Ending Well... and Just Beginning

As we wrap up the final assignments for EME2040, I can’t help but feel that this course, albeit it’s crazy pace in Mini B format, has been one that has added so much value to me in my journey to become an elementary school teacher. Creating the WebQuest and Collaborative Lesson Plan allowed me to really explore what it would be like designing the methods with which I present curriculum to my students, and made me really excited about pursuing creative teaching with technology. The collaborative learning process simulated working with other teachers to design an effective lesson, and I was grateful for the chance to share input and receive feedback from my peers. This class helped me to become familiar with some of the legal and ethical issues such as informed consent, student privacy, cyberbullying, and copyright laws that need to be considered when using technology, and how to manage those issues in my future classroom. We were presented with bountiful technology tools to explore and save for future reference and use in our classrooms. I love that early on we were introduced to the social bookmarking site Delicious, because I was able to save so many things to further explore later as I continue on the path to my degree and career as a teacher. I love the way that we were given so many resources to teach to the diverse learning groups in our future classrooms, from differences in format preference (audio, visual, tactile) to accommodations for English Language Learners and Special Needs students. I have formed the opinion that any step we take as educators to meet the needs of one of a specialized group of students usually is helpful to the rest of the class as well. The more that we can diversify the methods of delivery that we use to convey information to students, the more likely we are to reach all students and to help all students retain the information they are learning. I also love that technology can play a huge role in getting students active in the learning process, so that they are the information assemblers and creators. These roles are more likely to engage students and motivate them to learn. Overall, I feel that this class has challenged and stretched me to become a teacher who embraces technology to take learning to the next level for each of my students. I want to set an example for my students, being unafraid to try new resources and continually assess and evaluate their effectiveness. I also want my students to be unafraid to participate, to create, to sometimes fail, to revise efforts, and to ultimately reach their goals and be successful. This class has given me the motivation, basic knowledge and desire to learn more, and the tools needed to bring technology into my classroom.


Wilhelm, Janelle (Producer). (September, 2012). Why you should use technology in your classroom. Video retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGTTThlKYQ8

Supporting English Language Learners

     The percentage of English Language Learners in schools is growing rapidly.  Especially in Florida, it is extremely unlikely that a classroom will be made up of students who all are native English speakers.  Because of this, it is essential that educators have strategies in place that will help them provide meaningful educational experiences to English Language Learners.  There are a variety of educational technology tools that can help support ELL students, while also enhancing the education experience for all students.  ELL students and families can feel supported and welcomed when efforts are made to translate important information into their native language. This allows parents who may not speak English the opportunity to stay involved in their child's education, which should always be a goal.  Google Translate is a good way to facilitate this, both with printed letters and homework instructions, as well as widgets on a classroom website (see sidebar).  Below is a podcast of some resources that are helpful to ELL students.

listen to ‘Supporting Diverse Learners’ on Audioboo

Reflection and Assessment

     This week we read about using Reflection and Assessment in the classroom as a tool for learning.  This class has focused quite a bit on reflection, with the blog being used to further explore the concepts that we are learning in our textbook readings.  I find that reflecting on our readings helps me correlate what I am learning in this class with my personal experience and also with the concepts that I am learning in other teaching classes this semester.  Reflection has been a very useful tool to help me synthesize information and think about how to put effective strategies into place as a future teacher.
     Reflection and assessment is definitely something I will use as a future teacher, both to help students process what they have learned and also to evaluate my own teaching methods.  I like the concept that everyone in the classroom has both the teacher and learner roles.  As teachers we should have a life long love of learning, and we should constantly be evaluating what strategies worked and what didn't to improve our classrooms.  Students can also be leaders in sharing and exploring information, which makes them much more engaged in the classroom.
     In observation hours through another class, I saw a middle school teacher meeting with students who had completed portfolios throughout the year.  In the portfolios, students collected work that they had done, complete with data graphs of grades they had earned and feedback they had been given.  They set goals for what level of writing they wanted to achieve, and had rubrics for what constituted each level of writing in advance.  The data graphs that they kept showed them on an ongoing basis the progress they were making towards those individually set goals.  In the one on one meetings with students, the teacher talked with each student about the process of making the portfolio.  She asked them questions about how they felt about the overall experience, what the biggest challenges were, what they took away from the experience, and any changes they suggested to the process.  In this way, the teacher used the portfolio process to reflect and assess both the student's achievement, and also her own effectiveness with the lessons.  I think this was a great example of what reflection and assessment can do to improve the outcomes for both students and teachers.  Here's a video that I liked on self assessments:

