Mr Nevels sandbox

This a blog site that I had forgotten about that was created 5 years ago pretty funny.

Learning the Tech.

I think that learning the technology almost takes to much time. But I did find a good quote in the book we are using that was, "Its not technology that is causing a lack in critical thinking it's the lack of understanding of how to use the technology well.

First Time Blogger.

Can I get a holler, No not really that's OK. I'm not a big tech geek anyway, especially with communications with conjunction to technology but I will some different things.

Using Screencast in the Classroom

I absolutely hate missing school! It seems as though every time I miss a day, my students lose a day of instruction because they are able to convince a substitute that they don't understand what they are supposed to be doing. While I was creating my Screencast for this course, I thought it would be a perfect way to make sure the excuse "I don't understand" couldn't be used in the classroom. If I leave particular assignments that could cause confusion, I would be able to create a Screencast explaining to students exactly what is expected of them. Students would have to ability to go back and watch the Screencast in case there was any confusion with the assignment. I definitely plan on using this as a beneficial tool especially for when I have to miss a day of school!

Technology in the Classroom

This class has truly been a beneficial course. Recently, my school has adopted a new reading program which requires the use of technology. I believe that using my classroom blog will be helpful for both students and parents in my classroom as far as learning how to use the technology associated with Reading Wonders. While creating my blog, I was able to link YouTube videos that describe each aspect of our new reading program which parents can use to help them understand the various tools their children have access to. I have always heard that implementing technology in the classroom is a wonderful way to get students interested. However, my idea of "implementing technology" was showing videos through YouTube and playing interactive games on the SmartBoard. I am now confident using a blog to keep all parents and students in my classroom connected!

Using podcast as a Studycast

     Scavenging through Mrcoley.com I came across where Mr. Coley created a studycast for his students.   This was very exciting for me. As a teacher I have had many students that have specific 504 plans.  In the plans parents request for direct or explicit information as to "what will be on the test".  In many cases or at least in my school, students do not have access to their own textbook to take home.  I found myself making notes, providing study guides, copying pages and spending extra time trying to adhere to the 504 plan.  I can see where creating a studycast for students and parents, going over every detail from the weeks lesson, and providing key information through a podcast for all students to take advantage of would be helpful and creative not only for students with special needs , but for the regular ed students too.  Parents and students would know what was taught that week and what to expect on the test.  I look forward to learning more about podcasts/studycasts and implementing these tools in my classroom.

I never really considered myself old school until taking this technology class.  I realize just how far behind the times I really am.  I have to admit that these assignments of creating screencasts, podcasts, and creating my own blog have been a huge learning experience for me.  I find myself frustrated, but once I figure it out and get the "ah ha" moment, I know I have learned something that can be very inspiring and fun to my students.  It is a great way for students to complete assignments or tasks and be proud of their work besides pencil paper.  I am eager to learn more, implement what I've learned in this class, and also look forward to seeing just how much my students already know about this type technology.

Jing as a powerful presentation and teaching tool.

As I got to know how to use Jing through the assignment, I realized what a powerful and useful tool for me and my students to make presentations to share with one another on application strategies and presenting assignments such as Advertising Campaigns. Also it will be an asset to put the presentations up on our class website for parents to see what their child is learning. Overall I see great benefits with Jing!

Podcasts and Webquests

I can definitely see using web quests and pod quests in the classroom setting. I am a firm believer that if you can teach it, you understand it. The way in which Mr. Coley uses podcasts within his classroom is a great method to create audio study guides and review tools. I may actually use his podcast on planets in my own classroom for a station when we teach about space.  The podcast has useful information that my students need to know, without going too in-depth and over their heads for 3rd graders. I think having them hear the information from a student perspective would be a nice change instead of just hearing from me! I could then have them create their own to place on our class website.
As far as the web quest, I can see how this too could really expand a student's grasp on a topic and provide them with a great tool. I still have to create my web quest, so I have only started to dive into it, but I am interested in seeing exactly how it works, functions and therefore will transition into a classroom.

Using Jing as a Teacher

Using technology is very important in today's school setting. However, it is often very scary for me because I don't know enough about it to feel comfortable teaching someone else how to use it. Learning how to use Jing has opened my mind to new ideas. I can see how you would use Jing to help students follow directions and you wouldn't have to hover over them the whole time. However, I also thought about all the work teachers do together and how we teach one another new tools everyday. I think Jing would be a great tool to use to help other teachers become more comfortable and learn about many different technologies to use in the classroom. For example at Corbin we use Blackboard for snow day work. Blackboard is new to many teachers and they struggle learning how to use it. Often times teachers will ask me how to use blackboard. Learning about Jing I can now create a video tutorial on how to properly set up classrooms on blackboard and how to load assignments or links to blackboard. Jing will allow me to help teachers I work with without having to go classroom to classroom showing them how to set it up. I could simply send them the videos that Jing has allowed me to create showing them how to properly use blackboard.

