Apply and Discover 11.1

This course was a great way to increase my knowledge about technological resources and tools, and even to get to know my students better.  I have gained the confidence to try new things, either by having the experience hands-on, or just by gathering ideas from my peers.  My students have already benefitted from my experience in this course.

The article by Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” struck me the most out of all of the articles that I read through the course.  I had been one of those teachers, who every now and then when frustrated, would ask, “What is wrong with these kids today?”  After that, I would often reflect and ask myself why what I did that day was so ineffective.  Seeing in black and white that kids today just may be thinking differently cleared up a lot of my frustration and doubts.  I would often feel guilty if the class went off topic- like I was wasting precious time.  Now, I feel confident that not only do my students like going off topic, but it actually benefits them and supports their way of thinking.  They can go off topic and still learn- and learn even more in depth than if we did not do so (Prensky, 2001).

The technological tools of which I became aware already do, or will soon have a place in my classroom.  Towards the end of the year, my students have to do an oral presentation that several students feel uncomfortable doing.  Now, I have an alternative- they can either do a podcast, or even a screencast, at home without having to be nervous about their audience that can be played in class in lieu of getting up in front of everyone.   The WebQuest that I made, and the success that it had in my class has made me start to develop 2 more- one in my Science class on Cells, and another one in my Language Arts class about the Titanic. 

The websites about UDL and NETS for students are great guides and contain much valuable information.  The UDL website not only reviews what UDL is, but gives many ideas as to how to implement it in my classroom.  The NETS site is a good guide for what skills I should have, and should be teaching to my students to prepare them for their futures.

Perhaps the most valuable thing that this course has instilled in me is the confidence to try new technologies in my classroom.  The amount of support from websites and peers has led me to stop stalling- to stop saying, “That won’t work with the amount of technology that my school has.”  I now have the confidence to use the tools that are available in the best way to benefit my students. 

References

NETS for Students, http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS-S_Standards.sflb.ashx. (2007). Retrieved February 18, 2012, from International Society for Technology in Education.

About UDL: What is Universal Design for Learning? (2012). Retrieved March 15, 2012, from CAST: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants- Part I. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Apply and Discover- 10.1

This week I viewed screencasts from 3 of my classmates.  The screencasts were developed to go over WebQuests that they had previously developed.  These screencasts were excellent ways to review the WebQuest because it added little explanations to why particular components of the WebQuest were present, so a more thorough understanding of the objectives of the WebQuests could be attained.

In Jennifer Richard’s WebQuest, high-school students were to create a biographical Power Point presentation.  Jennifer explained that this activity was not only a way for students to learn how to make a Power Point, but also a great way for everyone in her computer class to get to know each other, and so that she could get to know her students, so it is typically used at the start of a semester.  I like how Jennifer had the students create the Power Point about themselves.   Not only are today’s students very interested in talking about themselves, but by having the Power Point be a biography, the students did not have to concentrate on superfluous content, like they would have to if she for instance asked them to create a Power Point about some historical technological advance.  This way, the students could fully concentrate on the actual objective of the lesson, which was how to create the Power Point.  Jennifer had her procedure listed in a very clear and ordered way, with straightforward directions, so that students, no matter how disorganized, could follow the steps. I also liked how Jennifer added a speaking component of this project, to touch upon more learning styles and skills.  I am sure that Jennifer’s students became very adept at Power Point creations by the end of this WebQuest! 

The next screencast that I viewed was Angela Bellantone.  I chose to view this screencast because it was directed at 8^th grade Language Arts students, so I thought that there might be some ideas that I could steal to possibly use in my 7^th grade class!  By the 3^rd minute of the screencast, I was very impressed how Angela did not just have a good idea for a WebQuest, but she had incorporated small details that showed she knows exactly how her students think and learn.  What seem like small details, like planning her color scheme for the WebQuest to reflect professionalism, or by making key vocabulary words in a larger font so that they “pop” were actually carefully selected choices to better show the students what was expected of them.  Even her emphasis on group member roles (or planning for individual grades to compensate for possible poor group dynamics) was thought out so that her students would be as successful as they could possibly be in this project.  Angela has already reflected on her WebQuest and already knows that she wants to do in order to make her WebQuest even better!  So many different learning styles and ability levels will be able to do well during his project, because Angela has information presented with organization, and in a variety of methods- written, visual, etc.  She even has a section that answers the most typical student question:  “Why do we have to do this?”  I do not know Angela, but from this WebQuest, I can tell that she is a seasoned professional who knows just what details to emphasize to further her students’ understanding.  I was correct in my prediction before viewing- there are definitely some ideas in this lesson that I would love to steal!

I also viewed Dawn Glidden’s screencast of her WebQuest that had students create a podcast of their own true stories.  This was a great activity to practice the steps of the writing process, but also helped develop students’ speaking skills by creating a podcast.  Dawn built in motivation for her students, in that some podcasts would be uploaded to the school’s website.  I like how Dawn’s WebQuest had so much technology incorporated into it, especially how the students were able to brainstorm on the linoit, which is a great alternative to webbing or outlining by hand.  In the processes, Dawn had all of the steps that the students needed to complete written out in an organized way so that they could work at their own paces, with examples of good work for them to view so that they could meet Dawn’s expectations.  I also admired how Dawn thought through her decisions to use particular resources, like she did with “Voicethread.”  Dawn didn’t just decide to use Voicethread just because she knew about it, but because it had qualities that worked the best for her students.  By viewing Dawn’s screencast, I was able to see examples of technologies that I had not seen before, and have some ideas as to how I might want to use them for my own classes in the future!

