Hope you all enjoy my WebQuest!
I Made It!
Wow! I cannot believe that this class is coming to an end! I have learned so much. I had no idea what to expect and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to learn so much about technology in the classroom. I am excited to have my very own classroom in the future and use most of the tools that we have talked about. It has been awesome reading other blogs every week and getting to see what other student’s think of different programs. Everyone has been so insightful and helpful. I want to continue to blog after this class is over. I have found that it has become a hobby to me. I find it relaxing. I enjoy reading up on different topics. I have to admit I was intimidated when I first started this class, but after a couple weeks I realized I was not the only one in the class that was not too tech savvy. I thought I knew my way around a computer, but as the weeks went on I was teaching myself a lot. It was good for me to be challenged and pushed outside of my comfort zone. I am glad that I will be able to help my students be current with new technology. This generation is advancing at rapid rates and I want to be able to keep up with them. I never want my students to fear technology the way I have before. It should not be intimidating. It should be a tool that they can always turn to.
A Copy of a Copy
I knew that copyright laws were important, but I had no idea how serious they were. I have always been careful with anything I use whether it be in the classroom or my own school work. I make sure that I am giving credit to the proper person. The thing that blew me away the most is when they were talking about bulletin boards in the classroom and how teachers should not recreate cartoon characters. I have seen many teachers do that before. It was shocking to me that it is not allowed or accepted. If you want that certain character up in your classroom then you have to find one that you are able to purchase so you are abiding by the copyright regulations. This makes me rethink a lot of things.
As educators we need to know what the proper guidelines are so that we can follow them. We need to show our students that copyright laws are serious and something that should not be taken lightly. I do not think that people realize how serious of an issue it really is. When we are copying something we are taking credit for someone’s idea or creation. In school we are teaching students that plagiarism is wrong. This is a form of plagiarism. We need to instill in them that you can receive serious consequences for breaking the copyright laws. I think that it is something that people are not aware of and they have not been properly instructed on. Now that I have read over the different articles in this module I am definitely going to share my knowledge with others.
Social Media
I believe that social media is a wonderful tool. My first use of social media was when I was in high school and I created my very own Myspace account. I instantly loved it because I was able to reconnect with old friends and family members who lived out of state. As we all know technology is always changing. As I became older I realized there are more social media sites that were becoming popular. I now have a facebook, instagram, snapchat, twitter, and countless other accounts that I am constantly updating. Social media has become apart of our daily lives. I even have the ENews app on my phone. An alert is sent to me when there is breaking Hollywood celebrity news. I mean there really is an app for everything. Social media is booming and I believe it is only going to continue to grow bigger than it already it.
Social media can play a huge role in education. I think that it would be awesome to have a twitter account for the class. Parents could be notified of any school projects or activities that are taking place. I know from experience from coaching that information does not always get delivered to the parents from the student. The more parent communication you have the happier everyone is. It would also be a great way to post due dates and deadlines for assignments. There would be no more surprises to parents about a science project being due the next morning when it is 9:00pm the night before. I definitely plan on using social media in my future classroom to help parent/teacher communication. For more information and opinions about social media use in the classroom here is an article.
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/using-social-media-classroom/
Cool Tools in the Classroom
As we all know technology is growing at a rapid rate. As educators we are constantly trying to keep up with the advancements that are being made. I have recently been long term subbing in a first grade classroom and they use a program called Class Dojo. This system is new to me, but it seems to be incredibly effective. Class Dojo is a program that helps parents and teachers stay in contact. It also helps with behavior management. If the student is acting out in class the teacher can click on an icon and it immediately contacts the parents. If I mention Class Dojo to the class I sub in the students know that they need to be on task or their parents will know if they are not following directions the way they should be.
The advantages of Class Dojo
- immediate parent contact
- students are aware of their behavior
- class participation points are easily tracked
Disadvantages of Class Dojo
- parents may be notified multiple times if student’s behavior changes throughout the day.
- can become a distraction for some students
- the internet is unreliable at times and Class Dojo is inaccessible at times
I have only used this program a couple of times. I have a lot more to learn and I need to do more research on it myself. From what I have seen this program has many more advantages than disadvantages. The students are well aware of what the program is capable of and they want their Dojo points for the day. Below is a link that will take you to more information about Class Dojo.
The Power of the Cloud
As this class continues I find myself learning more and more about technology and what it offers. There is so much technology in the world and as educators it is important for us to learn how to apply it in the classroom. Right now chromebooks are being used in public school classrooms all over the world. Elementary school students are becoming more familiar with computers than adults are. In this day in age children are brought up in a world based around technology. With the technology being more advanced than it ever has been lessons in the classroom are much different. Teachers are having to put their own twist on classic lessons. With technology such as Cloudware, group projects will never be the same.
When I think of group projects from high school, I think of spending a whole weekend at a classmate’s house trying to compare ideas and finally settling on a final product. With Cloudware, students are able to stay in the comfort of their own home and work efficiently together. Students can log onto a single document and they all have the ability to add or edit the same one. It allows group work to become much more convenient than ever before. I think that teachers should introduce these types of programs much earlier so students are familiar with them before college. I considered myself to be fairly tech savy, until I started this class. I am reminded every week how much I actually do not know how to do. This class has opened my eyes to incredible programs such as Cloudware, that allow students to work together while not having to actually be with each other. It allows students to work as a team and be able to allow proper collaboration. I am looking forward to introducing new and improved group assignments in my future classes.
