Final Reflection

In this upcoming year I am very excited to implement the resources and new styles of teaching into my classroom. I am going to start the year off by informing the staff of the resource that I have learned such as digital games. I think many teachers will find these resources very helpful. I also plan on implementing digital portfolios to all high school students so that when they graduate they will have a great resource to share of their artwork. I would like to use the DI and UDL style of teaching by implementing more activities to reach the diverse learners. Now that I am educated in the world of technology I look forward to the upcoming school year.

New and Emerging Technologies

Here is the link for my presentation. I created an informational website.

http://integratingtechnology.yolasite.com

GAME plan Reflection

My GAME plan through out this course was to become more familiar with software and the resources that are available to the students as well as learn the rules for technology so that I am better able to help my students. In this course I was able to become a lot more familiar with the different resources that are available to the students as well as even getting some time playing with the software. Because of this experience and the learning the new technologies I will be able to improve y lessons for next year. I have made it my goal to get students on the computers at least once for every lesson and to have them create a digital portfolio.

Due to the summer time there has been no immediate adjustments to my instructional practice but I am very much looking forward to next year and the lessons that I have planned.

Revising Your GAME Plan

Now that the school year is over I have not been able to implement any of the new concepts that I have learned into my classroom. The last couple weeks of school were so busy that I was not even able to get into the computer lab due to finals and other teachers using the lab. I have some great ideas to work into my curriculum for next year. I plan on spending this summer developing my curriculum and working more technology into the each lesson. My goal for next year is to have one form of technology for the students to engage in with each lesson or project. For example in the previous class I took we made concept maps using webspiration. I loved this tool and can wait to use it with my students.

Evaluating GAME plan progress

So far in my GAME plan I have been spending a lot of my time researching different software, costs and the laws that go along with using the software and technology. This research has made me more overwhelmed than I was before. I now realize that there is a lot more that I need to learn than I had previously realized. Through this research I have learned more technology tools that I can use in my lessons, for example, webspiration. I still have a lot to learn about the software that I would like to use in my classroom, there are a lot of neat tools out there that I don't know yet. From now on I plan on limiting my research to topics that pertain to my classroom and my lessons.

Monitoring your GAME plan progress

I have started reading the laws that are related to technology and I have begun to realize that there is a lot to know. I get frustrated because I wonder how many of the laws we as teachers need to worry about. I think I will need to modify my GAME plan to limit it to a couple laws and focus on those laws so that I can become an expert on them and teach them to the students.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

My GAME plan is to learn more about the laws related to technology so that I can be a good role model to my students and teach them the proper laws. After searching the internet I came across a site the Federal Law technology that list a lot of laws related to technology. This site is http://www.thecre.com/fedlaw/legal8.htm. I would use this site to review the laws as well as share this with my students. The second part of my GAME plan is to become more familiar with the software that I use in my classroom so I am more capable of showing my students how to use the software. There is a lot of tutorial out on the internet that teach you how to use software. I would like to watch tutorials on Photoshop as well as Microsoft office.

To prepare for the GAME plan I have started by research where I can find the information that I need in order to improve my skills. Now I need to find the time to read through this information and put it to use.

Developing my GAME Plan

After reviewing the NETS-s I feel very comfortable with the standards. I feel as though I am qualified to teach students about technology and how to use technology to develop creativity. The first standard that I do not feel as comfortable with would be 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility, I do not know all of the proper laws about the internet and copy right. The second standard that I am not very comfortable with would be 3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning because I know there is still some software out there that my students know more about than me. I am continuously learning but it is hard to keep up on the changing digital community.

In order to make sure I feel more comfortable with these standards I will make sure that I am a life long learner. I will make sure that I never say "I don't want to learn how to do that" because that is not being a good role model for the students. I will also take the time to look up the copy right and internet laws so I can pass along the proper information to my students. It is important that we do not give our students false information.

Reflection - Information Literacy

This course was about teaching students about the 21st century skills that they will need in order to succeed in our growing world of technology. This course showed me why it is so important for our students to have these skills. Student are no longer relying on books to find their information, now they are relying on the internet. The internet is not always reliable therefore students must know how to differentiate. I am now more aware that I need to teach my students how to use the internet before we head to the computer lab. This is something that I have skipped in the past. In the future my goal is to spend more time exploring reliable websites and non-reliable websites with the students. I would like to show my students the non-reliable websites that we found in this course.

Reflection

I think that before this class started I was unaware of what my "Personal Learning Theory"was. I think that I just taught what I wanted to and how I felt. I never thought about what theory it fit into. After being able to explore all of the learning theories and how they apply to technology. What I realized the most through out the course is that there is no one theory that should be used in the classroom. If that were the case then do many students would be missing out on important information that they were not retaining.

