Make up for September 14th

Well, I spent part of my break catching up on the class I missed back in September. The beginning consisted of a pictionary game, which was quite fun to watch. Then, the class separated into groups to discuss how this class addresses diversity. It is unfortunate though, that spectators cannot listen to the group discussions, because it would definitely have been an interesting conversation. Luckily though, I was able to scroll through each group's whiteboard and from what I saw, there seemed to be an overall concensus that EDFN 302 caterers to the learning needs of all students, and does not discriminate against learning styles, experience, and so forth. For myself, I think that Lee has provided us with a variety of learning opportunities and has also made herself available to help those who may not have as much experience with technology. As a future teacher, I need to be aware of my own opinions and thoughts about disabilities and remember that inclusion is a practice that all schools have to participate in due to IDEA and I need to be prepared to teach to a diverse group of children. After this discussion, there was time spent talking about technology tools and how teachers could incorporate them into the classroom, a topic that has continued to be important throughout the semester.

Reflection on Damon's presentation

I found Damon's presentation valuable, because he provided a group of future teachers with a list of open technologies and tools that do not require payment to use(or install) them; a very handy feature for the money conscious. Some of the ones I had never heard of before were Twiddla, etherpad, evernote, and ustream.tv. All of them sounded very interesting and useful both in and outside the school community.
After class on Monday, one of the primary questions I developed from his talk, is what is the technology basis that ASD uses and provides for their teachers and students to use? I know that they use Mac computers, but what else do they offer? Are children living in rural Alaska obtaining better technological services simply because the district up there has to contend with distance? I believe we heard a little bit about the Bering Strait School District technology budget being conservative, however, now I am even more curious as to what ASD is doing to prepare the next generation in the various forms/tools available to them. I think that it would be helpful to hear from someone representing ASD, since that is the district I believe most of us will be working with.

Following again

This week, David wrote briefly about several schools whose teachers and students are being used as laboratories to test on how to improve teacher qualities. Although the results most likely won't be posted for quite some time, David asks his readers what sort of qualities we think a successful teacher needs to have; so here is my list of top ten teacher qualities in no particular order:
1. Love being around children
2. Enjoy learning
3. Flexible
(The first two were first revealed to me in EDFN 300 and I completely agree with Dr. M :)
4. Patience
5. Communication
6. Culturally responsive
7. Accepts children for who they are
8. Upholds the ethical standards of the field
9. Self aware
10. Open mindedness

If anyone has anything else they would like to add to list, feel free to do so; I'm sure we could spend hours discussing what qualities a teacher should have. :)

Another 2 cents

So this week, David discussed a school in Canada, that is experimenting with adding a school wide wi-fi system. The only problem with this, is how do teachers/administrators monitor what the children are viewing and if they access inappropriate material, is the school responsible for any harm or harassment that is a potential result of inappropriate sites. I think that computers in the classroom can be beneficial, but only if it they are needed for research or an assignment. Simply having a computer in class is NOT appropriate, because, let's be honest, how many college students who bring their laptops are actually focused on what the professor is saying the whole time? If adult students have a difficult time staying on task, how much more difficult will it be for an impulsive high school or younger student to use the technology appropriately.
As for liability, I think that the administrators should have the ability to block obscene or social networking sites that should not be accessed during school hours. This made me think of the schools creating an intranet, which can be accessed only by those with a code/ID and then the sights can be monitored and the children's safety and security protected. Overall, I like the idea, there are just several kinks that need to be worked out.

2cents-Following

A quick summary of David's post this Saturday: We learned to read, because it is a part of our life; we needed to be able to read to pass the tests, take in knowledge, and function. The same philosophy should be applied to the use of technology. Students will not be fluent, unless technology becomes a part of their everyday lives. They need to incorporate technological literacy into classroom life, they way educators expected children to learn to read. This also reminded me of the idea of 'use it or lose it', because it is much easier to comprehend an idea or how to do something if one continually applies it, rather than only using it in the classroom. If a student never uses a computer outside of school, how is he/she going to be fluent in it?

