Monday, April 16, 2012

Journal #9

Pape, L., Sheehan, T., & Worrell, C. (2012). How to do more with less. Learning and Leading, 39(6), 18-21. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx


Summary:
In this article it talks about how to use free technology tool is the classroom while also using the blending or face-to-face time with teachers and students. This article relates to our class right now because it brings up all the useful tools to use in a classroom and online so to help each other on research or questions that a student needs or has. Diigo, Prezi, Comic Strip, and google docs were all a part of the articles useful tool guides. Teachers demonstrated how they use these tools in their classroom and how it also helped to bring more face-to-face time in the classroom as well. One of the newest tools I discovered was the three-ring binder and how the teacher can share information, pictures, and websites to student through this internet tool. I think it is great and would use it for my student so that it eliminates wasted time in class when students are asking for helpful resources. 


Question 1: What technology tool can I use in my classroom that will be fun and get to the point at the same time?


I would like to use the Comic Strip and the Three-Ring Binder internet tools to successfully run any classroom. By using the Comic strip I can let students highlight main points in a story or in an assignment that can predict and outcome or highlight the main characteristics. By using the Three-Ring Binder tool I will be able to give useful points, pictures, and resources to my students at home instead of in the classroom, which will give myself more class time and my students more resources without time wasted.


Question 2: What is blended teaching and flipped classroom? and why are both important to the students and myself ?


Blended teaching is when teachers use digital content to enhance and transform the learning process. It uses the best of both worlds by using a wherever and whenever approach that helps each students individual learning needs. Flipped classroom instruction lets the student become familiar with material at home instead of in class. By doing this it lets the student work on a project or an online database at home and at the same time gives them practice to learn at a pace on how to utilize it. It also lets the teacher use videos to demonstrate a lesson to a student, that way the student can watch it as many times until they understand

Journal #8

Communication

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is considered all forms of communication that excludes oral speech.It is a way to communicate the feelings of a person who either is hearing or oral speech impaired. A few examples of AAC are writing, facial expressions, drawing pictures, or communication aid tools.

One low tech tool to assist special needs students through the communication process is the BIGmack. The BIGmack can record any single message directly into the communicator and can press its activation surface for playback up to two minutes in length. BIGmack is for persons with visual impairments or who require a larger target area. This communicator can be good for the classroom whenever a student needs to communicate to use the bathroom, or "will be right back," and it can help students to communicate with each other. It is a very simple tool but also resourceful to communicate small notions or phrases.




One high tech tool to assist students with special needs and can be used for the communication process is the Chat PC 4. The Chat PC 4 contains features for adapting the vocabulary with specific communication needs of the individual using the device. The Mayer Johnson PCS symbols and the Imagine symbols are included for customizing and creating your own pages. You can also use the included DestktopChat software to create pages and to import photos and other images from a computer. ChatPC-4 also contains pre-programmed starter vocabulary sets.

Accessibility

An input device is any device that provides input to a computer. The two most common input devices are a keyboard and mouse. Every key you press on the keyboard and every movement or click you make with the mouse sends a specific input signal to the computer. These commands allow you to open programs, type messages, drag objects, and perform many other functions on your computer.




One software input technology device that is an apple program is Proloquo2go. Proloquo2go is for those who have experienced from birth cerebral palsy, autism, apraxia, developmental disabilities or conditions that came later in life, such as ALS, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. This program can be used in the classroom with an iPad, iPod, or Mac computer or outside of the classroom, which makes it easier for the student to adapt have usage to it. The device helps to communicate phrases, construct stories, talk to peers, and customize their speech.












One hardware input technology device is the braille keyboard. the braille keyboard is for sight impaired persons who need help with writing or using the internet through a keyboard. The keyboard has a separate key for each letter and also has a dot device that helps guide the typing to the next letter or word.

Other blogs:

Gina

Robert

Monday, April 2, 2012

Journal 7

A PLN is a personal learning network and a personal learning network is a collection of data and contacts through the Internet to help gain knowledge in a certain area. This PLN is going to help my future career in teaching. Included in my PLN is useful websites such as Twitter and Diigo but I am also using tools like Google and Blogger sites to help get easier and faster information for teaching. Using these tools are only my stepping stone to find better internet sources through the web. Ideas and information are endless and my PLN can only build to be bigger and more useful through these amazing Internet tools.

