My beliefs of the use of technology in the classroom have changed dramatically over the course of this semester, and as I have done the PDP assignment. Technology is something that students can identify with as we use technology more and more everyday. Not only is technology a great way to reach our students, but because an understanding of technology is valuable in the workplace, our students will be more marketable when they apply for jobs in the future. That is what we are preparing them for anyway. I do not however believe that online classes solely are a great way to prepare students for the workforce. Human relation skills are extremely necessary for success in the workforce. I don't think students would get enough practice in human relations if they took solely online classes, however I do feel that a few online classes can be highly beneficial as they help us use and understand technology.
In the area of writing and literature, technology can greatly enhance the writing process. It us much quicker to produce, and also to get feedback from our superiors. In the time of paper and pencil, it would make no sense to continue to use ink and a feather, nor would it make sense to use a hammer and chisel in that era. Because typing seems to be faster than handwriting papers, it seems that students have more time to get creative with their writing. One of the Articles that we read this week spoke of how students didn't believe that writing blogs, e-mails, and on facebook didn't help them or require them to use writing skills. I disagree with this because I have found it much easier to get creative with my wordchoice as we have many tools online to help in this area. I also believe that my spelling has improved as some e-mail providers have spellcheck for their e-mails. I do not think that technological writing should replace the conventional ways of learning to write, however I do think it is a great way to practice writing.
For the video portion of this weeks reflection, we saw the comedian talk about some of the different misuses of powerpoint that he finds aggravating. Some of these included typing out everything that you are going to say, too much bulleting, a bad color scheme, and the overuse of animation. From all of these irritations he found with some powerpoint presentations, I came to the conclusion that sometimes "less is more" when we are creating powerpoint presentations that are to enhance and not detract learning for our students.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Week 5 Reflection - More digital Story
It has been a great learning experience to work on photostory with my pod. It has given us a great opportunity to create, collaborate, and meet course objectives as we have done our photostory. Because the same questions as last week were posted, I will answer these questions as it pertains to our group work.
We have had a great opportunity to create a photostory together as a team. It has been exciting to hear some of the ideas that my other pod members have had, and to also be able to contribute some of my ideas as well. As we have created our photostory, we have had ideas that we don't really know how to do digitally, but we have sought out information for how to accomplish some of these different tasks. One of them is to have a line drawing on a map to show where we are headed on our virtual tour. We asked you how we could do this in photostory, and you said it would be best to create a bunch of slides, and have them change at a fast speed. This is something that I Probably wouldn't have remembered if we hadn't "created" for ourselves this photostory. This confirms the importance of having our students create for themselves in order to learn about different technologies.
As we have collaborated on this project, we have used a number of tools including e-mail and google-docs. Of course this collaboration requires technology. Without an understanding of technology, collaboration would take much longer. Again as we have collaborated it has been great to hear and get excited about new ideas. Our group has been very positive about everyone's ideas, which has created a greater sense of comraderie. This would be beneficial in the professional world among colleagues, as well as student to student.
The benefits listed above are evidence that these tools would be popular among colleagues, but another reason is because they are fun to make, and also fun to watch. I got a sneak preview of one of the Pods digital story about different careers. This was geared towards the early child, but it was so fun to watch because it was so simple and cute. It would really get a child's attention.
Our story follows objectives and standards of the Utah State Core, as we are taking our students on a tour of some of the different parks in Utah. This will help students to get to know the geography of Utah as they look at the map we add to our digital story, as well as some of the sites in Utah. I can't think of a better way to reach that objectives, since as we learned in the movies we watched this week, the best way to reach our students is through the use of technology.
Now that I have mentioned some of the many pro's of digital story, I guess the only con I can think of is the limited amount of resources available to students today. In the first movie we watched this week, it asked what congress would do about the populartiy and growing need for more technology in the school. It seems that it is difficult enough to get the teacher's paid well, and adding technology is just one more thing, but if we are really concerned about the students, we would lobby for more technology since it is what is most valuable to the 21st century.
