Final Reflection

Seeing as this is my last reflection in this class, this reflection will be about any type of technology that can be used in the classroom, ranging from WebQuests to email to technology tools. I will answer each question by responding about the best technology tool to use for that question.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students? I believe the best technology tool to use to most effectively communicate with your students is through using email. I think that, by teaching your students to become more comfortable with using email, they will be more prepared for their future when technology will be more necessary. If they become more comfortable using email with their teachers, they may also become more comfortable emailing other students (friends), their parents while they're at work, or anyone else. I think that email allows the students to contact their teacher at any time, and you can assure them that you will check your email every night after you eat dinner by (for example) seven o'clock. That allows the students enough time after seven to complete any assignments that they emailed you with questions about, and it also lets them know that they should look at their work for the next day BEFORE seven so they can email you with any questions. I believe this system would work very well for both the teacher and the students to create a more effective system of helping students with homework.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students' parents? After taking this class, my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of communicating. I believe the best way for a teacher to communicate to students' parents (as a whole, not individually) would be through a class website. Parents would be able to go on the class site and see the class schedule, future/current assignments, etc. I will DEFINITELY use a class website with my students' parents. On the site, I will do my best to put as much of the students' work as I can. I think that it is so important for parents to be aware of what their children are doing in school, because it is the place their children spend the majority of their days.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my colleagues? This one's tough for me. I personally would think that email would be the best way to communicate with my colleagues; however, a website may be useful too. First, let me talk about email. Email is wonderful because, not only can you email messages, you can also add attachments. If one of my colleagues wanted to swap lesson plans with me, we could just email them to each other as attachments from our computers and save paper. Also, a website for the school faculty might be helpful. It could have a calendar on it (google calendar) which would list field trips, upcoming meetins, deadlines, etc.
Why are these tools so popular with my students? Kids these days are so into technology. Now, if they were allowed to use technology in school, they would be extra involved and extra interested in what they were learning about! For some older teachers, using technology in the classroom is almost like a taboo. However, if you invite technology into the classroom, the students become engaged in the learning process and will remember information better if they are involved in learning
In which ways might I employ the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far to achieve classroom objectives? I think the best technology tool to use for this one would be for the teacher to make a digital story. When a teacher makes a digital story for the classroom, they are in charge of what the message is that is shown and how that message is shown. This would be the best because the teacher is in complete control of what and how the video comes across.
What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far? One of the pros of technology is that students will love it! Almost any topic you pick, whether it's how paper is made or a biography on Harriet Tubman, the students will more likely than not be involved with any way you present the material if it is through technology. Another pro is that the teacher is in control of the technology and can shape it and mold it to fit the curriculum. A huge con of technology in the classroom is something that I've mentioned several times on this blog. The internet is a dangerous place! All it takes is for one of the students to not be supervised while on the internet, click on a wrong link or type in a website wrong, and BOOM, they're looking at things they shouldn't be looking at.

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Last Week of Field Experience

In this reflection, I will talk about Digital Stories. Now that I am done with my field experience, I look back and wish that I had done a digital story for the students. However, the students did not have appropriate computer access to do so. This caused me to reflect on the impact digital stories have on student learning.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students? If you, the teacher, are making the digital story, you are in control of what the content of the digital story is. You are in control of the pace and the message being put forth for the students. A digital story allows the teacher to communicate whatever they want to their students. Also, you are in control the "feel" of the story. For example, if you are doing one on Martin Luther King, Jr., you'd want it to be emotional and powerful through music and images. However, if you are doing one on the making of The Three Stooges, it may use fun music and funny video clips.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students' parents? The parents will be able to view the video from home since it would be online. They would know what their children are learning in school and what method is being used to teach them (i.e. using technology). Parents are very protective of their children and want to know what's going on while they are at school. A lot can be done through the digital story that can be incorporated into the home and family.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my colleagues? Other teachers in my school could use the video to teach about that same topic too. For example, if the grade was doing a unit on recycling, we would have a competition between the classes in the school/grade to see which class can gather the most recyclable items, and whoever wins gets to take a field trip to a recycling plant and bring all of the items from the school and watch them be recycled.
Why are these tools so popular with my students? Students these days are so interested in technology, and any chance they are given in school to use technology, they would love. Also, if the students know that their teacher made it just for them, they may be even more interested because it has that personal touch from their teacher. They may gain more respect for their teacher as well once they know that their teacher has the knowledge of how to make such a video that can be used to teach information.
In which ways might I employ the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far to achieve classroom objectives? Since the teacher is in complete control about what will be delivered to the students, regardless of whether or not it is made by the teacher or picked out from TeacherTube.com, any objective can be taught through digital stories. The stories can be as specific or vague as the teacher wants them to be, and they can be picked out depending on the age group of the audience, which is very important to take into consideration.
What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far? The pros of a digital story are that it takes the students through a process that is either emotional, entertaining, or just outright interesting. That way, the students can see why it is important of that certain topic. Another pro of a digital story is that it won't be geared towards an older audience other than your target audience, so you (the teacher) are in control of the content. This way, the students are more engaged in watching the video. A con of a video is that it can be low quality sometimes and some students may lose interest because it was "home made". Another con of it is that it isn't interactive. The video isn't a lesson in itself, but it has to be used in a lesson to learn more information.

