Final Blog Post Reflection

Over the last 10 weeks I have learned so much. I thought that I was very computer savvy, but quickly learned that I didn’t know much about what they offer. The biggest challenged that I faced and overcame was the Podcast. I honestly hated listening to my own voice and messed it up about 30 times before I finally said to myself, whatever this last one is, that what it is going to be. All in all it was easy to make but not on the top of my list. I really enjoyed Diigo, Animoto, and the Blog. All of these tools are completely different but unique in their own way. Diigo, I will continue to use during my masters program for other courses. Animoto was a ton of fun, super easy and I have shared it with a few friends so far. I can definitely see myself using a blog in my future classroom to communicate with students and parents.

I believe that I have now met the final course objectives which are, Demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology, I believe that I met this by learning about the digital dossier, which still is stuck with me and I believe that it always will be. Having the internet at your fingertips to do whatever you want is a bit scary, but learning how to control what you use and what you show to others was beneficial.

The next course objective was, Illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum (e.g., Common Core, NH Curriculum Frameworks, ISTE (NETS-Teacher/NETS-Student) and NH-ICT Literacy Standards for K-12 Students (Ed 306.42)), I believe that I met this while working on many assignments such as the WebQuest. I needed to make sure that ISTE and State Standards fit into my lesson plan. At first I was nervous about using the standards but then after reading them they were extremely flexible to put in many different categories. I found that there were many of the standards that I used on my webquest.

Another course objective was, Demonstrate an understanding of the use of assistive and adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student , when we learned about all the different websites we could use in our classrooms. I really liked that there were so many varieties of tools that are available to us as educators. Having such a variety of tools, helps with the way students learn best. If one tool works great for one student and not so good for another, there is movement to find a better tool that will fit. Having this is huge to me because no two students think, learn or act alike.

During the course, I had to do a lot of research on my own to find answers, Evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional literature, was definitely met while doing this. I enjoyed using Diigo to keep all the information that I found in one place. It was very helpful when I needed to put something away for the night and pick it back up the next day. I knew where all of the sites were located instead of trying to go through a google search.

The last course objective was, Turn theory into practice by completing 5 hours of related field experience, this was done by interviewing a former co-worker about how she uses technology in her classroom and what she thought about it. Asking the questions was easy, hearing how she explained what she did only gave me more of a perspective of how a classroom works. I enjoyed speaking with her and listening to the stories she told me about certain websites and projects. Her biggest piece of advice to me was to play around with the site before introducing it to the students.

Teachers should be integrating technology more in their lessons in the classroom. We are a growing country and the more that we teach our young children the more they will be able to teach the next generation. I think it is important to use technology not only in the classroom but the students should be allowed to use it at home for scholastic use and personal use. The more we can learn about it, the better we will be able to use it. Being able to adapt to new programs and information will only help.

Barriers would definitely be difficult but if you can find ways around them then students will thrive. I think that the biggest barriers are that schools don’t have enough computers, iPads or tablets at their fingertips. Having a limited amount of resources will make assignments more difficult.

Learning about different tools that I could use in my future classroom was quite interesting. I already knew about Prezi and have used that for many years during my undergrad, but will definitely be using that in my classroom to show a presentation on any given subject. For my webquest I used Story Board That and what I liked best was that it would be easy for students to use and was very user friendly. Using Padlet in a classroom to ask a question and have all the students answer it at one time seemed like it may be

I have started to create my own Personal Learning Network by searching for more sites that I can use as resources for myself. Having a PLN is definitely beneficial and I will continue to ask colleagues when I return to work next week if they have sources that they love to use, or people that they may follow on a blog.

Water Cycle WebQuest

Water Cycle WebQuest

Field Experience - Questions and Answers

What is the biggest challenge that you have faced while using technology in the classroom?

Access for sure... Sometimes you hear about wonderful things you could do but we don't have them in schools yet, or there is a limited amount. Also, connection issues with school servers.

What is your favorite activity to do while using technology?

Virtual trips! I use them when studying the regions of the US... We did a lot of live camera visits. There are so many across the US that are great for students! Ex... Yellowstone National Park!

Do you have your students follow a lesson on paper as you go through it maybe on a projector? What are your expectations while this is happening and what is the overall outcome?

Sometimes, so that they can actively take notes. My expectation would be that they are focused- actively participating, writing or discussing as a class.

What is the best advice you can give to me, as a new teacher, for the best results while using technology?

