Assignment 1: Technology Literacy

                                              SUMMARY                                             

From the Education Research Complete database found at Hurst Library, the article Using Technology to Supprt Learning in a First Grade Animal and Habitat Project by Keith Wetzel and Teresa Foulger describes the uses of technology conducted through a study by three teacher educators, a first grade teacher (Ms. Rathkey), and her students in each phase of a project on animals and their habitats. The study was divided into three parts, just as the phases of project-based learning are divided: Planing and beginning the project, investigating, and concluding the project in a culminating event. Because children are so exposed to media and technology for many hours at such a young age, universities got together to study whether students growing up in a technology rich environment could also use digital technologies in a first grade classroom. They found it to be true that they could in ways that require active student participation, foster meaningful learning, and produce projects easily shared with parents. The article focuses on the multiple ways that this experienced teacher used technology to complete the phases of this project. The author discusses the positives of technology, and the ways in which teachers can be effective through the useful help of technology. They found that through technology, this project enhanced learning for students and facilitated positive communication with parents.

                                         REFLECTION                                         

The teacher did a beautiful job with providing direct instruction for her students, while still letting them explore the technology. For example, she gave instruction to find a specific animal of their liking for the report and to gather information on that animal, yet she allowed the students to explore ways to do that for themselves. Ms. Rathkey gave helpful suggestions on where the students could find information on their animals by creating a web page titled Interactive Learning with pictures that were linked to specific web sites for the students and parents. The students were not limited to finding information from the websites, yet the teacher guided them to information through technology. I also liked the way in which Ms. Rathkey had her students create their final project. It was not done with scissors and paper, it was done through the use of PowerPoint. Now remember, these are only first graders, yet this article proves that technology can be useful even for those at a young age. Ms. Rathkey scheduled time for her students in the lab to create a PowerPoint slide showing the habitat for their individual animals. Students learned a multitude of skills through PowerPoint, one of which was the learned skill of how to use shapes to draw their animal on the PowerPoint slide. What an effective and mind stimulating project for students to participate in.

                                         APPLICATION                                    

This article gave me great insight on how to involve technology in my classroom in relation to projects and activities. It gave me ideas of how to emerge my students in hands-on project-based lessons through technology. It took away any doubt in my mind that first graders can indeed create their own technologically based project.

I also came to a new understanding of how technology can keep a teacher more organized and reduce the amount of time he or she must spend on preparation for showing parents on student progress. Technology allows the teacher to share students' finished products through the simple click of a button. It increases the ease of portability and duplicability. Technology is also a great way to keep organized files and positive communication with parents.

Wetzel, Keith, et al. "Using Technology to Support Learning in a First Grade Animal and Habitat Project." International Journal of Technology in Teaching & Learning 5.1 (2009): 22-36. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2010.

NETS (National Educational Technology Standards)

    For teachers:

• Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments: Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS-S teachers.
• Response: This standard is important to me as a teacher because it is my job to provide many different strategies of learning in order to reach each and every individual student. In math, I must provide different problem-solving approaches that lead to the same solution because what works best for one student, may not work best for another student. The same goes in relationship to presentation through technology in learning. I must customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. Along with the different tasks given to students, I must provide students with multiple forms of assessment to secure correctness of learning achievement.
• Three ways to work on this standard this semester:
• I will explore the SMART board and learn how to use various forms of interactive lesson plans in order to cover as many learning strategies as possible.
• I will know and understand the SMART response in order to more quickly and more efficiently assess the students in my classroom.
• I will create and customize my own template on the SMART board notebook for classroom lessons, rather than simply downloading pre-made lesson plans.

    For Students:

• Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
• Response: This standard is important for the students because it will benefit them to have the ability to think outside of the box. Education cannot be handed to a student on a platter. Instead, a student must explore and create in order to obtain knowledge. Therefore, it is important for me as the teacher to encourage students to expand their knowledge through creative thinking, and then to incorporate a hands-on plan for them to produce a product of their thinking.
• Two assignments/projects to help students meet this standard:
• Students will create a storybook slideshow on Microsoft Publisher that they will present to the class. It would be fun to read only part of a book to the class (ie: The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and to have them create their own ending to the story. This gets the students to use higher levels of thinking while using technology because they must creatively think of and predict the outcome of the book through technological artistic ability. They will be able to explore Microsoft Publisher and construct their thoughts into a slideshow. This will be an original work of the student's to demonstrate creative thinking, construction of knowledge, and the development of a process and product using technology.
• Students will create an end of the year blog of their very own to display their favorite moments of the year, as well as some of the work they completed during the year that they are proud of. The must have a design layout, along with pictures (from file or clip art) for each blog entry. These will be private blogs, viewable only by parents of students in the class and teachers. This project will assess the students' final progress through the use of technology. It will challenge the students to think outside of the box to construct an original page of their own. This assignment will also demonstrate students' creative thinking, construction of knowledge, and the development of a process and product through the use of technology.
• Three ways to work on this standard this semester:
• I will construct ideas to include in my lesson plans that involve student imagination and effort. I will find a program to use through the SMART board where I can have students create a story book of their own.
• I will pose questions and forecast possibilities for higher levels of thinking in every lesson and activity.
• I will find ways to create original works for both the individual student and groups, such as an online class book project for the Star Student of the Week.

