Week+1

__**Week 1- Sept. 6 through Sept. 11, 2011**__


 * Assignment 1- "A Framework for Web 2.0 Learning Design" Article reflection**

This article was most useful to me for listing and explaining numerous different kinds of Web 2.0 technologies. Some of these I have used and others I would definitely want to try to experiment with and incorporate into my lessons.

I have never used any social bookmarking sites, but it is a technology that I am interested in and that I think would be very useful for me. I wish I had used a site like Diigo when I was switching jobs because I had so many websites bookmarked on my school computer and I had to waste a lot of time trying to make sure I would have all those sites when moving to my new job. A resource like Diigo could have eliminated this stress for me.

I have used wikis, blogs, and Google Docs in my classroom. First, I managed a wikispace where we published an ABC book that my students made about Philadelphia. My older students also created and managed a wiki to teach tolerance and peace. Another group of students started a blog to post a speech they wrote about tolerance and elicit discussions about the topic. My fifth graders used Google Docs as a way to collaborate while working together to write a script for a play that they were creating about bullying. One group of 8th graders worked together using Garageband to create background music for a song that they wrote about spreading tolerance. All of these tools really enhanced the learning experiences of my students and added to the excitement of the projects because they knew that their work was going to be shared on the Internet.

~Heather

After reading the article “A Framework for Web 2.0 learning design” I would say that it’s fair for teachers both young and old to feel overwhelmed by the amount of Web 2.0 options. The article did a wonderful job of explaining the different options and their purposes. I enjoy using many of the tools included in the article in my personal life. I use Wikis, Google docs, Twitter, Facebook, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Audacity, Garageband, Youtube, and iMovie. I find it a bit more challenging to include the different tools within my daily classroom lessons. I use Wikis, Powerpoint, and Youtube very often within my classroom. As one of the younger teachers in my building I find myself explaining technology tools and ways to use them to my colleagues. I feel that it is important to strive to keep up with all of the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools. Technology changes and advances so often that people can become discouraged about learning how to operate and incorporate it. However, I agreed with the statement regarding the learning design having central features to remain focused on instead of focusing on the technology. Understanding what objectives and concepts need to be taught will assist with determining what means of technology to utilize. “In effect, this enables learning designs to be driven by the cognitive and collaborative requirements of learning episodes rather than the ever-changing nature of technology” (Bower, Hedberg, & Kuswara, 2010). I will continue to incorporate technology and all of the options within my lessons. I believe that students need to see and use the technology tools that are available and currently being used. Future tools may be different, but the use of the current tools may spark ideas within my students for future tools.

-Chera

This article was beneficial for me because it gave me a better sense of what exactly was meant by Web 2.0 and the many tools and features that fall under it. Despite the many benefits of Web 2.0 tools it is essential that teachers understand how to properly use the tools to achieve a desired learning objective and reach their audience in an effective way. The only tools listed in the article that I have ever used for educational purposes are youtube and powerpoint. I have seen several teachers use youtube in the classroom to enhance a lecture or to watch a video clip on an important topic or person in class.As for the tables displayed in the article I can honestly never imagine using them. I understand the need to have a plan for your classroom and a learning design in place, but the tables to me seemed somewhat overkill.

-Mark

There was a lot of useful information in “A framework for Web 2.0 learning design.” However, what I found most helpful in the article was the different kinds of Web 2.0 technologies that are available to teachers. The authors did a great job of providing some insight in to each area and giving examples of each technology. Table 2 was particularly interesting. It gives examples of tasks and shows where they fall in the knowledge dimension and the cognitive process dimension. I would use it as a quick guide when deciding on what technologies would be best suited for the lesson that I am teaching. Although I have never used a social bookmarking site, such as Delicious or Diigo, They would be useful when I cannot have access to my laptop for some reason or another. Using one of these sites would allow me to have access to all of my favorite sites on all of my computers, not just my main device. (I will be working on bookmarking my favorites through Diigo soon.) While I have used Microsoft Word to annotate/comment on student work, I will be trying out Google Docs sooner rather than later as my school’s CEO would prefer us to use many of the Google applications that are available. I tend to stick with the PowerPoint presentation as the article suggests many teachers do. (With the use of a Promethean Board, I can easily import sites and other resources directly to the flip chart and annotate over existing content. So I do not rely on PPt as much anymore.) However, when using PowerPoint, I try to make my presentations as interactive as possible. Many times they are set up as a tutorial for whole class instruction with slides linked depending on the answers given. YouTube and Teachertube are video sharing sites that I have used many times during instruction. For example, the students have a difficult time discerning between revolution and rotation as it pertains to the solar system. I have found that pulling a clip from the Jimmy Dean commercial on You Tube seems to show a good representation of that concept on a level that the students understand. (Although, after reading about the Creative Commons, I may have to rethink its usage.) I am completely up to trying out new things in my classroom but I find that my greatest challenge when trying to decide on how and when to use the Web 2.0 tools available to me is TIME. I need time to be able to navigate these sites for myself before I can expect my students to use them with me in class. As teachers, I am sure we all know that time is something that we find hard to come by most days.

