I-Search 2.0 Presentation
Monday, December 2, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Search Journal #2
Search Journal #2
I-Search 2.0
In my continued search for ways that I can bring social media into the classroom, I wanted to focus more on how to involve parents using social media. There are quite a few options available now than there were when I was in school. First off, the internet was brand new and almost no one used it. Now, it's everywhere.
So many parents have busy lives and technology has supported them in staying connected while on the go. One more way that parents can stay connected is to what is happening in their child's classroom. In order to explore how to keep parent's involved in social media, I expanded my search to Edutopia. I simply decided to search 'social media' to see where it would take me.
One of the first resources I found was the guide on "How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School." Knowing that social media can be a tricky frontier to navigate, I decided that this would be a good place to start. Integrating social media into a school comes with the great responsibility of doing it correctly. So much can go wrong, it is important to have guidelines in place to protect students, parents, and ourselves as educators.
I also found a blog "Bringing Parents and Guardians into Your PBL Projects" that discusses just one of the ways to involve parents in their child's classroom. Sites such as Edmodo and Twitter can make it easier to make parents a part of the classroom environment, even if they are not able to be in the classroom physically. I also found the blog "Helping Parents Embrace Social Media to Stay Connected in the Classroom."
From these new resources, I'm finding that social media can be used to share and communicate via documents (GoogleDocs), showcasing student work using Instagram, keeping a running commentary of classroom events via Twitter or Edmodo, or even creating a class website where parents can keep tabs on what is happening and what resources are available for them to use.
I-Search 2.0
In my continued search for ways that I can bring social media into the classroom, I wanted to focus more on how to involve parents using social media. There are quite a few options available now than there were when I was in school. First off, the internet was brand new and almost no one used it. Now, it's everywhere.
So many parents have busy lives and technology has supported them in staying connected while on the go. One more way that parents can stay connected is to what is happening in their child's classroom. In order to explore how to keep parent's involved in social media, I expanded my search to Edutopia. I simply decided to search 'social media' to see where it would take me.
One of the first resources I found was the guide on "How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School." Knowing that social media can be a tricky frontier to navigate, I decided that this would be a good place to start. Integrating social media into a school comes with the great responsibility of doing it correctly. So much can go wrong, it is important to have guidelines in place to protect students, parents, and ourselves as educators.
I also found a blog "Bringing Parents and Guardians into Your PBL Projects" that discusses just one of the ways to involve parents in their child's classroom. Sites such as Edmodo and Twitter can make it easier to make parents a part of the classroom environment, even if they are not able to be in the classroom physically. I also found the blog "Helping Parents Embrace Social Media to Stay Connected in the Classroom."
From these new resources, I'm finding that social media can be used to share and communicate via documents (GoogleDocs), showcasing student work using Instagram, keeping a running commentary of classroom events via Twitter or Edmodo, or even creating a class website where parents can keep tabs on what is happening and what resources are available for them to use.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Search Journal
I-Search 2.0 Search Journal Entries
What I have been finding about using social media technology in the classroom...
Today I joined Connected Educators. From what I found, I wasn't very impressed with what it had to offer. Maybe I just wasn't navigating it properly but the groups that were available didn't have many forums or resources available for me to explore. After this, I decided to go to a different social media sight that I have more familiarity in exploring....
What I have been finding about using social media technology in the classroom...
Today I joined Connected Educators. From what I found, I wasn't very impressed with what it had to offer. Maybe I just wasn't navigating it properly but the groups that were available didn't have many forums or resources available for me to explore. After this, I decided to go to a different social media sight that I have more familiarity in exploring....
I love Pinterest. I love crafts, cooking, and DIY projects. Pinterest lets me explore new ways to do these things that I love. I also am crazy about the fact that Pinterest can be a great resource for teachers. To get started, I searched "education communities" and up popped a list of the available boards to follow. I chose to follow: Connection to Collaboration, Personalized Learning, and Social Media.
