Blog Wordle

Class Reflection 4/14/14

Today we started of class by lisitng all the components of an actual Email. We discussed the format, grammar, time managament, introduction of email account. We discussed the importance of re-reading everything before you send it and checking to make sure that the subject area is filled. Then we explored the amazing things that you can do with "PowerPoint". I learned new trick on how to create a game for students to play and how to hyperlink images and text while designing a slide show. I was blown away by the examples that we were shown in class because they looked nothing like your typical powerpoint presentation. I was amazed by all the transitions and effects that could be developed on powerpoint. I loved the fact that you could create a quiz on powerpoint and use it as a quick assessment to see if students learned. We then explored the fabulous word of voice thread, which allowed you to record audio over visual images or upload clips of yourself on any topics. The voice thread website was very effective because it allowed students to connect with different individuals around the world and students were able to leave comments via text,visual, or an actual video recording.

Chapters 8 and 9 Reflection

Hello,

Communication is key! That's the constant phrase that came to mind as I began to read chapter 8. Chapter 8 was filled with examples of how technology has revolutionized the art communicating. This chapter shared examples of how Teachers and Students use Emailing and Instant Messenger application to talk on a daily basis. This is vital for the classroom because as educators we must make ourselves available to our students and their families and one way of doing that is through online discussions on an actual class blog or a classroom website. The blog is definitely an important asset to have because students are able to reflect on several different topics on their own leisure time. As a teacher I can use a blog to continue a class discussion and require students to write a informative post on each question that exceeds one or two sentences. I learned about the important elements that a blog must contain in order for students and parents to have access to information that they need at one click away. The basic components of a blog is a Heading, Pages, Archives, Categories, Blog roll, and Meta. These basic components made me go look back at my class blog to see how I can enhance it and make it more appealing to all visitors of my class blog. I also loved the Digital Image Scanner because  it allows teachers to display the work of all students and if students know that their work will be displayed the extra effort will be placed into any work that is assigned. I loved the chart on criteria for analyzing Teacher-Made Websites and Blogs because it was essentially a check list of all the requirements needed to run a successful blog or website. I enjoyed learning about how to engage students inside of the classroom by giving them roles to create a wiki and a wiki text. The wiki is great for the classroom because students are able to build a page with all the information that they have gathered so far about a specific topic or subject and still investigate more about this topic. Wiki's are fun for the classroom because students are all able to work on one wiki by editing and making any changes they want as they gather new information.


The following chapter focused on the digital world and making fun lesson using technological devices such as video cameras. After reading this chapter I have found a new appreciation for Powerpoint and the amount of things that you can utilize it for. Visuals are very important whenever teaching a group of students because they are able to make a connection from text to picture. The students are our biggest audience so whenever I plan my next lesson on Powerpoint the components on each slide must generate a reaction from my students through a visual, video, and sound. I've heard of teacher tube but haven't really utilized it as much, after thinking about how to design a future lesson for my students, I quickly searched teacher tube to find a fun and engaging video that correlates to my chosen topic. Teacher Tube is a great website that provides an educational version of youtube, the best part is the site is user friendly. The homemade powerpoint game website is designed to help teachers create educational learning games for specific learning standards. Students have input in creating the game because they are able to input question that they want answers to. I loved the digital story telling of how students can tell a story through pictures or an actual video of the events that took place in a story. Students learn how to present a review for each leveled book that they are reading. All the auditory learners in the classroom will benefit from podcasts whenever they are preparing for a exam because they can replay important notes from a previous class or listen to audio books. Overall the technological devices that are available inside of the classroom can be utilized in many ways to make learning fun and engaging.


Two Questions:

1.  Do online forums created by teachers assist parents and other members of the school community solve any school related issues ? Do teachers feel comfortable with parents and family members sharing their views on certain topics on these forums?

2. Since the majority of our students text as a form of communication instead of using the actual phone to talk, will this improve student's writing skills? Has textspeak (idc,lol,nvm) helped or hurt our students when it's come to communication ?

