A Final Reflective Blog on the Class

Now I finally know what all of those little icons and abbreviations on my favorite websites mean! I no longer feel “out of the loop” or like a Neanderthal. I now have the confidence I need to go into a classroom and actually teach and encourage students to use technology. Better yet, now I don’t have to learn from the students-like most parents have to do. I can now speak the “language” of the digital natives-aka Net Geners.

Having taken this class has been valuable to me. I now know how to set up links and tags on a social bookmarking site. I can now encourage my students to do the same so they will have easier access to sites covered in class and to those discovered by them or their friends. I’m grateful that I was able to access and save technology lesson plans to be used in my elementary classroom. This will make my job easier and more exciting even though I will have to modify some of the plans to fit the needs of my class. The term Web 2.0 was virtually new to me before this class and I had no idea what a wiki was. Now I can direct students into collaborating and sharing information online. I’m also glad I got a chance to see the many uses of Excel for the classroom. I took a course on the application several years ago, but was not taught how significant it can be to teachers and the classroom.

I will be using United Streaming and Teachertube videos for my classes as well. These are great educational videos that are efficient to use as additional or main material for unit plans or brief lessons. I look forward to videotaping student projects and posting them to YouTube or to a class website.

I also enjoyed being able to share and receive information from the other students in the tech class. It seems we all came up with different ideas for our presentations and sharing times which made the class that much more valuable. Of course creating my very own blog in Blogger and a website in Webnode were my favorite activities in the class. I can now show students how to create their own blogs and/or set up classroom blogs. This will be an excellent way for students to express themselves and share knowledge that they may not get a chance to share in class. I think the best thing overall is how many of these tech tools can be combined to create an educational and engaging lesson in a short period of time. For example, using interactive whiteboards along with a PowerPoint presentation can be exciting for students. Lastly, learning how to create my digital portfolio has been invaluable. This will be something I will keep up with as it will be necessary for my professional development. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to learn it before I got ready to actively search for employment upon certification.

Unfortunately, if I’m not able to utilize these newly learned skills on a regular basis, they will become like a foreign language to me. Many districts do not have the type of technology listed here set up in their classrooms. Sadly, if I don’t use it…I’ll lose it. I’ll just have to be an advocate for up-to-date computer equipment in the school for which I’m hired. Students and teachers should have these tools readily available and at their disposal in every district. We can’t expect our students to go out into the world and compete without first giving them the proper tools they need to be competent. I feel it’s very important that all students are equipped with how to use the latest technology. If not, they’ll be behind before they even get a chance to try. That’s sad to me. Therefore, on my part, I will make a conscious effort to integrate technology as much as I can in my class. The students deserve nothing less!

Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are an exciting and innovative way to teach lessons and motivate learning. I would definitely want one for my elementary classroom. There are so many ways to design the pages to teach a lesson. There are pre-made interactive pages such as "Hot Spot" and there are many free standing tools to help you design your own page. Even with the pre-designed interactive pages, the teacher can customize that page to fit the needs and content of the class. What I like most about the boards is that it is useful in all subject and content areas. There is no limit to who and how one can use this technology. Another advantage to having this new technology is that it can be used in the classroom in various ways. As listed in the readings, the five basic contexts for the use of IWB are: 1) Teacher as demonstrator; 2) Teacher as modeler; 3) Teacher in control - inviting the pupils (shared); 4) Pupils in control with the "teacher" advising (guided); and, 5) Pupils working independently

I have used one in an adult literacy class before and the students were very intrigued. They were able to come up to the board and write on the various screens. I believe young students will enjoy the interactiveness of it all. However, teachers will have to keep the lessons interesting and entertaining. It will be up to the teachers to learn the various tasks that can be done on the whiteboard or it will be just as mundane and useless as the regular classroom chalkboard. In one of the readings, Hazzard says, “It isn’t about the boards; it’s about the learning that is happening. The boards are a conduit to the curriculum.”

The sad thing about most urban classrooms-and many suburban classrooms-is that by the time these classrooms get the interactive whiteboard technology, the technology will probably be a little outdated. Therefore, teachers must also learn how to fight to get grants that will put these tools in the classroom before they are replaced by the latest technology in the years to come and their students have missed out on innovation-yet again.