Explore and play with things on your own. There are so many resources available... Find the ones you connect with and learn how to use them before introducing them to your class.

How do you use technology in your classroom? How do the students use technology in and out of the classroom?

Word processing, virtual trips, blogging, communication with parents etc... Students use it the same way.

How do you incorporate the technology effectively in your classroom if some students are unable to access resources?

This can be difficult. I will sometimes bring my own resources from home. Or, I will teach about it, without having it there, recommending they explore something from home.

Have you found the use of blogs or other social media to be beneficial as far as parent involvement is concerned? Are there ways to involve parents using technology that will benefit the students and the classroom as a whole?

Yes! I think having a blog and teacher/student/parent web site is a wonderful tool for collaboration with families. Parents and students can access class info, websites for further learning, email, school links and see blogging topics from class.

What is your least favorite way to integrate technology in the classroom?

Not being able to have enough time to practice with it.

What is the hardest piece of technology for you to implement in the class?

Believe it or not, word processing... Not enough computer access to have students working at the same time.

Are there times when you feel that your children know more about technology than you do?

Not yet...I'm sure I will!

How has technology enhanced your teaching ability?

Quicker access to anything we are studying... Even those teachable moments you don't plan for.

Has there been a positive or negative effect using technology in the classroom?

Positive

What are the benefits of using technology in the classroom?

Students are able to explore even more resources for their learning and discoveries... IF they are taught properly how to use them.

What is your favorite way to integrate technology in the classroom?

Having students explore something they haven't experienced before... Usually whole group, then playing with it on their own.

How do you think that the special needs students fit into the model of collaborative problem solving?

They often offer a different perspective. This is a great teaching experience for students and teachers.

Where do you derive your inspiration from?  What are your top 3 resource picks?

My students and their curiosities! Teachers Pay Teachers, Beth newingham/scholastic and Pinterest!

My Thoughts...

I interviewed Marisa Keshigian who was a 3rd grade teacher last year, at the school I work at, Hampstead Central School. I had so many questions and didn’t know where to start. I was really curious about how she uses technology in her classroom and how the students respond to it. I was also looking for some advice that I can take with me as I become a classroom teacher. Marisa was extremely helpful and very patient with me as we chatted about different subjects. She is definitely a person that I will be able to look to for guidance when I am a teacher.

During the school year she used technology in a lot of different ways such as, blogging, parent communication, whether it was through email or the class website and virtual learning. The blog was a place where the students could go to bounce ideas off of their classmates and where she could get a better understanding on how each of them were thinking about a certain topic. Marisa has a lot of experience with using technology in her classroom for projects as well. I really liked when she explained how she uses it for her unit on the regions of the US. She does it virtually, using sites that have live cameras set up at the Yellowstone National Park so students can have a live view instead of just seeing it in a book.

I learned a lot from interviewing her and she gave me some sites that may be helpful for me to use in my future classroom. Her biggest suggestion was to play around with the piece of technology before introducing it to the class because it is beneficial as a teacher to understand what you are presenting. I hope that learning more about technology as I continue my Masters degree, will help me become a better teacher and really become the teacher that I want to be.

Animoto - Identifying Body Parts

Using Animoto was extremely easy, kid friendly, and best of all a great new way for students to show what they have learned. I was very impressed that they had many different styles. They have a ton of music to choose from for any style of presentation. I would definitely see myself using this in my future classroom for presentations or classroom projects. I didn’t really think that it was in a story format because you were limited to how long it was according to the song you chose. It also only allowed you to write so much on one slide. I wasn’t happy that the font sizes were different depending on which line you wrote in because I have OCD and I like things to be equal. Although I thought that Animoto had some downfalls, I really enjoyed making it because it was so easy. I could see students using it for many different subject matters.

I chose to do my animoto on a lesson plan for young children with special needs that are learning to identify body parts. I also threw my own twist on it and added animals because most kids enjoy learning about animals and like real photos instead of animated ones. As I was putting everything together I tried different way and styles that I wanted to present it. I decided to go with a more straight forward approach. Giving the topic at hand such as eyes and telling them the functions of your eyes. I gave a picture or two of each topic and then a vivid picture of the animals part as well with reasoning on what they use them for. I think that a child with special needs would enjoy looking at each picture because they are clear, bright and not a lot going on in the background. It would work great with a nonverbal student and an aide reading each page to them. They then could speak about what they saw and have the student point out their own eyes, ears, nose and mouth. You could attach this with the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” for a preschool or kindergarten classroom as well.

