First Blog 2/11/13

I chose having a commitment to and skills for lifelong learning and having an in-depth knowledge of content. Having a commitment to and skills for lifelong learning includes such big ideas as inquiry in the classroom in order to further your teaching skills and the willingness to learn from your mistakes. Having an in-depth knowledge of content I believe goes hand in hand with having a commitment for lifelong learning. Many content areas are always growing and changing, especially science, and teachers need to stay current on their knowledge of content by being a lifelong learner.

Artifacts that can be used to show a commitment to and skills for lifelong learning include going to seminars and workshops, as well as different forms of communication with other teaching professionals about educational topics. In-depth knowledge of content can be demonstrated by attending or presenting at conferences in your field of expertise as well as exams and papers written in that field.

Technology Review

Edmodo, Whiteboard and iPad on Prezi

Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of Portaportal and Interactive Whiteboards

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience

     I found the portaportal and whiteboard seminar to be an extremely practical demonstration. Portaportal can be customized by the teacher for the students to quickly access learning websites. We thought it was going to be something we would use in our own classrooms. It was easy to use and a great way to organize webpages as well as fun for the students.

Application

          Using the white board and the software that comes with it I would have the students split into two groups and have them compete against each other in a spelling activity on the white board from the portaportal site my PDS has created.

• 
  Learners: The learners are first graders from my PDS
• Learning outcomes: Through this activity the students will be able to practice their spelling or sight words, and will know them better by the end of the activity.
• Assessment: Their spelling tests are a good way to gauge if the activity has helped the students learn their words better.

-          The students would first be introduced to the spelling game projected on the interactive whiteboard and how the game is played.

-          One at a time the students would be allowed to come up to the white board and have a chance to spell one word with the game so they understand how the board reacts to them. While they are doing this I would be going over the spelling words with the other students for a review.

-          The game would begin with one student from each team coming to the board at once and racing each other to spell as many words correctly with the game as they could.

-          While students are up at the board the rest of them at their seats would be trying to write down the same words the students at the board were spelling, but on their paper.

Reflection
   For my first grade students this is a great technology to help them get excited to spell. The students seem more motivated when they are using a technology that is new to them. Even when the students aren’t new to the interactive white board and the educational games they can play from portaportal on it they are still motivated by the competition between the two teams I’ve divided them into. The ease of which the teachers and students can use it also makes it a good choice for a first grade class.

--Pedagogical-Content:

     I like to use hands on and real life connections when I’m teaching spelling. Getting the students active helps them stay on task and focused and engaged on the lesson at hand. This technique is effective because students are competitive and in order to win the game they have to spell the words correctly.

     Heading into the lesson the students would have some experience with their spelling words. Older students would be quicker and more competitive than the younger students at the spelling game that they find on portaportal. I don’t have any concerns about their prior knowledge or experiences, but if the students don’t have the motivation to learn the spelling words for their test they may be motivated to learn them for the game.

--Technological-Pedagogical:

     What I like about the interactive whiteboard and the software is that it allows kinesthetic, visual, and hands-on. The interactive whiteboard supports the way I’m going to teach this activity because the students can interact with the lesson in a way they weren’t able to before while playing a game that motivates them.

            Keeping a class of young students under control during an activity like this is difficult. The students who aren’t at the board will have to be monitored, as not to disrupt the class myself I think that proximity and time outs would be the best methods to manage the classroom. If students are acting out or not on task during the game I would use proximity to correct their behavior. If the proximity didn’t help I would sent the student to time out on the other side of the room and they have to miss a turn at the game and have to write the words the students are spelling on the board.

--Technological Pedagogical Content:

            The interactive whiteboard and its spelling game from portaportal is an excellent way for the students to practice their spelling. Other than practicing words the whiteboard can also be used as a visual aid when the teacher is first introducing the words to the students. For instance, compound words can be shown in a math problem format to help the students understand the words inside the compound word.  This interactive white board enhances the way I would teach because it allows me to have another way for the students to interact hands on with their lesson. The students are able to get excited about playing the spelling word game and have a hands-on experience with spelling that is fun. Most students don’t see spelling as fun, but this way the game motivates them to want to learn the words.

