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?