Week 12: Field Experience

In this reflection, I will talk about online video chats.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students? My students would all have my video chat name, and I would have all of theirs. I could do a small technology unit and have an assignment be for them to create a video chat account through something like Skype, and they would have a week to invite me to chat or something like that. That would get them more involved in technology, and more comfortable using that technology tool. Once my students were comfortable using video chatting, they could Skype me whenever they had a question. Video chatting allows for a quicker response than email, and is more personal than a phone call. I don't think I would feel comfortable giving out my phone number to students (only their parents), but I would feel better about giving out my Skype ID for them to contact me with.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students' parents? The parents of the students would all have my video chat ID as well as the students, and they would be able to contact me whenever they wanted to as well. This is good to use with the parents because it is a very personal way to communicate. Really, it's the next best thing to meeting in person. As I've mentioned before, I think that it is extremely important for teachers to keep a close relationship with the students' parents. This is so the parents will feel comfortable sending their children off to school to spend the day with their teacher, and they will also feel confident that their children are with a good role model. By forming a personable relationship with the parents, they will be more likely to feel this way.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my colleagues? If the principal needs to hold a meeting on a weekend or over a vacation period, all of the coworkers and the principal can engage in a group video chat, where all of them are chatting together and can see the other members of the video chat. This would be the same thing as meeting in person, except the coworkers wouldn't have to travel to the school or a mutual meeting place. All they'd have to do is log on and get in a quiet place. I think this would be very convenient for my colleagues, and the principal, because it can be last minute (as long as everyone has computer access).
Why are these tools so popular with my students? Technology is becoming so popular with children these days, and I think that any kind of opportunity you give them to experiment with it, they would enjoy. I think that most students wouldn't have had much experience with video chatting; I'd assume they would be more familiar with email or instant messaging. By introducing them to something new like this, they would instantly be interested in it and therefore would use it more often once they experimented with it and found out how easy it was to use.
In which ways might I employ the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far to achieve classroom objectives? This can help achieve classroom objectives (this is a stretch...) by helping students completely understand their assignments. How can students understand a unit if they don't even understand their homework/projects? Through video chats, the students have access to their teacher via the internet. If they have any questions about the unit or their assignment from home, they can video chat with their teacher to get more clarification so they can complete the assignment. I can remember plenty of times where I've gone home and had no idea what I was supposed to do for my project or homework, and we didn't have the internet back when I was in elementary school! Now, the students can take advantage of being able to have internet access and can ask their teacher questions to better their understanding.
What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far? A pro of video chatting would be that the students can have a personal conversation with their teacher while they are both at home. Another pro would be that video chats can be used by the students' parents and coworkers for several uses. A con would be that it has be done on the internet, and not every student has access to the internet. Also, another con would be that, again, it is through the internet and the internet can be a dangerous place. Parents should supervise their children while video chatting with their teacher, or they should childproof their internet so nobody has to worry about anything popping up that the students shouldn't see.

Week 11: Field Experience

How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students? I think that WebQuests are wonderful for communicating effectively with my students. Although the internet can be viewed as a dangerous place for children, WebQuests make it a safe way to teach. The teacher/creator of the WebQuest chooses the websites that the students will be using, so the students are restricted to those websites. The teacher also is responsible for making sure those websites are safe. WebQuests are a great way to introduce a unit, or to wrap up a unit. It is important to make sure, before making a WebQuest, that the students will have access to computers (one per student). It is also important to make sure the questions on the assessment can be found on the websites in the WebQuest.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my students' parents? I think that a classroom website is a great way to communicate with parents, as long as all the parents have access to the internet from home, work, or somewhere else. The parents can pull up the class site and check out what their children will be doing that week in school. It is very important to keep parents informed. It is also a good idea to have a link to your email from the class site, so parents can email the teacher about any questions they have while looking at the website. Student work, class videos, calendars, WebQuests, digital stories, and much more can be posted on the class website for the parents to follow along with. Also, it is important to post any homework or long-term assignments on the website so the parents are aware of what is expected from their children.
How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far help me communicate with my colleagues? If I would like to share any of my lesson plans with other colleagues, I could just email them to them. Also, I can share my WebQuests with my colleagues to help them use technology in their classrooms. The biggest thing that will help me collaborate with my colleagues is email. Email is so quick and easy, and it's so simple to ask a question and get an instant response. The principal will be able to email out any kinds of announcements to the parents and to me and my coworkers. Also, if my coworkers and I wanted to collaborate our lessons and ideas and make one large activity for our students to all do together, we could do a google doc or a chat room. That way, we would all be able to compile our ideas. If I had something that I wanted to share with the other teachers in my grade, all I had to do was forward the email to all of them. The only time this would pose as a problem is if one of my coworkers wasn't familiar with such technology, and therefore I would have to print any announcement or idea and put it in his/her mailbox.
Why are these tools so popular with my students? Any new kind of technology use is exciting for students to use, especially in school. What kind of excitement would students get out of writing a paper when they could type it instead? If we taught the students in the classroom how to use Skype or had them all make up their very own email address, they would be very excited about this because they are using technology instead of reading a textbook or doing research at the library. Instead of doing that, the students could do a WebQuest and research information that way on the internet. In this activity, they could compile all of their notes in a Microsoft Word document, or a class-wide google doc, and then (if it was in Word) forward it to me. That way they would get practice with several kinds of technology tools all in one activity.
In which ways might I employ the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far to achieve classroom objectives? It's easy to fulfill classroom objectives through technology tools online (i.e. virtual tours, 3-D games, etc.) All I'd have to do is take a look at the objectives and find a tool that fulfills that objective. For example, if one of my objectives was about learning about Egyptian tombs, I could find a tool that was possibly a 3-D exploration through an ancient tomb. That way, the students could use the tool to explore the tomb by themselves instead of me lecturing about the tombs. The students are able to search for the objectives on their own as long as I provide them with the tool to fulfill that objective.
What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far? There are many pros of Digital Story, and the way I see it, there are much more pros than cons. As I've said repeatedly in this blog, Digital Story allows the students to use their imagination and be creative. It allows the students to explore the impact music has on a story. It also is able to be used in all age groups. The students can use it in any subject as well, from art to history to science. I feel like it is a more modern approach to a book report, and it allows the students to give their final product a personal touch. A con would be that not all students would be able to catch on to the technology as fast as other students, and if the students were to work on it in a group setting, all it takes is one person who doesn't know how to use the program and that person does nothing to help out in the group. In the same way, if there is one student who understands the program better than others, it is very possible that that student does everything on their own and the work is not distributed throughout the entire group.

