Blog # 6

Blog #6
            2) Revisit your Philosophy of Technology in Education. Remember at the beginning of the       quarter when you blogged about your position on technology in elementary education?        Revisit your position and rewrite your stance, this time supporting your ideas with evidence        from this class and from at least one professional article.

In my first Blog Post about my philosophy of technology in education I expressed how my views on technology have changed pretty dramatically in the last year from not seeing technology as s tool or a benefit to the classroom, to then really seeing how it can enhance a learning environment if used if used in the right way. I said in my earlier post, “Over the last year I have begun to see all the wonderful benefits technology has in the classroom.” After having this class this quarter I have been able to expand and see so many more of these wonderful benefits. One new tool I have discovered is live binder. After learning about them in class and reading the article about them and how to use them by Steven W. Anderson who “is an educator, blogger, speaker, consultant, father and husband. He is current a District Instruction Technologist with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem, NC.” (https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/04/12/free-tools-challenge-15-organize-and-share-with-livebinders/) I have gained a whole new device I can add to my PLN. Live Binder is a great tool to help organize your resources in a way that is easy to find and to share with others. Instead of having a big pile of books and papers on your desk, you can have a virtual pile of binders that will be organized exactly how you would like. While I was in my practicum I saw the teacher make paper books for the students which was a great fun way to get the children excited about writing their stories but after learning about the Mac Book creator App I can imagine the kids getting so much more excited and not to mention it would be easier and save more time, money, and trees than making paper books! I also really enjoyed learning about how Skype can be used in the classroom. After watching the video the engagement level of the students was incredible. They were able to connect with other students across the world as well as learn about other cultures. This could be helpful with learning new languages as well. I also thought the virtual field trips was a great idea. In my science practicum this quarter we used Google earth to take a virtual field trip from the top of Mount Baker down the river to the Bay to see what happens to a large rock as is moves down the river. Seeing the students obviously more engaged during our virtual field trip rather than filling out work sheets we had made I could see direct tied to IT 442 and how much technology can truly enhance learning.

Blog # 5

Blog #5

1)     Reflect on the class and resources presented regarding Professional Learning Networks. In your reflection, discuss the importance of developing your PLN, describe at least 3 resources you would like to have in your Network, and some ways you might use them. 

I can see that developing my own Professional Learning Network would be highly helpful in developing my own teaching, which is extremely important to myself and to my future students. Building my PLN will expand my knowledge in a way where I can utilize tons of other knowledge. Starting out, I can only imagine how many questions I am going to want to ask about this and that with teaching, having a PLN could help me along the way and once I got it all dialed down, it seems super simple and easy to work with. As of now the first resources I would have in my PLN, I use Pinterest. Pinterest has given me so many ideas for lessons for a range of ages as well as helpful hints and further resources. On my Pinterest homepage, there is a feed of “pins” which are links to lessons, ideas, tips, etc. I can scroll through my feed and like the pins I see or I can re-pin them onto my boards so I can go back and use them later. After viewing more and more resources I can expand my PLN, I would definitely want to get more comfortable with Twitter, I feel like it is similar to Pinterest where I can choose who to follow, and in that case I could specifically only follow tweets on education and have an infinite and constant supply of resources. Say in class one day we are working on different ways to approach long division but are trying to stay away from standard algorithms, we could tweet someone for ideas and hopefully soon after, another educator will have given an idea or a source. I could see myself using this for asking for teaching strategies with different subjects, I may ask different styles others may use for writers workshop in their classroom. Having this access and connection to so many people in your position is a HUGE comfort and support that everyone should take advantage of. Of course by taking advantage you would respect yours and others PLN by giving and taking equally. I used have used Digo before and I feel like it too is similar to Pinterest and Twitter where you get to choose what you want to read and look at, which is a great quality to have with a resource you are going to be constantly using, it should be catered to what you need and what you are looking for. I could see Digo being extremely helpful with pulling together man resources from all over and placing them together. I thought of my science unit I am finishing up now at Happy Valley. We just got done working on the Pebbles, Sand, and Silt FOSS kit. My partner and I used other resources we found and incorporated them into our lessons. We used Google docs to try and keep everything in one place that we could always refer to but sometimes Google earth lacked the details and accessibility that Digo seems to have mastered. I love how you can write your self-notes through Digo. I would probably find articles or pictures of the rocks we are studying and circle them so the class can really see the sediment or the properties of the rock. I also freaked out a little bit about how awesome the Mac Book creator app is. I would use this for so many things in my class and I would share all the books to the public, of course with my student’s permission. I fee like you can gain so much from viewing other students books and showing other students your students t=books, collaborative teaching at its best.

