Teacher task software is abundant for instructors to perform all types of teaching and learning responsibilities. After completing the Google Docs projects, reflect your working experiences when collaborate with your group members by using Google Docs. You may want to focus on how you use these technologies into your own classroom and how Google Docs promote active learning and collaboration among students? Make sure to use Chapter 7 as your reference. Link your projects at the end of your reflection and make the links open in a new window.
Chapter 7 in our text goes over the several different types of productivity software that can be utilized in the classroom. The book discusses the basic functions of word processors (Microsoft Word), electronic spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel), and presentation software (Microsoft PowerPoint). The chapters also discuss classroom management software, online applications and challenges implementing teacher task software. This week we had to create a Google Doc and Google Slide Presentation. I was familiar with the two platforms, but it still to this day blows my mind how easy it is in this day and age to be able to collaborate with our peers. I have not yet used either Google Docs or Google Slides in my own classroom, but it is something that I would love to incorporate. It would benefit students to be able to work together on projects in new ways, and it would be easier on me, the teacher, as well. Before I could use these tools all of my students would have to have access to the internet either outside of school, or the school needs to provide me with a classroom set of mobile devices that could access the internet (Tablets, Laptops). Sadly, neither will happen anytime soon at the school I am at. Attached below are my projects for this week.
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Chapter 4 Question 3
When technology is used to support culturally and linguistically diverse students, it is often remedial. Some students find themselves using technology that has been designed for younger learners simply because the vocabulary level matches their current language acquisition. This types of remediation via technology can be frustrating to use. Imagine yourself living in another country, trying to learn its language, and being asked to learn via remedial software. What concerns would you have about this instructional approach? What other options might be found to avoid remediation when it is instructionally unnecessary? I could see how using remediation software could be frustrating to use. If you are not a student with any kind of disabilities, but are being treated as such, then it could be demoralizing for a bright young student whose only problem is that they do not know the language yet. However, I received a minor in Spanish, and for those of you who have never taken a Spanish class, they are basically classes that an elementary student in Spain or Mexico would take. Spanish 101 or 102 would the be the equivalent of a kindergarten or first grade class in a Spanish speaking country. You are learning numbers, letters, colors and basic words. As you move through the courses they do become slightly more advanced. You do learn different tenses and such, but that is something that English students are doing in middle school and high school in the U.S. One of the 400 level courses that I took was a history course that was entirely in Spanish, however the content that we covered were things that we teach to our elementary and middle school students, such as the basic stories of the Aztec, Inca and Mayans. The point that I am try to make is that students should not feel as if they are being taught down to. Whenever language is a barrier, things still need to start at step one and go step by step. Content cannot simply be skipped because a child is intelligent. Many of today’s language learning apps can be tedious in the way that it tries to teach the user the language. Questions will be repeated over and over, and it can become demoralizing after a while. Chapter 5 Question 2 Discuss the cloud storage. Why is it advantageous for educators to share resources and programs on a network? What concerns are associated with program sharing? Cloud storage helps to make documents and applications accessible to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. For example, our school has adopted a new system for our athletes. With this new system all of coaches are able to see which kids have physicals and are cleared to play. On each child’s profile the parents must log in and fill out certain forms, such as allergies, and medication With just a glance I am able to see which kids are cleared to play. If an accident occurs during a game, I can easily access the cloud on my phone and pull the child’s medical papers up to see all of his or her relevant medical info. It is advantageous for educators to share resource through a cloud because we should always look for ways to improve. By networking with other teachers, we are able to see how other teachers approach their content and teach it to their students. My concern with this universal sharing is that all of our content will become streamlined and every class will become the same. Yes, it is ok for teachers to share resources if they are trying to learn and evolve how they teach their course, but if the teachers are only sharing resources in order to copy and use someone else’s work then every class will start to mirror the other. It is good for teachers to diversify what strategies they use when they are teaching their content. It would not be good if every teacher used the same strategy and resources. Chapter 6 Question 1 After considering the various types of digital technologies presented in this chapter, what three pieces of equipment do you think you would most want for your future or current classroom? Explain why you selected these three and how you would use them for teaching and learning. My school has a pretty strict cellphone policy. I wish that students would be able to utilize their smartphones regularly in my classroom. I taught an Economics class this past semester and I was granted special permission for the students to play a stock market game in my class. In order to play the game, I had to create a virtual classroom that the students had to sign in to and then they were given virtual money that they had to spend in the stock market. The stock prices in the game mirrored the prices in real life so when the prices changed in New York on the trade floor we were able to see the new prices live in my classroom. Needless to say that my students had a lot of fun with this game, and I wish that we were able to do more with mobile devices. I would love if our school was able to give me a classroom set of tables or laptops. I would also like to have clickers in my classroom. I hate to ask questions to my class as a whole because the same kids will raise their hands over and over. The kids who need to be answering or trying to figure out the question or either to shy or afraid that they will be made fun of if they get the answer wrong. With clickers, the students are able to answer anonymously and instantaneously. With immediate feedback I would be able to see how I needed to alter my lesson if students were struggling on a certain portion or if they had mastered a section faster than anticipated. I would also like to be able to have microphone and speaker system in my classroom. My room still has two large window units that when turned on high in the summer and winter months can be very noisy, especially for students who sit in the back of the room. I would love to be able to speak and have all the students in my classroom hear me clearly and equally. It would also help for when I showed content at the front of the class on the screen. Students would be able to clearly hear what was happening on the screen. Chapter 1 Question 2