Week 10: Technology in the Classroom

The elementary school that I will be doing my field work in has virtually no access to technology. I thought I would use this week to talk about the importance of technology in the classroom. This entry will cover all classroom technology, ranging from overhead projectors to internet access.
How will technology in the classroom help me communicate with my students? Through technology, the students will be more interested in learning than if they were to just read out of textbooks. For example, if I showed something using an overhead projector, the students would be more likely to look deeply at it than if I handed out a piece of paper with that same information on it. Technology in the classroom is something that is being introduced to schools more and more, and for good reason. Technology is much more engaging than how teachers taught back in the 1970's. Also, technology allows students to reach their teachers from home via email. The internet can be a wonderful learning tool in the classroom, as well as outside of the classroom. However, the internet can also be a dangerous place, so whenever the internet is used in school, supervision of the students is a must.
How will technology in the classroom help me communicate with my students' parents? Through email and text messaging, the parents will be able to contact me whenever they want to with any questions they have pertaining to their children's' education. Also, the parents will be able to access the class website, so they will be able to see what their children are learning in school at that time by viewing the class calendar. I would also have all of my students' grades posted online, so the parents will be able to see how their children are doing in school. I know my parents always looked forward to progress report time, but with access online to my grades, my parents would always know how I was doing.
How will technology in the classroom help me collaborate with my colleagues? If I would like to share any of my lesson plans with other colleagues, I could just email them to them. Also, I can share my WebQuests with my colleagues to help them use technology in their classrooms. The biggest thing that will help me collaborate with my colleagues is email. Email is so quick and easy, and it's so simple to ask a question and get an instant response.
Why is technology in the classroom so popular with my students? My assumption is that almost every student is in contact with technology every day of their lives. If they are at school for 6 hours out of their days, it would be a treat to them if they use technology during their time at school. These days, the students are surrounded by technology everywhere they go. If technology is used as a teaching tool in an interesting way, such as a digital story or a WebQuest, the students will be interested in it because they know that they are being given the privilege of using technology.
Why is technology in the classroom so popular with my colleagues? For adults, it has become so much easier to communicate through the internet and text messaging. If the principal is planning to push back the time of a meeting, all he has to do is forward a text message to each of the coworkers attending the meeting, or he could send out an email to each of the workers. Also, teachers can keep all of their lesson plans on a zip drive or a folder on their computer. That way, if they would like to share any lesson plans of their with other coworkers, they can just forward them to them.
In which ways might I employ technology in the classroom to achieve classroom objectives? Any objective can be reached through technology. Also, any lesson plan can be tweaked to incorporate technology in one way or another. For example, instead of using a textbook, you can have the students research online. Or, instead of reading a story, a digital story can be used. Or, instead of handing out a worksheet, an overhead can be used and the students can write the answers down on a piece of paper.
What are the pros and cons of technology in the classroom? The pros of using technology is that there is always something new that is coming out to use. The internet can be used in so many different ways, from online games to WebQuests. Also, email allows the students and parents to have 24/7 contact with the teacher from home or work. The cons are that, well, the internet is very dangerous for students, especially when they are sent to school by their parents who expect them to get a wholesome education. When the teacher makes the decision to give her students access to the internet, she takes it upon herself to make sure every one of her students is protected from the dangers of the internet.
Video Response: I think this video is a great way to show a timeline. It's quick, but so is the song. This is an example of a great way to do a digital story to an education and clean piece of music. The fact that it's quick makes the students pay closer attention so they can absorb all of the information. As we learned in class, the amount of time a clip is on the screen is a powerful aspect to a digital story, but it is only a good idea when it makes a point. The point of being quick in this clip is that it is a timeline, showing how fast events happened. Plus, the song is very fast.

Week 9: WebQuests and Voki's

How would WebQuests help me to communicate with my students? Ask Will Smith!


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How will WebQuests help me to communicate with parents? Ask J.Lo!


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How can I use WebQuests to help me communicate with my coworkers? Ask my Australian cat!


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Why are WebQuests so popular with students? Ask this beach loving sumo wrestler!


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In which ways might I employ WebQuests to achieve classroom objectives? Ask this kid who's stuck in the 70's!


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What are the pros of WebQuests? Ask my husband!


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...and a con of WebQuests? Ask my seventh grade english teacher!