Blog Post # 4

Write your blog post for the week on this LiveBinder describing it to us and explaining some reasons why you think it is useful. Please reply to this with the link to your blog post for everyone to check out. 

In class  when we were first introduced and working with live binder, I had not realized how awesome they are!! I was not sold on the idea of how helpful they could be. I think i am more of a tangible person and I like having the ability to shuffle through my papers and move it around and hold my binder and look at my binder. As I was looking through some of the binders on the link form edmodo, https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/04/12/free-tools-challenge-15-organize-and-share-with-livebinders/ I began to see how having a live binder is really not that different from having an actual binder, and you are saving trees while using live binder and not accumulating a ton of paper, and you don't need to carry around a huge binder which is super heavy you can have all that in formation on your phone!! or i-pad, or lap top, much more convenient than carrying around big old binders.

The tab button you can have to Livebinder it seems nice to just tuck away in your binder when you come across something that is useful for one of your binders

Blog Post #3

FOR MONDAY, please read the attached article on Technology and Vocabulary. Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on your blog about it. Please REPLY TO THIS POST with the link of your specific blog post.

• I enjoyed reading the article eVoc Strategies: 10 Ways to use technology to build vocabulary. It made me reflect on the question that was brought up in class about what if someone does not have technology at home, and if it was fair to have technology be such a core base of learning for a class if not all can have that access. I decided to take that question and apply it to not just the individual students who don't have the access at home for technology use but what about from school to school? Not every school has the same level of technology, some have the top notch and some have the old falling apart technology. Is it fair to have technology be a core base of schools in general when not all schools have the same access? My answer to this question is that it is true that it can be very unfortunate and seem unfair that not everyone has the access to use all of these incredible tools, but it would be just as unfair to consider taking away the use of technology for those who have it, it would not make sense. Especially since our technology is growing and growing schools who lack in technology are slowly getting more and more advanced with their use of technology as well.
• Building off of the importance of using and growing from technology in the class, there is such a strong relationship with the improvement of a student's vocabulary when using assisting technology tools in the class. I loved the three areas the article used to base off the vocabulary tools; the role of interest, the engagement with words, and word learning. 
• I have used wordle and I think it is an interesting perspective for your writing, you can discover more of your voice and style when you use your writing through wordle. You get to see what your most common words are and maybe reflect on why that is, I think this is great for students learning how to write and discover what they are capable of. At first, I didn't like the idea of the digital field trip but as I read I began to see the excitement and benefits of learning that can take place as you "surf the web." I think the online resources like dictionaries are where I have used technology to improve me technology a ton! It is quick ad easy and you can get a variety of definitions to help you create your definition of a word. The others I feel like I could see myself learning what more one on one learning and implementing differentiated teaching to all my students based on where they are at with their vocabulary.
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Blog Post #2

Please reflect on your learning about blogging in the classroom. Make another post of around 2 paragraphs on your blog.

• In the first paragraph, share your learning. What have you learned about blogging? Why are teachers and students blogging? What are some ways blogs are being used? What is their effectiveness in improving student learning?

I have happily learned a lot about blogging in this class so far. A theme I have been overhearing and reading is that technology can be super helpful and beneficial or the exact opposite in the classroom. I really liked the edtech review article that makes a point of saying that technology is not the lesson, it is a medium to the lesson. I think that is exactly what blogging should be used as well. I think the way to avoid technology being used in an unproductive way is through having clear expectations of how the technology should be used in class.