            I think that the students would be able to learn the spelling words without the technology, but I think the use of the whiteboard is more effective. The whiteboard allows the students to have a hands on experience, see the words visually, get the students kinesthetically involved, and motivate them to learn. As the student gains knowledge of more and different words they can be challenged by different difficulty levels and expanded vocabulary on the learning games from portaportal on the interactive whiteboard.

Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of iPads

Description/Experience

            Before Friday’s presentation I had never considered the iPad to have applications in schools for children, especially young children. The demonstration of the different apps that are available for the iPad showed its subject versatility from math to English to digital stories. The video footage of the children actually using the iPads taught me that the iPads can be helpful to children who learn in different ways. The iPads could provide kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, visual learners, and hands on learners programs that are suitable strategies to best help them learn.

Application

            Using the iPads I would create a lesson for the first graders in my PDS classroom that would help them when learning to count money. I worked with them a few weeks ago learning how to count pennies, dimes and nickels and I think iPads could aid in this process. The students will use an app on the iPad with pennies, nickels and dimes that will allow the students to move 5 pennies into an area where they will turn into a dime, move 2 nickels into an area where they will become a dime, and allow the students to drag the larger denominations, nickels and dimes into a place where they would break apart into pennies. I think this would be a great hands on and visual learning tool. By the end of the lesson, the students should have a grasp of the value of a pennie, nickel and a dime. They also should be able to be given nickels and dimes and tell me how many pennies they make and vice versa. I would know the use of the iPad was effective if the students could verbally explain or show me with money how the change relates to each other.

-          The students would be introduced to the iPads and how we care for them and use them in general.

-          I would then have the children go through entering into the app with me while I showed my iPad on a camera that projects onto the smart board.

-          I would go through each of the change exchanges projected onto the white board and have the children follow along.

-          They would then be given 5 to 7 minutes to ‘play’ with the app to better acquaint themselves with the relationships between the coins. (They have already been introduced to the concept of counting change in a previous lesson, but without the use of an iPad)

-          For the remainder of the class I would have the students use the iPad app to complete a coin conversion fill in the blank style worksheet I had created.

-          Towards the end of the class I would go around while the students were working and ask them to explain the concept to me so I would know if the iPads were effective or not.

Reflection

--Pedagogy-Content:

            The content I was intending to teach in my change counting lesson would be hands on manipulation of the coins on the iPad so the students could see the values of the coins change physically. The app would be completely hands on and the manipulation of the coins allows visual learners, hands on learners and kinesthetic learners all the best learning experience.

            Most of my first graders have a little experience with counting money and the value of coins they learned at home, but there will always be some that have no experience, for these it’s important to start very basically. With this particular technology, the iPad, it is so simple to use and the apps that are designed for the children are also very simple, I don’t believe that the students would have an issue using it. Although, it’s always best to assume that there are some students in the class who have never handled a touch screen device before, so instruction on how to touch it would be given before the device is even given to the students. As far as motivation is concerned, there will always be students who aren’t motivated to learn for whatever reason, but I think the use of the iPads, being a novel device, will entice those less motivated students to become interested in what is happening on its screen.

--Technology-Pedagogy:

            The main instructional purpose served by the iPad is a tool for manipulation and visualization of the coins. I teach in a way that is very hands on and introduces a lot of real world applications to what I’m teaching. This technology allows me to let each student have a hands on experience at once. In terms of classroom management, I think a close monitoring of what the students are actually doing on the iPads is needed. There is also a greater need for classroom control because of the fragility of the iPads. While I am using the iPads in the classroom I would have to permit a strict policy of no walking around with the iPads as well as keeping a handle on other horse play that could occur in the room. By constantly being on the move around the classroom checking on each of the students frequently they will be more apt to stay on task than if left alone.

--Technology-Content:

            The use of iPads would enhance the way I show the transformation and exchange of one set of coins for another coin. The animation the iPad is capable of would have a much greater visual impact then what I would be able to show the students with play money on a table. Without the technology the students would have play money coins they would work on counting and exchanging for other coins, but with the iPad they have it all on their screen. The iPad can correct their mistakes and tell them when they think there are 10 pennies in a nickel by giving them two nickels when they give it 10 pennies, when they were expecting to get one.

