Reflection on Instructional Technologies for Teaching and Learning

Wow! Here I am 15 weeks later and I survived! At the beginning of the semester I was a bit overwhelmed with all the new technology that was being introduced each week. To begin with setting up this blog was a challenge. I had no clue why blogging would be of any importance to this course. I was so wrong. It actually was refreshing to blog at the end of each week. It was a nice way to round out what I had learned. I can say that now, 15 weeks later I am much more confident about tackling technology. A few assignments during these 15 weeks really had me baffled, but I found with a little patience and an open mind I was able to figure out each task. A special "Thank You!" to Lisa for her encouragement and assistance during those weeks I was really stuck. I have enjoyed interacting with my fellow classmates and was always amazed at their creativity for lesson plans. I am most impressed with Larry's technological savvy and experience in using technology in his own classroom. It's always nice to take a class with experienced educators. Their knowledge is such a huge help.

I learned about blogging! I started my own blog, which I still cannot believe I'm doing. I created a WebQuest on explorers to the "New World." I learned how to "tweet" on Twitter, and read about and watched "vlogs. There is so much more like the powerpoint, databases, surveys, comics, and the movie! Each of these technologies are fantastic educational tools that I will find ways in using them in my own classroom. I have even started a file for links I stumbled across during this semester of other lesson plan ideas that incorporate technology as part of the lesson plan.

Also through this course, I finally created my e-portfolio "live" on the web. I am pleased with how polished and professional it looks now, compared to the beginning of the semester! I think it contains some great information and I know that as I continue on with my own education it will continue to change and grow. Just like me! Twenty years ago when I graduated high school, there was only 6 computers in the high school I attended, and I never got the opportunity to actually use one of them. Today computers and technology in general are used in schools beginning in Kindergarten. As a future educator, I feel this is one of the most important classes I have taken thus far. I really needed to have a better understanding of technology and how to use it in a classroom setting.

Google Earth

http://www.google.com/educators/geo.html


Google Earth! I was somewhat familiar with this website. My daughter uses Google Sketchup often as well. So to be honest I thought it would be about mapping and geography at best. I took my time and looked around. One of the first things I did was locate the Crown Point Bridge from my area. I looked at the images that were attached to it and then started to follow the road to my house. I was disappointed my house was a white blur. That being said, all in all I was really amazed by the wealth of information that could be used by educators. This is truly a huge resource for the classroom. I went into "classroom ideas" and found Google your "Ancestor's Journey" was one of the first activities that caught my eye. I was able to locate this going through Google Lit Trips. I checked out a section about an Alaskan Field trip for over a half hour. I was impressed with all the images and information that went along with it. I then visited "earthquakes" and learned that yesterday there was an earthquake near Altamont, New York with a magnitude of 2.6. The topics are endless and I spent several hours, over several days looking through this site. It's addicting to say the least.
I can see Google Earth being used my classroom. Since my first love is history. I think I would like to use Google Earth to locate historical sites of interest during a lesson plan. For instance the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It would be great to locate the path they took and explore sites mentioned in their journals. I also noticed a "classroom idea" on exploration that included early explorers to the New World. I think the possibilities are endless.
One aspect of Google Earth that is a little scary is being able to locate people by their addresses. I don't think this is a particular good feature for this site. There are too many child predators on line that as educators and parents we need to remind our children and students about internet safety and do not give out any personal information such as your address. As I can see it is way to easy to find out where people live by a few strokes of the keyboard.

Educational Philosophies

This week I am to do some research into the different educational pedagogies and "makeover" my own philosophy of education. Truth be known it really needs to be updated. It's been quite some time and I have learned so much since then. There a few educational pedagogies that seem to fit with how I learn. This would be "Learning Styles" and Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligence Theory". My current philosophy of education is based on "Progressivism." I did some research here http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html .
Progressivism Theory is based on "education that should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher" and "Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing" (Cohen). At the moment I still love this idea, but I also recognize that not all students are going to learn the same way.