The one I was instantly drawn to the most is the Social Media board. Something I began thinking about for this research project was "How can I implement social media/communication in our classroom more?" While my mentor teacher told me that he usually has the students write out class articles (each student shares something they learned during the week) which he puts into an email newsletter with some pictures from throughout the week, what if there was a way that I could create a classroom website where families could keep up with what we're doing and learning in the classroom.
With all of the tools that are available for social media, this is why I was drawn to this board in particular. I found a 'pin' which gives 10 Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom and leads you to a teacher blog. I absolutely love this idea! Some suggestions from it are to create a class-only Instagram account that the families can access - but I could also see this being used to upload photos to a website too.
I also found a resource about using Social Media Icebreakers in the classroom. This link again led me to the same teacher blog as the Instagram site. While it isn't using actual technology, it is using technology inspired methods of having students introduce themselves. By creating a classroom "Facebook" bulletin board, it gives students the opportunity to share information about themselves with each other - especially when it is a completely new class.
For the final resource on Social Media in the classroom, I chose a 'pin' that give tips on Engaging Parents via Social Media. Lo and behold, when I followed the link, it took me to the same teacher blog as my first two resources. This initial exploration of Pinterest has not only given me some technology issues to look into, but also directed me to a new resource to explore... the We are Teachers blog site.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Blog Post #7 - Website Reflection
Over the last several weeks, we have worked on implementing interactive websites that focus on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. For mine and Brianna's website, we created a supportive website for "The Masque of the Red Death." When designing this website, we took several factors into consideration.
First, we considered what the goals of the assignment were for the students in Mr. Mattson's class. In the weeks prior to using our website, the students were reading "The Raven" and learning to use plot diagrams to develop an understanding of literary methods Poe uses in his writing. They were then supposed to do the same for "The Masque of the Red Death" and our specific goals for the students using our website were:
Over the last several weeks, we have worked on implementing interactive websites that focus on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. For mine and Brianna's website, we created a supportive website for "The Masque of the Red Death." When designing this website, we took several factors into consideration.
First, we considered what the goals of the assignment were for the students in Mr. Mattson's class. In the weeks prior to using our website, the students were reading "The Raven" and learning to use plot diagrams to develop an understanding of literary methods Poe uses in his writing. They were then supposed to do the same for "The Masque of the Red Death" and our specific goals for the students using our website were:
1) Recognize and analyze how literary devices are used
to establish the story's tone and mood.
2) Analyze how symbolism is used in this short story
by Edgar Allan Poe.
Along with building a supportive, interactive website, we elicited feedback from both the students and our peers in how successful the website was in getting the students to those goals. For student perspective, we created this form which asks them to rate how helpful the website was, how easy it was to navigate, and we also included a few questions which encouraged the students to reflect on their own comprehension by making connections between "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Raven." I was less concerned with how positive the student feedback on our website was and more interested in their reflections on their interaction with the website.
From the peer feedback, we were able to make revisions to the website prior to its launch and structure it in a more friendly manner for the students. Mr. Mattson also had feedback for us which was helpful as he knows the students we would be working with and what would work best for them as learners.
UDL GUIDELINES DEVELOPMENT
When designing our website and goals for this assignment, we took the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines into consideration. A tool which my partner and I used in the early development stages was the UDL Educator Worksheet. While we focused on many of the UDL Guidelines, I felt that the ones we were most successful in addressing were:
I - Multiple Means of Representation:
- 1- Options for Perception
- 1.2 - Auditory Representation and 1.3 - Visual Representation. We included a narrated video of a reading of "The Masque of the Red Death" that, in addition to the text e-book, students could choose to listen to the story and read along with the words.
- 2 - Options for Language
- 2.1 - Clarification, 2.3 - Decoding of Text, 2.5 - Multiple Medias. We pulled some of the more complex vocabulary that Poe uses in this story and provided definitions and flash cards as an option for student use. We also read through the story several times on our own and provided guiding questions for students to read as they read the story. Asking questions while reading is very important to comprehension.
