slm508deo

When I started working on my wiki project I wanted to address the communication problem that the elementary school had on their school improvement plan. In the school improvement plan, the school added that they would use newsletters, marquees, and other print sources of communication to promote their Back to School Night, Conferences, etc. After completing the modules in this course and learning about the use of technology in communicating and collaborating with a network of people, I decided that I wanted to address the schools need to improve their parent and community communication. In my collaboration project, a school faculty will set up a blog the first few weeks of school. After the blog is set up teachers will send home a newsletter to let parents know about their blog, and to encourage parents to read the blog to learn about what is going on in the classroom. After setting up a blog, teachers will create Skype and Twitter accounts. Skype will be used to offer parents conferences with the teacher when they cannot attend the usual face-to-face conference. Although I don’t have much classroom experience, I think that Skype would be a great tool for communicating with parents because you can see one another, and share student work and documents. Twitter would be a great classroom tool because parents can get updates and reminders about school events.

This project reflects my belief, after completing this class, that the most important NETS Standards for Teachers is number five: “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.” I think that this NETS standard is important because teachers have to stay active in their profession. Since learning never ends, teachers need to constantly work on their teaching in order to better serve their students. Before starting this class I was unaware and uncomfortable with technology. However, in taking this class I learned a great deal about technology because I got to work with a knowledgeable group of professionals that have different strengths in technology. In four modules I have learned the impact that technology can have on both student achievement and teacher development. Technology is a great classroom tool that can assist teachers in everything from lesson development to implementation, record keeping, and communication with parents, staff, and professional development.

As a future teacher, going forward in my career I plan on pursing professional development opportunities on technology because I know it will have a direct impact on my students’ learning. Also, I feel that when I participate in these professional development opportunities it will keep my teaching up to date. I think my ‘big concept’ for this module and class would be that learning never ends. Teachers need to model for students that every person is always growing and learning new knowledge. Teachers could even document their learning for students through using technology.

Through this class I have learned that I can step outside of my technology box and venture into the digital world to further develop my knowledge of technology. I have learned that I can continue to grow professionally, and this knowledge will influence my practice as a future educator going forward. Goodbye to all my classmates and professor, and thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Mrs. Ibrahim’s class wiki is a group of second graders in Southern California that are using technology to “share what they are learning with the world.” The wiki is set up by discussion and subjects, where students have direct access to subject information like math, science, social studies, technology, word study and writing. On the site students have individual pages, and they share that they are excited about other people reading their writing. Our class reading, Wiki in a K-12 Classroom, mentions using wikis for student portfolios because it makes an “easy shell for electronic portfolios where students can display and discuss their work with others. It would also be an excellent forum for peer editing and peer feedback to help students improve their writing skills.” Student work and projects are good for monitoring progress and sharing with parents and administrators. This wiki supports the NETS for Students under 1. Creativity and Innovation, “students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.” Students: a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes and b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

In addition, this wiki is a great resource for new teachers because the teacher displays some of her classroom management techniques. For example, thinking maps and anchor charts. With the thinking map descriptions of multiple maps that are used in the classroom for instruction and management, and the teacher also has pictures. Wikis are great for sharing with other teachers and collaboration. The class reading, Wiki in a K-12 Classroom, mentions wikis being used for collaboration between teachers. Teachers could use wikis to create “lesson plans, track how the lessons are being implemented in their various classrooms, give suggestions – this could be a few teachers in the same middle school doing an interdisciplinary unit, or teachers of the same subject in distant places working on the same unit together.”

The LiteracyMalden wiki is designed for first grade teachers and serves as a professional development site where teachers have access to countless resources. The main idea behind the wiki is that teachers can join in the sharing of resources and new ideas. This wiki meets the NETS for Teachers standard “ Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership: Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.” Going into my student teaching internship in first grade this would be great for resources on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, etc. to writing traits, assessment, and the new common core standards. Another first grade wiki I found had a great parent resources section that provided parents school and classroom information. I think this would be beneficial to a classroom teacher because it would cut down on the number of materials being sent home, and teachers could also create discussion forums to answer parent questions about how to use resources. This is also a great way to get feedback from parents and keep conversation going.

Today I had the opportunity to attend a professional development session at my student teaching internship school on 21st century learning. I was invited by my mentor teacher and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me because I have been working on this course and my action research project on technology use in the classroom. Before attending the session, teachers read the text 21st Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times by Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel and wrote down some ideas for their school. The text used for the PD session covered a vast amount of ideas, but the main focus was how the world has changed in the last few decades, and that the roles of education and teaching have changed forever and will continue to change. We discussed the idea of what is a 21st century education. After referring to the text and teacher analysis of the text it was decided that a 21st century education focuses on knowledge of the core subjects like math, reading, writing, but also emphasizes global awareness, economics, and environmental concerns. In order for our students to become 21st century learners they will need certain technology skills. Additionally, since the world is constantly changing, students need to have critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Since we have started this course I have been testing my own critical thinking and problem solving skills, whether I’m analyzing a reading or learning new technology. It is important that students have problem solving skills so that they can consistently work to solve a problem. When we were discussing possible ways for students to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills we discussed collaboration, communication, and social learning. Students need face-to-face and virtual collaboration and communication. According to the text, collaboration has been proven to increase learning motivation and develop social skills. It mentions that “a wide variety of online communication tools and environments that support social, collaborative, and community approaches to learning are now available. Since the internet is global, students can now be global learners, connecting and learning with others around the planet.”  This makes me think about the lessons we have learned about global learners, and the need for students to become informed citizens of the digital world.

