EDLD+5364+Teaching+with+Technology

Week 1 Assignment 2- Updated Personal Wiki This was the first week of Teaching with Technology and I thought I was prepared with the textbook and readings before this course began. I ordered Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works several weeks before the start of this course. It took Amazon and the standard mail 15 days to deliver my textbook. After the first day of the course I begin to panic and contacted every possible 1-800 number in attempt to located my textbook. I finally found that the mail had in fact delivered my textbook as in laid in the bushes on my front porch. We have had several days of thunderstorms and my book was dipping wet when I opened the packaged. It took me 3 hours to hand dry each page of the textbook. After researching Amazon.com I discovered Kindle and decided to order my second textbook through the use of technology. It took Amazon 3.5 seconds to download my textbook to my I phone and cost 50% less then I would have paid through the mail. This experience shows how far we have come with the use of technology. I decided to include this example in my reflection of week 1 because it is evidence of how teaching with technology has changed and will continue to change throughout the next 10 years.

The introduction of the Using Technology with classroom Instruction that works sets a framework for instructional strategies that drive the integration of technology. I enjoyed the use of graphic organizers that the textbook uses to listed different categories that are needed for creating technology objectives. As an educator our lessons are driven by the use of bloom’s taxonomy. I personally struggle with the last stage of blooms, which is creation or application. This course will provide my group with an assignment that will focus on the use of creating a plan for creation in technology. The articles provided information and help give application of the different theories. The constructivist theory is a model that I find to be an effective way to integrate technology. The article, if I teach this way, am I doing my Job? Hit home is many different ways. I find that even when a teacher learns the technical skills that still struggle with having students use the skill as an application. The video called Cyborg Life: Kevin Warwick blew my mind and I shared it with several of my friends and co-workers. To think that an implant can directly reflect the nervous system. I only wish that I had this particular implant in arm in the last course when I had to work on Second Life. The brain-to-brain connection with the nervous system and the relation to technology in a linking device that I cannot believe exists. This study occurred in 1998 and look at how far we have come and to only think we are going. Let’s download this information into our students and download our students with the information they need. On another note I would question why we are not using this type of research in the states? Is it a moral or etical view or path that we choose not to enter?

Week 2 In week 2 we were introduced to CAST a nonprofit organization that strives in creating learning opportunities for all individuals. There major focus is based on the design of UDL, which is a universal design for learning. David Rose writes about 3 brain networks that focus on recognition, strategic, and affective networks. This is the “what, know and why of learning”. Teaching special education I face a group of diverse learners each day. CAST explains that the old approach of, “One size fits all” is no longer a valid theory in the 21st century.

In attempt to find technology the benefits all students the Universal Design of Learning sets a philosophy or theory for ensuring the mission of CAST. Chapter 1 of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works, the focus is on creating and setting objectives that are student driven. These objectives are written to reach the needs of the students and to create an on-going communication among parents and teachers. The chapter provides several different ideas for using graphic organizers through the use of word processing applications. One example that stood out for me was the KWHL chart. Before reading this chapter I have only used and been introduced to the KWL chart. Unfortunately the use of the H in the chart was never used in my classroom. Allowing students to track their progress throughout an activity is essential and tracking how they found the information is critical for purposes of technology. I also learned how to create a document template for my classroom. Overall, this chapter provided simple techniques for setting objectives that are student driven through the use of technology. They also included ways to use a program such as inspiration to meet the guidelines used in a UDL format. The images and graphics provide opportunities for all individuals to learn and most importantly create.

Week 3 By week 3 our group planning is completed and we are working on the development of our lesson. This weeks readings provided me information regarding the development of creating a = Universal Design for Learning lesson that supports effective learning. Chapter 6 provides several different options to ensure that students are getting the “why” of learning a particular new skill or completing an activity. Our students need to be driven by the choices provided, rewards, and multiple formats of technology tools used throughout the lesson. The lesson also provided information regarding working with flexible media and tools when planning a lesson the meets the standards of UDL. This stood out to me the most this week because as an educator we tend to resist change and teach what we know. The author suggests once you have understood this barrier to learning, take the time to investigate other digital media and networks. The site gave examples of software tools that can be used in the classroom. In addition to this reading a video on you tube was provided to support tips and ways to use technology in the classroom. After watching this video I found that I currently use 5 out of the 10 tips from the video.

When planning for technology there are four questions that must be considered when planning. What will the students learn? Which strategies will provide evidence of student learning? Will these strategies help students acquire and integrate learning? Will they help them practice, review, and apply learning? These questions made me think about the videos we were required to watch this week. Edutopia.org provided us with real life interviews from students who live in a digital generation. I found that in each video I connected with the student and knew that their teacher had used the four planning questions when designing a lesson. “Welcome to their world” is a quote that one of them used during the interview. The digital generation of students that come into our classrooms are learning, communicating, and socializing through the use of technology and it is our job to teach them in ways that they learn best.

Week 4 This week focused on the idea of cooperative learning. In the majority of our courses in this program they are based on the foundation of working on cooperative learning. We post discussions and communicate online with other classmates. In the course we are in a formal group has been assigned interpersonal and small-group assignments. The major focus of designing a cooperative learning enviorment with the integrating of technology is to ensure that students are given the opportunity to participate in cooperative teaching. Thomas Friedman, states that we are living in a fast-paced workplace that will require and support students learning to work and produce cooperatively. Not to mention we are living in a world that requires the use of technology. Our major jobs now as a technology instructional leader is to produce UDL assignments or lessons that include cooperative learning.

Week 5 I have been teaching for 5 years and in all the years I have been with my district I have never seen this type of push for the use of rubics. As adults we use a rubric on a daily basis to guide an activity requirement. We are now preparing our students for a workforce and college bound higher education society. We must use methods that reinforce student success in order to keep up with this trend. Although what happens with the effort is set fourth and students have an understanding of their own innate abilities? The next stage of this strategy is to guide the student to be driven by data and achievement through the use of an effort/achievement chart or graph. My district currently takes 6 weeks curriculum assessments in grades k-12 in every content area. The data from the assessments reflect the teacher instructional ability and administration uses this data on a regular basis. In our last faculty meeting we were instructed to create a spreadsheet that is to be posted on our classroom doors that tracked the achievement rate from test to test each 6 week. Our principal stated that this research-based approach will allow students to recognize their efforts from week to week. I agree although after reading this chapter I now see the importance of a student tracking their own success/achievement. Having a way to track my own effort would have been useful considering I am a visual learner. At this point in my career I place the reinforcing effort that McRel’s speaks of in chapter 8 on other teachers on my campus. I want them to be confident in their technology abilities and acknowledge their individual effort. If this is not done I find a group full of teachers that choose to block the importance of effort and the integration of technology. Positive reinforcement is the key to driving this type of student success along with the use of rubrics, tracking spreadsheets, and surveys.