Personal Learning Reflection

Throughout this course I have learned a lot about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology.  Learning about UDL helped me evaluate activities I have used with my students and allowed me to make sure I am choosing activities that are beneficial for all students.  I think the most effective project this semester was the creation of my own web page.  Once I created my page, I shared it with the parents and students in my class.  This has allowed students to communicate with me through the classroom blog, use my useful website link to play educational math and spelling games, and is a tool to use when they forget what their homework was for the night.   I have received positive feedback on my website so far.    

Before this class, I used the term web-quest incorrectly in my vocabulary.  The web-quest activity we completed in this course allowed me to find online activities I could use in my classroom.  For example, I plan on using the “Blending Fiction and Nonfiction” to improve comprehension and writing skills.  Also, I enjoyed the creation of the StAIR project.  I had never done a stand-alone project before and I think it is an effective learning tool for students.  Although it is time consuming for a teacher to create, I think it would be a great project for upper elementary, middle school or high school students to do.  They could create their own StAIR project on a variety of topics related to the curriculum.  

One of my goals when I started my master’s was to create a web page that students and parents could go to for support.  I am proud of my current web page and I think it is useful for a variety of reasons.  I also am beginning to feel more confident with using technology in my classroom.  I rarely went to the library with my class last year; however, this year my class has  went a variety of times to use the Internet for their learning.  

My long term goals are continued from CEP 810.  One goal of mine is to find ways of incorporating even more technology into the classroom.  Just from two classes, I have learned about so many new educational sites, as well as social sites that people turn to all around the world.  MACUL has helped me find many educational sites to use daily.  I am excited that this class is the second class I have taken and I have many more to go to feel more confident in my abilities to incorporate technology into my classroom.  My long-term goals are to discover many more free online technological resources that are user-friendly to implement into my classroom.  Also, I would love to eventually be able to use online portfolios with my students.  Lastly, I would love for my district to see the need of creating google accounts for students.    

Thanks for a great semester!

Online Learning

Currently, I use a few online experiences in my classroom.  First, I use educational games as often as possible to enhance learning.  Often in math, I create centers where students are able to use the computers to play an educational game related to current learning topics such as fractions.  For spelling, students use the website spellingcity.com to type in their words and play games.  Also, I have a classroom blog that I utilize for student questions.   

It was difficult for me to choose one online experience to use with my students so I will discuss two that I think would benefit them.  First, I would love to have students create an electronic portfolio.  A portfolio could be used in all subjects.  As a new teacher, I worry about parents not getting feedback on student achievement throughout the course of the year.  Some papers never it make it home and parents are left in the dark on assignments and how their child is performing.  With an online portfolio, student achievement is documented electronically.  This allows parents to have online documentation of learning throughout their child’s schooling.  It also develops life long skills for students as they use the computer to upload assignments.

Secondly, I like the idea of an online field trip.  I have never implemented this in my classroom, but I believe it would be very effective in subjects like social studies and science.  Our school is not allowed to go on field trips so I think that this is a great interactive online tool for students to feel as though they are learning outside of the school building.

There are a few online technologies that would be difficult to use with my students.  Career planning tools seem as though they would be more useful in high school rather than in elementary school.  The test preparation tool also seems as though it is for high school students getting ready for college.

Wikipedia and Wiki Page

After viewing Wikipedia and looking up the current school I teach at, there was no information specifically on Brummer Elementary.  I searched South Lyon Community Schools and found a list of all the schools in our district; however, there was  not anymore information given on Brummer.  I decided to make a link to Brummer Elementary and add some information so people could find out more about my school.  I added information that I found from our school website.  On the new page, I discussed the mission statement, the neighborhood concept, and who our school was named after.  

On the wiki site, I created a page that would be used for my students to write their book recommendations down during Reading Workshop.  This way, students have a place to go when looking for a good book or telling their classmates about their favorite books.  Also, using a wiki page is a great way to incorporate technology into student learning environment.

