Technology Session 6

My view of instructional technology has changed and expanded during the course of this semester. I have learned about so many different technologies that can be:
Fun and engaging for the students: making videos, vokis, animotos, smartboards
Educational for the students: wikis, smartboards, blogs, google docs
The reading and blog on assistive technologies was something I found very helpful because I know that these tools are something I may have to and be able to use some day. My view has changed because I see how many more technological tools can be incorporated into the classroom. And each new tool I learn about is just another method of relaying information to the students.
I thought that what we learned this semester is appropriate to use in a classroom. As I mentioned above, creating wikis, smartboard presentations and google docs are perfect elements to enhance a classroom with. Creating each of these elements was also very appropriate and helpful. The quality of the technology skills we learned this semester was very good. I really think that knowing about all these different forms of technology will really help us engage our students in our classrooms.
I feel very comfortable moving forward to use these technologies in a future classroom. Instead of simply showing us a wiki, I actually had to create one myself which gave me a lot more confidence in myself to make one for a future class. Same with the smartboard presentations. There are so many different tools in that program that I really did need to go through and make one in class in order to feel comfortable using the program.

Technology Wk 6

I really enjoyed reading through everyone's blog entries for the semester. Everyone had a really interesting writing style. I think that the benefit of reading through the blogs is that we can all see what each other's research and thoughts. The other students in our class are great resources to consider and use.

There were two sites that I found on other students blogs that I thought were very useful.

The first was PBWorks on Dave's Blog. This is similar to a wiki page with a main "workspace" that can include all of the necessary class information like a syllabus, readings, homework assignments and news. Something that Dave noted in his blog was that the site also allows you to view uploaded files and materials directly on the site without having to download them or go to a different linked page. This would be more convenient for students and may encourage them to use the resource more. This site also seems to allow for easier uploading of videos, links and files which can encourage collaboration and communication among the students more.

The second site was on several students blog (Effie's, Kelly's). Netiquette provides the online version of a book that details all of the etiquette that students should exhibit when working online, alone or with others. A resource like this would be very useful to include on a class wiki or syllabus to have students read at the beginning of the school year, especially in a class that uses a lot of technology and computers. Also, some of the information on the site can be applied to social interactions offline as well, like "developing time-saving habits" and "sharing expert knowledge" (Albion Books, 2004).

Albion books (2004) Netiquette. Retrieved from:
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/TOC0963702513.html
PBWorks. (2011). Retrieved from http://pbworks.com/content/edu+overview
Capozzi, D. (2011). Retrieved from http://ihavetogettoclassnow.blogspot.com/
Gavrilis, E. (2011). Retrieved from: http://effie4.blogspot.com/2011/06/web-resources-for-classroom.html

McGary, K. (2011). Retrieved from: http://mcgsworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/week-5-t2p.html

Technology Wk 5

From that list of Web Resources for the Classroom, I would use the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and the Math Forum.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives contains a huge number of puzzles, problems and games that help improve students understanding through fun activities. I personally enjoyed looking through all of the tools available. There is also great organization to the page so I would be able to choose the subject and the level of the manipulatives which is more useful that having to go to multiple websites for different subjects and grades (Utah State University 2010). As a teacher, I would assign this as an in-class assignment in the computer lab. I would have the students complete a set number of them during the class period to supplement what they have learned in class.

The Math Forum, created by Drexel University, is also something I would consider using in my classroom, both as a tool for me and a tool for my students. I would suggest that the students go on this website to take advantage of the math help available, through Dr. Math or through the math library which includes tons of mathematical books and resources (Drexel University, 2011). Another aspect of the Math Forum that would be useful is the puzzles and problems section. This includes archived and current problems of the week that students can complete in different math subjects, like geometry, algebra and fundamental math. There are also things on this website that I would use for my own teaching. The resources section has a "teacher exchange" where teachers can share activities and lesson plans which can help give me some fresh ideas for my class.




Drexel University. (2011). The Math Forum. Retrieved from The Math Forum


Utah State University. (2010). National library of virtual manipulatives. Retrieved from National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

Wk 5 T2P

Today's class was a conclusion of gathering information on learning theories. The two main categories of theories we looked at were motivational or emotional and psychological.

