Sunday, November 29, 2009

When I first entered this course, I honestly did not know much about technology. I may still be somewhat "behind" when it comes to completely understanding it, but I can honestly say I have learned A TON!! I was very uncomfortable at the beginning, having all this different technological tools thrown at me at once, but soon enough I began to get the hang of it all. Through this course I have become more comfortable using technology personally, which makes me more comfortable using technology in the classroom. I have understood and learned how important integrating technology into the classroom is, and how much better of a learning experience having the technology in the classroom can occur. I think that using technology in the classroom can make for a more fun experience for both teacher and learner. The teacher can have different and interesting ways to present the information, and the students can all benefit from different teaching styles using the technology in the classroom. It definitely can help make uninterested students more interested in the information.

I think that it is important to know that students do not just use technology to learn. There are different ways that students can use technology to make a difference in the world (and still learn a bit too!). By having students use technology in the classroom in a service learning project, students are able to make a difference in the world, are able to connect with individuals, to build awareness for causes, and to become more informed citizens. Through making this difference in their community, they are also learning how to use technology too, which can help benefit them in their future endeavors. Furthermore, they are still making connections to the subjects that they are being presented in the class, and can see a more real world connection to the information.

Technology also opens the doors in the way of instruction. I knew that, at the beginning of this year, I did not want to be the type of teacher that would just lecture and have students take notes. How boring, and ineffective too! I knew that I wanted to be an interesting and fun teacher, with cool facts and activities. Well, by using technology, students are opened up to a whole new world of information, that I can help guide them to (and that is not just from the horse's mouth... AKA me). Students have access to a variety of different information. They can access podcasts from different professors of various universities, can see actual pictures of primary documents online, and can play a geocaching activity to learn about geography. By utilizing technology in the teaching aspect, it takes the learning from a direct instruction, to a more hands on approach by the students.

I also think it is fabulous how involved the students can get with presentations. Before this class, my thoughts of presentations were very minimal-- PowerPoint or a poster board. I was unaware of the myriad of different options when it came to students creating a project or wealth of information. I think it is really cool that students are able to create their own blog or wiki, and voice their opinions or thoughts. I think it is wonderful that students, through a program like garage band, can create their own Podcast as a form of presentation. I also (my own personal favorite, cause, hey, I did do the presentation) love Glogster. I think it is one of the most fun and interactive programs for students. I love how creative one can get with creating a Glog, and I promise I will be using this in the future.

Lastly, I think it is important to note that we are all connected to each other. We have the ability to share information with other teachers, or to take information from other teachers. We can share knowledge, or just general great teaching practices. We can gather from each other cool websites to use in the classroom. By having a myriad of teachers sharing information with each other, it makes the learning experience infinitely better for the teacher, but mostly for the student. Lets face it, getting through to the student is key, and what better way to do in than a fun interactive technological tool!

Technology Concept Map!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Divided we fall...

After my practicum placements, I saw first hand the extent of the digital divide between classrooms at a school. In my first placement, a 7th grade civics/world geography class, my students had somewhat of an access to technology. Their 7th grade team had a lap top cart, that all of the teachers had to share. They also could use the schools "smart board," if they could check it out. This lower level group of students though did not have the access to technology like the students in the higher level classes. Furthermore, using the technology at the school was for some, the only technology they used at all. In my second practicum placement I was in an Advanced Government and AP Government classroom. The filter for the school was so strict, there was not much that the teacher could use online to enrich their curriculum. The only access to computers that the students had was the computer lab, if they could book it. The classroom I was in suffered from not being able to integrate technology into the classroom, because the school just didn't provide an adequate amount of technology for the students.

Before I was in these placements, I truly did not think about the "digital divide" in our country, let alone in our school systems. I was shocked when I saw first hand the lack of technology in the classroom. It was hard to see how some students were not able to expand their understanding of certain concepts and topics because the technology that would allow them to do so was absent. It is very important that students are given an access to technology in the classroom. I am not saying that all students must have the ability to tweet, and make podcasts, and do crazy cool projects on the computer... But it is important for students to be able to search and research online, and to be able to do certain things using technology. Every student across the board should have access at times to a computer and the internet. It is imperative that students learn how to utilize the internet, how to conduct good searches for information, and how to synthesize the information they find on the web. It is important that teachers have the ability to expound on the information from the textbooks with technology, be it clips from a movie, a youtube video, or a glog the teacher created to share with the classroom. Many times the students do not have access to computers at home, so we need to make sure as educators that we grant them the access at school. It is in fact where the learning "takes place."