Here is the post that I made on Brummer Elementary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brummer_Elementary

Here is the screenshot of the post I made on Brummer Elementary:
http://screencast.com/t/9e8rPYt4D

Here is the link to my wiki page:
http://www.wikispaces.com/user/my/lnapierala21

Here is the link my Brummer Book Recommendations page:
http://brummerbookrecommendations.wikispaces.com/

UDL Guidelines

After going thought my Colombian Exchange lesson plan, I realized that I could improve my lesson immensely based on the UDL Guidelines.  I had a variety of benchmarks that I needed to improve on to help my students achieve success.  For example, although I showed a very quick five minutes BrainPop video on Christopher Columbus, that was the only auditory part of the lesson.  I realized that including an appropriate learning video or two on the web hunt would have helped students who were not auditory learners.  Overall, this lesson was best for visual learners and I was not taking into account other types of learners effectively.

Another problem was that although collaboration is good, I had 24 students jammed on 12 computers.  Unfortunately, this is the computer lab in my school; however, I could have put twelve kids on the computers while other students were working on another engaging assignment.  This would have made students take ownership for their own learning, while also being able to assist others.  Students would not have had as many distractions.

Also, it would have been a good idea to demonstrate what I wanted their final product to look like.  Although I modeled how to get to napieralanews.weebly.com and where they were supposed to put their response, I should have created an actual rubric with the points I wanted them to write about.  Some students were taking control on the blog, while others were watching the work being done.

There was good that came from this lesson though.  First, students got the opportunity to learn through the internet and not just reading their textbook for information.  They were more engaged in their learning and had clear objectives that they were working to achieve.  Students were much more apt to use dictionary.com then to get out a dictionary to look up a word.  The information presented was at grade level which helped students to be successful, but also challenged them in ways.

Overall, analyzing this lesson helped me see what guidelines I should use when creating a lesson.  Although it is unrealistic to do the checklist for every lesson, I was able to see what were important ideas to focus on next time such as creating a lesson taking into account auditory, visual, and hands on learners.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/14BTP7Q0heU7Fv_qmI6DMysTmjDQyjsTEb5b7kequXUc/edit?hl=en_US

WebQuest Evaluation

The WebQuest I chose to evaluate is “Rebelling for Freedom”.  This is a WebQuest designed by Jennifer Armusewicz, Emily Breiner, Kate Dougan, and Kate Wheeler from the University of Richmond,Virginia.  In this History and Social Studies WebQuest, students are asked to visualize themselves living in 1973, in the time period right before the American Revolution.   The colonists living in Boston, Massachusetts are asked again to pay ANOTHER tax on goods.  They are fed up with paying taxes and are going to stage a peaceful rebellion against England.  The students’ job from this activity is to figure out the best way to rebel peacefully to prove to England that they are sick of being controlled and told what they have to do.  

           The strategies used to teach this lesson would be a hands-on, meaningful learning approach.  Students would have knowledge of the ongoing problems between the colonists and England.  Their content knowledge will help them understand why the colonists are so angry when they are told they are going to pay MORE taxes.  They use deductive reasoning to construct the best way to have a peaceful rebellion.     

This lesson is a great activity for my fifth graders.  In the fifth grade curriculum, students learn about the American Revolution and how and why the thirteen American colonies were formed.  One goal for “Rebelling for Freedom”  is for students to write from their own perspective and explain their reasoning.  This lesson also has the ability to extend students in thinking about a current issue in society.  They could learn about another rebellion that has happened recently in the United States and compare and contrast both rebellions.  

  

           This WebQuest does not mention using technology.  However, students could not only a textbook but the Internet to search for the variety of reasons the colonists were sick of English rule.  They could search for ways other groups have rebelled peacefully.  Students could also be required to post their response on a Wiki page or on a blog so other classmates could respond.  Although technology is not mentioned, it definitely could be utilized effectively for this particular lesson.   
    