Class Reflection 4/7/13

Hello Class, Today was a very informative and productive day in class. As a class we first discussed the importance of having a teaching portfolio. we then dived into the importance of gearing your teaching philosophy into how you describe an ideal classroom.we discussed how the things we post on online depict how we really are in person. Therefore we have to be very careful about the pictures we post online and the things that we say.I learned that reflection is a big part of the teaching portfolio, there are three different levels that we must address when it comes to reflecting.We must first collect artifacts then reflect, then select which artifacts best serves as evidence of competencies and accomplishments, then we would reflect again after the artifacts have been identified. the levels of reflection are level 1 which focuses on refining teaching strategies, level 2 which focuses on relationship between problematic situation and actions, and level three which focuses on commitment to social justice concerns.For my final portfolio I must include a resume in a word version and a pdf version, three artifacts with reflection, a web quest, a video, and one more choice of reflection.

Class Reflection 3/31

Today in class we first posted the link to our web quest website from digication onto blackboard. Then we started to talk about our final project of making a movie on a chosen topic with group members. We watched an example an instructional video on a  concept video, procedure, or attitude video. The first video we watched was on fire safety, then we watched a video on bullying and how it effects students. After watching both videos as a class we began to discuss the pros and cons of both videos. We started to critique each video and my fellow classmates shared several suggestions on how to make the video much better. After that we broke up into groups and we started discussing a topic and the audience for our topic. My group decided to pick a topic on helping students in K-2 with proper manners and social skills. The challenging part is finding a way to connect proper manners to an educational subject. We decided that we have to do some research first and that we would show the bad examples of how students behave and then pause each scene too rectify the situation being presented.

Chapter 7 Reflection

WoW!

When it comes to educating our youth one always has to reinvent their selves when implementing technology inside of the classroom. This chapter focused on many different soft wares that educators can use to enhance learning inside of the classroom. The first thing that came to mind was will I ever grant my students the opportunity to explore the computer. The term coding came to mind when I was reading the section on building, inventing, and creating software. In society today I feel like female students are as interested in coding and building programs on the computers like male students currently do. The real question is are the students using the computer to build programs that will help them learn or are they creating programs that are not useful. After reading about the various ways we can use programs like google earth, kid pix, and Microsoft office, I began to think of how I can dig deeper and create lesson plans that allow students to problem solve and discover a list of questions that they have on a particular topic.  When it comes to students playing video games based on educational topics I do agree that using the rubric for evaluating higher order thinking  would be beneficial inside of the classroom. Currently whenever students ask me to go on the computer to play mathematical games i automatically tell them to go cool math games that com where students are able to learn and have fun at the same time. As an educator what I have to do is draft up a list of video games students normally play online and use the Rubric for evaluating to see if students are meeting my expectations by playing these games. As a educator I would have to follow the steps of minimizing the use of games that teach isolated skills, discuss games and their content, scrutinize games that function on points won or lost, and actually play the games together with the students.



My Two Questions:

How do you designate a whole period in playing educational video games with your students without being questioned by school administration ?

How do we encourage more female students to learn about computer and coding on the computer?

Chapter 4 & 6 Reflection

Hello Class,

After reading chapter 4 several things came to mind about technology being implemented into the classroom. The first thing that came to mind for how fun and engaging teachers can make their lesson now that students have access to many resources on the web. I started to think that very soon school districts will be removing textbooks from classroom and students will have access to  online text. "Some school districts are already shifting from paper to digital textbooks and online curriculum materials.In fall 2006, close to 50 percent of K-5 students in California began learning with "History/Social Science for California," a new series of instructional materials that combine printed text, digital materials, and active learning activities, all aligned to the state's history curriculum standards (Ascione,2006a)." This then brings up my argument of whether students from low income families will be able to access the textbooks online if they do not own a computer in their household. Although the benefits are teachers are able to provide students with access to virtual trips and create web related tasks for students to explore, while the tactile learners benefit if this process becomes mandatory for all school districts. I feel that a technology specialist needs to visit schools in every district and assess their classroom using the technology integration rubric, this will give community members an idea on what changes need to made to provide each individual with the same learning experience.

