Class Reflection

I have learned so much in this class, I do not know where to begin.  Every assignment we have done in this class has helped to prepare me for what is to come when I graduate.  There are a ton of tools out there that will help make my teaching experience better.  I am so thankful that I had this class though because I would not know where to begin to look for those at.  The web tools will probably be the most beneficial assignment.  The tools taught me how to create rubrics, worksheets, puzzles, and quizzes.  These are things that I know I will be able to use in the classroom setting on a regular basis.  I also know that it is not always fun to do worksheets or written work, and that is where I would bring in the video.  I  would like to do a class video that all of the students and myself work on throughout the year.  I want to be able to present each parent with a copy of it at the end of the year as a gift to them.  I loved creating the concept maps.  Those would be great for writing activities or when learning about the different seasons, climates, etc.  These tools that I learned to use in this classroom will help me go so much farther as a teacher.  I am thankful that I had to take this class. 

 

Like most, I have some strong points in this class and some that could use a little work.  I think the project that was easiest for me was the concept map.  I just took the material I needed and inputted it into the web.  It was not so challenging because I already knew how to make a concept map.  The most difficult assignment for me was the assistive technology.  I was very unfamiliar with the material.  I was not aware that the computer has so many features available to me.  It was also difficult because I have Windows 8 on my computer.  The instructions did not correspond with my computer, and I had to search the computer in order to complete the activity.  My movie maker gave me a little trouble, but it was easier than the assistive technology.  I am not familiar will everything that the movie maker will do.  My movie was fun to make; when I was finished, I was very proud of it.  I was trying to show everyone my video.

 

In the future, I plan to work more with the computer in order to access the features more easily.  I would like to be able to use those features in the classroom, especially if I have a child with a disability.  However, I know that I need to get better with the features in order to teach a student how to use them as well.  I would also like to explore the movie maker technology some more.  I would not mind making a few videos for other classes.  This will help me become more familiar with the technology and what it does.  I then will be able to better use it in my own classroom!

 

Technology is an important part of the classroom.  I believe that every teacher should use some form of technology. The students need to be taught how to properly use the technology that is available to them while they are in school.  Our world functions around technology; the children need to be able to function with the world and technology as well.  Like I previously stated, I would like to make a video throughout the year to give the parents at the end of the year.  I would also like to use the concept maps as a teaching tool.  I feel that it is easier to learn if the material is presented in an organized fashion.  The students will be able to see and compare the information that is provided for them.  Turn-It-In is another tool that I will be using in the classroom.  I would like to have all the students turn in their rough drafts to Turn-It-In.  This way, they will have the opportunity to change anything that they feel is necessary.  Then when they turn their final papers into me, they will be less likely to have plagiarized. 

 

Technology is a great tool to anyone that is willing to learn about it.  I am very grateful for this class as it has helped me grow as a person and as a teacher.  I look forward to what the future holds.  Now, I can move forward and feel a little more prepared for what is to come when I graduate.  This class is great for anyone to take, not just teachers.  I learned a lot of useful information that will hopefully take me farther in life.

Web Tools

The web tools is by far my favorite assignment yet.  I find that the web tools are going to be very useful to me as a teacher.  I may not ever use the test creation to make a written test, but if I ever decide to give an online test, it will be very helpful.  I like that their are options when creating the test, and that I can randomize the test questions to help prevent cheating.  It is a lot easier than having to manually scramble the questions.  I love the rubrics; I always thought that it would be very hard to make a rubric.  It is not so hard with the templates.  I like that you can create your own point system; I also like the fact that I can create my own category without having to create the whole rubric from scratch.  This is definitely a tool that I will be using in my classroom for projects.  In this assignment, we also did a word search.  The word search was really easy; I just had to pick some words and then the site scrambled them and added the extra letters.  I had no idea it could be so easy.  Lastly, in this assignment we created a worksheet.  I though the worksheets were cute and really simple to make.  I will most likely use this tool as well.

The web tools correspond with standard two and three.  Standard two works with it because the teacher is designing the word search, test, rubric, and worksheet.  She is creating all of these to help the students develop new learning experiences.  The third standard ties into this assignment because the teacher is modeling the technology.  The test is online which is something that used to not be available.  The teacher can also allow the students to create their own word searches that correspond with the lesson that she is teaching.  Then the students can trade with a partner and complete the word searches.