SMART Board Technologies

Michael Dunn, the CEO of Polyvision is quoted in saying, "How we teach, and not what we teach, must change in the United States if we are to have our students compete in a global economy." This is so true because the United States is now watching China, the UK, and Mexico outstrip us with technologies. The SMART board is a great way to have healthy and exciting interaction with students in a classroom. In an article titled The Wonders of Interactive Whiteboards, Neal Starkman shows the importance of having a SMARTboard in the classroom. A teacher stated that even "obstreperous students were politely raising their hands," which shows that these interactive boards can spark the interest of students that normally seem unresponsive or unwilling to learn.

So what are the advantages of having a SMARTboard? How can I incorporate an interactive whiteboard into my teaching? Here are a few suggestions from the article:

• Write, erase, and perform mouse functions with our finger, a pen, or anything with a maneuverable, firm surface
• Write in digital ink over applications, web sites, and videos.
• Capture your work or save your notes drectly into different software applications
• Show students information through visual activities, such as showing deep-sea photography when studying oceanography
• Make math fun by drawing shapes and identifying angles while studying trigonometry
• Import virtually anything from the Internet and edit and manipulate it

The options continue and the possibilities seem endless for the use of an interactive whiteboard for the teacher and his or her students. Phillips, a sixth grade math and science teacher at Euclid Middle School in Littleton, Colorado, "has seen students blossom, not only as a result of learning more efficiently, but also from helping teach classes and even train teachers in the technology."

The SMARTboard creates a unique partnership between teachers and students. It is our job as teachers to create relationship and learning opportunities through this new technology, rather than let the technology get in the way of student learning.

Turning on the Lights

I read an article entitled "Turning on the Lights" by Marc Prensky that opened my eyes to the needs of students in today's age. It was stated in the article that when teachers demand students to power down all electronic devices -- cell phones, ipods, internet, etc. -- they do not realize that they are also powering down the students' brains. This was so interesting to me, and it started to get me thinking. How can I keep my students engaged in my classroom through their world of technology without it being a distraction to their educational experience? We ask students to power down cell phones so that we can keep them as focused as possible during lessons, which I believe is very important. Yet at the same time, it is crucial to provide other resources of "light" in technology to advance their growth in learning.

I agree with the article when it explains the zeitgeist- the change of the times. It used to be that "we [teachers] were the people who showed the kids the light." It was the job of the teacher to lead the student out of intellectual darkness and bring them into an understanding of knowledge and success. Now it seems that students are coming into the classroom having already accessed much knowledge from the home and other outside sources through the internet. They are technologically literate, meaning that they can learn anything with the touch of a button. So, now then what is the task of a teacher? I believe that it is our job to direct their knowledge through the use of technology. Yes, they come to the classroom having already known everything that interests them through the touch of a button; However, it is still our task to guide the students to new knowledge, of more than just video games. The task of the teacher is still to push the students to a greater level of critical thinking. The only difference now is that teachers must achieve this through a new dimension called technology. If this can be accomplished, then students can have a successful educational experience.

The Story That Started It All

Desires are placed in our heart at a very young age, and it is those desires that bring us passion and lead us to do the things we do in our life. This has certainly been the case for my desire for teaching. At the age of 4, I remember setting up my stuffed animals around my bedroom in a classroom order. I would pull out my white board and markers and begin to teach to the stuffed animals, as if they had life. Who knew that today we would be writing on smart boards instead of chalkboards. Everyday that I played this game I called “teacher,” the desire to teach was built higher and higher. You could say that teaching runs in my blood as well, being that my mother, aunt, grandparents, and many more family members are all teachers. It is what God has created me to do. It is His mission for me to reach out to fresh minds that need molding, and to do it to the best of my ability always.

I will be graduating in the spring of 2011 with a degree in Elementary Education K-8 and with an endorsement in math. I hope to teach early elementary, such as 1st or 2nd grade, especially while I am young and still have incredible amounts of energy. However, I can see myself down the road teaching upper elementary students at the junior high level.

    This semester I hope to learn about the new technologies that I will be expected to use when I graduate and am teaching in a classroom. I understand that when I begin teaching, newer technologies that I had not yet learned will be used. Hopefully this class will teach me how to keep myself updated with the times, and to be a bit more familiar with the progressing digital age methods of learning.