I wanted to comment on the second movie since I haven't mentioned anything from that yet. I really appreciate that we don't have to purchase a text book for this class. Like many of the students in this movie, I never read text books that we get from class, and even if I do read them, it sometimes seems like irrelevant information. I also was suprised at how little students "create" written papers compared to written e-mails. I feel that I have learned the most about writing through e-mails, and blogs much like the one I am writing right now. If teachers want to be effective in what they teach, they need to get creative in finding ways for the students to get creative too. Technology is a great medium in exercising this creativity.
We have had a great opportunity to create a photostory together as a team. It has been exciting to hear some of the ideas that my other pod members have had, and to also be able to contribute some of my ideas as well. As we have created our photostory, we have had ideas that we don't really know how to do digitally, but we have sought out information for how to accomplish some of these different tasks. One of them is to have a line drawing on a map to show where we are headed on our virtual tour. We asked you how we could do this in photostory, and you said it would be best to create a bunch of slides, and have them change at a fast speed. This is something that I Probably wouldn't have remembered if we hadn't "created" for ourselves this photostory. This confirms the importance of having our students create for themselves in order to learn about different technologies.
As we have collaborated on this project, we have used a number of tools including e-mail and google-docs. Of course this collaboration requires technology. Without an understanding of technology, collaboration would take much longer. Again as we have collaborated it has been great to hear and get excited about new ideas. Our group has been very positive about everyone's ideas, which has created a greater sense of comraderie. This would be beneficial in the professional world among colleagues, as well as student to student.
The benefits listed above are evidence that these tools would be popular among colleagues, but another reason is because they are fun to make, and also fun to watch. I got a sneak preview of one of the Pods digital story about different careers. This was geared towards the early child, but it was so fun to watch because it was so simple and cute. It would really get a child's attention.
Our story follows objectives and standards of the Utah State Core, as we are taking our students on a tour of some of the different parks in Utah. This will help students to get to know the geography of Utah as they look at the map we add to our digital story, as well as some of the sites in Utah. I can't think of a better way to reach that objectives, since as we learned in the movies we watched this week, the best way to reach our students is through the use of technology.
Now that I have mentioned some of the many pro's of digital story, I guess the only con I can think of is the limited amount of resources available to students today. In the first movie we watched this week, it asked what congress would do about the populartiy and growing need for more technology in the school. It seems that it is difficult enough to get the teacher's paid well, and adding technology is just one more thing, but if we are really concerned about the students, we would lobby for more technology since it is what is most valuable to the 21st century.
I wanted to comment on the second movie since I haven't mentioned anything from that yet. I really appreciate that we don't have to purchase a text book for this class. Like many of the students in this movie, I never read text books that we get from class, and even if I do read them, it sometimes seems like irrelevant information. I also was suprised at how little students "create" written papers compared to written e-mails. I feel that I have learned the most about writing through e-mails, and blogs much like the one I am writing right now. If teachers want to be effective in what they teach, they need to get creative in finding ways for the students to get creative too. Technology is a great medium in exercising this creativity.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Photostory
What a great tool we have as educators to use in our classroom! Photostory gives our students the opportunity to learn, while they create for themselves a potrayal of a certain event, an informational video, an opportunity to teach morals or ethics, and etc. This gives students an opportunity to expound and teach visually to their peers something that they are passionate about. This is a great way for students to explore different modes of learning, as well as to explore and come to know themselves through creative means.
Photostory is also a tool that teachers can use individually for their classroom, as well as collectively as they collaborate with other teachers. It would be beneficial to get together with other teachers in your grade and make a photostory depicting a historical even from your grade core curriculum. For example, if you were teaching fourth grade, you could make a photostory of how the state of Utah was settled, and the sacrifices that some of our predecessors made so that we can live in the state that we do now. In class we talked a bit about the emotion that photo story can portray. This gives students an opportuniy to connect with what happened 160 + years ago, and helps them to understand and appreciate the magnitude of the sacrifices that were made.
