, and integrating technology into the classroom. 

The first concept I reflected upon is using the laptop as a technology device. Their size, weight and long battery life make them a very useful tool. (Maloy, 2014, p. 7). The laptops are used at the school that I work at for research,  typing letters, and power points. I just recently took a college class that was taught at the college and not online. I realized how much my classmates depended on their laptops. Not only for research but more for taking notes as the professor lectured. I was the one in the class taking old traditional notes with pen and paper. Most of my classmates took notes on their laptops. I realized how important that typing class was that I took for granted. They were able to type faster than I was able to write which made it much more convenient. They did not have to worry about losing their work because it would be stored on the computer and not in a notebook like mine would be.

The next concept is ways to expand your use technology in the classroom. One creative way that I thought was good was creating a wiki page so that students contribute resources they find for studying key ideas and concepts in language arts, math, social  studies, or science. It also talked about letting students visit places and observe processes that cannot be seen without electronic system. (Maloy, 2014, p. 14). I think this is a brilliant idea.

I think the third concept integrating technology into the classroom is great. I am still having a difficult time understating the right time to do it so that there in a balance. The text also talks about the amount of curriculum requirements. I find it hard to integrate technology into the classroom when the state has put so many state mandated requirements on school teachers these days.I think teachers are more worried about the reflections a student state wide testing will have on their performance eval than they are concerned about teaching technology in the classroom. (Maloy, 2014, p. 32).

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.