That's a Wrap!!!!!

WOW I can not believe this class is already over! :( The amount of information and new knowledge I acquired in this class was absolutely amazing. I literally walking away knowing 100% more than I did in the first class.

I learned about how to set up a blog, wiki, personal website, how to evaluate websites, make podcast, use Inspiration, different search engines, slideshare, make videos, and that is just a pinch of what I've learned! I can now make my ppt visible to the world of I want to and reflect on daily things on my blog. I can also post links and use the ppt so much faster than I ever could before. Oh...I almost forgot. I can also take a snapshot a post it to my blog or website! I also can not wait to use ENgrade for when I have my own classroom one day. Just another thing I got excited about using from this course!

I am such a different learner now than I was when I started this course. I know an incredible amount of technological information that I will use in my future classroom. Just because this class is completed with, I will by no means stop broadening my horizons about what other great technology tools are out there. There is an unlimited amount of information relating to the WWW and I have just learned a little piece of it. I am excited to introduce Technological learning skills to my students and teach them all that I have learned and how much I have grown. I will be sure to incorporate technology in my classroom on a daily basis. Students are like sponges, if it has to do with something technology based, they absorb the information and learn from it. Why would I not want to have 20+ sponges in my classroom learning as much as they can and making the most out of school?

I want to take a brief moment and thank my professor and peers. If it was not for my professor pushing me to stay in this class, I would not have learned anything about technology. I want to thank her for believing me and convincing me to stay. Thanks to my peers as well. I learned much more from you all because we were constantly in contact with each other close to a daily basis. I learned how to collaborate on a professional level to achieve class goals and outcomes! Once again-Thank You:)

Reading Reflectively & Final Projects Culminating Consensus

The first video was a very important one because it deals with understanding how students learn. That is the most important component for teachers to address. When teachers understand different ways students absorb and comprehend information, lessons will be delivered and acknowledged more effectively. Are my students interpersonal learners, kinesthetic, tactile, visual, etc...These are all important questions teachers should ask themselves before planning any kind of lesson. However, one commonality among all learners, which was talked about in the video, is that they all learn digitally. I was not at all shocked at the statistics from the video-most college graduates spent more than 10,000 hours on the cell phone and computer and double that watching T.V. I can relate to these kinds of students because I am one; I am a digital learner. Teachers have to relate material and lessons to what the students are exposed to and relate it to what they know and understand. So what do these students know and understand...TECHNOLOGY!

Weather it be the newer Web 2.0 version, or still underdeveloped remains of Web 1.0, students understand technology. In order to properly implement technology into a classroom, teachers have to learn about technology as well. In the long run, students and teachers will be learning simultaneously about technology,which may be a shift on paradigm in the normal every day classroom.

After many tries at yuuguu, I finally got it to work! I thought this is another great tool for communicating purposes. Again, teachers can access this site and have conferences with colleagues near and far, and still learn a tremendous amount of information. There are so many different social networks out there, yuuguu is just another form of communicating via the Internet. I will most definitely consider using this one day to chat with fellow teachers and colleagues.

My link to my Final Project slideshare PPT

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/qpdUsIZDYkHiGp

I thoroughly enjoyed working on my final project. Cognitively, I worked at higher levels because the majority of the information I learned was all new to me. One of my neighbors is a speech pathologist and is a pro at using and understanding different assistive technologies that are out there to aid in students communication and literacy skills. I learned a lot not only from her, but from my research as well. The powerpoint presention I put together was another enjoyable experience. I worked on it for about 5 hours and learned how to set each slide differently and how to add new color and boarders around the frame. I had a lot of extra time, so I played around with the ppt software and learned many useful strategies that I had now idea even existed. Slideshare is so so great! Not only is is extremely easy to use, all you have to do is upload a file and there it is, but every person on the Internet, depending on if you set it publicly, can view your work. It is a great way to get feedback on assignments as well as give reinforcement to others.

After completing this final project, I would love to learn more about assistive technology. There are so many different kinds out there that aid in all different types of cognitive learners, I would like to educate myself on more of them. My future goal as a teacher is to eventually work as a special educator, and what better way to incorporate technology into a special education classroom, than by using different types of assistive tech? I learned a lot from this experience, and enjoyed creating my ppt, and writing my lesson plan. I can not wait for my peers and professor to see the hard work I put into my project!