Apply and Discover 9.1

What does it mean to “provide equal access to the digital world?”

To me, this means that teachers need to provide multiple and various technological experiences in their classrooms for students.  This first means that teachers need to have knowledge of the digital tools available to them in their classrooms and buildings.  Even if a school was limited with its available technologies, a teacher just needs to know what tools are available, and then find a way to incorporate those tools into his or her lessons- not only to meet the needs of the students in their rooms, but to help students demonstrate their learning in methods that may not be traditional, but are just as effective.  This method of providing multiple formats of learning and assessing students in multiple engaging ways is called Universal Design.

Universal Design does not have to be “something else” for a teacher to do.  Many teachers feel overworked because of all of the demands that are being put upon them.  One such demand is to meet the needs of all students in the classroom.  Most classrooms are very heterogeneously grouped, and teachers have a wide range of learning styles and abilities that they have to accommodate.  Students are put into the least restrictive environment, meaning that there could be students with quite severe disabilities in the regular education classroom- and the teacher is responsible to meet all of their needs.

Providing technological experiences to all students in the classroom can actually help teachers meet the needs of the students in front of them.   Web 2.0 tools such as podcasts, wikis, video sharing, etc., can be alternate ways of assessment and instruction that is not only more interesting for our “digital natives” in the classrooms, but can meet the accommodations and modifications that are written in students’ IEPs.

New Hampshire Rules for the Education of Students With Disabilities. (2010, December 1). Retrieved March 15, 2012, from New Hampshire Department of Education: http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/special_ed/documents/nh_rules_amendment_november2010.pdf

About UDL: What is Universal Design for Learning? (2012). Retrieved March 15, 2012, from CAST: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html

Animoto video: "A Christmas Carol" preview

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

"A Christmas Carol" Wordle

The following image is a Wordle of important characters, vocabulary, and themes taken from the unit that was completed on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."  

Apply and Discover 2.2

My thesis in my short paper was quite simply that as teachers, we have chosen to educate students and meet their needs.  Knowledge of the students in front of each teacher is a vital piece of information needed to teach them effectively.  As Prensky (2001) tells us, today's students learn and process information differently than students of the past.  Students are part of a world that is- and will increasingly be- based on technology.  If research tells us that today's students need more technologically-based learning to truly become independent learners and productive citizens in their futures, then it is our obligation as teachers- not our choice- to incorporate technology into our classrooms.

Many teachers are unsure of ways that they could introduce more technology, whether due to lack of knowledge or lack of available equipment.  Even in a school that has limited technology, there are several ways that technology can be used to introduce and assess learning that will meet the needs of the diverse student populations that most teachers have. Simple accommodations such as word processing for students who have difficulty writing and speech-recognition software for students who may be dyslexic are easy ways to meet students' needs, but there are also ways to implement technology that can adapt better to each student's learning styles.  If students are more engaged in the classroom they will learn more, and technology has been shown to be the best way for teachers to accomplish this task.

NCLB often creates an attitude with teachers that they have to cover their curriculum in a "checklist" style which can actually promote more traditional classrooms of lecturing and note-taking.  But with just an accessible computer lab, teachers can find diverse ways to instruct students.  One method is to show students how the concepts that they are learning relate to the real world.  For example, instead of teaching Newton's laws of motion in the "traditional" ways, students can be given a prompt to research, like car safety features, amusement park rides, or some other topic in which they may already have an interest.  If a student learned about the motion related to these subjects, the student would be exposed to the fundamentals of all three laws of motion without the teacher ever having to lecture about them.  Independent research can meet the learning needs of all member of the very heterogeneously-grouped classrooms that most teachers have.  By choosing their own topics, students can apply their knowledge to the real world as well as be able to access material on appropriate reading levels.  If a website was "boring," it could easily be changed for a new one, which can increase attention and motivation.  All of these factors assist in creating authentic, independent, and meaningful learning.

As a teacher of Language Arts, it is important that my students are able to be literate in the traditional ways of reading and writing.  In a content-centered classroom, this expectation might often be accomplished by reading a story, discussing it, and then writing about it.  As stated by Schrum and Levin (2009), the team "literacy" is evolving.  Students need to show literacy by presenting more skills than just being able to read words across the pages of a book, and that can be done by using technology to present material and assess students in ways that will gain interest.  Instead of just round-robin-reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a teacher could easily go to You Tube to view the video so the student can hear the passion in his voice and feel the emotions that it will evoke.  Students could then use digital cameras or Flip Video cameras to product their own speeches about current issues that they face.  In lieu of a traditional book report, students can be asked to use Movie Maker to create a book trailer that shows that they understand the theme of the book using pictures, music, AND words.

Instead of technology being thought of as "another thing to do" by teachers, we need to begin to look at it as a useful tool that will actually help make our jobs easier to do.  Technology can be used to present material in ways that can be understood by any learning style and level, which will create an environment where students want to learn.  Technology can be used so that even students with learning difficulties can be assessed on what they learned and not have the results skewed by assessments that measure writing skills as much as they measure content learning.  Technology is not going away and if it has been shown to benefit our students, it needs to be used.  It's our job.

 

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants- Part 1. On the Horizon , 9 (5).

Schrum, L., & Levin, B. B. (2009). Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.