Reflection Channel
I will be reflecting on jounal articles throughout the summer for my Ed. 4760: Communications Technology in the Curriculum! Please check them out throughout the summer and join in on the conversation. I will be using a number of digital methods to communicate.
Week 6:
Article: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/technology-in-the-classroom
Review:
“Technology in the Classroom” is about a grade 6 Social Studies
first year teacher that is looking to expand her use of technology in the
classroom to keep her students engaged. She began by creating a class website
where students can look up homework and get the notes from in class. To go beyond this point, she begins consulting with a media coach through Skype. The coach give the teacher advise and throughout the video and below I have summarized the comments.
1. Build a strong relationship with the computer technology representative in the school and to try and anticipate what problems may arise before the lesson begins.
2. Start with the learning outcome and then try and find a technology tool to complement the learning. Don’t start with the tool and then try and find a problem to solve.
3. Teachers should create their own personal learning network. Like we discussed in a previse podcast, teachers should collaborate on social media sites to learn and share information from other teachers around the world.
4. Integrate the technology into assessment
5. Try new technologies before using them in the class
6. Discuss the technology used in the class with the students to get their feedback on what they liked and didn’t like.
7. Lastly, make the time to try new technologies and broaden your exposure. In the end it will benefit you and your students.
At the end of the video it shows the teacher give a lesson in the class using technology. Voice Thread is one resource that is used in the lesson to teach about the Holocaust. This resource is great because not only is it fun but it also helps assess the outcomes. Finally, the teacher and the coach reflect upon the lesson taught and discuss ways to improve the lesson further.
Reflection:
I like this video because it is a real world example of a new teacher trying to engage students with technology. For instance, in the lesson it shows the internet connection is slow and not every lesson is smooth. Sometimes, the students and the teachers have to be patient with technology and plan “b” still needs to be created. At the end of the lesson shown there is a reflection; I liked this because it shows that not every lesson is perfect and constant refection is always important.
In addition, It also shows the importance of collaboration with other colleagues (from around the country) and within your own school. Teachers cannot learn and fix every problem on their own and having a support group will make teaching so much easier in many ways.
Finally, it emphasizes thinking about the learning objectives first and then discussing what tools fit those best. Sometimes teachers pick the tool first and then try and find a problem to fix, this can become problematic and may lead to missing or over learning some objectives more than others.
Although the quality of this video was not stellar, I thought that it had a lot of good messages to give. It reinforced what we learned before in the other articles we saw in the semester and it incorporated those into a first year teachers classroom.
Week 5: Summarize and reflect on the video: "Examine Tools for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology Integration".
PowerPoint overview of the video
My Refelction:
I thought that this video was good because it reminded teachers that not every technology resource used in the classroom will be effective. Sometimes I feel that teachers use certain resources because they are modern; however, sometimes they are not the best to use due to a multitude of issues that can arise. Evaluating your technology resources will help teachers decide if they want to continue using them in the classroom. This video outlines a number of strategies to accomplish this goal. I like that it also gives very specific examples; for instance, it simply outlines how you would evaluate a math program and PowerPoint. Windows PowerPoint is more complicated to evaluate so it gives examples of how to do that using teacher observations, checklists, rating scales and rubrics. In addition, at the very end of the video it gives three real world examples of how to evaluate your technology; this gives teachers an idea of what tools and methods to use for different programs and styles of technology they are using. What I liked most about this video is that in the end it also reminds teachers that these resources need to be constantly re-evaluated. Variables in the classroom are always changing and the resources used need to be continually re-checked for effectiveness.
What I didn't like about this resource is the quality of its presentation; I thought it looked outdated and it was not visually interesting to keep me motivated to finish watching it. It is ironic that the video discussed evaluating technology to measure its effectiveness, when the video its self was not very effective at relaying its message and keeping the viewer interested.
Week 4: Listen and reflect to the podcast: 5 Quick Ways to Build your PLN by Jeff
Bradbury. Instead of creating a podcast this week, I though I would share my thoughts through a blog. I hope you enjoy!
Jeff Bradbury explained how to make your own PLN on the Teacher Cast Podcast Network. This was a great resource to help teachers get started communicating with others around the world and sharing helpful resources. First, he explained what a PLN is; a PLN is a professional learning network where you can interact with anyone around you that helps you learn. This includes teachers, administrators, students and parents. I like that this definition includes a wide range of people, especially students. I believe connecting with students and hearing what they are interested in is very valuable to keep your classroom engaging. For instance, if you want to “spice” up your classroom and try something new with technology, why don’t you ask your students to see what is new and what they are interested in?
Where do you start building your PLN? There are millions of people online and thousands of sites that connect people, so the options are limitless. For instance, out of 70,000 teachers, 60% are connecting online. That is a lot of people to share with! What I found interesting about that statistic is 1.3 million students have connected teachers - that’s pretty cool. This can be very intimidating, so Jeff gives some great tips on how to get started.
