Tech Savvy.....Almost!!!

I am totally amazed at everything I have learned in such a short amount of time.  I have learned so much about the advancements in technology and I'm looking forward to using it to enhance learning in my school.  I do not have a classroom of my own but I will definitely share what I have learned with my colleagues so they can use these advancements in their classroom.  Even though it was a lot of work and I cross my fingers that it works upon submission, my favorite assignment would have to be the WebQuest.  I enjoyed following some of the webquests from the website that Dr. Rubin provided.  It gave me a lot of ideas to use and also some things my child who is in 4th grade could benefit from.  I have come to realize that anything that deals with technology takes time to learn.  These assignments took me a while to understand and it took many failed attempts to get what I wanted to submit.  The good thing about that is that once you learn how to create these wonderful technological things, it opens the doors to so many more learning opportunities for not only your students but for you as an educator.  This class has really opened my eyes to what is available to enhance learning.  I am definitely not a technology expert, but I look forward to expanding my knowledge of technology so I can expand the minds of others.

Podcasts--A great way to help students learn vocabulary and note taking

I learned so much by doing a podcast. I plan on utilizing this technology tool in all of my English classes this year. I always require my students to keep a vocabulary notebook. Having students create a podcast of their vocabulary would be a great way to help students learn content vocabulary and in turn have them teach that content to another student. I also plan on using podcasting whenever we read novels in my classes. It would be so wonderful if my students used a podcast to summarize the novels, or even excerpts, that we were reading.

I teach my students how to take notes (believe me, a lot of students have no clue how to do this) and we often times use Cornell Note Taking. Students could create a podcast or a screencast on how to take notes.

What an amazing journey this has been!

Wow! It is hard to believe that just four shorts weeks ago, I was scared to death and was simply trying to "hold my head above water" with all the new technology in this class. I honestly thought I would never get the hang of it, let alone come to LOVE IT!  That's right, I do love it.  I have gained so much knowledge and experience while taking this class.  I have learned how to do my own screencasts, podcasts, blogs, webquests, and I am proud to say, I have even learned how to successfully insert hyperlinks into my power point presentations. I have created work that I am not only proud of, but I also feel confident enough to take back to my class and incorporate these new technology skills into my lessons.  I am truly excited to about school starting back next week and I can't wait to show my students just what all this "old dog" now has in her bag of "tricks".  Thank you so very much for your kind patience Dr. Rubin! 

One of the absolute best parts of my journey was completing the webquest. I thoroughly enjoyed this process and the fact that I got to be creative with my work. I know it may sound crazy, but I totally get why my students are addicted to technology. Overall, I think that the hardest thing for me to conquer in this class was just my own personal fear of not having much technology savvy. What I learned was that in order to be able to truly understand something, you have to give it a try first.    

More Technology in First Grade!

I have learned so many new strategies in this course that I can't wait to take back to my classroom this Fall. I'm excited about the possibilities with Screencasts, Podcasts, and WebQuests. I have been a Kindergarten teacher for 3 years and learned this week that I will be moved to 1st grade. I know that isn't a huge age difference, but 1st grade will open up the opportunity for so much more for technology with my students. The WebQuest took lots of work and was time consuming, but I feel once the format is made and the first one is completed, it would be much simpler to go in and make edits for new WebQuests. The students would love an assignment with "jobs" and links and just the whole approach would be more inviting that a regular pencil and paper task. The Podcasts would also be great for many reasons with any students that are verbal and I was shocked at how easy they were. I was surprised that there were numerous easy, free resources available that I had never heard of! I guess I wasn't near as tech-savvy as I had thought! Today's students thrive on technology and surprisingly can operate most devices as well as or better than the teacher! I say the more technology that can be implemented in a classroom today, the more engaged your students will be! I'm excited to use these resources and other technological opportunities as I make the big move to 1st grade this year!

WebQuests

I really liked the assignment we had to create a WebQuest for our students. I'm not 100% sure that I did it completely correctly since I've never created one myself, but I think that either way it will be helpful for my students. I do think there are things that we, as teachers, need to be aware of when designing or using WebQuests.

We all know there are students who can find any way in the world to waste time, so one downfall of using a WebQuest is that there will be students who are on the computer just wasting time. One way that teachers can combat this is by giving time limits on certain parts of the WebQuest. We can also be walking around the room to make sure that students are staying on task.

One of the great things that WebQuests do is show our students how to dig for information in a guided way. We can "hold their hand" while they look for the specific information we've set out for them. It really is a great way for students to get comfortable with technology, if they aren't, and a great way for teachers to let students explore their content area.