This is a wonderful YouTube site where a teacher explains how she uses assistive technology in her classroom. Take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT2pJrArbWs

Evaluating Engrade Software...Making Teacher's Live's Easier...One Step At A Time

http://www.engrade.com/teacher-gradebook.php?c=1 (my online grade book, as well as the snapshot above)

I have to be honest and admit how excited I was to be evaluating a grade book website. I know of many teachers out there that still manually input grades into their green covered grade book and only use pencil because they always go back and fix mistakes. However, now teachers have the option to use online grading software, where all they have to do to record grades is click a few simple buttons.

* Tell what features you liked, disliked, and why.
I loved every feature that Engrade had to offer. I liked how there was a male teacher who gave a tutorial for others to follow on the how to's of this software program. I watch his 12 minute video and knew that this process was going to be easy and enjoyable. I liked how teachers have the option of converting numbers to percentages after they manually click on options such as custom, manual, etc...This gives teachers more freedom with how they want their grading criteria to look like. Engrade also offers teachers to separate assignments, depending on subject, and if an assignment is worth more, less, or even extra credit. When teachers put grades into their Engrade grade book, and have a student that was absent or one that missed an assignment, a simple "m" for missing, or "e" for excused is placed. However, those letters can be made up and put into number form if the assignment is submitted. It does it all for the teacher, no calculators or anything. I also really admired how to involve students and parents by giving each individual student a secret access code. This is for the student to access their grades, as well as their parents, and to keep the parents in the loop. This keeps both parents and students engaged and involved. By viewing grades online, may be an added incentive for students to do well or to work harder, especially when they know parents can view them as well!

The option of rounding is also given to teachers. I love teachers who round up to the next whole number and believe it is a fair way to grade. Dropping the lowest grade was another thing teachers can do on Engrade. I like this because some teachers give a lot of tests and quizzes, and by dropping the lowest grade can take some strain off of students.

I also loved the comment part of Engrade. Parents want to see how their child is doing by teacher-made comments. Seeing this can ease doubts and/or possibly schedule a conference to talk about why a student is struggling with school and what can be done to help.

After reviewing and looking at different links in Engrade and other grading sites, I realized that Engrade lacks some features. For instance, two other websites I explored were called Chancery and Powerschool. Both were more visually appealing and had more options to make a grade sheet appear better. The process was a bit more comprehensive and detailed. However, Engrade is still a wonderful user friendly grading site, and I will most definitely consider using it in my future as an educator.

I also believe that students may not be too keen with Engrade because parents can access grades and see what his/her child has been doing and not doing. Students may want the old paper, pencil, calculator way of grading used again by his/her classroom teacher.

* Provide some ideas or features that you think would improve Engrade.com

I tried the printing section of Engrade and found that even though I only wanted ONE assignment printed, every assignment was printed. I found this to be a waste of paper and ink. Maybe if there was a section at the top of the tool bar, like in a Microsoft Word document, where I can select a section that I want to be printed, would be more appealing. Changing grades also seemed time consuming. I only saw one student at a time, not the whole class. Maybe if there was a "Select All" button where every student was selected, I can then change grades there and then instead of closing and opening each student.

* Tell why you think this software would or would not be useful for classroom teachers.

I believe that by taking advantage of any technological advance is a wonderful opportunity. Engrade offers teachers just that. I think that by using Engrade can take a load off of teachers busy schedules and have more student involvement. However, one has to know how to use a computer. If a teacher does not have this prior knowledge, it may take a while for mastery to develop. I also think that the attendance section of Engrade is more time consuming than taking it manually and sending it to the office. A computer has to be turned on, then the teacher has to wait for the Engrade site to come on the screen. This can take several minutes. If a teacher is in a push for time one day, taking roll manually is faster. I will, however, take advantage of online grading. I like how it is fast, simple to use and user friendly. Engrade has the capability of engaging students and keeping them involved inside the classroom and at home.

* Tell why students and/or parents would like this online grade book software, or why not.

I am kind of on the fence with this one. I think online grade book software can be beneficial for any student, however, there are always going to be students who do not want his/her parents seeing their grade. Students may like this online grade book because it allows them to access their grades without asking the teacher. It allows the student to see their progress, or decline in grades. By assigning a special code to each student, gives ownership to that student. They may feel special and feel more inclined to do better and push themselves harder in school. Parents stay involved when they can view their child's grades online. Instead of waiting to the end of a marking period, they can see if their child needs help or not. However, not all students want their parents to see his/her grades. This can cause problems at home, which can result in bad behavior and/or bad grades in a school setting. However one looks at it, I do not believe online grading will ever be favorable by every student, but I do believe every teacher should take advantage of it and learn to use technology to his/her benefit.