Review October 12th

To summarize and finalize the discussion on 'what teachers should know', I spent some time viewing the discussion I missed on October 12th. It was interesting to go back and listen/read what people thought was important on that day, versus what we talked about later. The list of what teachers should know, simply grew and grew, which from my perspective was quite intimidating. However, as I read through the list, I realized that most of my experience is with the internet features and most of the programs listed. The one area I feel rather weak is, is trouble shooting and I realize now how frustrating and helpless a person can feel if they don't know how to fix or use something. In addition, not knowing where to find the different pieces that create the computer's shell is also something, I feel teachers should know. I also liked the definition of hardware versus software, because I wasn't aware that there was even a difference. Now I know that hardware, includes things that I can touch, for example a memory card; software, are the operating programs that I cannot touch, such as powerpoint.
To conclude, despite our further discussions that I was able to participate in, I found that there were some colleagues who believed that teachers should know more or about most of the features of a computer; there was no agreement between us as to what we should, as future teachers, be expected to know and teach the children. Regardless of the fact that there is no set amount of knowledge we should have; all of us agreed that we should know our resources and know who to go to when we need assistance.

Standard Review

After reviewing the NETS-T 2008 standards, I would have to say that overall we seem to meeting them; we have spent an especially large chunk of time establishing Digital Citizenship and the Professional Growth and Development, and the others have been touched on and I believe we will continue to do so. What I especially enjoy, is that although we are learning how to use many of these technologies for the first time, at least for myself, we are still given opportunities to be creative with them. For example, the digital citizenship wikis were all very different from each other and people were able to practice using all of the tools, because our professor set no restrictions on what we could do, expect provide the appropriate information. Everything else was subject to the author and could be displayed, or not, as he/she pleased. Overall, I think we are heading on the right track, despite the bumps in the road that come from not being able to meet face to face in the classroom.

Assitive Technology 2

As I did my research of assistive technology, I googled the term with a + Alaska and discovered that there is an entire site that represents the presence of available assistive technology services here in the state of Alaska. The company is called Assistive Technology of Alaska (ATLA) and there site offers insight into the various disabilities and their potential needs, along with links that provide educators/families access to used material for sale. They also provide classes and trainings to provide additional information on the topic, so that consumers will be informed buyers. I was pleased to see that they did not endorse any particular brand, but rather wanted their customers to be informed about the variety of services, programs, and devices offered. When I was in Arkansas for a semester I was able to listen to a presentation by one of their local Assistive technology experts and it was amazing the types of programs they offered to the public. I think that assistive technology really goes to show how important it is for teachers to realize that virtually all students have the capacity to learn.

Assistive Technology 1

As usual, google provided over a million websites somehow related to the search words: Assistive Technology. Despite the millions of choices, I found an excellent definition: "Provides hardware and software solutions to help people with learning, communication, and access difficulties lead more independent and productive lives." (http://www.assistivetech.com/corporate/home.aspx) The good thing about the google search, is that it also provides the searcher with pictures of the different types of technology, the downside is, is that it can take several hours to sift through the sites to determine which ones are pertinent to the subject you actually want. Looking in declious though, I used the tags, which narrowed my search to a more realistic number, only over 2,000, but the tags allow one to quickly breeze through and eliminate the ones that don't pertain the subject, but simply contain the words or have additional relevance that a person may not need. In fact, some of the websites on delicious came up through my google search, such as pluk.org. Overall, I find declious a much quicker and efficient way to find valueable websites. It also helps if more than a few people also have tagged the site; it adds to its legtimicy.

2cents blog

This week, David wrote about a Canadian teacher, who had his seventh grade students create box labels to represent different events in Canada's history. They used mac computers to design their labels and the pictures on the website are amazing! He then went on to discuss that such technological 'artisan' work should be shared more than simply on a blog and he suggested the idea of having a company print the labels onto crayon boxes for the elementary students each year.
First of all, it was interesting to know that a middle school teacher successfully incorporated technology use into classroom and the amazing products show the range of capabilities that children exhibit when given the opportunity to apply their knowledge while learning something new. I think that this project exemplifies what we have been discussing as enhancing a child's learning experience of a topic, through the use of appropriate technology. My guess is that his students will always remember making the box labels depicting major events of Canada's history much better than their peers who may have simply read it in a book.

