Chapters 10 and 11

Chapter 10 discusses how teachers could incorporate technology into instruction to help meet the needs of diverse learners. Through technology, there are multiple ways to teach the different learner types. I have recently started to use the SmartBoard into my instruction. Unfortunately, I do not have the updated software on my laptop, so I have just been using PowerPoint. It has definitely made a difference with my students in terms of student engagement. There are many opportunities for the students to come up to the board and actually solve the math problems themselves, for example. I can also include visual pictures to help with any unfamiliar terms or concepts. I have also been playing many videos particularly in social studies and science. This addresses the visual and auditory learners in my class. The videos and images also allows the content to reach any ELLs in a classroom. If they are still learning the vocabulary, the images allow the students to make those connections.

Chapter 11 talks about the importance of assessment in teaching and learning. Yes, it is extremely important to base instruction on your students needs and abilities. That information comes from assessment and teacher observation. I remember in undergrad, one professor I had kept reinforcing the phrase "assessment drives instruction". I didn't realize how true that was until I was actually in the classroom. Although, I believe my school does formal assessments way too often. I think it is about every other month there is a formal assessment in the form of the ELA and Math state tests. Yes, that means over other month there are six days that my students are just being assessed. The information tells a lot in terms of what we still need to teach for the state tests, but in my opinion I think the students are just tired of the tests when it comes to the actual time students have to take the state tests.

Chapters 7 & 8

In chapter 7, there is a whole section devoted to higher order and lower thinking related to Bloom's Taxonomy. This section is directly correlated to the component of Danielson Framework evaluating questioning and discussion techniques. This section discusses how teachers can create these higher order thinking prompts through various ways. One way is by asking those questions that force students to dig deeper and to really think about their answers. Another way is to ask open ended questions where there is multiple correct answers. This chapter also offers suggestions to include open-ended activities and games.

Electronic communication does provide teachers and parents to be in almost constant contact. It allows parents to reach out to their children's teachers whenever they have an issue or concern or any questions they may have. It also provides teachers opportunities to convey any important messages or announcements that they want to make sure the parents are aware of.

Google Cultural Institute

This is amazing! It allows anyone to virtually travel to a different place and even a different time period. This is great for students who do not have the means or opportunity to travel and explore the world. I know in third grade social studies, we study different countries throughout the world. I can definitely see myself implementing this website in my class as an introductory lesson for students to have an idea of what China, Italy, and Australia actually look like. Many of my students have never left the state, let alone the country, and if they did it was to visit their family in the Dominican Republic. Searching different pictures of the countries we study, allows students to actually picture in their own minds what and where they are studying. It all becomes "real" to them.

Takeaway Message:

I am definitely excited about putting together the WebQuest and actually implementing it into my own classroom to help enhance my students' writing. I am also eager about creating this instructional video with my group members!

Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5

It is so important that students are taught about to effectively and efficiently use search engines to help them research various topics. There are many sources online that provide various information for people, but not all of the information is credible. Students need to be taught how to filter what is useful and accurate and what is not a reliable source. It is very hard to regulate what people put online and to verify the actual information that is posted up online. Students have to research the information they are reading and determine if the source is credible.
Not only teaching students about how to filter out credible sources, but teachers also have to teach students how to actually complete an effective search for information they need. There are different ways to search for topics that they need. Keywords and exact match search are used to search topics. If you put in words in the search engine box, any website or article that has those words in it anywhere will pop up. However, if you put quotation marks around the keywords will bring up sources about the exact keyword you entered. Teaching students this skill is crucial for students to aid them in using the Internet for research purposes.

Chapter 6

This chapter focuses on various sources on the internet and how to use this websites. The chapter also discusses the varying types of websites that are available. There are different websites and each type of website offers something different and are used for different reasons. Bookmarking and information alerts are two tools that students should be familiar with. Bookmarking allows students to tab important and helpful websites so that they are readily available for use whenever they need to use them. Information alerts serve as an electronic notice that new information about a particular topic has just become available. This feature is helpful for students who are researching a topic for a project and are looking for updated sources about the topic that are researching.

Questions:
1. What are some ways you would teach your students about verifying sources on the internet?
2. How would you incorporate using the internet to search in your own classrooms?

Chapter 4

My goal for my second year of teaching is to incorporate more technology into my instruction in hopes to keep my students engaged through an entire period. Like I have mentioned before, I do not have an abundance of technology available to me in my school. We have IPads and Laptops that the teachers on my floor have to sign out, but there is not enough of each for an entire class.

I recently signed up for Donor's Choose in hopes to bring in a projector for my classroom. I have a SmartBoard in my classroom, but no computer or projector to use it all day, every day. It would be impossible for me to sign out the projector for that length of time.

Unfortunately, I do not use technology in my classroom and I always thought of myself as a teacher who constantly used technology to promote learning and hopefully this year I will live up to that expectation. There are so many different ways of creating lessons and activities through incorporating technology into your planning and implementing of lessons. In class I learned about so many different ways to bring that creativity through. I wouldn't have even thought of half of those examples we saw in class. It is definitely helpful to see all those examples and hopefully use those ideas and translate them into my own style of teaching.

Take Away Message

Today, I definitely learned some new things, especially using PowerPoint creatively. I've used PowerPoint in the past and I think I have done a good job with the tool, too. However, seeing some examples of how to really use it effectively for my students. I am excited to work on creating my video trailer for my topic of animal issues. I plan on using it in my own class right before we start our writing unit about raising awareness of this terrible issue.

Chapters 3 and 9

One of the topics that struck a cord with me while reading chapter 3 is the new term digital citizenship. I think this is a great term to describe all users of all sorts of social medias and blogs. Just like we are responsible for being upstanding citizens in our neighborhoods, we need to be responsible for what we post and share online. Not only is it important to discuss with our students about the importance of being responsible while using such websites, but it is also important for teachers to have a discussion about how once something is posted or shared, it is online for anyone and everyone to see. Even if you delete your post or share, it isn't actually gone. It will always be a part of our cyber world. Before I introduce my class to using IPads and laptops in my class, I want to have this discussion with my students, even though my students won't be on social media sites like FaceBook or Twitter. I believe it is important to have this discussion because not all students have supervision while using technology. I am still thinking of a creative way to have this talk with my students- so if anyone has any ideas please share with me!! :)
Being a digital citizen also means respecting all sources of information as well. There are so many opportunities for students to obtain new information to aid them while writing informational essays. However, we as teachers, need to teach our students how to correctly use sources. That includes discussing plagiarism and how to properly cite a source. Last year, I did a whole lesson on paraphrasing while using sources to help their writing. I used the idea of being a parrot to help my students understand that you don't want to sound like a parrot just repeating and copying your sources, but rather put the information in your own words to sound like you!
I enjoyed reading the section Literacy Learning with Digital Cameras. When I first saw the title I was immediately excited. Reading is something that the students at my school struggle with and they don't tend to like reading all that much. If I could make literacy come to life for them, it will make all the difference. The alphabet and concept books would work great for kindergarten and first grade classrooms. However, I teach the 3rd grade so I wonder how I could modify these concepts and ideas into a more appropriate tool for my third graders.

Questions:
1. What are some ways you implement or plan on implementing technology in your classrooms?
2. How would you go about introducing your use of technology into your classroom?