Practice Makes Perfect

This has also been such a great refresher when it comes to technology. Though I feel I have heard about a lot of this technology and knew how to use it, I was definitely mistaken. It hold endless possibilities that I am not sure that I have forgotten or just did not know. This is a reminder that when something is not practiced, it can be weakened or lost. Also, to keep up with the ever changing world of technology, I have to make an effort to continually grow in the use of technology and use of new available resources.

Just when you think you know it all...

This class has definitely helped me broaden my horizon when it comes to the use of technology in the classroom. Though I felt that I incorporated technology into my lessons, it was not the the degree of the possibilities that are out there. So much opportunity, that is free and accessible that I have passed up on. With the help of information in this class, I hope to expand my classroom to not just the four walls I teach within, but to a virtual classroom. Where students are not just taught by the information I give them, they have limitless information that is attainable through my help and guidance. 

Expanding my Boarders in the Tech World

This class has introduced me to a lot of new tools that I have never used before. Blogs, podcast and screen cast has never been apart of my tech vocabulary, but are now. Not saying that I have mastered these yet by any means, but I am seeing more and more how effective these tools can be. I am very impressed with the screen cast, seeing how I could teach a lesson at anytime and students could watch it at their home or a substitute could play it while I was absent. I'm glad these tools have been added to my arsenal and look forward to using them in the future.

Technology: Negatives

The absolute tsunami of information technology in recent years has been overwhelming.  As an engineer I have used technology extensively, but the explosion recently has been amazing!  In past years, for example, mining inspectors carried boxes of notebooks in their vehicle containing various mine plans for the mine sites they inspected.  Then they got laptops but still had to carry maps and plan sheets.  If they could not read a map properly, they could get lost on a mine site.  Now, all information for every mine site in this state is available on their smart phone.  Inspectors now need only their smart phones to inspect mine sites, write inspection reports and email or text their findings to the mine operator and other relevant people.  

As this wave of connectivism sweeps over society, there is no way to prevent the young and innocent from all the inappropriate data available.  My 5 year old grandson has an iPod on which he plays games.  He is in the body function stage where everything about bodily functions and parts is funny.  

I recently overheard him asking his iPod to "show me a butthole."  While stifling my laugh, I took his device for about an hour, told his parents and gave him a brief lecture about what is proper and what is not.  Involved parental and teacher control over the access to information is absolutely paramount.

The internet has also become the ground where predators hunt.  Unsuspecting and trusting children can be victimized or harmed if proper parental controls are not rigorously enforced.  

One very positive aspect of EDUC 573 for me is the introduction of some helpful methods of controlling the flow of information and filtering out unwanted or unnecessary information.  Too much information is much more of a problem than not enough information.

There is one other problem I see with this growing dependence on information and technology.  First, even in EDUC 573, there is no physical interaction with other people.  Given all this connectivism, individuals are still isolated behind their computer screens.  Computer information is also rather sterile.  There is only sight and sometimes sound.  There is no smell, touch or taste.  For all its voluminous information, the web is sadly devoid of much sensory activity.

  

Technology: Positives

I sincerely believe the wave of technological advances relating to information sharing and distribution on the world wide web is a tremendous development.  Mankind should benefit from this explosion. For example, engineers can examine water supply problems in a remote area of a third world country, using gps and GIS technology to isolate any potential water supplies. Satellite technology currently can show underground formations which have the potential to be aquifers and a plan can be designed to bring an adequate water supply to remote villages from an engineer physically located thousands of miles away.

For educators, the explosion of this information technology offers limitless possibilities for classroom applications.  Through programs such as Google, Wikipedia and other search engines students can access virtually the entire spectrum of human endeavors. Organizing systems such as RSS feeds and aggregators allow teachers to help students to narrow their searches for content relevant information. Indeed the problem students face most is too much information availability.

Teachers must embrace this technological bounty.  Whether good or ill, present day students live in a world of technology.  Smart phones are performing more and more functions.  Students can watch movies, find answers to any question, shop for food or clothes, play games and listen to music on their phone.

The teacher must help students to use this technology and in order to be helpful to students teachers must be familiar with and use the technology themselves.  

This is my first blog post ever!  I can see how it could be habit-forming.

EDUC 573

EDUC 573 has taught me so much with using technology! I have learned to do things that I never thought was possible for me! I still have a lot to learn, but I have learned so many new things that I can't wait to incorporate into my classroom this year. I can't wait to create a class blog to use for my class. I think the kids will be so excited to try this, if they haven't already. The Screencast was also very interesting to me! I am working with 4th graders, so many of them have never created PowerPoints. I am actually going to use the Screencast that I created showing how to create a simple PowerPoint to teach the kids how to get a PowerPoint started. This is something the parents can also access from home. I love it!