I looked around at some educational blogs that were linked to http://thereflectiveteacher.wordpress.com/2006/06/07/statement-of-educational-philosophy/
Most of the blogs were frustrated educators trying to find a way to connect to their students. To tell the truth...it really bummed me out. Then I found a blog called "History is Elementary." Mainly because I LOVE history! This teacher loved history as well and not just the big events in history. She enjoyed learning and teaching the small stuff too! Here is a link to her blog;
http://historyiselementary.blogspot.com
One thing that stood out to me while browsing through her blog was how she was trying to find a way to motivate her students. "Every human has different needs at different times that govern motivation. It is up to us as the educators to discover each student’s needs at the right time and at the right place so that we all can be successful. Research tells us that students can be goverened by approximately seven different needs that we can meet once we tap into them. It’s the tap dance that we have to do that causes the difficulty. Sometimes we are a little rusty with the steps" (Historyiselementary.com).
So its time for me to get motivated and update my own "Philosophy of Education" : )

Thankful for Technology

"Think about the gratitude your feeling, not just the frustrations"

This is a much easier topic to tackle this week! I have learned so much about technology and the different ways to incorporate it into a classroom. Where do I even begin?
How about the beginning... I did not attend high school during a time where computers were part of an everyday classroom. I can't believe how far technology has come in the 20 years since I graduated high school. Fast forward to the present time, and practically everything I've learned over the last 11 or so weeks have been all new to me. I am first of all thankful I took Micro App 1 last spring. It was a huge help. I don't even know if I would have been able to do this class without it. That being said my biggest challenge has been the Web Quest, and yet it was also the most creative and fun thing I've done during this class. I think with some more practice, this will be one of the best lesson plans for my students. It's web based and interactive and there is so much you can do with it. The database lesson plan is an interesting idea. I still need to figure out how to make this "live" but the lesson plan itself is again web based. The PowerPoint presentation was a blast. This was right up my alley with being creative and combining my love of history and nature at its best. I was so frustrated trying to figure out how to upload it into "slide rocket" but I kept at it and was able to figure it out on my own. I was thrilled that I did it!
So how has technology enriched my life so far... well I will start with emails. This has helped me be able to stay in touch with my family and friends who are scattered across the United States. I have been able to take online classes. I am very thankful for that, otherwise it would have been impossible for me to pursue my degree and be a stay at home mom. Time wise site classes would have been too hard for me. The Internet itself contains so much information and is very easy to access. With some careful research I am able to find almost anything I'm searching for. I think technology for me as a teacher will only enhance the learning experience for my students. As I mentioned above the lesson plans; Web Quest, Database, PPP that we have done thus far will engage students in learning. I know my own children were very interested in these lesson plans. I loved it when I heard from them "cool mom" or "that's really good." Whether you agree or disagree with it, technology is here to stay and as an educator its a valuable tool to learn.

Vlogs

Vlogs are like a blog, but they are done in video format. One blog site I follow on a regular basis is Tammy's Recipes. The host, Tammy has in the past done some interesting vlogs on cooking and canning. They are I believe very helpful for people who are unfamiliar with certain cooking techniques and definitely help with canning and freezing. Here is one vlog Tammy has done on how to can tomatoes using a kettle/water bath. http://www.tammysrecipes.com/files/video/openkettlecanning_tomatos.wmv
I continued my search on vlogs and I could not believe how many there were to see! Some were interesting and some were just plain bad taste. I decided to "google" vlog and Vermont to see what I could come up with. I found Stuck In Vermont; http://www.youtube.com/user/StuckinVermont#p/u/0/VsxWXULL8Rk

I watched 4 of the vlogs that were posted by a woman named Eva Sollberger. What I watched I thought they would be very useful for students to learn what goes on in Vermont. Sollberger had vlogs on the Horror Fest in Burlington, Green Mountain Hounds in Charlotte, and MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Williston.
If you look hard enough you will be able to find some high quality informational vlogs that could be used in a classroom setting. But the key really is you must do some research.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Do schools kill creatvity? I have a little bit of mixed feelings on this. I was one of those figity children that Ken Robinson discusses in the video. My experience throughout elementary and high school that I attended was focused on learning. I could say with confidence these schools lacked creativity. We had no art or music program available during elementary school. We concentrated on reading, writing, and math. Even in science as students we listened to the teacher. We never participated in anything hands on. Thank goodness for recess or it would have been unbearable for me. I need to move around, I need to sometimes just listen to music or draw. As a student now I will often just get up from my studies and walk out the door to go for a walk. Just to clear my mind. Today, I see my own children going through the school system now and I have to say I am a bit envious. I want to go back. They have art available for every grade. They paint, draw, sketch, and design. Music is offered to all students as well. They sing and are introduced to different instruments. Every student is given the opportunity to play an instrument in the 4th grade. For P.E. classes they often have dance class, gymnastics, games, rollerblading, and swimming. It continues in the high school as well. For students there are several different education opportunities for them that will meet their needs. One statement that really struck me that Ken Robinson said was "if your not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." I think that is a really powerful statement and it is one that I do see in my children as they have gotten older. My twin sons are in 5th grade now, and when they are doing homework they often second guess themselves when they are answering questions. They come to me for reassurance. Why? Because they are afraid of being wrong. I don't think that is what learning should be about. This video really had me thinking about how I as a teacher can bring creativity into my lessons. This class as well has really gotten my creative juices flowing again and can't wait to use what I've learned in my own classroom.

