The Last Blogpost for EDU 533

The Finale

         Part 1: Your final assignment of the course is your course reflection. Here you will discuss what you Learned (The L of the KWL) from the beginning of the course to now. In this blog posting, please discuss the remaining course objectives you have recently met that were not met at the midterm of the course. List them out and discuss how you met them. This also where you reflect upon where you began before this class and what you have learned that will help you in your future as an educator.

         I have learned so much from the beginning to the end of this class. It has been a really interesting journey and I have learned a lot. I feel like one of the most important things a school must teach students is, how to be successful in their lives. Students must leave school having the knowledge and skills necessary for them to work, socialize and live on our planet. Technology has become a vital part of our world. I will go over how the class objectives have helped me understand and learn skills to help me become a great teacher.

         Objective 1 is, learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding. It has been reinforced in this class that teachers do not need to have every single answer. If a teacher creates genuine discussions and the class has questions that no one can answer, that shows the students are engaged and are probably using higher order thinking. Gone are the times when teachers would stand in the front of the room and lecture and the students would soak up the knowledge like sponges, with technology students can have a world of knowledge at their fingertips. Getting kids in groups and having the teacher join the groups has become a great way to allow students to share and grow ideas that they think up.

         Objective 2 is, demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology. Since everyone in our class has an undergrad degree, we all know ways to cite our sources, or we have bookmarks reminding us of how to cite. I was appreciative of learning about images and the correct way to use them and credit them. I have learned that there is no universally correct way to cite an image but I have been using an accepted method to cite all of my image sources since learning the way during a homework assignment.

Red Apple from Wikimedia Commons

         Illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum is the 3^rd objective. This is a very important topic since our schools and thus, our classrooms, must comply with these standards. It is extremely important I know these and follow them since I want to be a teacher, and I want to be a teacher for a long time. It was nice to get some practice in how to implement the standards with our lesson plan and webquest assignments.

         Objective 4 is, demonstrate an understanding of the use of assistive and adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student. I think we learned clear and easy ways to use technology to help students. Students with 504s or IEPs will benefit from multimedia lessons using videos, images, games or other interactive activities. Enrichment can be achieved by having students research and learn more and take topics further. There are computer programs that allow users to put on headphones and listen to whole books, and other programs that can listen and type what a person says into a microphone. All of these programs can be used to assist a student. Objective 5 is, evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional literature. We did our big literature review paper for this topic. We also learned with our textbook, TED talks and other Internet searches but I feel we learned so much more from utilizing the tools and discussing the trends. We have learned how to make intro videos to hook students into a topic, make webquests for students to learn from and how to make a blog so that the world can read about our classes’ adventures.

         The final objective is, turn theory into practice by completing 5 hours of related field experience. This was an amazing experience. I got to watch a teacher, who is know for integrating technology, in his classroom. The class project was world explorers, but the technology piece was that the class was partnered with another class in Sophia, Bulgaria! What a great use of technology!

         While some of these objectives were met before midterm I feel they were firmed up during the second half of the term. These were all very important topics to learn. These will all help me be a good teacher. I appreciate learning the standards so I know my goals and requirements in the classroom. I have learned a lot about how to use and implement technology. I will definitely use all the skills I have learned in my future classroom. One of the most important things I have learned is that I should be a lifelong learner.

         I knew a little before this class. I had seen teachers at my school work with student’s in groups. I had seen teachers say they did not know the answer to a student’s question. I had seen the use of technology some in classrooms. I enjoyed seeing a 5^th grade classroom form their own experiments and show the properties of the states of water. Working in a school has given me those experiences and that is why I decided to become a teacher.

Part 2: Answer the following question: Why is it important for all teachers to integrate technology into the lessons they teach, regardless the age of the students? Discuss what may be barriers to technology integration and how you as the teacher can overcome them. Using what you have learned throughout the course, please provide examples and information to support your answer. Within this blog entry, please discuss some web2.0 tools that would assist with technology integration.

         It is important for all teachers to integrate technology into lessons because we must prepare future generations for their whole lives and technology will be a huge part of their lives. Jobs, communications, knowledge and many other things will have technology incorporated into them, if they don’t already have it. I look at EDU 533 and we are becoming teachers, we still need to stay current with new technologies and how to implement them in the classroom. We have learned that educators should be lifelong learners, it is the best way to help our students achieve their full potentials. With our knowledge and with technology our classrooms can help students learn and grow more than the past classroom models. We can use multimedia lessons to help students understand and experiment with knowledge. We can Skype with other classes, authors, scientists or anyone in the world with an Internet connection. We can use Edmodo to give students a place to talk about assigned videos. We can then use blogs to talk about what we have learned and our thoughts.

         If we have trouble integrating technology and ideas into our classroom due to staff or parents being against or afraid of the ideas, we could turn to online communities for encouragement, support and ideas to help teach the staff or parents about the benefits and advantages of integration. The budget and supplies may be a barrier to integrating technology into our schools or classrooms. We can use whatever is available and be thankful for what we can use and do with those devices. We can turn again to our online communities or our schools’ communities to ask for assistance and support.

