Learning Outcomes for the Course

1. Discuss the differences in attitudes, conceptions, approaches, and use of technology between teachers/adults and students/children.
3. Explain how the differences between teachers and students in the digital age impact the role of the instruction in the classroom and critically evaluate claims that this role must change

Through this course I learned that teachers/adults have a very different view of technology than students/children do. Children see technology as an integral part of their lives. This is approach as they are a part of the 21st century(digital age), a century of technological learners. Adults tend to have a negative view of technology, as cumbersome and not necessary. The fact is that in this day and age teachers need to realize that in order to engage and motivate their students it is absolutely necessary to incorporate the technology their student fluently use on a regular basis.

2. Learn how to access and use a variety of computer- and Web-based educational technology tools and resources. Participate in meaningful online communication within and outside of an electronic learning community.
4. Learn how to plan curriculum standards-based, technology enhanced learning activities for elementary or secondary students.

Through this course I learned how to use web-conferencing forums, I learned about cooperative/collaborative tools like google docs, I learned about presentation site like Prezi, and multimedia tools like Glogster, Photo Story 3, Smile Box, Stone Capture and many others. We also discussed in depth in class and in our groups how to effectively implement such tools in the classroom. We connected them across content areas and trough are wide variety of activities.

5. Critically evaluate learning activities that integrate technology, i.e., interactive web sites, web quests, software applications, etc. Increase the awareness and comprehension of copyright and acceptable use issues and policies.
6. Further their understanding of and reflection upon the NCATE/ITASC teaching competencies
 7. Substantively reflect on the course content materials and educational events

We took time to critically evaluate each tool or technology issue we discussed. We posted reflections about our thinking on our blogs, created personal website to voice our personal perceptions of teaching with technology and spent time talking in depth in our groups about various controversial issues. Students were encouraged to voice opinions and were open to constructive criticism that strengthened out understanding of teaching with technology and its importance.

This class was valuable in many ways. It opened my eyes to the importance of staying current with technology and the importance of incorporating it into  my classroom. Students need a voice and need to be heard.Their voices are saying I am a digital native and you are a digital immigrant; let me show you how it's done! 

WoW - Those projects were good!

After watching all of the wonderful WoW presentations last night, I wanted to give a little feedback after being able to process everything. I also apologize for not having much to say last night due to the fact that my headset was giving me a lot of trouble. Got to love technology when it doesn't do what you want it to =] !

Sheldon - I apologize because I missed a lot of your presentation in trying to fix my computer problem. However, I was lucky enough to view it while we were rehearsing. As I said then, Wonderful! I can't wait to play around with Piknik myself. 

Jeff - I have never heard of Jog the Web so I was very interested in hearing about it. I like that you can limit students to a list of sources that you deem to be valuable. I also liked your discussion about bookmarking. I used Yahoo bookmarks all the time with my students to enable them to visit a specific site that I found and want to share.

Tina - Your project was formatted very well and easy to follow. You made such an important point about using videos to engage students. I think your the video project you are doing with your students about the Civil Way sounds awesome! Creating a video is a great way to synthesize and get to higher levels of meaning!

Kiarra - Technology is a great way to motivate students which can be difficult sometimes. I had mentioned another Jeopardy site - flash jeopardy - check it out. I love using things like this and so do my students! Nice job! Good luck student teaching!

Fran - Your presentation was so through! Your point about being able to speak the students language when it comes to technology is so true. I also liked how you used our project as an example... that's using your head! Sites like Webspiration force kids to be accountable which is so important when they are collaborating.

Kristen - I feel bad that you were so rushed but I think you did a great job despite that! PicLits was very interesting and I have never heard of it before. Although I am a math teacher, I might be able to find some way to use it in my room. The least is that I will tell our ELA teachers about it!

Fantastic job everyone! It was a pleasure to have class with you!

Did you like creating a blog?

Creating my own blog was an interesting experience. In the beginning I was very unsure of what to do or what was expected. Eventually I realized that there is not set format, you can do whatever you want to do. I became good at taking the information from the readings and tutorials that I found interesting and reflecting on it. It was a place to let everyone know what I thought. I realized how important it is to have a catchy title and relevant coherent information in my blog. First you want to catch the reader’s eye and then keep them interested in reading what you have to say with accurate and interesting point of views. I also found it interesting to read what other people had to say once I was done writing my own reflection. I found it difficult to continuously comment on others’ blogs because everyone does their blogs on their own time, which is the beauty for the writer. Using the blog to synthesize the information I was reading enhanced my learning experience greatly. It was also a benefit to see how others were synthesizing the same information to get a different point of view on the same material. I tried to always link my projects that I did in class or URL’s to specific movies or graphics that I found particularly intriguing.  I think I gave writing a blog my all and would engage in this activity for personal pleasure, especially after having such a positive first experience with it. 

