Professional Development in Technology Integration

I chose to follow Kelly Tenkely, who, I learned, has started her own school and also created the Learning Genome Project. After watching some videos about her school and about her project it is clear that she is an educator that is all about the students. The Learning Genome Project is actually a “hub” that will allow teachers to personalize for each and everyone of their students. I watched her entire video about this project and it sounds incredibly interesting, but it sounds like the actual program is still in the works. I am definitely interested to see how it turns out for teachers and students. I think it could be a very powerful tool, but like many things I think I might sound good in theory, but very hard to actually initiate. On top of everything she has going on it surprises me that she even has time to post on her blog, but I’m glad she does. Although some of the apps and websites that she posts are gear more toward younger students, I still found them interesting and helpful in many ways. It was helpful because she still chose apps that focused on different learning styles and multiple intelligences, and just by demonstrating that she gave me ideas of how I can integrate apps and websites into the classroom. What I like most about her blog entries is that she not only gives you a description of the app or website, but also how you can integrate it into your classroom. I also really enjoyed how she took current movies, and social media and related it back to education, or to her students’ lives. For example, she took some of her students to Big Hero 6 and then was able to write about what the movie taught her about education. The best part was that one of her students actually recognized it, too. However, not all of her posts were about app or websites she also talks a lot about what she is doing in her school. In one post she discusses how every year they sit down and create learning profiles for each student. After following Kelly for a little while now I am truly inspired by what she is doing, and she is somebody that I definitely plan to keep following.

Fires Final Reflection

I really enjoyed Fire in the Bathroom as a text for this class. In many ways it was helpful and even provided me with insight into some of my former classmates’ lives in high school. I gained a lot of ideas and tips that I plan on holding onto for when I become a teacher. Probably one of my favorite ideas that I gained from this book was the journals. This seems like something very small, but ever since I read that idea in this book I have wanted to incorporate it into every lesson. The thing I enjoyed most about this text is that it involved real stories and quotes from real students. Hearing some of the things they had to say about what they want from teachers and what they’ve actually experienced shocked me. I think the biggest thing that I’ve gained from this text that I could see myself growing with in my field experience was not assuming what abilities my students did and didn’t have. I knew that all of my students were capable of doing what I was asking, but I also knew that they were going to have questions. It took patience sometimes, but I took the time to answer every single one of their questions. The only thing that I would’ve changed about using this text was how we reflected on it. I commented on this in my Digital Text post, but I would have benefitted more from more class discussions or activities based on our readings. Other than that, I had a very positive experience reading this text for class.

Show and Tell

One of the running themes throughout this book has been using technology to allow parents and the community to see what students are doing in schools as well. What I learned from this chapter is that students are never too old to do “show and tell,” and it’s not only important for students to show off their work and success to their classmates, but also their parents and community. I also learned that the best way to do this is to have websites and blogs that parents can access, and there are many resources that you can use to do this. This chapter mentioned Wikispaces, Googlesites, Facebook, or “digital open houses.” I personally found Googlesites difficult to use when I used it, so I would most likely use Wikispaces in my classroom. I feel that Wikispaces is great because of the way that you can create different templates for different assignments and artifacts, and I think that it will be easier for my students to use. This chapter talked about using Facebook, and although Fryer discussed how you could control the restrictions on Facebook, I just think that it could all be avoided by using another website that will work just as well. I also liked the idea of having a digital open house. My school did a similar thing with art every winter at our middle school. I think those kinds of open houses are great, because not only do students get a chance to show off what they’re doing, but it gives the parents and community members a chance to see what’s going on. Not that parents and community members wouldn’t have access to the sites that my students create, but I will be there to facilitate any questions and concerns, and it’ll be a more sociable way of getting to show off what my students have been doing.

