Reflective Post

Throughout my experience in EME2040 I have had the opportunity to accomplish many learning outcomes that are valuable to my teacher portfolio. I was able to accomplish these things with the help of the class textbook and the helpful examples, links, and videos in each module.

In accomplishing a website evaluation, critique, and rubric I was able to achieve the learning outcome of being able to evaluate and critique software/hardware tools to determine its utility in a K-12 setting. This assignment was great practice for creating rubrics to grade the students of my future classroom. I always thought the rubrics were to help the teacher but the textbook gave me a better understanding of how they actually help the students by providing them with "A clear framework for how assignments will be evaluated as part of the course grading process and specific activities or accomplishments to complete to achieve a learning level, score, or grade". The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly provided in the module was a huge help to give me a basic idea on what to include in my rubric and what to look for when evaluating web sources. I now feel confident in evaluating websites and creating rubrics.

I participated in a group project creating an instructional strategy wiki which accomplished the learning outcome of creating a portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom. Before EME2040 I was not familiar with wikis. The textbook mentioned their importance to technology enhanced classrooms but I still did not understand the full concept to the extend that I did after finishing a group wiki. I did find it a little challenging but feel I would be able to do it again if needed. The module did have a helpful introduction video but I felt the word document of Marzano's 9 strategies was more helpful to the group member doing the identifying similarities and differences strategy than any other group member.

Participating in a collaborative lesson plan helped me practice evaluating and critique software tools but also helped me accomplish the learning outcomes of developing an Internet-based project that uses technology as both a medium and a goal of K-12 instruction and analyzing and evaluating a selection of technological tools for assisting students with special/diverse needs or English Language Learners, linking The technology to specific outcomes/strategies for teaching these students. The lesson plan template and sample in the module really helped with this assignment. I saved the template for future reference and know it will come in handy for the many lesson plans I have ahead of me. For me personally I think this assignment would have been better as an individual project instead of as a group. It was challenging to put everyone's ideas in one plan when each person wanted a different topic and different technological tools. I am not sure if as teachers we will all have to come up with lesson plans for our grade level together, but if we do then this assignment was good practice.

I am really excited to use WebQuests in my future classroom. It was a lot of work to create but I am very proud of my first WebQuest. The module suggested Quest Garden and it was really helpful and easy. I will use Quest Garden for all of my future WebQuests. Accomplishing creating a WebQuest helped me practice the learning outcomes of developing and internet based project that uses technology and reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching. 

The textbook talks a lot about teacher webpages being great for communication with students and parents. After creating my own teacher webpage I was able to see the that for myself. I really enjoyed practicing the learning outcomes of developing an internet based project that uses technology, evaluating/critiquing software tools, and creating a portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom during this project. I found Weebly to be very difficult to customize the templates. I ended up using Wix which was super easy to use and I plan to use that site for all future websites I make. The module has a video of an intro to weebly but it is very different from weebly's current site layout. Maybe an updated video could help future students use Weebly but I highly recommend Wix. 

All in all I really enjoyed this class and look forward to using my new knowledge in my future technological classroom! 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

WIX. (2015, November 02). Create Your Stunning Website With Wix.com - Website Builder. Retrieved May 02, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzu_bpCcfuA

Experience Julius Caesar quote hd. (2015, January 28). Retrieved May 02, 2016, from http://quotesideas.com/experience-julius-caesar-quote-hd/

Digital Blog Post #F

A concept that really caught my attention was "WebQuests, Virtual Field Trips, and Videoconferencing" in chapter 6. I had always thought that field trips were a great way of learning for students. I had no idea about virtual field trips and videoconferencing. I was surprised with how many different places were available for virtual field trips including the Great Wall of China. I think this is really great because a lot of schools and students can not afford educational trips. I will definitely incorporate these into my curriculum as a future teacher. 

http://storybird.com/books/infusion-vs-inclusion/?token=pyhk3ghpuw

In chapter 12 I really liked the concept of "inclusion and infusion of technology". I was not previously familiar with these two concepts and did not realize the huge difference in technology use in schools. Inclusion means that computers and information technologies are used mainly for transferring information and practicing skills but not central to students day to day educational experiences. Infusion on the other hand means that computers and other information technologies are ongoing features of teaching and learning in all academic subjects at all grade levels and are a continuing part of the day to day educational experience for students. In my classroom I would like to implement the concept of infusion because the text explains that ongoing an interesting uses of technology increases motivation and engagement which also increases everyone's ideas and creativity. I want to make sure my students are always interested  and engaged in what they are learning about and I feel that infusion will help me achieve that. 

