Excel crossword puzzle

NETS 3. I used Microsoft excel to create an interactive digital crossword puzzle that provides hints and indication if the answer is right or wrong.  This will provide students with a way to interactively demonstrate their learning and give them a tool to find the answer.

Mind Mapping

NETS 2. I used bubbl.us to create a virtual mind map which connects my technology artifacts to the NETS standards that they meet and designed an assessment of how I am meeting the standards that I can share with students and parents.

Journal 6

Vaidyanathan, Sheena. "Fostering Creativity and Innovation Through Technology." Learning and Leading with Technology. 39. (2012): 24. http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20120304?pg=26&pm=2&fs=1

NET 1, NET 3, NET 5

Fostering Creativity and Innovation Through Technology analyzes the importance of incorporating right brained creativity into left brained STEM subjects mandated through schools.  With technology innovation being extremely prevalent in our society, it is becoming less and less possible for people to survive in the workforce with computational and other left brained skills alone.  In order for children to be successful, teachers and parents are realizing the need for digital design curriculum for students to learn how to utilize their creative skills to learn their stem subjects.  Digital design incorporates art into technology and requires a basic skill of math and engineering.  The concepts involved in making digital design projects require understanding of concepts such as 3D planes, lines, vectors, and other math concepts.  Concepts that many students may feel weary of can be managed through computer programs and digital design products.  Rather than asking students to simply model something that is already done for them, they can use their creativity to make it unique to the individual.

           
With increase use in technology comes the question of how will this be funded?  One great feature is that these programs, or at least modified versions of programs can be installed for fee.  This is beneficial in the fact that it can then be downloaded at home or in computer labs so students can even utilize these programs in their free time as long as they have access to a computer.  Some schools have even seen such enthusiasm from students and teachers by these programs that they offer donations.  While many homes and most schools have access to computer labs, incorporating digital design programs into schools is an attainable idea.

Why is incorporating digital design important for students futures?

Students will be learning the skills needed for their future in the work world.   Students who do not want to, or o not have the ability to directly utilize core subjects for future careers can build skills that can get them jobs in companies that utilize, market, or produce digital media.  Students who are naturally creative may find a unique interest in digital design and can use their artistic skills in these companies as well.  Even those students who find comfort in utilizing their left brain can push themselves to utilize their right brain and compete in the ever growing digital world.

How will I get young elementary students involved in digital design?

As a future elementary school teacher, I can expect that most schools will not offer specific courses at that level for students involving digital design.  I can prepare my students for this possibility in later years and foster a desire to use digital technology and gain experience on their own.  One way to do so is to urge students to engage in digital design in their free time.  Students may realize that they have a talent or ability that they may not realize if they don't give digital design a chance.  The article talks about students that spent their time at a sleepover creating a video game, something a teacher would not imagine.  If students are introduced to these programs in the classroom, they might then decide to engage in this in their own time and discover and learn new things that they can use in the future.  I will try to incorporate a little bit of digital design into a few classroom projects so that students can be exposed to programs. 

Journal 9

Pape, Liz, Tracy Sheehan, and Colleen Worell. "How to do More With Less Lessons From Online Learning." Learning and Leading With Technology. 39. (2012): 18-24. http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20120304?pg=20&pm=2&fs=1

NET 2 and NET 3

How to do More with Less addresses a growing concern in our school; increasing standards of parents and government, all the while resources and funds are dwindling.  Teachers struggle with meeting the needs of a society deep in digital age technology while still meeting the core standard requirement.  The obvious solution is to utilize free programs on the web that allow a tremendous amount of creativity and meets the needs of individual styles of learning, all while being used to demonstrate core knowledge and skills.  As students begin to move through their academic careers, if we utilize these programs in learning, they will be better prepared to live in our digital world.  The article describes two types of new online learning classroom.  The blended classroom uses both face to face teaching as well as online practicing together.  In this type of classroom teachers can do their traditional classroom teaching, as well as allow students to use online programs in their own time to continue and utilize what they learned in the classroom.  This is done through online videos, slide shows, or websites that relay the information learned in class for students to review online.  Other uses are online assessments or discussion boards to be done outside of class when time is limited.  This format is utilized by many teachers here at Cal State San Marcos.  The other classroom is the flipped classroom where students actively learn in the classroom through engaging in discussions and activities, group projects, or lab activities. Students can use web tools such as blogs to share their ideas and work, Diigio too bookmark and define their resources, and Prezi to creatively present their learning utilizing videos and other webtools.

How do web tools benefit learning in other ways than getting students involved in the digital world?

