News from the Field...

Today we had the opportunity to hear from three current teachers, who are all trying to incorporate technology into their classrooms. It is great to hear about challenges and success that have occurred in the classroom. 
Ideas from this week:

• Classroom Blogs: Students love the chance to have this connection to the world, and have their blog viewed by anyone in the world. 
• Classroom Youtube Playlists: Students love being able to add videos to a playlist, and then have it shared during the class. 
• How to use the internet, without using the internet - Real life twitter, with dry erase markers. Twitter profiles for historical figures, just using powerpoint.
• Photo-editing a comic book of Shakespeare or literature.
• Create pinterest boards for characters.
• Remind 101: Text your students in a safe manner to keep them up to date on class news.
• Google Forms: Share what your students are doing to get positive feedback.

You have to prepared for the challenges technology brings, like students not knowing how to use the technology, or limited access to technology. As teachers we just have to do the best we can, trying to keep up and show our students how to use technology for more than just sharing crazy photos.

The Big Questions...

This has been a week of some challenging questions for all of us.

Question #1 - If your class can be recorded and then put online, why should anyone bother coming to class?

This question will pose a greater and greater challenge for teachers as time goes on. Students like the idea of using the internet, and in many cases would prefer just to learn in the comfort of their own home. So how do we, teachers, get students to come to class? As teachers, we need to make our classrooms positive and engaging places, no more just stand and deliver. We need projects and activities that will engage our students and that they actually find beneficial. Students are more likely to enjoy projects that engage more than one learning style, as well as allow them to engage in activities they enjoy like making videos, or blogging.

Question #2 - What questions must we ask differently in assessment?

Factual questions are still relevant, but of less importance now, since it is so easy to just Google an answer. Questions should challenge students to think beyond the material, looking for connections, real world applications or the big picture (how this fits with my life). This is a shift that has started in assessment, moving towards more authentic assessment, but we are still not there yet.

Question #3 - Do I have to keep this?

School work needs to have value in students' eyes if we want them to keep things. This might mean finding ways to have them share their work with more than just the teacher, so that they then feel a sense of "people are going to see this, so it should be great". There are several ways that this can be done, schools can set up a online display of student work that is accessible to members of the school community like a password protected page on the school website. Students can also be asked to make digital portfolios that they can use for their entire school career highlighting work and growth.

To wrap up another overly long blog post, teaching is a changing world, and we,teachers, have to keep up. Or we might just end up in front of an empty room.

The Connectivity of Education

Well, I was sitting this week trying to think of a topic and having a very hard time. Then I sat down to do my homework for another class, and I realized that the reading I had to do was all about topics that we were talking about in this class. 

In my textbook for teaching reading, thinking and study skills, there was a whole chapter dedicated to what they dubbed "new literacy" or "multimodal literacy." This literacy is all about being literate with more than just text. This might included images, video, audio and combinations of everything. This is directly tied to technology, as these are all methods that we encourage our students to use when they are working with technology. The text encouraged teachers to work with these ideas when they are teaching literacy, as students are using video, audio, etc. more and more when they are learning. 

The book also talked about how, thanks to technology, literacy is no longer a smooth linear activity. Instead online reading is now more like the winding path of the kid in the "Family Circus" comics. When reading online, you have the chance to follow links, skip sections, or only read the first page of something, without delving deeper. This changes how we understand reading entirely, and changes how reading should be taught. We need to focus on helping students navigate this technology rich world, so that they can easily and efficiently learn and grow as students.

The chapter also looked at ways to incorporate technology into literacy instruction, something I found very interesting. One of my favorite activities was writing with hyperlinks. This would serve two purposes, first it will teach students how to create and use hyperlinks, allowing them to navigate online smoothly and effectively. Second, it can also provide scaffolding and support for students who need more than just the plain text in front of them. You could have students hyperlink definitions, maps, videos of experiments, articles or fun things like music. Another activity that is suggested is one that we have put into practice in this class, creating a wiki on a topic. This is a good way to create a permanent resource, and encourage students to work collectively, without having all the time dedicated to group research and presentations. Students can be encouraged to work exclusively online, communicating through the wiki and working when they have the time. 

Overall, the connections found in all topics in education amaze me. Everything from one area is relevant in all other areas, something we as teachers need to recognize and use. We are not just teaching in our little math bubble or science bubble, we are teaching in the greater world, where anything is possible.

Starting anew...

Well, this is a second start, since I am now in a second course that focuses on using technology in the classroom. This time, it is Internet for Educators, which will be focusing on all the ways that teachers can positively use the internet in their classroom, beyond just sending an e-mail.

Just to introduce myself once again, I am a university student, in the final year of my education degree, who is not super competent with computers.
We are starting off simple, getting back into blogging and getting on Twitter. I have decided in all my wisdom to also start a personal blog, just to discuss things that I find interesting or fun, like DIY, writing, books and more, as things come up. That blog can be found at daytwo2day.blogspot.com, so if you are interested you can read that one too.

I am looking forward to learning more about things like on-line courses, connecting with educators around the world, and reading what my peers believe about technology in the classroom. I can't wait to start creative and innovative projects, that will likely become a part of my classroom. I am also a little scared of what I will do, and most likely mess up, but isn't that the point of school, to learn?

Overall, I am just really excited to keep learning about technology, and expanding my abilities as a teacher. I feel that technology is a crucial part of our world, as it is all around us, in every part of our lives, so if we ignore it we will be lost. And this class is my effort to at least find a map.

All's well that ends well...

