Chapter 4- Digital Badge #J

Designing lessons and developing curriculum with technology is a new and exciting way for teachers to spice up their classrooms. There are many programs and fun filled technology based activities teachers can integrate into almost any lesson plan. Presentation software, visual thinking software, and web-based diagram and flowchart making tools are only a few of the many possible options.

Learning assessments occur before, during, and after teaching lessons and enable teachers to evaluate student knowledge, understanding and performance. Assessment tools include multiple choice and short answer tests, essays and other written tasks, oral discussions, teacher observation, class participation, and student projects. Technology can lend a hand in successful learning assessments with a few useful tools:

• Electronic tests and quizzes
• Gradekeeping software
• Digital Portfolios
• Student response systems
• Online surveys
• Learning performance rubrics

Using and and all of the tools can provide a teacher with easy to use means to assess his/her students. 

Understanding by design (UBD) is an approach to curricular development, there are three main stages to this approach:

1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experience and instruction 

The internet provides vast resources for developing lessons using the UBD method. Already assembled lesson plans on virtually any topic for any grade level are free on educational websites such as PBS and Anneberg Learner. These resources can help new teachers adjust to this type of curriculum and serve as a great starting point for the development of their first lesson plans.

Credit to Fuchsia Foot via Flickr

The main resource schools use to asses their students is standardized testing. I personally do not agree with this because I do not think it is an accurate way to measure someones intelligence. There are many forms of intelligence and not all of those can be clear from a test. There are many students who suffer from test taking anxieties and freeze up when they are put on the spot. This puts an unfair amount of pressure on todays youth because they fear they will not advance to the next grade level. Although I know it provides schools with funding I think we should brain storm alternate methods.

Resources:

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

Digital Badge #I- Chapter 12

  Technology in schools tends to follow one of the two patter: Infusion or Inclusion

Infusion: Means that computers and other information technologies are ongoing features of teaching and learning in all academic subjects and grade levels.

Inclusion: Means that computers and information technologies are used mainly for transferring information and practicing skills.

I would like to practice Infusion in my classroom when I become a teacher for a number of reasons. The main one being ongoing interest and uses of technologies increase student motivation and engagement, which also increases everyone's ideas and creativity. Using technology in your lessons can and will increase a students passion to learn. Tapping into their creativity and asking them to create is much more effective than authoritarianism teaching that only involves testing and work sheets. Children need to be stimulated, not just black and white testing because intelligence comes in many different forms and helping a child discover theirs is the whole reason I want to teach in the first place.

My Kahoot 

There are different stages teachers can be at with the level of technology they use in their classroom, 5 to be exactly.

• Entry- Teachers are beginning to learn information technologies
• Adoption- Teachers blend technology into their classroom practices without making any significant changes to those practices
• Adaption- Teachers fully integrate new technologies into traditional classroom practices
• Appropriation- Teachers easily and confidently use technology both in the classroom and their professional work
• Invention- Teachers start to experiment with many inventive and creative ways to use technology in and out of the classroom 

I believe that every teacher should work to at least make it up to the adaption stage. This way they can use technology to enhance their lessons plans and make their jobs easier and students job more enjoyable. 

Picture by: R Joanne at Flickr

Of course there are always going to be issues in integrating technology as well. Some teachers will have to face them and come up with creative solutions to the problems. Some of those issues include:

• Administrative Support and teaching styles 
• Unwillingness to change favorire lesson plan
• Reluctance to use technology in new lesson plans
• Use of technology as a reward or punishment
• Use of technology as an ass-on to other activities
• Use of technology to separate students by ability groups.

At the end of the day not everyone is going to agree that use of technology in a classroom is a beneficial and positive way to engage your students. It is a very hot button issues and teachers who are used to teaching without it are not going to be as open minded to change. However it is very apparent that when a child is allowed to create and use his/her imagination to learn they will engage with more enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Using technology to educate, if done correctly, can be a wonderful and exciting thing. Teaching future generations in this way is, in my opinion, the way of the future and as a society we are technology driven, its just the way that it is. 

 Resources:

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

Digital Badge #H- Chapter 9

   Tapping into a child's creativity, in my opinion, is one of the most important part of being an educator. When a child is allowed to express themselves and utilize their creative talents their chances of learning and loving what they learn are much greater. Multimedia technologies can help us as educators accomplish this goal. There are countless programs and softwares that make learning and creating new things for students of all grade levels fun and inspiring. Multimedia combines text, data, voice, picture, and video all in a single application. Giving the students countless creative options for their projects. Comparing Minimal and Multimedia Classroom Technologies we can see the difference in certain teaching strategies. For example in the past (before the computer revolution) a teacher would have to draw the Water Cycle on the whiteboard/chalkboard and ask her students to copy it down and memorize it. With todays tools the teacher can used a times slide show with audio, or a reel-to-reel movie projected on a screen. She could also ask the students to create these on their own in groups or individually.

Created by: Allie Sofos using ToonDoo

Using Powerpoint and Next-Generation Presentation Tools is another fun and exciting way to teach a classroom. With all of the new additions and abilities in these systems presenting to a classroom has never been easier or as exciting. The ability to embed podcasts and videos into your presentations gives them flairs and keeps the students interests alive. A document cameras captures whatever is under its lens and, when connected to a digital projector or a television set projects that image onto a large screen or whiteboard. Having the ability to transform the small screen of a single computer into a classroom-wide, theater like learning environment, drastically changing the presentation experience for the students and the teacher.