Theories
Even though this is the last time the class would be together in a cohesive fashion, I feel that it is very important to include these theories about emotions, motivation and psychological occurrences in the brain. I know that I am not very strong in science so I was not aware of a lot of the neurological background to children's brains and how they develop over time. I think it is necessary in a program and a class such as this to make sure that the pre-service teachers are gaining theoretical knowledge from a wide spectrum of disciplines. This gives us the maximum amount of information on which to draw, not only our T2P statements from, but also our teaching and classroom management.

There are many different ways to consider using the information presented about brain development when working in a classroom. One example would be:
T2P: To make sure that students are aiming at or reaching their whole-person optimal learning, the level of development of their brains needs to be considered. As a teenager, there are so many changes occurring in the brain as far as pruning and expanding goes that a teacher really needs to take these changing attributes, attitudes and functioning levels into consideration.


As far as creating and losing neural connections, what I think is one of the better ways to try and get students to retain information (create connections) would be to increase their emotional attachment to the subject. The Kolencik reading and video on Daniel Pink on the motivation and emotion really inspired me. I am glad to see the research being done to show how strong emotions can increase motivation, whether intrinsically or extrinsically, which will lead to increased learning and exploration.

T2P: If a teacher really wants their students to succeed and utilizes a variety of teaching methods and styles, subjects and examples that will engage and interest students, then they can work to increase motivation because the students will develop more emotional engagement in the subject material and want to expand their knowledge. Sometimes the best way to improve motivation is on a one-on-one basis, so that the student knows that the teacher does have expectations for them to succeed and does not want them to simply fall through the cracks. Other times, it may be better to have a student-centered learning scenario so that students can look at what they know and what they want to know more about. I agree with Pink that learning to gain a deeper personal understanding of material that has an emotional importance to you through intrinsic motivation will often be more effective than the carrot and stick extrinsic motivators often presented in schools.



Class Reflection
The class felt as though it had less structure than previous weeks, however this was based on the attitudes or vibes that all of the students were giving off. Being one of the last weeks of the semester, most of the students are feeling tired and stressed and having the teacher recognize that adding on a lot of new information would not be useful time spent was refreshing. What this did was allow the students in the class to control what learning would be taking place and how it would be taking place which ultimately led to improved mood and engagement in the psychological material.

A Good Teacher

A good teacher...
is a person who can effectively teach and guide the students to a greater understanding of the curriculum. The word guide is important because a good teacher should not always pour information into the students' minds. Sometimes they need to discover their learning on their own.
A good teacher...
is a person who wants her students to succeed in the class, in school and in life, meaning that the curriculum is not the only thing that the students leave the class knowing.

A good teacher...

will make a curriculum that takes the students into consideration and will also make the students active participants in creating lessons, to an extent. 
A good teacher...
is one who provides a consistent moral and ethical model for her class. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the teacher should be a good role model for her students.
A good teacher...
should encourage interactions among students so that everyone can help each other grow through mutual enhancement. 
A good teacher...
should value the students ideas and opinions as a valuable part of the learning process. Each student should be given opportunities to explain, examine and expand on what they think about the subject material. 
A good teacher...
should encourage the students to present these ideas to her and to their classmates in order to build up their confidence in their own voice. This can increase the students interest and want them to further their education in the subject and in other fields if they feel confident in their own abilities.


Revised T2P
If a student is to succeed in the classroom, then they will need to be need to be encouraged to express their ideas and opinions externally. This way, the student is able to get feedback from peers and the teacher about how to improve and also, the student's ideas could help others improve their own learning. If the environment of the classroom is created in an open fashion, the students will not be forced to participate, but they will begin to feel more comfortable contributing once they receive positive reinforcement. 


If a class or a student is to reach their whole-person optimal learning, then it falls to the teacher to help the students believe that their voice is valuable and can be used to influence the learning environment because if students can use their voice critically in school, then they will be able to take this out into the world and have the confidence to speak up when needed or desired. Having the students engaged in the learning environment will also allow them to think about what they are interested in and develop stronger ideas as they explore these interests more. Being able to affect change  in the lessons will increase their overall confidence in themselves to have their needs and interests met throughout their lives. 

Technology- Week 4

In the world today, there are tons of different types of technology available to help students with various disabilities succeed in the classroom. 

The first example would be a student who has a hearing impairment. As a way to help this student navigate the classroom, I would try and provide them with an e-Reader for the class textbooks so that they could listen to the lessons through headphones (Wikipedia, 2010). Also, I would try and get the speech recognition software for speech-to-text so that I could record some of my lectures and then provide the student with the textual information (Wikipedia, 2011).