Digital Text

I enjoyed the blogging process during practicum, I had never used Wikispaces or Blogger before so it gave me a whole new experience. However, there are a few things that I would change about it. I felt as though we did the blogging only as a way of submitting it. I wish we had more discussions in class about our posts on our blogs and about what we read or did for the blog. I also wish we had the chance to look at our classmates’ blogs. One thing that another professor of mine did was have us comment on at least one other person’s post. That way we got the chance to look at how our classmates analyzed the same text that we read, or what they found when they did the same activity as we did. I checked out three different links from this chapter, two were blog websites, Wordpress and Kidblog and the other was a Wikispace that a kindergarten teacher created. I tried to look at Posterous, but it was shut down, which I was really sad about since Wes Fryer spoke so highly about it. Instead, I looked at Wordpress, and Kidblog and I read a little bit about them on their websites. I definitely see myself having a class website in my classroom because I think it’s important for students to have connect with myself and each other inside and outside of school. I would use Wordpress or Kidblog, however I am leaning more toward Kidblogs only because it allows the teacher to be the Admin and delete any inappropriate posts made by their students. The Wikispaces link I looked at was such a great website for students. It was easy to use, and it had so many resources on it. I liked how she had the Glogster poster on the front page. It makes her page very visually appealing and very simple to navigate right off the bat.

Audio

For my three links I took a look at StoryCorps, Rock Your World, and audioBoom. Both StoryCorps and audioBoom were very similar. They were sites that had many audio recordings available from real people, which I really enjoyed. I even found a BBC recording on Black History, which is essentially want my unit for Dr. Grace is on. So, if I were to actually teach this unit I could potentially use these two websites as resources for my students. The only thing that was a little bit different about audioBoom was that you are able to record your own audio recording through their website. Not only is it an online resource for information, but also an online resource for creating your own audio recordings. The last link I explored was Rock Your World, which is a website run by an elementary school teacher. What her class does is send video chats all around the world of different musical recordings and voice records to students in the other countries to respond to. By the time that the recordings come back there are all kinds of instruments involved, and they essentially have a song. Part of this project is also having the students do live video chats with those students from the other countries, where they discuss various topics that are related to their curriculum. I think that this project sounds super interesting, and like it’s a great hands on learning experience for students. I wouldn’t exactly do this project the same way this teacher did because I will be working with older students, but I think it would be a great experience for my students to learn about other cultures through a project like this.

Images

I felt that I already knew a lot of the things that Fryer went over in this chapter, and I realize that could be because it was written a few years ago and a lot has changed since then. However, I still feel like I gained a few things from this chapter. Although I already use apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on a daily basis, I never really thought about using it in my classroom. I liked Fryer’s idea about the 365 or 180 projects. I learned that social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or forms of them, could be useful and educational in situations like this. I also had never heard of VoiceThread and I definitely think that will be a great tool for me and my students. A product like this would be very visually appealing for visual learners, but also appealing to auditory learners as well. The last thing that I gained from this chapter was more information and more resources for finding and citing photos that are under creative commons. I found myself struggling to find pictures for my student sample, classroom management textbook, and mini student sample that were under creative commons. So, I definitely gained a lot from going, using, and looking through those different image resources that were given. Specifically, I looked at the Behold website and I liked that, however it isn’t really cut out for my content area. I tried to look up “civil rights”, which is what my unit is on, but nothing came up. I feel like that would be my only hesitation about using sources like these. I also looked up the Skitch program and downloaded it to my computer so that I could play around with it. I also think that this would definitely be a program that I use with my students. They would be able to upload a reading I gave them, highlight it and annotate it on their computer using this program. I think it is another great opportunity for students to do something hands on and interact with technology.

Diversity Conference

Before this conference I was actually already thinking about becoming an ELL teacher. For me, this conference only made me want to do it more. I really enjoyed how the panel answered questions, and how they would bounce ideas and answers off of one another. However, I wish we had gotten to ask our own questions instead of them answering questions that were already prepared. Nonetheless, I did learn a lot from this conference that will be useful even in a general education classroom.

For the most part a lot of what they had to say seemed the common sense. For example, they said you should understand where your kids came from, you should use a lot of visuals, they’re going to meet standards in different ways, etc. What I really found interesting was when they mentioned that if those students don’t know how to act socially they’re probably not going to thrive academically. If you think about this it makes complete sense because if they’re cut off socially they’re going to have a hard time even asking the teacher a question in class. A couple of things that I enjoyed most about the conversation was when they talked about parent meetings and resources for the classroom. The conversation about parents was interesting because, even more so than other students, you need to have good communication with ELL students’ parents. It was great to hear about how some of those parent meeting go, and it was really interesting to even hear the administration side of things. Lastly, I enjoyed hearing about the different resources for the classroom because they can be used in both an ELL classroom and a general education classroom. I made sure to make note of all of them because I’m always looking for new ideas now.