In another class that we had two days after we learned about photostory, one of our teachers showed a 7 minute clip of a movie that was made about the Civil War. It was a clip of one of the battles where many soldiers died. This provided us with an opportunity to see the impact that these deaths had on some of the other soldiers. It helped to enhance our understanding of the conviction and determination that these soldiers had in fighting for their cause. This was far more effective than reading about this event from a text book where you may only get the facts. The fact that this teacher used this clip in our class tells us why this could be so popular among teachers and other colleagues. You really are involved for a moment in what is happening, and it provokes a lot of questions. For instance, while I was watching this movies some of my thoughts were, "why did this really happen?", "was it worth it?", "couldn't there have been other means of settling this disagreement?". It eventually let me to want to learn more. What a powerful way to inspire our students.
Showing a photostory seems to be a good "anticipatory set" for our students, or way to grab their attention and interest as we introduce a new subject, topic, or unit. Finding an "attention grabber" seems to be the most difficult task in reaching any learning objective. In order for students to really learn, they need to be interested. I would use photostory in this manner, but I would also use it to supplement and enhance learning.
Their are many Pro's to digital story. I have already mentioned a few, but others would be that it would be something that you could use year after year. You could also share some of your creations, or other student's creations with your colleagues. I also saw a few on teacher tube that you could use. It seems that their are a lot of resources out their. One of the cons would be that they would take time, effort, and lots of creativity to create. It would be better to work with other teachers or collaborators to get a better product from your endeavors.
The Nasa Digital Story that was assigned for this week was another one of those emotional stories that got you involved in some of the events that occured along the road to outer-space discovery. The music fit this story very well. As music, as well as stories, has a climax, this music helped us to reach a point where we could realize the sacrifices that some of our astronauts have made on our behalf. Again, I thought it seemed strange that our country would put so much money, and risk so many lives to keep up with and eventually conquer Russian in outerspace aeronautics. However, when this story showed the benefits that our country and the world has received from flights to outerspace, it seemed that the benefits outweighed the costs.
Photostory is also a tool that teachers can use individually for their classroom, as well as collectively as they collaborate with other teachers. It would be beneficial to get together with other teachers in your grade and make a photostory depicting a historical even from your grade core curriculum. For example, if you were teaching fourth grade, you could make a photostory of how the state of Utah was settled, and the sacrifices that some of our predecessors made so that we can live in the state that we do now. In class we talked a bit about the emotion that photo story can portray. This gives students an opportuniy to connect with what happened 160 + years ago, and helps them to understand and appreciate the magnitude of the sacrifices that were made.
In another class that we had two days after we learned about photostory, one of our teachers showed a 7 minute clip of a movie that was made about the Civil War. It was a clip of one of the battles where many soldiers died. This provided us with an opportunity to see the impact that these deaths had on some of the other soldiers. It helped to enhance our understanding of the conviction and determination that these soldiers had in fighting for their cause. This was far more effective than reading about this event from a text book where you may only get the facts. The fact that this teacher used this clip in our class tells us why this could be so popular among teachers and other colleagues. You really are involved for a moment in what is happening, and it provokes a lot of questions. For instance, while I was watching this movies some of my thoughts were, "why did this really happen?", "was it worth it?", "couldn't there have been other means of settling this disagreement?". It eventually let me to want to learn more. What a powerful way to inspire our students.
Showing a photostory seems to be a good "anticipatory set" for our students, or way to grab their attention and interest as we introduce a new subject, topic, or unit. Finding an "attention grabber" seems to be the most difficult task in reaching any learning objective. In order for students to really learn, they need to be interested. I would use photostory in this manner, but I would also use it to supplement and enhance learning.
Their are many Pro's to digital story. I have already mentioned a few, but others would be that it would be something that you could use year after year. You could also share some of your creations, or other student's creations with your colleagues. I also saw a few on teacher tube that you could use. It seems that their are a lot of resources out their. One of the cons would be that they would take time, effort, and lots of creativity to create. It would be better to work with other teachers or collaborators to get a better product from your endeavors.
