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.