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Week 8: Engrade Day

I'm going to talk about email and the internet being the social networking tools, because the more I think about it, the more I realize how important email is in a school. I try to think back before email existed and I can't help but wonder how people communicated, other than phone, in a fast way. Email has changed the ways of communication, and that has brought several benefits to the classroom.
How will these communication tools/social networking tools help me communicate with my students? If my students are at home and have a question about an assignment or a classroom related topic, all they have to do is log on and email me. If a student doesn't have access to the internet, they can either call me or go to their local library to use the internet. Obviously it'd be a wiser choice to just use the phone instead of drive to a library to email me, but there will be assignments that require online research, and in that case, the student could just go to the library. If I give my email address out to students and assure them that they can contact me at any time through email, of course I would want to make sure I check my email AT LEAST once a night, and then one more time in the morning. There are other ways to communicate with my students through the internet besides email. There are video chats and chat rooms that I could set up to communicate with my students. The students could set up their own chat room in study groups and communicate with each other too.
How will these communication tools/social networking tools help me communicate with my students' parents? Just as the students can email me with questions, the parents can email me with questions as well. I also plan to have a class website (now that I know how to make one) and on there will be information about the class, what we are learning in class, and what the students are doing in class. There will be samples of the students' work and a calendar with upcoming events. I think this is a great way to use the internet in the classroom because the parents can know everything that is going on in school just by logging on to my class website. Also, just as the students can do a video chat with me, this option is also open for the parents to use with me as well. I just really believe that it is so important to keep the relationship with the parents tight because working with the parents is almost as important as working with their children. They are leaving their children in your hands as the teacher, and it is important to build a trusting relationship so they feel that their children are safe in your classroom.
How will these communication tools/social networking tools help me communicate with my colleagues? The principal will be able to email out any kinds of announcements to the parents and to me and my coworkers. Also, if my coworkers and I wanted to collaborate our lessons and ideas and make one large activity for our students to all do together, we could do a google doc or a chat room. That way, we would all be able to compile our ideas. Email is so great to use with those who you work with because of the forwarding option. If I had something that I wanted to share with the other teachers in my grade, all I had to do was forward the email to all of them. The only time this would pose as a problem is if one of my coworkers wasn't familiar with such technology, and therefore I would have to print any announcement or idea and put it in his/her mailbox.
Why are these tools so popular with my students? Any new kind of technology use is exciting for students to use, especially in school. What kind of excitement would students get out of writing a paper when they could type it instead? If we taught the students in the classroom how to use Skype or had them all make up their very own email address, they would be very excited about this because they are using technology instead of reading a textbook or something "blah" like that. Instead of reading a textbook, the students could do a WebQuest and research information that way on the internet. In this activity, they could compile all of their notes in a Microsoft Word document, or a class-wide google doc, and then (if it was in Word) forward it to me. That way they would get practice with several kinds of technology tools all in one activity.
In which ways might I employ these communication tools/social networking tools to achieve classroom objectives? I think that through emailing and chat rooms and such, the students can learn how to work together and take teamwork to a whole new level. Instead of having the students do research in the library using books, they can do research on the internet (with my supervision or the supervision of a parent if it's at home) and still achieve the same objectives as if they were to use a book.
What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools? Pros: Email provides a convenient and fast way of communication between teachers and parents, teachers and students, and teachers and coworkers, at any time of the day. The internet provides the students with endless sources of learning. It allows learning to become engaging through WebQuests and online activities. Instead of reading a book and taking notes, the students can surf the internet (using provided websites to avoid getting off task). This, leads me to my cons. Cons: The internet can be a very dangerous place. Through emails, all it takes is to open an infected chain letter and your computer is infected with a virus. Also, children may get off task and wander to websites which may be inappropriate for children their age. This is why it is so important for children to be supervised when they are doing ANYTHING online.
Video Reflection: Of all of the videos I've watched for this class so far, this was the one that amazed me the most. When the video says "We are living in exponential times," it couldn't have been more right. That is the perfect sentence to describe the world today. These statistics really show how much the world relies on the internet and technology. What really got me was when they said that if all the users of MySpace made their own country, they'd be the 5th largest country in the world. That amazed me!

My Beliefs

I believe that using technology in the classroom is a great idea. At the rate technology is expanding and growing, the students in our classrooms will need to learn the basic uses of technology at a young age so that they will be able to use more complex technology when they get older. It is really obvious how technology is becoming such a large part of the students' lives, and if they are interested in technology at home, it is a good idea to bring that technology into the classroom so the students express that sense of interest in school. As teachers, it is important to take advantage of opportunities given to you, and technology is definitely one of those opportunities. I know many older teachers may see technology as being unnecessary, but since we are still young and have had experiences with many technology tools, we know the advantages of using technology and know how to integrate it into the classroom.
However, as I mentioned in the blog entry below, I don't feel that students should get too comfortable with technology. School is school, and there is no room for LOL's and :)'s in classroom education. As teachers, it is important to enforce rules about these careless and easy mistakes crawling into the students' papers. I think that if teachers really make an effort to drill it into the students' heads when to use these and when to not, it will benefit the students in the end. It will help with the professionalism of the students when they are older, and it will help them to have more control when they are writing their future papers.

Lessons Learned

I feel that, especially in the era that we will be teaching in as up and coming teachers, technology will be a very important part of the classroom. Students in elementary school may even have their own cell phones, and so texting may be a huge part of their lives. Other than emails and phone calls, texting may be a new way for students to communicate with their teachers outside of school. Video chats may be a new way to communicate as well. From these readings, videos and websites, I can really see how much of a big deal technology in the classroom is. It is coming at us and it is coming fast, and we can't just let technology pass by. It needs to be utilized at its best and be brought into the classroom to engage the students and enhance their learning.
However, I do have some concerns about using technology in the classroom. Even I have fallen into this bad habit, but students may feel that using spellcheck is all they have to do to edit their documents. Spellcheck doesn't catch everything, so it is always important to review the paper after spellcheck goes through. My brother just published his first book, and in there is "stated" instead of "started", but spellcheck didn't pick this up. Apparently, neither did his editor. Also, students are so used to not capitalizing their letters or using slang like "LOL" or emoticons in their everyday life, such as instant messaging or texting. If they bring those habits into the classroom, as their teacher I would have to dock them major points because it is very improper grammar. There is a fine line between when to use proper grammar and when it's okay to be careless, and that line must not be crossed in the classroom.

