Thursday, April 25, 2013

Reflective Essay






Reflective Essay

Susana Calero

Edison State College













Abstract
I have learned a great variety of different skills in Introduction to Technology in Education this past semester. In my paper I will describe my thoughts about my course, I will also reflect on the activities, assignments, discussions, textbook, and the learning objectives. I came into the classroom with a belief that I already knew about the world of technology, however, once the class began, I was submerged in a world of technology that I had no prior knowledge, thanks to this course, and my professor, Marie Coleman, I will be able to enhance my skills and use the tools that I acquired in this course as a future teacher.














                                                           Reflective Essay                
           When I signed up for the course Introduction to Technology, without much depth in thought, I expected it to be class where I would be taught how to use technology to be able to teach my future students, on the basic level.
        Once I was in the classroom, I quickly realized that there wasn’t anything basic about Introduction to Technology considering that my first assignment was to create a rubric on an educational website. I wasn’t sure what the approach would be for this assignment, I had never created one, and therefore, I did some research on the assignment. This class allowed me to discover, to be able to go beyond the assignment that professor Coleman had assigned to her students. In the class time that we shared as a classroom on Thursday nights, Professor Coleman described her projects very thorough, and covering different areas of the project where her students may have had a problem.
         I knew from the beginning that I would be a class that you can not afford to be absent, due to the fact that there would be so much material being covered.  I had to miss one class this semester, however, that did not intimidate me because on the Wiki Page that is on the web, I was able to complete the assignment, thanks to how well the descriptions are on Professor Coleman’s Wiki Page. Rubrics were always available for all assignments, which was very beneficial as a student completely the assignment to be able to determine exactly the areas professor wanted us to cover.
        The projects varied in this class, from creating our own twenty slide PowerPoint, to a collaborative lesson plan, to creating a collaborative Wiki page, I was always so indulged in the assignments, I truly enjoyed doing each assignment and receiving feedback from my professor, the feedback always helped because I was able to determine where my strengths and my weaknesses were. My overall favorite assignment was the PowerPoint Presentation, in the beginning I thought it would be difficult to decide on a topic that I would be able to stretch to twenty slides, however, I decided upon a topic that would be beneficial for myself to go over, so much information needed to be covered, that I did not have a problem making twenty slides to present to my class.
When I presented my PowerPoint to my class, I really felt like the teacher, I made my PowerPoint on Sugar Gliders, just as I learned about Sugar Gliders by owning them, I wanted to teach my classmates and teacher about these great creatures.
      The final project was a to create a Teacher’s Portfolio, this was a great assignment because we could become any teacher, teach any level, any material, and it was a great approach to really making a webpage for the students in the classroom, as well as for the parents of the students. I have a prodigious experience making my Portfolio because  I was able to create my “future” classroom through the internet.
            Through the semester, and in between class assignments, we had to create our own Journal Posts blogs, on Blogger, I enjoyed making these blogs because it was a reinforcement about the chapter for myself, at least the first few post were based on the chapters on the book, and as week six approached, I started branching out on the blogs and wrote on different topics including: WebQuest, evaluating educational blog post, and to watch educational videos, the fact that the blog post were designated for us to be able to express and summarize what we have watched, evaluated or read, became very beneficial to create a strong foundation.
         The textbook: Transforming Learning with New Technologies, was a book that I felt was truly dedicated for an individual with little knowledge of the technology that teachers are using, and will be using in the future, which made it easy to understand with little questioning.
       Discussion posts were meant for the students to create a post on Canvas, and I am glad that we had that transition to canvas, because it made it accessible for all the students to read and post regarding the subject, the post in my opinion were not my favorite, I enjoyed reading the opinions of my classmates and I did enjoy being able to give my opinion on the topic, but I believe that I learned more in the classroom, creating projects or reading the textbook and creating blogs.
             In between all of the assignments, projects, creative commons, blog posts, and everything in between, I had my grade for the class with a quick look at the website that we had been provided, this was my first class that my professor provided the grade throughout the semester. The access to our grades was a great way to know how we did on the assignment, as well as the feedback that professor Coleman provided, as I mentioned earlier.
        I appreciated learning about the many different websites that I had never heard of before, or the different names for a slide show: Pecha Kucha PowerPoint Presentation.
 I took this class because it is a requirement for the teaching bachelors, however, even if I didn’t have this class as a requirement, I would have enjoyed taking it to be able to be knowledge in the technology that we have at our fingertips in the society we live in. To end the reflection as this course was started, Professor Coleman said the first class: “ You will only get out of this class, what you put in.”

