Reflective Post

Reflective Post
EME 2040

The beginning of this course, I was a bit nervous. I didn't know what to expect or if I was going to "get it", but I did get most of it. We began by introducing ourselves and adding a picture to kind of break the ice and allow for us to get to know each other in a small, but important way. Technology is scary to most of us because we don't know a whole lot about it.

The semester continued to add things to do, to help us learn about technology and how we can utilize this in a digital learning world. We began by creating our first Journal Post. We began with one and continued to add posts until we created eleven posts!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacificit/311187605/

Creating the Journal Posts helped me to better understand the chapter I read and implement what I learned in my VPK-K classroom. I used the SmartBoard in my classroom, but I learned more about utilizing it in my current classroom. I learned about different educational games that the children could play and learn. The SmartBoard is just one of several things that I have learned in this course.

SmartBoard

We had five different discussions and the one that stands out the most is the one about Cyberbullying. Bullying is not just in person like it used to be, it is now on the internet. There isn't anyway to keep these bullies from cyberbullying other people anonymously. There is help out there for students that are bullied via the internet. Being bullied makes kids feel depressed, unloved, worthless, and suicidal. This link can give you ideas of how to deal with a bully.

Dealing with Cyberbullying

I enjoyed the discussion by giving my fellow classmates my opinion on their post and giving them any ideas to help each other grow in learning more about the discussion. I also felt that by me posting my discussion on a thread for my classmates to read, it helped me to read their ideas or concerns about my ideas.

Evaluating and critiquing a website was a little challenging, but very useful. By evaluating and critiquing a website, I was able to see what a good website should look like. It also helped me to see what information was good or if it wasn't useful. This would help me if I wanted to create a website for others to learn something I want to share with the world. It is amazing how you don't realize what a good website should look like. I am sharing a video that will help you to create a website. This is just the basics, but you can personalize it the way you want.

We added a rubric to the evaluation and critiquing of a website. This was my first Rubric and it was so challenging, but I got through it. It was painful only because I didn't have the experience of creating one before. Now, I can create a Rubric without feeling scared. I can utilize it where the students can use it to help them with a project. This will help them set a goal to get the highest score possible, because they can see the rubric right in front of them.

Creating a PowerPoint in this class was good, I would think how in the world could I possibly use this to help my future students? As I created it, I learned how to record my voice which I have never done before. It was pretty cool. I would utilize this to help my visual and auditory learners plus it could also help my future ELL students. I can create it to help them by placing pictures and words that describe the picture plus I could have it recorded so they can hear it over and over again if needed. This could be created and the students could use it at their own computer in class.

The WebQuest was fun creating. I enjoyed it because I have knowledge on how to help my future students to have them work on their own by following directions. This is something that I have never heard of before. I talk to other teachers about it and they haven't heard about it and they want me to show them what it is and how to create on. This also helps the students be independent and be responsible for their own work.

The Wiki collaboration was something that I hope in the future to enjoy. This was something that I really didn't get to learn a lot about. It was again something I really didn't know a whole lot about. I do want to learn on how to create one and not feel so afraid of it.

Collaborated lesson plan, was an okay experience. It is difficult to work with other students when everyone wanted to communicate in a different way. For instance, one wanted to be emailed and the other one wanted to be texted. We finally were able to create a lesson plan. I have created a lesson plan for several years, but I have learned a few things taking this course. I learned more about the Florida Standards and the Common Core Standards. I also learned more about the NETS-S and NETS-T standards. I plan to utilize this in my future lesson plans especially now that I know how important it is to include them in my lesson plans. My future students will be learning technology and I will know what they are learning and I will keep track of what they will learn next.

I created a Delicious account that I know will help me to keep all the websites that are important to me in one place. It will also help me to manage my time and not needing to keep searching for websites when I have located the best ones that I need or want.

The e-portfolio was something I thought, hmmm, I don't really don't think I know why I need to do this, but while I was creating it, it was interesting to me. I think that this was my favorite project out of all of them. It really helps you to create something for the teacher, the parents, and the students. This culd help my future students to be more intrigued and play educational games too. This is a great place to have all the information that the parents and students need to keep in touch with the information that the teacher wants them to know.

Overall, I really enjoyed this classroom, it was a challenge on a couple of assignments, but it was worth every minute of it. I have learned so much and I have so much more to learn. I am happy to know that the few things that I did learn to do, I can use to teach my future students. All that I have learned will help me manage my time better, be more creative, intrigue my future students, and help me a better teacher. I will close this with my mom and my favorite quote, "Look with your heart and not your eyes."

