Reflections - Week 8

There were many "Aha" moments. Mostly they were "Aha, that is what a wiki is." or "Aha, so creating that podcast that I have been thinking about is really not all that difficult." You are correct, I just need to jump in and explore. There are so many things that I want to try in my classroom, (now I just need for the state to have the budget that allows me to teach next year!) The technologies that we have used this semester were all new to me and I am thankful that I have gotten the opportunity to see them in action. I think I have a much better understanding of how to incorporate technology. I recently overheard two middle school teachers saying that their district had asked them to come up with 6 technology lessons per 6-weeks for the next year. First, they could not see the point and second, they were overwhelmed by the task. I think the district needs to work on their technology professional development before they start making these requests, because it was quite obvious from their responses that they were thinking only of research papers and power point presentation type projects. We have to stop thinking of technology as something that we annex to our current curriculum. I can honestly say at this point that I am excited about using technology in the class room and excited to get the opportunity to get stated.

I have enjoyed the lessons and the gentle push to dive right in.

Reflections - Week 7

I created a lesson plan that I might employ to teach my students how to use the wiki that I started. I have tied to make my assignments valuable outside of this class as well as inside. Because I have 6th graders, I could not use tools that were too involved. I like the sketch up tool that Google has and think it would be appropriate for 7th and 8th graders, but maybe not the right tool for our purposes with the 6th graders. I wish I had known about this tool last spring when I was tutoring my sons basketball team on a project involving volume and surface area, etc., for an oil company.

I find myself looking for ways to utilize technology in a meaningful way as I think about a new lesson, now. How can I make this easier, more interesting, and more engaging.

Reflection - Week 6

I was taught with textbooks and lectures and lots of homework, but I do not think this is the way that today's students should be taught. As I worked through these lessons, I found myself looking for a video that showed me how to do something, instead of downloading a pdf or instructions. I am a visual learner and I like to see what I click and what things will look like when I do. I think the greatest hurdle in changing the way we teach and interact is my generations attitude of " that is not the way we have always done things."

Time are changing. Our kids are digital natives. They have been immersed in technology their entire lives. They do not see things the way we do, they do not think the way we do. This technology and its affects on their lives have made them different. We have to accept that fact and accept that they are the future. The change has to be in the way we approach teaching and not how they approach learning.

Reflections - Week 5

Oh my, I thought I knew how to evaluate a site, but I have learned some valuable lessons today. I have always understood that students needed to be taught to check out the validity of the information on a site, but I see this in an entirely different light now. This is a must have skill for our students. I think it is as important as reading, writing, and math. Our students get less and less information from books and more and more from websites. They are going to have to learn to evaluate the sites that they research. I think that we must begin to teach students information literacy skills as soon as we teach them to use the internet for research. Too many students believe everything they find on a website.

I feel certain I have been guilty of using bad sites in my research. I will start using these evaluation tools for my work in the future.

I see a benefit to social bookmarking. I felt that Delicious and Diigo were the best sites for my purposes. I think that I would like to share bookmarks with people that I know and trust or at least have something in common with. I especially like the highlighting and extra features on Diigo. There are times when I go to a bookmarked site and can't remember why I am there, or the site has changed and I can't find the information that I am looking for.

Reflection - Week 4

I agreed with all ten research-based principles of Assessment for Learning (AFL), but I guess this one speaks to me the most:

AFL should recognize the full range of achievements of all learners

I think our current method of testing has critical flaws. I see bright students solving the problems presented in our math lessons, yet they do not do well on the tests. I am not sure if they don't memorize facts well, or if they have trouble deciphering the word problems, or if they just have some sort of testing anxiety, but for some reason they aren't able to showcase their understanding on regular tests. I think if we could give these same students a simulated environment and gave them real life problems to solve, they would excel. On the other hand, I see students that will ace a test, but can't problem, solve their way out of a paper sack. Too, I think formative assessments could get increasing more difficult, so that all students could find some success in their abilities. This type of assessment would allow a teacher to grade on a students improvement, and not by another students achievements or abilities.

I think the portfolio will give us the opportunity to showcase our understanding and abilities much better than a multiple choice final exam would.

Reflections - Week 3

I designed a wiki for my 6th grade math students. I am only student teaching, so I am not sure if I will get to have the students work on the wiki this year, but I think it is an idea that I would like to explore when I have a class of my own. The idea is that they 1) make a glossary of math terms that they can own - meaning the definitions have to be in their own words, and 2) take a TAKS Math Chart and create mini lessons to "teach" the concepts and formulas listed - once again, these have to be their words and their explanations.

I think completing this wiki would help my students to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and terms, while creating a study guide that they can use. It would also help me to assess their understanding.

I have two boys that strongly dislike reading. As a result their vocabularies are suffering. I think they would enjoy working on class blogs and wikis and I think this would benefit their reading, writing, and vocabulary. I think this would help all readers, but I am using my sons as examples. I plan to implement class blogs and wikis when I get a class of my own.