Overall, I learned a lot by researching this online grade book site. I learned that doing grades online can be easy and fun. Involving students in the process of learning about technology by viewing their grades is a great way for them to stay engaged and enjoy school. I am looking forward to the day when I have my own classroom and can not wait to see if my school offers online grading.

Wednesday's Weekly Windup

We started out discussing the TED video. It was one of the most innovative and amazing thing I have ever seen with technology. How did this guy figure out how to use a WII controller and use it effectively with a smartboard? I love that this gives opportunities to low income schools to incorporate this effective form of technology. I just have to wonder that the WII people can not be too pleased with TED. Who knows, maybe the prices of smartboards will decrease and more schools will start incorporating them into their classrooms.

Groups presented their chapters last night as well. My group presented our chapter 5 topic on digital and multimedia. Chapter 4 was next. I liked how some areas addressed was the fact that students use texting and more faster forms of communicating now rather than e-mail, because e-mail can be a bit slow. The WWW, search engines were talked about and how to do a successful search on a computer. For instance, the different kinds of searches like basic and advanced, depending on how narrow you want your search to be were addressed. I also enjoyed when the group talked about how teachers need to figure out who the learners are and how they learn. It all starts with understanding the students, which ultimately starts the learning process. What is the best learning environment? The group discussed that it needs to be learning centered where students are actively involved and engaged in the learning process where they learn with different sources of technology. An inquiry-based learning environment is a wonderful place to learn and educate!

The chapter 6 group presentations were also excellent. It started off with talking about all of the advancements in technology and later moved into the discussion about all different standards being addressed by using technology. Technology needs to be addressed in classrooms, not ignored. Many different types of technology that aid in the learning process of students with special needs were also discussed. I really liked the enthusiasm one of the presenters had about assistive technology devices that are out there. One source was called uptoten.com where there are games geared to students with disabilities with different learning levels. The plethora of technology geared tools that are out there today is amazing and exciting. I really can not wait to start my teaching career and start using all of these devices to help my students learning abilities flourish!

I learn a tremendous amount of information from our whole class meetings. Bouncing ideas off each other and listening to group presentations, is a wonderful way to learn material. Next Wednesday is our last whole class meeting, and I am quite sad about that. However, even though class is ending soon, I will not stop educating myself about technology because I know that the more know, the more my students will as well!

Video Project--I finally got a microphone to work!

I was nervous seeing this assignment earlier this week. I knew I had some problems with microphones and was hoping I did not need one. But I did. I went right to the curriculum library in hopes that Brett and Mark could help me. Mark was on my computer for over an hour trying to figure out where my microphone was or if I had one at all. After much investigating, Mark realized I did not have one. However, Brett looked and played around with my computer and finally got a desktop one to work! Yayy!
So I went into the back room and began to record my voice in PhotoStory 3. It was a lot of fun. I edited my voice, music, and altered the frames and entrances of each picture. I learned a lot as well. For the HA assignment, I used the voicethread website. I had completed this the day before thinking I was only going to submit this one being that I had no microphone, but was able to complete both. I liked the voicethread website, however it was a bit confusing to edit. I kept editing, but it wouldn't save. I finally realized I was doing it wrong, and after watching a video tutorial, it was a breeze to complete. I took many pictures I had from my vacation in Cancun, Mexico last year of underwater sea life, and put them in many photos. Each photo had a caption which I thought was cool.
Overall I learned a lot by doing both of these related assignments. I pushed myself to get the regular assignment completed by asking for help from the Mount computer geniuses! Thanks to them, I now know how to use photostory and record my own voice on the computer!

Week 4 group get together

My group met on Tuesday this week instead of Monday. I went away for a few days and asked if we could meet on Tuesday and we all agreed on a time and met! It went very smooth with no problems at all.

