Online Course Final Feedback

Taking the Fall Issues, Trends, Tools in Education and Technology was very beneficial. It provided me with a variety of technology tools and ideas that I could integrate into my lessons immediately. This was my first online course. I was a bit hesitant about taking an online course, but I'm glad that I did. It was really convenient. It provided me with the opportunity to take a course without having to leave my classroom during the day. I could Login, complete a lesson and do my assignment from a computer at home, work, etc. Attending class was not limited to a specific day of the week nor a specific time. Having resources that could be printed out, videos that could be watched several times, opportunities to visit and explore sites pertaining to the technology concept we were learning about were all helpful. Being required to use each technology tool with our students was vital. It was an encouraging way for us to be risk takers with our students. Then we had to blog our experience which was a means for us to reflect. Sometimes we had the normal computer issue where things would freeze. Despite that we were still able to view the lessons and explore sites at another time. Lori, our awesome technology instructor, was exceptionally accessible. We could contact her during her online hours, by regular email, by phone, and in person when she was at our building. She provided my students and I with a lot of support for our technology projects. I would definitely reccommend this course to my colleagues for all the reasons I mentioned above. If there is another online course available to me, that was a topic of interest to me, I will sign-up for it. My students enjoyed working with these tools. They were self motivated to work on their assignments from home, those who had access to a computer and Internet.

Time 4 Reflection 3

I've learned a lot through this technology course. Now my challenge is to integrate what I have learned with my teaching. I want to include technology in my lessons. With each group of students that I am working with I want technology to be part of their learning or activity. With technology assistance from our wonderful instructor Lori, I started my sixth grade L2 students on their very own wiki page. They will be collecting information on Ancient Greece and posting it on their wiki page. They have to include a video, slide show, links, and pictures that provide information on Greece's geography, government, economy, natural resource, religion, architecture, arts, etc. My third graders started blogging about Polar Region. One problem I have so far with blogging is the inability for my students to make corrections after they have posted their comments. Rereading their comments the next day, they saw the need for revision. But, I couldn't find a way for them to edit unless if I deleted it and then they would have to rewrite their comment. I'm hoping to start the second graders on blogging as well. My fourth grader will be doing a Movie Maker on "How To" make a colonial receipt. We'll be doing the recipe first followed my the movie maker to share during Colonial Day. I haven't decided what technology tool I should use with my first graders. I wanted to do something different with each of my groups. I'm still nervous about it. Not sure why. I'm just going to take it slow and see how it all unfolds.

School 2.0 Connecting us to the Future

School 2.0 is a fabulous resource tool to get schools to create and implement a plan to change for the future.
One important aspect of this vision for tomorrow's schools, is communication. Technology will rescue us from lost flyers that were sent home, misplaced parent notes, I did my homework but I forgot it at home, how is my child doing in school, when is the assembly, and the list goes on. Communication can open a forum for the community and eventually receive their support especially during voting time. Communication can bridge the gap between school and home. Which leads me to another important aspect, the accessiblity we'll have inorder to connect with parents. So much information will be available at their fingertips they'll become more involved in their child's education.
Collaboration between schools and students and collaboration of teachers within a school is a plus to this model. I think it is vital that there is "Student Input." Let them have a voice and a stake in their education. After all it is their future we are planning for. They'll have insights that will help steer us in the right direction. Their investment in education is key to their success in the future. I'm all for global teacher collaboration, but first, lets collaborate within our schools. Administration gives us the "time" to collaborate. To get on the same technology page so we can move ahead together as a whole or as a majority.
Instead of teaching with textbooks, packets, handouts, lectures, etc. we can teach with technology. Expand their world with virtual field trips. It's a lot less expensive. Let your class visit the grassland in Africa. Or, not only visit, but also tour the inside of a pyramid in Egypt. No more missed schoolwork because of sickness, family vactions, snow days, etc. Envison walking through a school, glancing into classrooms, seeing students individually, with a partner, in a small group or the whole class (projected onto the big screen) learning their subject matter with some technology device. Let's step into the future together.

Dr. Yong Zhao

Dr. Zhao reminded us to look to the future and stop teaching to the past. It's a digital world out there and we need to get onboard as teachers, as a school, and as a district. Technology is evolving. How cool would it be to take a virtual tour in another country without actually leaving the USA? Or practice your Spanish in a Spanish speaking country from your classroom. Global interaction is at our fingertips and we should take advantage of it. Students love to interact. We could have them interacting with peers around the world as they are learning. The corporate world have embrace this technology era, education needs to embrace it as well. Competition was mentioned as a way to get schools on the technology page. Each district or school would compete by implementing technology tools for student learning. There's lots of technology tools that students already have experiences with - GPS, You Tube, Webcam, Facebook, Text Messaging, Ipods, Cellphones, Google, just to name a few. These same tools can be used as a medium for learning. Students come to school thinking out of the box and we place them inside the box. Then we are puzzled as to why they are not striving in school. We do need to rethink our educational structure. We have to stop trying to fit the new way of teaching with technology into the old way of teaching. We can start small. Implementing one tool at a time. Let the students be the experts. In ESL we do use games as a means for teaching English. Why can't we use technology games for teaching content? Learning should be fun and exciting for the students. Technology is the future, so as teachers we need to teach students to be technologically successful. My concern is cost per family. How many students would have access to a variety of tech tools outside of the classroom?

