Week 13

Being a designer is an essential  act of a teachers profession, you design the curriculum and learn  new experiences to meet specified purposes.Like other design professions, such as architecture, engineering, or graphic arts, designers in education  must be mindful of their audiences. Teachers have to act like designers everyday, because they have to experiment and find new ways to help their students learn. 

iStopMotion is a software that allows students to create their own animated movies and time-lapse recordings. Students can create this through a laptop, digital camera, or a direct-video input device. They are able to capture and then create animations frame by frame. This could be a fun and creative project that students can make during class. Even elementary students are able to create something like this because it has a easy-to-learn application. Students could use this in a group project or individually, and it can be used in any content area. 

Digital Storytelling allows students to show their creative sides by being able to generate ideas and put those ideas into action. Students will research, write, and organize how they plan on structuring their story. Once it is set in motion, then the camera comes into play. This type of program is more of a tool to get students ideas to begin flowing. Incorporating this kind of technology would be very beneficial to the students. Students would be able to work with visual images, text, and sound to develop their critical thinking skills. I am going to be a speech teacher, and I could definitely incorporate this type of technology in my classroom. When preparing for a speech, students have to have critical thinking skills in order know how to prepare and present a speech. The skills that they would acquire through the Digital Storytelling, would benefit them in their writing and presenting skills as well. 

Visualization is an important concept to have when dealing with mathematics. Some other methods that the textbook suggest are programs like Mathematica, MathLab, and Statistical Analysis System. These programs allow students to visualize the mathematical problem and see the effect on   problem manipulation. It is a fun and creative way for students to visualize the problem and how to makes the correct solution. 

I think that it is very possible to learn from watching TV. Most students these days are consumed by the television constantly. Since TV, is something that really reaches out to people then people would definitely learn from watching TV. A good example that can be used is how much YouTube has affected our world. You can type in just about anything and YouTube will have it. I have used YouTube a lot to learn different stuff on cooking, music, or how to operate my cell phone. It is a very beneficial thing for students, if what they are watching can allow their minds to think critically and they learn from that. 

References

Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008).  Meaningful

learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Week 12: VoicThread

 After watching the video over Voice Thread, I found it very interesting. I really like the part where it showed the old pictures of the family, and how each family member was able to talk about the mother's concern. Also, I enjoyed the little boy's dinosaur picture, and how he was able to explain what it was and everything. One of the reason's that I really thought this could be an effective tool, is because you are able to post comments through telephone, video, voice record, text, or you can upload a file. It is a good tool for having conversations around media.

I would definitely use this as part of my lesson plan, because it allows the teachers and the students to interact with one another. It is very simple to learn, and students can comment anywhere on the picture, or document. With the Voice Thread, they can capture all of the groups attention for discussion on just one page. It is really fun for the students to use, and I believe that they could learn a lot about other students from this. I as a teacher, could get their feedback on the lesson for the day as well. 

I plan on teaching speech with high school students, and the Voice Thread, could be used but not everyday. Student's wouldn't be able to give their speech on it, but they could use this as a demonstration for whatever their speech is about. It would be like having a power point to go off of, but it would be interactive for the other students. I wouldn't totally eliminate this in my classroom, because it would still allow me to get feedback on certain topics that students would like to talk about or not.

 

Reference:

What's a voicethread anyway? (2007). [Web]. Retrieved from http://voicethread.com/?#q

Week 11

The three principles that I would use are active, critical learning principle, practice principle, and identity principle. The active, critical learning principle is important, because it encourages the student and allows them to learn in a positive way. It is very critical, but it focuses ore on encouraging the student instead of bringing them down. The whole environment is revolved around encouraging active learning as well, so this brings out a positive environment for the student. The practice principle is important because this is where the students drill what they learned into their heads.  You spend a lot of time to practice what you have learned, so it is repeated many times to allow the student to really grasp what they learned. The identity principle is important because the students actually get to practice what they have learned. It allows the students to make real choices with what they have learned and take on identities with those. This really allows the students to make decisions and they learn how to respond with what they have learned in certain situations. 

