Personal Learning Reflection

• What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?

I have learned that we live in an ever-changing world, and much of this change is being brought about by technological innovation. It is critical for teachers to keep up with the latest educational technologies, not only so they don’t fall behind, but because teaching students today is much different than it used to be. Today’s students are not content to sit through lectures or read from a textbook. They like having information right at their fingertips, and most of them possess or are already familiar with the latest technologies that make this possible. Teachers need to take advantage of this fact, and consider all the promises that technology has to offer. That being said, it is also important to recognize and address the pitfalls of technology.

When integrating technology, teachers need to be familiar with whatever tools or programs they will be using. They need to be able to choose which tool is the most effective for completing a task. They should also have a solid understanding of the NETS-S, which they should use to help guide their instruction. Today’s teachers need to be able to pass on 21^st century skills to their students, as these skills are essential to their success in today’s global workforce. This means that they, too, need to have 21^st century skill knowledge that they can use and apply in innovative ways in order to be effective. The TPACK framework is a great visual that shows this dynamic relationship between technology, content, and pedagogy.

It is also important for teachers to be aware of the different learning styles that are present in their classroom. Integrating technology is just one more strategy teachers can use to reach all learners. It has been proven to increase student engagement and achievement, compliments project-based learning, and takes learning beyond the walls of the classroom!

• How did integrating the Internet help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?

The Internet is such a powerful tool! It provides instant access to a wealth of valuable resources for both students and teachers. This whole CEP 810 course was conducted online, and I was able to learn many new things by reading, exploring, discussing, watching, and creating….all on the Internet! Why wouldn’t we take advantage of such an incomparable supply of information?! Because my district is really big on RTI, one area that I would still like to learn more about is using technology for RTI.

• Which of the assignments that you turned in do you feel really exemplifies good teaching with technology and why?

I think that the SIG presentation is the assignment that really exemplifies good teaching with technology. I feel this way because this project not only required us to develop an understanding of all the topics covered in class, but we had to apply that knowledge! We were required to collaborate, do research, and create a presentation using all the tools and skills that we had developed throughout the course. Our presentation was created to teach others about our topic. We were able to view the other group’s presentations, which provided us with even more useful information and resources!

• How have you met your goals established in your Personal Growth Plan?

I have learned so much during this course! I came into this class knowing little to nothing about any of the topics being explored and discussed. From Internet-based productivity tools (such as Google Docs and Zoho) to RSS Readers to blogs to twitter to social bookmarking to Prezi….it was all new to me! Although it was exciting, confusing and intimidating all at the same time, I have developed a personal level of comfort with using technology and I feel like I am equipped to teach in new ways. The most exciting part for me about learning something new each week was sharing it with my friends, family, and coworkers. I have discovered that there is a whole new world out there for me to explore!  My Personal Learning Network has expanded tremendously thanks to this course, and I look forward to continuing to teach and learn with technology. =)

• Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?

Prior to completing this course, I wasn’t really sure what my plan was. As part of the MATC program at MSU, I knew I had to choose an area of concentration, and my advisor had mentioned the Educational Technology certificate to me. I know that technology is advancing at a rapid rate and that I need to be able to keep up-to-date with all the latest and greatest tools and resources available for teachers and students. I plan to continue following the feeds on my RSS Reader for updates and new ideas to try! I also plan on taking advantage of the different professional development workshops pertaining to technology that are available through my district. After having such a wonderful learning experience with this course, my new goal is to earn my Educational Technology Certificate! I thoroughly enjoy using technology with my students and I am looking forward to learning even more ways to effectively do so in my classroom.

Understanding Learning Styles

Here is a screenshot of my results from the Birmingham Grid for Learning-Multiple Intelligences (Primary)

As you can see from this diagram, my primary style is interpersonal, with naturalistic, intrapersonal, and linguistic also being strong. When I took the multiple intelligences assessement from http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html, my results came back as kinesthetic being my primary style, with intrapersonal and interpersonal as second and third.

Understanding learning styles and incorporating them into our teaching is important for many reasons. To begin with, the students we teach are very diverse. They come to us with a variety of learning styles, which means that teachers need to incorporate a variety of activities and techniques to truly engage all students. Realistically, teachers cannot develop different ways of teaching for each individual student. They can, however, utilize many different strategies in their lessons. Some examples would be including discussions and problem-solving activities for active learners, and using pictures, charts, and diagrams whenever possible for visual learners. Students should be expected to solve both rote problems and more open-ended problems, as this challenges the sensing and intuitive learners. Including a combination of individual and group work will gratify both the extroverts and the introverts. Having an awareness of these styles can help teachers to enhance their methods of instruction.

