Final Reflections on the course

I can't believe the course is over. It has been a long semester filled with many projects. I learned alot from all of the assignments. I feel that I will be able to use technology effectively in my future classroom.
Keeping a blog!
I have enjoyed keeping a blog throughout the semester. In the future, I will definitely introduce my students to keeping a blog. There are many benefits to having students keep their own blogs.
My Personal Website
I also enjoyed making my own personal website. Freewebs.com was very easy to use. I tried to make my website look as "techy" as possible. I really liked the background and images I used to format my website. I like how the website is organized. In the future I would definitely make a website for my classroom. It is a great way to communicate with parents and students.
I put alot of time and effort into my personal website. I have a respect for those
My Wiki
I had a hard time thinking of a theme for my wiki. I decided to create a theme that I have been working on with a student during fieldwork. During fieldwork I have been working with a third grade student. We have been reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and keeping his own journal as well. We have been working to improve his sequencing and summarizing skills. Some of the ideas in the wiki I have used with my student. Other ideas I took from Web 2.0 tools I learned in class. Wikispaces was very easy to use. It was easy to upload pictures and make external as well as internal links.
My ICP Project
My ICP project was using audio/video podcasts to enhance 21st century skills. I was very interested in this topic as we had briefly touched upon it during class. As I researched podcasting I learned how to create my own podcast. It is very easy to do. I downloaded all of the necessary programs which were all free!!! I also found many great teacher and student made podcasts. I listened to a student made podcast from a student in kindergarten. It was amazing to hear students create radio podcasts.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. This was my first online class so it took a little getting used to not learning with a teacher in front of me. I learned many new tools that I can use in the classroom to enhance my teaching and my students learning.

Day 2 of ICP Presentations

Monday was our last class of the semester. Many people presented their ICP projects. I learned alot from the presentations as they ranged in topics. I also presented my ICP lesson. Here are my reflections from the night:
Janine
I liked how she began the presentation by asking questions of how we as teachers try to accommodate ELL learners. Her visual of a concept map was very effective. She also provided useful websites. I also liked the checklist provided. It is good for teachers to evaluate their teaching to make sure they are meeting their needs. Great Job!!
Danielle
This is a great topic. Students will definitely be motivated to play simulated games and the great benefit is they are learning at the same time. By asking the question if we would rather be in Vegas playing games or being at home playing board games was a motivating way to start the presentation. It really caught my attention. I also liked the survey you completed with students in your school. The results are based on the actual people who are affected by using simulative games in the classroom. I found your presentation very informative. Great Job!!
Rebecca
This is a topic we are familiar with as we are all keeping a blog for this course. The two scenarios provided were effective in showing the advantages of using technology in the classroom. I also liked how she asked us to reflect on what type of blog we are keeping. Overall it was a great presentation. Great Job!!
Amy
I t was nice to see a different way of presenting the ICP. I liked the wiki you created. Unfortunately I kept losing audio so I was unable to hear most of the presentation. I did like the video you chose to incorporate into the wiki page. Awesome job!
Jennifer
The quote she used to begin her presentation caught my attention. Jennifer effectively made a chart of decision-making and problem solving. I also found her picture of bloom’s taxonomy an effective way to see the different steps. Overall great presentation!
Angela
Many of the students in the class are part of a social network such as Facebook or Myspace. This was a topic we are familiar with. However not many people in the class were familiar with twitter. Recently the new buzzword is Twitter but I was still not aware of what exactly it was used for. I found this presentation to be very informative. It was interesting to see how many people in the classroom do not like the idea of twitter. Angela also clearly expressed her opinion of twitter. Great presentation.
Maureen
This was a topic that not many of us were familiar with. Some of the students in the class were able to guess a few of the six c’s. The presentation was very insightful. It shows the power of motivation over student’s progress. It is interesting to see that Technology was the seventh c as many students are extremely motivated by using technology.
Lindsay
I like how you listed assistive tools for reading, writing and math. The presentation was very informative. I liked the slide she provided with useful websites. This is a great resource for teachers to have. Overall, great job!
Lisa
This was a very interesting topic. I liked how you presented your topic by creating a science lesson to teach your topic. I found this to be an effective way to teach your topic. It was very informative. Great Job!!
My own presentation
I also presented my ICP lesson. I was very nervous as I have never been given the role of being a moderator. I was able to upload my presentation without a problem. However for some reason the slidebloom presentation would close. I would then have to upload my presentation again. This cut into my presentation time so I was unable to finish my presentation. Besides the slight problems with technology I think my lesson went well. Students actively participated in the lesson. I also read some comments left by other students. They all enjoyed the lesson and liked how interactive it was.