References:

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Journal Post 11

Journal Post 11
EME 2040

Chapter 11 Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning

What is performance assessment for teachers and students? 1. Performance assessment for teachers. 2. Performance assessments for students. 3. Tech Tool 11.1, TaskStream 4. Sample of an Assessment Form

Teacher assessments are to find out how well she/he are teaching their students. Are the students learning? Are the students progressing? This is not all that is involved in getting assessed. They need to see your teaching style, your classroom management, and how you communicate with the families. These are all important in order to teach in a classroom. So before you can even get hired, they want to see how you teach in a classroom. These assessments don't just help the employers or principal, but also for you to grow and become a better teacher. Here's an example of a teacher evaluation created by Charlotte Danielson. There are many different evaluations and assessments for teachers so they can improve in their teaching skills.

Student assessment are just as important as the teacher assessments. The students and the teacher need to know how much they learned. According to Robert Maloy in a student self assessment you need to ask, "Are students learning? and, if they are not, What can I do to change this?" This is very important for a teacher to know if her students are learning or not. Also, teachers need to keep assessing the students as often as the school requires the teacher to do so. These assessments are also used for grading the students, family conferences, and helps the teacher to help those students that are falling behind. This video contains one way a teacher can assess her students. This is a good idea because she is involved with every students assessments and she knows what they are improving in and what they need to work on. Also, the students know their goals to learn more and they focus on that and try to get better at it. The teacher will or can use this with parent conferences. This assessment works both ways, one, the student is doing a self-assessment which they know what they need to work on and they know their achievements. Two, the teacher is aware where the student needs help and what their goals are being achieved.

When I become a teacher, I will be very involved in assessing the students and having them assess themselves. When I used to work in the public school system, the principal used to assess me. She would talk to me about my good qualities and things that I needed to work on. I think that it is the same way in Collier County, but I am not really sure. I think that being assessed will only help me to continue to be a better teacher. Assessing the students will help me to know my students learning abilities and setting goals for them and setting goals for myself to find better ways to help them learn.

ToolTech 11.l I chose the TaskStream. The TaskStream is a tool used for archiving information that you have created. This digital portfolio can be used to log information that you have learned or you are learning about. It can also include resources that you may need later on during the year. Also, this can be used for lesson planning and can include standards too. This will be a helpful tool to use as a future teacher. This can be saved or shared or saved for future use. The video that I am sharing gives you directions on how to add information, share, or save it. It seems to be a helpful tool if you know how to use it and this video should help.

I have included a link to a sample of a teacher observation form. This will give you an idea of what a principal or curriculum specialist will look for while you are teaching. This one is of an English teacher observation form.

Sample of English Teacher Observation Form

Resources:

English Teacher Observation Form | Open Equal Free. (n.d.). Open Equal Free. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://www.openequalfree.org/resources/education-resources/english-teacher-observation-form

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning. Transforming learning with new technologies (pp. 275-295). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC3JL-2wjnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NDmaJoz2zw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wTrpErRiKA

Journal Post 10

Journal Post 10
EME 2040

Chapter 10 Promoting Success for All Students through Technology

How can assistive technologies be incorporated into instructions to support teaching all learners? 1. Apple Technology 2. Reading and games on the SmartBoard 3. Students with visually being able to see the words or objects can use the screen magnification.

More and more students are coming into the public schools that have disabilities. We as teachers need to be prepared for the needs of each student in our classrooms. I found article called, "Using Apple Technology to Support Learning for Students with Sensory and Learning Disabilities". If you get a chance, read it. It has a lot of different technology and strategies that you can use to help students. It is very informative and they use "Apple Technology". This article includes twelve different examples and how what they used to help each student. It is a great article and I hope you read it.

http://www.apple.com/education/docs/L419373A-US_L419373A_AppleTechDisabilities.pdf


Students nowadays are digital learners. They go into classrooms with their parents or even their own technology in hand. They use cell phones to play video games, hear songs, watch videos, watch movies, and the list goes on and on. So, in today's classrooms we need to teach the students that are diverse learners and make sure that all their students are learning. One of the ways that could be accomplished is by having a story book on the SmartBoard. How can that be? Well, if you find a story that you are reading or relates to your lesson, you can put it on the SmartBoard. The students that have a hearing disability would be able to read the words in the book. The students that are visual can see it and the ones that are auditory learners can hear it. This will help the entire class. In this video has a game with sight words that the students play in large group. They are interested and they seem to want to learn and they aren't bored.

The are students that sometimes need the screen magnified and it would help them see better. Now, every student could be on their computers and be on the same page even those that need to magnify their page to see better. This video tells you how to magnify your page.

