Have you ever thought about what role technology should take in the classroom? In my Computer/Technology class for Teachers we took a look at iste.org and learned about the educational technology standards for teachers. We then proceeded to take the Profiler PRO survey in which we found which areas we are most qualified in thus far. When I took the quiz I felt like a lot of the questions were asking if I could do things yet in a classroom setting, and sense I have not actually had any experience in the classroom I rated a lot of the questions very low. Some of the questions were things that I thought that I could do so I rated them slightly higher, but not by much. I guess this just goes to show that I have a lot to learn about implementing technology in the classroom.
I feel like I have a basic understanding of how to identify technology resources in schools and some ways I could potentially use them to maximize student learning. However, I do not think that I could actually select and use the best hardware in the classroom without further instruction. I also have a basic understanding of appropriate uses of technology for teaching and for trouble-shooting technology. Like I said before I realize that I have a lot to learn though. I do not presently feel equipped to design and teach technology-enriched learning activities connected to content standards.
In the areas of teaching, learning, and the curriculum and assessment and evaluation I have very little to no experience. Some goals for this class will be to know how to identify appropriate technology for the classroom that addresses learner needs, as well as to plan and teach student-centered learning activities and lessons in which students apply technology resources. In the area of assessment and evaluation I would like to learn enough about technology-based assessment and evaluation strategies to be able to discuss them; examine multiple strategies for evaluating technology-based student products; examine tools to communicate student performance; and to integrate technology-based tools in plans for evaluating learning.
As far as productivity and professional practice I feel that I have some understanding on applying online resources to the classroom and participating in online professional collaborations. Goals in this area include developing a portfolio of technology-based products from coursework, identifying opportunities for lifelong learning using distance education, and using technology productive tools to complete required professional tasks. This is something that would really help in organization and grading.
In the last category which includes: social, ethical, legal, and human issues I feel like I have some capability in identifying technology related ethical issues, such as copyright. However, my experience is limited. Goals for this semester in this area are to examine acceptable use policies for the technology in schools, identify issues related to equitable access to technology, identify heath issues related to technology use in schools, and identify assistive technologies to meet the special physical needs of students.
Technology is becoming more and more of a requirement in the classroom. Now that I have learned about the National Educational Standards for Teachers I have a better understanding of how much I have to learn. I hope that through this blog you can enjoy learning with me this semester!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
How do I learn? How will I teach?
According to Howard Gardner ,"An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued with in one or more cultural settings."
The Brimingham Grid for Learning showed that I am primarily an interpersonal learner. Falling not far after was a tie between logical and naturalistic, and then intrapersonal fell shortly after them. I was rated the same in visual/spatial and linguistic with music and then kinaesthetic taking in the rear. I would say that the order these fell rings fairly true in my own life. By imaging my future students as individuals who have fully realized and developed their intelligences I will better be able to meet their needs. By nurturing all of the intelligences and offering different learning opportunities students will benefit most in their learning.
Because I am mostly interpersonal I enjoy getting to know people. Group work opportunities, such as skits, are a way to meet this intelligence. To meet the logical intelligence will also be easier for me to find ways to do sense I rated highly in it. I can offer opportunities to work with patterns and numbers. My love for nature was also reflected in my results. This intelligence can be reached through a trip to an aquarium or to a park. Intrapersonal intelligence could be met in oral presentations or debates. My medium multiple intelligences were visual and linguistic. I could use paintings, technology, and field trips that go along with the subject matter to reach the visual intelligence, and have students write stories that help them recall important math facts to reach the linguistic intelligence. Music has always been important to me but just not a way I connect to learning as much. The musical intelligence could help students to connect with a certain era being studied or the rhythm could reinforce the use of fractions. Singing songs about weather or what we are learning about could help reinforce the lesson. Kinaesthetics was last for me so this will be the area I will need to work the most to integrate in my classroom. Hand motions to songs could be a way to reach this group of students more effectively. A game for physical education class in which students are verbs, nouns, and adjectives could be invented to help teach grammatical rules.
