Knowledge and Challenges

I have learned a lot about technology from this course so far. Before this course I didn't have any experience with SmartBoard and I was excited to learn about the technology in order to use it in the field. Although we only completed one project dealing with SmartBoard I feel that I have gained a lot of experience and new skills with this technology. In fact, today I met with my cooperating teacher to talk about my lesson plan and she asked if my lesson would include the SmartBoard. When I told her my lesson would include a SmartBoard file, we began talking about the technology class I was taking and she was impressed that I knew the technology. Beyond SmartBoard my skills with other technologies have broadened as well. These skills include working with Google Earth and iMovie. While working with technologies in this course I have discovered a few challenges that accompany working with the technology. Different technologies have different limitations that I did not realize until working hands on with the technology. For example, when using the SmartResponse on SmartBoard you are unable to type math symbols, like square root. This posed as a limitation when designing my SmartBoard project and lesson.

Online Assessment

Read more about assessment accommodations for students with disabilities. 

Students Using Cell Phones to Learn

Using Cell Phones

This article discusses that research has finally been published about students and their cell phones. Amongst the other statistics released, the article claims that 1 in 4 students use their cell phones on homework assignments weekly.
Let's be honest, students have cell phones on them when they go to school. Even when students my age were in high school, cell phones were ubiquitous. I find it extremely refreshing that there is finally research that shows a positive side to students having cell phones. It's time for teachers to use what is essentially a given as an advantage. There are dangers; students have to know that any inappropriate use of cell phones will result in a consequence. Other than that, I see only advantages to teachers embracing the use of cell phones in the classroom.

Differentiating Technology

My one great lesson this year.  

Deven Black is a 7^th grade social studies teacher. He put nine activities on a board that could be completed in two weeks. He then assigned these activities nine different spots in the classroom and told the students to go to the spot in which the activity seemed most interesting. There were three spots that were empty and all of the groups were about even. He then let the groups work on their project. He said he walked around and was available for help, but no one needed it.

I think these open ended projects really get students involved in their work. In this case, the students were even able to choose the project that they wanted to do. I think that this gives students motivation to do their work. They can be as creative as they want and since they chose the project, it must be something that they actually like to do. In the end, Mr. Black gave the students time to reflect on the projects and what they learned overall. The students did learn a lot about the colonies, but they also learned a lot about cooperation in group work. I think that this type of instruction could be very valuable in the classroom.  It assesses a student’s knowledge on a topic, but it also allows students to work with and learn from others.

Differentiating with Technology

Differentiating with Technology In this blog posting David Andrade, Physics Teacher and Educational Technology Specialist, explains the meaning of differentiated teaching and gives several links to resources that deal with differentiation.

Going Wireless

What are your thoughts about the content of this article?
Going Wireless

Final Posting

I really enjoyed learning about all of these technologies this semester, and it really made me feel more secure in my decision to pursue an educational contract major in visual literacy. Technology and visual literacy go hand in hand and this course was really helpful to me even though I'm not going into teaching per se. I think these websites and technologies are really useful for students as well as teachers. I think that they really helped me with my other courses, projects and study skills in general. The use of Dipity timeline was quite helpful in studying for art history exa,s. zamzar helped me add sound clips to other presentations etc. I've taught a lot of my friends about these resources too and they are all utilizing them as well. Knowing that there are resources out there like this is very reassuring and I can't wait to see more developed.