If the school system that I end up working in does not provide the type of adequate technology that I deem necessary in my classroom, I will for sure take some action to change that. It is important to apply for grants as teachers, for technology in the classroom. We are the "spokesperson" for our students, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to provide the best source of education for them, which includes integrating technology in the classroom. If the grants do not work, I hope that I can take part in surveys or studies where some sort of "compensation" for my time may be some kind of "technological thing" that I can utilize in my classroom. Furthermore, I know that by rallying the community it is sometimes possible to raise money for certain things for the classroom, and technology could be one of them. Its bad that state funding for teachers is getting cut, but they have increased the spending on technology in the classroom, making the funding specifically for getting teachers up to speed with the technology and actually getting it in the classroom. There are certain other steps teachers can take to get technology in the classroom, posted in this 50+ ways to raise $$$ for technology Furthermore, schools could perhaps get recycled and donated computers to help bridge the digital divide. Many teachers ask for these recycled computers from businesses upgrading.

Many people debate what the actual cause of this digital divide is. Some claim that people "don't want to use technology" only making them fall further behind in this technological world. But that does not touch on the fact that some people don't have the monetary funds to afford technology in their homes. "Education and tax reform move a lot slower than the speed of technology. If they want to help low-income Americans, that's the gap policy-makers should seek to close." Maybe if we focus on this aspect of the digital divide, the actual "digital divide" will not be such an issue!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Teacher Leader

My blog deleted itself! So frustrating... blog 2....

Katzenmeyer and Moller define teacher leaders as those who “lead within and beyond the classroom; identify with and contribute to a community of teacher learners and leaders; influence others toward improved educational practice; and accept responsibility for achieving the outcomes of their leadership.” Being a teacher leader means many things. It is important to be dedicated in your students. It also is important for teacher leaders to not want to move up the job chain. Teachers leaders value the time that they spend with their students, and would not trade that for moving up the administration ladder. Furthermore, teacher leaders are dedicated in and out of the classroom. They are involved with leadership roles outside of the classroom, yet are also leaders inside the classroom, always trying to provoke more understanding and learning from their students. Also, it is important that teacher leaders associate with other teachers, adult colleagues their own age. Also teacher leaders must be able to influence others. Be it students, colleagues, or people in the community, teacher leaders are charismatic and are able to lead others to greatness as well.

Furthermore, being a teacher leader, one needs to be principled, honest, fair, and ethical. They must be respected by their peers, and care about their students. They must be organized. They also must be perceptive, empathetic, and altruistic. They must be sensitive to students needs, be able to assist them, and put the student before themselves. They also should be available to be reached, and full of resources. Moreover, it is important for teacher leaders to be forward thinkers and global. It is important that these teachers are planning for the future, and thinking on a macro level. This teacher must also be decisive and willing to take action when necessary. And moreover, they should be knowledgeable in their content area.

I know I want to be a teacher leader. Throughout my life, I have loved being able to help and lead others. I have always thrived in a leadership role, captain of soccer and volleyball team, taking charge of service projects, and holding office positions in clubs. It is important for teachers to take charge and become these teacher leaders. If more teachers dedicated as much effort and time to the students as some, the education system would be completely different. I strive to have all the qualities a teacher leader has. I know that I want to make a huge difference in students lives, because, hey isn't that part of the reason we went into this profession? I don't want to be the teacher that sits there and allows others to take the reign, or not at all! I want to make sure to help make changes in the system.

By becoming these teacher leaders, how can we get teachers that are not as willing to put in the time and effort to put more of an effort in? Or are these older teachers too comfortable in their ways? Can we help shape them into teacher leaders, or is the effort futile at this point?

www.aassa.com/Leaders.pdf
www.aea8.k12.ia.us/.../Teacher_Leader_Qualities_F1C6A23422538.pdf

Monday, November 2, 2009

the networked student

After watching the Cisco video and the Youtube video, I believe I have a better understanding of a networked student. A networked student is one that can utilize all of their technological tools to obtain a better learning experience. The networked student can utilize cell phones, computers, cameras, Ipods, etc. to research, comprehend, examine, and gather information about a topic they are studying. Through these technological tools, they are able to "teach themselves" the information, and take more of a hands on approach to their learning.