Using Images in the Classroom

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "Inverted"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glisglis/365003674/in/photostream/
By: Glisglis

Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

There are so many ways for teachers to incorporate images into the curriculum! Just last week my class was studying birds. We talked about the behaviors of different birds and why it is important for a mother duck to teach her babies how to swim and dive. Some students may have never seen a duck diving under the water, so a teacher could use this image to make the idea more visible or concrete. We also disucussed multiple meaning words. To help my first graders better undestand this concept, I pulled up images for the word "bill." We talked about how a bill can be a piece of paper money, it can be money that you owe, and how the beak on a duck is also called a bill. Because a large percentage of the population are visual learners, teachers should incorporate meaningful pictures, charts, and diagrams whenever possible!

Buddy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/59703928@N05/5461965966/.

RSS Page Reflection

I have made many changes to my RSS page since its original creation. I played around with some of the different themes on Pageflakes , and decided on the MSU theme! This is how my page looks now:



As I was checking my RSS each day for updates, I became very impatient if there were no new feeds! So I would click and search for different pages until I came across something new and interesting, then I would add the new feed to my page. One of the new feeds I added is The Innovative Educator. I added this feed because I like to learn about teaching that is “out of the box” and this blog is a place where educators share ideas about learning innovatively. It is updated very frequently, which is nice.

On Friday, January 28 and on Thursday, February 3, I read a couple of interesting blog posts from The Innovative Educator that I found to be very relevant to this class. They were called “10 Ways Technology Supports 21st Century Learners in Being Self Directed” and “10 Ways Facebook Strengthens the Student - Teacher Connection.” Both are good reads!

The author of this blog has been labeled as having ADHD, and I found her posts such as, “Passion (Not Drugs) As Treatment for ADD/ADHD” and “Cure ADHD without Drugs with These Resources from Doctors, Educators, and Parents” very interesting. It is unusual to hear about this disorder from the perspective of an adult educator who has been diagnosed with it. I am dealing with students right now who have not been diagnosed, but who exhibit the behaviors of ADHD. I enjoyed reading the comments and searching for any new ideas or activities for these impulsive students of mine!

On Thursday, February 3, I received an email from Classroom 2.0 to participate in a live webinar featuring Karen Hume on her new book, “Tuned Out: Engaging the 21st Century Learner.” From this webinar, I discovered Karen Hume’s website and blog, and added it to my page.

From Edutopia, I discovered some great resources to use for our SIG Proposal under “Free Resources on Web 2.0 tools.” There were some on digital storytelling, which I shared with my group on our Delicious page. One of the books that I shared as a resource on digital storytelling is written by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, and I discovered she has a blog that is largely related to technology integration, so I added her feed to my page!

I love my RSS reader page, and I love sharing all the new things I’m learning with my friends and colleagues! Each time I visit my RSS page, I find good reads that offers strategies and resources to help me create rich, engaging experiences with multimedia!

PC Maintenance and Security

Since the start of this class, I have learned so many new skills and I've found Atomic Learning to be very helpful and informative. I watched several tutorials under the PC Maintenance and Security section, but these are the three that I found to be helpful to me, personally.

Tips for Safer Web Browsing: Explaining Cookies
I have heard the term used many times, but I never really understood what cookies were. I learned that cookies are small information files placed on your hard drive and later read by a website. They let the website recognize you and keep track of you/what you do while you are at the website. There are different types of cookies, and what surprised me is that they are meant to provide better service, but they can also create security risks.
1. Persistent cookies: popular with large or commercial sites, like Amazon.com, stay on your hard drive when you leave the site, and is read again when you revisit the site
2. Session cookies: exist only for as long as you are on the site, and are then erased
3. Tracking cookies: keep track of where you go and what you buy. They report information to advertisement agencies and provide details about a user’s lifestyle, web habits, & spending habits. This allows companies to customize the browsing experience and provide better service, but they also create security risks.

Good Safety and Security Habits: Running Disk Defragmenter
I learned that over time, computer files can become fragmented. What a disk defragmenter does is puts clusters back in sequence, which helps your computer to not have to work so hard to find them. You should run it once a month to help your hard drive run longer and more effectively. A disk defragmenter is built right into Windows, and is simple and easy to use. I learned how to create shortcut on my desktop, so hopefully I will remember to do this now that I can see the icon on my desktop. It can take a long time…even hours to defragment your hard drive!

Good Safety and Security Habits:System Restore
I learned that this feature is for Windows. It can help fix problems that might be making your computer run slowly or stop responding. If you ever encounter a strange problem with your computer, you can go back in time to a date when you know everything was working fine on your computer. I was surprised to learn that using System Restore does not affect any of your documents, pictures, or other personal data AND, if you don’t like the restoration, it is completely reversible! You can even create a restore point, for example-- before installing new software--in case something goes wrong.