I was able to comment on and follow the blogs of my classmates listed below:
TheMathinator2000's blog - I commented about her screenshots project. I also commented on her discussion of LoTI and YuuGuu.
Jeff's blog - I commented on his discussion of the teaching new letter assignment.
Captainiluminati's Blog - I commented on his discussion about engrade.
I believe I made other comments as well, but I did not keep track of them and it is a little tedious to look them all up.

Making Connections with Mind Maps

Using Mindmeister I created a mind map of the curriculum my students are engaged in during the geometry unit. I chose to do this unit because it involves a lot of definitions and concepts that can be verbalized. I struggled with deciding what concept to mind map because I think it is more difficult to do such an activity with Math topics. The idea behind my mind map is that the students would create one like this at the end of a unit, as a review of the concept learned. By putting their ideas into a mind map, it forces the students to see how the concepts are interrelated. It helps them to solidify the concepts by verbalizing explanations of them. Mind maps such as these could be used for the purpose of assessment in place of traditional paper-pencil assessments.
The most important lesson that I learned from this activity is that students need to have to opportunity to display the knowledge that they have learned in multiple ways. It was difficult for me to get started, but once I got going, it was easy to add ideas.
I liked that MindMeister had a large canvas that allowed you to expand your ideas as far as you wanted. I also liked that you can collaborate with many people at one time on this site. It acts as a wikimap. This allows for students to all work on one class map. I disliked its ability to include Math concepts. Students have a hard time figuring out how to display math symbols on the computer. I would have been nice if they had a data base of math symbols for students to use while mind mapping.
I see myself using this tool mostly as a way to review for tests. Next time, I would have students create mind maps as study guides for tests. I would consider having them work together in groups of two. Students always view things in different ways, making group work perfect for this activity.

Evaluating Engrade

Engrade is a free online gradebook. It offer many features that are helpful for teachers both in and out of the classroom. I created a fake class to test out Engrade and this is what I thought.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

 There was many features that I liked and some that I disliked. I loved how easy it was to create a class. It was easy to select how your grades are configured, I chose weighted grades. I also liked that you could easily create lessons, quizzes and flashcard activities on the site. I found the flashcard program to be very useful in helping students prepare for tests and quizzes. It is an interactive study aid that allows them to study the flashcards, match the definitions to the concept and then answer multiple choice questions about the vocabulary. Lastly I liked the calendar in that it posts the assignments on the calendar on the date they are due. Students then have a visual reminder of due dates and can use the same links to check grades once the assignment is complete.

I did not like that the students or their parents have to have an email address in order to create an account and view their grades. I posed as a student to see what the process is like. I was able to fairly easily create an account as the student. The view of the grades from the students perspectives was good. They can click on assignments to view individual grades as well as see their real time overall. I was also not a fan of the attendance page. I would take attendance in the form that my school prefers and I would not record it twice. It would not be of use to me. I think it is good for students to be able to view their grade at any time. However, if the teacher is not diligent in inputting grades to keep it accurate, problems can arise.

My biggest suggestion for Engrade would be for them to make the access code capable of allowing the students to see their grades without having to make an account using an email address.

Using Area and Perimeter in Life

Using Animoto, I created a movie depicting how area and perimeter are used in life. I would use this video as an introduction to a project that my students would participate in. The students would research their own ideas about how area and perimeter are used in life. They would then find their own pictures to represent their ideas. Using those pictures, the students would create their own Animoto videos. The videos would be shared with their classmates.

I enjoyed using Animoto. It was very easy to use. You upload your photos, video clips or text, select music for your video and select a background for your video. One downfall is that the free version only allows you to make a 30 sec. video. There is also no way to insert your voice to narrate the video. So for digital story telling tools, it is good, but I don't think it is the best. I think it would be a good introduction to digital story telling, especially for students who are not very familiar with technology or video creation.

Sheldon's Movie

Fran was having trouble viewing Sheldon's movie. I am not sure why, but I wanted her to be able to view it. We tired several different things to problem solve, but were unsuccessful. So, here you go Fran!! Enjoy! Nice job Sheldon!

Harlem Wizards Photo Story

Using Photo Story 3 I created a photo story that I will use with my students. This story is about a Harlem Wizards basketball game that I played in as a fundraiser. I created this story to show to my current students to entice them to come support their teachers and help raise money for their local sports teams. To learn more, check out my movie.

I really enjoyed creating this video and I think it will be very useful for my students. I would love for all of them to come to the game this year and I think this video will help. I love that Photo Story 3 is free. I have never created a digital story before, but I found using this program to be very easy and user friendly. I will definitely use it again.

Goolge Earth and Teaching Area and Perimeter

Today I was searching around on the internet for engaging activities to teach/review area and perimeter with my 6th graders. I stumbled across this website that explains how to use Google Earth to engage students in understand area and perimeter. Google Earth has a measure feature that allows you to zoom into familiar places and measure the side of a building or piece or property. This is engaging for the students because it makes it personal by allowing them to choose the places to go. They can explore the world while doing math! Check out the video below for more information. This is a perfect example of teaching with technology!