Traditional learning is often done in a way that keeps students work between the individual student and teacher.  Through sharing information on the web, students get a chance to share their work with sense of security that a student does not have when standing in front of the classroom.  While it is important to still make students share face to face, the web allows all students to share all of their work without fear.  While the web can be a false sense of security when the right precautions are not taken, it can also serve as a sense of security for students so that they can build confidence in their skills.  By asking students to post blogs and comment on their peers, it allows students to get feedback without embarrassment.  I've participated in my own classroom discussion boards where I have seen myself and others  show confidence in their thoughts that is not exhibited in the classroom.

How can I utilize a blended classroom in the younger grades?

While it is somewhat desirable for older students to utilize things like classroom discussion boards and online exams to take less pressure off classroom time, it is important to take into consideration that many early students enjoy classroom activities and it may be difficult to get them to utilize their technological skills in this way in their free time.  This is where I would allow students to choose their own mode of online activity.  If a student chooses to take the route of online assessments and discussions it would be available, but students should also have the option of creating and utilizing their own web tool.  If the students project meets the requirements of the assignment, it should always be an option for students to utilize their individual learning styles and show their creativity.

Journal 8- Adaptive Technology

COMMUNICATION

Augmentative and Alternative Communication is all forms of communication excluding oral through which students express thoughts, wants, desires, and needs.  This is expressed through facial expression, gestures, writing, or using symbols.  When speech is not functional or fully functional students use AAC to replace or support communication.

No tech tool- Communication boards.

Communication boards can be created, used, and stored easily in the classroom without use of a power source.

Create- Buy a foam board that can be cut to desired size and used to mount symbols or pictures to be used to communicate.

Use- Use these boards in the classroom with students who are unable to communicate their ideas or feeling thoroughly.  Pictures can be generated on a computer that represents leisure and literacy activities that students can communicate.  Students can simply point to symbols or pictures to share what activities they completed that way.  These boards can be used for literacy by having a student complete a sentence started on another board using a different board.  Numbers can be used to solve math problems.

Storage- These boards can be made flat and of any size ranging from a single symbol to a piece of paper and can easily be stored in the classroom.

High tech tool-DeltaTalker

Can be used by beginner or skilled communicators.  This device is used to vocalize words for students who have difficulty speaking.  The students use this device to input two or more activations and the device with "say" the word that it recognizes from those activations.

This device can hold over 4,000 words and can be hooked up to a PC so that students can type words and the device can communicate the words through a voice system as well as communicate songs, noises, and words in other languages.  Common words only need two activations while other words need just a few more.

ACCESSIBILITY

An Input Device for students with special needs is a piece of computer equipment used to provide control signals for an information processing system.  For students with special needs such as motor or visual disabilities, alternate input devices can be necessary and useful.

Hardware option- A head mouse is a device that goes around a student’s head which tracks head movement in order to control and activate the computer.  This can be especially good for students with fine motor skill disabilities that keep them from performing tasks on the computer because they cannot properly use the hand mouse.

Software option- The Dragon voice recognition system allows students to have spoken words transcribed as written text , have written text synthesized as audio, or give commands using words that are recognized by the program.

Journal 7- PLN

 NETS 5. I created a network with those who share my interest of incorporating technology into teaching using my blog, TWitter, and Diigo.  Through this network I will contribute to the vitality effectiveness, and self renewal of the teaching profession and my school and community.

I have been learning and utilizing my PLN, or Personal Learning Network, throughout the semester to help me build my foundation as teacher. A PLN is a network used to gather and share new information so that we can learn with people around the world. My PLN consists of a Blog, my Twitter account, and my Diigio. My blog is my personal journal on the web that is centered around my goal of becoming a teacher and documents and shares the steps that I have made along the way. Through my blog I can share my learning experiences and utilize others blogs for my own learning. A Twitter account is a form of microblogging that I have used throughout the semester to share and learn from others with a more fast paced and "at your finger tips" tool. This tool allows me to quickly gain access to others interested in the same topics through typing subjects with hashtags and immediately gaining access to countless people interested in the same subject. This network allows us to share interesting links like videos, blogs, websites, and just about anything we can share with others on the topic. I utilize this tool to get access to what others share. My Diigio is a social networking account used to bookmark and make notes on different web pages that I may want to access in the future. Through this network I can also follow people much like on Twitter that may share the same interests as me and have constant access to the information they come across and share.