We began the session discussing the WebQuest assignment. My group gave our PowerPoint slides to Jen and she submitted them to the class wiki website. Jen graciously did this and did a wonderful job! After WebQuest questions were cleared up, we discussed some of the class videos and readings we had to do for class. We briefly talked about the video where a smartboard was created by a WII controller. I thought that was amazing. I can see something like the WII becoming means of educational use in the future. The topic of how tests will be given 10 years down the road was also discussed. Some thought that a classroom may be a thing of the past or that coming to a class may be limited to only a few days a week. Lessons and discussions would be given via the Internet. How realistic is this? I do not know, but many things out there about technology seem to boggle my mind everyday so I believe anything is possible.

Standardized tests and authentic/performance based assessment was also talked about. We all agreed that authentic/performance based tests are better for students because the tests allow to measure student ability rather than measuring how well one takes tests. We all believe too many standardized tests are given, rather too many overall tests are given. An article talked about how many tests a students takes in a given school year and the number was a couple hundred! I mean is that fair? Are we putting too much stress on these students? I believe we are, and we all came to the consensus that performance based tests are more student friendly and a bit fun.

We also talked about the opportunities for professional development for teachers. The 21st century is a computer savvy one, and teachers need to know the proper usage of computers and how to successfully incorporate it into a daily classroom. There are tons of teachers, many of them in my district, that do not utilize computers or any kind of technology for that matter in the classroom at all. There are 8 veteran teachers in my middle school district, who do not use computers, smartboards, or anything educational for student use. It is sad because I know if these teachers went to mandatory professional development seminars on technology use in a classroom, that would chance in a heartbeat.

The last thing we discussed was the final project. We all seemed a bit confused and nervous about this assignment. Some people, one being myself, did not know the criteria of what needs to be included and discussed in it. However, another group member did. She told us where to go to find the information, and with that cleared up, I now have a better understanding of what is expected from me. Again, this is why group meetings are so wonderful. If one person has a problem or question about an assignment, most likely somebody in this group will know the answer and help out the other group members. We are a wonderful, hardworking team, and each week it shows more and more!

Reflecting on all things abbreviated...BM, IPM, SIM, PM...

There are many different technologies that are aligned with these four models. For the behavioral model, it deals with more direct learning and instruction. The teacher usually teaches a concept, then gives examples for the students to make an appropriate and cognitive connection. Critical thinking and interpersonal skills are used by students when the BM is presented. IPM is the opposite of BM because it deals with indirect teaching techniques. Students inquire and learn by doing. Allowing the students to learn at a cognitive level is the main component of the IPM model. WebQuests can be a great and wonderful tool for students to do when focusing on the IPM. Here they can explore links and navigate other sites to think at higher levels. The SI is a great way for students to interact and practice social skills. Societal activities that will make them socially acceptable and knowledgeable are wonderful things to do in a classroom. For instance, Student Government, practicing proper interviewing skills, and/or how to interact with another individual in society. The final model is known as the PM. This is where students independently study, analyze, and reflect on information and use their knowledge for cognitive opinions. Self concepts are used. A great way to focus on this skill could be to do an "about me" mind map on inspiration. This allows students to focus on themselves and list components of their life they feel comfortable about and are proud of.
I think the BM is overused and used the most in schools because it is the most common form of instruction used by teachers-direct instruction. It also deals with computer-assisted instruction rather than having students mastering the skills they need to know to use it independently. The IPM and SM are all models that teachers, especially older and less computer savvy ones, consist of using computers to students advantage. To instruct computer generated instruction, teachers have to be the ones knowledgeable about different kinds of assignments and instruction to have students work successfully and independently at a higher level. All types of learning, such as indirect, direct, inductive, deductive, experiential, interactive, social, and the rest are all different ways these four models are related with both Web 1.0 and 2.0 features. This is a computer savvy generation and the BM, IPM, SIM, and PM, are all used effectively on the computer by many different teachers and students. Computers are a source of many different types and ways for learning, and with the great Web 2.0 features of this generation, students now have the ability to be more creative, stimulated, involved, and interactive with learning.
To diversify pedagogy to enhance my teaching with technology, both the IP and SI models are great ways to incorporate technology. WebQuests, Web Bits, and WIP are all great online tools to use with students. When I know and learn how to use these advances in my classroom, I have the ability for my students to work at higher levels and use different uses of the classroom environment to learn. It diversifies my pedagogy because when I involve technology; I am not boring my students with the everyday monotonous teaching to the text instruction. When students learn a different form and method of instruction, I am learning as well. As a result, we are learning as a class, together and are using social interaction, and cooperative learning skills; some that were never used or addressed before.