Along with having different levels of intelligences we all also fluctuate between learning styles. We all have preferences about how we learn. By reflecting on our preferences we can better understand how we learn best so that we can be more effective with our study time and we can gain understanding on how others learn best so that we can help them learn.
On the Learning Styles Test I found that I am fairly balanced between being an active learner and reflective. I was just slightly more of a reflective learner. Thinking about my usual response in working with a group I would say that I am definitely am more of a reflective learner because I much rather think through things before jumping right in. A downfall of being more reflective is that it can be hard to not over think things, which can lead to procrastination. In teaching this might slow me down in creating lesson plans. Being more reflective I may also not give even class time for discussion. I could counteract this affect by planning on having discussion time, creating group time, and making sure to take questions often to make sure that I am reaching all of my students.
I was also fairly balanced between sensing and intuitive, however, I was slightly more of a sensing learner. A sensing learner is one who is more attuned to details and careful with their work. Sensing learners get in a rhythm of how things equations are suppose to work though and when they don't sometimes they lack the understanding. Sense I am majoring in integrated science I have taken many classes that use formulas and have often found myself just trying to count on the familiar method to solve problems. With teaching I will need to remember to find ways to discuss how theories link to facts and not just focus on facts and memorization. To help reach my intuitive students I will need to remind them to take their time on tests and give them time to double check their work.
On the visual verses verbal scale I received a 7 which means that I moderately prefer the visual dimension. This rings true in my everyday life because when meeting new people I will remember people's faces more than their names and when studying I will remember charts more than my reading. When studying in a group I never learn much by just listening to others because I need to use flash cards or draw pictures to correlate with what I'm learning. Most people are visual learners so I will be able to easily meet many of my students needs by using technology and the whiteboard, but to meet the verbal learners I could include handouts and detailed explanations.
Lastly, I scored fairly balanced on the sequential verses global scale, falling slightly more to the sequential side. Being more of a sequential learner I tend to like to learn things in steps and focus on details. Some times it slows me down because I will get wrapped up with details that do not really matter all that much in the overview of things. To meet the needs of global learners I can make sure to give them an overview of the material we will be covering first and try and find ways to explain what we are learning about connects to things they should already have an understanding of.
Because I rated fairly well balanced in 3 out of 4 of the learning styles I think that it will be easier for me to flex to reach both dimensions of each learning style. I really found both of these quizzes very helpful in learning how I learn and how I will teach.
The Brimingham Grid for Learning showed that I am primarily an interpersonal learner. Falling not far after was a tie between logical and naturalistic, and then intrapersonal fell shortly after them. I was rated the same in visual/spatial and linguistic with music and then kinaesthetic taking in the rear. I would say that the order these fell rings fairly true in my own life. By imaging my future students as individuals who have fully realized and developed their intelligences I will better be able to meet their needs. By nurturing all of the intelligences and offering different learning opportunities students will benefit most in their learning.
Because I am mostly interpersonal I enjoy getting to know people. Group work opportunities, such as skits, are a way to meet this intelligence. To meet the logical intelligence will also be easier for me to find ways to do sense I rated highly in it. I can offer opportunities to work with patterns and numbers. My love for nature was also reflected in my results. This intelligence can be reached through a trip to an aquarium or to a park. Intrapersonal intelligence could be met in oral presentations or debates. My medium multiple intelligences were visual and linguistic. I could use paintings, technology, and field trips that go along with the subject matter to reach the visual intelligence, and have students write stories that help them recall important math facts to reach the linguistic intelligence. Music has always been important to me but just not a way I connect to learning as much. The musical intelligence could help students to connect with a certain era being studied or the rhythm could reinforce the use of fractions. Singing songs about weather or what we are learning about could help reinforce the lesson. Kinaesthetics was last for me so this will be the area I will need to work the most to integrate in my classroom. Hand motions to songs could be a way to reach this group of students more effectively. A game for physical education class in which students are verbs, nouns, and adjectives could be invented to help teach grammatical rules.