- 5 - Options for Expression and Communication
- 5.1 - Multiple Medias for Communication - Poe used a lot of symbolic language and his representation of the Seven Rooms was deeper than just the decoration. We provided a page which gave an image of one of the Seven Rooms (there was so much artwork inspired by this story) and a description of what the color and room placement symbolized.
III - Multiple Means of Engagement
- 9 - Options for Self-Regulation
- 9.3 - Self-Assessment and Reflection. By providing a feedback form that not only let us know how we did in creating an interactive website, we also asked the students (as part of the form) to reflect on their understanding and connection to the story. Their comprehension was the goal of this reading and I felt that their feedback let us know we had supported their learning in multiple ways.
FINAL THOUGHTS & REFLECTION
Some guiding questions we focused on were:
- At the core of UDL is the premise that often the curriculum is disabled (and disabling!). It is not flexible; it often poses barriers, and consequently prevents rather than supports optimal learning experiences. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why or why not?
I agree with this statement. Curriculum is often packaged as a "one-size fits all" prescription when, in reality, no two students learn the same or are at the same level. Treating curriculum (and students) in this way is why curriculum can be labeled as disabled/disabling. It is our job as teachers to make sure all students, no matter their skill set or ability level, can access the curricular information and be successful in meeting education goals.
- What are the benefits of analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the student’s strengths and weaknesses? What are the challenges of this approach?
Analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the students, takes the judgement away from their being a problem with the student. Focusing on student strengths and weaknesses creates the opportunity to label a student as "different" than other students, whether it be as a gifted or struggling learner. Again, as teachers, we are supposed to be facilitating learning, and by addressing the strengths and weaknesses of curriculum, we are forced to assess our own strengths and weaknesses as educators. The first question a teacher should ask should be "What could I have done differently?" Not, "What could the student do differently?" If a student is struggling to understand curriculum, it is not a deficiency on the student's part, but on the curriculum and delivery. This is a challenging situation because we have one set of curriculum and anywhere from 20-30 students. Deciding how to make the curriculum "work" for all of those students takes time, effort, and energy. It is taking that time, effort, and energy that separates successful teachers from unsuccessful teachers.
- How can instructional websites help to address disabling curriculum and foster student independence? What are the strengths and weaknesses to this approach to teaching and learning
Instructional websites address a potentially disabling curriculum and helps foster student independence by giving them the tools to help them learn and making them share in the responsibility and ownership of their own learning. The strengths of using UDL Guidelines in building curriculum include supporting more types of learning styles and levels, and making the curriculum more accessible to students. The weaknesses include still not reaching every learner, some supports may not be helpful to students, and there is a higher time commitment to creating a UDL curriculum.
While differentiating instruction using UDL Guidelines asks teachers to put more effort into adjusting and analyzing curriculum for strengths and weaknesses, it also provides the opportunity to reach students more efficiently than using pre-packaged materials. Allowing for multiple entry and exit points of assignments ensures that students can access the material and interact with it how they are best able to. It is important to give students the responsibility of participating in their own learning and by designing curriculum that they are able to connect with, they should be more apt to want to participate and learn. I think that instructional websites, when designed correctly (to be efficient), can be a major benefit to students, especially older ones. Engaging students in a variety of ways and allowing them to express and communicate their understanding in multiple ways makes learning (and teaching) a more successful endeavor.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
NETS-T5 Reflection & Investigation
T5d: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership [d. Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self- renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community].
Self-rated as: Developing
For NETS-T5d, I rated myself as Developing on the basis that I have not had experience in contributing to the teaching profession or a school community. I think that contributing to the teaching profession is a very important aspect of being an educator. Without these contributions, the profession would become stagnant and, I believe, teachers would begin to lose their focus for teaching.