The Nasa Digital Story that was assigned for this week was another one of those emotional stories that got you involved in some of the events that occured along the road to outer-space discovery. The music fit this story very well. As music, as well as stories, has a climax, this music helped us to reach a point where we could realize the sacrifices that some of our astronauts have made on our behalf. Again, I thought it seemed strange that our country would put so much money, and risk so many lives to keep up with and eventually conquer Russian in outerspace aeronautics. However, when this story showed the benefits that our country and the world has received from flights to outerspace, it seemed that the benefits outweighed the costs.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Virtual Body Website
As another objective for my students, I would like them to learn the various parts and functions of the body, and how it pertains to their health. I found a website that is called the Virtual Body website. There are many different areas of the body that you can look at. Some of these areas include Brain, Heart, Digestive track, and the Skeletal System. In each of these areas, there are opportunities to receive instruction, to explore, and also a game at the end that could act as an assessment of what the child has learned.
The first segment is almost like a narrative or a lecture. It could be boring for some students, but it could also be very interesting for others. This provides background for the students so that they can explore for themselves as they “Zoom-In” to the parts that make up each of these systems or organs. The final component is a game that they can play where they arrange the parts of the body to create the body system. This provides an opportunity for them to show what they have learned as they have explored this website.
I feel that some of the pros of this website are that it allows students to students to learn on their own terms, at their own rate as they learn the different parts of the body. The narrative seems a bit advanced and boring, but it still provides the students with good information that they can use for a foundation as they learn more about the human body.
It would be neat to integrate power point into the objective of learning the different parts of the body. The students could do their own presentation of the human body and its various parts and functions. This would be a great activity to give the students an opportunity to “create” as we learned in the video we watched this week.
You can view this website at the following URL:
www.metropolis.com/VBody.asp
The first segment is almost like a narrative or a lecture. It could be boring for some students, but it could also be very interesting for others. This provides background for the students so that they can explore for themselves as they “Zoom-In” to the parts that make up each of these systems or organs. The final component is a game that they can play where they arrange the parts of the body to create the body system. This provides an opportunity for them to show what they have learned as they have explored this website.
I feel that some of the pros of this website are that it allows students to students to learn on their own terms, at their own rate as they learn the different parts of the body. The narrative seems a bit advanced and boring, but it still provides the students with good information that they can use for a foundation as they learn more about the human body.
It would be neat to integrate power point into the objective of learning the different parts of the body. The students could do their own presentation of the human body and its various parts and functions. This would be a great activity to give the students an opportunity to “create” as we learned in the video we watched this week.
You can view this website at the following URL:
www.metropolis.com/VBody.asp
Cool Math For Kids Technology Website
As one of my objectives for my class, I would like my students to be able to think critically about patterns and shapes in the math content area. This is an area that seems to be quite intimidating for some students, but for others it seems to keep students interest and engagement regardless of the material. I found a website called coolmathfor kids.com. This website caters to those that need a little extra help with math, as well as those that would like more of a challenge. There are instructional portions of this website that will give students an opportunity to look up vocabulary on certain terms that they may not understand, as well as opportunities to interact and see this instruction in action.
As some examples of the above mentioned benefits of this website, I saw some places where students could see a picture as well as the name of certain geometrical shapes. In my experience in the field of education, it seems that it is commonly difficult for students to distinguish between the different names of shapes, and their properties. This website will allow students to visually guide their own learning as they explore. This could be a huge benefit to those that struggle in recognizing shapes. This is just one of the many opportunities that our students have to expound on their math and reasoning skills.
As an example of how students who need a bit more of a challenge, is an example of the virtual games that are on this website. My husband and I looked at one of the games together that had to do with noticing differences and similarities of two images that look virtually the same. There are some minor differences. My husband is one of those that always excelled in math areas. He thought that he would have loved this game and others that he saw on this website.
Some of the cons of this website would be that there would need to be more teacher involvement because some of the concepts seem somewhat difficult. You would need to be specific about what activities you feel that your students should be working on. I also saw that part of this website was directed to young children, and others to Junior High and High School kids. You may get kids who want to do too complicated activities, and then find they are frustrated with math.