You can create simulations in many ways, but how I would create a simulation in my classroom would be to do role playing. I am a speech major, and role playing would tie in so well with the identity principle. They are similar because with the identity principle, you take what you have learned and put it into practice. How I would use this simulation would be to demonstrate what to do in a role play, and give groups different scenarios and have them make the choice of how to respond with their scenarios. It allows them to use what they have learned, and then apply it so they are having to make real choices. The role playing would not only be beneficial in the classroom, but would prepare them on how to deal with different situations in the real world. 

I feel that the active, critical learning principle, the practice principle, and the identity principle are very important because it allows students to be encouraged while learning, get lots of practice, and put that practice into action. Since I want to teach speech with high school students, these three principles would be very beneficial to use in my classroom. Students will learn more easily if they have an environment that is encouraging for them to learn in. They need lots of practice, so they can apply what they have learned and put it into practice like when using role plays. 

References

Jonassens, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M.,Grismond, D. (2008).  Meaningful

           learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.

Week 7 Blog

There are two types of writing activities that I would use, and they are concept maps and collaborative writing. Concept maps are a type of organizational writing tool. This helps students identify important concepts, arranges those concepts , identifies the similarity of those concepts, and labels the relationship of those concepts. There are some computer based mapping tools like semantic networks, which make it easier on the students to link concepts together. This network, also offers intentional and analysis tools. The positive aspect of using concept maps are that students can generate ideas quickly, arrange existing ideas, and they can discuss their organized map. Collaborative writing activities, allow students to come together with all of their ideas. The benefit of these type of writing activities are there is a positive relationship between the students, varied points of view, and more sources and input. 


If I was presenting a power point to my classroom, the way that I would not let the power point presentation distract my audience is to give the class a quiz or just a discussion about what was presented. If students know that they will be questioned over what they are about to learn, then they will listen and pay attention. One way that I could avoid the potential pitfalls, is to not make my presentation too long, and too unique. I have been in many classrooms, where the power point presentations were like fifty slides long, and by the end I was about to fall asleep. I want to keep my students attention, and make it fun for them as well. Students can only take in so much information at one time, so I would definitely avoid having too many slides.  


Incorporating technology in the classroom like the ones I have listed, is very beneficial to the students but it does put a lot of responsibility on the teacher as well. With concept maps, you want your students to not goof off, because this kind of writing activity can really be beneficial, so you want to push your students to do well. With collaborative learning, the best thing to do is keep the group positive and going. Power points have always been a popular teaching tool, but they are an easy distraction if not presented in the appropriate way. The main goal is to keep your students attention, avoid too many slides, and avoid too much animation and fonts. 


References  


Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M. & Grismond, D. (2008) Pearson, Merrill/Prentice Hall, 3rd     edition

Week 6 Blog

                 Personal Digital Assistants, are also called PDA's. It is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Most current PDA's connect to the internet, and have audio capabilities such as portable media players. Smart phones are today's version of a PDA. You can hold them in the palm of your hand, are able to connect to the internet, and its all touch screen. PDA's are able to function as cell phones, fax machines, web browser, and a personal organizer. Personal Digital assistants are more affordable to use within classroom technology budgets and teachers budgets as well. You can use them for all their creative tools or apps that they offer. Teachers are also able to check their email and can have access to the internet. Most students have to go to the computer lab to do most of their work, but computer labs usually limit the students. With PDA's, they are small and light enough to carry around everywhere. You can use these hand held devices in different subject areas. They could be used to chart their nutritional intake and physical activity to see if thy are meeting their fitness goals. Also, you could use them for science, to graph experiments. 


                Some of the reasons that people do online surveys is because they want to get peoples ideas and insight on whatever they are surveying for. Surveys could help teachers in the classroom because it generates students interests, and you learn what students find confusing before they leave the classroom. Surveys can be highly flexible and the teacher can use data for assessment reporting purposes. I think that surveys are designed to have an outreach for participation. They gain insight, demonstrate innovation, and they have a comparative analysis. I think two good rules to keep in mind when writing surveys, would be to keep it short and base it off of your students. There has been several times where I had to take online surveys and didn't understand most of the words listed. Some surveys would take a very long time and by the end of the survey, I was just filling in answers. The first rule of keeping it short would be a good one because, you want students to be honest on their surveys. If you make the survey too long, then you lose the students focus and by the end of the survey they are just randomly selecting an answer. The second rule would be good to have because you want for your students to be interested in what they are having to do. 