Another concept in chapter 12 that I liked was the "one to one laptop computing" concept. I felt that this concept went hand-in-hand with the concept previously mentioned by helping implement infusion of technology. The one-to-one laptop computing concept means every student in a grade, school, or district has her or his own computing device to use in school. It is said that one to one programs reduce did usual inequality by providing every student with a computer. Research studies have shown the program positively affects student learning. I do believe that this program does reduce inequality among the students which is one of the main reasons I would love to implement this program in my classroom along with the fact that it helps me also implement infusion.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #D

The concept "Electronic Communication Between Teachers and Students" in chapter 8 is clearly targeting the electronic communication with students, but since my focus is to teach kindergarten I feel they will not benefit from this. Instead I will use this concept for communicating with my students parents. Of course I will use traditional email and text messaging for quick and more personal communication. I like the idea of classroom websites to post announcements and class schedule as well as student work. This is a great way to keep parents involved in what is going on in their child's classroom. I am familiar with discussion boards since we use them for homework assignments. I never thought of them as a way to keep communication. I would like to use discussion boards and a blog as an option for all the parents to communicate together and share their ideas and even concerns they may have with me. 

"Social Networking for Educators" in chapter 8 was a new concept to me. You hear a lot of negative things about social media in the news, but educational networking is so different. The text book introduces an online service called Ning. With this service teachers can have discussions and exchange research, curriculum ideas, and other personal experiences they've had in the classroom with other teachers anywhere in the world. I think this is a great way to learn especially in my first couple years of teaching I think I will benefit from this a lot. I look forward to participating in educational networking.

The United States today is full of so many languages and culturally. That is why the concept "Multicultural Education in 21st Century Schools" in chapter 10 is so important. Racism and stereotypes are common in schools and it is a teachers job to educate students about each other and create a community within the classroom. One way to do that is teaching methods and approaches. Do group projects and put students of different cultures together or participation as a class in discussions. Also create a culturally relevant curriculum by including  cultural historical stories about ethnic heroes. I think it is very important for students to learn about each other and not feel left out. I will definitely implement multicultural education in my future classroom. 

Case, Abbi. (2013, February 26 ). The 5 Dimensions of Multicultural Education. Youtube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bBb8Nk8Mvs

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #C

A concept that really caught my attention was "WebQuests, Virtual Field Trips, and Videoconferencing" in chapter 6. I had always thought that field trips were a great way of learning for students. I had no idea about virtual field trips and videoconferencing. I was surprised with how many different places were available for virtual field trips including the Great Wall of China. I think this is really great because a lot of schools and students can not afford educational trips. I will definitely incorporate these into my curriculum as a future teacher. 

I am a strong believer in "Digital Games for Learning" so this concept in chapter 7 was one I could not wait to learn more about. The chapter mentions simulation games and virtual worlds. I am not a huge fan of virtual world games because I do not find them as educational as simulation games. There are a couple virtual world games such as Webkinz that I have personally tried. Webkinz has some good games but virtual worlds is not something I will use in my classroom. The textbook mentions that effective simulation games features stealth learning, which is when students learn without realizing they are learning. Stealth learning is one of my biggest goals in my classroom. Learning should be fun and I feel simulation games are a great way to accomplish that. 

Since I plan to incorporate digital games for learning in my classroom, the concept "Strategies for Using Games with Students" in chapter 7 was very important for me. The strategies mentioned in this concept were: minimize the use of games that teach isolated skills, scrutinize games that function solely on points won or lost, discuss games and their content, and play games together. For maximum learning it is important I provide games for my students that target basic skills and problem solving skills versus isolating just one skill. Most games that function on points won or lost are web based games that are usually virtual worlds which I will not have my students participate in. As a teacher I will always review the content of a game before allowing my students to play. Something I did not think was important was talking about it with my students. The book says psychologists recommend it and I will implement this strategy in my future classroom. 

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Mcclain, C (2016, February 21). Untitled. Created with Bitstrips http://www.bitstrips.com/r/WDP0Z

Digital Blog Post #A - Chapter 1

I found the opening of chapter one "today's students and technology" to be full of tons of information. Although the statistics mentioned did not surprise me, I did not expect the numbers to be so high or the ages to start so young. Kids as young as 12 have Facebook and other social media. The participation gap was something I had not realized was so big. It is also something I think will only keep growing and would be hard to fix. 

The concept "must have technologies for teaching" was very interesting to me and a little surprising. I knew technology was important for teaching but I did not realize how many technologies there were or that they could even be used in the classroom. In figure 1.3 I filled out the chart for my must have technologies. My answers included: digital media, online blended courses, interactive white boards, educational learning games, social networking, and digital textbooks. Technologies that are new to me that I had not heard of before was social bookmarking. I still do not quite understand this tool because to me favoriting a page or saving it to my desk top is the same thing. 

Lastly two concepts "technological pedagogical content knowledge" (TPACK) and "strategies for learning new technologies" go hand in hand in helping me with techniques and strategies to become a 21st century teacher in my future classroom. I really liked the TPACK concept because it made it easier to think about how to do all three at the same time. The other concept gave me detailed ideas on ways to learn new technologies. All of these will help me grow and become a better 21st century teacher.