After reading chapter 6 several things came to mind which was how to utilize all the features that are available to you on the web. For example the bookmarks tab can be utilized with students who constantly search through different websites for information and forgot to save that website. The bookmark feature helps students save websites into different categories. The feature is very useful whenever you are gathering information for a research project. The chapter then spends a great deal of time explaining the effectiveness of the RSS feed which automatically updates you with any current news from a preferred source. For example since I currently like watching sports I can subscribe to the RSS news feed for ESPN.com which would keep me up to date whenever a story is reported without me even checking.  Virtual field trips are a huge bonus when surfing the Internet because in the wintertime it is difficult for teachers to book field trips due to the weather, virtual field trips provides you with a three dimensional experience as if you were present at the actual site. Also video conferencing is a tool utilized by a lot of schools to have conferences and debates about different topics. Students are able to connect with students like their selves from different parts of the world.


The two questions that I have is :

Will it become mandatory for all school districts to provide students with a device to access the online textbook feature at home?


Will virtual trips inspire school districts to actually think outside the box and approve requests of field trips outside of the country after viewing and critiquing the establishment online?

Class Reflection

Hello Class,

Today in class we first explored visual thesaurus, which is a website that assists visual learners with mastering vocabulary words. The website was very useful because it had images for each term that was typed into the search engine. The site also helps you make a connection with words in the same word family. This website also assists individuals with spelling and it maps out the verbs, adjectives, and nouns. This website is very useful for English language arts and word work inside of the classroom. The next website that we explored was lexipedia, which also gives you the nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, synonyms and antonyms. The website lexipedia is a great website for categorizing words and breaking down different parts of speech. In the future I would definitely use lexivideo. After that as a class we explored vocabulary dot com which quizzes individuals on the meaning of each term. As a class we had to read sentences and figure out the meanings of each word. This vocabulary website would be good for a exit slip inside of the classroom or a reflection point. After that as a class we explored virtual trips on the website plimoth. The virtual Trip was very useful because we were able to watch an actual video that gave us a tour of an actual site. Virtual field trips are create components for lessons that require students to explore different cultures. We spent a great deal of time typing different locations around the world on google maps and thinking about interactive lessons that we can create using the street view of google maps. We then watched a video about minecraft and had a interesting conversation with a mine craft player who answered several questions as we used the "TPACK" model.

Class Reflection

Hello Class,

Today was a very informative class session, we started by going over the digital divide and the effects it has had on society thus far. The new generation of students are the next group of innovators that will essentially impact society through various ways. I loved how we broke down the importance of Internet usage for our current population and looked at data to show the increase of how many of us have access to the Internet. We have come a long way from a dial up era now most low income households still have access to the Internet. I also loved how we analyzed digital citizenship and the effects it has on our students who are chasing their future goals. The digital citizenship website was a great tutorial and it allowed us to explore knowledge that we must know before allowing our students to explore the web.

Classroom Reflection 03/10/14

Hello Everyone,

In class today we spent a great deal of time examing the website wikipedia. We first brainstormed as a class why we use wikipedia, and some of my classmates  shared that they normally use wikipedia as a starting point whenever starting a research project. We all agreed that if we want quick facts on a particular topic we quickly search for the information on wikepedia. There were some of our classmates that stated that the reason they do not use wikipedia is because the authors of wikipedia are regular people like them. Wikipedia actually allows anyone to come to the website and either add information or delete information. There is a system in place that asks you how to provide where you got the information you are adding from. Although many people feel like there is no control over wikipedia, it actually has moderators who monitor what can be changed. There are some pages on wikipedia that does not allow any editing. There has been research done in the past that some of the information found on wikipedia does come from reliable sources and the content provided is legiminate for educational use. I also brought up the point that wikiedia is beneficial to students who have not mastered the english language yet, they can read in their native language. There is a community that focuses on improving wikipedia, and every memebr of that community plays a certain role to help the website grow.