In Your Experience
I have not given much of my time to philanthropic activities, though I have participated to a certain degree. A couple of years ago, I participated with Habitat for Humanity and we worked to put some final touches on the outside of a family's new home. I have also participated with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) during their holiday event. This holiday celebration was a dinner targeted to low-income and homeless families, many of whom struggle with mental illness in their lives. NAMI provided a Christmas celebration for the children, including a gift tree, and I was part of the kitchen crew. I also worked with Hough Elementary during their Father Christmas event, where students (many who are from low-income families) are able to "shop" through the donated gifts to give to their family members. There have been other opportunities for philanthropy which I have participated in during my life as well.
These examples of my experience with philanthropy have always reminded me of how important it is to give back. Humans are such social creatures and I really don't believe that we would survive if we couldn't rely on our fellow man. By giving of their time and effort, and perhaps being exposed to a side of life that they may be unfamiliar with, students can learn what it truly means to give. Philanthropic giving (outside of money) is an important experience for children to have, in my opinion. I think that participating in philanthropy creates an attitude shown in the diagram below, for adults and children:
T5d: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership [d. Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self- renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community].
Self-rated as: Developing
For NETS-T5d, I rated myself as Developing on the basis that I have not had experience in contributing to the teaching profession or a school community. I think that contributing to the teaching profession is a very important aspect of being an educator. Without these contributions, the profession would become stagnant and, I believe, teachers would begin to lose their focus for teaching.
In Your Experience
I have not given much of my time to philanthropic activities, though I have participated to a certain degree. A couple of years ago, I participated with Habitat for Humanity and we worked to put some final touches on the outside of a family's new home. I have also participated with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) during their holiday event. This holiday celebration was a dinner targeted to low-income and homeless families, many of whom struggle with mental illness in their lives. NAMI provided a Christmas celebration for the children, including a gift tree, and I was part of the kitchen crew. I also worked with Hough Elementary during their Father Christmas event, where students (many who are from low-income families) are able to "shop" through the donated gifts to give to their family members. There have been other opportunities for philanthropy which I have participated in during my life as well.
These examples of my experience with philanthropy have always reminded me of how important it is to give back. Humans are such social creatures and I really don't believe that we would survive if we couldn't rely on our fellow man. By giving of their time and effort, and perhaps being exposed to a side of life that they may be unfamiliar with, students can learn what it truly means to give. Philanthropic giving (outside of money) is an important experience for children to have, in my opinion. I think that participating in philanthropy creates an attitude shown in the diagram below, for adults and children:
Section Exploration
From this section, there are many philanthropic opportunities that interest me:
I thought that these organizations, especially, could be introduced in the classroom to students or at a school-wide level, in order to expose students to different forms of philanthropy that don't require you to donate money (for the most part). I think that instilling the idea of kindness philanthropy to students at an early age will help to create responsible, kind community members.
Random Acts of Kindness provides lesson plans that teachers can use (free membership, all you have to do is register. Available in English and Spanish for K-8) in their classrooms to lead students in developing an understanding of unconditional caring for others. It also provides booklists that can used for student reading and teacher reading.
Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice for every correct answer from a variety of subject areas, in participation with World Food Programme. Could be used in the classroom to expand vocabulary, grammar, math, even chemical symbols knowledge. Students could also be encouraged to start using it outside of school.
Kind Spring (formerly helpothers.org) encourages performing Random Acts of Kindness to others and to leave "Smile Cards" (which can be downloaded for free on their website in several different languages or designs) that encourage others to do the same in a "Pay It Forward" style.
Youth Frontiers which provides seminars for students and teaching staff that promote community and character building. Although they are located in the Midwest, they do perform national seminars but there is a cost involved for students or teachers attending.
I felt that this video illustrates the point of how minor a good deed can seem but that it can make a huge impact...
A film by Life Vest Inside.
Video from KarmaTube
Reflection
Giving back doesn't always have to require a lot of time or money, but it is a skill that not everyone realizes they possess. I think that part of our job as educators is to help children recognize those skills through exposure and modeling. This, along with focusing on our own professional development, is essential in our role as teachers. I believe that Edutopia will be extremely valuable in my career as it provides tools that I will be able to use, ranging from How to Create Social Media Guidelines In Your School to blogs on a variety of topics. I think that as my career progresses, maintaining my professional development will rely more and more on developing it through technology, either by participating in online seminars and trainings to searching for new tools to use in my classroom.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
NETS-T4 Reflection & Investigation
T4c: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 4. Promote and
Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility [c. Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information].