--Technology-Pedagogy-Content:

            The iPad’s ability to show, rather than tell, the students how many pennies are in a nickel going along with my hands on and real world application style of teaching. The iPad is great because in lessons like this I can let each student have a hands on experience all at the same time a lot easier than without the technology. If I didn’t use the iPad for this lesson I would be doing a lot of explaining in front of the class and showing them on a projector the exchange of coins for other coins. I feel that the best way to learn is by doing, and the iPad allows my students to do more. Since the content I’m teaching the first graders in the real world actually has to do with touching the coins and manipulating them I think the hands on approach to teaching it is the best. The technology is well suited for this teaching strategy because it is all about moving things with your fingers and physically doing.

1. “Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of Prezi and Edmodo

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience

            In seminar on Friday we were introduced to Edmodo and Prezi. I found Edmodo, the ‘school facebook’, to be a great way to interact with students in the classroom and away from the classroom. By Using Edmodo questions can be asked not only of the teacher, but of peers. Prezi also can be used to reach students when they are not in class. Prezi is able to be viewed through a simple link making it easy to email to students, put on a class web site or Edmodo.

 

Application

            I think using Prezi would be the better of the two technologies to use with my English class of first graders in my PDS. I wouldn’t utilize Edmodo because I feel my students are too young to use a social networking site and I know many of my students may not have computers at home. I would use a Prezi presentation to introduce them to a new aspect of writing we would be working on. The Prezi be about introducing them to writing compound sentences. It would introduce them to what exactly a compound sentence is, examples, why we use them and what words can link two sentences to make them compound. I would know the activity was effective if it held the students’ attention and they had gained a understanding of what makes a compound sentence.

            -I would go through the prezi on compound sentences

                        ~go over what a compound sentence is

                        ~go over some examples

                        ~go over common linking words used in compound sentences

                        ~go over why we use compound sentences

            -The students would ask questions throughout the Prezi

            -After the Prezi I would talk to the students as a whole class about what they learned        from the Prezi

            - I would write two short sentences on the board with a linking word and ask the students            to try to make them into a compound sentence.

                        ~I would walk around answering questions and helping students when needed.

            -After that activity is done I would ask the students to write two short sentences of their own and make those a compound sentence by choosing the proper linking word.

                        ~I would assist the students with spelling and with aspects of compound                                       sentences.

Reflection

Pedagogy-Content:

                        To show the two different sentences inside the compound sentence I would have my examples in my Prezi highlighted in two three different colors. The first sentence would be in red and other sentence in blue and the linking word would be unhighlighted along with the two sentences the compound sentence came from, which would also be highlighted their respective colors. This would show the students exactly where each part of the compound sentence came from visually.

            My first graders may come into this lesson with a vague idea of what a compound sentence is based on the word ‘compound sentence’ it’s self. A lot of children are just learning about compound words at that age and know they are two words that come together to make one different words, so they may have an idea that a compound sentence is similarly made up of two sentences.

Technology:

            Prezi main function is to serve as a digital slightly interactive posterboard that can be posted to the internet for use by students at home or in the classroom during education. Edmodo’s main use is as a question and reply forum that also has a badge reward system for student motivation. It can also be used to post links, videos and homework. Both Prezi and Edmodo are easy to find on the internet, free and easy to use.

Technology-Pedagogy:

            If I were not to use Prezi in my compound sentence lesson I would use the dry erase board and write my examples and components to my sentences on. I would also use different colored markers to show the different components in the compound sentence. I don’t think that the way I would teach without the technology is different enough to really require any different classroom management strategies.

Technology-Content:

            By using Prezi my examples and formula for constructing the compound sentences would all be in one place and I would not have to erase as if I was using a dry erase board. I think students will be able to see and understand my examples better because I can put more different examples on the Prezi then I can write down on the dry erase board at one time.

Technology-Pedagogy-Content:

            Content will be taught using less of a direct teaching technique and more of a group discussion interaction. The examples and color coding of the compound sentences will be more accessible to the students because I don’t have to erase anything and I can go back to anything they have a question on at any time. I can also save the Prezi and use it again with the students at another time as a review.

            I think you have to take into consideration what background the students have on the subject and what the students interact with the technology. For instance I chose the Prezi over the Edmodo due to the age of my children and the type of lesson. The Prezi is a simple; dealing with the technology doesn’t get in the way of learning the content, way to provide the students with the introduction to the subject. The Prezi can also hold more examples than the dry erase board as well as pictures that may help the students to comprehend the concept of a compound sentence better.