Cool Tech Tool

I LOVE creative writing. One of the Digital Badge links that we were given in class was for StoryBird, which is a tech tool that reverses the storytelling process by having users select images, and then build a story around them. What a creative and useful tool for getting rid of writers block, or the fear of the scary blank page! Here's a little example of what you can do with this site. I will be saving this site for use with my future students!

Special Needs Education and Technology

One of the topics that resonated with me was the types of assistive technology available to students with special needs.  When learning more about teaching students with special needs in a mainstream classroom, the idea that instead of viewing accommodations as in addition to a teacher's already busy workload, strategies for teaching students with special needs should be viewed as extending the opportunities available to all students.  I believe that is a good approach to special needs educations, as many strategies that are a benefit to special needs learners are also very helpful to non-disabled students.  Shifting perspective to teaching in a way that allows all students to get maximized impact helps the teacher not feel overwhelmed.
     The other consideration that I found very accurate was the idea that with all of the technology that is available to help assist students with special needs, it is imperative that the teacher actually becomes really familiar with the technology students are using.  An assistive device is only as good as the support that students have in using it.  If teachers do not take the time to learn the technology that is vital to their students' success, then the technology won't be as effective.  In making and following the IEP's for each student, educators should make it a priority to get familiar with the student needs, the reasons for the assistive technology, and then the device functionality in order to truly support the students.

Thoughts on Collaboration

Hi Everyone!  We have worked on two collaborative projects in EME2040 recently.  The first was a Wiki page and the most recent was a collaborative lesson plan.  Below is a video with some of my thoughts about the collaborative learning process.

Chapters 7 & 8

     This week we learned more about software options that support inquiry based learning, social media use for classrooms, and working collaboratively on projects.  I was interested to learn more about Scratch, and introduced this site to my son who now is able to work on projects with a friend who lived in our old community.  The interactive, collaborative way that this website works in is very educational for my son while being very entertaining at the same time.  Our kids spend so much time these days with video games, interactive software, and other media outlets that it is natural that "gamification" catches and keeps their interest.
     Working on the class wiki was interesting as well.  It was neat to be able to see classmates ideas and use of technology to support their topics.  There were many neat ideas presented that made me want to practice even more with getting adept at new tech tools.  We had a positive team with many good suggestions so hopefully everything went well (fingers crossed!)
     I am new to the Twitter world, so it was interesting to jump on there and use hashtags to sort for topic conversations that I may be interested in.  Using #edchat brings up some interesting resources for educators. My church is currently running #3WordStory using 3 words to define your life, so that was fun to see.  With the popularity of Twitter, I can see using this tool as a way to extend students learning (or at least thinking about a topic) outside of the school day.  It could be a great conversation starter - as well as lend some relevance/credibility to the teacher for using something so easy for students to relate to.
    This week, I tried a new tech tool called FlipQuiz.  This is a cool tool for review before tests or before moving into new material.  Also, I can see it being a neat tool to use for students to create based on specified criteria - as actually creating the tool helps to solidify what was learned.  Here's my first attempt at it:

http://flipquiz.me/quiz/7979


I'm still having trouble with embedding things into Blogger.  Anyone who has some tips or suggestions for how to do that please feel free to leave in the comments!  Have a fantastic week!