Chapter 5 Refelction

Chapter 5 was a great read. WOW how amazing can a "Search" engine be? In the matter of seconds students can have millions of of catalog accessible to them without stepping foot into an actual public library. Growing up every time i was conducting a research project or my mind was inquiring about various things in society I would draft a to-do list of books I will need to find and people I would need to call to get the answers that I needed. Today our students have access to the internet and various  search engine databases that they are glued in front of the computer screen whenever they are looking for information. Our current educators are working towards being labeled as "IT fluency" and the overall goal is ti be "IT Fitness". This means that as educators we have to master the art of technology when it comes to using the proper credited websites to search for the information we need. Google alone has revolutionized the process of conducting an effective search online, there are thousands of results that appear after typing vital context clues into the search engine. The issue is are all the results factual or are they made up facts by human beings. As educators it is important to review the process of filtering out the bad websites and information on websites on wikipedia that is not true. our students have to understand that websites like wikipedia consist of research that is posted by any one. I myself can go on to wikipedia and change information the website has on a famous explorer. Therefore although technology has made many of lives easier by providing us access to the information that we need we must assess each result and find out where the information was derived from. The constructivist learning environment provides students with the ability to learn everything essentially on their own. To assist our students with the constructivist learning approach we must teach our students how to identify what the problem is, figure out related cases, information resources, cognitive tools, conversation and collaborative tools, and social/contextual support. Jonassen's work has allowed educators to assist students who follow his theory to learn in and outside of the classroom. As educators we must aide in the modeling,coaching,and scaffolding portion as our students learn. I believe that students who are passionate about learning will benefit from the constructivist learning environment inside of the classroom.

Two Questions:

Will plagiarism  continue to increase even though there are many laws and policies put in place online?


How will our students ever experience the adventure of finding a book at the local library if it is available online as an e-text?

Chapter 3 Reflection

As educators it is our duty to plan lessons so that we are prepared to teach our students throughout the school week. Chapter 2 made creating a lesson plan utilizing technology fun and very engaging for our students. There are many components of an actual lesson plan such as the learning objective, materials, methods and procedures, independent practice, and assessment. On a weekly basis teachers have grade meeting were they brain storm different ideas on how to effective plan around the common core standards. Chapter 2 showed me how to present the learning objective through visuals, project based, or even conduct a class wiki. As educators implementing technology each way of the lesson planning process helps the learner keep that information with them throughout their lifetime. As we know all of our students have many different learning styles, using the the understanding by design is very helpful to meeting these learning styles. Students have access to a lot of resources on the web as they search websites like google on a daily basis for answers. As educators as we are planning we must actually role play our procedure and check to see if the information is attainable and also easy for our students to comprehend. Educators have access to many credited professional organizations, for example the council for exceptional children is a great organization that groups up the special education community together working to provide a better learning experience for all students with disabilities. Educators tend to stress because every lesson plan must align with their state standards and students have to be assessed  through each unit. Chapter 2 outlined various ways to assess students through technology and how to grade and track their results. Students may be assessed through a online quiz where students log in to take a weekly quiz and a program generates all the questions and answers. Teachers should always use the results from online quizzes to analyze the questions that need review. It is one thing to give an assessment but providing feedback and making corrections is beneficial to each child's growth.


The two questions that came to mind are?

1. Will all educators eventually be required to plan all their lessons online?


2.Will their be a limit on how much Technology you can use to present each portion of the lesson plan during instruction ? (limit powerpoint, 3-D models, videos, audio)

Class Reflection

Today's Class session was very interesting. I learned a lot about coming up with a great theory for students to be able to learn. Prof. Chen showed us four videos of trailers that her previous students created to teach their actual lesson through a web-quest. The trailers were all very informative, it definitely approached each topic with factual information and questions for students to think about through out the lesson. I loved how the trailers were short but kept me thinking as a viewer. These videos showed me that I would want my students to focus on learning and thinking about how the topic was derived. I loved how the creativity and use of technology helped make all the lessons an exceptional one.