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables people from around the globe to communicate about anything. I have started to build a network through teachers, students, and people in the educational field. By doing this it has let me start my ever so great PLN. There are different criteria to gain valuable information such as hashtags, which lets someone communicate about a subject and then let other people who are also interested in that research to see all the resources about it. Hashtags can be defined as a tag embedded in a message in a social networking service, consisting of a word within the message prefixed with a hash sign. Whenever I tweet I am able to let other people who are following me see what my ideas are and the same thing goes for when I follow people. I have started to follow a few educators and principals who have gave me some valuable news and information already. More specifically I started to follow one principle who works at New Milford High School, he is a Google Certified Teacher, and is a NASSP Ntional Digital Principle Award Winner and goes by the name Eric Sheninger. I am also following classmates from my EDUC 422 class as well as my Professor Jeff Heil. There are also chat rooms which let me see what people have questions about all at one set time. The chat room I attended was #edchat on April 9 at 4:45 and the subject they were on was the power of reflection. It was good to enter into this chat because I was able to see what educators were concerned about and how reflection can help educators gain a journal of success. From the chat I learned that reflecting on your thoughts is a useful tool to help become positively involved with students. I also think that my blog is a good way for me to reflect on what I can do better and see my progress in my PLN and career as an educator.

A big part of PLN that I am most interested in using is Diigo. Diigo is a social bookmarking application that lets myself and others share information on the web to each other but by giving each other the direct source. The difference between Diigo bookmarks and your personal bookmarks is that it is out there for everyone to use and for you to also gain more. I can also follow people such as my professor, classmates, and other people who I have interest in gaining material from. This contributed to my PLN by putting relevant information that is available to me with a simple search. Some of the websites I have bookmarked is Connected Principles website, which let me see what Principles are doing to keep up with digital tools and giving these tools out for everyone to use. Wiki's in Education, which lets educators come together to share tips about using wikis to enhance the learning experience. And I also bookmarked Classroom 2.0, which is a collaborative social website for educators who are interested in Social Media, and Participative Technologies in the classroom.

I joined the Educator's PLN, which is the personal learning network for educators. It is a site that contains collaborative information. I had to sign up and be approves to become a part of the group, this lets me and others become exclusive from those who are spammers or trying to send junk mail and information to the website. This tool has blogs, videos, and information relevant to education. I explored a video on KONY 2012, which is a popular upbringing to all of us to stop a man in Uganda that has been kidnapping children to become vicious young soldiers or prostitutes. This video is suppose to help start a new era where the social network will help to catch Joseph Kony. This video helps me understand just how big social networking is and what other educators are doing and thinking about news such as this topic on Joseph Kony.

Journal #6

Vaidyanathan, S. (2012). Fostering creativity and innovation through technology. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(6), 24-27. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx

Summary:
The article talks about how digital art can help build creative thinkers and engage a class useful free online tools. There are many tools to have a class interested in making digital art an one of them is Scratch, which lets students create an online game. For students, it is good to utilize class material learned in class at home and be able to have fun with it as well. The article also brings up how students like when they draw something and can erase easily because there are not big mistakes and using too much paper or resources. Although it is not sticking to traditional art it at least lets the students be able to have creativity in the classroom without worrying about a budget. Lastly, digital design is made up of a blend of engineering, mathematics, science, and art. All of these subject can be used through one digital art program that may let the student use 3D engineering or a geometric shape in a video game while also calculating the corners of each shape and edge in that particular design.

Question #1: How will I use digital art in the classroom and what kind of tools could I use to implement standards as well as creativity?

I would let students create video games and digital art in some of my class time so that their creativity can be used to enhance their thinking in the classroom. By using these tools it is fun for the student to not only do it in class but also at home, which saves my class time as well as making them interested in what they're  learning in school. This can also implement standards by having them use not only art but math and science by creating shapes and different patterns while having their own uniqueness and making it fun.

Question #2: Why is it important to get students ready for AP science courses or STEM project at an early age? How will this help them in the future?