PSA Project

My group’s psa project was on the do’s and don’ts of discipline inside today's classroom. The first half was supposed to reflect on times past (such as in the 60’ and 70’s) when students were made to sit in the corner with their faces to the wall or sit with dunce caps on their heads. The second half of the video was to show a more contemporary version of classroom discipline. I really liked the idea but filming it became more a challenge than I expected. While filming it we completely forgot that the video was only supposed to be around a minute. Since we were filming students’ behavior and teacher reactions, the time stretched out a lot. We ended up with over six minutes of video to edit-that was a nightmare because so much had to be cut away. After filming the entire video, I remembered the rule that our instructor told us about checking to be sure we had audio. Well our audio did not record the first three minutes because we had the microphone connected. Luckily I had unplugged it halfway through filming while moving the camera around and forgot to plug it back in. I filmed most of the video myself and tried to remember all of the video tips I had read from the weekly readings. I had to be sure not to cut off anyone’s head or have poles or obstructing objects directly behind the person’s head, the "rule of thirds", etc…

When it came to editing, the process started off simple enough. I really liked the effect we used that made the first part of the video look like a silent film. This worked out well because this is the part of the video that we lost the audio to anyway, and this portion reflected a time period long ago. Again, the hardest part was cutting our footage down to a minute and we lost a lot! In the end it seemed fine but wouldn’t save to my flashdrive. Then my group member tells me that the file became corrupt and we lost all of the audio so she had to redo the entire video! I’m not sure what happened there, but that was disappointing and makes me feel less confident about using this tool in the future. We had even added audio via the microphone on the computer that took a while because we had to keep it under 7 seconds. All was lost.

The hardest part of the editing process was that only person could edit it. Whenever I tried to explain how I thought it should be edited, the editor did it differently and the process became really confusing and frustrating. Overall, I didn’t really enjoy the experience even though I was very excited beforehand. Moviemaker seems simple to use, it's just getting the Audacity site and the royalty free music and other things incorporated in it. Seems like one of those things that has to been done on a regular basis so as to not forget how to do it. I'm sure with a little more practice I could perfect the process and use it in my classroom-at least I hope.

Video as a Powerful Tool

For the most part, I have used video in my past projects that I have taken in class. My instructors, as well, have also incorporated video into the lessons. Most times, the videos were VHS tapes, but videos nonetheless. I’ve used videotapes to give information and statistics on a few topics and videos for virtual trips among other topics. I would’ve preferred to have used more internet video clips, had I been exposed to the wide variety of them beforehand. If I had known about the streaming videos, at Discovery Education in particular, I would have incorporated videos from that site more frequently. They have exciting videos that span a vast array of subject matter.


There are several ways that I could incorporate video into classroom projects for my students:
1) I could have students watch an animated United Streaming video of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad for a social studies unit on slavery.


2) Show students video of foreign places that they may never get to see. These videos could be vacation videos shot by other students, myself, and/or other teachers at the school.


3) For science class we could watch videos of the weather conditions-such as snow, tornadoes, etc…


4) In an instructional support/life skills class, the students could watch a video on manners and/or etiquette.


5) For math, students can watch a video demonstration of a math problem being worked out, such as long division.


6) Students could also make videos of real life math problems. They could go out and video themselves making retail transitions at the local convenience store to demonstrate adding and subtracting when making a purchase and counting the change.


7) Students could video themselves reading for literacy improvement in Language Arts class. They could assess their own presentation style and diction.


8) We could also video class projects that the students have created for various assignments and play them at Parent Night.


Yes, indeed- videos can be a powerful tool in the classroom!

What it Takes to be Successful With the Net Generation

The article noted, “While high-speed classroom connectivity is good, most actual Internet usage takes place in media centers or computer labs. This suggests that Internet re­sources are not yet fully integrated into the day-to-day classroom routine.” While reading this article I started reflecting back on the classroom observations I’ve done in the past year. I was surprised (somewhat) that the school district in which I did most of my observations had virtually no technology integrated into the classroom curriculum. Students were only allowed into the computer labs once a week for a 45 minute session. These elementary schools I visited also had old out-dated computers in the classroom that didn’t work and therefore were rendered useless. At one school I did see a class use the computers to log onto KidBiz3000, which they all seemed to enjoy. Another class used the computer lab to do basic research on African-American leaders for Black History Month. Because of the above scenario, I hope to do my student teaching in a school that will allow me to utilize technology and integrate it into the lesson on a daily basis. I believe engagement is critical, especially using tech devices in today’s classrooms. Students are so used to “fidgeting”, as I call it, with their tech devices-MP3, digital cameras, text messaging devices, etc…-that they seem to need that constant connection to manipulating tools or devices. The article calls this person-to-tools interactivity. I’ve been fortunate to take this class and find a wide variety of technology lesson plans and learn about the numerous ways technology can be incorporated into the daily lesson. I have to be able to connect this in-class “world” to the students’ outside-world and make it have relevance in their lives.