In conclusion, "Though commonly used to support students with disabilities, assistive technologies create extraordinary learning opportunities for all students" (Maloy 259). So, basically anything that you use for the students that have disabilities can get their computer modified and it doesn't make them feel different since they can be on the same page as everyone else.

I plan to get more involved in knowing more about the assistive learning whenever I have students that have different learning styles or difficulties using the computers as they are and need modifications. This help everyone learn at the same time.

Resources:

Globe West People: Disability information for parents. (2011, February 20). The Boston Globe, p. All.

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Promoting Success for All Students through Technology.Transforming learning with new technologies (pp. 243-273). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Journal Post 9

Journal Post 9
EME 2040

Chapter 9 Expressing Creativity with Multimedia Technologies

How can teachers create PowerPoint presentations for maximum teaching potential and learning impact? 1. All learning styles can learn 2. PowerPoint can be used as a large group 3. Games played on PowerPoint 4. Digital Learners

PowerPoint can either help students learn or it may hurt them by being too long and boring. On the PowerPoint the teacher can add a video, this will help the teacher get the point across to all students. The majority of the students will learn this way because it helps students that are visual, auditory, and tactile learners. The teacher needs to make sure that the video he/she "The ScreenChomp", but it can be used on a SmartBoard as an interactive game.

PowerPoint's can be used to teach an entire class and everyone can listen to the teacher, professor, or presenter. It shouldn't be too long due to people not able to pay attention for longer than a certain amount of time. You can also have the entire classroom involved if your school has laptops/computers in your classroom. That way all the students are involved, you can choose different students to get involved by having go to the main laptop and have them type the information in and another student reading the information to be type, like the one shown in this video. In this video it shows how these middle school students are learning how to create a PowerPoint and learning about the subject at the same time.

The teachers can create games or even play games that are already created on a PowerPoint. The children again learn from all learning styles. The games are fun and the students want to keep playing which keep them interested and they will keep learning. These PowerPoint's can be used on a SmartBoard or Whiteboard. This YouTube video is a Spanish class and this professor plays Jeopardy! What a fun way to learn! 

In Conclusion, the use of technology in the classrooms are so important! The digital learners need their way of learning and not just the traditional learning styles that are taught in class. I have included this video that really hits home about how students feel about technology and how they learn.

Resources:

Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011).Transforming Learning with New Technologies Second Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN:10 0-13-159611-X, ISBN:13 978-0-13-159611-5    

Journal Post 8

Journal Post 8
EME-2040

Chapter 8 Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media

How can teachers use email or text messaging to foster information exchanges with and among students? 1. Using email as a way of communication with students. 2. Communicating with students via text messaging.

It is important for teachers to communicate with their students. Before technology, it was a note on a piece of paper or a phone call to the home. Time has changed drastically, we have technology. Technology has become the way of living. Just about everything we do, involves technology. So teachers need to keep up with the changes and communicate with their students in a different manner than before. Today, teachers communicate by sending their students emails. What does email really stand for? A lot of people don't know that "Email, is short for electronic mail." (Maloy 193) 

Email is a great way of keeping track of the communication of teacher to student and student to teacher. The other benefit is that if a student has a question about an assignment the teacher can attach a link on the email to help the student out. I think a lot of teachers continue to work even when they are no longer at work. The other benefit of using Email is that you can receive it and send it within minutes. This helps the student to move along with their homework or research for the next day.

Since I am planning on teaching kindergarten children, I think that we need to start them from the beginning of what an Email is and how to write one. Students in middle school, high school, and even in college forget that when they write or reply to an Email to a teacher, professor, or administrator that it should be written formal. So, they have a great start to learning this, I included this video of a teacher teaching her students how to send a formal and informal Email.

http://youtu.be/sLlL6XbUy98

Not everyone has a computer, but it seems like everyone has a cell phone. Teachers can have a better chance communicating with student by texting them. Texting is not a good record keeper of what is being sent back and forth, but you can keep it on your phone. Today, we have screenshot and you can screenshot your messages. This will send it to your photos and you can save your conversations there. You can forward them to your email or share it if it is necessary. This just helps the teacher to have proof of her texts to her students if she ever needs it. 

Text messages can be sent to students by email. I have included a video of a business that does that. I am not sure if the public schools use something like this for teachers to use. Sending a text is a lot quicker for students to get their message and respond too. You can also include links that students can press and view.

http://youtu.be/jFX5oQ7V1QE

In conclusion, I think it is vital for the teacher to have great communication with her students. This could also help the students that need that little "push" to get them motivated to get their assignments finished on time. The students can feel free to ask questions about the assignments during class that they didn't understand of have forgotten. It is important to have a good teacher to student relationship and that includes being able to communicate back in forth about school.