1) Find, Friend and Follow: join a popular network like Twitter, and don’t be shy to open up and share personal stories and resources with others. First, you may want to just listen and get your feet wet, but then jump right in.
2) Personal Branding: create your own logo – something that symbolizes you and what you are interested in. Your avatar should follow you in all your networks.
3) Contributing to and Creating Blogs: don’t be afraid to make things. Start your own website and blog and begin connecting.
4) Person to Person Networking
5) Collaboration: online networking is such a great tool because it allows you to connect with millions of people; collaboration with others is the key.
Ask questions, listen to others, participate and finally connect.
I really liked Jeff’s Podcast because not only did it give helpful suggestions on how to get started, but he also lists and explains a few networking sites. These are some of the sites he discusses:
R Access Reader: is a social book marking site that keeps you updated from all the different sites you choose. Instead of going to all the news sites and blogs every day, this collects them all for you in one place. I had never heard of this and I like it because it could save you a lot
of time.
Twitter: this is a micro blogging site where people can connect. I learned from this blog that there are special chats you can join at certain times of the week where you can connect with other people about the same topics. With twitter you can connect with people around the world; however, you can also use it in the classroom. For instance, post homework help and have after school discussions. I am on Twitter, but I still find it intimidating and time consuming. I also find it challenging to come up with meaningful and resourceful things to share.
Jeff also talks about sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google +.
What I think is important from what he said is that you should stay connected; however, use these connections as job tools and stay professional. It is okay to have Facebook, but just don’t put up pictures that you wouldn’t want to share with your employer. I think this is an important point for not only teachers but students as well.
I believe creating a PLN is great to stay updating in your teaching; however, it is also a good tool to use for job connections. Like Jeff said, your future employer could be listening to what you have to say. A PLN can be very intimidating and I think it will always be a working progress. Technology is always going to change, and we need to constantly adapt to the new progresses. I feel that having the willingness to explore new things and share your personal thoughts is important to having a full and successful career.
Week 3: Reflect of the article: Integrating technology into K-12 teaching and learning: current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research. This is a great article that highlights some barriers for using technology and it also suggests some strategies to overcome them. Have a listen to my podcast for a summary of the article and my thoughts on it.
Podcast on Integrating Technology
Week 2: Reflect on the ICT program of studies. Please listen to my very first podcast to hear an over view of the program of studies and my thoughts!
Podcast ICT Program of Studies
Week 6:
Article: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/technology-in-the-classroom
Review:
“Technology in the Classroom” is about a grade 6 Social Studies
first year teacher that is looking to expand her use of technology in the
classroom to keep her students engaged. She began by creating a class website
where students can look up homework and get the notes from in class. To go beyond this point, she begins consulting with a media coach through Skype. The coach give the teacher advise and throughout the video and below I have summarized the comments.
1. Build a strong relationship with the computer technology representative in the school and to try and anticipate what problems may arise before the lesson begins.
2. Start with the learning outcome and then try and find a technology tool to complement the learning. Don’t start with the tool and then try and find a problem to solve.
3. Teachers should create their own personal learning network. Like we discussed in a previse podcast, teachers should collaborate on social media sites to learn and share information from other teachers around the world.
4. Integrate the technology into assessment
5. Try new technologies before using them in the class
6. Discuss the technology used in the class with the students to get their feedback on what they liked and didn’t like.
7. Lastly, make the time to try new technologies and broaden your exposure. In the end it will benefit you and your students.
At the end of the video it shows the teacher give a lesson in the class using technology. Voice Thread is one resource that is used in the lesson to teach about the Holocaust. This resource is great because not only is it fun but it also helps assess the outcomes. Finally, the teacher and the coach reflect upon the lesson taught and discuss ways to improve the lesson further.
Reflection:
I like this video because it is a real world example of a new teacher trying to engage students with technology. For instance, in the lesson it shows the internet connection is slow and not every lesson is smooth. Sometimes, the students and the teachers have to be patient with technology and plan “b” still needs to be created. At the end of the lesson shown there is a reflection; I liked this because it shows that not every lesson is perfect and constant refection is always important.
In addition, It also shows the importance of collaboration with other colleagues (from around the country) and within your own school. Teachers cannot learn and fix every problem on their own and having a support group will make teaching so much easier in many ways.
Finally, it emphasizes thinking about the learning objectives first and then discussing what tools fit those best. Sometimes teachers pick the tool first and then try and find a problem to fix, this can become problematic and may lead to missing or over learning some objectives more than others.
Although the quality of this video was not stellar, I thought that it had a lot of good messages to give. It reinforced what we learned before in the other articles we saw in the semester and it incorporated those into a first year teachers classroom.