I can see the finish line!

We are winding down to the last week of class. Three of our main assignments have been a work in progress. I still have some work to complete before the course is over. I have been keeping up with my personal website. I have been updating it with class assignments weekly. I enjoyed making the website and designing and formatting it. I have great respect for web site creators and designers. I did not realize how much work you have to put into it. I have also been blogging as often as I can. I really liked keeping a blog. It is like keeping a diary. You can reflect on your writing. If you wrote something down you can go back and see what you wrote. After some time you might think differently. My ICP project is coming along. My topic is podcasting and how it enhances 21st century skills. It is a topic that we have touched upon in class previously. I have been working on my PowerPoint presentation. After watching other students present, I realized that my presentation has too many slides and that I will not be able to complete my presentation in the 12 minute time frame. I have to go back and cut down some slides to make it shorter. At first I was confused on how I would make this PowerPoint into MSMC lesson plan format. After watching the presentations I saw that they had a clear introduction, development, guided practice, closure, independent practice and evaluation. Talking about all this work that I need to complete is getting me stressed so I am going to go work on my finishing touches.
Talk to you soon.

Day 1 of ICP presentations!

Monday night was the first day of presenting ICP projects. We had to pick a topic and then use a digital method to present our presentation to the class. The presentations were very informative. I present my ICP project next Monday night and the presentations gave me many useful ideas. Here are my reflections based on the student's presentations:

Caitlin-The Use of Digital Video and Media to Enhance Student Learning:
I enjoyed Caitlin's powerpoint. I like how she involved the class by asking questions. Everyone in the class was willing to participate. I think Caitlin did a great job for not having a microphone. Her powerpoint presentation was very informative. The only critic I have is to make sure if you use video that it enhances your presentation. The YouTube video that was posted I had a hard time hearing the sound.

Heather-Digital Storytelling:
I liked how Heather used a blog to assess our prior knowledge. I liked how she had many different examples of digital stories: narratives, historical themes and informational stories. I also liked the images she used I think it enhanced her presentation.

Steven- Interactive whiteboards in the classroom:
I liked how Steven asked question in the beginning of the presenation to get the class involved. This is a topic that most people are familiar with. I thought the presentation was very informative. I liked the resources Steven provided for interactive whiteboards. I also felt that Steven was very passionate about his topic.

Carolyn-Using Scrapblog and Glogster to Inspire Creative Writing:
This is a topic that I was unfamilair with. After Carolyn's presentation I would definately use scrapblog to create my own scrapbooks. I loved the visuals Carolyn used. I like how she put in the link of a tutorial on how to use the scrapblog program. Overall I think Caroyln did a great job I really enjoyed her presentation.

Mary- Facebook & Linked In:Professional Connections for Educators:
I think this is a topic that many of the student's in the class are familiar with. Many people use Facebook for social purposes. I have my own Facebook account. I really liked the cartoon that Mary used. I think it portrayed how relative this topic is to younger people who have a Facebook account. If you are looking for a job you have to be careful what you put on your Facebook or what your friends post on their Facebooks. I personally do not take pictures when I am out with my friends because I know they are going to post it on Facebook. Luckily I don't really like taking pictures. So this does not really affect me. I felt that Mary was very passionate about her topic. I also liked how she used a quiz at the end to assess what we learned.