Teacher preparation is also a huge part of the classroom dilemma. I have made it a point to explore all things digital, tech-savvy and internet based that I believe my students will be engaged in at home or after school. This will better help me to understand them and speak their digital language. Knowing these things could also help me find out what students really like and how to engage them in the class. If I can make a game out of or animate a lesson, have students post a blog, or have students set up a web page similar to a social networking site, then I would have engaged the learner by tapping into something familiar to the student and used technology in the process. This is what it takes, in my opinion, for me to be successful with the Net Generation. As the teacher, I have to come up with ways to motivate the learners by making sure they are competent in the field of technology, showing them how valuable education really is, and instilling in them a sense of belonging.

This article takes technology and use of the internet to a new level. Students, we are taught, need the interactivity that comes from such technical tools. Students need to be able to express themselves and engage in peer-to-peer communication. Animation, concept inventories, WeBWorK and other technological tools are all ways that instructors can incorporate technology into the classroom in an interactive manner. Simulations and audio programs will also help assist teachers in getting students to become an active part of the learning process and not just merely passive learners.

I believe the internet helps us all (students and teachers) bring our learning “game” up a notch or two. This cyber infrastructure can help us teach difficult and important material. Where else can you have access to unlimited information and learn it in such a short span of time, but on the internet? As stated in the article, “In cyberspace, the instructor has unbounded access to electronic images and texts that open up the full range of historical inquiry, analysis, and interpretation”. The time it would have taken to just locate a book on a certain topic one could have already accessed the information on the internet and retained it for further use or investigation.

My goal is to engage my student learners in such a way that they do not constantly ask the question, ‘Will this be on the exam?’ I want to see learners who are motivated and excited about learning for learning’s sake. This will require me to stay steps ahead of my students by constantly being on the lookout for new methods of technological engagement as well as learning as much as I can so that I don’t feel inadequate the times I do have to ‘relax control’.

Incorporating Excel into the Curriculum

Excel would be a great application to use in the classroom.
(1) One idea I came across in a lesson plan, would be to use Excel as spreadsheet programs in which students collect data, create the appropriate pie charts and find the percentages to describe the various colors in a bag of Skittles. Students could then take this lesson and apply it to other Math problems of this nature that they may have in the future.

(2) Another idea could be to use Excel as a spreadsheet and database for collecting weather information. In Science, students could track the weather as part of a lesson on the water cycle. Students could chart when it rains, cloudy days, stormy days, dry days, etc… Students could then find the average number of days of rain and so forth.

(3) As a database, students could keep track of books they’ve read by title, author, subject matter and reading/difficulty level. This could help students to not read the same books over and over, as well as chart their reading level progression over the course of the school year.

(4) In an Economics lesson, students could keep track of their own personal allowances in spreadsheet format. Students could see how much money they spend on certain items such as entertainment, books, clothes, etc… per week or per month. They could then see the percentages in a chart format, much like credit card companies and banks do for their online customers.

(5) Students can also incorporate Excel into an Economics unit on inflation. In spreadsheet format, students could plot the changes in the everyday, real-life prices of items such as gas or groceries. Students can see the prices increase (or decrease) per month by using averages and making graphs.

Social Bookmarking

Students and teachers alike can use social bookmarking to help in the classroom. Teachers can use social bookmarking to provide links for students to look up important information related to classroom projects such as topics for research papers or other unit topics. Students can use social bookmarking to tag links for future use. Students can also look up their classmates’ links to certain topics as well. This way, students can broaden their knowledge base on a certain topic by looking at sites that other students have already accessed.

Social bookmarking would help me, because there are many times that I access information on a computer away from home. I am constantly in need of the websites that I have saved as my “favorites” or bookmarked on my personal home computer. When I’m working on a research paper or other projects away from home, I can now go to my online social bookmarking site and link to pertinent articles and sites from there. Up until now, I have been copying and pasting my links onto a blank Word document and copying that page onto my flash drive that I carry around with me. Another way that social bookmarking can help me is that since tags are used to identify links, I can use the tags to help me link to sites that I’ve saved from previous projects that i may had forgotten about and may be of relevance to my present projects. I chose the site Delicious for my social bookmarking. My address is a follows: http://delicious.com/TDDancy