Second would be a student who has problems with their vision. One tool that can be used for this is again the e-Reader. There are many different gray scales and sizes for the text so the student would be able to make the words very large and not struggle to see as much (Wikipedia, 2010). Another tool would be using technology created by DAISY. Talking books transfers words into speech so that students who cannot see the words can now hear them (Wikipedia, 2009).

If a student has a broken arm, especially their dominant arm, they will certainly have a more difficult time writing and completing tests and work in class. To help them, a speech-to-text software could be utilized to transcribe what either the student or the teacher is saying. This way, the student would still be able to take notes in class by recording the teacher's lecture. This tool could be included in a speech recognition software that would also control the computer just with the student's voice so they could complete web searches (Wikipedia, 2011).

And finally, there is technology available that would benefit a student who has a non-communicative form of autism. From what I could understand, this form of autism means that a child would have difficulties expressing themselves through speech or writing. So a tool that I would try and suggest for this student would be a speech recognition software that could take down what they are saying without having to worry yet about how the writing is coming out grammatically and spelling-wise. Perhaps with less pressure on how they are writing, they may be able to take a step towards expression.

Wikipedia. (2009). Assistive Technology in Education/DAISY. Retrieved from DAISY Wikipedia
Wikipedia. (2010). Assistive Technology in Education/eBook. Retrieved from eBook Wikipedia
Wikipedia. (2011). Assistive Technology in Education/Speech Recognition Software. Retrieved from
Speech Recognition Software Wikipedia

Learning Theories Wk4 T2P

If/Then/Because      

Evidence      Pedagogical Terminology       Theory       Instructional Event      

Moral/Ethical Values

First T2P of the day

If the classroom environment is creating in such a way that the students can feel comfortable in and encourages social engagement then it is more likely that the students will learn and be active in the class because they feel are able to be a part of the learning process. Students that are secure in the classroom will participate in discussions and provide and receive relevant insights from their classmates. Vygotsky's theory would agree that a social environment is the most effective to improve learning because humans are social by nature and having the ability to discuss and create together can be beneficial for all. Also important in a social, engaging environment is making the student feel that what they are saying is important, they are more likely to stay interested in the content and participate more.  I believe that students should be able to discuss and enhance their ideas with the teacher and with each other in order to build up their self-confidence in those ideas and knowledge base. 


T2P for Vicki Davis and self-determination theory
If a teacher provides students with opportunities to demonstrate autonomy, competence and chances to relate to classmates, then the students will remain more engaged and more focused on the tasks at hand because they are more in charge of their personal learning and they have solid backing in their class to help them reach their optimal level of learning. Vicki Davis presents her students with numerous opportunities to present and teach their own work to classmates and to Davis, making them gain confidence in their abilities through application and practice. Because of this responsibility to learn and teach information, the students need to be engaged in the class in order to fulfill their role adequately. In her classroom, Davis also had created smaller groups within each class that were focusing on specific topics depending on their personal interests, making them more knowledgeable and competent in certain areas. From there, these groups can then help the rest of the class become 'experts' on that topic. There is also a lot of interaction with a global network of students that can provide students with a broader, more cultural knowledge of the topic they are blogging or posting about on wikis. This is a direct example of self-determination theory created by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, which stipulates that these three qualities (autonomy, competence and relatedness) are necessary to improve the performance and creativity among the students, ultimately leading to increased self-determination. 


Final T2P of the day
If a student is to reach their optimal learning level, then a teacher will need to present their material in such a way that the students are able to relate to and apply the information to their daily lives because having a background base of experiences and knowledge will allow students to better understand and retain new material by adding it to what they already know. This idea goes along somewhat with Piaget's idea of accommodation. By presenting information that students will have a 'schema' for already, there will be a pre-existing location in their minds in which to store the information, making it easier to recall. Another theoretical ideal that goes along with this definition of learning is the ideas of Jean Lave. She believes that applied, relevant learning is the only way to learn. If the students already have some societal or cultural knowledge of the information, they can further explore what they are learning and be confident in what they say and know. I believe that ways of making this work in a classroom are numerous. Studying current events, making applications of problems more known to the students as well using hands-on examples of the problems. As a math teacher, I know that having students build and create simple objects they see every day using geometry or trigonometry will help solidify the information in the heads because they are physically building on something that they know. In my opinion, I believe that this is an important aspect of creating connections between new and old information. 




Learning Theories Spreadsheet