This is the link to the STAT21 blog where my blog reflections are included: http://sdstat21.edublogs.org/.
September:
My goal for my classroom this year (through taking this class) is to really expose my students to many different types of technologies. We have exceptional starting equipment, so it would be great to use many of the different 21st Century tools to incorporate all different learning styles into the classroom. On top of that, allowing students to be creative in more ways than just using their basic computer skills is definitely a better way to promote the real world future.
October:
This class really inspired me to get going and get the kids involved more with technology. As a computer teacher, we work with technology every day, so my biggest plan is to expose students to more and more technologies that they probably use daily as it is. I will also push classroom teachers to implement many of these same ideas into their regular classrooms to help engange their students. I really plan on using the wiki for my class later in the year as well as set one up for my school to use on their website. I also have been using more quick snippets from utube to help enhance my lessons. I can’t wait to see what else we learn so I can get my students involved.
November:
I feel that looking at the baseline data has really empowered me to focus on what the students are really lacking in their math education. I will be focusing on 4th Grade Math even though a computer teacher and found it very interesting to get the data based off the standards because it could really help me dial in to the student’s needs. It also really shows where our school’s program is weak. I could definitely see where I could use technology in the computer room that would benefit the classroom teachers in their ability to improve their scores pretty easily. I always try to enhance their lessons, but this may give me an even better way by looking at each of their low standards and coming up with a new way to teach it or just another way to keep working on what they’re doing in class. I think the data just really hit home that we’re not in it swimming around by ourselves….there are other teachers and students trying to make a big splash too, and together we can do a great big cannonball.
January:
The formative assessment class that we recently took was very informational and exciting to find better ways to know what to teach our students. I have really looked at this system for the students that I tutor because these are the areas that they really struggle with and then that puts the class scores much lower. We are able as a school really work together to improve the students rather than just help the few students that I work with. I am going to be focusing on the area of graphing (which seems crazy to me), but more of the students that I work with struggle in that area. We will be going into the achievement series setup and doing the pretest, doing a few online activities either during computers or tutoring times and then I'll give them a post test later. The final part of it will be to see how they do on their state assessments that will come this spring. I am hoping that we can boost their scores and their confidence at least in the area of graphing on their state testing. Also, in conjunction with this project, I have gone into a few classrooms and shown the classroom teachers the possibilities that achievement series offers and they are actually excited to be able to learn how to use the program more effectively. I have spoken with our principal and he is willing to give some inservice time to work on it....now it just needs to get going! :) I am very glad that I have been exposed to Formative Assessment as it's really made me a more focused teacher on students individualized needs.
February:
I really believe in project based learning. The hands-on approach to learning and being able to work using more than just a textbook definitely helps students learn better. Being the computer teacher, I have all the technology I need to present information using the 21st Century Skills. I have done several projects electronically including movies with Movie Maker and PhotoStory. I have the students go into the Internet using http://www.goodsearch.com/ (site for our school to earn money), and have students choose 10 pictures that they would like to make into a movie. We didn't have a specific topic as I left that open to the studetns to choose for fun. With those ten pictures, they then inputted the pictures into the program and designed their own movie with movements and music to enhance. With my 5th graders, we also compiled a movie to use for their graduation program. Each student brought in 6 pictures of themselves, scanned them, input them into Movie Maker, and design their own movie about themselves. We then compiled their movies along with group photos into a 15 minute movie with music added. This has been a great project for them to get involved in as we used to do it in PowerPoint, but the new program excited them to want to do it better because the program was so much cooler! :)
March:
First, yes, I feel I have the needed resources as a technology teacher to be able to integrate technology into daily lessons. I also feel that I have been given the ability to help other classroom teachers integrate technology into their classrooms with a little guidance and enthusiasm.
Second, effective technology integration is going to require time. Many teachers feel that they just need more time and I agree. Technology is another piece of the puzzle to engage students, but it is definitely worth the extra time that it takes to implement it. Integration is also going to require cooperation. Teachers need to be excited and ready to work on a technology project rather than frazzled and afraid. When these feelings arise, more often than not, they will quit before they start. Teachers need someone beside them to guide and encourage them to keep going. It is always hard to try new things, but definitely worth the effort.
Third, my students have really embraced the new technology ideas that I have introduced to them, over the last year especially. They know when they come to class that they're going to gain something that will be fun to be able to go home and "play" with. They are curious about all sorts of technology, so adding more to the mix, just makes it all the better. Kids are all "up" on technology and ready for what isn't even developed yet! :) Scary but true!
April:
I have really been enjoying the experience of having the students include more technology into their learning. As the technology teacher, I already have the technology at my fingertips and don't have to find a way/time to get into the lab to work on projects. I have been very fortunate to have very up-to-date computers with the latest and greatest. This is something that my school has really striven to achieve. Therefore, I have already been used to integrating technology into the classroom. I took this project on as a way to add something new into my room that could really ignite student attention and achievement. Although somewhat more difficult on my part, the effort is definitely worth the result. For this class I worked on graphing at the 4th grade level, but because of all the neat information that ESA has provided to me, I have integrated many of the new ideas into my 5th grade class as well. In order to push a 21st century skill, I joined with the music teacher and have been working on a project on musical composers from our past. With this, students are required to research their composer and develop a presentation of the information to give to their music teacher. So I decided to spruce up the activity a little bit and have them work collaboratively online to develop their finished product. Students were partnered up with another 5th grader, but in the other class. This gave me an opportunity to have them collaborate with someone strictly online regarding thier project. With this, we used a wiki to store the research information along with google/goodsearch. Then we took the information and developed a presenation on Google Docs. Here the students logged into my gmail account and then had dummy accounts within where they stored their information. Very effective way to share information without me having to do the background work before they came to class each time. Thanks Melissa!! :) Anyways...this project has been enlightening as I see other students really doing well to complete the project and are excited that they can log into a website essentially and complete all their homework. It is certainly challenging, but worth it in the long run as hopefully my students are gaining more than just information about a musical composer, but rather many different ways to share and use items from the Internet.
