Reflective Post

Over the course of this mini summer semester in EME2040 I have learned many useful things to carry into journey of becoming a teacher. I think the textbook was one of the best resources I had. I think out of all the assignments we did, the WebQuest was the best. It helps inspire students who are having a difficult time to achieve their goals.  It is also a great tool to use to keep everyone “in the loop” i.e. parents, students, and teachers. It was also fun to make! You can pull the official website by clicking here! If you are unsure how to make a WebQuest, watch this YouTube video. It will go over that website and show you how to make your own! 

The WebQuest showed me how to create a lesson plan on the internet, so a student can do it as many times as they would like, wherever they like.

Even though I did not complete the Instructional Wiki, I believe it was an important assignment because it can be used in a classroom setting along with at home for the teacher and students. It gives the student additional resources in one place. It is a great tool to have so students can coordinate with each other to work together and practice.

The Lesson Plan I believe would have been better as an individual or partner project. I think it was to chaotic to get four people to do it. Fortunately, when we did it, there was only three people working on it, so it was easy to break up and  assign who did what.

The discussion boards we did throughout the semester was very useful. I was able  review the entire book and pull out the parts that I found interesting and useful to me. It showed me important ways how to make the time in the classroom effective for the students, how to assist people who are in ESE or ELL, and how to work will students with disabilities and gifted students. 

During this class, I learned many different tools that would be helpful in the classroom. The list below are some of the tools I used.

• Weebly-- Website builder
• Blogger-- Blog creator
• Delicious-- Bookmark websites
• WebQuest-- Create instructional website
• There are many others but these four were my favorite.

After this semester, I learned how to integrate technology in with my teaching. I believe there are many ways to help students learn through technology. To me, this is only the beginning, I can not wait to see what my career in teaching holds in store for me!

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #F--Chapters 11 & 12

There are three things from chapters 11 and 12 that I would like to further discuss.

Click this link and see what they are! :)

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

https://app.emaze.com/@ALZFQLWL/digital-blog-post-f

Digital Blog Post #E- Chapters 4 & 9

The three things from Chapters 4 and 9 I want to further explore and reflect on are:

1. Student performance rubrics
2. PowerPoints
3. Photography

Click on my story to see what it is about these three topics I found interesting!

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

http://storybird.com/books/eme2040-digital-blog-post-e/?token=3wcmh5atct

DIGITAL BLOG POST #D - CHAPTERS 6 & 10

The three things from Chapters 6 and 10 I want to further explore and reflect on are:

1. Social Bookmarking
2. Interactive technology
3. Calculators

• Social bookmarking is way of marking one thing from one computer and accessing it from another computer. You can have public bookmarks or private ones.  Once you mark something, you have access to any information you need from that topic.

• Interactive technology is coming a long way. For example, Whiteboards and chalkboards have turned into SmartBoards. SmartBoards are a very good tool for teachers. There are so many things that a teacher use this from, PowerPoints to accessing the internet. 

• I also want to look at the different types of calculators. Basic calculators that simply do the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, Graphing calculators, where you can plug equations into it and it will show what the graph will look at. There are also other devices that can do functions, simple or complicated. Because I am going to become a math teacher, I will be around different types of calculators, and cannot wait to see what they are going to come up with next! 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #C - Chapters 7 & 8

The three things from Chapters seven and eight I would like to further explore and reflect on are:

1) Learning with Computer Games
2) Communication using Texting/Emailing
3)Creating a Teaching Blog

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.



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DIGITAL BLOG POST #B - CHAPTERS 3 & 5

The three things from Chapters three and five that I would like to further explore and reflect on are:

1) How technology opens a window for creativity
2) How technology makes new patterns of communication
3) How to evaluate online 

To start off with this blog, I would like to talk about how technology opens a large window for creativity. It states in the book, "Transforming Learning with New Technology" that computers transform the process of expressing one's ideas using writing. Because of technology, writers have multiple ways of publishing their work. They can publish it through a hardback book, e-book, blog, etc. Technology may not affect everyone, but it does significantly help those studying graphic designers, scientists, and even people in mathematics.

Another way technology helps creativity, is that it opens an easy window to communicate with multiple people at the same time in different areas of the world. They can collaborate their ideas with each other to come up with a bigger and better idea with at a quick pace.

With that being said, technology opens a very large window for communications with students. They can now talk to each other when doing group projects, or even get help, from the comfort of their home. Today, kids are constantly on their phones or the computers. This can help keep students engaged in the work they are doing and make things more interesting for them. Students that are interested in their work tend to do more, and succeed in what they are doing.

Are you ready? Sure you are! (n.d.). Retrieved 2015

When students get assignments that require online sources, there may be some websites that are not very accurate, or reliable. The book also states the four categories internet content can be put under and they are, misinformation, malinformation, messed-up information, and mostly useless information. Websites like wikipedia.com, is a very good example of one that is not very reliable because anyone can change the content of it. You just have to make sure you pay attention to everything online, and know that you can not always believe everything you read online!

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #A - Chapters 1 & 2

The three things from Chapters one and two that I would like to further explore and reflect on are:

1) how technology affects students in their everyday experiences inside and outside the classroom
2) how technology can engage students during lessons and
3) is there a way to disconnect from the technology being used.

First off, technology is everywhere. No matter where you look someone is using a form of technology, whether it be a phone, tablet, or computer, etc... It changes the way children are being raised and taught. In the book "Transforming Learning with New Technologies," it states that children ages 8-18 are members in the iGeneration. This means they have grown up using computers and other technologies during their everyday lifestyle. I mean think about it, when you are out at dinner with your family, how many children do you see on their phone instead of socializing with their family. It is amazing how much technology has gotten to people.



Now talking about inside the classroom, what do you think happens? Do you think teachers ignore the fact that their students are on the phone all the time? Do you think they try to incorporate the new technologies into their teaching?  Some teachers have gotten to the point to where they are incorporating the cell phones into the lessons. For example, I had a college professor who during the lesson had a survey for us to do and we had to text our answers in and we all saw what answer was picked as it was being picked. It could even be as simple as having students go home and search information on the computer.

Lastly, is there any way to stop using the technology in front of us? Or at least limit it? My opinion is no. I think it is too late for that. I think it has gotten to the point where it is prominent no matter where you go. Teachers all have Smart Boards in their classrooms. Technology will always be around and always improving. I think we have to come to terms with that because if we do not, then we will not be able to keep up with what is going on in the world around us.