Person vs. Technology

Technology is something that is growing on me. I will admit that I often get frustrated trying to use new technological equipment because I am not a very tech savy person. Because of my lack of technological experience, I often find myself frustrated and overwhelmed. For example, it took me twenty minutes to figure out how to post a blog. I'm not kidding.  I will say that although I am very overwhelmed right now I do feel that this class will benefit me greatly because technology is not going away, and I am going to have to overcome this fear of unknown territory. I feel that JING is going to be a great tool to use in my classroom. The step by step directions will benefit the students that need the visual learning at a slower pace. As I am working in the program, I am finding that it is actually exciting to see what all I can bring to my students. I am looking forward to learning all the tools that come with the class. My students in my Language Arts class will be impressed because they know how horrible I am with anything that involves technology. At least they will never forgot the concept "person vs. technology" because they see it every day with me.

Jing in the Classroom

I really enjoyed learning how to use Jing.  It was neat to be able to video and talk through what you were doing.  I know for me as a teacher, I have a  hard time taking off days and feeling like my students are missing out on valuable class time and learning.  If I could use Jing in the classroom I could record me teaching the math lesson and walk them through a lesson on a powerpoint.  It would be different than having me right there teaching the lesson, but they wouldn't miss valuable class time.  In a tested grade that is really important to stay on track and not lose class time. We are very lucky at our school to have a class set of devices.   I am looking forward to learning about how to use more technology and utilizing my devices more.

Technology

I am looking forward to discovering new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. One of the forms of technology I used is called IXL. It is a math website that is differentiated base on each individual student. This website will have a student sign in and choose any topic listed under their grade content. From there they will begin working on lessons and quizzes, based on how they do with those lessons and quizzes it will provide them with remediation or reward them with a game. This is a great tool to use if you have different learning levels in your class. IXL can be used to supplement the content to satisfy the needs of each student. The link to this website is, https://www.ixl.com

Using Jing in my classroom

Learning how to use Jing has been one of the most fascinating parts of this class. It is simple to use and I can easily see how I could apply it to my classroom. We often use stations in our 3rd grade and with our devices, I could easily use Jing to give directions for students in each station, without having to actually be next to the students. Since it allows me to show students how to use a particular software or website, students can begin their work without having to wait for me to make my way around to each station. We are limited on our ability to download to our classroom devices however, so that would have to be something I would have to look into. It certainly opens up new possibilities though!

Using JING

As a teacher in my first 5 years I am constantly trying to think of new ways to make sure all of my students are constantly up to date with their assignments and feel comfortable with the material. I believe I could use JING as a resource for review of material. I plan on creating review powerpoints with the material we are currently learning and using the JING app to record my voice while going through the ppt. I feel as if my students would much rather use this as a review vs. studying notes or reading their textbooks. Plus, I could highlight the key concepts I really want them to grasp. Once I create my blog, I plan on inserting my "JING reviews" on my blog for my students to access.

-Tabitha Wooten

New to Blogging

I am completely new to the whole blogging experience. This would be my first time stepping foot into this realm. I am excited to engage in a completely online learning experience that is this class. Thus far, I have learned various types of ways to communicate and learn via Internet. I am looking forward to gaining an in-depth understanding of these various ways and simultaneously putting them to use!

Read/Write Web

This course had been very educational for a tech savvy teacher who loves to use technology with her students! I have learned so many great new resources to use with my students and also created ON MY OWN, some very valuable WebQuest, Powerpoints, Jing Videos, and a blog that I have already started to use in my music classes.

So thankful for the opportunity to take a class that has truly added value and some more creative strategies for teaching for my students!

GradeCam

GradeCam Video

We use GradeCam at my school and it is AMAZING!!! It saves so much time on the one thing that all teachers hate.....GRADING PAPERS!!!

This technology is so simple to use and for those of you who also use Infinite Campus, it is so simple to import students to GradeCam and to export grades from GradeCam to your Gradebook!!

Seriously......get your district to purchase this for your schools. I can not sing it's praises enough!!!

All you need is a document camera, Ipad, or smartphone to scan and grade test, quizzes, flashbacks, the possibilities are as has your creativity can take you!