Here is the URL for this website: http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
As some examples of the above mentioned benefits of this website, I saw some places where students could see a picture as well as the name of certain geometrical shapes. In my experience in the field of education, it seems that it is commonly difficult for students to distinguish between the different names of shapes, and their properties. This website will allow students to visually guide their own learning as they explore. This could be a huge benefit to those that struggle in recognizing shapes. This is just one of the many opportunities that our students have to expound on their math and reasoning skills.
As an example of how students who need a bit more of a challenge, is an example of the virtual games that are on this website. My husband and I looked at one of the games together that had to do with noticing differences and similarities of two images that look virtually the same. There are some minor differences. My husband is one of those that always excelled in math areas. He thought that he would have loved this game and others that he saw on this website.
Some of the cons of this website would be that there would need to be more teacher involvement because some of the concepts seem somewhat difficult. You would need to be specific about what activities you feel that your students should be working on. I also saw that part of this website was directed to young children, and others to Junior High and High School kids. You may get kids who want to do too complicated activities, and then find they are frustrated with math.
Here is the URL for this website: http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
Pay Attention Video
After watching this clip from You Tube, I learned that I really need to get serious about technology. As I mentioned in my first blog, I am not very good with technology. Because of this, I said that I would like to have some specialist come in to teach our class how to work with technology, because I always just want to avoid having to learn about it. After watching this clip, that has changed dramatically. I will learn and discover everything about technology because perhaps my handicap in that area is because we never were able to use technology in the classroom during my education.
I will be able to reach my students in a variety of ways as I use technology in the classroom. At the beginning of the film it listed the various different types of learner which included things like kinesthetic, natural, mathematical/spatial, musical, and etc. Then it listed a digital learner in red text. There is an example right there of communicating importance through the change of the color of text. It seems that people often times think that you can't learn as much through communication via technological means because you can't read body cues, or body language, but you can by knowing HOW to use the right tools. For example, the other day I sent a text message to my husband. All it said was "What are you doing right now?" But it looked more like this "WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?". I didn't know how to turn off my caps lock, and because of this my husband called me right away. When I didn't answer he called and texted numerous times to get a reply. He was worried, and thought that I needed his help right away. Communication is very effective and effiecient via technology through text messages, e-mail, and Instant messaging. There also may be a student who doesn't feel as comfortable asking for help in front of the class, or in person. They could Instant message the teacher for an immediate response.
Communication with parents is also very useful via e-mail. If one of your student's has shown significant improvement in an area that may have been difficult for them before, you could shoot their parents an e-mail letting them know about the great progress the child has made. You could also inform them of other personal items, or problems the student may be having. You could also request help. This could all be done while your students are checking out one of the great technology tools you have provided for them. You wouldn't have to go to the office to make a phone call, and leave your students behind.
You could communicate with your colleagues by Instant Messaging, or e-mail. If you are working with other classes in an area or subject, you could communicate with your teacher via IM rather than going to their class and leaving your class behind. If your class is not quite done with their work and you need a few more minutes before you meet with other classes, you could shoot the teacher an IM telling them you need a few more minutes. There are so many ways that technology can be useful for communication.
There are many classroom objectives that teachers have for their classroom. One huge objective I have is that we build a strong sense of classroom community with our classroom. Is there a better way than having your studnents chat with someone new on IM each week to tell them about their weekend, or ask for help on homework. A student could have an IM partner that they ask questions to before they ask the teacher. This is just one of many classroom objectives. I also have a strong desire to help my students not be afraid of Math. There are so many tools on the internet to help students engange, interact, and create. This will help them feel more comfortable and confidant in subjects that may seem difficult.