PBL
Project based learning is what needs to be happening in classrooms now. Right now in classrooms teachers and educators are still very test oriented. Students like myself do not thrive in that environment. I am a visual learner and I believe that if students participated in more PBL they would have a bigger chance to succeed.
When I was in school there was a lot of memorization for test taking. I remember making a lot of flashcards and hoping that I could memorize all the information that was given to me. After I took the test I would wipe my brain clean of the information and in the long run it would not be beneficial to me at all.
After watching the video and reading the articles and learning more about Project based learning I think that it is a great method to use in the classroom. I love the three C’s critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. The three of those things are life tools that students will always need to have whether they are in the classroom or in their occupation. I love how PBL seems to deepen the students knowledge and give them a much bigger background on the topic itself. In the Article 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning there was a quote that suck out to me, “students find project work more meaningful if they conduct real inquiry.” I think that that statement is so true. Students are always asking why they need to learn certain things and if they are working with real life situations it can be more relevant to them. I think that if teachers and future educators can incorporate more PBL in their classrooms in the future it would have a positive impact. The only downfall with PBL is that it does not apply to every subject, all the time. There are still times when the old flashcard method is going to have to implemented, but being able to switch lessons up in the classroom will not only be refreshing to the students, but to the teacher as well.
A Hole In The Wall
When you put children and technology together the possibilities are endless. Mitra proved that in his research. When I was first listening to Mitra speak I thought that his ideas were fantastic. He was traveling to different countries and placing computers literally into a hole in the wall and leaving them there. He would come back months later and see not only that children have learned to use them, but they have taught themselves English as well. With absolutely no instruction on how to work the device the children had taught themselves how to browse the internet, play games, and in some cases search google.
I spend a lot of my time on the campus of an elementary school. I am mostly in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. From personal experience I can say first hand that children are not intimated by technology the way some adults can be. I think that with all the technology we have today it is implied that students will be working with something more advanced than the previous generation. In the kindergarten class that I am in they have centers that they do everyday. There are six centers and they rotate every ten minutes. One of the centers is ipads. The students select one of the learning game apps on the ipad and begin learning immediately. It is one of their favorite centers because they have their own ipad and they are able to choose which ever game they wish. The classroom is evolving and Mitra wants teachers and future educators to be aware of that fact.
The content of Mitra’s talks were incredibly informative. I thought that he took his research and experiments to a whole new level and it had a big impact on myself personally. I loved how he made the comment that the rich children were “smart,” but people were not thinking it was only because they are able to have access to resources other families aren’t able to have. By Mitra putting technology in places around the world where they have never even seen a computer before and are able to navigate their way around is amazing. I think it shows that children are eager to learn. Knowledge is power and power is technology. We as future educators need to do our part and make sure we are implementing technology in our classrooms to give our students a better future.
For more information I have posted a link to an article about Mitra and his research and experiments.
About Me!
My name is Chelsie Green. I was born March 28, 1991. I was born in Fontana, California. I have two awesome parents and one brother who is two years younger than me. When I was five years old my family moved to the High Desert from San Dimas and I have been here ever since. I attended elementary through high school in the Hesperia Unified School District.
I thoroughly enjoyed my years in high school. I was lucky enough to have met my current boyfriend back when I was a sophomore. We have been together now for almost eight years. Wow times flies! I graduated from Sultana High School in 2009. I was always very involved in school. When I graduated I realized I wanted to become a teacher and make a positive impact on children’s lives the way my teachers did for me.
After high school I attended Victor Valley College and received my Associate’s Degree. I then transferred to California State University of San Bernardino where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in English. I loved being a student at CSUSB. The faculty were great and always so supportive. Now I currently sub in the Hesperia School District. I also coach cheer leading at my old high school. I stay very busy, but I am thrilled to be starting my new journey at University of Laverne. I have heard so many wonderful things about this school. New adventures are exciting and scary at the same time. I will push myself to be the best student, coach, and substitute teacher that I can be.
The Growth Never Ends
Thomas Friedman’s speech was very interesting. It made me think about many different situations and how they could drastically change overnight. Our world is definitely evolving. I think that it is changing in a positive way. We are a rapid growing society that uses an immense amount of technology on a daily basis. Thanks to technology we are now able to communicate with anyone, anywhere, within a matter of seconds. I believe that these growths will have an impact on everyone, but in education it will be tremendous. Students will be able to leave elementary school with more knowledge about computers than ever before.
This week I am actually subbing for a 1st grade class. I came into the classroom and read through the sub plans and noticed that in the afternoon we were not going to the computer lab, but I was to take out a cart that was in the back of the classroom and hand out a chrome book to each student. I was amazed. When it was time to hand the laptops out the students knew exactly what to do. They opened them up and began to type in their user ID and password. I was waiting for 25 hands to go up asking for help and there was not one. These students are not afraid of technology. They were born into it. They will simply explore until they find what they are searching for.
I definitely think globalization will affect me as a future teacher. Technology is constantly changing and I will need to be flexible to the changes and be willing to learn. I want to instill in my future students that even though we now have more ways of communication than ever before, it is still important to communicate face to face. With all the advances we have made people have lost the intimacy and importance of face to face contact. If you are interested in learning more I have included the link to preview/purchase Friedman’s book.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/world-is-flat-thomas-l-friedman/1100162228?ean=9780312425074
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