Along with having different levels of intelligences we all also fluctuate between learning styles. We all have preferences about how we learn. By reflecting on our preferences we can better understand how we learn best so that we can be more effective with our study time and we can gain understanding on how others learn best so that we can help them learn.
On the Learning Styles Test I found that I am fairly balanced between being an active learner and reflective. I was just slightly more of a reflective learner. Thinking about my usual response in working with a group I would say that I am definitely am more of a reflective learner because I much rather think through things before jumping right in. A downfall of being more reflective is that it can be hard to not over think things, which can lead to procrastination. In teaching this might slow me down in creating lesson plans. Being more reflective I may also not give even class time for discussion. I could counteract this affect by planning on having discussion time, creating group time, and making sure to take questions often to make sure that I am reaching all of my students.
I was also fairly balanced between sensing and intuitive, however, I was slightly more of a sensing learner. A sensing learner is one who is more attuned to details and careful with their work. Sensing learners get in a rhythm of how things equations are suppose to work though and when they don't sometimes they lack the understanding. Sense I am majoring in integrated science I have taken many classes that use formulas and have often found myself just trying to count on the familiar method to solve problems. With teaching I will need to remember to find ways to discuss how theories link to facts and not just focus on facts and memorization. To help reach my intuitive students I will need to remind them to take their time on tests and give them time to double check their work.
On the visual verses verbal scale I received a 7 which means that I moderately prefer the visual dimension. This rings true in my everyday life because when meeting new people I will remember people's faces more than their names and when studying I will remember charts more than my reading. When studying in a group I never learn much by just listening to others because I need to use flash cards or draw pictures to correlate with what I'm learning. Most people are visual learners so I will be able to easily meet many of my students needs by using technology and the whiteboard, but to meet the verbal learners I could include handouts and detailed explanations.
Lastly, I scored fairly balanced on the sequential verses global scale, falling slightly more to the sequential side. Being more of a sequential learner I tend to like to learn things in steps and focus on details. Some times it slows me down because I will get wrapped up with details that do not really matter all that much in the overview of things. To meet the needs of global learners I can make sure to give them an overview of the material we will be covering first and try and find ways to explain what we are learning about connects to things they should already have an understanding of.
Because I rated fairly well balanced in 3 out of 4 of the learning styles I think that it will be easier for me to flex to reach both dimensions of each learning style. I really found both of these quizzes very helpful in learning how I learn and how I will teach.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Google Docs for Teachers
Endless emails? Too much time spent looking for a certain message with an important attachment? Maybe you can relate. I know that upon entering college I started to have many group projects in which we communicated our information to one another through email attachments. While this method worked, it could sometimes be a hassle to go through my inbox and collect all of the data without misplacing anything. Not to mention, it was rather time consuming. By watching the Google Docs introduction video I learned about a neater, more efficient, way to handle group projects.
You can check out the video by following this link: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=49008&cbid=-1ictoi5gxjc7d&src=cb&lev=topic
Google Docs is provided FREE of charge after creating a Google Account. It allows the user to upload or email documents into their Google docs system, which can then be accessed by the user and those the user invites. This allows users to compile their information and only have one place to look. Google docs makes it very easy to access a group document. It appears that in addition to editing documents this way groups can also share spreadsheets and presentations! I think that this sounds like a great resource for group projects. Since I have never actually used it, I would definitely like to try it out on my next group project and then let you know about my experience with it. I am wondering if it really is as easy to use as it sounds and if I would like it or not.
Google Docs can be used not only for group projects, but in numerous ways for teachers! You can check out Google Docs for Teachers by following this link:
http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=158149
While looking around the Google Docs for teachers website I came across a link that takes you to a chart full of keyboard shortcuts. Some of the shortcuts were familiar to me while others, especially ones used for spreadsheets, were not. One of the new shortcuts I learned was: Ctrl A = select all. I think this will be a good one to remember because sometimes I find myself just scrolling down a long document to select all of the text.