Fires Chapter 10

Chapter 10 talks about bringing your curriculum outside of the classroom. I liked two things in particular about this chapter, and the first was Vance’s quote on page 179 about how his internship gave him a better toward school and homework. The second was the section about teachers needing to recognize students own learning. In this section, on page 180, Alexis expresses her love for reading, knowing interesting facts, and learning sign language.

I like these two sections because they show great examples of using outside interests to establish interest in school. I think it was important that Vance finally saw the connection, that in order to succeed and get a job in the future he had to apply the skills he learned at his internship to school. Also, if a teacher were to know the skills and interests of students like Vance and Alexis they could easily apply it to their classroom to make it more interesting for them.

Fires Chapter 9

Chapter 9 discussed what goes wrong in schools in general, and what teachers can do to help. In schools, not only can the students get discouraged, but so can the teachers. In one quote, from page 168, Mika stated that “teachers need to get a harder shell. After that, students won’t see that you’re scared.” Building upon that, on the same page Vance said, “We’re like dogs, we can sense fear and sniff it out.” One last quote that I feel sums up this chapter came from Montoya on page 171, where she says, “Think about the kids: We need you, we want to get out of school and become someone.”

The first two quotes I mentioned from 168 made me think of my dad because I feel as though that is what he lives by. My dad is an Ed. Tech and I constantly hear stories about kids that swear at him and call him names, and he just lets it roll of his back. You have to because most of the time they don’t really mean it, you just can’t take it to heart. The second quote kind of made me laugh, but at the same time I knew it was true. Kids know whether or not you’re going to stick to your word, and if you don’t they’re going to take advantage of you. The last quote just sums up the chapter as a whole, as well as teaching in general. Teaching is all about the kids you want them to be successful, and deep down they want to be too.

Fires Chapter 8

Chapter 8 was all about teaching English Language Learners. On page 149, I liked the idea that Elaine had of having buddies for English Language Learners. However, I also appreciated the several quotes from students on page 150, who had teachers that underestimated the abilities they already had. Lastly, I shocked by the quote from Murilo on page 155, where he described how he got a suspension because of several he did not attend because he didn’t understand what they were.

I liked the idea of having buddies for English Language Learners because they need to interact with students other than fellow English Language Learners. If you allow them to separate themselves they will miss out on important skills and experiences. I was a little disappointed in hearing about how teachers were treating English Language Learners in their classroom. From the sounds of it they are clearly making assumptions about their abilities, which can not only damage their learning process, but also their self confidence. I was also completely horrified by Murilo’s story on page 155, and to say I was horrified is a little bit of an understatement. I think that it was terrible that nobody explain these punishments to him in the first place, but then to suspend him just crosses a line for me. They most definitely should have made sure that he understood his punishments before they moved on to more severe ones.

Fires Chapter 7

Chapter 7 was about how teachers should and shouldn’t go about teaching difficult material. I thought that some of the students had some great ideas for activities. For example, one of the students, on page 140, suggested that when dealing with a difficult book that the teacher have them give an assignment to change the book. She suggested that they be asked to create a spin off, or create a new ending to the book. Most of these students also have a great understanding of learning styles. For example, on page 129, Mahogany talked about how every student is a different learner, and she likes activities because they help all students understand.

Throughout this book and this chapter in particular I have really enjoyed the students’ ideas. It is very interesting to see how they so clearly understand how they learn, and exactly what they want from a teacher. Seeing the quote from page 129 was a little surprising to me because this student had such a great understand of how activities can help all kinds of students. It was just amazing to me that she had that awareness as a student herself. Looking back to my time in high school I feel as though I was not particularly concerned about any other learner other than myself.

