Word Cloud 2

Word Cloud

Chapter 10 & 11

Blog Ch 10 & 11

                What stuck out to me in Chapter 10 was using technology with linguistically diverse learners. Student teaching this semester I have seen firsthand a lot about this. It really is amazing how much technology helps with this in terms of ELL learners. I have come across children who can barely understand a word of English but because of technology they are on the same page as their classmates. But also with English speaking students who want to learn another language. On page 247 the text brings up online translators. Yes, they are extremely helpful but from my own personal experience they aren’t always reliable. Personally, yahoo translator I think is extremely unreliable because I needed help translating a small paragraph for Spanish class back in high school. I know this is wrong, but I thought I could just copy and paste the paragraph into the online translator and homework done right? Well wrong! It translated the paragraph into something completely different, and inappropriate and let’s just say it didn’t end with a 0 for my homework grade. So just like any other piece of technology there are pros and cons for this. On the following page the text also discussed interactive maps. Being social studies is my concentration I think interactive maps are extremely beneficial for a student’s learning. It brings the map to life, therefore the student is learning in a more fun way. If a student learns in a way that if fun for them the more likely they will understand and retain the information being taught to them. “The Modern Language Association (MLA) has an online interactive map of languages spoken in the United States. The map uses census data to display the locations and the number of speakers of over 300 languages. Zoom in from the entire country to a region, state, local community, or zip code to view which languages are spoken there.” This might be the social studies nerd in me, but that’s awesome! How extraordinary is that?!

                Chapter 11 discussed the topic of teaching portfolios. This is extremely relevant since this is our final project for this class. Like Professor Chen said the Philosophy of Education is the most important part because it describes and discusses who you are as an educator, what you stand for, and what you believe in. Along with this, reflection is a big part of this because it is a form a self-assessment. In reflection a learner “examines past actions to identify what to maintain or change.” I think reflection is extremely important for everyone, teacher, student, anyone in any profession because it allows you to take a step outside yourself and examine an entire situation without being in it anymore.

Lesson learned 11/11/15

What I am taking away from today's lesson is the importance and universal use of assistive technology. Professor Chen made statement she said, "We are all disabled in some way or another." That really stuck out to me because It is so true. When I think of assistive technology I think of electronics and fancy expensive gadgets. There are so many other things people use everyday without even realizing it is assistive technology. People wear glasses, use pencil holders, even certain strategies. These are all assistive technologies to some degree. As well as people use and need assistive technologies far beyond learning in the classroom. People need them to live their everyday lives such as wheelchairs and walkers. This is something an educator really needs to keep in mind with every student because that one strategy or device can mean a world of change for a student.

Blog #5

Ch 7 & 8

            Chapter 7 was particularly intriguing because it discussed how to teach problem solving through computers. The ability to problem solve at any level has always been a critical subject for students to learn. This is a life skill that people use in every aspect of their everyday lives. It is imperative we teach our future students as many problem-solving strategies as possible so they are as equipped as possible for any problem that comes their way,

            The steps to problem solving are simple; 1. Understand the problem. 2. Using problem-solving strategies. Finally, 3. Checking results. The kinds of problem-solving we will be teaching our students more often than not deals with the social, economic, or political world. These problems are called ill-structured problems because there is no manual that you can follow that help you solve what was the problem in the first place. Hard-to-solve problems offer students the most knowledge and are a great learning tool because this is where students learn how to zoom in on the problem and define it at its core. Once they find the core of the problem they can then take the necessary steps to solve it.  

            Computers are great solves to teach problem solving because they offer so many programs, apps, games, tutoring, and any kind of help or support you can even imagine. With these tools students can take into consideration their different options and with the feedback provided to them they can then determine what would be the best choice so then for future problems they already have an idea how to handle and solve the problem. With this the student will also learn when they need to use in-depth thinking or just surface thinking.

            Using computers to teach problem-solving is a very modern and even futuristic way to teach problem solving to students. It fascinates me that there are programs, games, and apps out there that students can use and have “mock-trials”. They can learn how they have to think in a certain problem and if they choose they wrong way to solve it, they basically get a reset button and can do it all over. I think this is good and bad because they are learning through “experience” for lack of a better term. But the real world doesn’t work this way. You don’t get a reset button if you chose the wrong way to solve a problem and the results weren’t as good as what you were expecting them to me.

            I feel like Chapter 8 was repetitive because it discussed communication between students, parents, and teachers. I feel like I have learned about this over and over again since freshman year. This is continuously discussed. I understand the importance of it but there’s only so much that can be said. I know the different kinds of communication that is possible via phone calls, emails, social media, blogs, wiki, online discussions. I have been using them for most of my life. I understand how they work. I feel like instead of discussing the different kinds of communication, they should be teaching us how to communicate. Like how to properly speak to a parent about their child and so on.