-->


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Journal # 11

Digital Portfolio's For Teachers.

A New Teacher's Portfolio:

 "  " Finish your online teacher portfolio," her cooperating teacher replied. " That way everyone in the hiring process can see your ideas and accomplishments. Your choice of lesson plans, student work, and other materials for display will help you descrive your teaching and show what you can do in the classroom as a tteacher." As she began posting her materials electronically, Tracy decided that portfolios would be valuable to use with her students. All semester, she had been puzzled by how some students refused to prepare for multiple-choice and fill in the blank exams. These students seemed totally disconnected from learning, going through the motions of attending class but not putting any effort into studying of participating." " ( 306, Maloy)

In retrospect, I can understand exactly what it is like as a student to be able to walk into a classroom, and physically be there, however, mentally you may be else where. As a young college student, I currently understand the importance of now only showing up to class to be present while the lecture is in session, but it is important to the highest degree to fully understand what an educator is lecturing. Being able to walk out of a classroom and understand the lesson makes us, as individuals confident on what the test, or next lecture, or next assignment may be about, however, some students leave the classroom in a state of confusion where they never fully absorbed the material that was being taught.

In this day in age, individuals in society are running around with mini computers in their pockets, the ability of an iPod or an iPad is astronomical. I like to think of it as a version of having a part of the world at your finger tips. Since students, teachers, educators, and many parents are up to date on our society that is ran by technology, I believe that every educator should be required to have their own digital teacher porfolio. Before last week, April 4, 2013, to be exact, I had minor knowledge on what a teachers portfolio should contain, however, when my professor, Marie Coleman, displayed her sample, teacher portfolio to her Introduction to Technology for Educator Class, I felt like I really needed to see an example of a teacher's portfolio to have a deep understanding. Reading about portfolios, and all the wonderful digital advances that we have today may only get us, as educators so far, but being able to learn from another individual is what usually teaches us so well, that we can teach it our self.

My understanding of a digital portfolio to be able to have your class, away from class. Meaning, students attend class, learn the material, do their classwork, and once they are out of class they may sometimes have a question or concern of the next weeks test, or the homework that was assigned that day. A teachers portfolio is very helpful for the student, having access to their portfolio by "surfing" the web, may help that student fully understand the concept that he had lacked or the concept that he forgot after he left the classroom.

The digital portfolio is very useful for the students parents as well, many times, students come home to parents asking them: " So Sally, what are you learning in school this week?" And little Sally may not really know exactly how to respond, and if she does, it may be a very vague answer. The fact that the parents of the students also have access to their child's teacher digital portfolio may help the parent in more than one occasion. Parents, as well as educators have very busy lives, between, school and work, and every detail in between, there may or may not be enough time to meet their child's teacher, unless it was the first few days for the orientation, but what about throughout the year when the parents are questioning their child's work? That's a perfect time to log in to the digital portfolio that the teacher has very adequately put up for viewing purposes.

" Portfolios, unlike standardized multiple-choice exams, emply performance-based,{ such as lesson plans, work logs, student work smaples, relectice essays, and video materials) as a basis for assessin skills and accomplishments. In California, beginning in July 2008, every student in a teacher education program must pass a performance assessment before receing a licesnse to teach (Rothman, 2008).
"Creating a portfolio positively affects the growth of a new teacher, and the growth of their students as learners in two ways. First portfolio building involved everyone in reflectively assessing learning. As a portfolio builder weighs the merits of materials to be included in an online collection, he or she evaluates what has been learned. Self-reflection, invaluable for teachers, is an important skill to convey to students at every grade level. Being able to clearly state or demonstrate what was been learned indicates deep and lasting understanding." ( 306, 307 Maloy)

Browsing the internet, I wanted to see some " pro's " of a digital portfolio, so I found the benefits of a digital portfolio, and just as there is good, the website did point out some of the "con's", which I can point on how they are not even that much of a " con."

On E Portfolios Pro's and Cons | Faculty of Education, I found the following:
Under the disadvantages, it states that it can be time consuming, which can be a project that involves time out of your day, but when a teacher weighs out the time she will put in to the portfolio and not rephrasing or e-mailing or receiving phone calls from home, that is when you out weigh the time consumption on the digital portfolio and come to a conclusion that it would actually save some time.