My goal is to get students and parents involved in the Class Blog. I feel that so many times, parents feel "out of the loop" or not involved in the students' learning, and I am hoping that this will help close that GAP and I can work closely with the parents to make sure each succeeds. I am so thankful for everything that I have learned in this class and I can't wait to incorporate it into my classroom!!

Becoming Internet Savvy

EDUC 573 has really taught me a lot of useful information that I can use in the classroom. I will be leaving my classroom in January to go on maternity leave and this class has given me some great ideas! I was worried about how I could keep the content I taught fresh on my students' minds.

Podcasts and screencasts could be done at my home and sent to a sub in my classroom. I could create mini lessons before or during my leave to help guide the sub in the right direction for my students. This would also be a great way to keep in touch with my students in the classroom and at home through a blog.

Technology in the classroom, unlimited.

Being a new teacher and pretty much fresh out of college, I have felt pretty comfortable with technology and didn't think there was anyway I'd have any problem with implementing it. To my surprise, I found out I wasn't as tech savvy as I expected. It seems that every few months a new program is coming out that no one as every been introduced to. I found my self asking other colleagues for help. I even had a little embarrassing moment where I thought my bulb was going out on my projector and was in desperation of a new bulb, just for my brother to come in and notice my VGA cable was loose connecting my smart board to my projector...

The start of this class has help me feel a little better though, knowing that a lot of other teachers share my same need, and that technology is always changing is going to always be an ongoing learning process, no matter how far into your career you are.

not very familiar with blogging!

I have read blogs, but this is a first time ever posting a blog. I have read other teacher's blogs about ideas in their classroom. It's a great way to communicate ideas and activities to use in a classroom. Teaching 3rd and 4th grade Reading and Language Arts, my students could benefit from blogging. I think it would be great to have my students blog about different stories we read. It would allow them to share their opinion about what they read. Some students are shy to speak out in class, so blogging would be a great idea for them to reflect on the story. Blogging could be a way to engage students because they are actively thinking as they blog. Teaching my students to blog would help students with real life skills and develop communication skills.

Blogging for the first time

This is my first time posting a blog like many of you. I have learned several new ideas about technology from this class. Blogging is something interesting I would like my students to try. I think it would allow my students to express their opinion about topics. It would also allow for students to work and communicate together. They can post and respond to each others blogs and even give feedback on each others ideas. As a math teacher, I would like to post a problem of the day and allow students to solve it and post a blog about about how they solved it.

I've been a reader, but never a poster!

When reading our classmates entries, I'm relieved to know that I'm not the only one that struggled to make my very first blog post! I joined the blog the first day of class, but had not been able to figure out how to actually post, so I hope I am doing this correctly. I read a blog of a lady from my hometown who is a mother to a handsome little boy with an extremely rare case of autism. She is also a beautiful photographer and the craftiest person I know, so her blog has interested me for several years! As a Kindergarten teacher, I do not see that my students would necessarily benefit from blogging. However, I think a class blog would be very beneficial for my parents! It would allow parents to communicate with me and others about their child's successes, struggles, or just general questions about the classroom. I am excited to create my own class blog and use it with the parents in my classroom this year! I have enjoyed this class thus far. Compared to other Summer courses I have taken, I am thrilled that it isn't overloading with redundant busy work, but many neat lessons and activities that I can see myself taking back to my classroom and school. My favorite assignment has been the Screencast assignment. I do use Powerpoint in my classroom often, but I did learn several new tips and tricks and fell in LOVE with the Jing software. Thanks for a beneficial course and all of your help, Dr. Rubin!

First Blog Ever

This is my first blog ever.....Im not sure if I need to click on 'publish' or 'post' when I am done.  This is only a test.  The reason it has taken me so long to blog is that I could not figure out how to get back here after I signed on.  How can we use this in our classrooms??  I bet students would like it. 

My Initial Blog!

There is a first time for everything, including BLOGGING! This has taken me out of my comfort zone, but I am enjoying learning new technology to incorporate into my classroom. It has taken me forever to figure out how to post my initial blog on here, so I hope I have finally figured it out. I have found that every new school year, brings a new group of students, who more times than none, know more about me when it comes to technology. I find that students these days are so technology driven that they seem to loose interest when you have a lesson without technology. I am constantly looking for new innovative ways to increase the levels in which my students learn. I cannot wait to incorporate the new things that we are learning in this class into my classroom this year!!