Strengths & Weaknesses

What were your strength/weaknesses according to the UNI survey and NET Standards? I'm going to be pretty honest here. According to the UNI survey and the NET Standards, I am pretty average when it comes to knowledge about technology. I'm not about to go video chat with parents, but I am able to do a newsletter and make brochures. I understand technology and can use it to do research and teach my students to do research. I believe that I can plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-rich environment. That's pretty much where I hit my peak when it comes to technology, leaving much room for improvement. I was mostly a "practitioner" on most of the survey. However, I did consider myself "Novice" for video chatting. I don't have much experience with video chats other than Skype, but even that is difficult for me to navigate in. On the NET Standards, I feel that I'm lacking in the department of using "technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning." I know that I can email and have a classroom website, but as far as taking communication to the next level, like video chatting, I have no clue what to do. Another thing I need to improve on is using databases "to collect, organize, and analyze data and produce meaningful reports to aid in problem solving." I'm no good at spreadsheets, especially if we are dealing with Microsoft Excel.
Establish goals you would like to accomplish as a beginning teacher who will integrate technology in instruction and in the classroom. A goal I would like to have is for the students to become familiar with using technology. I would like them to feel comfortable emailing me from home, as well as emailing attachments (so they can submit assignments from home). They would also be able to chat with me from home, so I would like them to feel comfortable Skyping me if they had any questions. I would also like the students to become familiar with several technology tools, like Windows Movie Maker/iMovie or Adobe Photo Shop. I think that by using these tools, they would be able to take their learning to a new level and use their creativity and imagination to expand their learning. Another goal I would like is to become more familiar with spreadsheets. I think that by using spreadsheets I will be able to stay more organized with keeping track of the students' grades.
Identify 2 mini-workshops, short-courses, pod casts, or 2 on-line tutorials you would take that will improve your weaknesses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpCaVZCURZQ. This tutorial would help me improve on my spreadsheet skills. I would learn how to use formulas and calculations to create a grade book in Microsoft Excel. Through this tutorial, I will be able to learn the basics of Excel and learn how to keep track of my students' grades on the computer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sodMDs7rEEk. This tutorial will help me learn how to chat online with Skype. I think that it's good to have just in case students or parents at home want a quick way to get in touch with the teacher. This tutorial will help me to learn the basic skills to set up a Skype account and learn how to effectively chat with others through this technology tool.

Week 6: My Digital Story

Seeing as we didn't have class this past week, I will reflect on what I did for this class outside of school, which was work on the digital story.
How will my digital story help me communicate with my students? My digital story will help my students learn the benefits of recycling. The way our digital story is set up is that we have a can that is decorated to look like a girl, Candy the Can. The students follow Candy through the process of recycling, as well as going through the garbage. In the beginning of the digital story, we ask the students/viewers "What would you do with Candy?" That's a good question to use overall in the unit of recycling. Teachers using this video can easily replicate Candy using any kind of can and can use it as the "mascot" for that unit. Using my video, the students could write their own comic about Candy or any other recyclable item of their choice.
How will my digital story help me communicate with my students' parents? The parents will be able to view the video from home since it would be online. They would know what their children are learning in school and what method is being used to teach them (i.e. using technology). Parents are very protective of their children and want to know what's going on while they are at school. A lot can be done through the digital story that can be Incorporated into the home and family. They can keep a weekly log of everything they recycle as a family.
How will digital story help me collaborate with my colleagues? Other teachers in my school could use the video to teach about recycling too. We would have a competition between the classes in the school/grade to see which class can gather the most recyclable items, and whoever wins gets to take a field trip to a recycling plant and bring all of the items from the school and watch them be recycled.
In which ways might I employ my digital story to achieve classroom objectives? My video can be used to achieve any classroom objective that teaches students about recycling. Since it shows the pros of recycling and the cons of throwing out recyclable items, the students will be able to learn how to make environmentally correct decisions. By the time I teach in the classroom, the environmental crisis may be so bad that it might be more important to emphasize recycling in the classroom. My digital story can help the students learn why it is important to recycle.
What are the pros and cons of my digital story? The pros of my digital story are that it takes the students through the process of recycling as well as throwing out garbage. That way, the students can see why it is important to recycle. Another pro of my digital story is that it is geared toward a young age level with Candy the Can being the focus of it. This way, the students are more engaged in watching the video. A con of my video is that it is low quality and some students may lose interest because it was "home made". Another con of it is that it isn't interactive. The video isn't a lesson in itself, but it has to be used in a lesson to learn more information.
Video Reflection: The Millennial Generation video wasn't very accurate. The group of people they interviewed was not consistent (mostly white males). However, the things they said hit close to home with me, because my mother and I have the same cell phone and she's always asking me how to put it on speaker phone or text pictures. My father, who has his AS in computer technology (but is now over 50) has a hard time with computers today. He says they are completely different from when he learned about them in college. With the rate that technology is going, it's crazy to think about the different kinds of things that our own children will be able to use in the future.

