Emerging Instructional Technology Reflections

Final Course Reflection

2008-06-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

This course has taught me a lot about new technologies that are available for me to use with my class. I loved the presentations and got lots of new ideas about how to implement digital tools into my current curriculum. What I loved most about this course was the hands on use of many digital tools I had never experienced before. This allowed me to not only understand the technology myself, but also how to help the children I teach and the colleauges that I work with to understand it better as well. I could definately see myself taking the in-service that we created back to my school to help others understand the importance of implementing digital tools into their current curriculum. We must allow our children to use their digital intelligence to its full potential by working it into what we need them to learn.
I will be contacting our district technology person to see if we can remove the filter for a blog are like 21 classes. What a great tool that has protection built in for the children. Next year, I will also be using Google Docs and pushing my team to use them in collaborative ways. It is up to me to help get this technology into my school. I am ready for the challenge!
Theressa

Live with Courage- Teach with Vision- Dr. Leigh Zeitz

Presentations!

2008-06-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Digital Citizenship-
The first presentation that I listened to today was on Digital citizenship. It was geared toward upper elementary- middle school age range. I thought this presentation was very well suited to that age group. It would have immediately cought the attention of the children and really hit home with a lot of them regarding copyright/plagarism. I especially liked Chris' idea of giving them a free copy of a movie only to see a picture of him in jail. What a great visual tool.
This lesson also covered Creative Commons- A copyright that you control how much you realese that you are willing to share with others, etc. With so many people publishing things to the web, it is even more important to have clear guidelines for children who utilze this tool for school or social networking.
This groups presentation was very original and had a great podcast and movie! I think that the movie was definately created with the learner in mind! This would defineately entertain and teach children in a way they would easily remember. Captain Slappy was a hoot!!
I thought that the etiquette quiz was a nice form of assessment and a great place to jump start a discussion. It might also be nice to have the students create thier own etiquette quiz, so the natives could teach the immigrants about what they have experienced in the chat areas.

Authentic Writing with digital Tools- This was our presentation. Although not as humorous as the previous group, I must say that I think we created a great inservice for teachers. This inservice would have to be done in several sessions and would more than likely take more than 3 days to conduct, but would be an extrememly valuable way to introduce teachers to tools while showing them how to teach writing more effectively.

Social Networking-
Our last presentation was on Social Networking, particularly NING and was meant to help get teachers to begin using NING as a way to create a social network in the school. Iliked the idea of using Teacher Quality money to give this in service. If you don't complet the training, you don't get paid- this is one way of getting teachers to integrate technology. Not sure however that real implementation would occur. I will be interested to see if this happens!
This project asks teachers to use Ning to discuss success of group project. Teachers will have to showcase how they use social networking in the classroom. I really like the idea of making teachers showcase their integration work. What a great way to hold them accountable for their work.
I really enjoyed the analogy to a tipping point. As social networking becomes more popular, I do believe that what once started as a way to chat will become the a primary way to communicate and do business.
I like that Ning can be very controlled. It is private and you have to be invited. Videos and photos must be approved before they are put up. This is a huge selling point for teachers and administration. We all worry about exposing our children to what is on the web, but Ning offers a great way to be social without putting our children at risk.
Ning could be used in a multitude of ways. For example, it wcould be used to hold discussions, upload podcasts, publish rubrics, publish student made videos, etc. for others in our school community to share. This gives the children's work a sense of purpose and therefore will p the quality of what is being produced.
Using Ning with the children is a great way to create a less formal learning environment, I think that introducing children to Ning in a way that stresses informallity could create a great opportunity for teachers to reach all of thier kids.
I think a Ning for staff would be a great idea. Often when you are working in a school, you don't see many other staff members. A Ning would be a great place that teachers could collaborate and share ideas. The problem in education is that we don't often share the wonderful things that are happening in our rooms. Ning could be the answer.

Theressa

G-Cast/ Widgets/Publishing/XO

2008-06-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Today we learned about how to G-Cast.
We also discussed a great place to get books published. Simply go to lulu.com and check it out.
Widgets can be found to put anywhere in your blog.
Leading and Learning with Technology- Check out this magazine!
Join ISTE
XO computer - Nicholas Negroponte
XO-2 computer - updated version coming soon- get a first look!

As Dr. Z says- Live with Courage- Teach with Vision!

Thursday- June 19

2008-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today, Seth and I created an iMovie for our project. I have had the opportunity to create so many different types of products during this course. Actually using these digital tools really helps build my confidence as well as gives me many ideas of projects that can be done in the classroom.

We also had the opportunity to visit TEAM. I was simply amazed by the amount of data that they stored as well as the speed with which they were able to help the flodd vistims secure their data. As I watched the video, I thought it was a great video to help sell their product. However, I am not so convinced that the security is as tight as they make theri customers believe. Yes, It would be very difficult to get into the center and access the data, but the extra layers of security were little more than a high fence to climb. The climate control of the building was very impressive. However, I was surprised that the actual data wasn't kept below ground to protect from tornados. The video said it could withstand an F4, but wasn't Parkersburg and F5?? All and all the trip was very interesting.

Back to the iMovie! The more I use a MAC, the more convinced I am that this is what I need to get. I love Garageband and iMovie, these programs are so easy to use and make alot of sense. I like that I can run it on both the windows and the OS side. Sounds like the best of both worlds. Finally, those MAC commercials make more sense to me. Macs seem to be more fun, while PCs are more work driven.

Check out our cool video!
T

Podcast

2008-06-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Listen to Episode 1 of Authentic Writing with Digital Tools!

Listen to episode 2 of Authentic Writing with Digital Tools!