Although this PD session was not part of class, I thought that it brought our class full circle for me and this session made my learning more authentic. When we were sharing about different technology in the classroom I informed them of my experiences in this class, and I was invited to join the technology team meetings when I start my internship. I look forward to using technology and teaching 21^st century learners to the best of my ability.

Text Source: 21st Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times by Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Gmail, Oh My! Before learning about iGoogle I use to aimlessly wander from social networking sites that were saved under my ‘favorites.’ That was until I was saved by the wonder of iGoogle, which brought all of my sites together to one neat, convenient, and organized spot. When I started creating my iGoogle site I made sure that I placed the gadgets that I use the most towards the top, for instance my Gmail, Twitter, and calendar. I found that the gadgets and themes were easy to navigate through and organize. As a future educator, iGoogle means no longer running around from site to site. Instead, I will have the email and social networking sites come to my iGoogle homepage. The one gadget that I searched for but could not find was WordPress. I was really hoping that I could have a feed on my blog, but I can get that from the Google Reader.

iGoogle will support my teaching. First, I will always be organized and no longer will I have to search the internet for information that I need. Second, iGoogle could assist me in planning and organizing instructional activities. For instance, if I wanted to share world events, news, weather, a video from YouTube, etc. All of these gadgets would be on my iGoogle homepage and I would have instant access. I wouldn’t have to search the internet for the site and waste instructional time. As a professional, iGoogle would be a great tool for professional development, and I would be able to stay informed through professional networks and other professionals by accessing my Google Reader.

Students, like adults, have hectic lives and most of them are linked directly to their social networking sites around the clock. iGoogle would provide students the opportunity to organize their space and make a homepage where everything comes together. Additionally, iGoogle would support student learning because students could use the education gadgets that are available, for instance the dictionaries, encyclopedias, email, organizational calendars, and even a running to-do list. All of these gadgets would organize and simplify a middle or high school student’s life. Beyond school, students could use iGoogle to be informed of current events, for instance they could use the news gadgets to share with their classrooms. It is important that students are informed citizens and aware of the world that they live in because they will be a part of the world in their future career. From an early age students should begin to be curious about the world, and teachers should support this through instruction. Additionally, iGoogle could be used with students to create activities and projects that they want to share with students through a list of gadgets.

iGoogle has really organized my life and I’m going to continue on my journey of digital learning following iGoogle.

When I started exploring the Web 2.0 digital storytelling tools I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of tools that there were available to children. As I was browsing through the tools, reading the reviews, and playing around on the sites I found that deciding upon which tools to use in the classroom setting would be difficult. The Web 2.0 tools are great for students to be able to create, collaborate with classmates and people around the world, and teach students how to share their work with others. Students have the opportunity to work with other peoples work, and edit to make something new.

Additionally, I found that the tools were great for meeting the NETS standards and that each tool meets the standards in one way or another.  I was trying to keep the NETS for students in the back of my mind when I was choosing the tools I wanted to review. When reviewing the Web 2.0 tools I found that the most reoccurring NETS standard for students is number 1. Creativity and Innovation, where “students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.” In particular 1.a “apply, existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes” and 1.b “create original works as a means of personal or group expression.” All of the Web 2.0 tools that I reviewed gave students the opportunity to express themselves and add to the larger product. People always say that technology drives people away from one another, and it might in some respects, but I think the Web 2.0 tools bring together a community of learners that want to be innovative and collaborate with other creative people.

Module 2 has been a technology journey of trial and error for me. Whenever I begin working with a new technology there is always a form of frustration, and I begin to think of students that struggle in the classroom. Everyone learns differently, and I think a little frustration is good for me to understand what my students could possibly feel about a certain subject. I think sometimes teachers forget that all the knowledge they teach to students is new, and students need time to process the information and apply it to their schema. Like with my experience with this module, once I began to really understand the technology I felt comfortable and I made the technology work for me. As mentioned before, this module was trial and error for me. Some of the technology was not working for me, for example embedding in the Flickr slideshow into my WordPress account, however after searching the web I found another tool (Vodpod) that helped me. Technology is interesting because there are multiple ways of accomplishing one task, and there are multiple programs. Even though I struggled learning some of the technology in this unit I walked away with a sense of accomplishment, and I’m excited to use these technology tools in the future.

Ok, so I wrote my Flickr Slide Show learning log earlier today and told myself that when I got home from work at 8 p.m. I would quickly upload it. Well…it is 3.5 hours later and I just embedded it. I tried over and over and over again to embed that slideshow into WordPress but for some reason I could not for the life of me figure it out. I searched WordPress and Google  and finally I found the help I needed. All I can say is that I’m thankful for a website named Vodpod and I would recommend it to everyone. I don’t know if this is what we were supposed to use but I found the link on WordPress. This evening has been quite the adventure and being a stubborn person I refused to give up. On a happy note, I have a strong feeling of accomplishment now and feel that I have beat technology.