It is very important that students understand how to use these technological tools to become a networked student. They must have an understanding of how to complete "good" searches on the internet, and how to find "correct" information. It is important that the student have digital literacy to be able to fully grasp the depths of the networked student. Though, as I have found, practice does make perfect, and the more that the student uses the tools, the better they will become with the technology. So, starting the student off, and letting them experience all that the technology has to offer is another approach.

Networked learning changes the role of the teacher. Instead of being this "sage on the stage" individual, the teacher is guiding the learning. The teacher begs the students to find the information on their own, and is more of a coach than the "all knowing teacher." I think that this is very important. Instead of lecturing and being this "omnipotent" being, the teacher can guide their learning, and have the students engage in teaching themselves through doing. I think that this is a great approach, for too often the students do not become engaged in their own education, and I will most certainly incorporate this style of instruction into my own classroom.

Well, after searching many different blogs of the networked student, many of which are tied to Ms. Drexler! So.. I'll post her blog, which has many great responses to it!

http://teachweb2.blogspot.com/2009/05/networked-student-challenges.html

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

class notes

Chance- extranormal.com website. Civic values. Deal with a controversial issue. Research issue, take a stance, and create a movie, podcast or other to rally others. Also by petitioning and blogging, wiki. Reflection, whether or not they made an impact.

Zahara- learning about voting rights, go online, use resources, and teach other younger students what they learned through skype.

Michael- nursing homes. People don’t have family that visit. Students go visit people and interview them and make a digital story presentation through garage band and upload them to youtube. Oral history!

Adam- voter registration, voter information. Observe trends over time and create their own resources to get people to vote, or create their own resources on an issue. Then do a community presentation… booth in the school or community center. Media presentations and community outreach.

Megan- human trafficking. 17000 people in this country. Students would get into four groups. Digital story telling, brochure, podcast… compile them onto a website so they have a resource to do a letter writing campaign to send to congress. Promote awareness for this by uploading a blue heart.

Jen- military letter writing. Difficult to read, and snail mail takes forever. Write on the wiki or a blog to talk to all branches. They can send maps and videos, and students send videos to show military.

Josh- Veterans- interview for 30 minutes. Research the history to get basic background knowledge about the war the interviewee was in. Use garage band to do a 2-minute thing. They will then blog about their experience and reactions with the veterans. Then show the veteran what was created.

Jeremy- war on drugs, and awareness. Its intentions. Create a wiki on the war on drugs. Write their representatives, on a drug thing that they wanted to write about.

Megan G- Support a soldier, middle school. Paired up with personal connections. Work with the community to get support (care packages) for the troops. Learn about the geography from the soldiers.

Elizabeth H- operation Christmas child. Learn about the culture that it works with. Interview them and find out what motivates them to, blog about it. Conduct their own learning experience.

Eric- using technology to help the elderly. Can only use snail mail. Have students visit and have them talk to the elderly. Conduct an interview and research. Show them how to email and then re-conduct questioning. Write about it, and compile on an inquiry map.

Elizabeth J- increasing culture awareness, lecture on immigration, focus on culture and language . create a wiki on each country. Poll school on heritage.

Me- Habitat

Louisa- Nursing homes are lonely places, people without purposes. Students will ask themselves questions. Students will present their vodcasts to the nursing home residents. They have a “party”. Teaches students about history and oral history, and they form a friendship and keep visiting them.

Mark- Storybird. Knowing the avenues. Global warming. Talk to politicians. Use wiki. Connecting the class and students to politicians. Update the wiki with updates.

Katie- students will examine impacts on experiences. Visit nursing home, and conduct an interview. Ask questions, about their past, how did it shape their life. Students will create videos, using video or audio from the interview.

Jeff- go to local parks and see how people affect the environment. People leave trash everywhere. Help clean up the parks. Have students learn about wildlife conservation, write a blog what they did.

Megan p- students will research elections, voter turnout and trends. How the government has affected daily lives. Visit retirement home. Class make a podcast. Tied to voting. Send a thank you letter.