Self-rated as: Developing
For the NETS-T4c standard, I rated myself as developing because I believe a multitude of information can be misconstrued when communicating through technology. When I am using email, social networking, or even text message, I am careful about what I write and how I write it because none of these allow your voice to be heard. I can have a generally sarcastic tone in my voice at times and when I am speaking this comes across as good-hearted sarcasm. When I write the same words out in email, text, or via social networking, it can come off as rude, impatient, or mean to someone who doesn't know me and can't read my words and hear my voice behind it. To remedy this, I make sure that when I share my feelings via technology I use proper grammar with the occasional inflection of speaking language (ex. abbreviating "gonna" for "going to", using ellipses "..." when my thought trails off, or preceding a thought with "so..."). This allows my voice to be "heard" through electronic means. I will also use type font that can convey what I am meaning (bolding, italicizing, or capitalizing to get my point across). I try not to "flame" people by yelling at them electronically. Plus, WHO WANTS TO READ SOMETHING THAT IS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS? The one time I will never use anything other than proper grammar is when I am writing a professional communication. I would never send an email to a professor or professional contact that includes those reflections of my personal voice because they can visually come off as unprofessional and lazy. Proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar can make a huge impression on the person who is reading what you have written.
Reflection
T4c: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 4. Promote and
Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility [c. Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information].
Self-rated as: Developing
For the NETS-T4c standard, I rated myself as developing because I believe a multitude of information can be misconstrued when communicating through technology. When I am using email, social networking, or even text message, I am careful about what I write and how I write it because none of these allow your voice to be heard. I can have a generally sarcastic tone in my voice at times and when I am speaking this comes across as good-hearted sarcasm. When I write the same words out in email, text, or via social networking, it can come off as rude, impatient, or mean to someone who doesn't know me and can't read my words and hear my voice behind it. To remedy this, I make sure that when I share my feelings via technology I use proper grammar with the occasional inflection of speaking language (ex. abbreviating "gonna" for "going to", using ellipses "..." when my thought trails off, or preceding a thought with "so..."). This allows my voice to be "heard" through electronic means. I will also use type font that can convey what I am meaning (bolding, italicizing, or capitalizing to get my point across). I try not to "flame" people by yelling at them electronically. Plus, WHO WANTS TO READ SOMETHING THAT IS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS? The one time I will never use anything other than proper grammar is when I am writing a professional communication. I would never send an email to a professor or professional contact that includes those reflections of my personal voice because they can visually come off as unprofessional and lazy. Proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar can make a huge impression on the person who is reading what you have written.
In Your Experience
I can't recall a time where I misinterpreted an email message. I do know of several times where text messages do not make sense to me or I misinterpret the message. Just a short example, a good friend and I were discussing some of the different books we like and our conversation looked something like this:
Friend: Have you read It?
Me: What?
Me: What?
Friend: Have you read It before?
Me: Read what before?
Me: Read what before?
Friend: It! Have you read It before?!
Me: I don't know what book you're talking about!
Friend: Lol, It by Stephen King. Have you read IT before?
Me: Haha, no I haven't read It before.
Me: Haha, no I haven't read It before.
I was so frustrated by not grasping what she was talking about. The vagueness of It (or "it" as I was reading) wasn't letting my brain figure out what she meant. Even though we were discussing books, Stephen King was not part of our conversation at that point so his novel was not my first thought. I kept going through our previous text messages to see what I was missing. My brain didn't register the capital "I".
