EDLD+5364+Teaching+with+Technology

=Week #1 Reflections=

This first week of Teaching with Technology confirms the very reason I chose to pursue this degree. I am seeing such a transformation in technology almost daily. However, I do not see those changes being reflected in our educational system. While reading the articles assigned for this week, I was amazed that some of these articles were dated before the year 2000. It is now 2011 and we are still behind.

Although most successful people today were educated in traditional schools using curriculum similar to what we have today, the world is rapidly changing. The students we educate today will soon be taking positions in job industries that we can’t even imagine, let alone prepare them for. When I read that other countries are adjusting their curriculums to replace the study of ancient history with economics and topics more relevant to what students need to know in order to be able to work in global workforce I was wondering when our country will take note. I am afraid that the answer to that lies in politics and that just isn’t really a place I want to go. So for now, I will work to advance my knowledge as to how I can best serve my students and this week was a step towards that goal.

=**Week #2 Reflections**= During the second week of this course we are exploring many different ways in which technology can be incorporated into education and proof that doing so is effective. Research has been done showing that a variety of students with different learning abilities increase their learning with the use of technology. Again, I must mention the fact that some of these articles are dated prior to the year 2000 but yet we had yet to implement all the technology tools that have been made available to the present day consumers.

With the increasing number of students that teachers are being asked to teach within a single class period I am hoping that education will soon embrace technology and use it to the fullest extent possible. I have personally witnessed a variety of students representing all types of learning styles increase their understanding of concepts through the use of technology and we have barely touched the surface of what is available. This week has given me concrete examples of ways in which I can use some of the tools not only in my classroom but also while trying to get other teachers on my campus to try new technology based lessons.

=**Week #3 Reflections**= This has been a week of excitement for me. During this week we have been looking at actual examples that teachers are using in their classrooms to engage many different learning styles, use technology, and still continue to improve state testing scores. My main reason for wanting to obtain my master’s degree in technology education was to explore ways that I can help other teachers use technology in their classrooms and this week has been full of real life examples that I can show to my campus. Most of us in education know that we need to adjust our teaching methods to reflect the ever changing student population but few of us really know how. Most of us know that technology is a resource that most students use but few of us know how to use technology to reflect the learning objectives in which students must master. The studies in this week’s readings confirm that student success can be achieved and increased when teachers embrace technology and use it to enhance their teaching, not replace it. The examples provided this week have gotten me eager and I am excited to share with other teachers on my campus. Now we all just need to keep our fingers crossed that the budget crisis in Texas doesn’t cause the technology facilitator positions that many schools are staffing to get cut from district budgets.

= **Book Builder Reflections** = This site is awesome and I very much enjoyed hearing the “coaches” talk. I can see the students using this tool to create manuals or even simply add narration to stories that they may wish to write. I would highly recommend having them do some rough drafting before going to the site. I was sort of overwhelmed by needing to have the story created and finding pictures all at the same time. If I were to use this site with my middle school students I would do quite a bit of work prior to going into the site. Having pictures already saved on my computer would have been more time efficient. Once I was in the site I really didn’t want to leave it to go and explore images. The only other thing that causes me a slight bit of concern is what some of the students may choose to type in just to see if they could make the “coaches” say things that are not really appropriate but that is part of any assignment you have with middle school students, online or not. []

= Week #4 Reflections = The assigned readings for this week provided me with so many useful web resources and I can not wait to try them out and share with my staff. It is amazing to me that our society has changed so rapidly in its use of technology but yet schools seem so resistant to adjust their lessons to encorporate the use of the very same technology that they in their own personal lives. This weeks videos excited me as well since they actually showed students using technology and increasing their learning with excitement. I noticed the teachers moving from being the main point of instuction to more of a supporting role. I have often thought that the purpose of a teacher is not to teach a subject but to teach students methods in which to learn. After all, some students will only be in the educational setting for a few years but learning will last a lifetime.

