Exit Slip for the LAST class.

How has my thinking about technology's role in teaching & learning changed over the semester?

My thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning has changed dramatically over the past semester.  The most important aspect that I have learned is technology will help lead to student-led lessons instead of teacher-led. Because of my experiences, I am well aware of the positive impact of "self-learning". I retain information am able to explain the concepts much more effectively at a later time if I  discover them through my own means. Technology gives students and teachers a variety of options that allows them to teach and learn in a way that works for them. One of my favorite aspects of technology is its ability to meet many different needs of my students. For example, I can include audio for those who learn best through listening, movement (using the SMART Board) for those who learn best through hands-on activities, and videos for those who are visual learning. I now know that using a variety of technology tools will allow my students to lead their teaching and that I will help them to do so by providing a variety of learning styles.

I can honestly say that I couldn't believe all of the different types of technology we learned about this semester. I was stunned to find out that many of the tools are somewhat dated. I couldn't figure out why my teachers, not one of them, did not use anything besides POWERPOINT. I plan to continue my own education in using technology for teaching and learning so that I can teach my students in a way that is beneficial and engaging for them.

Reflection on Chapter 10

• How does this reading impact your thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning?

One important factors that this chapter discusses is the need to motivate children and instill self-motivation. According to the book, "In order to produce a generation of people who seek out learning, learners need to be given more control over their own learning." I think this statement is really focusing on the ways in which technology gives control to the learner. First, since students are using technology of all sorts in their free time, it is obvious that they enjoy using it, and therefore, will be more apt to use it for school as well. Another reason technology gives learners more control is because of the ease of editing. Students using technology can quickly and easily make changes to their work and receive feedback from others, which is a wonderful motivator. If the project  a student creates is being used by others (such as a game on the Scratch website) then the student can clearly see that their project had purpose. The final way in which technology can give students control over their learning is by offering a wide variety of resources, tools, and classes that they might not otherwise have. Using Google is like having tons of encyclopedias, dictionaries, videos, etc. right at your fingertips. The internet and other technology tools is like creating an art project with all the supplies you could find in Hobby Lobby; with endless supplies, you are able to create virtually anything you want!

•  What will you do differently as a future teacher as a direct result of this new thinking?

One line in this chapter that really shocked me stated, "We grew up with the idea that learning means taking courses in school." I truly believe that oftentimes this is still the message we are getting from schools. There are a few ways in which I plan to change this perception. First, I will give students the freedom of choice and let them explore for themselves. This way, they will be able to understand that they can facilitate their own learning and that it can occur in many different ways, not just the way the teacher showed it. For instance, I will give students a math problems that they have never seen before and ask them to try to find an answer and share their method of solving the problem before I show them a couple of ways to complete the problem. Another way in which I hope to show students that learning can occur in many different forms and a variety of places is by allowing them time to do what they want to do. This is especially true for the younger students I will be teaching. They will be given ample time to play in the different areas of the classroom to learn through play. I believe children are being forced to sit at desks and learn one way to do things way too often; they need to be given the opportunity to discover for themselves, and for preschoolers and kindergartners, that means play time.

Exit Slip Cinco de Mayo

One of the most interesting things I took away from this class  was National Certifications. Students can choose what types of credentials they want to take instead of earning the high school diploma. I had not thought about this much before, and I believe it is still very important for many students to receive a standard high school diploma.  Many students are not ready to choose what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, if they do know what 'path' they want to take, oftentimes there are ways in which they can take the specialized classes. Some of the alternative choices are CAPP or AP classes, and thanks to technology, online classes/distance learning are available for those who do not have specialized classes at their schools. I do feel like National Certification could be a wonderful choice for some students, however, for others the more traditional high school curriculum is probably more appropriate.

When speaking about teaching, ignorance is definitely not bliss. I want to be the teacher that is able to relate to my students so that they are able to connect and build strong relationships with them. One of the most prominent factors in almost every student's life is gaming. Since I want to be able to relate to my students, I will need to have some sort of understanding about the games my students are playing.  I love the idea of "forcing" myself to play the games that my students are using. I know this will be a frustrating yet fun learning experience for me, yet, let's face it, if I am expecting my students to always learn what I need/want to talk about, I should do the same for them.