Delicious

Okay, so I have been looking into the Delicious website and I was disappointed to find out that they only use Yahoo accounts. :( I already have three email accounts, on top of various other log in accounts and personally, I do not want to have to add another site to the list. Is there any way around this? Do other sites provide the same function, but accept other email accounts? I would really like to use Delicious, but I feel wary about giving another site my personal information.

NEW educational blog

Well, I have found a new educational blog to follow. :) It is written by David Warlick and is called '2 cents worth.' In his most recent post, he describes his response to a reporter's question about his opinion on schools who are banning Ipods in the classroom. His response reminded me of what we have been discussing in class, because he basically says that as teachers, we shouldn't shun technologies, but rather figure out how to use them in an educational way. In my opinion, if school districts don't incorporate the use of different technologies, the chidlren will lose interest in school and either stop coming, in the older grades, or will be ill equipped for the work/college worlds. I am a HUGE supporter of books, but I also recognize that there are now other means in which we can obtain or present information and those can be just as effective for children to use as the traditional means.

Voicethread

So I am starting to get the hang of talking using the headset using Voicethread; I figured out to create my own and comment on Lee's for this week. Although I still feel awkward, I do find it an interesting way to to communicate with people who do not live near you and am going to try and convince my best friend in Germany to create an account, so that we can 'talk' to each other. I think that Voicethreads have amazing potential for personal and professional use; they also allow those who are shyer in front of a group, to comment in a less stressful manner. The only downfall I have noticed so far, is the fact that voice comments aren't as personal as a face to face conversation and since not everyone comments at the same time or day, I could see it being difficult or perhaps simply time consuming to follow a thread. However, if we treat a Voicethread like a blog, then people would know to check it at least once a week and post verbal or written comments; whichever a person felt more comfortable doing.
One last thing I would like to say, is that while I am highly interested in tinkering around with voicethread, I would hate to see technology drive out the benefits of face to face classes/conversations, because we miss all of the body langauage associated with conversing when all we have is a voice. It's fun though and I'd encourage anyone to try it!

Technology

Where you are at on tech skills to be a great teacher and where you think you need to be? What are your strengths and weaknesses in technology use for instruction and professional development? What kind of plan can you develop for your professional growth?

I honestly can't say where exactly I am when it comes to my technology skills; I did not grow up with computers, until middle school, since they were not very popular until around that time in my life. Compared to children today, my skills are most likely lacking in the areas of specific technologies, such as podcasts and I don't even an own an Ipod. I guess I'm not entirely thrilled with using technology, because I don't know how to use it; my computer skills are decent, but I have no idea how to input formulas in a spreadsheet and have never used all of the different features of a word document or blackboard. For my own professional development, it would be nice to gain first hand experience of what it is like to use a smartboard or expose myself to other forms of technology that could be useful in the classroom. However, I also believe that it is unfair to hold the regular education teacher fullly responsible for teaching children how to use the everchanging technologies in the world. Rather, I think that their should be teachers in the schools, who are spefically trained in the use of relevant technologies, who can then teach the children how to use it, so that the regular education teacher can implement what the children have learned in the computer lab. Technology is being renewed so rapidly, that I fear by the time I learn what is out there today, it will be outdated and I will have to start all over again. As for a professional growth plan, I'm not even sure where to start, because there is so much out there, it's overwhelming.

Following

So, I have been searching around for a good blog to follow and I have discovered that blogs are not as easy to find as I thought and when I do find them, I find them lacking. I think the reason for my unableness to find an interesting blog, is the fact that that most blogs are all opinionated. They're written from one individual's point of view and if that's the case, I would much rather have a verbal conversation about the topic, rather than scrolling through a bunch of text. I have also discovered that I'm a rather conservative person, who believes that personal opinions should not be displayed for anyone or everyone to read, primarily because it can come across as offensive, and people give meanings to words, not the other way around. Not to mention, the fact that it is difficult to create a tone of voice through the written word that accurately and appropriately describes one's emotions at the time of writing. I prefer informative text over the opinions of millions of people; thus I ask the question: what is the purpose of a blog?