Section Exploration
I typically use email, Facebook, and now Blogger. I also occasionally comment on news stories. I am very careful with what I put out online and whenever possible, I keep my information and profiles private. Going into teaching I know that students have a tendency to look up their teachers on social networking sites. The last thing I would want is to have them see my profile and think "Oh wow, Mrs. Anderson is really irresponsible." So I make sure my information is locked down and I also make sure what I am putting into the technological sphere doesn't portray me as irresponsible. I take care in disclosing photos and what I write. What I write is a direct reflection of who I am and I do not want that being mistaken for something I am not. I am pleased with my public persona. I keep my information private and when I am not able to keep it private, I keep it professional. When I comment on news stories, I make sure to 1) Use proper grammar, 2) Choose my words carefully, 3) Be sure to sound intelligent and educated - these three are important to how people portray me, as it is who I am as a person.
Reflection
I feel that the two most important outcomes that need to be modeled for students are "Model ethical and legal technology practices" and "Exhibit responsible behavior in social interactions involving technology." Plagiarism and intellectual property theft are two behaviors that can have not only personal effects (such as failing a class) but also legal repercussions if they are discovered. Since the internet is a bottomless pit of information, sometimes what is put out there can be found years later, meaning what you do today may come back to bite you down the road. To model responsibility concerning these behaviors, I would be sure that when I am using documents, photos, or electronic information, I will be sure to find out what the copyright information is and when in doubt, cite where you got it from. Posting online should be considered no different than writing a paper. If there is ever any question of whether or not to cite sources, cite your sources. When it comes to plagiarism, it's always better to be safe than sorry. We need to make sure that our students understand the consequences of their behaviors and that what they put online now might impact their life in the future.
Friday, September 13, 2013
NETS-T3 Reflection & Investigation
T3b: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning [b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation]
Self-rated as: Basic
For this particular NETS standard, I rated myself as Basic because I do not have the experience of collaborating in order to support student success or innovation. I have collaborated in my own social life and education using digital technology, such as Doodle, Facebook, and Edmodo. I feel that many of the social networking sites are very similar and knowledge in one influences your ability to easily catch onto a new one.
Here is an example of a Doodle poll. It's helpful for scheduling because it tracks the most popular time for meetings and decisions can be made easier with it.
In Your Experience
Collaboration has been a fairly good chunk of my college career. That is something that I was not prepared for from my education. Mostly because every time I was required to participate in a group or partner project, I was the one who completed the majority of the work and ended up frustrated with my "collaborator/s". Unfortunately, that's because most of our educations did not prepare us to work collaboratively. In a collaborative effort, I try to do my part and make sure that a piece of quality work is completed. Outside of school, my collaborative efforts range from coordinating a wedding (on the day of) to organizing a garage sale to being involved in clubs through WSU. I cannot think of additional technology that I would have been able to put to appropriate use in my past collaborative efforts. It's hard to imagine how to change past situations using present technology. I believe that going into teaching, it will be important for me to understand what collaborative tools are available to use. Being in contact with my colleagues, parents of my students, and my students will be important and I know that technology will drive much of this contact.
Section Exploration
For this section, I chose to explore some new collaborative technologies that I have not heard of before. I believe that when I am teaching, it will be important to give my students and their parents the ability to communicate with me, and at times, it will be necessary to gain information about these families anonymously in order to gain a better snapshot of the social forces at work on my students. It will also help me gain insight from my students about what is working or not working in my classroom without the risk of students feeling exposed in how they feel. I found this tool for creating a survey called SurveyMonkey (.com) and it lets you choose from several pre-made surveys or create your own. There are different levels of membership to the website and depending on what price you are willing to pay, it will let you have access to different features of survey creation. I found a pre-made survey that I believe is an example of something that may be helpful to use in a classroom someday. There are several available and I recommend taking a look at them. SurveyMonkey is definitely a site that I can see myself using in the future.
Here is the survey I found that solicits feedback from parents about what kind of learning support their children receive at home.