SLIGHTLY ADDICTED!

I posted once about my RSS Reader, and I have since added more feeds to my page and I am finding it slightly addicting! I am following Dangerously Irrelevant, a blog by By Scott McLead, a leading academic expert on k-12 ed tech issues. His page is about technology, leadership, and the future of schools. I watched a video posted here called Rethinking Education…very interesting. I also read a post called “Don’t teach your kids this stuff. Please?” This post contained very valid points about the pros and cons of teaching (or not teaching) students about responsible use of technology in schools.

From the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) website I discovered the blog of Kyle B. Pace - an Instructional technology specialist who helps teachers integrate technology in the classroom. I read his post explaining Twitter and Educational Chats, and learned new things about Twitter. Because I have never used Twitter before, it was all news to me! I knew I would be using it for this class and I found this post very helpful in explaining Twitter and its purpose.

Getting Things Done! (GTD)

I will be the first to admit that I am NOT an organized person! My life is many things, but organized is not one of them! =) Everyone has an area that they can improve upon, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to start changing the way I do things. I think my biggest problem was that I didn’t have just one system to keep my life organized. Instead, I had many little systems in place and ways of trying to “organize stuff.”

I first started the process of Getting Things Done by writing down everything that had to get done on one piece of paper (and yes, I had to write small!). This is the COLLECT step. Of course, every time I thought my list was complete, I would think of something else to add to it. Although my list was long, I actually felt a lot better after getting it out of my head and onto a piece of paper. I was feeling very overwhelmed before I began GTD, and once I saw it all on paper, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed in my head.

Next, I started the PROCESS step, which is where I went through each item on my list and decided if it was something I could do right away (like mail the Valentine’s Day cards I bought), or if it was something to be done at a later date (like my taxes, and making that dessert for the baby shower).

Then I had to ORGANIZE what I had processed. This step made me feel good because I felt like I was more in control of all the things I had to do! I am a big fan of making lists, and that is how I organized things before I started the GTD process. I like to make a shopping list on one piece of paper by putting the names of individual stores as headings and listing the items I need to get at each place underneath the heading. My favorite part is crossing things off the list! =) So, I went through my list and decided which group each item belonged in. I separated my tasks into three groups: 1) Home 2) Work 3) School. Anything on my list that had a specific deadline, I wrote down on my calendar. I added these things to my Google calendar, too, which I just started using at the start of this class and I love it! The problem is, I do not have a smartphone with internet, so I still write things down on a paper calendar or put them into my phone as reminders. Anything that needed to be done as soon as possible (like cook the asparagus before it goes bad) I labeled as Next Action. If it was something that I had a commitment to finish, like a school project, I labeled it as Project. At work, I am in the process of creating the “Tickler” file, which is made up of 43 folders, one for each month and one for each day of the month. I really like the idea of having the whole year planned out in one place.

The fourth step in GTD is REVIEW. Once I have the “Tickler” file in place, I am going to review what needs to be done for the day each morning, before the students arrive. I will review this file again at the end of the day before I leave work, to be sure I got everything done and to prepare for the following day. That way, I can stay one step ahead! At the end of the week, I will review my projects, calendar, and next action tasks to be sure that I am up-to-date.

Finally, the last step in the GTD process is DO. I had to prioritize and decide which things were do-able, based off of how much time I had and how much energy I had. On a Friday afternoon, after a long week at work, I can tell you that most of the things on my list had to wait! =)
I think that this process has helped me, in that I had to motivation to try something new to help me get organized. I went through my emails at work, deleted the ones I no longer need, and created separate folders to store the emails that I want to keep for reference.

I am going to try to continue with this process, but I’m not sure that I’m doing it entirely correct. I am creating a “tickler” file for myself at work, but that doesn’t help me with the things I need to do at home and for school. I need something more portable to organize and store tasks for all three contexts. That’s why I like Google calendar, but I don’t have access to that when I am not on the computer. Maybe I will eventually cave in and get a phone with the internet……….

Social Networking: In and Out of School

HOW SOCIAL NETWORKS FIT INTO MY LIFE

The biggest social network that I am a part of is Facebook. I moved from Michigan to Florida, and I use Facebook to stay connected to my family and friends. I also use it to stay connected to new people who I meet. I enjoy using Facebook because you can see who knows who, what your friends are up to, and how their lives are changing each day. Social networking is also a form of entertainment for me, so I don’t allow myself to go on Facebook every day! It can be a huge distraction from all of the tasks I have to complete, so I only sign on if I get a message from someone and other than that I check it about once a week.

