Today I finished the screen cast for my wiki. It only took a few takes, and, like before, Jing is very easy to use. However the wiki was giving me a lot of trouble a few weeks ago. Finding the sources was not a problem, although finding examples of elementary teachers was more difficult that the abundant information on middle and high school teachers with interactive whiteboards. The real problem was adding the information to my wiki. I used Google Sites and sometime my computer wouldn't "connect" so it was unable to save the information. Sometimes the information would be completely deleted when I pressed save. After trying multiple computers I visited Professor Boyer and got the situation straightened out, and got most of my information back. However, despite this bad experience I still see the value in using wikis. In my future classroom I will use a wiki through a different website, but I still like the ease of adding information, unlike using computer programs (like Dreamweaver) to update websites. I know that I will definitely have a classroom site online to share agendas, news, homework assignments, pictures, etc with students, parents, and community members. Keeping an "open" classroom can have a number of benefits, the biggest one I see being parent support and communication.
Also, I see how students can use this technology to compile research, as I did for this project. Having them publish it online will make them more accountable to work hard and produce great work. They can show parents and long-distance relatives the work they've done, and even view, learn from, and comment on each other's research. Despite my set-backs in this assignment, I definitely see a lot of potential for wikis in my classroom.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Reflections from class 12/9
Today is the last day of class. After the technology class is over, I can still stay up to date on news about technology in education by adding Professor Boyer on Twitter because he tweets all the interesting news articles. He also encouraged us to contact him in the future, student teaching or the first few years while we are considering ways to incorporate technology into the classroom.
In Class Activity: Identify 3 ways I will integrate technology in my classroom
Since my school district is in a rural, low income area, , I don't have the opportunity to use interactive whiteboard technology in my third grade classroom. I had to come up with some other creative ways to incorporate technology. 1.) My third graders use blogger to share their opinions and reflections after important assignments or key classroom discussions. 2.) I keep a class wiki that includes our daily agenda, pictures from fun activities, upcoming events, and homework posted for both students and parents to keep up to date. 3.) Because my school's discipline structure is modeled after the PBIS model (which puts an emphasis on "school-wide" rules) my students will be making videos (writing the script and acting) at the beginning of the year to be shown to the younger students in the school about how the exemplify good behavior in multiple school settings.
Other ideas that my classmates came up with that I like:
Podcasting-students can listen to or make; I could listen to for professional development
Scratch- creating educational, interactive games for specific skills that I cannot find games for online
Epals- students talking to students from other cities, states, countries
Delicious-organize information, like for a research project resources, or interactive games to access at home
Audio documenting- have students record reading beginning, middle & end of the year to hear progress
How has my thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning changed over the semester?
Before this course I didn't really have an interest in technology in the classroom. I imagined my classroom having a projector and using the computer lab playing interactive games. This was the elementary experience I had, and used as a model when I imagined my future classroom. However, now that I've seen WHY technology is important, I've definitely changed my mind. With technology students find more meaning to the content because they can see the relevance to their life outside the classroom. I like the idea of using technology (like blogs, videos, presentations, etc) for student assessment. I also like presenting information through technology because it gives the students another source of information other than the teacher. Technology allows them to explore the content without me, and gives them the skills to seek and explore knowledge outside my classroom--creating life-long learners.
In Class Activity: Identify 3 ways I will integrate technology in my classroom
Since my school district is in a rural, low income area, , I don't have the opportunity to use interactive whiteboard technology in my third grade classroom. I had to come up with some other creative ways to incorporate technology. 1.) My third graders use blogger to share their opinions and reflections after important assignments or key classroom discussions. 2.) I keep a class wiki that includes our daily agenda, pictures from fun activities, upcoming events, and homework posted for both students and parents to keep up to date. 3.) Because my school's discipline structure is modeled after the PBIS model (which puts an emphasis on "school-wide" rules) my students will be making videos (writing the script and acting) at the beginning of the year to be shown to the younger students in the school about how the exemplify good behavior in multiple school settings.
Other ideas that my classmates came up with that I like:
Podcasting-students can listen to or make; I could listen to for professional development
Scratch- creating educational, interactive games for specific skills that I cannot find games for online
Epals- students talking to students from other cities, states, countries
Delicious-organize information, like for a research project resources, or interactive games to access at home
Audio documenting- have students record reading beginning, middle & end of the year to hear progress
How has my thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning changed over the semester?
Before this course I didn't really have an interest in technology in the classroom. I imagined my classroom having a projector and using the computer lab playing interactive games. This was the elementary experience I had, and used as a model when I imagined my future classroom. However, now that I've seen WHY technology is important, I've definitely changed my mind. With technology students find more meaning to the content because they can see the relevance to their life outside the classroom. I like the idea of using technology (like blogs, videos, presentations, etc) for student assessment. I also like presenting information through technology because it gives the students another source of information other than the teacher. Technology allows them to explore the content without me, and gives them the skills to seek and explore knowledge outside my classroom--creating life-long learners.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Reflection from class 12/2
In class today we first watched a video that a teacher made to document her use of technology in her classroom. Some ideas I liked and could see myself using in my future classroom to make sure my students are "active in their educations"
We also read articles on 7 smart uses of technology and 7 stupid ways to use technology. I saved these articles in my Delicious to reread later. Basically, it's important to know that technology is not a "phase" that's going to pass so teachers need to stop ignoring it. Furthermore, we need to learn how to EFFECTIVELY integrate technology to best benefit our students. Just adding in technology is not enough. There are some "stupid" ways to use technology also, so we really need to analyze how students learn best and how technology can facilitate that.
- SMART boards- to actively engage and encourage student participation by having them use the board
- Collaborative Social Networking- to connect and share information in real time with other students from around the world, to collaborate with experts in their fields (history, other countries, science, etc)
- Blogs- For teacher to use to document her agenda, post homework assignments, classroom news/newsletter, etc. "Open Classroom" "Transparent teaching" For both students and parents to keep up to date. Also can post excellent student work online for parents to see examples of projects and motivate students to do best work
- Student blog- to reflect, not recall, to share opinions, also to motivate students to do their best work since it is published on a public forum
We also read articles on 7 smart uses of technology and 7 stupid ways to use technology. I saved these articles in my Delicious to reread later. Basically, it's important to know that technology is not a "phase" that's going to pass so teachers need to stop ignoring it. Furthermore, we need to learn how to EFFECTIVELY integrate technology to best benefit our students. Just adding in technology is not enough. There are some "stupid" ways to use technology also, so we really need to analyze how students learn best and how technology can facilitate that.
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