One thing that I will always remember from ED 331 is summarized in this quote from Dr. Boyer: "I do not want my daughter to be prepared for a certain teacher's past; I want her to be prepared for HER future". I hope that the parents of my students will (for the most part) support my teaching methods because I am entering the profession with their children's needs and futures as my number one priority.

Reflection on IRLO

How much effort did you exert designing and creating the iRLO?

Designing and creating my iRLO took me less time than I had imagined it would. Since I worked on the project gradually, I was able to take breaks when I was getting frustrated and reflect on aspects that I liked/did not like in my project. Overall, I know that I must have spent a couple hours on this project. Usually, I have an idea of what I want to do, and then am able to find a standard that is related to my idea. For this project, however, I looked through the standards to brainstorm ideas for what kind of game I wanted to create. I made a list of the standards that I thought were interesting or could be made into a game and then decided on patterns. One day, I decided to explore Scratch to get the feel of it before creating my project. Before I knew it, an hour had gone by and I had the very basic components of my project started. Later, I worked to add in the details and begin adding the movement to my characters. Finally, I worked out the glitches and decided that my project was complete. I uploaded the iRLO to D2L and waited for feedback from my peers. The only feedback that I decided I wanted to work on was the fact that my game had no ending. I edited the game so that there was a definite ending and submitted it to the dropbox! Dr. Boyer was right when he said it would be hard but it would also be worth it. I am proud of my project and I can't help but think about the pride students/children feel when they create something that others can use and enjoy.

How does designing and sharing an iRLO impact your future
teaching?

One of the main ideas
that I took away from this project was the fact that I will always need to take into account that my students might not be able to read. Working with the younger students means that their skill levels are not nearly as high as they need to be, and so I need to create activities that will encourage the building of these skills. For example, having a lesson that has written and verbal instructions will promote reading along. I thought I was done with my project and then decided that I needed to add sound/verbal instructions since my activity was created for kindergartners. Another aspect that I thought about when sharing my iRLO is the sense of pride it gave me. Knowing that I worked hard to create a game and lesson that others could use is a powerful concept. If my students were to create some sort of game I would encourage them to share it with others (such as on the Scratch website) because it will be wonderful for them to experience praise and possibly constructive criticism. Finally, working with Scratch and knowing that people much younger than me are much more experienced was great motivation. Having the ability to go on the website and play/use the
Scratch creations of peers their age will be a great way to inspire and motivate my students. If I, as a teacher, were to tell my students that they have to do a project, it would seem like work. If, however, I introduced the students to all of the games and people that created enticing lessons/games on Scratch, the project would seem much more exciting. My plan as a teacher is to use Scratch.com as a place for my students to start brainstorming and building the confidence they need to create things using Scratch.

PSA Reflection

• How much effort did you exert planning and producing the PSA?
• I exerted a lot of effort in the planning and producing of our PSA. We all brainstormed ideas based on the 9 areas of digital citizenship that were provided and ended up choosing digital health and wellness. I emailed Dr. Boyer to get this idea approved. When my group met to write the script, I began by proposing the idea of creating a do's and don'ts video; my peers seemed to like it and so we wrote the script. While my group members came up with ideas, I typed the information into a script format. We then timed the script and realized it was too long so I suggested that we remove our last point of the video. This created a script that would better fit into the 60 second time frame. On the night of recording, the girls came to my room and we planned who would "act" in the scenes of our video. Using my camera, we all took turns taping, acting, and reading the script. After we were done recording, I volunteered to do the editing, since it would be impossible for all of us to be doing that at the same time. I uploaded the videos to moviemaker and edited the scenes to our liking and so that we would fall within the time limit. I added transitions and a title sequence. Finally, when our video was complete, I published it and emailed my group members. After receiving feedback, I edited once more and completed our PSA video. I am very happy with the results and I believe I contributed more than my fair share the completing the project.
• How does creating and sharing a digital storytelling PSA with your peers impact your future teaching?
• This project influenced my future teaching in a very large way. Since I will be teaching Early Childhood students, I have often wondered how useful these tools and projects we created would be to my young students. I have always thought about how I could use them to help my students, but having them create the projects by themselves would be almost impossible. Asking the students to make a video is a completely different story. Creating a video is as easy as pushing the button on to record and off to stop recording. Even if the students needed help with the editing portion, the majority of the project could be completed without teacher assistance. I like the idea of my students drawing the storyboard out so that even if they struggle with writing, they will still have a basis of what their movie would be about. Also, what better way to be creative than to act out? I enjoyed this project more than any of the other ones we have created this semester and I believe my students would too.
• One way in which I might actually use this in my future teaching is to have the students create a video based on their reaction or comprehension of a book read for class. It would be easy for the students to recreate what happened and then share how they felt about that scene or the book in general. This would be a wonderful way to end literature circles. The groups of students who read the same book would be able to share with the rest of the class an overview of the book. This project would allow the students to practice collaboration, show their creativity, and present information to a group.