WebQuest Topic

Topic : Mathematics Grade : 1st Standard : CCSS.Math.Content.1.OA.A.1 - Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.




 My web-quest would be geared towards a first grade classroom. I'll try and incorporate different word problems that students can solve to reach a answer. My word problems would be a mixture of addition and subtraction word problems using various objects.My theme for my web-quest would be based of healthy fruits and vegetables that would be incorporated into each word problem. Students will learn key words and strategies to identify the operation they have to use.



                                                      

Classroom Reflection 2/10/14

 

WOW! Today was filled with new information in regards to technology. Instagram, Pintrest, twitter, facebook, how are teachers using this in education? Well today was definitely a eye opener for how I can use social media to design interactive lessons inside of the classroom. The new generation of students are constantly on these social media sites, so why not provide homework and other assignments through these applications. I was able to generate a lot of ideas that I can one day try in my own classroom such as classroom annoucements and educational links via Twitter. I also learned that students can complete a picture essay via instagram, for posting a series of events that occured throughout their perosnal stories. I learned that Pintrest is a great website for educators to share and collaborate on various projects. I was amazed by the facts of how many low income students use a actual cellphone and the amout of time they devote to the cellular device. I loved the video we watched about students completing different projects through iphoto,imovie, and garageband. Students were able to share their responses via video, slideshows, music, and recorded audio. I loved how students had the option to chose a project and share it with their classmates. I also learned about new sites like www.educreations.com , http://www.glogster.com/ , and http://www.pewinternet.org/.

Chapter 1 Reaction

Becoming an e-teacher was a very informative chapter. Technology inside of the classroom has been one of the major factors of students highly being engaged in learning new material. As educators there are many pros and cons in incorporating technology inside of the classroom. There have been various research that has proven that students love when technology is incorporated in each lesson because it moves away from the whole class instruction method and allows students to effectively communicate with their peers through group work. Over the years school districts have improved their public schools by providing at least one to two computers mandatory inside of a classroom. Teachers have been overwhelmed with various tasks to complete through out the school day,  that they found it difficult to use the only two to three computers inside of the classroom as part of their lesson. As we have moved into the 21st century teachers have now been introduced to SmartBoard's, where teachers are able to type their lessons and access everything right on the smart board. The smart board has increased student participation and it has also provided visual, tactile, and auditory learners with their preferred learning style. We have come a long way, in the past the internet speeds on computers weren't as fast as they are now inside of our classrooms, but now students are able to gain internet access in a matter of seconds. The big argument is that technology has caused our students to steer away from reading books and improving their note taking skills. The cons have been that students are spending to much time on electronic devices. The public school system still monitors the websites that students go on a daily basis, and blocks pages that are still in effect. The major problem is not all districts have the money in their budget to afford a smart board for each classroom. Teachers are also complaining that although smart boards have replaced the chalk board they haven't learned how to use the smart board to its full potential, in fact many teachers say that their students know how to work the smart board better than they do. One of the major questions is are we moving to fast as a society when each new year a new technological invention is introduced and our students are always ready to try it out. The other problem is some teachers have a lot of difficulty differentiating their lesson via the smart board. As educators we have to master technology and make it useful in the lives of our students. There are students who walk around always starring at touch screen devices, but there are applications that let us monitor the content that they are viewing. Students are able to take virtual tours of places and research because of technology.


Two Questions :

1) How do we make sure that as educators we don't get replaced with Virtual Teachers, and society doesn't head into the direction where students are learning from their laptops at home?

2) How do we help those districts in our communities that are way behind in technology and haven't been introduced to even a smart board yet?

Hello Class EDU 7266

I'm excited about this course that prof Chen is teaching. We will be learning about online video editing and iMovie editing. I'm excited about IMovie editing because I own a Macbook and I want to perfect it so that I can make wonderful educational videos for my students. My vision is to master the foundations for enhanced learning experiences through the meaningful integration of technology.

-Les