Week 5: Summarize and reflect on the video: "Examine Tools for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology Integration".
PowerPoint overview of the video
My Refelction:
I thought that this video was good because it reminded teachers that not every technology resource used in the classroom will be effective. Sometimes I feel that teachers use certain resources because they are modern; however, sometimes they are not the best to use due to a multitude of issues that can arise. Evaluating your technology resources will help teachers decide if they want to continue using them in the classroom. This video outlines a number of strategies to accomplish this goal. I like that it also gives very specific examples; for instance, it simply outlines how you would evaluate a math program and PowerPoint. Windows PowerPoint is more complicated to evaluate so it gives examples of how to do that using teacher observations, checklists, rating scales and rubrics. In addition, at the very end of the video it gives three real world examples of how to evaluate your technology; this gives teachers an idea of what tools and methods to use for different programs and styles of technology they are using. What I liked most about this video is that in the end it also reminds teachers that these resources need to be constantly re-evaluated. Variables in the classroom are always changing and the resources used need to be continually re-checked for effectiveness.
What I didn't like about this resource is the quality of its presentation; I thought it looked outdated and it was not visually interesting to keep me motivated to finish watching it. It is ironic that the video discussed evaluating technology to measure its effectiveness, when the video its self was not very effective at relaying its message and keeping the viewer interested.
Week 4: Listen and reflect to the podcast: 5 Quick Ways to Build your PLN by Jeff
Bradbury. Instead of creating a podcast this week, I though I would share my thoughts through a blog. I hope you enjoy!
Jeff Bradbury explained how to make your own PLN on the Teacher Cast Podcast Network. This was a great resource to help teachers get started communicating with others around the world and sharing helpful resources. First, he explained what a PLN is; a PLN is a professional learning network where you can interact with anyone around you that helps you learn. This includes teachers, administrators, students and parents. I like that this definition includes a wide range of people, especially students. I believe connecting with students and hearing what they are interested in is very valuable to keep your classroom engaging. For instance, if you want to “spice” up your classroom and try something new with technology, why don’t you ask your students to see what is new and what they are interested in?
Where do you start building your PLN? There are millions of people online and thousands of sites that connect people, so the options are limitless. For instance, out of 70,000 teachers, 60% are connecting online. That is a lot of people to share with! What I found interesting about that statistic is 1.3 million students have connected teachers - that’s pretty cool. This can be very intimidating, so Jeff gives some great tips on how to get started.
1) Find, Friend and Follow: join a popular network like Twitter, and don’t be shy to open up and share personal stories and resources with others. First, you may want to just listen and get your feet wet, but then jump right in.
2) Personal Branding: create your own logo – something that symbolizes you and what you are interested in. Your avatar should follow you in all your networks.
3) Contributing to and Creating Blogs: don’t be afraid to make things. Start your own website and blog and begin connecting.
4) Person to Person Networking
5) Collaboration: online networking is such a great tool because it allows you to connect with millions of people; collaboration with others is the key.
Ask questions, listen to others, participate and finally connect.
I really liked Jeff’s Podcast because not only did it give helpful suggestions on how to get started, but he also lists and explains a few networking sites. These are some of the sites he discusses:
R Access Reader: is a social book marking site that keeps you updated from all the different sites you choose. Instead of going to all the news sites and blogs every day, this collects them all for you in one place. I had never heard of this and I like it because it could save you a lot
of time.
Twitter: this is a micro blogging site where people can connect. I learned from this blog that there are special chats you can join at certain times of the week where you can connect with other people about the same topics. With twitter you can connect with people around the world; however, you can also use it in the classroom. For instance, post homework help and have after school discussions. I am on Twitter, but I still find it intimidating and time consuming. I also find it challenging to come up with meaningful and resourceful things to share.
Jeff also talks about sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google +.
What I think is important from what he said is that you should stay connected; however, use these connections as job tools and stay professional. It is okay to have Facebook, but just don’t put up pictures that you wouldn’t want to share with your employer. I think this is an important point for not only teachers but students as well.
I believe creating a PLN is great to stay updating in your teaching; however, it is also a good tool to use for job connections. Like Jeff said, your future employer could be listening to what you have to say. A PLN can be very intimidating and I think it will always be a working progress. Technology is always going to change, and we need to constantly adapt to the new progresses. I feel that having the willingness to explore new things and share your personal thoughts is important to having a full and successful career.
Week 3: Reflect of the article: Integrating technology into K-12 teaching and learning: current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research. This is a great article that highlights some barriers for using technology and it also suggests some strategies to overcome them. Have a listen to my podcast for a summary of the article and my thoughts on it.
Podcast on Integrating Technology
Week 2: Reflect on the ICT program of studies. Please listen to my very first podcast to hear an over view of the program of studies and my thoughts!
Podcast ICT Program of Studies