Susan

**Assignment 2- "A Vision of Students Today" Video reflection**
Almost all of the information that the students in this video shared were things that I either thought about while I was in college or have pondered over since. I was happy to see a video commenting on education at the college level. Maybe this is just because of my profession, but I feel like we more often hear what needs to be changed at lower levels of education and rarely hear about the ineffectiveness of the college level of education. As an undergraduate studying education, I barely had any teachers that I would have considered good role models for the type of teacher I wanted to be. You would think that the teachers teaching future teachers how to teach would actually showcase best practices, but that was rarely the case.These students have laptops that they can bring to class and which could be used to enhance instruction and engagement. Yet, they are merely used as tools to take notes on. That is extremely puzzling to me.As far as the end of the video where it says technology could save us, I am not really sure what to think about that. Of course I think that technology has numerous benefits. However, isn't it possible that too much technology may end up making many of the world's current problems worse?

~Heather

I have viewed a YouTube video that was similar to this one called "A Vision of K-12 Students Today." I agree with the statements in the video and I question the way our educational system is currently set up. I do not feel that our 21st century learners are being prepared for their futures. I tend to refer people to another YouTube video that I also agree with, it's called "Changing the Educational Paradigm" by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson brings up many valid points about our education system and our expectations from our students. We as educators should be encouraging thinking, creating and doing. Chalkboards and textbooks can be used occasionally within lessons, but I do not believe that they should be the only two resources that a teacher uses to teach. It is the teacher’s job to incorporate different pieces of technology as well as current social medias. Students today need to be exposed to current forms of technology as well as encouraged to create and think while using the technology. I do believe that our world is flat and if we do not altar how we are educating our students, our students will fall behind other countries that are also competing for our jobs.

The second graders in my classroom were born into this world knowing what an "app" is. They know and understand how to browse the World Wide Web. There is an understanding that information can be retrieved within seconds and often from a mobile device. I feel obligated as their teacher to stream videos and sound clips throughout my lessons. I also encourage my students to question and research using the Internet. I try to model technology use in my lessons as often as possible and I encourage my students to play independently or within groups. I believe that students learn by doing and thinking, and it is my job to guide my students while they are doing and thinking. -Chera

I may be a little old fashion, but I still see an inherent value in attending classes and having face to face discussions with your peers and teachers. However, there is an obvious need for educators in todays society to integrate technology into their classrooms on a regular basis. I no longer think it is acceptable for a teacher to simply lecture from a textbook and have his or her students take notes. Students must be exposed to new multimedia tools and research tools on the internet in order to be prepared to enter an always changing workplace.There are certainly a lot of issues for college students to think about today. Schools are becoming more and more expensive and jobs are becoming harder and harder to get. Therefore, it is essential that students are getting as much value out of their education as they possibly can. -Mark

My first reaction to this video was, "Thank God I went to a smaller college where all of my professors knew my name and I was one of 25 in a class." I cannot even imagine the lack of interaction in a lecture hall where you are with 100 plus students. However, I can certainly relate to the buying of very expensive books that I never opened… and I was a good student. I realized very early on in my college career that the teachers were lecturing on the text and not using much else to enhance the lesson. Most of those students had some sort of web based tool at their finger tips that was going completely unused. Did you notice how much time the students spent on Facebook and their cell phones alone? Classes at the college level can be completely changed by the amount of information that can be accessed and shared using social media. I actually loved what the teacher was writing on the board at the end of the video. The only thing that he had written as a plus was that it “encourages the teacher to move.” But look at the list of things that were missing from a lesson when you do not use all of the web-based tools that are available to us as teachers. We have access to so many videos, pictures, animations, diagrams and networking options that it seems a shame that they aren’t being used more widely at the college level.