           The problem I see with this WebQuest is that there is not a lot of direction to it, lacking in specific step-by-step directions. Although I really liked the idea, the lesson does not go into much detail on how to effectively implement this into your classroom. If I was to improve this WebQuest, I would give more information how to successfully use this in the classroom, maybe providing a rubric of what the final product should look like.  This WebQuest does credit its sources, but is copyrighted from 2002-2006 so it could be updated.     

Here is the screenshot of the WebQuest I found- http://screencast.com/t/RWRrxxHnw

Here is the link to the webpage- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zk65o73mzntf6llBQmQteyu2fheTeaQWdGLR23R0DKk/edit?hl=en_US

Personal Learning Reflection Cont.

I am excited that I decided to get my master's in Educational Technology at Michigan State University.  I had a friend and colleague who was finishing up this program and she recommended it to me.  She said she learned a variety of useful ways to incorporate technology into the classroom.  I am glad I took her advice.  In CEP 810, I did not dread coming home from work and working on projects or assignments for this class.  I knew I was benefiting my students along the way.

After completing eight weeks of the class, I learned a wide range of skills dealing with technology.  Some of even the simplest activities such as creating a Twitter account, blog, and RSS Reader feed have been effective for me.  This class gave me the motivation to create a classroom website, which I will improve in CEP 811. My instructor, Melissa White was available to assist quickly when needed and helped to enhance my learning on educational technology.

My current fifth grade students love the idea of a blog and have written on my website blog numerous times.  Although they have not completely used it in the way I would hope (asking questions about homework and helping eachother) they have really taken to the blog.  Also, they enjoy using the useful educational games that I put on my Weebly website.

Although I was a bit nervous for working in a group on an online class, I think it was extrememly beneficial.  For example, our group's proposal was that personal learning networks could positively enhance learning.  One of my group members discussed collaborate classroom.   Before we worked on our project, I had never heard of it.  Now I think it is a great tool I can use in my classroom.  

As I said in my post a few weeks earlier, I will continue to find ways of incorporating more technology into the classroom.  Just in one short semester, I have learned so many new educational sites, as well as social sites that people turn to all around the world.  My long-term goals are to discover many more free online resources that are user-friendly to impliment into my classroom.

Thanks for a great semester!

MERLOT site

Visual Fractions Website

MERLOT 

I thought the site Visual Fractions suggested by Richard Rand on MERLOT would be very effective for my fifth graders.  After playing on the site for a few minutes, that was all the time I needed to discover its validity.  The quality of the content was valid and correct and it had useful fraction models for students to be able to visualize the content.  This website can be used for identifying, comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.  Along with instructional models, it had interactive lessons attached as well.  I think the website would appeal to students.

After students use this site, they should have a better knowledge of  the meaning of fractions.  The target learners for this great website would be the visual learners who need topics reinforced that were learned in class.  This site hit a variety of stages as a teaching and learning tool.  It gave visual explanations of fractions.  For example, if you started playing a fraction game to compare fractions and forgot how to do it, you could click explain and it would provide a visual explanation.  The downfall would be that this site did not have a lot of application to new problems though.  Although this site could be used for a teacher to refresh their knowledge of drawing pictures to visual fractions, I think that it would be most beneficial for struggling learners.

The website is a very user-friendly site.  As I was searching through the site, I did not get easily lost.  When you go to the link, the home page consisted of a heading.  If you wanted to compare fractions, you clicked the compare button.  Next, you would click the learning tool to either compare with lines or to compare with circles.  Once you do that, you are learning.  It is as easy as that to get started.  Students would be able to work through this site with little teacher guidance.

Personal Learning Reflection

There were numerous ideas I have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology.  One of the first projects we completed was creating an RSS Reader.  This was a new tool for me on google and helped me find educational blogs and websites that could benefit me as a teacher.  I checked my RSS Reader daily in order to find new feeds that I could integrate into my classroom.  Also, I learned a lot about technology through my group’s SIG Presentation.  Our group decided that we were going to prove the effectiveness of using personal learning networks in the classroom such as twitter, blogs, collaborize classroom, and websites.  I created my own website which I now utilize on a daily basis.  I had never created a blog or website before and found out how easy it was to do.  I had never heard of collaborize classroom before.  I like the idea to set up a interactive blog for classroom discussion and have students vote and comment on their vote.  It is a way for students to reason in an interactive manner.  