Britney- increase young people voter turn out. Mostly during an election year, typically young people don’t vote. Use survey monkey to create questions. Use myspace

Nichole- students will learn about voting and campaigning. They will learn about politics. They will use a google motion chart to look at trends, and create a wiki.

Angie- students will learn about their individual rights and teach them to the community. Students will select a topic, pertaining to individual rights, and put info into class wiki. Create an interactive display on their topic. Write to local government, police, lawyers, local businesses to do raffles.

Trish- have students communicate with students, and expand their cultural horizons. Students can learn about bias, and on the website showcase what they’ve learned. Talk about biases, showcase what they’ve learned. Write a paper talking

Alli- research newspaper articles. September 11th, read tradebooks and add to the project. About the patriot act. Interview what peoples knowledge is about the patriot act. Create wikis.

Carrie- oral history of the cold war of a family member, and create an article based on the interview. Upload onto a wiki, put the interview on. Provide info to the newspaper and bring awareness to the community.

Grieselda- Haiti study. Kids work with Haitian students and learn about the cultural aspects of their lives. Create class website. Collect funds and supplies to send to the students.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Glog Blog



http://mak586.edu.glogster.com/Stock-Market/

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

service learning- habitat for humanity

Service Learning Project


Title: “Helping Homelessness in a Struggling Economy”

Area of Service: Environment and Civic Responsibility


Grades: 9-12


Subject Area: Economics/Civics and Government

Unit Description:

Students will pair with Habitat for Humanity in their community. Students will get into groups of 4 to do this project. Students will work with Habitat to help determine the costs that are involved with building a house and research cost effective ways of building these houses. Students will use the Internet to do this research, along with working with the Habitat individuals to figure out what a good cost effective solution would be in building the houses. Furthermore, students will conduct an interview with the Habitat volunteers to get a “hands on” account of the way that houses are financed. Students will place their reports on their wikis.

Next, students will interview families that have received homes through Habitat for Humanity to create “poster families,” and build support and recognition for Habitat. The students can chose a variety of ways to create these “Faces of Habitat.” Students have the choice to do a podcast, with uploading the audio of their interview. Students can also do a video blog with a video of the interview. Students can take pictures and write a story on their blog. Or students can create an “article,” in which they could e-mail out to individuals. By interviewing the families, and finding out their biographies, students are able to understand who the families are that receive the housing, and understand how their situation occurred. Biographies are very important for understanding the past and moving forward to the future, and it is necessary for any social studies student to be exposed to recording the biographies of others.

Students will then tie in what they have learned with Urban Economics. Students will write a post on their wiki tying in the details of the families and the costs, with how homelessness and poverty affects cities, as learned about in the urban aspect of economics. Students will research the effects of homelessness on a city, and what can lead to this issue. Students will then propose a solution to the problem. They will write this and post this in their wiki.


Next Generation Sunshine State Standards:

SS.912.E.2.11: Assess the economic impact of negative and positive externalities on the local, state, and national environment.

SS.912.C.2.5: Conduct a service project to further the public good.

SS.912.C.2.3: Experience the responsibilities of citizens at the local, state, or federal levels.

SS.912.C.2.2: Evaluate the importance of political participation and civic participation.

NETS Standards:

1. Creativity and Innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:

a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.

b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

2. Communication and Collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.

b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.

b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

d. process data and report results.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:

a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.

b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

5. Digital Citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:

a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:

a. understand and use technology systems.

b. select and use applications effectively and productively.

Technologies and Web Applications Applied:

Students will be using a wiki to complete their cost assignments. They also will have the choice of any type of technology to complete their biography and advocacy assignment. They will be able to chose from a podcast, a blog, a wiki, an article, or etc. to make their Habitat advocacy assignment. They will also be using technology to figure out the cost benefits of building homes in different ways.

Assessment:

Part 1- Research and participation- Each group will be graded on the participation within the group. The group will be graded on the research and conclusions they present about the cost analysis of financing a home, and the solutions they present.

Part 2- Interview and Response- Each group will be graded on quality of interview and creativity if the technology and response they present. Students will be graded on the quality of they information they include, and the neatness of the presentation.

Part 3- Individual wiki- Each student will tie in what they have learned with the economics that have been presented in class. Students will individually draw conclusions about urban economics and will present this on their wiki. They will link homelessness to economic downturn, and create conclusions based on their analysis. They will be graded on the content of what they produce.