Bad PPP experience...

As a student I have only created one PPP for a class on Child Development. My first time out of the gate was a success and scored high marks from my professor! Bonus!
I have as a student sat through many very boring PPP. One in particular I remember on the Holocaust. The background image was bright pink in color and the text varied between blue and black. There was very little images to go along with the text. It was set up to compare and contrast World War II. Basically it was horrible. I thought the colors were inappropriate for the topic.
Another PPP I recall was when I was at a conference that I attended on agriculture. It was very informational. The speaker had music going along with the PPP, which wasn't distracting at all, but made it more enjoyable. There were many images on the PPP that were on the history of farming beginning in the early 1900's to the present. The speaker did a great job in keeping the information interesting and the dialogue was short. The PPP was about an hour in length. He paused often to ask question and to answer questions from the audience. Its probably the best PPP I have ever seen. One question I have is how long should a good PPP be? Another question I have is what makes a good topic choice?

Hans Rosling Presentation

Part of our assignment this week was to view the video link to Hans Rosling's presentation about data. This was a fantastic video! I took Statistics over the summer and was thinking about all the different ways to graph information and how to interpret the data. This would have been a great addition to that class! So one of the most interesting things to watch in the video is how Rosling has taken data from the 1960's to 1990's and turned them into animations. One of the statistics he used was to see if there was a correlation between small families and longer lives. He used varying sizes of circles to represent populations of countries. The circles moved from the 1960's to 1990's, showing that yes indeed there was a correlation between smaller families and longevity. What was great was seeing the data in motion. He and others have started a "non-profit venture" called Gapminder. Which is software that will link data to animations. What a great way to learn information.

Bloom's Taxonomy

This week I have been editing and re-editing my WebQuest. I had to step away from it for a few days because I am becoming very frustrated with the entire process. In addition we are to design a rubric to go along with the WebQuest. Since I have been having a difficult time with the WebQuest I have had a difficult time with the rubric. For some reason I just don't get the WebQuest "idea."

This week we are to blog about Bloom's Taxonomy. This is not a new topic for me; I have encountered this in a few of my other educational classes. This is the first time that I've actually had to use it! Bloom's Taxonomy is based on "Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation." It requires the student to use critical and creative thinking to answer the questions. I see this as useful when a teacher is trying to get their students to think at a higher level instead of relying on just retelling or recalling information from a text. I think by redesigning a basic question and turn it into something that requires more thinking and deeper knowledge of a subject is a good thing! The designing of my WebQuest has really made me dig deeper for questions to ask my students. I have printed out the list of "useful verbs" to refer to. I think with some practice I will be able to grasp this concept much more easier as time goes on. It's been challenging, but I really have enjoyed soaking up all this information.

WebQuest; The Pitfalls

I just finished watching the video of Bernie Dodge explaining what to avoid in designing a WebQuest. I took notes as I watched and discovered that some of the information was really a "no brainer" for me. Like don't choose an inappropriate topic. Dodge also states you should avoid designing WebQuests that are covered well by text books, avoid factual recall, and procedures. I was thinking as I heard this "what is covered well by text books? Is my topic of explorers covered well by text books?" I'm really not too sure about this. I'm also not sure by what Dodge meant when he says "give a scaled down version of what adults do" and "when do adults use this knowledge." I liked Dodge's taxonomy though. It did give me a better idea of what his vision for a WebQuest is by breaking it down into "life verbs" and "classroom verbs" and showing what overlapped; apply, analyze, and explain. I hope I'm on the right track with my WebQuest. I may be more confused now than when I began. I'll be blogging more about my journey in building my WebQuest.

Week 5 Making a WebQuest

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of creating my WebQuest. I have enjoyed choosing my topic of Explorers to the New World and finding appropriate links to help my students.That has definitely been the easy part of my journey! I have also been reading and searching different WebQuests and have even found a few that were about my topic of Explorers. One of them was even pretty similiar to the one I had envisioned mine looking like. It had links to different explorers and maps and it also wanted a powerpoint done to showcase the information the students had found to present to the class. I feel like a copycat in a way even though I found it after my "brainstorm" week. So now I am thinking should I go ahead with my initial design or should I try and do something different? I am also having thoughts that I am totally off track with my "idea" of what a WebQuest really is! Today I am going to continue my reading and research on WebQuest and hope that I will in the end prove to myself that I can do this!

WebQuest !