Week 5: Windows Movie Maker

What did we learn in class? Today in class I learned how to narrate my story on Windows Movie Maker, and I learned how to do more things on Movie Maker. Stephanie has the microphone, so we will be narrating our story later on this week, but I did learn how to add audio into the story. I am the one in my group who has experience with Movie Maker, so I was off in my own little corner as everyone emailed me the pictures. Today I began to put things together, but I will be able to visualize the entire story more once we have the narration complete. I'm just really glad that our POD finally agreed on an objective to do our story board on, because if we had stuck with the transportation idea, we would not be cooperating the way we do. Also, recycling is a topic that can be made fun, and that's why we created our little critter out of an aluminum can!
How will I be able to use these tools in the classroom? The students will be able to narrate the stories they make on their computer using the knowledge I gained in class today. It will be wonderful for the students to be able to use their imaginations and turn their knowledge into a story with pictures and music and their own voices. I think students get excited when they hear their own voices on the computer or played back to them. I know I always did! I remember observing in the classroom one time, and the teacher was making a class video of their artwork to put on the class website so their parents could see all of their artwork (this was third grade). The teacher took one student at a time and had them record their voices into iMovie. A lot of the students got so excited they spoke too loud, but the teacher showed them where on the volume bar their voices should be so it didn't turn into static. I would love to be able to show my students how to make a story.
How will the use of these tools in the classroom affect how the students learn? The students will be able to be creative and give their stories a personal touch. I just think it is so dull for a teacher to hand out worksheets all day and study textbooks. When students are learning hands-on, going to the library to do their own research, visualizing the material and turning that vision into reality, they are doing much more than taking in information; they are actually processing it. I think that today, a lot of teachers who have been using the same curriculum and lesson plans for the past 20 years are falling into a rut where they don't get creative often enough. 20 years ago, the lesson plans most likely would not suggest using tools like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, but thank goodness for us UVU students! Here we come with our technology tools and desire to get creative!
Video Reflection: I'm going to say a little about both videos. The "Did You Know" one wasn't very exciting. Honestly, I think most of those statistics were made up, and it wasn't something that I would even consider showing to my students. I don't think it got a very strong message across, but the music was very peaceful. I really liked "A Vision of Students Today" video. I felt that they pegged students perfectly. It is important for teachers to recognize how much college students take on each day, and that it's very frustrating (and time consuming) to get a professor in college who thinks their class is the only class that matters (or their students are taking). Because they feel this way (for whatever reason), they load on the work, causing the students to be stressed out even more than necessary. I've always felt very strongly about teachers needing to put themselves in their students' shoes. It's terrible to get teachers who have a "no exceptions" policy, because the truth is, there are exceptions to homework being late or students not being in class. Things go on in students' lives that many teachers feel they are too superior to even acknowledge, but a good teacher is one who can put themselves in their students' shoes.

Week 4: Digital Stories

How will these skills help my students create? The whole point of this program is to have the students use their imaginations and create what they want to. Through these skills, the students will be able to portray several moods in their stories: emotional, humor, informational, etc. This program is wonderful because it allows the students to be creative in thinking what they would want to create. I know in my POD, our imaginations took off once we finally decided on a topic, and I would like nothing more than to have that same thing happen to my students. By being able to experience that feeling first-hand, I was reminded how it feels to be able to take what's in your mind and apply it to whatever you want, allowing yourself to show your creativity to the classroom and the world.
How will these skills help me collaborate with my colleagues? By using these skills, I will master them the more I use them. This way, I can share my knowledge with my colleagues and recommend this program to them to share with their students, and it will be able to spread throughout the school. I think this program can be used in any grade; either the students make individual stories (older grades) or the class as a whole can make one put together by the teacher (younger grades). This way, by sharing it with my colleagues, we could show examples made by other classes.
Why are these tools so popular with my colleagues? These tools are so popular with colleagues because they are usable in any grade, either first or tenth. They allow the students to be using their imagination, and that is so important today. If you sit the students down with worksheets about the Revolutionary War and a textbook, they can learn only so much. This involves no use of the imagination whatsoever. However, if you were to divide the class into groups and have them make group storyboards of the Revolutionary War using other resources other than the textbook, the students can use their imagination. I am a huge believer in having the students use their imaginations as often as possible.
In which ways might I employ these skills to achieve classroom objectives? I can apply these skills to any classroom objective, whether it's a spelling test or learning about the 50 states. There are many ways to achieve classroom objectives, and I would much rather choose a way that allows the students to expand their creativity and apply their knowledge of the material in a much more fun way than worksheets and tests.
What are the pros and cons of Digital Story? There are many pros of Digital Story, and the way I see it, there are much more pros than cons. As I've said repeatedly in this blog, Digital Story allows the students to use their imagination and be creative. It allows the students to explore the impact music has on a story. It also is able to be used in all age groups. The students can use it in any subject as well, from art to history to science. I feel like it is a more modern approach to a book report, and it allows the students to give their final product a personal touch. A con would be that not all students would be able to catch on to the technology as fast as other students, and if the students were to work on it in a group setting, all it takes is one person who doesn't know how to use the program and that person does nothing to help out in the group. In the same way, if there is one student who understands the program better than others, it is very possible that that student does everything on their own and the work is not distributed throughout the entire group.
Video Reflection: I really liked this video. I would totally use this in my classroom to show the students an example of a well done story. I would present it to my students in the same manner that Doc Waters did to us. I would ask the students about the mood of the video and how the music affected it. I would use this as an example of how music can completely change the feel of a story. I would play a portion of the video again but with happy music in the background, and ask them how the change in music changed the feel of the video. I think that would really make the students think about what music would be best to put to their story.