Google Docs for teachers allows teachers to share lesson plans. This is beneficial because teachers tend to teach the way that they learn best. If you find a teacher that's primary learning style is different than yours then you can share lessons with them, therefore hopefully reaching more of your students learning styles. There is also a feature which allows you to create a classroom site! I think this would be a fun option to explore for my future classroom. It allows you to post pictures from field trips, post assignments, and keep parents informed. Another feature of Teacher Docs is a service for students that can help them stay organized when working on a research project that takes place over a long time span. There is even a site that can be made for school administrators to access to stay connected on student progress, policies, and upcoming events. I think these sites are all excellent ideas! I love how they are already prepared for you, so you don't really have to know all the codes behind making a website to be part of these. Google Docs can even do your grading for you and help provide feedback on cohesiveness for group projects!
So whether it is a group project or a student evaluation Google Docs has got it all! I am so glad to have learned about Google Docs for teachers because it seems to be a hidden treasure! I am really looking forward to applying its many uses in my teacher education classes! I hope you can find some uses for it too!
You can check out the video by following this link: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=49008&cbid=-1ictoi5gxjc7d&src=cb&lev=topic
Google Docs is provided FREE of charge after creating a Google Account. It allows the user to upload or email documents into their Google docs system, which can then be accessed by the user and those the user invites. This allows users to compile their information and only have one place to look. Google docs makes it very easy to access a group document. It appears that in addition to editing documents this way groups can also share spreadsheets and presentations! I think that this sounds like a great resource for group projects. Since I have never actually used it, I would definitely like to try it out on my next group project and then let you know about my experience with it. I am wondering if it really is as easy to use as it sounds and if I would like it or not.
Google Docs can be used not only for group projects, but in numerous ways for teachers! You can check out Google Docs for Teachers by following this link:
http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=158149
While looking around the Google Docs for teachers website I came across a link that takes you to a chart full of keyboard shortcuts. Some of the shortcuts were familiar to me while others, especially ones used for spreadsheets, were not. One of the new shortcuts I learned was: Ctrl A = select all. I think this will be a good one to remember because sometimes I find myself just scrolling down a long document to select all of the text.
Google Docs for teachers allows teachers to share lesson plans. This is beneficial because teachers tend to teach the way that they learn best. If you find a teacher that's primary learning style is different than yours then you can share lessons with them, therefore hopefully reaching more of your students learning styles. There is also a feature which allows you to create a classroom site! I think this would be a fun option to explore for my future classroom. It allows you to post pictures from field trips, post assignments, and keep parents informed. Another feature of Teacher Docs is a service for students that can help them stay organized when working on a research project that takes place over a long time span. There is even a site that can be made for school administrators to access to stay connected on student progress, policies, and upcoming events. I think these sites are all excellent ideas! I love how they are already prepared for you, so you don't really have to know all the codes behind making a website to be part of these. Google Docs can even do your grading for you and help provide feedback on cohesiveness for group projects!
So whether it is a group project or a student evaluation Google Docs has got it all! I am so glad to have learned about Google Docs for teachers because it seems to be a hidden treasure! I am really looking forward to applying its many uses in my teacher education classes! I hope you can find some uses for it too!
Friday, September 11, 2009
"Learning to Change" Reflection Questions
On the first day of class in computers/tech for education we watched a video about what kids have to say about technology.
http://www.schooltube.com/video/21838/Learning-to-Change-Changing-to-Learn--Kids-Tech
1) Name 5 reasons young people want to use technology.
- record music and make films
- talk to friends and family around the world
- play games/network
- learn/research
- creative outlet/photography/websites
2) Did you identify with any of the young people in the clip? Why?
I agreed with the girl who doesn't like when people use "u" rather than "you" when talking online or texting. Even though it is shorter, it really isn't as personable. I believe her exact words were: "I am a person. I am not a computer." I've used both forms of you when talking, especially when I couldn't type and text as quickly, but now that I've heard someone else's opinion on this I will stick to using "you".