Assessment Through Blogging

Tonight is our first day of presenting our ICP projects. Heather asked the class to write in our blogs about three facts we know about digital storytelling. One of our class assignments was to create a digital story. By doing this she is activating our prior knowledge.

Here are three facts about digital storytelling:
1. Story is based on a theme/subject
2. Use pictures, animation and sound to tell your story
3. PhotoStory from Microsoft Word was easy to use!

Heather also discussed how making digital stories increases our information literacy skills, media literacy skills and information communication technology literacy(ICT). To assess our knowledge Heather asked us to write how we utilized these skills in making our digital story.

Information Literacy- I told the story of the Hyrdoelectric Process.
Media Literacy- I used my media literacy skills and told this story through the use of digital storytelling.
Information communication and technology- I had to figure out a way to tell the story which is a boring concept in a fun,informative way. I tried to be creative by creating a H20 family. I thought students would be able to relate to the family.

I thought using a blog as a form of assessment was a great idea. She activated our prior knowlege of digital stories and blogging (as everyone in the class is keeping a blog to write their thoughts and reflections of the course). I never thought of using a blog as form of assessment. It is something different. It is a fun and motivating activity for students. I know I enjoyed writing a blog as a form of assessment. For teachers it is easy to check and keep track of student's blogs.

Technology and Curriculum Integration

Our group was assigned chapter 6 Technology and Curriculum Integration. We were happy to have this chapter because it is something we found to be very interesting and a helpful resource for our classrooms. We also felt that it was something that the other students in our class will find interesting and motivating, as they will be integrating technology into their own classrooms. Our group worked very well together. We discussed what we thought were the major highlights of the chapter. From there we divided the work into sections and came back and collaborated our ideas into a PowerPoint presentation.
Classroom Management Techniques:


* Teachers need to ensure equal access. Not everyone needs the same amount of time to accomplish a given task. For example: if a class is divided into five groups, assign computer time one day per group per week. Teachers should also avoid periods that will be interrupted (e.g. by music).
* Teachers also need to vary the usage and types of access. Teachers can differentiate between: whole class work, group projects, partners, individuals, open-scheduling (e.g. 10 minutes per person X the number of people).
* Teachers also need to make modifications for higher ability and lower ability students. A printout of the results of the session is helpful.
* Have someone at the computer at all times. To track what student has been at the computer teachers can keep a log. Teachers can also schedule use during early morning, recess and lunchtime.
* Teachers need to arrange access to more computers: Send students out to use other computers: to the library, to the resource center, or even to a vacant classroom when those students are at physical education or music. Organizing aids are a must to keep a well-organized classroom.
* Use organizing aids: Use a journal to record usage, post sign-up (and sign-out) sheets next to the computer, and use a pocket chart with a card for each student; they turn their cards over after a turn and when all are done, they start over. You can also have a popsicle stick for each student and two jars, one labeled “Been There” the other labeled “Not Yet”. The students take the sticks out of one jar and put them in the other as they complete the work. I think that is a great idea. In the future, if I am lucky enough to have computers in my classroom I will use this management technique.

Integrating Technology into the content areas:
http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/bcisd/classres/intideas.htm
General Ideas:

* Power Point Presentations: lectures, school board and PTA presentations, open houses: info for parents and welcome to classroom, showing class rules.
* HyperStudio Stacks: welcome to the classroom and getting to know you (students fill in information about themselves), classroom rules and consequences, book recommendations, create and/or tell stories, present and assess information
* Web Pages: calendar of school/building/classroom events, school activities, faculty/staff pages

For each the content areas of Social Studies, Science and Health, English Language Arts, Math, Art, Music and Physical Education provided ways to integrate technologies of:

* Word processing Software
* Spreadsheet and Database Software
* Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software
* Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, Hyper Studio, or Web pages

As a group we also discussed interactive websites that can be used in the classrooms:

* Fact Monster
* APlusMath
* PBSKids
* BrainPop
* Starfall
* Discovery Kids

Assessment

Assessment is the process of acquiring information and making judgments about student learning. There are several purposes of assessment such as to assist in student learning, to identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses, to assess the effectiveness of a particular strategy, to assess and improve the effectiveness of curricular programs, to asses and improve teaching effectiveness, and to provide data to communicate with parent’s about a child’s progress. Assessments are not only used to see if a student is understanding the concepts taught it also is valuable for the teacher to see how effective their teaching was and if not how to improve their teaching so that all student’s can grasp what is being taught to them.
Types of Assessments:
There are several types of assessment. Formative assessment provides continuous feedback to teachers and students, which enables them to monitor progress and identify and address errors and gaps in learning. Summative assessment is a larger test given at the end of the unit. Formal assessment is structured and recorded assessment. Teachers and students use informal assessment opportunities to make incidental and immediate judgments and provide feedback about student learning. Peer-assessment occurs when students provide feedback to other learners about their learning. In this course, we have used peer assessment. We give feedback on other group’s presentations by leaving comments on their blogs and wikis. Self-assessment occurs when the learner assesses her or his own work. We have also self assessed ourselves as we blog and reflect on what we have learned. Another type of assessment is authentic assessments, which are based on teacher observations of children as they are engaged in real meaningful classroom events. Some examples of this are students writing in a journal and power point presentations. Another type of assessment is traditional assessments, which focus on grades, and helps to rank knowledge through the classroom. Some types of traditional testing are teacher made quizzes, exams and homework assignments. I think that this type of testing is good to see if student’s grasped basic knowledge and it is good to evaluate the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Norm referenced assessments are formal assessments based on the scores of a particular group of students. One type of norm referenced is the SAT’s in which most high school students take. I don’t personally like this type of testing because some student’s do not do well in taking tests and this testing does not show their strengths in their knowledge. Criterion referenced tests is another type of formal assessments comparing the child’s performances to criteria. One example of this type of testing is the ELA exams that students take in the 4th grade. I have observed this type of assessment in a fourth grade classroom getting ready for the ELA exam. The teacher used ELA exams from previous years for the students to use as practice. The teacher worked on specific skills such as the reading the passages and the multiple choice questions that went along with the passage. I don’t believe that this type of assessment shows what students know. The teachers prepare them just for this test and this is not help the students in learning new cognitive skills. Most teachers have them memorize answers. Alternative assessments are a different way of assessing students other than the traditional authentic such as exams in portfolio. Portfolios are also used as a type of assessment. It is a collection of student’s work during the school year such as written, work, journals, self evaluations, and other samples of the students work. While I did fieldwork at Temple Hill Academy I worked with two students and we kept a portfolio of their work. I read with the student’s and then they would do various activities to go along with the book we read, such as responding to their opinion of the book, working on characterizing the main characters of the story, samples of their drawings and so on. This is a good way of evaluating student’s so you can see what they need work on and see how they have progressed over time.
I think that it is important to vary the types of assessments used in the classroom. Some students might do well on one type of assessment or do poorly on a different type of assessment. Teacher’s need to use different types of assessment to help them find the student’s strengths and weaknesses, by using only one type of assessment you cannot find out this information.
YouTube Video: A is for Apple: Grading Achievement in Schools
One quote that stuck out in my mind was about testing in education today “ Schools are preoccupied like doing well on the tests is the purpose of education". Many teachers are preoccupied to teaching the students to the test. Some believe that standard based education and frequent testing may impede student's learning.
A Look to the Future of Testing and Grading
As technology changes and advances everyday so does education. Schools are being held more accountable for students testing scores. Need to find a more consistent and valid way to test all types of students. Performance and authentic assessments, as well as the use of portfolios, are likely to replace the more traditional paper-and-pencils tests.
Digital portfolios
Digital portfolios (ePortfolios) are collections of student work that are stored electronically. They are records of student's progress throughout the year. They provide information to students, parents, teachers and members of the community. Digital portfolios can include varied media such as text, graphics, video and sound. The Department of Education Student Digital Portfolio (SDP) will enable strong links between a student’s planning, learning and the curriculum. This will help the collection of evidence of learning for assessment against the curriculum outcomes and standards.