Technology Tool #2: Man vs. Wild Game

This tool is http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/game/game.html. This interactive game comes directly from the Discovery Channel's program "Man vs. Wild" hosted by Bear Grylls. The game starts out saying that Bear Grylls needs you (the game player) to cover for him and go into Kenya. You need to make certain choices to get through Kenya, survive, and find civilization. Through the interactive game, clips of "Man vs. Wild" are shown to guide you. This game is great because Bear actually teaches the students about the wildlife in Africa and its harsh environment.
Pros about this game would be that it is educational and it has actual pictures and videos of Africa and its wildlife. Also, it introduces the students to a very educational and exciting TV show. So, instead of going home and turning on Power Rangers, they can go to the Discovery Channel and watch Bear Grylls explore the world in the wild. A con about this game would be that, if the students guess all the correct ways to go about the game, they won't be sent to a different route and the game could be over quickly. However, there are many different ways to play out this game that they can just start over. Also, if the student picks all the wrong ways to go about the exploration, the game could end very quickly. This tool would impact the curriculum because it allows the students to see Africa in its most natural state. They are exploring it, making their own choices as to where they are going, and can learn on their own. Along with this tool, I can have a worksheet that they fill out for them to tell about their journey, or they can take notes on what they learned while they were exploring Africa and turn the notes into something more. I would tell the parents that I chose this tool because it was educational and a great way for the students to interact with the continent of Africa. From using this tool, I have learned that, if there are vultures in the sky, it is very likely that there is some kind of animal (i.e. food) on the ground below them, so it would be smart to follow them if I needed food. Also, I got special instructions from Bear himself when I was in need of help.

Technology Tool #1: www.Africam.com

The technology tool is http://www.africam.com/. This website has live webcams located at random natural locations in Africa. You need to create an account to access the webcams, so for my classroom I would create an appropriate class account. There is, however, one thing that I don’t like about this website. It shows 1-2 commercials before allowing you to view the webcam. Luckily they are appropriate for students to view, but it’s worth sitting through commercials to see the webcams. I think these live African webcams are great because, if I were doing a unit on Africa, the students could view live what was going on in Africa. I used this website in the 7th grade and thought it was way cool. Almost every time you click on the Flamingo cam there are birds there. Sometimes, you can even see an elephant on the elephant cam (I’ve only caught one once). There’s even a webcam that’s 12 hours behind schedule. So if you were to want to watch an Africa webcam, but it was dark in Africa at the time, you could click there and view it while it was light out.

From this tool, the students can learn about the terrain of Africa, and also get to see the African wildlife while they are actually in the wild and not in a zoo. From watching this webcam, I learned about the natural behaviors of certain wild African animals. I also saw what kind of environment these animals live in (very hot and dry). I feel this website would be a great way to teach the students about the wildlife in Africa. The students may actually be so interested in seeing live footage from Africa that they may even access the webcam from their home computer and watch it in their free time. A pro for using this tool is that the students get to experience Africa's wildlife through the use of a computer. A con of this tool would be that some students may get side-track and go to other websites (which is why walking around and keeping the students on task would be very important here). As the teacher, I could hold contests to see who sees the neatest things from the webcam. This would encourage the students to use the tool at home and possibly even get the parents involved as well. This tool is so wonderful for getting the students excited about the African animals without taking a trip to the zoo. This way, the students can see these animals in their natural habitat and not in cages at the zoo.

Week 3: Social Networking Reflection

How will these tools help me communicate with my students? These tools are great with communicating with my students. By allowing my students to interact with these tools, they will get a greater understanding of the material because they will be engaging with it instead of taking notes while I lecture. They will be open to exploring the tools and having fun while learning. I feel that when students are engaged in the learning process, they retain much more information because they are excited about it.
How will these tools help me communicate with my students' parents? I think that, with the parents, I could communicate with them through the students. As homework assignments, I could instruct the students to go home and give their parents a tour of the tool. If it is a virtual tour, the students would act as a tour guide. If it was something else, the students would show the parents around the tool so they knew what we were learning in class.
How will these tools help me communicate with my colleagues? I could collaborate with my colleagues about different tools I've come across that have and that haven't worked. It's always great to talk with other teachers and share ideas, and with these tools, I can share with the other teachers the tools that I think are great for the classroom.
In which ways might I employ these tools to achieve classroom objectives? All I'd have to do is take a look at the objectives and find a tool that fulfills that objective. For example, if one of my objectives was about learning about Egyptian tombs, I could find a tool that was possibly a 3-D exploration through an ancient tomb. That way, the students could use the tool to explore the tomb by themselves instead of me lecturing about the tombs. The students are able to search for the objectives on their own as long as I provide them with the tool to fulfill that objective.
What are the pros and cons of the tools? Some pros of the tools are that they are engaging in learning. If the students are engaging in the learning process, they are more excited about learning and can explore information using the tool on their own without being bored. Also, (as long as the students stay on task) it is harder to get off task with the tools because the students are so curious and involved in learning. However, if the students were doing something other than learning through the tools, they may daydream or do other things that would take them off task. Some cons of the tools is, of course, some students may not have computers at home or have the knowledge of how to use computers. Also, for those students that would need accommodations in learning, it would be difficult to incorporate the same sense of the tools into something that didn't involve technology (if that student needing accommodations couldn't read/see/etc.).