My questions after reading the two chapters are:

1.      What is the most effective way of communication between students, parents, and teachers?

2.      How effective is teaching problem-solving through computers?

Lesson learned 10/21/2015

What I am taking away from tonight class is a very clear picture of what a webquest is and what goes into it. I have never done a webquest before, let alone create one so going into class today i was very confused and didn't have much background knowledge to it. Now I am excited to start this webquest because anything that allows creativity and you to make something into your own I find fun and exciting. Also, I hope my webquest will make a difference to someone, ignite a spark. That has always been my goal as an educator, to make a difference, and I try to do that with every assignment I do, every task, every lesson I teach.

Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter 5&6

Blog #4

                What grabbed my attention about chapter 5 was the use of e-books or e-readers in today’s society.  In chapter 5 the author stated, “ In a 2008 series on the future of reading, the New York Times reported that the number of 17-year-olds who read books for fun every day declined from about 33% in 1984 to about 20% in 2004. The number of 17-year-olds who say they never read books for fun increased from 9% to 19% during the same time period. Meanwhile, the average time 8- to 18-year-olds spend online every day rose to 1 hour and 46 minutes in 2004, up from 46 minutes in 1999 (Rich, 2008). In every age group from 5 to 17 years old, youngsters spent more time reading online than reading books (Scholastic, 2010).” I found this to be very interesting because into today’s fast paced society not many people have the time to sit and read the paper anymore ot get the up-tp-date news. People get notifications on their phone from CNN or NBC. Being a college student and a young adult who in in tuned with most if not all of these new technologies, I know many people around my age get most of their information through twitter believe it or not. These huge companies like New York Times, Google, CNN, and almost everyone else have twitters accounts and they post updates there. It’s faster and simpler to read then an entire story in the newspaper. A company is getting their point across in 140 characters or less, they get straight to the point.

Another point I came across in chapter 5 was, “There is a growing consensus, however, that the Internet is a powerful and supportive reading and learning environment through which youngsters learn the skills of web navigation, information synthesis, and digital text reading that are essential for living and working in the modern world (Burnett, 2010; Larson, 2009, 2010). Web surfing, social networking, information searching, and digital texts build intellectual frameworks that students can use for both online and print reading. One initial e-reading study found no significant differences between fourth graders’ comprehension when using a Kindle e-reader and print versions of children’s fiction books (Milone, 2011).” I am learning about this in my methods Literacy course EDU 3220 and no matter how these students are reading, via virtual or a hard copy of a book, they are still learning the fundamentals in one way or another. They are learning concepts about print, phonological awareness, phonics, high frequency words, fluency, and even oral language development. More often than not if a student cannot read or pronounce a word they come across there is bound to be a software or app they can show them how to say it by repeating it to them.

A learning point I took away from chapter 6 is the importance of standard connectors are. “A standards connector is a collection of web resources tied to curriculum frameworks and organized in ways that allow easy access for teaching. A history standards connector has multimodal resources cataloged by each history topic and standard. A math standards connector has interactive math resources categorized by math topics and standards at various grade levels. You can build your own standards connector, schools can initiate assembling a standards connector of resources for staff and student use, or a teacher or group of teachers from the same or different schools might collaborate on one. Students can be valuable contributors as well—involving students in standards connector design and development creates a powerful learning experience for everyone.” Being a student and a teacher It is so much easier for everyone to learn and benefits this way because you are not looking all over the place for the information you need or want. It is all in the same place. I believe webquests, virtual field trips, and videoconferencing branches off of this idea of stand connectors because it is another resource that students and teachers need to use. Not everyone has access to what they need at the time they need it so these outside resources help fill in the gap. We live in an era where you can experience and find out anything you want with a simple click of a button. Virtual field trips allow a student from New York to see the Sistine chapel. Webquests allow a boring topic in social studies to because an adventure. Video conferencing allows students and teachers to stay connected even when they are miles and miles apart. These are so many technologies and software’s now that any gaps students and teachers might have can easily be filled.

References:

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 101). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 102). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 138). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Class 10/14/15

Today in class we discussed the importance of teaching our students safety over the internet. I think this is something that is being down-sized and looked past because everyone is seeing all these new apps and portals that help students learn but they are forgetting who is on the other side. Student's need to know how to tell the difference between a safe website or app and one that isn't. As well student's have to know how to monitor themselves. With blogging and tweeting it is very easy for student's to be able to express themselves but there comes a point when a person has to reflect and say do I really want the whole world to be able to read this? Am I offending anyone or anything? Is this something that I could get in trouble with down the road? If you are doubting your writing at all then I say don't post it because it is better to be safe than sorry.