It is good to challenge students to learn real technology and not the typical drag this image and drop it here. A digital design tool can help students realize that technology is relevant and exciting in elementary school levels. It helps to show students what is out there and want more that also give them a safe place to experiment and be creative. This can help them to not be scared in the future about the sciences or math in later school years. It will also help to make the AP courses and STEM projects less difficult and more fun.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Journal #5

Pape, L., Sheehan, T., & Worrell, C. (2012). How to do more with less. Learning and Leading, 39(6), 18-21. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx


Summary:
In this article it talks about how to use free technology tool is the classroom while also using the blending or face-to-face time with teachers and students. This article relates to our class right now because it brings up all the useful tools to use in a classroom and online so to help each other on research or questions that a student needs or has. Diigo, Prezi, Comic Strip, and google docs were all a part of the articles useful tool guides. Teachers demonstrated how they use these tools in their classroom and how it also helped to bring more face-to-face time in the classroom as well. One of the newest tools I discovered was the three-ring binder and how the teacher can share information, pictures, and websites to student through this internet tool. I think it is great and would use it for my student so that it eliminates wasted time in class when students are asking for helpful resources. 


Question 1: What technology tool can I use in my classroom that will be fun and get to the point at the same time?


I would like to use the Comic Strip and the Three-Ring Binder internet tools to successfully run any classroom. By using the Comic strip I can let students highlight main points in a story or in an assignment that can predict and outcome or highlight the main characteristics. By using the Three-Ring Binder tool I will be able to give useful points, pictures, and resources to my students at home instead of in the classroom, which will give myself more class time and my students more resources without time wasted.


Question 2: What is blended teaching and flipped classroom? and why are both important to the students and myself ?


Blended teaching is when teachers use digital content to enhance and transform the learning process. It uses the best of both worlds by using a wherever and whenever approach that helps each students individual learning needs. Flipped classroom instruction lets the student become familiar with material at home instead of in class. By doing this it lets the student work on a project or an online database at home and at the same time gives them practice to learn at a pace on how to utilize it. It also lets the teacher use videos to demonstrate a lesson to a student, that way the student can watch it as many times until they understand  the instructions. 

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Journal #4

Campbell, O. L. (2012). If you give a kid a video camera.. Learning and leading with technology, 37(8), 30-33. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/February-2012.aspx

(Summary)
The article explains how video can help students reflect and learn in almost all subjects in school. A video camera or iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc.. can all be effective tools for students to grow in a subject and it can help speed up the process of learning. Bringing video can also let students evaluate each other on an area they are messing up in and how another peer can help them and be able to see where they are having difficulties. I never though a video could help in the classroom so much and for some of the topic like science it is an essential tool to make learning fun. children will cling to technology, and luckily a video is a very helpful tool for children. 

Q1: How can I use video in my classroom? and what subjects would I most likely use it for?
I would use video for letting students reflect and evaluate their own mistakes or successful projects so that it can help their peers understand an area they may be gray in. I would like to use video for science and social studies because both of those subjects need reflection in order to to get to the next step or put together the information together as a whole. 

Q2: How will I be able to provide a video camera to each student? and how could I fix the issue of no budget for video cameras?
 I will not be able to provide a video camera of some sort to each student so I would make the students who do have one group with those that dont. I would let the student who owns the camera to only use it themselves that way they are not risking any damage to their own property. If no students have a camera I will see if the school can provide me with at least one and make the class use it as a whole on a project. 

Journal #3

Krauss, J. (2012). More than words can say infographics. Learning and leading with technology, 38(7), 10-13. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/February-2012.aspx

(Summary)

In the article it starts out to describe what infographics are and how can they be used visually. It would good to know that people learn from visual graphics and that it can also help create statistics for students which lead them to help interpret statistics more successful.  I liked the example of how a students used infographics for research on why Colorado has the best skiing and using other information like airports, cost, and travel to get there. By doing this I think it really help students understand a topic much better and lets them do the research at the same time.

Q1: How can use infographics in the classroom?
I would use them by having the students pick a topic they like for the subject I am working on in the class. It can be politics, art, leisure, etc.. then have them so research on that topic and create graphs that are both easy for them to understand and their audience. I want students to see how important it is to get information from valuable sources and real life evaluations.

Q2: How have students and teachers used infographics for information they once needed and did not realize it?
From personal experience I use infographics and see them often in public and on ratings. It is crazy how much infograhics are relevant through T.V ratings, music, entertainment, and politics. I would like the classroom to look back at a time that they used a visual graphic to judge something or get a sense of how good a product or argument it really was. My example would be on Ovation Cell Therapy treatment for hair. I remember I went online to see how other leading brands compare to that one and it let me see percentages and feedback on which product is best to use and why.