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 2 & 3 - Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends

     As someone who considered themselves to be fairly technologically adept - this class is sure pointing out how much that "I didn't know that I didn't know!"  It's amazing how many tools that are available to us as future educators (and even as just basic technology users!) that can really save time and effort.
     I am really liking the social bookmarking tool Delicious.  To be able to access websites that I previously would have bookmarked and had only available on that single computer is really helpful.  I am already seeing the benefits of this as a student, so I know that it will help me tremendously in the future as a teacher.
     These two chapters provide a basic overview of trends and issues with technology use. I found the external resource links that were included with this lesson most impacting, however there was one point that the text brought up that did invoke further thought.  Quoting the US Department of Congress, the text reads "In 2002, a federal government study concluded that education was the "least technology-intensive" part of the U.S. economic system. (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards, Woolf 2014)  This concept really jumped out at me.  Every other part of our economic system is technology intensive, yet our schools are not. If the current goal of our nation is to become globally competitive, how can we expect to do that if our schools are not preparing our students to succeed in our economic systems?  In order to become the nation that we envision we need to equip our students with the skills they need in order to embrace the citizenship that is expected of them post graduation.
     In my opinion, the trend of high stakes standardized testing is actually prohibiting our students from being able to engage in the type of learning necessary for these changes.  There is so much pressure to master test content that our schools are not able to provide the experiences that promote creative and critical thinking skills, problem solving, community collaboration, and so many other necessary life skills.  Standardized testing forces all teachers into a role where they are running teacher centered classrooms instead of student centered classrooms.  Students are more engaged when they have an active part in their learning, and by pushing teachers to ensure high test scores we are actually reducing time engaged in this process.  Another concept that I found particularly interesting which could possibly combat some of these issues is the idea of "flipping the classroom".  In this scenario, teachers use video teachings as homework or small group work (depending on home access to internet), then spend class time working one on one with students on worksheets, assignments, and projects.  Teachers are then able to provide individual attention and immediate feedback to all students.  Salmon Khan presents a great example of this in the video "Let's use video to reinvent education" found on TedEd.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAAzxBJiCDo/MeYYDeVxrgO5D-CbnuoDzg/view


Khan, Salmon (Speaker) Let’s use video to reinvent education. TedEd Lessons Worth Sharing. Podcast
         retrieved fromhttp://ed.ted.com/lessons/let-s-use-video-to-reinvent-education-salman-khan

Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards, Woolf (2014) Transforming Learning with New Technologies. New           York, NY: Pearson

Becoming a 21st Century Teacher

 

When reading the first chapter of our text about becoming a 21st century teacher, some of the statistics really jumped out at me.  As a mother of three, I understand that children today are living in a “digital childhood” (Maloy, Verock-O’Laughlin, Edwards, Woolfe, 2014).  Often I see my teenager dividing his attention between playing a video game and watching YouTube videos on his phone simultaneously.  Even so, the statistics that the text, “Transforming Learning with New Technologies” supplied regarding the number of hours per day that children spend engaged in digital media were shocking, claiming that young people spend almost every waking moment outside of school using electronic equipment.  As a teacher, it will be essential to harness the natural inclination of my students towards digital learning.  Having a positive attitude towards technology and a willingness to integrate it into classroom lessons will provide opportunities for my students to experience learning that they relate to, thus solidifying the lessons.  Also, having a solid command of technology will create more credibility for me with my students.

I was also struck by how the use of technology could transform ordinary lesson plans into interactive, inquiry based learning opportunities.  By harnessing Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, social media sites, social bookmarking, and blogs, students can be given the opportunity not only to learn and understand a concept, but to also actually create projects that support the lessons. This hands on experience provides critical thinking challenges, group collaboration opportunities, as well as media skills that students will need in real life.  This type of inquiry based learning matches my student centered teaching philosophy perfectly.  Learning is so much more productive - and FUN - when it is real world applicable, interactive, and relevant.  

Another concept that the chapter stirred in me was the idea of creating a digital identity for myself as an educator.  In a competitive job market, it is extremely important to be able to showcase skills and abilities.  Since 21st century skills are something that schools are aiming to produce in students, it is logical that administrators would want to hire teachers savvy in these skills.  Some of the ways that the chapter listed as possibilities for creating a digital identity were social networking sites, blogs, image sharing, email, web pages, video sharing, and digital portfolios.  The use of these platforms establishes the knowledge base of the teacher, allows for comfort with technology and assures ease of use, and creates an example for students reflecting a positive outlook on technology that encourages participation.  Building this identity along my journey to graduation will help me step into my career confident that I can utilize technology to the fullest extent to challenge and support my students.  

Photo credit to Massachusetts Secretary of Education of Flickr