Chapter 9 Reflection

This chapter talks about making learning visual through the use of technology. I first read the chemistry visualizations. I would not use this in my classroom necessarily because it is not appropriate for the age group of students that I am looking to teach. I can see how this could be useful in a high school classroom to help students visualize learning. I always hated chemistry because my teachers did not make it visual or fun. I could see how this could help students understand molecular structures.

On the other hand, I really loved the geography visualization technology. This is more my style when it comes to learning. I like the idea of solving social and environmental problems. I still do not see how this could be helpful in my classroom. I could see how you could use like Google maps for the classroom to show the students actual structures that they have seen or to take the students on a virtual fieldtrip to somewhere new. I think that this could be really fun for the students.

The math visualizations are also too advanced for an elementary classroom. I think that my students would have fun visualizing fractions using different games and simulations.

I could see how digital cameras and phones could be more on the elementary level. I think that most of the students in my classroom will have contact and experience with cameras and phones. I think that students can visualize so much using this technology. I really like the idea of making documentaries and stories with pictures. I think that could be very beneficial for my students. I think that they would enjoy recording their stories with pictures or making different videos. Such as the stop motion animation that we are doing in class. I think that students would really enjoy doing these activities.

Week 12 Exit Slip

Today we talked about some different design elements today that we can use in the classroom. I really liked this presentation because it gave me a lot of new resources that I can use in the classroom. Like I said about the chapter I did not know how to incorporate these different elements into the classroom setting. But now even more so I know a lot of different things I can do and use in the classroom. I really like the design a garden website. We could not figure it out with these computers but I really love the idea, especially in a cold climate where it might be difficult to make an actual garden.

Today we talked about a cool tool called Symbaloo, this is another search engine/bookmarking site. It was a great way to bookmark certain websites and I could see how this could be useful for a classroom because it is color coded and it is organized well. I think that I could really enjoy using it in the future.

One of the contemporary issues that we talked about today was a "paperless classroom" and how it would look like in a classroom. One of the advantages to a paperless classroom is saving of time and money not using paper to make tests and assignments. We do not have to take time out of our day to print things out or copy things. It is a great way to upload bilingual worksheets and such because they are able to convert them into their language if you have ELL's in your classroom. One of the concerns of a paperless classroom is that it is hard for the students to transition from paper to paperless and back again when they go from grade to grade. Another contemporary issue that we talked about today is about the addiction of video games. Studies have shown that the actual video game is not addictive it is something that is let off in your brain when you are playing. That is very interesting and new information for me, I have always believed that it was the actual video game that was addictive. The other contemporary issue that we are talking about was that China decision to lift censorship.

Chapter 8

When I first read the title of this chapter I thought about many different things about “designers” but I did not really look at it the way the chapter has set it out. This chapter is all about design inside and outside of the classroom. One thing that the chapter talks about is how to enhance learning and make it more meaningful by adding different design elements. The four areas that the chapter discusses are drawing design ideas with computer aided design software, testing designs and building mental models with simulation software, developing programming skills while designing in the media arts and finally designing music with composition software.

When I was reading this chapter I had some concerns on how these designing programs could be used in the schools. When I just looked at the page the capitol letters “CAD” stood out among the rest of words. I have heard of that design program because I remember my sister coming home and talking about it from her engineering classes. One of my concerns right off the bat is how the students in my classroom were actually going to use a tool that engineers use and take classes on. Another concern that I had while I was reading was how I was going to learn these different design programs and as usual the chapter came to the rescue. It taught me all about different design programs that are child friendly and easy to use. I really liked the idea of having the students design their own objects on these programs like the Pro/DESKTOP which has a design, drawing and album setting for the children to play around with and create different things. I have always been a big fan of creativity and art and in my mind this is a great form of art that many of the children in my classroom could probably relate to.

March 18, 2010-Exit Slip

Today we talked about communicating using technology. We first talked about discussion boards. Its an online forum to post our thoughts and not in an instant feedback. There are some advantages and disadvantages to using discussion boards. You have to wait on responses. One thing that is great about these discussion boards are that you can talk to people across the world. We talked about an example of a discussion board called ePals. It is a great thing to use in the classroom, it has lesson plans, academic vocabulary, and the grade levels that you can teach these lessons to. It is pretty user friendly way to connect classrooms. You can communicate through discussion boards to anywhere around the world. This is a way for children to talk to others and communicate back and forth.

The next type of communication that we talked about was different kinds of chats. We talked about how this can be a more immediate communication tool. It is limited to people on your "buddy list" which has its advantages and disadvantages. It can be a safe way to communicate but it cannot allow students to communicate with a diverse populations, like the discussion board example that we talked about before.