Reflection on chapters 8 and 9

• How does this reading impact your thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning?
• Since taking this class, I have really started to believe that incorporating technology into classroom learning is necessary. However, there are still moments when I question this. The book states "Kids today spend over 6 hours interacting with television, video games, the Internet, instant messaging, and other forms of media...almost as much time as they spend sleeping". This quote was horrifying to me. I do not want my future students or children to be sitting in front of a computer or television screen for that many hours. I tend to relate the increasing number of hours spent in front of a screen to the growing obesity rate. Although I do agree with Dr. Boyer in the fact that it is a person's responsibility to control/monitor the amount of time spent on a computer, I also wonder if children will spend even more time than normal if homework is also a computer based project. This is not to say that I do not think we should be using technology. One possibility of assigning work that requires the use of a computer or the internet will steer children in the direction of "beneficial" computer use. If a student is introduced to Scratch for a project, they may continue to use the program to actively create video games on their own instead of just playing video games.
• What will you do differently as a future teacher as a direct result of this new thinking?
• I really liked the idea of credential certifications and the fact that the timeline for testing depends on the learner, not on the teacher. I think this is a powerful concept that could be applied throughout schools. I do understand that there is a set curriculum and teachers often feel pressured into plowing through the information on a set timeline in order to get through it all. However, I believe that if students were able to determine when they were ready to get tested on information, the self confidence of students would increase dramatically. Oftentimes, students are forced to take tests on lessons that they may not have fully grasped yet. Especially with math, understanding the concepts could take a long time for one student and a short time for another. If students were able to decide when they were ready, I believe that test scores would improve and the confidence of the students would increase as well. When a person is given control over his or her learning, I believe they will be more apt to dig deeper into the concepts and feel more comfortable with the subject matter. I believe there would be many benefits to having students choose when they are ready to be tested, and the use of technology could make this happen. Students could complete tests online when they are ready to do so and receive immediate feedback regarding their responses. Teachers could easily track a students progress by using programs that "grade" the students based on their answers or simply by checking over a blog about the research the student is doing. I think there are many ways to hand the control of the learning over to the student and that technology will be right along side of us the entire time.

Exit Slip for 4/28

oday we had discussions on chapters six and seven. Below are some of the key points from the chapters/discussion that I believe are important to note.

• Three Eras: Apprenticeship, universal learning, life-long learning
• The five core competencies for our generation to succeed in the workforce: interpersonal, information, resources, systems, technology. I believe that many of these are crucial and relevant in the real workforce. The first thing I realized was that many of these competencies were found on the evaluation form for the practicum we needed to complete for 351. Clearly, these concepts are important because they are being used now to assess how "successful" we are.
• Technology could be a wonderful way to decrease test anxiety and the pressure of competition in schools.
• Technology will help put students more in charge of their own learning.

One of the more interesting questions for me was "Where do you think learning occurs best, inside or outside of the classroom and why?" I liked this question because I had never really thought about it. I truly believe that we need to encourage learning both inside and outside of the classroom. Some of my peers suggested that the "best" learning environment depends on what is being learned.

It was a rude awakening to hear Dr. Boyer say that his daughter will be able to complete the projects we did this semester by the time she is in kindergarten. It really emphasizes the fact that we need to continually better our skills related to using technology. It will be difficult to determine how much I can delve into technology becuase of the digital divide. It will be my job to create enriching activities and give the students who do not have access to technology the chance to complete the assignments.

One question that I know I will reflect on was presented by Dr. Boyer. He asked, "How will you address the digital divide and how will you ensure that students are able to work with technology?" This is a question that will be critical for me now and in my future.