Week 7 Reflection

As internet usage is becoming more and more prevalent in our schools, there is a going need to teach online etiquette and integrity. For older students these includes citing information that they find and use on project, giving credit for images that they take from websites and not taking ownership of work that is not their own. Younger students face their own set of challenges and it is more on the teacher's protective role side of things. Teachers have a certain amount of responsibility on their plates when it comes to what their students see online. When parents send their children to school their expect that their children will be shielded from what is inappropriate on the internet and it is the teacher's role to see to it that this is what happens.

I am happy to say that there are a number of child friendly search engines available; Ask Jeeves for kids and KidsClick!, are just a few. There are also ways of bookmarking all the websites that your class is allowed to visit and having your class simply pick from only that list. It is undeniable that technology has impact even the youngest of students. My preschoolers are proof. On the positive side, most children can use a mouse and navigate a flash website before the age of five. On the negative, many students are bored with more traditional mediums like books, and
reading seems to be taking a hit. However, as I look to the future I hope to see technology to bring things full circle. Maybe we will all have Smartboards in our classrooms, which we can use to "read" stories on and make them exciting for our kids.

Week 6 Reflection

This week an article I read called "Left to Their Own Devices" got me thinking about the pros and cons of school district issued laptops for students. The article brought up many good points and left me more undecided as ever on whether the ideal of an all digital curriculum is practical. I had heard of many schools in our area that had been experimenting with the idea with middle and high school students. During the same conversation, I also heard that the tests were a nightmare and I didn't even want to now what some students had done to their school issued, taxpayer paid laptop computers. The article brought up even more cons to the idea outside of the usual physical destruction that occurs. The fact that not all students are on the same tech savvy level and that if students brought their own computers from home, the teacher would have to play to the lowest system was a good point. The prevalence of hackers and overall cost, time and energy required to go all digital just doesn't seem all that practical at this time.

With that said, I do think having a digital option for textbooks is something to consider, certainly at the college level at the very least. It seems almost archaic that college students still have to pay huge sums of money for physical books that are going to be out of date and useless in a year and not worth selling to anybody. Electronic textbooks that you can download to a mobile device, read whenever is convenient for you and fit in the palm of your hand would be wonderful. I can only hope that colleges see the need to go digital and move closer in this direction soon.

Week 5 Reflection

It's big wide world out there! This is one of the themes of this weeks learning. This week we learned strategies of using websites like google and twitter to stay connected with our students and other teachers. Since you found this website, most of you would know that Google is much more than just a search engine, but also a series of e-tools. I for one love the way that Google seamlessly connects your email, blogs, websites, calenders, web albums, etc. so you can put one password in and have access to all your tools in one area.

For teachers it is especially important to be part of PLN or Professional Learning Network. The ability to communicate with other teachers across the country or notify all of your parents quickly by e-mail or instant message is invaluable. It has never been easier to develop professionally with the ideas and advice of other as it is now. One resource that more and more teachers are using to stay connected is Twitter. There are even websites out there to help you find good teachers to "follow" and tips for using Twitter as an educational resource. I remember when Twitter had first become popular a couple of years ago and a teacher I had encouraged us to join to further our educational goals. I quickly rode Twitter off as a fad and assumed that it would disappear quite quickly, much like My Space. However, as evidenced by the "follow us" on Twitter icons on many websites and the growing professional realm that is using it, I think it may be around for while, like Facebook.

In all, things like Google tools, Twitter and Facebook are the way that we and our students are getting our information and news these days. It only makes sense to make them a part of of PLN's and let them help us with our job.

Week 4 reflection

Today I totally had to step out of my comfort zone and create my own Webquest. This class's main object is to change the way that we (students) view technology and the it's effect on our teaching style. I will admit that I never really thought that technology applied to the younger grades, but consistently I have been proving myself wrong. While the webquest I created appleseverywhere, is for older, first and second graders, I definitely have me thinking about younger students are tech savvy and would be using the site as a learning opportunity.

Even making the website was a big step for myself. I had never created a website, outside of blogger, before in my life. At first I was at a loss at how to even pick a template, or add a page to the site. It took some work and time to learn how to edit and navigate around the page, but in the end I was pleased with the final product. It still looks pretty amateurish, but it is mine and I'm proud of the learning experience I was able to create.

Week 3 reflection

Wow, this week I found some really great sites to use in our classroom. While looking for a Web 2.0 tool to contribute to our class's wiki, I stumbled upon a great site called Library Thing. This website basically lets your organize your personal library online. You can tag the books that you add and when you are planning your lessons, you can do a search and see all the books that you have that meet the criteria. Let's be honest, how many time have you tried to organize you books and reach a point where your stumped at how to place a title. Many times I have debated with myself about "favorite character" book (i.e. Clifford, Franklin), whether to group them together or by the topic they cover. Wondering which way would be more useful. Now I can use Library Thing, tag them both ways, and be covered for all lessons.

