ch 10 & 11

Chapter 10 explains how technology can be used for culturally and linguistically diverse students. A lot of students that come into America to learn do not know english, Using technology there are many ways that the students will be able to learn english and the American culture in class and at home. Another thing we read about was differentiated instruction (DI) and universal design for learning (UDL). Differentiated instruction is structured approaches to teaching and learning so students with diverse learning styles can succeed in school. I think this is a great strategy to use in the classroom because we will be faced with students that will have different ways of learning. Universal design for learning is an application of universal design principles to education through methods and assessments that foster access to academic success for diverse students. We also learned about universally designed classrooms, which involves changing the classroom learning environment and/or changing the ways curriculum is delivered. I believe that is important in the classroom because we want all the students to feel welcomed and not  excluded.

In chapter 11 we read about the use of assessment in schools. The textbook says that technology is a powerful tool for assessing performance because it allows students to display real-world learning in dynamic ways. We also read about digital portfolios for teachers and how important it is to have an updated portfolio. We started our portfolio on digication, and I am very happy that we did. It was a great way to start off my teaching career. It is important to have a teaching portfolio because it shows what we are able to do in academic structures and classroom teaching. We also read about student evolvement in assessment and evaluation. When we involve our students it builds partnerships for learning which is important to have in a growing classroom. The last thing that we read about was student participation systems with clickers, which according to the textbook allows students to respond anonymously to questions posed by teachers. This is important because some students might not want to speak up involving a sensitive matter, so we would be able to get important information without the student saying their name.

Is anyone opposed to using student participation with clickers?
What is another way to help students from different cultures feel welcomed?

Ch 7&8

In chapter 7 I read about the good things that technology offers us, for example it generates problem solving and inquiry learning among students. I know that it helps me, because whenever I need to know something that I am not sure of I just google it. I read about what a problem solving framework is made up of. The first step is understanding the problem; the second step is to use solving strategies; and the third step is to check answers or results. Software which refers to the codes that tell computers what functions to perform. In this chapter it showed us how to identify standard and open source software applications that are available on most school computers. In the classroom and at home we use software applications. We have to show our students how to properly use these applications, so when we have an assignment like a webquest they will be able to do the project without a problem. We read about open source software which are programs that are open for anyone to use, copy, and modify. Also we read about educational software, which is what we will be using most of the time in the classroom. The next thing we read about was how to evaluate educational software and applications. We learned that high-quality educational software and applications are open-ended and flexible so that students are challenged to keep exploring the material, but not so complex that they will become discouraged. I think this is very important because if we keep the students engaged they will want to learn more and keep going in the lesson; as apposed to making the lesson too difficult and they become discouraged and do not necessarily give it their best. We learned how important it is to compare and contrast different types of problem solving and inquiry learning software. It is important for us to do this as teachers because we have to pick the software that is right for our class. Skill based learning software teaches basic skills such as number operations in math or vocabulary words in language arts. Visual-thinking and concept-mapping software enables teachers and students to organize and outline their ideas electronically. We learned how to do this when doing our movie trailer and webquest. Also we read about how to analyze educational games and simulations as learning resources. I like the idea of educational games, because it lets the students get away from the traditional way of learning to playing a game and learning without even knowing, which is amazing. The last thing in this chapter that I read about was that "digital games for learning a new category of educationally themed games that emphasize active learning, sustained concentration and focus, and innovative approaches to problem solving."We learned how to pick games to use in the classroom, to not necessarily pick games that are solely based on winning and losing points.
In chapter 8 we read that teachers can use communication and social networking technologies as teaching and learning tools. Social networking provides ways teachers can connect with students. In this class our teacher connects with us through email and blackboard. So we are using this strategy inside and outside the classroom successfully. We learned about Synchronous communications, which happens in real time as apposed to asynchronous communications which include a delay between responses, which is what we use in our classroom. We read that teachers use digital communications for teaching, information sharing, community building, publishing student work, and energizing student writing. We read about how to examine email and text messaging as information exchanges for teachers and students. We will use this in our classroom. It is a lot easier to email and text message something rather than writing a note and giving it to the student to give to their parents. Another thing we read about was how the teachers use blogs and websites to enhance learning, this is also another thing that we do in this class, as you can see I am writing this blog for this class. We read about the three educational types of blogs which are organizational blogs, subject blogs, and teaching and learning blogs. The last thing that we read about was how to examine wikis as a collaborative learning strategy for students and teachers. We know that wiki are webpages that are created and manipulated by multiple computer users. A wikitext is a book or website that teachers and students create together as a part of a class study of a topic.