After reviewing the blogging about the web 2.0 connected classroom (http://blog.web20classroom.org/2013/04/soyou-wanna-use-blogs-in-classroom.html ) I felt more strongly connected to the power of blogs in the class. I could relate to feeling of "this seems pointless to write this much for only one person like my teacher to read" feeling I have had with a lot of my papers I have worked hard on. I looked at the several links he posted to blogs and I felt that they had good tips, but the layouts seemed a little sloppy to me. I have noticed that about several blogs I have ran across, I know that doesn't matter to some people, but for me when something is clean, clear, and easy to follow I find myself wanting to read more of the blog.

• In the second paragraph, provide the link for and describe one or two blogs that stand out to you. Why are you attracted to these blogs? What are some interesting aspects of them?

My best friend has created a blog that I absolutely love. The whole theme of her blog spot stood out to me. I am really into art and pattern, so i always notice things like a design and layout of a blog, it catches my eye then I continue to read on to learn more about the blog. My best friend Tess is going to school for event planning and has created this blog that not only gives a total overlook of the types of person she is but she has embedded all sorts of unique trendy themed crafts, photographs and mood boards that help show off her type of style that she continues to update:

http://tess-chilton.squarespace.com/

Another blog that I enjoy following is an arts and crafts blog from a clothing company that I like to wear called Free People. Similar to what I said before about how colors and style stand out to me, the free people blog has a "pretty and floral" theme that is and always has been one of my favorites. I really like how within the blog there are links that extend to read more on a post that interests you. Since there is already so much on the blog it is a nice way to keep things organized clean and easy to follow:

http://blog.freepeople.com/diy/

After reviewing many of the blogs on the powerpoint for this assignment I ran across the Elementary Blogging and it stood out to be from it's layout.

http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/08/08/rewards-teaching-young-children-blog/ This blog was easy to follow, simple, and organized, so I was a fan! I also loved how some of the links within the blog brought you to student work examples. I also thought it was important how involved the parents can be in this blog.

Blog Post # 1

About a year ago, I felt that technology was going to be detrimental to the classroom and take away so much authenticity. I remember thinking, before we know it there will be virtual teacher holograms teaching the class so they wont need teachers! Or they will have all students just glued to computers “learning” all day via a computer! I am happy to say those views have changed and I have been lucky to see with my own eyes technology in several classrooms. Over the last year I have begun to see all the wonderful benefits technology has in the classroom. The more classrooms I see and work with, I have found that technology gets kids excited to learn, helps them improve in certain subject areas in a different kind of way then just a teacher alone, promotes creativity, and it can save time in a classroom, which is so valuable when it comes to the classroom. I have seen a teacher so in tune with his technology in the class, it was incredible to watch how his class operated so smoothly with the integrated technology that fit so naturally in the classroom, it was Mr. Allan when he was teaching at Wade King Elementary. The students could make their own videos in kindergarten about their own versions of the three little pigs or the gingerbread man! He was connected with the families online as well so they could keep track of what was happening in the class. To me technology is defined as a tool in order to enhance and improve something that you could probably do without it but having it can make such a difference and help make everyday more practical.

That is not to say that technology is ALWAYS a good thing and I have seen it used the wrong way several times. I was helping out in a before school program last year down at Whatcom Middle School for my service learning project. There were about 20 students or so who would show up and well over half of them would only want to play this computer game that had to do with building a city, I believe it was called World of War craft.  There was a man in charge who told me to set the timer and rotate the kids in and out of the 5 computers that were in the class. It was his program, so it was his rules, but I eagerly tried to encourage the kids to play a card game with me, or let me help them with homework, or just even talk to me so I could learn more about them. I was bale to connect with about 4 of the kids but the rest barely took their eyes off the computer screen. This really irritated me. I felt as if the kids were missing so much valuable time and opportunity to connect with each other and me.  I think this kind of technology takes away from education. All in all I believe technology is beneficial to schools. The technology that should be used in the classroom should ONLY and ALWAYS benefit the learning that happens in the classroom.