Fires Chapter 6

Chapter 6 focuses on what happens when your kids are unmotivated to learn and bored with the subject. One quote that I found that I feel sums what it feels like for kids who are unmotivated and bored with what their learning was on page 100. Hilary said, “I felt like school was keeping me from learning.” On the other hand, some student don’t necessarily need to be motivated to know school is important, one student said “If you want to stay in your realm, you can’t blame the man if you don’t get ahead. The opportunities are there (101).” A lot of kids also make assumptions about what the goal of school is. On page 103, in their opinion of why they have to attend school a student said, “So what they tell you will become part of what you’re thinking.”

I found all of these quotes pretty surprising, but interesting at the same time. The first quote from page 100 just makes me feel a bit disappointed because as teachers we are suppose to be teaching kids, and teaching them stuff that they’re interested in. If they’re not interested in it, it’s your job to make it interesting for them. The quote on 101 is kind of on the other side of the spectrum from the first, but equally interesting. I feel that I have always been the kind of student that didn’t necessarily need motivation to know that school was important, so I can relate to that. However, I think it is still important to make sure that you're making the content interesting for those students as well. The last quote, on page 103, really shocked me. To an extent I believe we want to influence how students think about learning and possibly life, but this student almost makes it sound like school is trying to brainwash students.

Fires Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is about how teachers should help students in group situations. There were a few things in this chapter that I really liked, and some things that I really did not. To start off with, I really did not like the quotes from Vance and Lauraliz on page 88, where they described experiences where teachers did not take their work or questions seriously. What I did like was the quote from Montoya on page 89, where she suggests that if a teacher sees that a person, who is usually quiet in class, raise their hand they should make a point to call on them. The other two things I like were also quotes from students from page 97. One student said, “One job of a teacher is to be fair to all,” and the other said, “You need to know, not to lower your expectations but to be realistic.”

I didn’t like the first two quotes from page 88 because they actually really upset me. If a student has mustered up the confidence to ask you a questions, or worked extraordinarily hard on a project that interests them disregarding them is completely unacceptable. I liked the last three quotes because I felt that they are all important things for teachers to be aware of. Call on that student if he has his hand up, especially if he is not one to raise his hand often. Also, your job as a teacher is to be fair to all, but at the same time not lower your expectations. All students should be held to the same expectations, but if they need modifications that is okay.

Fires Chapter 4

Chapter 4 was about how you can help your students succeed in your classroom. A major part of that is just believing in your students in the first place. If you don’t, like Porsche says on page 63, you send the message that you don’t really care if they come to school or not. To succeed students also need to participate in class, and sometimes that can be a nerve racking thing for many students. As Mika says on page 71, before his teacher taught him the skills he needed to participate in class he struggled with participation. Grades are also a tricky thing when it comes to student success. For example, on page 78, Porsche talks about what it feels like to get a bad grade, she says, “You feel like you’re doing all that hard work for nothing.”

All of these things stood out to me in this chapter because I have had experience with them myself, and can clearly see how it could have an affect on a student’s success. I can understand if a student doesn’t have a teacher that they know believes in them that they may not see the point in coming to school in the first place, let alone attempt the work. I also know what it’s like to be too afraid or unprepared to share my thoughts in class. It is stressful. Not only do you not want to be made fun of, but you don’t want to let down your teacher. I also know what it’s like to feel like I've worked my fingers to the bone for a particular class, and still come up a little short. It’s incredibly frustrating, but I have to say that I always knew that at least I put all that I could into it, and that made me feel better.

Fires Chapter 3

I took two major lessons from this chapter, and one came from a quote from a student named Maribel. At the very beginning of the chapter, on page 36, Maribel expressed how uncomfortable it makes her to be in a classroom where students are misbehaving, and where it seems that the teacher has lost all control. The other lesson was toward the middle of the chapter, on page 44, when the author suggests that we should look at students as partners in the learning process.

I felt that these two things were important because the first I have experienced myself in schools, and the second I wish I had seen more of. I was always that student that tried to make sure that everybody was doing what they should be doing. It is extremely uncomfortable because you feel bad for the teacher, and when the teacher gets upset with the whole class for their behavior you feel responsible for it somehow. The important lesson that you should take away from this is that you need to create a comfortable and controlled environment for everyone, so you’re not leaving it to your students to feel responsible for other people’s behavior. I felt the second was important because if you have a student who has behavior problems it doesn’t necessarily mean its all their fault. That's where the teamwork comes in, to figure out what is going on and work together to create a plan.