Under the second bullet, it states, that in a interview situation, you may want a hard copy version. A hard copy version would be as easy as saving it to our little disk drives, and now we're on our way, and what exactly what place doesn't have internet connections? No a days, wifi seems to accessible almost anywhere, therefore, having access to the portfolio should not be an issue, if you have one of the two options.

The third bulletin may be true, not everybody who wants to interview you may have the time to view your portfolio, but the ones who do have the time, will. If you end up getting the job, is a high chance that one day, maybe not the day of the interview, but  later on they may come across your portfolio, and after all it is a useful and beneficial tool for yourself, as an educator, or aspiring educator.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Journal # 10

Growing And Leading With Technology.

Robert's " This I Believe" Essay Lesson.


The professor, Mr.Robert's is preparing his students, tenth- and eleventh-graders for  the state's English/language arts high school graduation test.  These students have struggled in school with writing and reading, for some, this graduation test is not their first time. To encourage and boost his students confidence, Mr. Roberts is having them compose" "This I believe" essays, these essays are statements of core values and personal philosophies made popular by public broadcasting's "This I believe" radio show, itself a revibal of a 1950s radio program of the same name that was hosted by the legandary writer and journalist, Edward R. Murrow ( Allison & Gediman, 2007)"

Mr.Robert's is helping his students using three basic, yet very important tasks. He has three different goals for his students to reach, he wants each student to "1) read and hear different types of "This I believe" essays composed by well-known ordinary Americans, including other high school students from around the country. 2) write a "This I believe" essay expressing important personal values and ideas and share it with other members of the class. 3) Develop greater confidence and improved skill as a creative and expressive writer who can then perform successfully on the English/language arts high school graduation exam."


As the professor of these students with struggles in reading and writing, he wants them to succeed, and with that, he is starting off with the correct steps. When working with students who may be at a disadvantage, an individual may want to step back, and take a look at the situation from a different perspective. Using the same tactics as before, may have not been the best result for these students, considering how they are students that have had trouble with the subject. I find Mr.Roberts ideology very useful because he is starting with a clean slate with his students. He wants to have his students build themselves a strong platform and continue creating on top of it, therefore, they will feel confident and useful by creating the " This I believe" essay, giving them the extra boost and skills that they had lacked in the past.

Advantages for his students is that they are in a school that has provides them with multiple internet-accessible computers and easy access to a large computer lab just down the hall. (Maloy, 303)
Which is to Mr.Roberts advantage, as well as his students. Some students may have trouble understand the teachers lessons when the student is getting lectured. When a professor uses internet, graphics, charts, and videos, this engages the students to stay tuned in. For Mr. Robert to help create successful students, with his " This I believe" Essay assignment, he may want to do a PowerPoint presentation with an example, as mentioned in the story. Show the students how another individuals essay may be like. Help the student with a "skeleton" of the essay, and have them to an online activity where they have to " fill in the skeleton."

Students at any age want to be active and involved, as students get older, and approach the graduation date, it almost seems like they want to slack, and they don't care.. "Senioritis"  ( College Board)
When a teacher feels that their students are wanting to back off from their lessons and activities, they should change the equation, to get a different result. Involve the students, students at any age want to be a part of something..FUN. Make it fun, make it rewarding, not literally giving them a physical prize, but to teach these young individuals that the fact of learning is a reward on its own.

In chapter ten, there are many different type of technologies to help students and help teachers, on page 290, the storybooks come into play. There are many advantages to have a storybook, if students find their own mistakes by listening to their own essays, rather than reading it (or skimming it) they will " hear" that it doesn't " sound " right.
" Other educators, concerened about students becoming overly dependent on computer, wonder if the interactive features of electronic stroybooks may distract students from the process of reading by decoding written words ( Cuban,2001; Healy 1999.)

These may be a concern for educators, but in this case, Mr.Roberts will be having his students read other examples of " This I believe" essays, where they will be brushing this skills on decoding and reading. Since Mr. Robert owns his own iPod, as well as a few of his students, yet his students only use these for music players, Mr. Robert can educate them in using these iPods for educational purposes as well... Say what? 

I know, I know, you're thinking.. " iPods for school?" Definitely, Mr. Roberts can assign his students to work with their iPods and download their essay to a storybook, and have their personal storybook on a computer, to download it to their iPod. Students can do anything now a days with the technology we carry, they can " bump" their iPods, with certain Apps to share their ideas and essays.

When students can teach themselves, not only does it help the teacher, but students sometimes seem to understand another student on their same intelligence level, as well as the same level of understanding.