The Pro's and Con's of using technology in the classroom are difficult to weigh, but when you see the advantages of technology it is not so difficult. In one of our classes recently, somebody raised their hand and said something like this to the professor, "If students seem to love texting so much, why don't we use that as a means to help students learn." I was reminded of this as I watched the movie. The teacher very quickly rejected this student's comment because she thought cell phones were a nuisance to the class. I thought the student had quite an insight at this comment. This is an example of how cell phones can both be a pro and a con. The pro is that they get to use a means that they are excited about to learn, but the con is that sometimes students can get carried away, and get distracted. Although technology is useful and effective for a students learning, it seems that you can get "distracted" or "immersed" in what your doing, which isn't all that bad unless it is excessive. Another con is that technology is quite expensive for the classroom. Schools just don't have the means to purchase ipod's and podcasts for the classroom. There would need to be an increase in budget to utilize technology to it's fullest potential.
Although it seems easier for me to list more cons than pros for using technology in the classroom, I still feel that the few pros way outweigh the cons, in which case I will do all I can to use technology as an educator.
I will be able to reach my students in a variety of ways as I use technology in the classroom. At the beginning of the film it listed the various different types of learner which included things like kinesthetic, natural, mathematical/spatial, musical, and etc. Then it listed a digital learner in red text. There is an example right there of communicating importance through the change of the color of text. It seems that people often times think that you can't learn as much through communication via technological means because you can't read body cues, or body language, but you can by knowing HOW to use the right tools. For example, the other day I sent a text message to my husband. All it said was "What are you doing right now?" But it looked more like this "WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?". I didn't know how to turn off my caps lock, and because of this my husband called me right away. When I didn't answer he called and texted numerous times to get a reply. He was worried, and thought that I needed his help right away. Communication is very effective and effiecient via technology through text messages, e-mail, and Instant messaging. There also may be a student who doesn't feel as comfortable asking for help in front of the class, or in person. They could Instant message the teacher for an immediate response.
Communication with parents is also very useful via e-mail. If one of your student's has shown significant improvement in an area that may have been difficult for them before, you could shoot their parents an e-mail letting them know about the great progress the child has made. You could also inform them of other personal items, or problems the student may be having. You could also request help. This could all be done while your students are checking out one of the great technology tools you have provided for them. You wouldn't have to go to the office to make a phone call, and leave your students behind.
You could communicate with your colleagues by Instant Messaging, or e-mail. If you are working with other classes in an area or subject, you could communicate with your teacher via IM rather than going to their class and leaving your class behind. If your class is not quite done with their work and you need a few more minutes before you meet with other classes, you could shoot the teacher an IM telling them you need a few more minutes. There are so many ways that technology can be useful for communication.
There are many classroom objectives that teachers have for their classroom. One huge objective I have is that we build a strong sense of classroom community with our classroom. Is there a better way than having your studnents chat with someone new on IM each week to tell them about their weekend, or ask for help on homework. A student could have an IM partner that they ask questions to before they ask the teacher. This is just one of many classroom objectives. I also have a strong desire to help my students not be afraid of Math. There are so many tools on the internet to help students engange, interact, and create. This will help them feel more comfortable and confidant in subjects that may seem difficult.
The Pro's and Con's of using technology in the classroom are difficult to weigh, but when you see the advantages of technology it is not so difficult. In one of our classes recently, somebody raised their hand and said something like this to the professor, "If students seem to love texting so much, why don't we use that as a means to help students learn." I was reminded of this as I watched the movie. The teacher very quickly rejected this student's comment because she thought cell phones were a nuisance to the class. I thought the student had quite an insight at this comment. This is an example of how cell phones can both be a pro and a con. The pro is that they get to use a means that they are excited about to learn, but the con is that sometimes students can get carried away, and get distracted. Although technology is useful and effective for a students learning, it seems that you can get "distracted" or "immersed" in what your doing, which isn't all that bad unless it is excessive. Another con is that technology is quite expensive for the classroom. Schools just don't have the means to purchase ipod's and podcasts for the classroom. There would need to be an increase in budget to utilize technology to it's fullest potential.
Although it seems easier for me to list more cons than pros for using technology in the classroom, I still feel that the few pros way outweigh the cons, in which case I will do all I can to use technology as an educator.
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