The Internet helped my SIG group and I enhance our proposal on the usefulness of personal learning networks in the classroom.  We found many useful articles and blogs that we read and incorporated into our final SIG Presentation.  We also used a variety of personal learning networks.  I got the opportunity through this class to create a blog, website, twitter account, learn about online safety, and join professional organization such as MACUL.  I had never used any of these online resources.  

After I created my initial blog on blogspot, I really felt the desire to start my own web page and blog for my classroom.  Although I haven’t had a lot of people respond to my blog or ask questions, I hope to use it more in the future.  I think having a blog where both parents and students can go, can positively effect student learning  Students have the opportunity to help others, not only me helping them.  

I believe that I have began to meet my goals that I established in my Personal Growth Plan.  One of my goals was to utilize technology and become more knowledgeable with using technology.  At our school, we have CPS which is a handheld remote that can be used as a review or assessment tool.  I learned how to incorporate that into my teaching.   Also, by starting my own classroom website napieralanews.weebly.com, I achieved another personal technology goal from this semester.     

I will continue to find ways of incorporating more technology into the classroom.  Just from one semester, I have learned so many new educational sites, as well as social sites that people turn to all around the world.  I am excited that this class is the first class and that I have many more to go to feel more confident in my abilities to incorporate technology into my classroom.  My long-term goals are to discover many more free online technological resources that are user-friendly that I can implement into my classroom.

Learning Styles

I believe there are two learning styles that fit me the best.  I am a visual learner, as well as a tactile/kinesthetic learner.  I learn best by seeing and doing.  Once I actually partake in a particular activity, I will feel more confident in my ability to learn and teach any subject.  For instance, even as a teacher I have to learn new curriculum to teach my students.  In science, I am currently teaching about matter and molecules.  Because this concept is difficult to grasp, I complete each experiment myself before I teach my students.  That way I feel more confident in my teaching.

I also enjoy visual learning such as through the use of maps, pictures, flip charts, and diagrams.  These resources help me visualize what I am supposed to learn.  For instance, in social studies I am teaching about different Native American regions in the United States.  If I just put a map up and pointed to each location that would make the information more difficult to learn.  Instead, I gave each child a map to color code and label themselves.  This way they got to experience both a visual and kinesthetic learning style. 

I struggle with being an auditory learner.  I can concentrate for a short period of time, but I have difficulty grasping a lot of information over a long period of time.  Just as kids in my classroom, I get distracted by my surroundings. 

Creative Commons Lab

“Native American Regions Map 1” © July 1, 2010 Spacenut525 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NativeAmericanRegions_map_1.jpg

Used under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0.

After learning about Creative Commons, it made me realize the importance of copyright laws and making sure that I am properly using and citing resources I find from the computer.  I like that Creative Commons is a free and easy site to search through.  It is useful for finding resources to use in my classroom.  It is a licensing site, as well a resource tool.

I really enjoyed using this search engine and will definitely implement it into my teaching.  I will utilize this site to make sure that I am using images correctly off my computer to enhance student learning on a variety of topics we are studying in class.  For instance, I found a colorful map of the Native American Regions.  This will help my students see specifically where these groups were located in an appealing manner.  It is a great tool for history in order to show students what life looked like in the past.  It of course can be used in all subjects as well.


Here is my picture from Barcelona, Spain.  I am not allowing reuse of my photo on Creative Commons.
https://picasaweb.google.com/111965227087617962989/October17201102

PC Maintenance and Security

The first tutorial I watched was the typical problems on PC’s.  It was good to be reminded of the different ways that problems can come about on your computer.  For instance, the narrator mentioned Malware, which is malicious software.  Spam is another problem that occurs frequently.  It is important to not open emails that you don’t know where they came from or if they seem suspicious.  Lastly, he talked about intrusions from hackers, which is one of the largest problems today.