Photo credit: Capt Kodak at Flickr

Photo-Taking and Movie-Making With Students was another important section of this chapter. Children in our generation love to take pictures and make videos. The applications such as Facebook and Vine show us that movie making and photography can be tapped into by just about anyone. Incorporating this into your lesson plan could be a fun and interesting tool for your students. This allows students to not only tap into one type of creativity but several. It gives them the opportunity to

• Film
• Write
• Act
• Edit
• Critique

Coming up with a story line and acting is out is a wonderful way for students to re-inact historical events or explain one. For younger students softwares such as alphabet books allows students to upload pictures of themselves holding up objects with the specific letter they are doing. This is a fun way for young children to learn the alphabet while also tapping into their creative side

From Youtube

In conclusion, creativity is one of the most important thing for a child to develop. Technologies help us as teachers provide the tools to nurture this skill with innovative and fun ways to learn. 

 Resources:

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

Digital Badge #G-Chapter 10

   I liked this chapter of the book because it touched on the importance of multicultural education and diversity. I feel very strongly about teaching children at an early age about other peoples cultures and backgrounds so they can grow up to be informed, tolerant and respectful citizens. The section that talks about connecting classrooms with communities and cultures is spot on. Schools, without intending to do so, become separated from the broader society around them. They celebrate other cultures but only on certain occasions (i.e.; Black History Month.) It is important to connect children to the idea of other cultures and traditions on a broader sense. Technology helps them do this through access to endless information including newspapers, translators, personal testimonies... the list can go on and on. Every students culture, language and background can become integrated into the curriculum and better understood throughout the year.

Created with Padlet

    This chapter also touched on how to teach children with disabilities. I had never heard of a concept known at Universal Design for Learning until I read this text. The UDL is the application of universal design principles to educational setting. In architecture one must make accommodations for those in wheelchairs when designing a building. This same concept can be brought to the classroom. For example a teacher can use Powerpoint to display her vocabulary words to the class to help better accommodate a hearing impaired child while the class discusses the terms. Another example could be using Podcasts in lessons to help accommodate vision impaired children. I think this is a really important concept because all children deserve the same education no matter who they are or what disabilities they may possess. 

 Other tools that can help with the education process are assitive technologies. These are technologies that are designed for those with varying disabilities. Some examples of these technologies include computers with lard keypads for those with reduced hand functions and also computers that will read out text for those who cannot see. Assitive technology makes it possible for those with hearing, sight, mobility, or cognitive challenges the ability to translate text and understand spoken words. With the advancements available today thanks to technology it is a lot less of a challenge for these individuals to get the same experience as those students without disabilities. I think this is wonderful because nothing is more important than establishing a childs self esteem early on so it can translate into their adult life. 

from: Youtube

   I would like to conclude this blog with a picture I found that I fell in love with. I think that this saying should be universally adapted and hopefully we as educators can help create a generation without hatred. 

Credit to: esetherease from Flickr

 Resources:

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

Side note: I don't know what happened to my text in this blog, it got a little whacky after I uploaded my Padlet... I could not get it to all be the same size.. I tries highlighting it all and pressing Normal but nothing was working. Sorry.

Digital Badge #F- Chapter 8

     This chapter touched on Social Media and how we can implement in our lesson plans. I liked this chapter because I am a big fan of social media. I think the ability to communicate with people from all over the world for free is an amazing and inspired thing. Facebook allows people to find others from their past, keep in touch, and share pictures, videos, and endless sources of information. The section in this chapter that speaks about teachers creating their own blogs for their students was really interesting to me. I think a teacher's blog is a wonderful idea and can enable students and their parents to keep up to date with your lessons and future activities. You can also provide your students with articles and pictures that you find potentially educational by posting them to your blog. A fun idea I thought of would be to have my students post one thing a week to my blog that they found interesting about one of our lessons. Whether it be a video, a picture, a slide show, something they find on the internet that they feel like sharing. It can also allow for the teacher to keep in contact with the students outside of the classroom.

Credit to: Master OSM 2011 using Flickr

    Another section I found interesting was the concept of a teacher's website, which is different from a blog. Websites are more formal, blogs allow personal interjections while websites are strictly business. I like this idea because my student's parents would be able to go on and see a detailed break down of what I plan to teach their child during the school year. Most parents like to be involved in their child's school life and I think it is our responsibility to make that as easy as possible for them.

Taken from: Youtube

   The last section I will talk about is the section on creating a Wikitext. I find this to be a fun and exciting tool for all grade levels. Allowing the students to be involved in creating their own text book will allow them so much more insight on the material while having fun learning it. They become creators, not just receivers. This also promotes collaboration which I think is highly crucial in any curriculum. Team works promotes social skills which heightens a students self esteem. It allows them to work with others and build on their people skills while also utilizing their creative thinking.
I created a story of the importance of this program however in order to get the embed code I need to upgrade my member ship so I am just going to put the link to it.

My Story

   In conclusion social media can be a wonderful tool for educators and setting up a blog/website is a wonderful way to keep everyone updated on what is going on. Wikitext is a great tool that I just learned about thanks to the text book. I am keeping a list of all these wonderful options to make the lessons more fun and innovative 

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