Suggestions?

Well, I've been following the Lee Lefever blog for a few weeks now and even though what the company and him do is quite interesting and helpful, I find myself being unable to relate to much of the information. Therefore, I have decided to find a new blog to follow and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? Perhaps if a few of us followed the same educational blogs, we would be able to create longer discussions on our blog posts. Meanwhile, my goal is to find a new blog to follow that peaks my interest within the next couple of days and then comment on what I have found.

Following III

The most recent post on Lee Lefever's blog was on October 2nd and it was a book review on the book Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook. Honestly the only correlation between his post and education that I could think of, is 1. Don't judge a book by it's cover and 2. Book reviews are a timeless assignment for getting children to read and be able to articulate on the contents of what they read. The first correlation is significant, in the fact that the phrase "friends with benefits', caused me to think of those couples/friends who are, shall we say 'loose' when it comes to personal boundaries. Clearly, this is not what the book is about and thus, it is important for me, as a future educator, to research the titles that I may present to my class, rather than just going on the cover.

Following II

There have been several recent posts on Lee Lefever's blog site. One of the most interesting, was the addition of two new companies who make 'how to' movies similar to what Lee does. I investigated further, by going to http://www.animatedexplanations.com, which is a company based in Belgium and focuses on the European and global market. Their site is very easy to navigate and there is even a search engine that allows a person to see if there are videos pertaining to their subject. I looked up internet security, and found a cool video on how to create a secure password. I found this video to be a nice reminder on how to create a password that will protect my personal information. This video would also be good to use with students at an early age, to help them understand the importance of securing their information and how to do it. I recommend checking out this site for anyone who enjoyed Lee's videos. :)

My Online Presence

Well, my online presence was nil, as far as I could see. I tried Ashley Tomlinson, adding my middle name/initial, but nothing for myself came up. I did find out that there are several other in this world that share the same name as myself, but found nothing in the first few pages of my search that dealt with myself. While I do use a social network and have this blog, I could not find anything.

Tech Tool

One tech tool that I have learned to use within the last year, is called shelfari.com. It is a free site that allows you to catalog books within your profile and then create a library of books you have read and want to read, own and not own. The site provides a search engine which includes millions of books for people of all ages and genres. I find it to be very useful for keeping track of the books that I own personally and a record of the titles and authors of children's books for a wish list to use to create my own personal classroom library. The site is easy to use and perfect for the avid or beginning book collector or anyone who wishes to keep an accurate inventory of the novels they are interested in.

Following

After watching the two videos by Lee Lefever, I decided to look him up to see if he had a blog that I could follow. I liked his voice and the creative, simple, straightforward way of explaining a topic. The search was quick and easy; after only one try, I was rewarded with a link to his blog called http://www.commoncraft.com/blog. On his blog, he was several other videos describing the stock market, sharepoint, and other topics of interest in simply, easy to understand, and later apply, language. His last login was earlier this month, so I am hoping to read and watch more of his videos. Although his information is not strictly geared towards teachers of young children, I think that the information he provides will be helpful to increase my own understanding of how certain things work.

Technology website

I actually ended up looking at two different websites. The first was the Wordle one, which was interesting, because you could type in a variety of words, with no limit, and the site would creatively arrange them in the viewing area and from there you can edit layout, color, and so on. The application didn't hold my attention for very long, because I found myself thinking, 'this is all it does?' Overall, there wasn't much you could do with it.
After Wordle, I decided to check out starfall.com, which is an interactive website geared towards reading and grades PreK-second or third grade. I liked how most of the reading and other dialogues were the voices of children rather than adults. For a child who might be homeschooled, I think it would be nice to listen to other children read, since you are most likely spending time listening to adults. It was also neat to read the different stories and myths. I was thinking that I might suggest this website to the families in the after school program I work at, as a technology and reading aid. The best part of this class, is that it's practical and hands on learning that we can take to the families we work with even now.