Reflection
I agree with what November says about education in the digital age. Technology is constantly changing and next year, everything we are learning will most likely be obsolete and replaced by the next new thing. In fact, two of the websites recommended in our NETS book are already gone. Since technology will undoubtedly be a much larger part of our student's lives than they ever were in our own, it is important that we not only understand how to navigate it ourselves, but that we know how to guide them through the everchanging technology frontier (there have been 8 different iPhones and 17 total versions of iPhone (different memory levels) since 2007 - that's more than 1 per year and 5 iPads in 3 years). That means that we have to keep up with it as it changes. It also means that most of the time the students will probably be lightyears ahead of us and be teaching us about our own classroom technology. I think that my attitude toward technology has changed since my first timeline post. I still don't want to embrace technology too much because I feel that while it can enhance a learning experience, it can also take away from social skills that are also important. I don't ever want my teaching to be overshadowed by technology. While I will embrace what is necessary, I do not want to lose the personal face to face socialization that is important in functioning as a human.
T3b: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning [b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation]
Self-rated as: Basic
For this particular NETS standard, I rated myself as Basic because I do not have the experience of collaborating in order to support student success or innovation. I have collaborated in my own social life and education using digital technology, such as Doodle, Facebook, and Edmodo. I feel that many of the social networking sites are very similar and knowledge in one influences your ability to easily catch onto a new one.
Here is an example of a Doodle poll. It's helpful for scheduling because it tracks the most popular time for meetings and decisions can be made easier with it.
In Your Experience
Collaboration has been a fairly good chunk of my college career. That is something that I was not prepared for from my education. Mostly because every time I was required to participate in a group or partner project, I was the one who completed the majority of the work and ended up frustrated with my "collaborator/s". Unfortunately, that's because most of our educations did not prepare us to work collaboratively. In a collaborative effort, I try to do my part and make sure that a piece of quality work is completed. Outside of school, my collaborative efforts range from coordinating a wedding (on the day of) to organizing a garage sale to being involved in clubs through WSU. I cannot think of additional technology that I would have been able to put to appropriate use in my past collaborative efforts. It's hard to imagine how to change past situations using present technology. I believe that going into teaching, it will be important for me to understand what collaborative tools are available to use. Being in contact with my colleagues, parents of my students, and my students will be important and I know that technology will drive much of this contact.
Section Exploration
For this section, I chose to explore some new collaborative technologies that I have not heard of before. I believe that when I am teaching, it will be important to give my students and their parents the ability to communicate with me, and at times, it will be necessary to gain information about these families anonymously in order to gain a better snapshot of the social forces at work on my students. It will also help me gain insight from my students about what is working or not working in my classroom without the risk of students feeling exposed in how they feel. I found this tool for creating a survey called SurveyMonkey (.com) and it lets you choose from several pre-made surveys or create your own. There are different levels of membership to the website and depending on what price you are willing to pay, it will let you have access to different features of survey creation. I found a pre-made survey that I believe is an example of something that may be helpful to use in a classroom someday. There are several available and I recommend taking a look at them. SurveyMonkey is definitely a site that I can see myself using in the future.
Here is the survey I found that solicits feedback from parents about what kind of learning support their children receive at home.
Reflection
I agree with what November says about education in the digital age. Technology is constantly changing and next year, everything we are learning will most likely be obsolete and replaced by the next new thing. In fact, two of the websites recommended in our NETS book are already gone. Since technology will undoubtedly be a much larger part of our student's lives than they ever were in our own, it is important that we not only understand how to navigate it ourselves, but that we know how to guide them through the everchanging technology frontier (there have been 8 different iPhones and 17 total versions of iPhone (different memory levels) since 2007 - that's more than 1 per year and 5 iPads in 3 years). That means that we have to keep up with it as it changes. It also means that most of the time the students will probably be lightyears ahead of us and be teaching us about our own classroom technology. I think that my attitude toward technology has changed since my first timeline post. I still don't want to embrace technology too much because I feel that while it can enhance a learning experience, it can also take away from social skills that are also important. I don't ever want my teaching to be overshadowed by technology. While I will embrace what is necessary, I do not want to lose the personal face to face socialization that is important in functioning as a human.
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