Original Author: Samantha Fecich, Greensburg, PA

Grade Level: K through 3

Objective: Students will be able to learn about body parts using the interactive whiteboard and identify the body parts as requested by the teacher.

Materials: SMARTboard interactive whiteboard, speakers, laptop

Procedure: The teacher will introduce the lesson by playing this video from you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6XOpRgU After the video the teacher will navigate to the following websites so students can practice labeling the body parts on the interactive whiteboard. The teacher will use these educational games:

http://tes.iboard.co.uk/player/frameset.htm?id=2398&view=science&name=Label+my+Face - Click the buttons on the face to choose hair style, eyes and lips for the face.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html - Name the parts of the body by dragging and dropping the label onto the picture. Label words are simply dragged and dropped into the correct place in - scroll down and click on name the body parts.

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/language-games/label-the-picture/clowns-face - A clown face will certainly make you smile. Label the parts of the clown face in this picture.

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/make-your-monster - Would you like to make your own monster? Make a monster with this game.

Evaluation: Students will create a character that resembles themselves on this website: http://www.starfall.com/n/level-b/me/load.htm?f all about me game Students will give the character their color skin, eye color, hair color, facial features, and more. Then the students will print their characters to hang in the classroom. 

Materials: Portable, Headsets, Mobile Labs, Projectors, Cause and Effect, Speech and Language, Whiteboards, Autism, Early Learning

Additional Items:

(unfortunately I tried those links that she used but they did not work but I left them in because it was not my lesson plan)

I AM

I am lovable and thoughtful

I wonder if I will be a good teacher

I hear my cats meow

I see my family

I want babies, lots of babies

I am lovable and thoughtful

I pretend all day long at work

I feel happy when I'm with Emily

I touch my furry kitties Lucy and Bella

I worry about sick children

I cry or feel sad when people die

I am lovable and thoughtful

I understand we only have one life

I say "cause when you're awesome"

I dream about Channing Tatum

I try to keep my house clean

I hope that I will always be happy

I am lovable and thoughtful

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6

Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

1. Creativity and innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression c. Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities

Midterm - AudioBoo - with course objectives

Design meaningful and authentic digitally based learning experiences with multiple and varied assessments - Before taking this class I didn’t know the difference between a blog, a webinar, or a podcast even though I have heard about them before. Once I started creating my blog, I really liked it and could definitely see myself using it in my future classroom. I imagine myself using it on a daily or weekly basis for students to interact with each other out of the classroom. Students would answering questions, ask questions and chat with peers about assignments. Having them use a blog would benefit their typing skills, digital etiquette skills, and communication skills with others. Watching  different webinars was helpful for some assignment so far. At first the webquest scared me. I was nervous and anxious to do it because it was something new. Once I started it, I realized that its pretty easy and flows really well. The webquest is really like a virtual lesson plan that can be interactive for students that need more visual stimulation. They can become something, in my case, a droplet of water and travel through the water cycle to experience it in a new way. I think that I have started to meet this course objective in some ways with the blog, watching webinars and certainly by doing this AudioBoo podcast.

Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding -  One tool that we used in class that I found really intriguing and didn’t know existed before now was Padlet. This is a great tool that you can use in the classroom to pop up a question and have everyone answer at one time to see if they are understanding the lesson so far. If they are not, that is where they can write “I am stuck.  or “ please help me with this part”.” Most teachers in my school use red, yellow and green cups on the students desks to let the teacher know if they are struggling during a lesson. Using Padlet is much more productive and probably faster. The answers are just at their fingertips.

Demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology. - Learning all about Digital Etiquette and how teachers and parents should teach their children starting at a young age about what it means was interesting. I really liked that when I read about Digital Etiquette most of the ideas behind it go by the “golden rules” such as treat others they way you want to be treated, use appropriate language while on the internet, because unlike having a conversation with someone in person, all they have are your words and your words can express the opposite of what you may be feeling through the text.

Illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum and NH-ICT Literacy Standards for K-12 Students (Ed 306.42)) - I have learned about some of the Common Core Standards and ISTE Standards and am looking forward to learning more about how I can attach them to any piece of curriculum that I will be teaching in the future. I think that its good that we have standards here in New Hampshire to use as a guideline for what students need to know to become a successful learner. I would like to learn more about each standard so I can become more familiar with them.

Midterm - AudioBoo

listen to ‘Midterm’ on Audioboo