Resources:

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media.Transforming learning with new technologies (p. 193). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Journal Post 7

Journal Post 7
EME 2040

Chapter 7 Exploring Problem Solving with Software, Apps, and Games

How do teachers use technology to promote solving and inquiry learning among students? 1. Basic computer skills. 2. PBL (Problem Based Learning) 3. Real problems with real solutions.

It's always good to start teaching children (elementary age and younger) basic computer skills. This will help to have all the students on the same page. You could do this in small or large group. It could become a group discussion and if they have any questions, this would be a great time to bring it up. I always like to create books for children to go back and use a reference if any questions come up.

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is the type of term used when assignments are given to the students. The students are given a scenario or problem and the students work in a group to solve the problem. The teacher will have the technology ready to be used. Their outcome is to be shared with the rest of the students. This is a quick video about PBL.

Students learn from real problems and have real solutions to the problem. These skills will help the students when they get into the real world and face true problems. They will be able to use the skills they learned in school to solve problems, at work, school, or even just on an everyday problem. Working in a group will get the students motivated and willing to find the answers to the problem. In the end the students could present their solution to the class.

References:

Maloy, R. W. (2014). Fostering Online Learning with Educational Websites and Apps. Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed., p. 158-161). Boston: Pearson.

http://youtu.be/FQ8C1b2OmIk 

Journal Post 6

Journal Post 6
EME 2040

Chapter 6 "Fostering Online Learning with Educational Websites and Apps"

Focus Question: What are WebQuests, virtual field trips, and video conferencing? 1. WebQuests 2. Virtual field trips 3. Video conferencing

WebQuests is new to me, I really never heard of it until now. Teachers have control on what her students can see and what will help them achieve their goals. Teachers use WebQuests for students to work in a group or by themselves.  The teacher preselects the resources the students will read. The students can watch videos of the topic that the teacher selected and see it happening in action, to get a better understanding. In this chapter is an example "Lesson Plan, 'Weather Station WebQuest', shows this method in action."  (Maloy 139)

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/search/page/-/-/lesson-plan/weather/index.cfm

This will take you to the resources the teacher would like for you to view. The students will click to view different lesson plans. This one in particular talks about the different types of weather.

Let's talk about virtual field trips. Who would of thought that a teacher could talk about dinosaurs and get a virtual trip out of it? Students would be intrigued and could see actual dinosaur fossils that were found and other informative information. Let's take the Smithsonian Museum, it takes you to the beginning of your "trip" and you have control of where you want to go next. It will take you around the museum as if you were there taking a look around, learning. There are many virtual field trips out there, some are already set-up, others you need to contact them and set-up a date and time to view it. The virtual field trip takes the students where they have never gone before in a classroom setting. This is an example of the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/vtp/1-desktop/

"Videoconferencing a powerful learning technology that offers real-time access to people and places that students are unable to visit." (Maloy 141) In an interactive video conferencing, the students can interact with other students, doctors, lawyers, and just about anyone. An example, if the teacher wants her students to learn about a science experiment. She sets up the interactive videoconferencing with a scientist that does this. The students will be where the cameras are set up at their school (if they don't have it in their classroom) and the scientist has his cameras and monitors where he does his experiments via videoconferencing. The scientist can ask the students questions and the students can ask the scientist questions too, this is called "real time". There is a video that I have inserted below. This video is of middle school students talking to elementary students about healthy eating. One of the girls reads the story, they ask students questions, and the students get to answer them too. The elementary students are guided by their teacher so that it is managed and they all get to answer the questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-xRiSdzqs


Nowadays, the teachers can be more informed and can utilize the webtools that are available and different ways to be digitally organized. Their lesson plans can be enhanced with adding links and videos so that when it is time to talk about the topic, it is ready to go in their computer. When I begin to work with elementary students, I will make sure that I incorporate virtual field trips, interactive conferencing, and WebQuests so that my students can get a better understanding about the lesson that they are learning. In my voluntary prekindergarten class, I can incorporate the virtual field trip and I am sure they would enjoy it and learn something from it.

References:

Maloy, R. W. (2014). Fostering Online Learning with Educational Websites and Apps. Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed., p. 139 and 141). Boston: Pearson.

Panoramic Virtual Tour. (n.d.). Virtual Tour: Panoramic Images: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/#

STEAM Video Conference. (2013, April 8).YouTube. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-xRiSdzqs