Lesson Learned 10/7

What I am taking away from tonight's lesson is that the world needs teachers now more than ever. But unfortunately, even though teachers are needed we have to also prove ourselves more now than teacher had to before. We have to show that we can reach the minds of our students through dozens of different portals. We have to be able to integrate all the new technologies of the classroom but at the same time make sure our students appreciate a hard book, or old school research in the library, or even something as simple as write a letter on hard paper. We have to integrate the old with the new, and keep in mind that now and days the types of learners in the classroom aren't so black and white. No two students in the classroom learn the same way,

Lessons Learned 9/23

   What I took away from class today was how powerful a trailer is. A 30 second video can make such a difference. Also that there is a huge difference between a trailer and a power point. A trailer is telling us something important, a power point is just a slide of various pictures with little to no meaning.
  I also learned how important it is for students to have a helping hand in their learning. Through all the new technologies and apps you have to be able to find what is best for your students. Which they like the most and which they are most comfortable using. The video also made a good point that we want our students to be life long learners. One of my favorite quotes ever is "Everyday you learn something new." I hope to make that true and then some for my students.

Blog 2 Chapter 1 & 2

         What I am taking away from reading chapter 1 and 2 is that society is changing too fast for us educators to keep up with. Us educators grew up with learning straight from our teachers mouths, now in the age of technology there are online classes. Students are learning through podcasts, YouTube videos, textbooks, and any other new technology. We went from looking for information in a library for hours on end, to being able to find it in a matter of minutes through the internet. The new motto is if anyone has a question just Google it.

            The everyday lives of students now are much different than when we were students. Before it was more structured and cut and dry. Before it was only one way or the highway. Now and days everything is so freely done and open. There’s no script on how to teach or even what to really teach.

          I think technology makes it easier to break the ice because there are so many different formats. Students can express themselves in blogs, tweets, status posts, any way imaginable. This is where I want to make a difference as a teacher. I am going to graduate school to become a literacy specialist so I am learning how truly important reading and writing is to a student and their personal growth, let alone as a learner. Students have to be able to open up and express themselves freely and what I am learned is that it is much easier to write things down than to say them.

Questions:

1.     How can I make the learning environment as comfortable as possible?

2.     How can I integrate technology without it being overwhelming?

3.     How can I allow my students to be in a technology rich environment without them forgetting the roots of it? Ex) writing by hand, a solid textbook.

Lessons Learned Sept 16th

What I am taking away from today's discussion and activity is that education has dramatically changed over 100 years. Now with all the new technologies and policy changes it will change even more and at a much faster rate. In the classroom right now computer science is barely a thought in one's mind. Now with the new policy changed happening in 10 years it will be as much as part of the curriculum as math, science, or any of the other subjects.

The role as a teacher is so much more now than it was 100 years ago. Now we are no longer a 2nd or 3rd parent to our student but we are the key to helping them grow and develop in so many different ways. We are the difference in their world.

Blog #1 Personal Learning Goals

Blog #1:

            Technology and I have never been much more than mere acquaintances. I wouldn’t say I’m technologically challenged but I am definitely not technologically savvy. Whenever a device of mine isn’t working properly I try to fix it on my own, usually find myself worse off than I started out and end up calling customer service or technical support. As a teacher, I hope I can extend my students’ technological knowledge such that they won’t have to run to customer support every time they have a small problem or question, like me. I aspire for my students to be able to use the various technologies I will be teaching them and to build off of them. This would allow them think outside the box, using these various technologies as building blocks towards the next thing. I believe technology is a great tool to use for learning but can also cause many problems because people tend to rely greatly on technology but when technology is down they are almost clueless as to what to do now.

Personal Learning Goals:

1.      How to troubleshoot and overall fix basic technical issues on my own (with no help form technical support).

2.      To have an easily accessible online library of various websites and tools my students can use.

3.      To educate my students on the dangers of the internet and how to avoid them by following the various safety tips I will teach them.

4.      Using more hands on learning via videos, games, and apps to support the learning outcomes of the common core standards.

My Questions:

1.      In your ideal classroom, what types of technology would you have?

In my classroom the students would have access to Ipads, laptops, and the internet independently. As a class we would use a smartboard, ELMO, and video camera software.

2.      What are the positives and negatives of being a technology rich society?

The positives of being a technology rich society is that all these various devices instrumentally help the learning process. But the negative side is when technology doesn’t work people are often left nearly helpless, with no idea what to do next.

3.      What is your favorite educational website?

My favorite educational website is http://atozteacherstuff.com/ because they have everything from lessons, to pintables, to leveled books.