21st Century Learners

Listening to the podcast (148: Building 21st Century Achievers) with Kevin Honyecutt a few phrases jumped out at me. One was "stop teaching technology and start teaching with technology." Students are experts with technology and we need to start using it as a teaching tool. Another statement he made was that in the future students who can't use technology will be considered illiterate. Having students learning facts is one thing, but having them make connections of those facts will make learning more meaningful and relevant to them. And we can do this through technology.
Visiting his website kevinhoneycut.org I checked out the 21st Century Collaborative Projects link. These projects produce exciting learning and is connected to the curriculum and standards. Collaborative means that students will be able to connect around the world as a team to complete a project. They would communicate by chatting, blogging, wiki, ustream, skype video or text messaging. After exploring the Oregon Trail Journals project, I'm wondering if I could do something similiar with Colonial Days. Students could research the lifestyle of colonists. How did they survive and adapt in a new country? What types of jobs did they have? Find pictures, videos, articles and create a wikki to share this information.

Teaching with Technology

It is great that we have all these technology tools to expand learning. I believe students should be taught how to use each one. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, I have small groups of students from different grade levels. I'm thinking that I would like to use a different technology tool with each group. This would help develop my technology skills. There is so much we could do with the technology tools that are available to us for free. We'll take it one step at a time and keep it simple. That's what I was told when I started scrapbooking. My sixth grade L2 students will be starting their Greece Unit in a few days. They could do a Greece project on the wiki. Students are experts at technology. I'll be learning from them as they expand their knowledge of Greece through the wiki. Any suggestions about developing a wiki with sixth graders will be welcomed.

Wiki in the Classroom

Another great technology tool for students to use is the Wiki. It seems easier and less complicated than creating a website. It's accessible to teachers, students, parents, the community with no safety concerns. As the teacher, you choose who'll access your wiki. They will need a password to be able to edit the wiki. You'll be able to monitor all the changes that takes place and replace anything that was errased by accident. Students can create a wiki individually or as a group. A wiki can be used for several different purposes. Teacher's can post assignments and projects. As for homework, there'll be no more excuses. I'm not sure if students will be happy about this. Parents can be kept well informed of assignments, learning, events, etc. Students can publish their work. They can interact with other students on a specific topic. Wiki provides different kinds of resources for the classroom, lesson plans, videos, photos, references and more. Wiki is a technology tool for collaborative work and social learning. We all know how students love to interact. Now go to pbwiki.com and check it out. Let me know what you think.

Video Resources

There are four sites available to teachers with videos that can be used in the classroom. One up and coming site is Next Vista which has videos of varing topics. Next Vista has three components - Light Bulbs, Global Views and Seeing Service. Light Bulbs has videos made by students for students and teachers. Global Views videos provide descriptions of life and activities in schools and communities around the world. These videos are made by teenagers for teenagers. Seeing Service has videos of people who make the world a better place. Next Vista is a site that is easily accessible by students and teachers. It claims to be a safe site for students. Videos submitted are screened before being added to the site.
Another up and coming site is Teacher Tube. This site focuses more on educational videos. The neat thing about these videos is the ability to adapt them to your teaching needs. You can download, email or have the site send the video to where you want it.
Next Vista and Teacher Tube both have videos submitted by students. It is great for students to view work by other students. Your students too and create and submit a video to these sites. I think students would be thrilled to see their worked published in this format.
The other two sites are well developed and one I'm sure you're familiar with, You Tube and Clipblast. They seemed to be similiar. They have a vast amount of videos on a variety of topics. These two sites are not student safe in regards to appropriateness and accessibility being open to any one. I recommend that these sites be used as teacher resource only. Explore and watch videos until you find ones you can use in your class to introduce, teach, or review a topic. You need to have time to watch several. Then download the one(s) you can use with your lesson.
All four sites can be used in an educational way. They are easy to access and use within the classroom. They are short and engaging.

Classroom Blogging

Having students blog I feel is more advantageous than email. In blogging students will be using more academic language, versus social language as in email. Students will benefit from a wide array of audience. Comments are great feedback for students. Students will begin to see themselves as authors. Blogging allows for authentic writing and an opportunity for expressive language development. Blogging and comments would encourage students to write. The greatest benefit is that Blogging would get students to write, and the more they write the more their writing will develop.

Working with ESL students at different grade levels and whose English language development varies, I'm contemplating several ideas. Blogging could be a medium for them to publish their stories, reflect on a project we've done or as a learning log. I could have each group do a different form of writing. Publishing their stories might be a great way to start blogging. Then gradually branch off into other forms of blog writings with each group.

EduBlog Insights

EduBlog Insights is resourceful. It was helpful for me to scroll through the side bar and explore different links within "Categories." Clicking on "Connections" took me to Great way to start a Monday morning! Within this blog I checked out McCuller's Weblog and added some of her Current Events Resource links to my sidebar. McCuller is a third grade teacher who summarized about some of the activities her class did. There are other third grade teachers weblogs to check out as well.