Week 2: Introducing Technology

How will these tools help me communicate with my students? By using these tools in the classroom, the students will be able to view, in the classroom, my instructions on certain projects by going online and looking at the rubric for that specific assignment. If the students have computers at home, they will be able to contact me at any time during the day via email. They will also be able to view anything about the class (assignments, upcoming events, homework, etc.) from home, which is especially good if a child is sick. If the student does not have a computer at home, they can go to the local library or go over the house of a student who does have a computer. Overall, by allowing the students to access these technology tools, the line of students in front of my desk every day will be much smaller (hopefully!).

How will these tools help me communicate with my students' parents? The parents of the students will be able to contact me via email with any questions they have. Also, they will have access to the class website, so they can view their children's' school work (if it's posted online), upcoming assignments/units/field trips, as well as keep posted on their child's grades.

How will these tools help me communicate with my colleagues? My colleagues and I will all have access to a calendar of meetings and grade activities. We will all be able to contact each other via email, and stay organized when it comes to meetings and news regarding the school.

In which ways might I employ these tools to achieve classroom objectives? I will be able to open the students' eyes when it comes to technology. The students will be able to feel more comfortable with using these tools, which will prepare them for the upcoming grades, which will require much more work using technology. The classroom objectives would be achieved by teaching the students to reach those goals by using technology.

What are the pros and cons of the tools? Some of the pros of the tools are that it would allow me to communicate better with the students, parents, and faculty. The students would become more familiar with using the tools and they would be able to use them better in the future. Some of the cons would be that not every student and parent has access to a computer. These students may feel left out and embarrassed in class, and the parents may not have access to their child's assignments like other parents may have.
Video Reflection: I have mixed feelings about the fractions video. I think that by showing your students this video, it is not a very effective and appropriate way of teaching math. However, if you were to teach fractions to the class, and then teach the class the words to the rap, that would help the students a lot. They could memorize the words and, chances are, they would know that rap for a long time. You could even take it a step further and have the students make their own rap about math, or make their own rap video.

Week 1: My Ideal Classroom

First off, my ideal classroom would be happy. It always made me sick to walk into a classroom with bland walls and no color whatsoever. My classroom would have enough on the walls to be exciting, but not so much that it would be distracting. I would have a comfortable rug in the corner with a chair for me to sit in while I read to the students as they would quietly sit on the rug. That corner would be the reading corner (but with a more fun name than "reading corner") and I would have bookshelves full of books for the students to choose from. I would try to make that area as comfortable and relaxing as possible, because it is hard for anyone to concentrate on reading when they are anxious or uncomfortable.

I would also have an art center. This wouldn't be a major area, but it would be where I kept the scissors, markers, glue, tape, etc. so the students would know where to find everything. I would NOT keep a stapler over there, because that would stay on my desk. I know scissors are probably what I should be most nervous about, but I have this huge fear (and I don't know where it came from) of a student stapling their finger! :/

My desk wouldn't be cluttered with the students' work; there'd be a special area for that behind my desk. The students' desks and chairs would be in groups, and I would rotate these groups ever month so the students could get to interact with all of their classmates throughout the school year.

The students would be, well, children. I don't expect them to act any differently than I did when I was their age: excited, talkative, curious, energetic, hungry, etc. Kids are kids, and I don't like it when 3rd grade teachers expect their students to act like proper 40-year-old Englishmen. I knew a teacher like this, and she was constantly disapointed in herself because she felt as though she has failed as a teacher since the students were acting out. I think it's important to be honest with yourself and accept that the students won't always be great, but it depends on the classroom management techniques used that will really be reflected by the students' behaviors.

I would love for the parents to really care about their children and their children's education. Weekly to biweekly communication, I feel, is very important (more or less, depending on the student). Naturally, I feel I'll worry about the students when they leave my classroom and go home. I'd like to know that they are being loved and told by their parents that they are proud of them.

I would like my colleagues to behave in a professional way, but still be friendly. I think gossiping is immature and doesn't promote a healthy work environment. The students aren't the only people I would see at work, and so I would like to maintain good relationships with my colleagues, as well as see them put forth the same effort in maintaining the relationship. I just think I'd like my job a whole lot more if everyone was pleased with everyone else (even though this isn't always what happens).

I would use several teaching techniques. I have a crazy imagination, so I think it'd be fun to dress up as an old woman and suprise the students when they come in for recess, and I would read to the students in character. Or if we were learning about Egypt, I could dress up as an explorer or a mummy. I will also try to adapt my lessons to all types of learning styles, and if I were teaching a younger grade, I would do this by having stations/centers.

As far as technology goes, I would use computer programs (if computers were available in the classroom) for the students to use during free time/indoor recess. I would also do a class website for the parents to follow (and students too) so they know what's going on in class and what their child is learning. Maybe I could even scan their work onto the computer and have pages devoted to each student.

What content will I teach? That depends on the grade! I plan to follow the curriculum, so, that really depends on the grade. At the begining of each school year, the students will come together as a class to create their own class list of goals for that year. Then, at the end of the year, I will bring that list out and we, as a class, will see if we achieved the goals we had set. It's not really a matter of what I teach, I just want to teach the students and touch their lives. Of course, I would like to teach what the curriculum expects me to teach, but I really hope to teach the students much more than what is in the curriculum. I hope to teach them about themselves, about relationships, and about so much more. About the video... I don't know if too much technology should be part of the classroom. I think that if it is limited to only accessing it in the classroom, that's fine. But this video really got me thinking about those students who don't have computers at home. I think that it is only fair to have technology in the classroom that is only required to access in the classroom.