= Week #5 Reflections = The videos this week but excited and scared me. I was excited to see that we have teachers and leaders ready and willing to break the traditional model of teaching and explore new ways to engage students in the learning process. I was scared of what could happen if students get disconnected from the personal nature of the educational system as we know it now. I totally understand that many students can use online gaming as a learning platform to gain vast amounts of knowledge but I just can’t help but think that in doing so they may lose out on the benefits of learning in a traditional classroom schedule and lose touch with reality as we know it. When bad things happen on a video game they get to start over. When bad things happen in real life, you don’t.

The textbook readings, however, did provide me with many helpful suggestions as to how to use technology to supplement the curriculum that teachers are currently using in their classrooms. I do feel that students need to be able to use the Web 2.0 resources in order to be prepared for their futures and I very much want to lead my coworkers in that direction. I think that we can find a happy medium by blending the Web 2.0 resources, gaming concepts, and traditional methods to produce well rounded students that are ready to be successful in the real world.

Group Site: [] =Teaching with Technology Reflection= = = I must say to start out with that this course was not what I had expected just by reading the title. I had envisioned this course teaching us how to use all the Web 2.0 tools that many teachers are using in their classrooms. The titles of both Pitler (2007) and Solomon & Schrums (2007) textbooks indicated to me that we would be learning about the actual technology tools. That is not to say that I didn’t learn from the course, I actually learned quite a bit. As a technology teacher I have had experience in teaching technology to students but the majority of my lessons are based primarily on the software product, learning how to use the programs. This assignment actually forced me to focus on an objective and then decide what programs would support that objective. In the video Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts I was able to see the teacher, Vicki Davis using many of the Web 2.0 platforms without really teaching any of them directly to her students.

﻿ We chose to prepare a unit for a sixth grade mathematics class which is not a grade level that I have any experience teaching. Therefore, at the start of this assignment I felt the need to educate myself on the objectives in which sixth graders are expected to learn. As a high school and then middle school teacher it was very interesting to me to explore the objectives of a younger grade level. Knowing that sixth graders would not be as likely to sit and take notes for as long as older students told me that they would be more likely to be successful using hands on activities. Having colleagues with experience teaching elementary grade levels was extremely important and helpful. Two of us in the group are secondary teachers so when we made a suggestion about a concept that was too simple or complex for that age group the two elementary teachers were able to guide us to a more age appropriate idea. In addition, after watching the video titled, “Welcome to the Digital Generation” I realized that digital experiences students we have coming into our classrooms now are so very different from even the students we had in the last few years. Changes in technology are happening so rapidly that the concepts that used to be new to eighth graders are now concepts that they have discovered on their own before eighth grade.

A year ago when I started this program, I did so because I felt as though I needed to push myself to become a better educator and I wanted to be able to lead others to realize that our educational system is only as good as the teachers that work within it. This course opened my eyes to the fact that our students deserve more than what we offer them. The technology is out there for them to use and they will be expected to be able not only to use that technology, but be able to constantly adjust to the rapid advancement of technology. Completing this project with my group is very similar to how we should teach our students to learn. As a group, the first thing we did was to introduce ourselves and expose to the group our skill sets. By having our strengths identified, we were able to use each other’s strengths when the assignment called for that skill set. We were also very fortunate to have a group in which everyone participated and stayed in communication with each other. When you know others are expecting you to perform a certain task there is a higher level of accountability. The only thing our group did not have was a special education teacher or an IEP so I was a little unsure of accommodations that would be in place for the blind student as well as the hearing impaired student.

Corley, J., Deiss, L., Foreman, T., Modrow, C., (2011). // Teaching with Technology Group Website //. Retrieved on March 24, 2011 from https://sites.google.com/site/edld5364et8026

Edutopia.org. (nd). //Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts//. Retrieved on October 5, 2009 from []

Edutopia.org (Producer). (Released 11/1/2001).//Welcome to the Digital Generation// [Video]. Retrieved on October 5, 2009, from  @http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project-overview-video

Pitler, H., Hubbel, E., Kuhn, M., Malenoski, K., (2007). //Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria//: Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Solomon, G., Schrum, L., (2007). //Web 2.0 new tools, new schools//.Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.