Another tool that was talked about is video conferencing. It connects students with people from different places. One thing that is great is that you can have students talk to experts. They can "come" into the classroom via video conferencing like Skype, and Cisco. It would be great to have an author for example that your children love "come" into the classroom and they can learn and interact with others without the issue of travel costs. It is a great alternative to an expensive field trip. It is in real time so you have to make sure that you have planned out the issues with it. When you want to talk to someone from another country they might be in a different time zone so you have to be aware of that issue.

Video Conferencing
Like: Virtual Field trip
Dislike: Hard to plan

Discussion Boards
Like: A great opportunity for students to interact with students in other countries or in other time zones
Dislike: not immediate communication

Instant Messaging
Like: Immediate interaction
Dislike: Can have some safety issues

Podcasts and radio
Like: very interactive and engaging and they can use these different Podcasts in the classroom. Gives students the opportunities to use it as a project and it can be used to teach children about different subjects. They will be more inclined to use it because its what their peers have created it.
Dislike: might be unsafe or inappropriate

Social networking sites
Like: a great communication tool that have both immediate and delayed communication tools within them.
Dislike: hard to keep track of students on certain websites, you have to use a safe website.

We also talked about different contemporary issues. We talked about education and games. We talked about different educational games and ways to incorporate games into our classroom. This opened my eyes more to the idea of using games in the classroom. I feel like we have talked a lot about games already but she brought up some great games that we can use to help our students learn. I liked how she talked about the different resources that we can use like WebQuest. I think that we should incorporate games into the classroom because many children can relate and will be more inclined to engage in a lesson.

Chapter7-Communicating with Technologies

This chapter talks about how students in our classroom have entered another realm of technology that generations before us have not met. Even young adults like ourselves are behind the time with students in our classroom when it comes to technology. This chapter talks about the different ways to communicate using technology.

The first way that the chapter discusses communicating is on a discussion board. One of the first things I read was that it was different and somewhat better in some ways than one-on-one interactions. When I read this the first time it kind of scared me because I think that we have to be careful to make sure that our students lives are filled with rich social lives not just consisting of online conversations. But I see where this type of communications can be seen as a more positive way of communicating, because it talks about how communicators have to be more careful with there speech, they can double check what they are about to say. This is one thing that is great for many people who might not always be great in the one-on-one conversation setting. I know personally that I feel more open when I am writing someone online instead of in person. I know that is one of the reasons that Jeff wants us to come see him in person. I am glad that as a technology teacher he also puts emphasis on the one on one social interaction. I also like the idea of the discussion boards as being without bias. I think that is great, biases such as gender, race and age are taken out of the mix and people can be "themselves" or they can recreate themselves online. I think that might be a negative part about communicating online. I think that a lot of people hide their identity online and that can become dangerous, especially for young students in my classroom. They can be talking to a so called 10 year old but there is really no telling how old that person really is. That is why it is important to be on a safe website for students and younger children when communicating with technologies.

A great way that the book suggests that teachers can use this technology is to build international connections and project work. Asynchronous communication (communication not in real time) can be used when students are in different time zones. When we were reading about video conferencing a couple chapters back, that was one of the disadvantages. A lot of times if we wanted to take our students on a “virtual fieldtrip” then we would have to do so not in real time but that would not work with the video conferencing. They cannot realistically have a conversation when the time in another part of the country is about 2 A.M. This type of communication can connect students with others beyond the immediate classroom, opening windows to new learning experiences by exposure to new ideas, cultural diversity and unique partnerships (pg. 143).

I really liked that the chapters always give some options for child friendly websites. I think that is one of my main concerns with most of the technology that we use and having those safe alternatives is such a great option to use in the classroom.

March 4 Exit Slip

Today we talked about a different way to take attendance, we talked about a more child friendly ways. He told us that we could do themed based attendance for different seasons or holidays. We also talked about the chapter. I learned some about different wikis and blogs that I hadn't seen before. I think it is a great thing to use in the classroom. Jeff also went over a couple of different ones after the presentation. We talked about Edublogs. It is a safer alternative to control who sees your blog. Another option is Class BlogMeister. It is a different way that we can use as a template or an example. We cannot become part of this website because you have to be part of the project. It is a cool way to see how to use the blog with their students. We are using Wetpaint as our Wiki service. It is a great way to create projects for the classroom. We can have a what we did in class wiki. Another one that we can use is Wikispaces. Another one is PBWorks. Wikispaces are cool because you can take ads away. Some of the ads can be inappropriate so they can remove them off of your wiki site. I think that it was interesting learning about the various cool tools. I really liked Dropbox, it is a place to put files off of your computer. It is a great way to help save your data and access it later at a different place.