Jessica Dunn

Music Teacher

Bell Central School Center

Remind - Another Avid Supporter

What's great about the remind app is that it places accountability on students and their families.  As a middle school teacher, I think this is very important, because as kids get older, they need to become more responsible.  I hand out instructions on how to join Remind with my Syllabus on the first day of class, and from then on out, it's easy breezy.  I just send out a notification any time a test is coming up, or an assignment is due... No spending hours writing up emails to parents to keep them up to date on what is happening in class.. Remind is super quick and easy.

CPS Clickers: Great Assessment Tool

I had my first principal observation a couple of weeks ago, and she mentioned that she would have liked to see me have more technology in the kids hands on a regular basis, rather than technology solely being in my hands.  She mentioned that there were a bunch of sets of CPS clickers laying around the school that no one uses.  So, I snagged a set... Love them.  I highly recommend them if you have a chance to use them.  Each kid in class has their own personal clicker with an assigned number.  I simply post a multiple choice question, and they use the clicker to choose their answer.  Immediately, their answers are shown, I can instantly know if classes are understanding the content I am teaching.  Plus, the kids really like them..sort of makes them feel like Jeopardy contestants.

Remind, a great app for educators and students

I wanted to share with the class an app I discovered around the start of the course, it's called Remind (previously Remind 101).  It's an app and web interface that allows teachers to share messages, assignments, images, etc. with students in their course.  Optionally students can reply to, check off, and mark as favorited the information shared by the instructor.

It has a very simple and clean user interface that focuses on what's important when communicating between students and teachers.  I would highly recommend everyone check out Remind's resources and best practices page in the link below.  If it peeks your interests I would sign up (as it's free for teachers) and start playing around with it's possibilities in your classroom.

Remind Resources and Best Practices

On a sidenote I discovered remind and have been using it to take a free motivational course offered by one of my favorite comic book writers and author Kelly Sue DeConnick.  And as a student using Remind I can attest to how excellent it having an instructor send a notification to me that remind's me to stay on task and inspire me to do better with my work.

Podcasts: Long time listener, first time recording for education

Coming from a background of both information technology and electronic media production I've had previous experiences with several of the topics covered by both the text and the assignments in this course.  I've collaborated on knowledge base wiki's for troubleshooting technology issues, I've previously recorded screencast tutorials for users new to Apple software, and I've even made guest appearances on a friend's Podcast discussing alternative/indie music.

But not until I was actually tasked with creating a Podcast to demonstrate and discuss it's educational use had I ever given any thought to the idea using them in the classroom.  I've been subscribing to several podcasts (one of which is a history podcast) for years now and in all my years of listening not once did it dawn on me that this could be an excellent tool for students.

Although I'm not currently an educator I love the idea having an english literature students record narratives and stories to distribute via a podcast channel.  Allowing students to participate in the production and editing of a podcast seems like a great hands on experience for the classroom.  And with the simplicity of creating a blog using WordPress or Blogger it means student's have a platform to host their podcast out of and the easily publish to iTunes for their friends, family, and the world to listen to what they have to say.

Also some great and entertaining podcasts I would recommend are in the links below!

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Welcome to Night Vale

In The End

It is hard to believe that this class is already coming to an end. I would like to thank Dr. Rubin for opening my eyes to so many ways that I can incorporate powerful uses of technology into my classroom. Just this week, my students and I are beginning our Algebra 2 wiki. My hope is through collaboration we can create a powerful resource for studying and review. This should truly come in handy to students who are absent from class. Coming from someone who thought that they were tech-savvy, this class has opened my eyes and helped lay a foundation for my future teaching.

WebQuest in the Classroom

I really enjoyed learning about and creating a Webquest. It taught me more about the wide variety of tools in PowerPoint and opened a new realm of possibilities with the program that I can see using in my classroom.  I find that it can make a huge impact because it will force the students to be hands on learners and make allows me to incorporate fun, attractive, and relatable themes for the students which will keep them engaged throughout the learning process.

First Web Blog

Creating my first ever web blog was a great learning experience. There are so many resources that I can access use to expand learning within the classroom through the class blog. The learning assignment made me want to implement blogs within the classroom and use it often so that it is not so daunting to the students. I come from a small town school that is a bit “old fashioned”, and is not the best when it comes to keeping up with technology and all its new “fads”. However, this class was very beneficial because I see where I can make a difference and impact not only my classroom, but also my entire school. I look forward to teaching in new ways that forces my students to expand their knowledge in and out of the classroom to become better lifelong learners.