New Hampshire Elementary Education Standards

Ed 612.04  Elementary Education.  The elementary education program for grades K-6 or K-8 shall provide the teaching candidate with the skills, competencies and knowledge gained through a combination of academic and supervised practical experience in the following areas:

          (a)  In the area of curriculum and assessment, the ability to:

(1)  Design, administer, and use the results of informal assessments to meet individual needs;

(2)  Use the results of standardized tests, observations, and daily student performance to plan instruction; and

(3)  Help K-6 or K-8 students develop the ability to assess their own progress as learners;

          (b)  In the area of planning and instructional strategies, the ability to:

(1)  Use the following strategies to promote student learning:

a.  Development of student literacy, including reading instruction that leads to development of student strategies for word recognition, decoding skills, and reading comprehension;

b.  Development of student writing skills, including writing process, usage, and grammar; and

c.  Development of student mathematics skills, including number systems, number series, algebraic concepts, informal geometry, measurement, data organization and interpretation skills;

(2)  Apply fundamental skills of social interaction, problem solving, and higher order thinking and to foster development of these skills in students by integrating them into all subject areas;

(3)  Use enthusiasm and appropriate language and behaviors to provoke interest, curiosity, and engagement in learning for all subjects;

(4)  Demonstrate understanding of all subject areas through the proper use of subject specific language, behaviors, and skills;

(5)  Use literature and artistic expression as teaching tools in all subject areas;

(6)  Use developmentally appropriate practices to create authentic learning experiences crucial to teaching elementary students; and

(7)  Integrate effectively a variety of content areas into a holistic, thematic approach to teaching;

          (c)  In the area of communication and collaboration:

(1)  Knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of various personnel, including principal, speech language specialist, speech language pathologist, occupational therapist, special education administrator, and paraeducator, indigenous to elementary schools and districts;

(2)  Ability to effectively access and collaborate with school district personnel to support student learning; and

(3)  Skill in using a variety of appropriate, constructive communication strategies that effectively engage families, parents, and guardians in discussions of children’s growth and development;

          (d)  In the area of professionalism:

(1) Knowledge of the laws governing the education of all learners and ability to use that knowledge to create an inclusive learning environment;

(2)  Ability to understand how the dynamics of the classroom and the teacher’s own behavior and skills can impact students’ behavior and learning; and

(3) Ability to create systems managing time, space, and discipline that effectively promote learning and a positive classroom climate;

          (e)  In the area of technology:

(1) Ability to discriminate between developmentally appropriate and inappropriate use of technology with children;

(2)  Skill in utilizing technologies effectively to assist student learning; and

(3)  Knowledge of how to provide equal access to the digital world;

          (f)  In the area of language arts content, the ability to:

(1)  Explain the usage of structure, grammar, and orthography of the English language;

(2)  Analyze, interpret, and evaluate the elements of literary works, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry; and

(3)  Apply knowledge of the influence of social, cultural, psychological, and economic factors to the acquisition of language and language learning and to the teaching of literacy;

          (g)  In the area of mathematics content, the ability to:

(1)  Explain the meaning and use of numbers and the standard algorithms for the 4 basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division;

(2)  Explain basic algebraic concepts, representations, and formulas;

(3)  Explain the proportions of geometry, including relationships and theorems in figures and shapes;

(4)  Explain standard units of measurement; and

(5)  Organize and interpret data through the use of visual displays, probability, and statistics;

          (h)  In the area of social studies content, ability to:

(1)  Explain world geography and its effects on human, physical, political, and economic systems;

(2)  Explain the pre-history and early civilizations to those of the current day, including their developments and transformations;

(3)  Explain United States history from European exploration and colonization to current developments and transformations;

(4)  Explain the nature, purpose, and forms of local, state, national, and international government;

(5)  Demonstrate a working knowledge of the tools, goals, and areas of study in anthropology, sociology, and psychology; and

(6)  Explain basic micro- and macro-economics; and

          (i)  In the area of science content, ability to:

(1)  Explain, in the area of earth science, the structure and the process of the earth system and its relationship to the universe;

(2)  Explain, in the area of life science, the structure, function, and healthy maintenance of living systems;

(3)  Explain, in the area of physical science, the structure, property, and interactions of energy and matter;

(4)  Apply the inquiry process an educational standard of science pursuant to RSA 193-C:3,III(a) through the use of scientific inquiry; and

(5)  Apply an awareness of history and nature of science to an inquiry process an educational standard of science pursuant to RSA 193-C:3,III(a) illuminating the history of science.

Source.  #2055, eff 6-16-82; ss by #2714, eff 5-16-84; ss by #4632, eff 7-1-89; EXPIRED 7-1-95

New.  #6366, eff 10-30-96, EXPIRED: 10-30-04

New.  #8229, eff 12-17-04; ss by #8725, eff 9-9-06

Webquest

Here is my Webquest for my EDU 533 Learning through Technology Class. Here is my lesson plan for the Webquest.

CIPA Tagxedo

Here is a Tagxedo I made of keywords about CIPA the Children's Internet Protection Act.