I participated in the #K12Media education chat through TweetChat. This tool allows participants to easily sign in through their Twitter account, and from there simply type the hashtag of the scheduled chat you want to participate in. It brings you immediately to the chat and you can join at any time during the scheduled interval. Participants just type their thread and press update to partake in this chat. I joined the chat on Monday April 2, 2012. The topic for discussion was a continuation of the previous weeks discussion on "The Hunger Games" and racism and sexism in schools, but participants were open to any topic. This particular chat is designed as a media chat for all grade levels, and topics are pretty much open regarding classroom issues. The chat consisted of mostly current k-12 teachers who shared issues such as students not wanting to learn about sexism and how to address this in the class. Teachers gave different scenarios they use in their classroom as well as tweeted links to useful articles to have students read on the subject as well as videos and articles about the issues of racism and sexism in the classroom. 

 I am following Brian on twitter because he tweets on all things education. His emphasis is on social media in the school, and tweets articles on both sides of the spectrum. He also shares information about anything interesting involving education. I am also following A. Mercer because she is an elementary teacher, my focus of interest, as well as a tech enthusiast and shares valuable information on incorporating technology into elementary teaching. I chose to follow Nancy Flanagan for her interest in education advocacy. As a future educator I want to be informed about what is going on with our government regarding our schools and I think this could be an interesting way to do so. I am following Shaun Upchurch, and equality advocate to compliment my culture and diversity in learning course. This semester I have been studying equality and am struggling with ideas as to how to ensure equality in innovative ways. I hope to learn new ideas from Shawn and benefit from his interests. I am following Tom Whitby, the founder of #Edchat so that I could follow other interesting resources he maintains such as his blog My Island View and shares valuable resources.

Diigio allows users to follow others that may share similar interests and therefore allows a network of research tools to be shared among the community. I am following Brenda Muench, an elementary school teacher and tech specialist. Glynda Plieger a technology in K through 12 advocate. Jeanne bp, a user interested in technology and the different tools to utilize in teaching. Nedra Isenberg, a 26 year veteran teacher who is trying to keep up with the changing technology in school, which is something all teachers should concentrate on. I tagged three additional resources in my Diigio. The Wiki Walkthrough is a how to website that I can access as a guide to how to use Wikis throughout my teaching career. Presentations and Thoughts is a source I can go to if I need ideas and examples for presentations. There is a page on my blog that contains my Diigio tagroll that I've been using throughout the semester to have the resources that I continuously acquire in a quick and accessible place. The Tech Saavy Educator as a resource for integrating technology into the classroom categorized into different subjects.

After navigating through the Classroom2.0 website, I came across a blog post Small Changes: Big returns. This post comes from a 30 year veteran teacher in Canada who is developing a math course for students in an unfamiliar country. This endeavor has forced this veteran to seek out teaching skills that will help her convince students on the verge of giving up on math or dropping out, how to be successful math students. She shares important insight from Ben Chun, a teacher and blogger who believes that making errors is the key to success, and that we must allow students to be comfortable with making mistakes so long as they make the effort to learn from these mistakes and fix them. He also firmly believes that we cannot just tell students that they must learn math because it will benefit in the future, but that it must be an intrinsic interest or relate issues in their everyday life. These are key issues for teachers to understand and apply to teaching. If we allow for student errors and use them as a tool for teaching, I think we can take away some of the fear of learning that can be detrimental to learning experiences. If we apply the lessons we teach in every subject to the lives of students we can hopefully uncover an intrinsic interest in the students that is key to truly learning.

Journal 4

Campbell, L. O. (2012). If you give a kid a video camera. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(5), 30-33. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/February-2012.aspx

"If You Give a Kid a Video Camera" makes the analogy of giving students technology as a tool they will want to use it more to giving a mouse a cookie and it will want to eat more.  It explains how once a student is introduced to a tool, for example, a video camera, they will want to use it in all aspects of learning.  We as teachers can show students how they can use video cameras to show learning in math, reading, science, social studies, or any other subjects for that matter.  A student can be recorded reading, so that they can see from another perspective what their reading sounds like.  They record themselves doing an oral book report to share with other students, doing a science experiment in the lab, or creating a human map for social studies.  Basically students with be documenting their lessons in different way that will give them the opportunity to see themselves learning, and in turn learn from that.

How will video taping enhance students learning?

When a student does an assignment and receives feedback, they might not recall exactly how they got to their final product.  If this is the case, he or she knows that they are right or wrong, but may not know exactly where they went wrong, or what they did do correctly to get their answer.  A video document can allow the students to retrace their work every step of the way.

How will students gain access to a video camera?

In order to make sure all students have access to a video camera, I will have to have one of my own accessible to students.  In a perfect world, all students will have their own video cameras or access to a computer that allows video making.  However, this will most likely not be the case so one possibility is to video tape classroom projects and to require each student to review and reflect on one or two recorded projects throughout the year.