Take Away Feb 24

These videos really inspired me. Although I am focusing my webquest assignment on a higher grade level (5th grade) in the elementary sschool scale, I would rather keep it comical and light. I feel as though my idea and topic are not able to portray a heart wrenching cliff hanger of whats to come but a more comical yet still determined and driven in accomplishing a task at hand. Since my topic is history it is less of opinion and depiction and more facts and understanding. I am very excited to see what everyone's video trailers have in store and excited to see where everyone takes this creatively.

chapter 2 and 3 reflection

I found chapters two and three to be very informative. Chapter two really highlights the amazing attributes that technology has when integrated into the classroom. As stated in the text, it "promotes unique, powerful and transformative learning."Along with this, integrating technology can assess skills such as visual learning, accessing and assessing information, student engagement, collaboration, feedback and creativity. Throughout chapter two there were many great pieces on how technology can aid and be beneficial in multiple areas of the classroom but the one I found most intriguing is how it helps heighten students creativity. For students that don't feel a paintbrush, crayon or canvas is the outlet to their creative thinking they now have a new outlet with the various opportunities technology offers.

Chapter three is very important for all teachers. Without planning, a classroom is mayhem and learning can be close to impossible. During my student teaching experience my sponsor teacher was most definitely a "digital immigrant." I witnessed her trying to assess and keep order of each child's individual assessments on paper in the thickest binders I have ever seen. Using how to implement technology into her planning and assessing of students her paperwork, organization and time would have been so much easier. This is just one first hand example where I found that implementing technology in planning and organizing in the classroom from a teachers standpoint can help everything run more smooth. 

1. What is one way technology has helped you improve your creativity? How can this be related to your future students?

2. Have you ever witnessed a teacher using 'old fashion' ways to organize or apply material for their class? If so how could have using technology helped them and what type of technology?

WebQuest Idea

I wanted to make my webquest as fun as my imagination allowed me to. I love learning about Hellen Keller and the hurdles she overcame I also am a lover of American Sign Language. So, for my webquest I want to create a mission for a 5th grade class to learn about these topics in a fun way. I will have an evil villain threaten to rewrite Hellen Keller's history and it is up to the students as time travelers to save her by researching and proving him wrong before he can rewrite it.

The standards I will address will be:

Standard 2, Key Idea 3

Key Idea 3: Study of the major social, political, cultural, and religious developments in world history involves learning about the important roles and contributions of individuals and groups.

Performance Indicators--Students will:

Elementary

understand the roles and contributions of individuals and groups to social, political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and religious practices and activities

gather and present information about important developments from world history

understand how the terms social, political, economic, and cultural can be used to describe human activities or practices.

and

Social Studies Standard 1: History of the United States and New York

Students will: use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

and

Social Studies Standard 2 
World History

Students will: use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, 

developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Take Away Message

Before my student teaching experience I always had a negative outlook on integrating technology into the classroom to some extent. I still had blackboards in my elementary school classrooms and now I found that they are replaced with smartboards. This is only the second class of course EDU 7266 and my eyes have been opened to so much more that I cannot help but think that the positives now outweigh the negatives in technology integration. The video on edutopia I found extremely inspirational. I remember thinking how I need to learn all these new applications this way I can then pass that knowledge onto my future students as the featured teacher has. The children in the video were so inspired, focused and still interacting with their classmates on a personal level. I found this important because I always would see the use of technology as diminishing personal, face to face communication skills. I also loved how creative the students were getting they seemed so inspired. Today has really opened my eyes to a whole world of opportunity for teaching.

Chapter One Review

         When we become teachers with our own classrooms we will be teaching the generation where technology has been most prominent in a child's life. According to the text, 85% of 5-17 year olds know how to use and navigate a computer. Growing up I was not exposed to much use of technology in my classrooms. In elementary school our blackboards were not covered up by smart boards and our televisions were wheeled in on giant carts. We had computer class where we learned basic programs but after my student teaching experience my eyes really opened up to all the new innovative use of technology in the classroom. At first I was not too keen on the idea of having so much technology come into play in the classroom. Before I learned more about it I thought it was used as an easy way out of a proper lesson. Chapter one really opened my eyes to even more possibilities on how technology can be used and it is certainly starting to grow on me.
          The section of chapter one that I thought was really helpful to determine if technology is acceptable were the six key questions a teacher should answer to see if that integration is appropriate. I especially liked this because I feel that sometimes teachers throw in technology because it is the easy thing to do but what should be evaluated before doing so is if the use of technology will have ample success for your students and the lesson. Reading this section made me think of a personal experience I had as a student observer. The teacher I was observing was teaching a math lesson using an interactive math program on the computer. She did not know how to set up her projector to project the program on her smart board so instead had the class huddle around her tiny desk computer. Standing where the last row of students sat it was clear that they were not fully engaged and could barely hear and see what was going on. Instead of this I believe the teacher should have taught the material manually instead of resorting to technology since it was not an idea learning situation for the majority of students. Also in chapter one they mentioned that the use of technology builds professionalism and I completely agree. When students graduate they are expected to know how to use and maneuver around many programs and forms of technology. If students do not have access to such at home it is imperative that they are properly exposed to them in the classroom. This is the generation where being technologically savvy is not just an advantage in our students future workplaces but it is completely expected.

Two Questions:

1. Was your opinion of integrating technology so much into the classroom always a positive one? Why or why not?

2. What are some ways you would incorporate technology into your classrooms?