Initial Post-Blogging for this Beginner

I would be lying if I said that my first blogging experience has been a joyous one.  This is the first time I have ever joined a blog or even commented on a blog.  The closest thing I've come to this is Facebook or email.  I am clueless as to what I'm doing.  To be honest, this is the second time I'm posting this because I somehow posted it to the wrong place.  My frustration doesn't come from the assignment but from the fact that I should know how to do these things.  If I don't know how to do things like blogs or wikis, I can't possibly share those ideas with students.  This is a wonderful way for students to communicate with each other, with their teachers, and with students from around the world.  I also see this as a good means of communication for those students that aren't very comfortable speaking out in a face-to-face class.  It is a great way for students and adults to have a voice with speaking a word out loud.  I am looking forward to learning more about this process and applying it in my classroom.   

Initial post!!!😀

After reading through the class assignments and the syllabus, I'm delighted to have the opportunity to add to my technological skill set. I'm excited to take the ideas back to my classroom. I already have tons of ideas, but I'm sure by the time class is over, I'll have a lot more. I want to get my masters in special education, but after taking this class, I may change my mind to technology! Hope everyone is enjoying the work as much as I am.

First Time Blogging!

Holy cow! Look mom, I’m blogging! This would make the first time I have blogged solo. My grade level has a blog, but my team members were always the ones to upload the information I needed. Blogging does make me nervous, because I don’t fully understand everything about it. I believe it’s a great tool to use to keep students learning even at home. I use smartboards, computer programs, CPS clickers, and laptops in the classroom every year.

My favorite technology I use in the classroom is my CPS clickers. Clickers allow students to individually click in their answers on the smartboard to either a teacher led assessment or student led assessment. Students enjoy using them, because it’s more fun to click in an answer then to write it down. As a teacher, I believe they are extremely effective, because they give the students automatic feedback from the question that was just asked.

These days technology is taking over. Technology is a brilliant tool to incorporate when teaching students. Smart boards and computers aid the students’ capabilities of understanding various subject areas. Connectivism is replacing older styles of learning by allowing students to make connections between information while building knowledge. I love the idea of allowing students to use technology to guide their learning. I am hoping to learn more about blogs so that I can use them to their full potential in my classroom.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

The use of technology in the classroom is intimidating, especially to a new teacher who should know how to use these types of programs but don't. My district encourages me to build a blackboard website of my own so that I am able to communicate with my students about snow days and communicate with parents about what sort of activities my students are doing. On this blackboard website there is an option for a blog and I have been very intimidated to use the option because of my lack of knowledge, but I'm hoping that with this class I will become more comfortable.

I'm also really interested in showing my students how to utilize connectivism in class. The class that I'm most interested in utilizing this in is my Project Lead the Way class. This is more of a research based/hands on class that utilizes technology in a way that none of my other classes do. I will be interested in seeing how the students build support groups with neighboring schools to help them with the content. I will also be interested in how I can use the techniques with technology in the PLTW classes to benefit my other biology classes.

EDUC 573--Technology Just Got Personal!!

The world of technology is ever changing and at a rapid pace. Sometimes, I think the more that I know about it, the less I actually seem to know.  For instance, and please don't laugh to hard, I have literally been days trying to figure out how to post a blog for my EDUC 573 class. This is my first time ever with a Blog and using this type of technology.  To say that I am overwhelmed would probably be an understatement at this point.
     How many times though, have we as educators felt that same way when trying to incorporate the use of technology into our lessons? Often times in our classrooms, our students are "light years" ahead of us.  They have been immersed in technology pretty much since they were born.  That's why it is so extremely important for us to learn as much as we possibly can. The key my friends is not to give up!! Connectivism has taken on so much more of a personal meaning for me now.  I realize that I need to "expand the walls of my classroom" so that I am better able to actively engage my students in the learning process.  I understand even better now that classes need to be interactive and collaborative so that we all can learn from one another! However, there's more.  As my text stated, "Giving students a chance to share their work with a global audience is an important first step, but there is much more to it.  It's the conversations, the links, and the networks that grow from them afterward that really show us the profound implications for lifelong learning."  
     Technology is indeed amazing and I for one am truly looking forward to successfully navigating my way through this class.  I know that I have a really long way to go, but I know that in the end, I will have invaluable resources to take back to my students as well as a true sense of pride and accomplishment in knowing that "I finally got it right!"

I see that many in the 2015 summer 2 session have joined the blog as an author - please try making a new post to the blog and commenting on another person's post.
Dr. Rubin