...my class as come to an end, so this is my last blog for a while. There are just a few things to say, to wrap up this course and this blog for now. For starters, one of the main things I need to say, is that I was very technology scared at first, since I am not the most technology savvy person. After taking this class, I have learned to appreciate technology, since I learned so many different ways to use it in daily life in the classroom. Technology can be used by the teacher to simplify things, like bookmarking websites that simplify things, or mind-mapping websites, that can serve to create plans and outline. Students can also use technology to simplify their lives, by using things like video editing programs, different ways of sharing documents, or using different programs to create things like word clouds and mind maps, to plan essays and projects. Teachers also have to make sure that they know how to use the technology they are using in the classroom, since not being able to use technology properly will cause students to lose faith in you.
As responsible teachers, we also have to take the time to teach students how to use technology properly, which includes digital citizenship and how to use the technology itself. This means that teacher have to plan lessons that go beyond just the basic course curriculum, it has to look at things like digital citizenship, respectful use of technology, both in posting and using material and protecting themselves online, both from things like viruses and cyber-bullying. Students also need to be taught how to use different pieces of technology, it cannot just be assumed that they know how to use all the different pieces of technology. This means looking at what technology is available to you in the classroom, that your students can use, and practicing with it, so you can explain any issues that may arise when students are using it.
Teachers also have to be prepared to keep up with the times, so that we are aware of what types of technology is available to students, so that we can at least discuss it with them proper use of what is available, or being responsible with their technology and their time. We also have to keep up in order to stay relevant; students don't like teachers who are stuck in the stone ages, showing films strips when a DVD would work just as well. This does not me that teachers have to go out and buy every new piece of technology that comes out, we just have to be aware of it, so that we are actually current and relevant to our students.
To conclude, technology has become an integral part of the classroom and daily life, so teachers cannot just ignore it, instead we need to use it, since it can help up in many ways, simplifying our lives.

Discover the Joys

of Pinterest. This past week in class, I was a part of a group project on how teachers can use pinterest, both in their classroom and for ideas, and I must say it really opened my eyes to all that pinterest can do. Before this project, I really didn't have a pinterest account and I did not have a clue how to use it. I mean I had heard of it, and I kinda was interested in it, since one of my friends is pinterest obsessed and posts a ton of things to Facebook.
So I decided to join pinterest, and now it has become an obsession of mine too. There are just so many great ideas posted on pinterest, that as a future teacher, I can literally spend hours on it looking at all the ideas. There are some really awesome looking science boards on it, since they show you how to walk on eggs (without breaking them), grow all kinds of crystals and a ton of other really awesome ideas. I also found great games and ideas for social studies, like an Underground Railroad game and a "Guess Who" game of famous historical figures. There are also pictures and maps available on pinterest, so you can show your class photos of Egypt, if that is what you are talking about in class. There are also all kinds of recipes, so in social studies class you could analyze the recipes, discussing why certain ingredients are used in some areas of the world, but not in others. There are also ideas for math class, which I really love, since math can be a hard subject to try and make "fun". There is an awesome diagram of a math dance that students can do, to help them remember the proper shapes of graphs that they learn in high school or other ideas like stacking shapes, to get students involved. Through the project I also found other ideas, like using plastic single use plates as whiteboards for students, and creating a no-name hanger for student work. Pinterest has some many ideas, if you are willing to look. Too often, it is assumed that pinterest is just for females, since there are a lot of craft ideas, but there are some many more things on it. Everyone could find something they are interested in, if they are willing to look.
Pinterest can also serve as a way for teachers to recharge their batteries, since there are things for pretty much every hobby or interest on it. This is crucial for teachers, since we need to have a way to get back our energy and our enthusiasm, by having time to ourselves.
One more thing in the video front. We successfully made a video, but it was not without complications, mostly one the audio front. This is something else to consider when working with technology, do you have a way to save the day, when things should have gone perfectly, but you discover, after 90% of your time is gone, that one silly, but crucial thing has not worked. In our case, we had enough footage to use, without having to worry about the clips that did not have any audio, but what if we hadn't, what could we have done?

Uh-oh, What Now?

This past week in class, we were making videos for a class project, or in the case of my group, we were trying to make a video. For some reason, despite all of our best laid plans, things did not work for us. Therefore we are having to make our video this week, when everyone else will be done theirs. This leads to an important issue that every teacher will face in their class, what do you do when things are not working, either with technology in general, or a specific group of students wanting to use a specific piece of technology.
In our case, we just talked to our instructor and he gave us permission to work on our video after everyone else will be done theirs. This won't always work for people though, if they are counting on a piece of technology for in class use. There are ways around this though. The first thing to do is arrive at class early, so that you can make sure that you have time to set up your technology and test it out. This is particularly important if you are not in your own classroom, or if you are in a new school, where you might not know how things are set up. If this works, then you are golden, your technology is all working and you should not have any problems. If this does not work, then you need to have a back-up plan. This might mean knowing how to find the video you want through a search engine, or having your presentation saved to a USB, as well as having it saved in a file sharing program. Make sure you know how your back-up works, by having used it at home, in a controlled environment, where you have the opportunity to work out any kinks in the system. If this does not work, then you need to make sure you know how to contact someone who understands the IT set up for the school. This might be the computers teacher, or someone from the IT department for the division. Before you find yourself getting any more panicked and frustrated, call them, since they will most likely be able to solve any issues you might be having. Be prepared to follow their instructions, or to wait for them to come and help you, they are busy to, but they are their to help.
Some other things that might help to avoid this situation, is to talk to people in advance of your technology needs.This might mean setting up a time with an IT person to get lessons on how to use a specific piece of technology, or it might mean just asking the office for the WiFi password, so that you don't have to try and find it for half an hour. Teachers also need to pay attention to technology, so they know what is out there. By knowing what is available, teachers will be able to use technology in the classroom that students might not expect, and hopefully that will mean that they are then paying attention (to both the technology and the information being presented).
Overall, teachers just need to be prepared when they are using technology, as with technology Murphy's Law tends to come into effect, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.