This is another week of new technology for me. This week is WebQuest! I have done my "brainstorming" for my topic and have settled on Early Explorers to America. I thought it would be interesting to tackle a topic I have never done before. WebQuest should be a very interesting project to do and I look forward to learning more about it. At the moment all the new information I've taken in so far and we are just at week 4 feels a little overwhelming. I will be doing a little google searching tonight to see if I can find other WebQuests that teachers have done on Explorers and to see what other information and links I can dig up!

Creative Commons

This week we were to take a look at Creative Commons "a copyright-free music and art site."
http://creativecommons.org/ this is a non profit organization that offers free licenses for people to be able to have credit for their work. This allows others to be able to "mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof."
In my opinion this is simply ingenius! I started looking around their site a bit and found ccLearn a division of the Creative Commons that is an open resource for education Wikipedia is one of these resources. I also took a look at DiscoverEd., OpenEd., and Student Journalism 2.o that were listed under the "project" tab for ccLearn.
I had never considered copyright issues for teachers in the classroom. ccLearn is a great idea that is supportive of reusing and sharing educational resources.

e-Portfolio

I've decided to continue using my website through weebly. I like the layout and its been fairly straight forward in using it. I think it looks professional and I hope as I continue building it the end product will look professional as well.
My link to this site is http://teenalafleche.weebly.com .

Web Design

This was a good assignment for me to do this week. Especially as a novice in the field of technology! The only thing I've been able to add to the web is a facebook page and this has only been in the last few weeks.
The websites that we were to look at http://www.ratz.com/features.html and http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ gave some absolutely fantastic information and guidelines to use when building a web site for yourself. A few things they both pointed out that you need to avoid is varying text sizes, fonts, and different colored text. The sites also discussed pages being to overdone or to difficult to navigate. Another piece of advice was to keep all pages in a similar format so it looks consistent. There has to be some forethought into your web site. Who is your audience is a good question to ask yourself. For an e-portfolio you need to include information relevant to education and yourself. Nothing too personal because its not for your friends and family to view. This site will need to be simple but professional looking as well. Since I'm a beginner in web design I found the sites through http://sites.google.com/ , http://www.weebly.com/ , and http://www.yola.com/the easiest to use. I think they all offer great web sites to get started with building your portfolio. I have done a portfolio for another class through CCV but it wasn't using CCV's course portfolio. It was very basic and not something that I could use professionally. So I look forward to building my professional e-portfolio in the weeks to come.

5000 Days of the Internet

I did not grow up with the luxury of having a computer in my home with its quick and easy internet access to information. They were limited in our school at the time and only a select few of students were able to use them. I was not one of them. My last job I had before becoming a SAHM was an office manager. It was really the first time that I got to use a computer and the internet! It's all amazing to me.
The video link 5000 Days of the Internet was interesting indeed. Especially to see how far and how fast it has all become. We can look for certain information, research different things, communicate with others, watch videos, have live chats, download and upload and I know there is so much more. One thing that does fascinate me is how is this information all stored? How am I able to retrieve information? It just is overwhelming to think at any one given time how many people are using the internet and how we are all connected. I am excited to see what will happen in the next 5000 days for the internet as it is continually changing at a rapid pace. For educators and students the internet is a great tool to have available. As I read more about Wiki I see this as a great addition to the classroom and look forward to be able to incorporate this in my own classroom.

Wetpaint!

This week I was invited to join Wetpaint a Wiki site that I have never heard of before. I seem to be having a little difficulty navigating around but have managed to sign in and create a profile! I did participate in a Wiki last semester through CCV taking a Statistics course. It was interesting to use and only posted in it a few times over the length of the course. So looking forward to learning more about it and hopefully feeling a bit more comfortable using this technology!

Internet Detective

In one word...Wow!
I have taken several online courses through CCV and have used a variety of internet sources for the classes. I usually rely heavily on CCV's Hartness Library but I have done an internet search now and then. I knew to be aware of the URL and look for key things like edu. or gov. and to be aware of dates and authors. I would say I was most surprised with how elaborate some of the sites are with scams and false information. I also didn't realize that it was possible to identify the country of origin and not to always just rely on the URL itself. I need to investigate further to make sure its legit.

Goals for This Class

I graduated high school 20 years ago this year. Computers were not readily available to me during this time. So it has not been easy for me to understand the technical lingo. I know that today's classrooms are far different from the ones I experienced as a student. Technology is a significant part of the classroom environment. So as I begin this class I have a few goals in mind. First, I hope to gain a better understanding of technology in general and to also feel a bit more comfortable using it. I also hope to aquire knowledge in how to use technology successfully in my classroom and be able to share what I learn with my students.
I am not particularly nervous taking this class. I would say I am very excited!