Another tutorial I watched was RoboForm.  I had never heard of this before.  It is a web browser tool that can help manage passwords and help me log in with one click.  I learned why RoboForm can be useful.  For instance, if I have a difficult time thinking of a password, this can form a password for me.   

One of the most interesting tutorials I viewed was on using Mozilla Firefox.  The narrator said it is a great default browser and is good for internet security.  I have always used Internet Explorer, but I will definitely switch to Firefox after watching this tutorial.  He said people need Internet Explorer; however, moving to a new browser is a much better option for safety. 

Because I have Gmail, I watched the video on how to delete spam on my email.  This was a great reminder on protection as well.

There were so many great tutorials to choose from!

Getting Things Done

As a teacher, the work never ends.  Stress builds as report cards are due, conferences are approaching, or tests need to be graded.  Getting Things Done is a great way to help yourself not get overwhelmed at all the tasks you have to accomplish on a daily basis.

The first step of Getting Things Done or GTD is collecting.  This is a way to get the clutter out of your head and down on paper.  The second step is processing.  It is your job to figure out what each task is and if it is important enough to worry about.  Next you need to organize.  This is where you will take all the tasks that you have collected and figure out their priority.  For instance, if a task has to be completed in a week, you can mark it as a calendar item.  That way you won’t lose track of when it is due.  After you organize it is time to review.  This is important in order to make sure your projects are getting done or the items that need attention move up in priority.   Lastly, you complete the tasks that have the highest priority based on how much time you have left in your day.

This idea really made me realize the importance of prioritizing.  I have already felt overwhelmed with this graduate class and being a teacher in the classroom.  I love this idea and I will try it myself to feel less stressed.  

Social Networking

Social networking sites such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Ning, and MySpace are popular in today’s society.  So why not use these popular sights as a tool to communicate for educational purposes?  There are endless reasons social networking can be a positive tool in and out of the classroom for children.  Schools across the globe are effectively using these sights as a way to enhance education.  For instance, in the article on Edweek.org, “Social Networking Goes to School,” it discusses the possibility of talking to other students around the world to gain knowledge on topics they are studying.  When a group of students were reading a book on whales, students in Canada sent a short video of the whales in their actual habitat.  Schools are finding ways to also use Twitter, Facebook, and blogs to enhance learning.  When students have a question, they have a website to go to.  They can post their questions and other students or teachers can provide answers immediately.  Social networking is a great tool to foster 21^st century learning skills.

As an educator, social networking is a must use tool as well. For example, today I was trying to create math centers for my students.  I searched websites; however, it was time consuming and I didn’t come out with a lot of ideas.  Joining educational groups on Facebook, Twitter, or blogs, I could have immediately asked for math center ideas.  I will never be a teacher who feels that I know everything there is to teaching.  I love the idea of networking because I can share my teaching practices, as well as receive ideas from people not only in my school but around the world.  Social networks are a great way to gain professional development.

RSS Reader Reflection

Posting to Blog

I posted to the article, “Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?  The Reasons are Many.”  In my posting, I agreed with the article and why integrating technology is so beneficial for students in the classroom.  I believe technology is not a phase and will be around in the centuries to come.  It is my role as an educator to help prepare my students on the importance of technology in the classroom. Technology can be used to learn life skills such as teamwork.  Technology can also make learning more fun.  It is a critical part of being an effective teacher.

I shared with readers the website called brain pop.  This is a website with short educational cartoon videos to learn about all subjects across grade levels.  Recently, I showed my fifth grade students a video of the Bill of Rights on Constitution Day.  This helped my students get a better understanding of what it was without me directly telling them.      