Inspiration

The first teaching idea that I found was the cause and effects lesson plan. The idea behind this lesson is that students will analyze the causes and effects of historical events. Cause and effect is a concept that is very prevalent in history, but I feel it is often looked over because most students are just interested in the different battles. I believe that being able to break it down this way will help students organize it and understand it better in a fun way. This is definitely a lesson that I would use in my classroom because I believe that it would be effective, fun, and target multiple intelligences.

The second teaching idea that I found was the analyzing primary sources lesson plan. The idea behind this lesson is that students will be able to break down and analyze primary sources to understand different perspectives. In high school primary sources were something I struggled with a lot, and my teacher never really developed a way to present it to us, or get us to apply it differently that could help us. This is definitely a lesson that I would use in my classroom because primary sources are really hard to decipher sometimes, and I think that breaking down the information like this will benefit students a lot. It will also tap into a lot of different intelligences such as, verbal, logical, and spatial. I feel that both of the plans that I looked at would fall under the modification level on the SAMR model, especially if all of the features of inspiration are put to use in each lesson. What is special about those features is that you can transfer from one to the other with ease, and before you know you don’t just have a graphic organizer, but an entire presentation on that information. You could not do that without this technology.

Wes Fryer Chapter 6

Chapter 6 provided some really helpful examples, and advice for video usage in the classroom. One of the links that I explored was the link that explained the guidelines of downloading Youtube videos. This took me to the appendix of Fryer’s book where he himself explains the guidelines. I learned that it is prohibited to download any videos off of Youtube without prior permission. However, in some situations for teachers downloading Youtube videos to show to their students, it may be covered under the fair usage provisions. This could be helpful in my unit to bring the technology usage to a redefinition level. Students could embed videos into their Prezi, or iBooks that they will create. The next link that I clicked on was Kahn Academy link. I have heard of Kahn Academy, and have used it a few times, but I was unaware that it covered subjects other than math. I started to watch one of the history screencasts, and it was great. It had visuals, it was auditory, and it even had captions. This could be a great tailor for students who need it, and it could also be used by a student when they are absent if the video covers what we covered in class. Another link that I looked at was SchoolTube which is a site like Youtube, but for educational purposes only. I think that websites like these are a great idea, they filter out unwanted videos, and allow students to view other students work. It would also allow them to share their own work with other students’, which I feel is really powerful. In my unit students could be asked to upload their video project to this website so that they can get feedback from students all over the country. This would bring the usage of technology in that lesson to a redefinition level on the SAMR model. The last link that I clicked on was the using Storykit, Storyrobe, and Sonic Pics on your iOS device link. This was a video of Wes Fryer giving a brief overview of how each app works. I think these apps would be useful in the classroom because they are easy to use, and it would give me an excuse to let students use their phones in class for an educational reason. Students could use these apps to make their newscast for my unit instead of using podcast. That way they would get a chance to incorporate pictures like an actual newscast.

Copyright and Fair Use

I chose to read The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use, and take the quiz from the Illinois Community College Board. This article explained copyright and fair use in the classroom, and gave a corresponding quiz at the end to test your understanding based on what you had just read.

The first two quiz items I want to talk about are quiz numbers two and three. Two states it is a violation of copyright law for a technology coordinator to distribute a program through the school’s server. This is false that it is legal for the technology coordinator to do this, however quiz item number three says it is not okay to install a newer version of a program on all computers in the school when they only bought five copies. My question would be is what is the difference here? How come it is okay for the coordinator to distribute a program through the server, but not okay for the teacher in question three to distribute it one computer at a time? Similar to these two quiz item is quiz item number 5, the item states that it is fair use for the teacher to make several copies of a software so that all students may have access to it. The correct answer to this would be False, because “the number of students who can use a software program simultaneously is restricted to the number of copies the school owns.” If we look back to number two, the technology coordinator only had one copy, but he was able to distribute it through the school’s server. The first question that comes to mind is, how does the guy with one copy get to distribute it to more people than the guy with what sounds like more than one copy?