Several of my coworkers are Facebook members, and it’s nice to be able to connect with these people both professionally and personally. I enjoy sharing photos with them and engaging in conversations that may or may not be work related. If I ever have a question or need a recommendation for anything, I can post it on one of my networks and receive almost instant suggestions.

Social networking also allows me to join groups. By joining a particular group, I can connect with people who have similar interests and engage in discussions on certain topics, such as technology and education.
Now that I have explored this week’s labs and joined numerous networks, I am constantly being pointed to different web sites and applications that can aid my teaching!

HOW SOCIAL NETWORKS FIT INTO THE LIVES OF MY STUDENTS

Social networking takes student learning beyond the borders of the classroom. It serves as another way for teachers and students to communicate with each other. It also encourages discussions and promotes sharing of resources and ideas.

I think one of the most important things to acknowledge is that social networking is not going to go away. It is already very much a part of student’s lives. My students are only in first grade, but those with older siblings know all about Facebook and have even searched for me and requested to be my friend. Our district, however, does not allow teachers to “friend” any students, and most of the sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked.

Despite the fact that many sites are blocked from school computer networks, students at the elementary level are already using computers and the internet, so it makes sense to engage them this way and teach them how to be responsible users. They can message peers and teachers regarding homework questions, be reminded of school events, projects, and due dates, and teachers can communicate with parents through the use of social networks.

In the article, Social Networking Goes to School, by Michelle R. Davis published in Digital Directions, Shelly Terrell, who is a teacher and blogger states, “If you don’t take that golden opportunity to teach students about the responsibility of using these things, you lose a teachable moment,” she says. “If schools block them, they’re preventing students from learning the skills they need to know.” I agree with this statement completely. As educators, we need to educate our students on the dos and don’ts of using the internet and promote internet safety.

My RSS Reader

The RSS reader that I chose to use is Pageflakes. I liked the look of the page, and, having no experience with this form of technology, I found it to be very user friendly! The feeds that I chose to include on my RSS Reader page are Edutopia, NEA Today, Suite 101: Teacher Tips/Training Articles & Technological Teaching Aids Articles, and Reading Writing Connection (blog).

Here is what my page looked like when I first created it:


Edutopia – I chose this feed because the site allows you to browse by grade level, so I can find lower elementary resources and connect with other teachers. I watched a video on classroom communities and starting the school day with a morning meeting. I learned that by helping students start the day sharing feelings with their peers, teachers pave the way to academic success. Students need to feel happy and safe at school in order to ask questions and take risks, and it is our job to provide this type of environment for them.

I added NEA Today because I thought it would be beneficial to be up to date with today’s news regarding education. From the NEA today feed, I browsed through the ‘Blogs We’re Reading’ section and discovered EDVOICES. I read a post that caught my eye because it was titled, 5 Places to Score FREE Classroom Supplies. Free is always good to me, and there are some great ideas listed here, like going to local banks for free pens and pencils!

I added Suite 101: Teacher Tips/Training Articles & Technological Teaching Aids Articles to my RSS Reader because I am always looking for tips that will make my life- and the life of my students- easier! I added the Technological Teaching Aids because I thought the information would be very relevant to this class.

The blog that I am following is Reading Writing Connection. On 1/22/11 I read an article on reader’s theatre and how rereading familiar text is one powerful way to increase fluency. I found this blog to be very useful and relevant to my own teaching practice. I teach first graders, and they are just learning how to read. For some of them, their reading is very choppy. I was able to download and print a reader’s theatre script from this blog called “Creepy Crawly Bugs,” and I can’t wait to use it with my non-fluent readers! I commented on this blog, thanking the creators for sharing this wonderful resource!

I also read a post on this blog about how music improves brain function. My students love to listen to quiet music while they are working. I have a couple of CDs with fun kid’s songs on them. On days when I give my students tests, we take “brain breaks” and I play a silly song for them to dance to. It really does energize them when they get up and move, and I love to watch their smiling faces as they giggle and dance to the music.

Blogs vs. Web Pages

From what I understand, a blog is like an online journal or diary, commonly used to provide news about a particular subject.  Anyone can create one, for free, and customize it to meet their needs. You can switch out features, add cool links and tools, change theme designs and manipulate content—all on your own with no special knowledge or fancy software! Both traditional web pages and blogs contain information and images. However, a blog is much more personal than a traditional web page.  Other people can respond to your posts by leaving comments. People can share their opinions and stay connected by using blogs. Another difference is that blogs can be updated fairly easily on a daily basis (or even more frequently, if you wish!), whereas a web page generally needs to be maintained by a tech support person/team.