My Life in Photos - Writing Exchage

Today I worked on introducing myself on the forum for the Writing Exchange project. I have to say it was a little frustrating. However, now that I am done I am pleased with the way that it came out. I typed my entire introduction first. After, finishing but before posting, I decided that I wanted to put a slideshow or a collage on my post. So, I went to Picasion because I had used it before and liked it. I tried to create a slideshow but the website was not cooperating and I wouldn't create it. So, I got frustrated and looked for a different website. I found Smilebox, which is a great website! It is free and you can create slideshows and collages for free! Well, by the time I was done messing around and posted it into my introduction, I hit post and it didn't work. The site had timed me out and all the work was gone! Agghhh! I screamed  a little. =] It wasn't all for nothing though.

An Open Letter to Educators

What does it mean to receive an education? This is how Dan Brown starts off his video. He states in the video that education needs to change to become more in line with the information age. I think that he is right to a point. Information is readily available in today's world. Can't think of the person who stars in that movie? Just pull up the information in your IPhone. With the internet at our fingertips 24/7, the value of information has decreased as stated by Brown. He says he dropped out of college because it was interfering with his education that is free to him if he wants to put in the time to find the information. I think that an education is still necessary from an institutional standpoint, however, the methods in which information is transmitted needs to change. Teachers need to consider the implications of the information age on their students. They need to take into consideration the technological skills their students will need to have when they enter society in order to compete and survive. So... I do agree with Brown in that education needs reform to meet the needs of the students in the information age but I do not agree that institutional education is not necessary. See what you think, view the movie below.

Google: So Many Tools... So Little Time

Recently I researched all the tools that Google has to offer. I was surprised by the number of tools that Google has to offer that I was not aware of. So I would like to share some of these tools with you.These tools can help you collaboratively work on an assignment with colleagues or students. They can help you stay organized as well as make your space personal. My personal favorite is Gmail. I went from an AOL account to a Gmail account and loved it. I will never use anything but Gmail.. so I say now.

The Shift: Education 1.0 --> Education 2.0

Education 1.0 is the traditional model and methods of teaching. Education 1.0 is fading as the Education 2.0 model is coming into view. Traditionally if you walked into a classroom you would witness students sitting quietly completing a worksheet or answering questions from the back of the chapter they just read in their textbook. You might see the teacher teaching information to the whole class using lecture. Children now find this method to be boring. Kids fall asleep and are learning less because they are not engaged. To engage today's children we need to use technology, we need to use the Education 2.0 tools. Education 2.0 involves group work/collaborative assignments where they are active learners. Previously students would submit papers and essays. Now students want to complete assignments using videos, digital posters, and podcasts. The students want to be engaged in the world they live in and contemplate the complex ideas that are presented by society. They want to be current and so should we as teachers!

Personal Learning Environment Video Reflection

After watching the video about the personal learning environment I was very intrigued. Those students have a great advantage. They are 2.0 students. By learning online and attending class online these students are learning skills that will help them in the future. These students will be able to function as adults in the NET generation. These students logged on each day and checked an agenda to decide what they needed to accomplish for the day. They worked using many different technology resources to complete assignments. They blogged about what they learned that day and found experts to video chat with about their work. This model allowed for students to experience more freedom and independence by deciding what to do and how to do it. They were only guided and received feedback from their teacher. This classroom is operating at a the highest level, refinement, of the LoTi scale. This environment is completely learner-centered. It is fabulous, but I don't know how practical for many of our schools.

Literacy Takes on a Whole New Meaning

In today's world technology is running the show. This can be seen especially in the students that are in the classrooms. These students are now know as 21st Century learners in a digital age that has consumed them. So what are 21st Century learners? I think the following video explains it nicely!

My Digital Prints O.o

Recently I was asked to think about my digital prints. So I asked myself, what are digital prints? They are the footprints you leave behind when you create new things on the Internet. When I really started to think hard about this, I realized that at 25 years old I have already left a ton of digital prints behind. The funny thing is, once you create something on the Internet, it is there forever even if you "delete" it.

Welcome!

Hello all! I invite you to read and write on my blog. I am a middle school Math teacher. I teach 5th and 6th grade. I am constantly looking for new and exciting activities to use in the classroom, especially those that include technology. 
Technology provides amazing opportunities for students to learn. I try to use many different forms of technology on a regular basis in my classroom. I am a traveling teacher, meaning that I share rooms with other teachers. So, sometimes I have access to wonderful technology such as a SmartBoard, Elmo, and projectors and other times i'm lucky if I have an overhead projector.
The constant change in materials available can be frustrating, but it challenges me to be creative with all of my classes. So, please share whatever you have!