Lifelong learning is not just a teacher preference; it is also a requirement for maintaining state certification. Technology literacy courses and workshops are some of the most popular learning experiences for certificate extension and renewal. Do you believe that taking additional courses in technology literacy is as important as those for your content or discipline? Is too much emphasis being placed on developing and maintaining technology competency? Defend your view. I believe that technology literacy courses are just as important if not more important for teachers looking to take courses for certification renewal or extension. Technology changes every day. My wife and I were discussing in the car yesterday how iPods were just becoming popular and you were considered the cool kid if you knew how to burn your own cd’s. It has only been a few years, but that time has left us. We have moved on to streaming music with Spotify, Pandora, etc. What I am trying to get at is that technology is always changing, for instance, today’s classrooms are considered outdated if they do not have a smartboard and overhead projector in the room, and it is up to us teachers to keep up with the times and learn how to implement this new technology in our classrooms. Chapter 2 Question 1 Imagine that you are going to teach a unit about Christopher Columbus to the grade level of your choice. What strategies immediately come to mind as good possibilities for teaching this unit? What relationship can you discern between how you might want to teach this unit and your learning or cognitive style? Describe how you think your own personal style might affect your teaching styles. What lessons can you draw from this realization when you teach your diverse students? My cognitive style is very much that of an “Thinking Introvert” According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) I am a learner who is most interest in the inner world of concepts and ideas and make decisions on the basis of objectively analyzing facts. I am also very much a visual learner. I need to see something in order to learn it. Though I am a visual learner, a lot of the lessons that I teach are lecture-heavy which would appeal to the auditory learners. In order to compensate for the visual learners, I always try to have notes, pictures, paintings, etc. on the board while I talk. I generally try to include a short video related to the lesson. I find that many of my students can remember the short documentaries or cartoons much better than their notes or my lecture. I believe that is because the students have been conditioned to learn from television since most of them have grown up watching it. If I were to teach a lesson on Christopher Columbus, I would try to incorporate different elements into my lesson to engage all of my students. I would appease my auditory learners by lecturing to the class the story of Christopher Columbus. I would be sure to have pictures on the board of his three ships, the Native Americans, etc., as well a short clip in order keep my visual engaged. In order to reach my kinesthetic learners, I would teach them the Christopher Columbus song/poem. To this day, whenever I think of Christopher Columbus the words, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” still pop into my head. Chapter 3 Question 2 To effectively design instruction with technologies, a number of instructional design models are used in education. After reading this chapter, discuss the Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) model with the focus on its five steps. Step 1: Know the Learner The first step in the Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) model means the teacher must design his or her instruction in order to meet the needs of his or her students. Teachers should be aware of their students learning and cognitive styles. For example, some students my be auditory learners and others may be visual learners. It is also important to know which students are gifted or have special needs and/or accommodations. Step 2: State Your Objectives This step is to help the teacher identify what outcomes they hope to have after the lesson is completed. The teacher needs to be able to answer what standards and content they will cover. This step is important because it helps teachers and students stay focused during lessons because they know what should be covered by the end of the lesson. This step sets the expectations for students. Step 3: Identify Teaching and Learning Strategies This step establishes what teaching and learning strategies will be utilized during the lesson. Teaching strategies are the procedures the teacher will use to help students achieve objectives. Learning strategies determine what your students need to do in order to achieve the objectives. Step 4: Identify and Select Technologies This step can often be included in Step 3. However, our book points out that it is important to select support technologies after a strategy is created. It is important for teachers to pick which strategy they want to use and then pick an appropriate support technology to support the teaching strategy and not vice versa. Step 5: Assess and Revise The last step of the DID model is the assess and revise your plan. Creating a strategy for a lesson is just like writing a paper, there is always room for improvement. This step will be completed after the assessment for the lesson is completed. The teacher will look at the results of the assessments and see how well the students did and try to figure out what could be done differently in order to improve student mastery. Greetings, my name is William Thompson. I am a Secondary Education major at the University of Southern Mississippi. I currently hold a Bachelor's degree in history and am pursuing my Master's degree in Secondary Education.
I am a teacher at Newton County High School. I have just completed my second year of teaching there. This past year I was a 9th grade U.S. Government and Economics teacher. I have had a lot of experience with online courses. I have taken numerous online classes as an undergraduate and graduate student, but with that being said, I am not a tech savvy person when it comes to computers. However I do have sufficient skills in Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. I use these two programs extensively in my classroom. When it comes to online courses, I have used Canvas, Blackboard among other sites. I have had to communicate through different means such as email, discussion boards, and the in-site messaging tool. My favorite way of communicating would have to be the in-site messaging as it is on the same site where I can see my assignments and I am able to constantly check and see what messages I may have received. I like to try to incorporate technology into my classroom, but the extent of my technology prowess is to embed a Youtube video into a powerpoint. Governemt and/or Economics can be tedious subjects. Therefore I like to try to keep my students engaged in the lesson by lecturing anywhere from 15-20 minutes and then taking a brain break for my students where I try to either have a fun and engaging activity prepared or have short fun video for my students to watch. The current generation of students are not able to focus longer than a short span so I try to keep my lessons ever-changing in order to keep students engaged. |
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