Technology in the classroom

Through my 5 years as a technology specialist for a 6000 person school corporation, I worked with all grade levels and all types of students. One of the best things I found was when teacher figured out how to get student excited about using technology. However, some of the worst things was when students were not excited about using it and then of course forced into it. It really just led the students into figuring out how to use the technology to do anything but the work that was assigned.

One of the pieces of software we did not use in this class, that kids really seemed to like, was LMS pieces of software like Moodle and Blackboard. They are awesome that bring everything into one software package. They are create piece of software that are accessible from anywhere, allow each individual to create a blog, do a class discussion, take quizzes, and many more things.

First blog post and more...

Hello,

This is my first blog post for the class, and I apologize for the delay on it! As a person with a computer science degree, I have lots of experience with this sort of thing. Additionally, I worked for a school corporation as a technology specialist for K-12. If you'd like you can look at a blog that my wife and I do: www.joelandbritt.com. It's great to have an opportunity to put your thoughts out there for the public to see and learn from, and this class does a great job of teaching and enabling that in people.

So Many Possibilities!

I am so excited about everything that I have learned to do during this class! I was very nervous about taking a class at all since it has been 12 years since my last one. I have the privilege of working with all grades at our elementary school and now I have so many different tools to use with them to make learning more fun. All the projects we have done have provided me with awesome additions to the classroom. Not only will the kids love these, but it's a great way for parents to see and hear about what is going on in our class!

Cultural shock

Social media is not something new to me. I am by no means a guru in it but I can get by. I do have facebook and I did create a twitter account once. The only reason for twitter was to enter a contest with John Calapari. It was his first year as coach at Ky. The prize was a Lebron James autographed t-shirt. You had to follow him on twitter and the first 100 followers were eligible to win. He chose numbers at random and I was his 59th follower which just happen to be Patrick Patterson jersey number. He chose that as one of his winners and the rest was history. I am going somewhere with this trust me. I have always been proud of who I am and where I came from. I didn't think I had to change for no one.

Back 10 to 15 years ago I was the overseer of a Christian chat room. This particular chat room had voice capabilities in which we could chat with people from all over the world. I remember one evening we were talking about where we live and the differences in our dialect. I was amazed at how people from Louisiana had this long drawn out country voice. But they too were tickled at my accent. But I was like I don't have an accent. I am just like you, or any one else. I have never heard myself recorded until I had to create a podcast for this class. It was a shock needless to say when I heard myself speak. I was like did I actually say the "told" that countrified. Well, the answer was, YES you did. But the thing I got out of all that was this. No matter where we are from or how we sound, we can still make a difference. That is my goal. Make a difference.

WebQuest wanna be

I have always had a fascination with computers ever since I laid eyes on one in the early 90's. Since then any tiny bit of information I can learn just sends a wave of emotion through me that is hard to explain.  I am like a child getting a big bag of candy on a Saturday afternoon. When I first started this class I was very overwhelmed. Not with the class itself but finding the time to accomplish all I had to do with work and coaching elementary basketball. Even with all the chaos in my life I still enjoyed each assignment with that same enthusiasm of opening a toy for the first time. It was an added bonus to learn ways to involve my kids in the classroom.

With all that being said. I would have to say the web quest was my favorite activity. I love every aspect of the activity; creating the slides to adding pictures and motion. Making a web Quest for special education students whether the topic is Math or reading is something I see my self doing in the future. Technology is the wave of the future more so than it is now I just never realized how many possibilities there are out there that I could utilize until I took this class. .

Part of the Machine...

     Technology in the classroom will always be a very complicated high wire act, one that is often performed without a net. When an instructor creates class content utilizing technology there are certain risks. Lets look at the risks.

These pit falls are very similar to what Goldilocks experienced with the 3 bear's porridge..

If the porridge is too cold no one wants to eat it.  The same with using classroom technology students know if it is out of date. If they feel it is dated or "cold" your success rate will suffer.

In addition when the porridge is too hot you will see a few takers. These few takers are the early adopters sacrificing getting burned to be the first to taste it.  Classroom technology can experience these same early adopter issues,The problems can range from a complete lack of training to incompatibilities with the rest of the room's technology.  Tools used for learning should emphasize the instructor's lesson, not detract from it.

Lastly, we arrive at the "just right" porridge. The temperature works with the flavor for a complete experience. This is ideal for classroom technology. Technology that enhances the lesson plan giving the students a tool to learn with, and from. If the age of the tool is taking away from the lesson then a more current tool should be chosen. 

In Conclusion it is very important you look at the class you are teaching , and recognize what technology is most appropriate from the class.