                 Technology has opened so many doors for teachers as well as the students. Having a Personal Digital Assistant in the class, allows the students to expand their knowledge instead of being limited in a computer lab. Most students today already own some type of smartphone, so they would already be used to that kind of technology. With online surveys, this allows teachers to receive feedback from their students on what they like and don't like. You could even put online survey s on their PDA's and have a quick survey done in class. Technologies like these, are being used in more schools now because it is very convenient for both the students and the teachers. 


References
Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M. & Grismond, D. (2008)
         Pearson, Merrill/Prentice Hall, 3rd edition

Week 3 Assignment

          What I found most interesting about these videos, were that they really do challenge students to become better learners. Using Inspiration, allows students to have it all at their finger tips. Instead of having different programs for the maps and diagrams, it's already there and ready to go. One thing that really stuck out to me, was it didn't matter if you had a windows computer or a mac, because it would work with both. After you finish your work, it automatically transferred all the information onto a Google doc or Microsoft Office Word document. I would use Inspiration in the classroom because its main focus is on creating, communicating, and achieving more. It uses maps, diagrams, and presentation manager to help students advance their knowledge and understanding. It is easy to use, and students are able to jump start on projects. Webspiration Classroom helps students writing and thinking skills. It also helps students evaluate and synthesize information, improve performance, and helps students write effectively. There is also collaboration with the teacher and student, and the teacher is able to give feedback and insight into the students work. You can use Webspiration anywhere there is Internet because its a 24/7 service and assignments are automatically saved and always secure.

         After reading chapter 6 and thinking about different writing techniques, I think that creative writing techniques would flow well with the Inspiration and Webspiration. Also, collaborative learning would be very useful because it give the students the ability to receive feedback from their teachers and other students. Through using Webspiration classroom, students can do group projects, and are able to share documents which allows them to give responses to different students. I can always remember in my English classes, when we had to get one classmate to review our paper. Technology tools like the Inspiration, allows teachers to see their students work at any time, and they can post their feedback and insight to help the student along the way.  In my speech classes, I always had to give a speech and presentation on a certain skill, or teach the rest of the class something new. I had to do lots of research, so I knew what I was talking about, but I never felt fully confident in what I was speaking about. Once I did my presentation and students asked questions at the end, I wasn't hesitant to answer them because I knew what they were about. I think this happens in a lot of students cases.

          Using Inspiration and Webspiration Classroom, would be beneficial to use in a educational setting. It not only furthers students knowledge and understanding, but helps their writing and thinking skills.When I become a teacher, I will probably look into using these techniques.  I think in today's society, that we need to adapt to this new form of learning. These teaching techniques are very easy to learn, and I think through repetition, it can be a success in every teachers classroom.
        

Inspiration Software. (2011). Inspiration videos and webcasts for using visual learning in your classroom.

         [Video file]. Retrieved from  http://www.inspiration.com/videos/Inspiration

Inspiration software. (2011). Webspiration classroom service improve writing and thinking skills.

        [Video file].  Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.com/webspirationclassroom


Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M. & Grismond, D. (2008)
         Pearson, Merrill/Prentice Hall, 3rd edition

Blogs, Blogs, and more Blogs

I enjoy having a blog, because it helps you be able to interact with other students. Most students today use Facebook, and since Facebook isn't really allowed in the classroom, blogs can be the educational version of them. You are able to interact with your fellow classmates and discuss assignments and get advice from your classmates as well. I think blogs would be a very useful tool in the educational field. Teachers are able to interact with their students other than in the classroom. This also lets the teacher get more acquainted and know their students abilities. I can see where some people view blogging as a waste of time, but people don't need to look in it with that kind of perspective. It should be viewed as students expanding their creativity and knowledge. In this world today, knowing how to use technology is a key importance to be able to succeed in life. Blogs help students learn more about technology, and students can also be themselves.


The main points in chapter 6 that I found, where how many students already use blogs everyday in the educational setting. It is awesome to see how much education has advanced over the years. Blogs have become a very active teaching method in the schools. What I plan on doing in life, is to become a high school speech teacher. In speech, you don't use computers to speak for you, but I could use blogs to gain ideas on what my students are all about. I could base my selection of topics to speak on, based on the information discussed on blogs.

 Blogs in Plain English [Video File]. Retrieved from

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

 Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M. & Grismond, D. (2008)
      Pearson, Merrill/Prentice Hall, 3rd edition