Looking Back at 6710

Before this course I have never ever blogged, created a Wiki, or created a Podcast. I am so happy that I have learned these new technologies so that I can start to implement them into my classroom. It will take time and baby steps for me to do this because I need to feel 100% confident in my own skills before I teach my students. I currently have started a Wiki page and am working on developing a blog page for my students. We have discussed possible applications for using a Podcast in our classroom and are going to wait to start a big project up like that once our testing is done in January.

I have always used and implemented technology inside of my classroom. Now that I have learned about new ideas it will be easier for me to allow my students to explore more and figure information out on their own. Being able to have a Wiki page or a Blog is a great way for the students to explore information on their own and express their ideas without the feeling of being wrong. They can become the teacher and we can become the student. I love the idea of having the student be a teacher and teach their fellow classmates a skill that they have learned and developed at a mastery level.

Technology can help your classroom transform from having a teacher centered learning approach to a learner centered approach. The students can do their own research on topics that interest them and present them to the class once they become an expert.

I plan on keeping up with my personal blog as well as interacting with other educators via the blog to keep up to date with issues involving education. This course has opened up my eyes to a new world of educational issues. It is a nice feeling knowing that there are other teachers who share the same opinions that I do and are not afraid to express it. I plan on doing professional develop courses throughout the year to keep me up to date with new things happening in the world of education. Lastly, I love reading about technology and the importance that it has on education. I want to keep on reading educational articles, books, and online resources that pertain to technology.

I want all of my students to have personal computers at their homes so that they are able to blog and wiki at their convenience. If I am going to require my students to participate in blog or wiki entries, they need to be able to access this from their homes. I am currently asking for community support and fund raisers to help get my students computers. I just received confirmation that I will be getting 50 computers with one year free internet access for our 6th graders. This is a program that I wish to keep up year after year. Another thing that I want to accomplish is to have my classroom become a technology centered. I want to master using blogs, wikis, and podcasts inside of my classroom so that my students feel comfortable. That would be such a great transformation for me and my students. It would give the students a sense of pride and ownership over their own learning. Of course, money and lack of resources are always going to hinder technology advancement in an inner city school district.

Before this course, I thought that using PowerPoint and doing lessons on the Smart Board was integrating technology into the classroom. Now that I sit here and think about this course, they are tools of technology but it does not mean that I implemented technology into my classroom if I just simply put a PowerPoint together and show it on my Smart Board.

This was a very interesting course for me. I have learned a lot of skills and different technologies that I will need to master for myself before I get my students involved.

Technology Podcast

I conducted four interviews with students in my class pertaining to their usage of technology inside and outside of school. I asked each student the same questions, but I chose different things from each student.

Before I conducted my interviews, I thought that the students would all have computers at home, access to the Internet, and all have cell phones. Each student did have them, but some of their answers shocked my in regards to how they viewed the use of technology inside of the school.

I hope that you enjoy listening to the podcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAcsEyO7JNo

WoW! Here Comes The 21st Century Skills!

Incredible. Interesting. Impressive. Exciting. Confusing. These are the first words that came to mind once I began to maneuver myself around the 21st Century Skills website. The first thing that caught my attention was on the left hand corner of their website:

“The leading advocacy organization
infusing 21st century skills into education.”

Do they ever. Their vision and mission feels like they actually care about what is going on in the world of education. Many times you hear the governor and state school leaders of your area talking about what they plan to do in order to help your school and teachers out but nothing ever becomes of it. It seems like this is almost too good to be true where you have a company of people who devote time to helping educators do their job with the technology and resources that they need.

It is surprising to me that there are not more states that are involved with this website. This makes me wonder why? I teach in one of the best states or so they say, New York, and why is New York not apart of this partnership?

Confusion sets in for me when it comes to exactly what does the Partnership for the 21st Century (P21) do for you and your school system? I have seen many different exciting and magnificent acknowledgments of the website, but what does the partnership do for you? Do they give you lesson plans or ideas on what you should be teaching or how you should be teaching it?

As educators, we all know that the future is going to be technology based and we need to start teaching our students various ways to make themselves ready for the work world.

P21 foundation furthers the already known; we need to be aware of technological advances and connections between business’ in the community and school are extremely important.

Don't we already do this without P21?

Creating partnerships …
Implementing technology …

I think that most of our schools already do …

HOWEVER

incorporating P21 would make the process a lot easier and painless!

P21st Mission statement

Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders.

Is this too good to be true?
Why isn’t ever state apart of this program?

See for yourself, visit http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php

Using Blogs As A Teaching Tool

There are a couple of ideas that came to my mind how I would / could use a blog in my classroom. I teach the 6th grade which covers all areas. Writing is one thing that my students struggle with, so I thought of some ideas that I could use blogs for. I feel that blogging could help the students become more focused and care more about their work. It also might be a good way to motivate and develop interest in a subject that might not be their favorite.

The first idea was for them to search through blogs online to help them try and determine the difference between fact and opinion. They would have to figure out how to come up with supporting evidence of their choice.

The students could also find a website that they could use to help them prepare a persuasive essay. It would give them background knowledge to use in their preparation.

Once the students have concluded each of their responses to either one of the activities they will be able to post their responses online for the rest of the class / myself to see. This will enable conversations between the students outside of school. Not only will I / the rest of the class be able to see their responses, the rest of the world would / could be able to respond to their answers. This might empower the students to take more time and pride in their answers knowing that any online web user will be able to see what they are writing.

Once all of their work is done, it could possibly make them happy to publish their work online for all to see. Pride and respect may be gained upon posting.

First Time Blogger!

This is my first blog ever! I am trying to figure this whole blog thing out and cannot wait to become an expert. I am trying new things with my blog so I am sorry for some of the things online that are not exactly what we are doing with Walden. Please feel free to make comments and give me any ideas on how to make my blog better!

Determining What To Use in School?

Who gets to determine which websites should be allowed in a school district? I have had some students wondering why we were unable to access YouTube or Facebook within the school? These are two of the websites that come to mind that could be an amazing teaching tool if utilized in the appropriate manner. On the other hand, there are many things that could possibly go wrong with the use of the Internet.

I am wondering who gets to make the choices on which websites are allowed for the use of the school? Where do they get their information from and who do they have to get it approved by?