Thank

-John Begley

End of Class

Through this class I have learned many things! I would never have thought that I would ever be able to say that I know how to create a podcast, screencast, or create my own blog! I always read other blogs from time to time, now this class has opened up an opportunity for me to finally create my own. I never could have imagined how all of these different tools could help my students and I within my class and broaden the spectrum of technology use. I cannot wait to take what I have learned and implement it within my classroom and share with my students.

Sarah

Creating a Blog!

Hello again, I must say that when I was creating my web blog that I struggled at first trying to link everything, but I have a better understanding now. Whenever, you are new at something it just takes some time and patience at first until you get the hang of it, and that's how I felt when creating my blog. However, I think it will be a very useful tool in my classroom, as I have already shown it to my special education resource English I class, and they are eager to create their own! Furthermore, my favorite part of this class was creating the podcast, as I listen to one daily called Kentucky Sports Radio! I found that it is fairly easy to create a podcast, and I am going to use this when I create my tests for my special education students. It will allow them to receive a reader and move at their own pace, instead of waiting on me because they are all on different levels. Again, this class has helped me grow in technology and I plan to incorporate all of the technological practices from this class into my own classroom. I plan to use this blog to stay in touch with my classmates to keep improving in the areas of technology in education.

First Time Blogger!

Hello my name is Marcus McKeehan and I am a Special Education Teacher at Knox Central High School. This is my fourth year of teaching all at Knox Central, where I am also the Head Coach of the girls softball team. Therefore, I am very busy at my school and I consider myself lucky to have the honor of teaching and coaching at the same high school in which I attended. I really enjoy teaching and working with students of diverse needs and when they reach their goals in school and life it is really rewarding. However, this is my first time blogging and I have enjoyed reading other posts on this blog to learn about others in this course, and hopefully can stay in touch with these teachers to see how they are incorporating technology in their classroom. This class has been very beneficial to me, as I have learned several new ways to integrate technology in my classroom and to better serve my students of diverse needs. I hope you enjoyed my blog!

First Blog Post

I just created my class web blog so I thought I would give posting on this a whirl too. I really enjoyed creating the blog and see so many great possibilities for my students! I'm really excited about them getting started with it next week. I think they will find it to be a fun tool for our class.

Creating a Web Blog!

Hello everyone!

So I just created my very first web blog!  I must say that I was so clueless at first!  I still have so much to figure out, but definitely have a better understanding of how a blog really works.  This could be so beneficial to my students and my coworkers as well.  If anyone has any advice or helpful comments about things I can do to make my blog the best it can be for my students, please feel free to share! :)

New Blogger!

Hello all!

So this is my very first time posting a blog!  I'm a graduate student at Union and am finishing my Masters and Rank I.  I work as a special education teacher in the Knox County School System with 5th grade students.  I have been learning so many new things through this class!!  I had never done a podcast before and was pretty excited about it.  I think that it could be a great tool to use with my special needs students for responses to test questions.  If they get a scribe then this would be great because they could record what they want to say and then we could write it.  Or we could even let them use it to record their answer to a test question and grade it simply on their response through the podcast.  I can't wait to see what else I can use in class since technology isn't necessarily my strong suit! :)

Other Ways of Teaching

My name is JT Thompson.  I am an assistant baseball coach at Union College.  I have been coaching at multiple schools in different parts of the country.  During the one year I did not coach, I substitute taught at multiple school districts. One was a rural school, while the other was more urban. I was able to see multiple ways students were taught and how technology changes as you teach at different schools.  Technology has also expanded while teaching a sport.  I consider coaching to be another way of teaching.  We must adapt to the players and how they learn.  We have used video much more in the past year to try and get our concepts into the hands of players in a way they understand.  I look forward to learning other ways during this class.

Blogging Like Never Before!

Hello, my name is Tyler Little and I teach at Letcher County Central High School in Letcher County Kentucky. I am an Algebra 2 teacher and assistant coach in boys basketball and track. I stay very busy at LCCHS as an active member of several organizations including the SBDM council. I must admit, this is my first time ever writing in a blog. I am very excited to embark on the journey that this class will take me through with the use of technology in the classroom. Tech in the classroom for me has always been using Ipads so I certainly look forward to learning about Blogs, Screencasts, and Podcasts, as mentioned in the syllabus.

First Time Blogger!!!

I am super excited to be taking this class! I am definitely looking forward to learn the many different ways that I can use technology in my class. I recently received a new SMART board through the Gear Up program and I think this class will help me implement it in a new innovated way in my classroom. I just wanted to make my first post to make sure I have joined correctly and know how to actually make a post, since I am new to the blogging world. I follow blogs, but have never posted one of my own.

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