An immediate change that I will be making to my classroom this year is to make sure that I am covering the information in multiple ways so that the students are getting the information in multiples ways. This will help them to retain the information and be able to apply it. A goal for future classes is to be aware of the strategies that I am using when I teach and make sutre that I am covering multiple strategies. I would also like to incorporate more technology into the classroom. I have discovered more about how useful it can be in helping the students learn the pertinent information.

Connectivism and Social Learning Theory in Practice

The social learning theory is a great theory. I think that by students working together and holding each other accountable they can learn a lot more and retain the information rather than listening to the teacher all of the time. By allowing the students to work together with less guidance form the teacher students learn through self discovery as well as from their peers. Sometimes their peers can put things in a context that is easier to understand.

Technology can be incorporated by allowing students to use blogs to communicate as well as a social networking site such as facebook. There are also a lot of other good resources out there that students can use to collaborate such as a Wiki or Google reader. The voice thread that we were asked to create this week would be great for students to use if you were in a classroom that had good computers and students were able to spend a lot of time on their work. THe truth is I don't think that applies to a lot of schools or classrooms. I think that the social theory works and can be used without technology, although technology is a very helpful tool.

Voice Thread

My Voice Thread...

http://voicethread.com/share/779519/

Constructivism in Practice

The constructivist theory is a very interesting theory. In college this was the only theory that we were taught, the college said that this is the only way teachers should be teaching. Well, as we all know there are many different ways of doing things. I think a great technology based project that utilizes the constructivist theory would be the virtual tour project that we just did. I would like to see students take a tour of a informational web site then construct a concept map diagramming what the web site has to offer. By doing this students are able to learn about the web site, technology as well as organize their thoughts into a visual model to help them remember the information.

Cognitivism in Practice

Cognitive learning theory is another theory that teachers should be using ideas from in their classrooms. The basic idea of cognitive learning theory is to gain the information, use the information then store the information into your long term memory. When students only hear or memorize information it is not being stored into their long term memory. I believe that a student should be presented with the information and in order to help remember it they should take notes, then they have something to refer back to. Next a student would organize the information into their own words. This can be done through concept mapping or putting together a presentation. After they have organized the information they need to reinforce it into their long term memory, this can be done through a presentation or a quiz over the information. The important thing to remember with this theory is that students need to use the information in multiple contexts so they are able to store the information ion different areas of the brain.

Behaviorism in Practice

The video by Dr. Orey brought up a great point that I had not yet thought of before; he says that technology is a great tool but if used in the wrong way it can be damaging to the students. In his example about how the low achieving students were being shown tutorials to improve their test score broke my heart. Luckily my school does not take it to that level. Technology is such a great tool and it needs to be used in the proper way. If a new tool is present the tool needs to be taught to the student as well as followed up with some activity to see if they understand the tool that was presented to them. I think the behaviorist theory is a great theory but I also think that it should not be the only tool used in the classroom. I do not think that any teacher lives by on theory and only uses that theory, if they did then their students are missing out on a lot of great things that education can give them.

A New Mind Set - Reflection

Because of this course I have been given the opportunity to learn new technological resources that I am able to share with my classroom. These resources will allow me to find new ways to keep the students interest in get in more involved in the classroom assignments. These resources along with new teaching strategies will allow me to make sure that I am teach to the 21st century learner.

My future goal are that I continue to educate myself on the resources that are available out there for myself and my students to use in order to become the best teacher that I can be. I also want to implement these resources into my classroom so that my students can continue to use these recourses in there future and understand how to use them. This course has helped me to curriculum and offer more knowledge in a different light to my students, I cant wait to see what the future brings.

Students and Technology Podcast

http://sheistand.podbean.com/

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

This a great website. In this website it discusses the importance of teaching our youth the skills needed for the 21st century. The things on the site that really surprised me were what big name supporters there were. These are large companies, such as Apple. I think this is great that companies get in involved and make sure our youth are up to date on their technology and communication skills.

The only thing that I found a little disturbing was the focus on the core subjects. I am an art teacher and the subjects that are not core, such as art are sometimes that classes that help students make connections. It is also a good place for students to learn the skills that the need to succeed, like communication. A lot of communication is done in art, whether it is verbal, written or visual.

On this website it is asking teacher to teach the students the 21st century skill using 21st century technology. The students need to understand these skills by the time they reach the college level where they have to put these skills to work.

Art Teaching in need of Technology update!

Hello, my name is Shileah and I am an art teacher in Kittitas, WA. I have been teaching for 3 years now and I love it. I am currently working on getting my Masters in Integrating Technology into the classroom so that I may further help my students. I love art but prefer photography and love to teach it to my students. With photography being all digital there is a lot of technology that I still need to know. I hope this master program will help.