Listen to episode 3 of Authentic Writing with Digital Tools!

Wednesday- June 18

2008-06-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Today, we accomplished quite a bit of work. I was very glad that we had the opportunity to work with our groups as well as look more closely at voicethread. It was great to hear all of the things that Mr. Vrotny is doing with his students. I got quite a few ideas of things that I would like to try with my students next year. I am really interested in perhaps doing some things with the elections that are coming up. Perhaps we could interview candidates, other adults, etc. concerning the issues. Then have the children create (and respond to) voicethreads with their opinions on the issues. What a great collaborative tool.
Very excited about voicethread.
I also had a great time using Garageband today. I have only had the opportunity to use this tool one other time and I really enjoyed it then, but today, I had the opportunity to get into using it in much more depth. I can really see what a great tool this would be for the students. Although we only have PCs at school, I could still use Audacity to create podcasts. So much technology, so little time...
T

Tuesday- June 17

2008-06-17T17:17:00.001-07:00

Today we spent quite a bit of time on Second Life. Although I enjoy playing around in Second Life, I am not sure it will help my students (4th graders). I really agreed with the Steve Hargadon when he said it has great potential, but it isn't there just yet.
Click on above image
to enter Club Penguin
a form of Second
Life for children

We also learned alot about NING today. I like how this forum forcuses more on the dialogue and conversation than on the product created. I think that this could definately help in my setting. 4th graders love to use social networking tools, but I wasn't quite sure how to implement this safely. I was glad to hear that I could make NING a private forum. I think that this will be a great tool for the children to use as they share their work and other fun things. I will just have to be very careful about how it is implemented and look into the legislation a little more closely.

After class, we went to Z's house and meet his family. He cooked us some brats and burgers and we had a very nice dinner while we visited with each other. Thanks for the dinner Dr. Z and family!

T

Monday- June 16

2008-06-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day in the Emerging Technology class. I must say that my favorite part was working on Google Docs. What a great way to work on one document! I haven't used this technology before in my teaching but I am absolutely sure that I will be using it this upcoming school year.

Twitter as fun as well. There are so many ways to social network out there, that it can get very confusing! For me, I think it would just be easier to use a couple. Even though I have been in this program for a while, I am a bit overwhelmed by the many types of technology that we are being exposed to.

Click bird
to Visit
Twitterific

I am very happy to be meeting some of my new classmates. They all seem to have such a great knowledge of technology. I wish them luck and hope to keep in touch with them in the future.

T

At UNI this week

2008-06-16T07:44:00.001-07:00

We will be working on many ways to integrate technology this week! Attached is my first picture using Photo Booth.

Time to expand our minds!

A Little off Subject

2008-06-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

Work for Emerging Instructional Technology-
My professor at University of Northern Iowa has been conducting class using 3 different mediums at the same time. He asked that we blog about our experience. So here goes!
When you do the math, 1+1+1= confusion! I really enjoy using all three of the mediums, which include Me Beam, Second Life, and a Chat Room, but when we try to use them all it gets very confusing. Of all the mediums, I prefer either Second Life (because it is just plain fun) or Me Beam (because I get to see and talk to everyone). Seeing and talking to people online makes seems like a much better way to create a learning community. There is just something about hearing peoples voices and seeing their facial expressions that helps me as a learner. Although I have used all of these mediums before, I am definitely a digital immigrant. I do not use them very fluently and still have trouble navigating around SL. But when you put all three of them together, I feel like I end up missing half of the conversation.
I hope you have enjoyed my ramble!
T

Blog Review- Summer Help!

2008-06-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
School is out and our students are slowly losing brain cells everyday :) ! But don't despair, I have found this great Math Blog filled with summer activities for your children to do. It is located here.

I hope you all enjoy this Blog and put it to use with your children.

Stategies for Double Digit Multiplication

2008-06-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Although double digit multiplication may seem very easy to many, for young children it can be very confusing. We all learned that when you have a problem such as 42X67 that you must first multiply the 2 and the 7 to get 14, then write the four and carry the one. Next, we multiply the 4 and 7, and we get 28 then add the 1 to get 29. The next step is to multiply the 6X2 to get 12, add your zero place holder then write the 2 and carry the one. Then take 4X6 to get 24, add the one for 25. You end up with 294 +2520=2814. Simple right? Well this is very confusing (even as I was typing it). There are alot of steps to remember and many people have trouble remembering all of them.
A different way that we teach children this process is called the all partials method. Instead of memorizing the steps involved with multiplication of numbers, this method focuses on the true meaning of the numbers and often makes more sense to children (especially those who understand place value). It goes something like this:
42
x 67
14 (2X7)
280 (40X7) The 4 on 42 actually means 40.
120 (60X2) The 6 in 67 actually means 60.
+2400 (40X60) you got the picture 4 actually means 40 and 6 actually means 60.
2814

As you can see, we do not carry numbers (which can cause lots of confusion) and we multiply the true meaning of the numbers. Why should we multiply 4 x 7 when 4 is really 40 in the number 42. Althought this may be very confusing to you the first few times you try it, it does actually make more sense.
Take a minute and practice a few of these. You may end up learning something new :)

T

Purpose of this Blog

2008-05-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Thanks for visiting my BLOG! I have created this BLOG as a tool for parents to use to better understand the "new math" found in many of today's schools. I am a teacher and many times I get phone calls from parents who do not understand how their children are doing the homework that has been assigned. Hopefully this BLOG will help!

Granted, not all schools are teaching their children to solve math equations using the same strategies that we use in our district, but, if your child brings home something that just doesn't look right or something that you just don't understand, perhaps I can help!

T