Susan


 * Assignment 3- Copyright Material Lesson example**

Above is my lesson plan. It is for an ABC book project I completed with my 1st-3rd grade students. The use of copyright material is just numerous pictures taken from websites on the Internet. Also, the students did their own research in order to gather information, so it is possible that some students, since they are so young, did not do the best job of putting everything in their own words... ~Heather

I have attached a science lesson plan. My grade level hatches chicks in the spring and this lesson ties into that. The power point includes copyrighted images, I also inserted a video clip into my powerpoint. -Chera



Above is an example of a PowerPoint that I have the children create after they have learned many of the Geometric terms we cover in Math class. There is also a direction sheet that I give to the students to follow with the grading rubric on it. Susan


 * Assignment 4- "Do They Really Think Differently" Article response**

After reading Prensky's article, I definitely agree that students now are vastly different then the students of the past. It is essential that teachers find new ways to engage students because they will not be motivated by traditional teaching styles. Children now grow up with ipods, computers, ipads, cell phones, and video games. There is no way that using a textbook for several hours a day is going to hold their interests. However, I disagree with his assumption that all teachers are Digital Immigrants. I do not think that myself or other teachers my age should be placed in that category. True, I did not grow up with all of the technology I listed above, but I am savvy at ways to use these types of resources.I have used learning games to enhance my students' engagement as Prensky suggests in the article. When I taught a problem solving course, I found numerous websites (my favorite being Hooda Math) that I could use with students on the Promethean board. The students loved (and learned from) these games. Many even told me that they started playing them at home as well. I surely aspire to continue to find and use technology resources that can enhance both my teaching and my students' learning.

~Heather

-What assumptions of the text does the author hold? The author of this article seems to understand the changes that brains are capable of. The author also seems to understand that environments and cultures shape the way brains react and see things. He seems to want to express his concerns regarding the skepticism involving digital natives and their need for instant gratification. Students are growing up in a fast paced world where topics are flashed in front of their faces constantly. The author discussed how the brain is capable of acquiring knowledge from short bursts of information while distracted by other objects. I believe that many adults today would say that students who are not looking at the speaker are not listening, however, the Sesame Street study done with the toys in the room proves that theory wrong.

-What do you agree with in the text? I agree that students today are digital natives and they learn best by doing what they enjoy. I have a handful of students each year in second grade who love to play educational computer games. My students often ask to play on the computer during indoor recess and they choose math or spelling games. I allow my students to utilize the computers a few times per week. I believe that my students gain a lot from activities on the computer. I also agree with the idea that our mentality and our way of thinking is highly influenced by our environment. People who grow up in certain cultures have a different way of processing and viewing things then others.

-What do you want to argue with in the text? I cannot think of anything within the text to argue against, so I will mention what I would argue for. I tend to argue the value of videogames and electronics in school with my colleagues. I find my colleagues have opinions that video games rot brains and a lot of my colleagues will state that they hate video games. I argue the value in them and acknowledge the use of strategy needed for most games.

-What parts of the text do you aspire to? ﻿ From reading this article I have found a few things that I desire. I would love for my students, my “digital natives” (Prensky, 2009), to be able to utilize video games during lessons. I would also love to teach my students about their brain development and how brains are able to change and grow over time. I think understanding how the brain works helps would encourage and motivate students to reach their full potential and continue to grow.

-Chera

-What assumptions of the text does the author hold?The author acknowledges that children today are growing up in a vastly different world than their parents did. He expresses his thought that people who grow up in different cultures do not just think about different things but that they think differently all togethor. He also portrays children today as having very short attention spans when it comes to things that do not interest them. -What do you agree with in the text? I agree that students today (digital natives) learn differently than other generations and that they may choose to pay more attention to learning through video games than more traditional methods. I also do see the many benefits of teaching through video games and other technology. -What do you want to argue with in the text?The author makes a lot of good points in the article and supports his opinions very well. However, he states that, "the many skills that new technologies have enhanced are almost totally ignored by educators." I think that there is a growing trend in education today to use new forms of technology in the classroom and help students strengthen the skills that technology has helped them develop. - What parts of the text do you aspire to?I aspire to strenghten my own skills in regards to using technology in the classroom. Many of the tools that we discussed in class and that I have read about in these articles are new to me. Hopefully, I can become familiar with these tools and enhance my classroom in the future.

-Mark

Here is a powerpoint presentation that a teacher that I observed last semester and worked with gave me as an example.

-Mark

Prensky assumes that teachers are Digital Immigrants when compared to their students (Digital Natives). I have to disagree with him. Although there are teachers who fear the use of digital media, many teachers have found ways to use it in their daily instruction. However, I agree that students do not learn in the same ways that their parents did at that same age. Children are used to video games, iPods, iPads, and laptops with internet access so they can play their favorite web-based games. Teachers need to find and use those resources that validate the curriculum while tapping into the Digital native’s brain. I have found a few sites that I like to use to enhance the math curriculum. These sites use games to provide practice with many different math concepts. My school subscribes to Study Island. While the site is a site that is based on review skills, there is a game section. Most teachers do not allow access to the games until the student reaches a certain level of accuracy with the content. However, I leave the games turned on all of the time. My reasoning is that the students are more likely to log on to the site on their own time at home if it is something that appeals to them. What get the students’ attention better than a game? The students are still practicing the skill but in a way that is more appealing to their digital brain. Rote practice of skills, although it has its place in education, is not the best way to reach today’s learners.

Susan