Comparing the new and old NETS-T standards, in just eight years, one can see how the times and technology have changed. Thinking back to 2000, I was in seventh grade and computers were still a new technology found in schools and digital cameras and cell phones were as readily available to the general public as they are now. With all the new technology that has emerged in just eight years, teachers have to now constantly keep updated on how to use them in the classroom and encourage children to explore a variety of technologies as seen throughout the 2008 standards. Although the standards NETS has supplied sounds appealing, I wonder if teachers even know these exist and if so, do they know how to implement them in their own classroom? Just as important, I wonder if students know that they have their own responsibilities as well when it comes to learning about and using technology; I agree with a fellow classmate, who said in small group discussion last week, that we should be teaching the dos and donts of technology in the younger grades, rather than waiting until student's are older and have formed their own 'way' of doing things. To conclude, the NETS, whether old or new are helpful to teachers and students and one must question how soon will they have to update the NETS to reflect new changes to technology?

Images

After reviewing the 2008 NETS-T, I would have to say that images fit into all five categories of the new standards. WIthin the first standard, they discuss enhancing and allowing for student's creativity, which may include teh use of digital imaging in a powerpoint for the case study of a child. In the second standard, teachers are needed to create digital learnign experiences and assessments, which would include the use of digital cameras for both movies and still images. Standards 3, 4, and 5 all can apply to the use of images that are either your own, or found on the internet. Teachers need to model how to appropriately use and cite the images found on the internet, along with how to modify them for later use, as we did in class last week. Overall, images fit nicely into the new NETS-T.

NETS*S and NETS*T

The relationship between the performance indicators, is this: In order for the students to reach their goals, the teachers must be affluent in the content of their five standards. For example, the purpose of standard 2 of the NETS*T, is to increase and enhance the skills of students based on their standards. Even before the teachers can assist the students though, as I mentioned in my recent post, teachers must FIRST become knowledgeable in the content area BEFORE applying it in the classroom. Students become frustrated whenever they are asked to use a new technology they don't understand and the teacher is not a good resource to turn to for help. I do not believe they should have to know everything, but at least be able to direct their students to the appropriate person who is able to assist them. Finally, it would be beneficial if educators would collaborate with their students on ways to implement these standards that add to the classroom experience and increase our knowledge base on the technologies available. As one of the students in the Malcolm Brown article pointed out, "in a classroom, everyone is learning."

My learning during week one....

This week of technology class has been a learning experience for me. I have never used elive before and thus was nervous and uncertain as to what expect; however, once I logged on successfully, I began to feel much more confident about the process. I will admit though, that I do not find myself being a huge fan of the program though; call me traditional, but I much prefer seeing the person to whom I am speaking and being able to get the full conversation (ie the nonverbal). In addition, I am a more visual learner and it becomes harder to focus on the conversation if there is no eye contact, visual cues, and so on. Basically, this a new experience in my learning career and even though it may be challenging, I believe the benefits will out weigh the negative.
Aside from the elive experience, I do find the weekley work to be engaging, because it keeps the students focused on practicing or enhancing the new information or skills we talked about in class. For this week, I especially enjoyed the creativity of the video and it opened my eyes as to how much technology there really is available and how little of it is used in the classroom. It's no wonder children don't feel engaged! As a future teacher, my goal in this class is to learn about a vareity of programs and such that are available, learn how to use them, and then think of ways that I can take my new knowledge and use it to encourage my future students. (I would especially love to learn how to create a website.)

Technology Video/Article

I found that the article by Malcolm Brown helped to describe how the children in the video felt about the lack or improper use of technology in the classroom. Even though the article was not written to supplement the video, I felt it did, because children today have so many forms of technology available to them, yet how often are they encouraged to use these forms in school? Even at the college level, it seems as though some professors are set in their ways and either refuse to incorporate technology, or lack the knowledge to use it effectively. Personally, I believe it to be the latter of the two, and thus think it would be a good idea for colleges and universities to take the time and educate their colleagues on how to enhance students' learning and understanding of material through the use of technology. After all, just because someone has the tools, doesn't mean they know how to use them.