Virtual Field Trip

The virtual field trip was another thing that I didn't know about technology until today. I find it amazing how it can have so much information in one program. I was looking at a 1920's virtual tour of Ireland during WW1 and some of my classmates were looking at how the ocean looks like on the other side of the world, all on the same program. I think this would be very helpful in the classroom. You can show the students anything from anywhere during any time period and its at the tip of your fingers. I think when teaching about WW1 I would be able to show this virtual tour and the students would be able to get a real firsthand look on how the people dealt withy the war, and how they eventually moved on. In closing I am excited to get started on the web quest. I learned about digication and I want to get started.

blog 4 chapter 5&6

In chapter 5 we read about how to teach our students how to use search engines on the Internet the correct way. On the Internet we can instantly have all information available to us. We have to teach our students how to get that information and make sure that it is correct and updated information. There are a lot of different ways to access information and some of it is not correct information. Students that just started using the Internet do not understand that, they figure if it's on the computer it has to be right. We want to teach students information literacy and a big part is how to find research correctly. We also have to teach our students about specialized searches which will narrow down the focus of searches and make their search more relevant to their topic. Electronic note taking is also a new exciting way to take notes, it will keep students involved and interested when taking notes during a lesson. They can record the information and save the information they locate online. Also we read that searching the Web involves one of three search strategies, which are free text, keyword/exact match, or a boolean search which I didn't know about. It is very interesting and helpful. Another important thing is to provide age appropriate searches for the students, we all know there are a bunch of things on the Internet that the students or even we have to be see. We have to protect our students as much as we can and make the Internet a fun, and helpful learning experience for them. We also read about the four types of information problems that are found on the web, which are misinformation, malinformation, messed-up information, and mostly useless information. Obviously we want to keep our students away from all of those types of information problems. High quality online information is what we would like our students to always have when finding information on the Internet. The American Library Association says that high quality information meets five criteria which are accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. This is very helpful to know because we are going to have to find websites with high quality information for our web quest. We also read about digital ethics which is very important. We spoke a lot about it in class we have to teach our students the right and safe way to use the Internet. The last thing we learned in this chapter is how we can try to stop cyberbullying, which is real and it is a big problem in our world today. If we teach our students digital ethics the correct way hopefully we can stop cyberbullying.
     In chapter 6 we read about how to manage digital information. A key word in this chapter is information management which is the process of organizing, storing, and administering the academic materials and curriculum resources used by teachers and students in schools. It is very important to teach students how to store information on the web correctly, because it is something that will stay useful to them for the rest of their lives. We learned how to find the curriculum standards that we would need online. So after finding that we would be able to store it on our computers and have it for a reference for as long as we need. We also learned about WebQuests, virtual field trips, and videoconferencing as resources that we can educate students with. We read that webquests are virtual journeys in which students visit a group of websites that we select for them to look at different educational topics from texts, videos, pictures, and audio. It makes whatever topic we are trying to teach fun for the students. I have to learn everything about webquests because I am a little nervous knowing that I have to create one. Of course we want our students to learn in the classroom from us teachers, but they can also have a virtual school experience which is taught through online learning. Another thing we learned is that there are six types od educational websites, which are lesson plan, student-to-expert communications, real-time and recorded data, archival and primary source, skills/practice, and exploration and discovery.
 

Take away 10/8

Today we learned a lot. In class we seen a bunch of great videos and it showed how we can use technology to teach about all different subjects. It is very refreshing to see all the different styles that each individual used to create their movie trailer. It just shows how we can change styles for each topic that we decide to incorporate technology into. I am excited and nervous to get started on the web quest. Hopefully I am able to do a great job, and it will help me in the future as a teacher.

Blog 3 chapter 4

This chapter is very important, the reason I am saying that is because it is teaching us about the uses of technology in digital-age lesson design and development. We have to have lesson plans in order to teach. I think it is vital because I believe in a structured way of education. If we don't have a plan on how we are going to teach something we can lose touch of what we want to get across to our students. This was important before technology became prevalent in the classroom, but now with technology we have an easier and more efficient way to develop a prefect lesson plan that our students deserve. I read that the lesson design and development includes 3 decisions by teachers the first one is what to teach, the second was how to teach, and the third one was how to know what students have learned. With technology we have ways to do all three of these things.
     Another thing I read about was "UDB" which is Understanding by Design. This is an approach to lesson development in which teachers formulate enduring understandings and essential questions as the basis for teaching, learning, and assessment activities for students. The reason that we want to have an in-depth lesson plan is because we want our students to successfully learn the topic that we are teaching.
     The book also demonstrates how teacher connect educational standards to lesson planning. We have common core in New York and our curriculum to help us narrow down what we should put in our lesson plans. We can use the internet to help us with what we could and should put in our lesson plans to help us become more effective teachers.
     The last thing that I found interesting is how technology is giving us different ways to test the students after teaching them a lesson. We should in some way after teaching something to students make sure that they have actually learned the information, and not just coasted by the lesson. This chapter showed that there are many ways to make sure that the students have done so. This is going to be very helpful when I start to teach.

In class we also we asked if students should be taught differently since technology progressed. I think they should but to a certain point. I think it is great to use technology, but I still think there has to be some old fashion ways that we have to keep around. We are using Ipads, smart boards, and laptops, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that the students still need an actual teacher in support of all of these new things.

Take Away Message Blog

I think that today was a great and informative class. It seems like we have so many resources right at the tip of our fingers. I am very excited to get started on this journey and make learning fun and exciting using multimedia.