RSS Reader Tracking

As I read and tracked changes throughout my RSS Reader page, I first realized how useful an RSS page can be.  I had never heard of a RSS Reader page and after learning more about it and completing the lab, I thought it was very effective.  I am now able to keep a variety of educational articles and blogs that relate to education and technology in the classroom.

In Education Week, I was able to read about many educational issues surrounding teachers in this country.  I was reminded daily that the same issues were going on around the country that Michigan is facing today.  For example, in one article they talked about class sizes going up as the amount of teachers is decreasing.   Unfortunately, the country is facing large budget cuts and it makes me realize how much more difficult it will be to get newer technology into the classroom.  

In simpleK12, I enjoyed the short blogs that were written, often provided teaching tools and advice for the classroom.  For instance, I read the blog on "7 Teacher No-Nos."  The author provided quick reminders for using technology in the classroom.  For example, it is important to always have a backup lesson.  Although technology is great, it doesn’t always work we as we planned!

What I Learned

Over the course of the week I have learned numerous effective ideas from the feeds I have been tracking.  I really enjoyed a variety of articles in edutopia.  One article in particular, “Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?  The Reasons are Many” the author gave four components to learning that I strongly agreed with.  First, active engagement is critical in order for students to be responsible for their own learning.  Collaborating with others builds life skills of listening to others ideas and compromising.  Also, children benefit positively from a project learning approach.  The author mentioned making connections to the real world, and having positive interactions and receiving feedback through technology.  By students using technology across the curriculum, they are working to become knowledgeable on the uses of technology and get a realistic view of how technology surrounds them in their daily life.  

I read some interesting articles on techlearning.com on the effectiveness of apple products such as an iPad or iPod in the classroom.  Although the school I teach at doesn’t have access to these products, it may be a useful tool for myself to have to help instruction.  For instance, in the article, “Involve, Prepare, Apply, and Develop: Ipads in the Classroom” they gave a list of applications where groups of students could interact with others discussing their experiment in science or connect with other communities during social studies.  They gave math applications where students could play math bingo or use a blackboard for computation practice.  The possibilities on these innovative products seem endless.  I hope that apple products such as the iPad or products just like these become a must have in the near future for districts.

Application

As a teacher, there are many ways I could apply the capabilities of RSS Reader pages into a school setting.  It would be useful to use an RSS Reader across all curriculum.  For instance, I am currently teaching about electricity in science.  By using kid friendly sites on science issues, I could set up the readers and teach students how to use the them effectively.  They could track articles and share newsworthy events dealing with science.  I think a RSS Reader pages is a useful way for students to keep up with newsworthy events related to their education.

Also, I will use this idea as a way to improve as an educator.  I believe one of the best ways to improve as a teacher is to communicate with other educators.  Blogs allow me to do just that.  I can ask questions, share my own thoughts, read others ideas, and take ideas immediately into the classroom.  For instance, I enjoyed discovering the simplek12 blog.  In one post, the author discussed ways to use Google to engage my students.  These are free and practical resources to help better my students learning.

RSS Reader Page

Check out my RSS Reader Page!

http://screencast.com/t/9zdYb5W5ub8L

Blogging vs. Websites

Welcome to Napierala News!  I hope you enjoy my new blog!

What is the difference between a blog and a website?

 Blogging has been a innovative addition to the world of technology.  It allows for immediate communication from one end of the globe to the other.  Blogging is a great tool for all people to use in order to gain insight into any topic imaginable.  I am able to subscribe via RSS Reader to any blog that I am interested in.  As an educator, I have already subscribed to blogs that give me quick and insightful ways to incorporate technology in the classroom.  If I have questions or I don't understand a post, I can comment on it.  Anyone can respond to my comment and I could end up with an answer within a few minutes. 

A website is useful for finding information too; however, you do not communicate back and forth.  If you don't agree with what the website says, you can't fix what is already there quickly.  Also, when a website is updated, you do not always get a notification that it was updated.   

Using both websites and blogs are a way to gain information on any topic imaginable.