The next two questions I found to be a little bit contradictory were quiz items six and seven. Item six states that it is fair use for a teacher to download pictures and info on marine bio and place them in a folder for her students to look at. The answer to this is true, however you cannot repost it back to the internet without the source's permission. Item seven states it is okay for teachers to post student work on a private website, even if they used copyrighted material without permission. The answer to this is true, because the website would be private. However, I feel that nothing is truly private on the internet anymore. What if somebody cracks your password and it becomes public because they share your password online? You are then responsible for sharing copyrighted material without permission on the web. The last item that I would like to talk about is quiz item number eleven. It stated that it is fair use for a teacher to video tape an old TV show so that students may edit themselves in to make a parody of it. I answered false to this question because in my opinion it didn’t sound right that students should be able to take original clips of a show, add themselves into it, and then pass it off as their own creation. I felt this way because you would still technically have parts from the original show in your product. However, it turns out I was wrong and the correct answer was true, and I still don’t completely understand why. Overall, I found that some of the answers were contradictory, which was frustrating. It seemed like it was the slightest differences that were taking a fair use situation to a non fair use situation.

As I’ve come to find out this is a very complex thing, I feel as though one little thing could influence whether it is fair use or not. For me as a teacher it will mean that I will just have to be that much more careful when it comes to using copyrighted materials. If I get caught using sources that are not sited correctly I could end up in big trouble with my school, and I wouldn’t be setting a very good example for my students.

Wes Fryer Chapter 4

In chapter four of Wes Fryer’s Playing With Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing, he introduces four major types of media. He used the acronym Harry Potter Can Fly, and the H stands for homegrown, P stands for public domain, C stands for creative commons, and F stands for fair use.

Essentially what I gained from this chapter are ways of legally using media and other information I find. I learned that when using my own “homegrown media” I can decide how I want to use it, and if I want to allow others to use it. I now understand that anything in the public domain can be used in any way without permission. Fair use was something new to me as well, and I actually found it to be a confusing concept for some reason. Lastly, before reading this chapter I was unaware that wikipedia actually tells you the copyright a photograph on their page is under. I feel that this makes wikipedia very helpful, and an excellent source for photos.

I hope that by the time I actually have my own classroom I will have a much better understanding of these rules. I feel that this was a really quick overview of a rather intricate concept. Having a better understanding of these concepts will allow me to help my student when it comes determining useable sources. Most of all, like I said in my other fair use entry, I feel that it is important for me to be aware of copyright and fair use regulations, so that I can set a good example for my students when it comes to appropriately using sources. If I fail to do so I could end up getting in trouble myself, and my students may think that it is okay to use any source without permission.

Wes Fryer Chapter 1

I found this chapter a little bit hard to follow, because it was hard for me at times to follow his thought process, especially in the beginning. However, I was able to gain some insight from this chapter. I totally agree that some teachers use the excuse of being a “digital immigrant” to not use technology in their classroom. They aren’t comfortable with it, so they avoid it at all costs. I also think that many teachers don’t like technology, and are scared of how fast it is rapidly growing, and they use that as an excuse to not use it. However, what I think these teachers don’t understand, or don’t want to accept is that technology can help students do some amazing things. It is such a powerful learning tool, and it’s okay if you’re not comfortable with it, you will learn along with your students. I agree with Fryer’s argument that visual literacy is important, I believe that giving our students this skill will help them learn better. In my personal experience I have never been one that is able to read too much into photos, and I wish I could. So I think that teaching our students visual literacy through technology will be important. Two other things I really like about this chapter and agreed with were the sections about cell phones as a useful tool, and creativity being a product of technology use. In this day and age almost every high school student has a cell phone, and most often it’s looked at as a distraction in the classroom. However, I believe that we could really make it a useful tool. Taking a student’s cell phone away is just going to make them not want to listen to what you’re trying to teach them. So why not find a way that you can incorporate cellphones in your classroom every once and awhile? I also agreed with Fryer on the fact that we need to play with different types of technology, because with technology and all of its possibilities we could create some great things. Lastly, out of this entire chapter there was only one thing that I did not agree with, and that was the idea of a digital portfolio. I think this would be a great idea if you had all of your students doing all of their work using technology. It’s not such a great idea, however, when it comes to including items that were not done using technology. I have heard of experiences with digital portfolios and it did not work well for the students at all.