I could also relate with the girl that said that her phone is like her third hand. Without hands there is a lot we wouldn't be able to do and without phones there is a lot we wouldn't be able to do.
3) Do you agree that having instant access to everything via the internet helps you to know yourself better? Why or why not?
I think that the internet allows me to know myself better by allowing easy access to guitar chords and music lyrics. I probably wouldn't be learning guitar if it wasn't for the internet. I am also a facebook user and found just the beginning steps of creating a profile to cause me to think about my interests and beliefs. I love the opportunity facebook allows to connect with others through pictures. I also like taking pictures that capture God's beauty and using photoshop to put my touch of creativity into them. For example, the internet allows me to find different backgrounds to edit people in to. While the internet has its advantages it also has its disadvantages. I think that it is important to find a balance in how much time we use the internet because there is also value in getting to know ourselves better through experiences and relationships away from the computer.
4) Do you agree that technology helps pave the way to move forward as a civilization? Why or why not?
The guy in the video that said that he believes that technology is moving our civilization forward had a point when he compared the experimentation with technology to the experimentation with medication in the past. Technology has only recently taken off and in the next fifty years it is only going to continue, so in that way there is no denying that it will move our civilization forward. However, it does make me think about the movie The God's Must be Crazy. In the movie, a African tribe finds a coke bottle that was dropped from a plane. The coke bottle was totally new technology to them! They found it to be useful for grinding up food and making music, but the problem was they all wanted it. They soon found that it could also be used for violence and caused tiffs in their tribe. Even today, not every one can afford technology. Some school districts can't even afford textbooks, let alone additional technology. So while technology is useful I still am left pondering where it will take our civilization....
http://www.schooltube.com/video/21838/Learning-to-Change-Changing-to-Learn--Kids-Tech
1) Name 5 reasons young people want to use technology.
- record music and make films
- talk to friends and family around the world
- play games/network
- learn/research
- creative outlet/photography/websites
2) Did you identify with any of the young people in the clip? Why?
I agreed with the girl who doesn't like when people use "u" rather than "you" when talking online or texting. Even though it is shorter, it really isn't as personable. I believe her exact words were: "I am a person. I am not a computer." I've used both forms of you when talking, especially when I couldn't type and text as quickly, but now that I've heard someone else's opinion on this I will stick to using "you".
I could also relate with the girl that said that her phone is like her third hand. Without hands there is a lot we wouldn't be able to do and without phones there is a lot we wouldn't be able to do.
3) Do you agree that having instant access to everything via the internet helps you to know yourself better? Why or why not?
I think that the internet allows me to know myself better by allowing easy access to guitar chords and music lyrics. I probably wouldn't be learning guitar if it wasn't for the internet. I am also a facebook user and found just the beginning steps of creating a profile to cause me to think about my interests and beliefs. I love the opportunity facebook allows to connect with others through pictures. I also like taking pictures that capture God's beauty and using photoshop to put my touch of creativity into them. For example, the internet allows me to find different backgrounds to edit people in to. While the internet has its advantages it also has its disadvantages. I think that it is important to find a balance in how much time we use the internet because there is also value in getting to know ourselves better through experiences and relationships away from the computer.
4) Do you agree that technology helps pave the way to move forward as a civilization? Why or why not?
The guy in the video that said that he believes that technology is moving our civilization forward had a point when he compared the experimentation with technology to the experimentation with medication in the past. Technology has only recently taken off and in the next fifty years it is only going to continue, so in that way there is no denying that it will move our civilization forward. However, it does make me think about the movie The God's Must be Crazy. In the movie, a African tribe finds a coke bottle that was dropped from a plane. The coke bottle was totally new technology to them! They found it to be useful for grinding up food and making music, but the problem was they all wanted it. They soon found that it could also be used for violence and caused tiffs in their tribe. Even today, not every one can afford technology. Some school districts can't even afford textbooks, let alone additional technology. So while technology is useful I still am left pondering where it will take our civilization....
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