I also spent some time this week working on my Delicious account and filling it with goodies. Every once in away you can across a really cool website that you just know that you will use in the future, but do not necessarily need it right now. I know quite a few handy sites that are now safely bookmarked for the future in my Delicious account. Among the favorites that I found were some classroom blogs, I always love seeing what "real" classrooms are doing and what is working for those teachers. I also gives me some great ideas for my own classroom website in the future. Another fun site I found was Story Bird. The site lets you pick artwork from a multitude of artists and the pick individual pieces and write your own text to go with them. Awesome new way to write a classroom book and then share with parents on your classroom's website. Those were just a few of the gems I found this week enjoy.

StoryBird
Library Thing

Week 2 Reflections

This week has been one of actualization and self-discovery. Never before have I thought of myself as a "digital native" or thought that maybe my brain perceives information in a different fashion than a "digital immigrants" This certainly can explain why certain classes interest me more and keep my attention longer. I have to say when I am learning a computer program, like photo-shop, per se, even though there are books available to teach you how to do work the program, I do not learn anything till I work with it myself. The article is right when it says that "natives" would much rather teach themselves by doing than sit and listen to a teacher explain what to do. As a side thought, could this be a reason that many individual see Church as irrelevant? Many churches today present their teaching segment or sermon, in a fashion that speaks only to old "immigrants". Could churches get more younger membership if they employed a technology-based way of teaching? I know many congregations are starting to include video clips in their sermons.

The problem that the field of education is running into is the fact that the economy is bad, and as a result older teachers are not retiring and staying in the profession. However, just because they are staying in the field longer doesn't necessary mean that they are updating their teaching methods. As the video "Did You Know" on Youtube showed, technology is changing so rapidly even I was amazed, and I have been in college the past couple of year and thought myself in the know. Just think six years ago their was no My Space or Facebook. Now people probably don't what to think about life without them. Just about if you woke up tomorrow and Facebook was no more. All the pictures people would lose, the contacts gone.

Going back to the education field, just imagine the ramifications this has for teachers that have been in the field twenty something years and feel that their style is just as relevant today as it was in 1980. It is almost like they are doing a disservice to themselves by not keeping up to day. Technology, like Moodle, can greatly simplify your life and get a lot of parents on your side.

I do think it is important to remember not to teach technology, but rather apply technology to the lessons you are teaching. Having a good balance of tradition and the future is the key.

Week 1 Reflections

It's been less than five months since I've given birth to my daughter Hannah and guess what, I'm already back in school! This blog is for reflecting on a technology class that I am taking to earn my teaching certification. I already feel that I am right back in the game of learning and have accomplished quite a bit in this first week, and I have already learned some new skills from this class.

To begin, the class requires that we discuss our readings on a discussion board with other students. A self proclaimed "lurker" on forums, I rarely feel a need to respond to others and often enjoy simply reading what others have to say. This class, however, has required me to step out of that box and post my own threads and respond to others in the class. I now feel like I am getting out of the shyness that I had about communicating on the web. It feels quite good to see when others read your posts and reply to you with their thoughts. There is so much that we can share and learn from each other.

I also had my first online lecture that was complete with media for us to check out. I really enjoyed a couple of the videos that are on Youtube. They spoke volumes about my own educational journey. Basically they were sharing the message that education is rapidly changing and the way that teachers teach and the format that colleges offer classes in has to change along with it. It is because of technology that I am able to attend school right now, just after having a baby. The reason I haven't got my teaching certification before now was simply because classes were not offered in a format that worked with my schedule. Now my goal of becoming a teacher is finally becoming realized through this wonderful thing called technology.

As a part of this course, we are required to purchase and familiarize ourselves with the Nation Educational Technology Standards for Teacher and Students. The booklets contain a number of performance indicators and a range of abilities from beginning to transformative. I have to honest that I haven't really thought about the use of technology before in the classroom since I work with preschool-aged children. However, after looking over the booklets there are a number of things that we could do with the children to pull us out of the beginning range. One performance indicator calls for developing a technology rich environment in the classroom. Some simple things we could do to use technology more effective with the children is to set up the spare computer we have so they could use it become more familiar with keyboards and how to use the mouse. We also have a couple of Smart boards in our library that would be a great resource to use with children.

In all, I'm excited to see where this course takes me. I can already see great things happening with the "Delicious" account I have set up. Organized bookmarks here I come!

Heather