Websites

This assignment was not the first time that I have created a website; however, this is the first time that I have truly understood what I was doing and how to create it.  I got excited about my website because it is a tool that I know I will use when I begin teaching.  I had a math teacher in high school that had his own website, and we used it quite frequently.  He had a lot of helpful material on his site, and it was all at our fingertips.  I knew if I ever became a teacher, I would want to have a site for my classroom as well; my only problem was that I did not know how to create one.  The one we created in technology discovery was very complicated.  I felt like I was creating the site from scratch, and I may have been.  With Google Sites, it was very easy to make a website.  Once you got the first page created, it was downhill from there.  The website runs very smoothly and is easy to navigate.  I had trouble deciding what I wanted to write on my site, but that will become easier once I graduate and get into my own classroom.  I will not have to search for a supplies list and stuff like that because I will already have one.  This was a great experience for me, and I look forward to making a new one for a real class one day.  This is a link to the sample website that I created: https://sites.google.com/site/mswardskindergartenclassroom/.

By having a website, a teacher is designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments.  If the teacher has older age group, he or she could use their website as an example.  The teacher could have the student create their own website, an "all about me" website.  I think this would be a fun way to incorporate the web design while giving the students the opportunity to learn a little about each student.  Also, the teacher providing a website models the digital-age work and learning.  It is a tool that allows the teacher to communicate with both the students and their parents. 

Turn-It-In

Turn-It-In is a great tool.  I did not like it my freshman year, but no one really explained it to me.  I thought it was just another step because my teacher was too lazy to read our papers.  My teacher did not explain to us that Turn-It-In checked for plagiarism against other papers.  This class was only the second time I had ever used Turn-It-In.  However, this time I knew what it was used for and this assignment showed me the benefit of the tool.  Although I had found out more information and learned how to use the tool, I still learned more when I used it for my SPE 400 class.  We did a planning matrix and had to submit our rough draft through Turn-It-In.  Our teacher wanted us to see how much we plagiarized; if it was over ten or fifteen percent, she wanted us to make the suggested changes to our papers.  This is when I found out that Turn-It-In does not compare your paper with the internet and books, but only to other papers that have been submitted through Turn-It-In.  I directly copied and pasted my objective for my lesson from the Common Core website.  However, Turn-It-In did not say that I plagiarized it from there, it said that I plagiarized it from another student at some college up north.  I had never even seen his paper before.  This experience made me not want to use this program in my own classroom.  Then, I started thinking.  It would be a great tool to do exactly what our teacher made us do.  I would not use it to check their final papers, but it is a good tool for the students to use just to see where they stand.  I like Turn-It-In, but I do not know how accurate it is on finding all the plagiarism. 

 

Turn-It-In also relates to NETS-T.  It can be tied to the fourth standard which is promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.  Because this tool checks for plagiarism, it is promoting digital responsibility.  This tool helps prevent students from submitting something that is plagiarized.  If the student were to submit a paper that is plagiarized, the student would suffer consequences.  Plagiarism is illegal and this tool aides to prevent this crime.   

Google Groups

For Google Groups, we wrote a story as a group.  Each person wrote a paragraph that added onto what the previous person(s) wrote.  I think it was really cool because it leaves the story open to go in all different ways.  No one really knows what will happen or how it will end until the last person finishes writing.  For example, Tiffani left Billy  the elephant stuck in the bus door.  When Katherine started writing, she wrote in a friend that helped push Billy through the door; Billy's friend saved the day.  However, Tiffani had no idea that Katherine would make a way to push Billy through the doors of the bus.  It is exciting to finally go back and read the story as a whole.  To my surprise, the story followed really well.

In Google Groups, we also did a separate presentation using Google presentations.  My presentation was on the number theory.  Considering I want to be a mathematics teacher, this was a good activity for me to practice.  It gave me practice preparing a presentation that I would teach from in a real classroom.  Google presentation was fairly easy to use.  It was very similar to Microsoft power point.  It is definitely something I may consider using in my own classroom.  The best part about it is that it is FREE as long as one has access to the internet!

Using the technology provided through the internet and Google allows for the teacher to model digital-age work and learning.  The students are also prompted to design and develop digital-age learning experiences.  If the teacher uses these programs to create his or her presentations, it may strike an interest with the students.  Also, if the teacher assigns projects that involve these fairly new programs, the students may start to use the programs on their own when they complete other future assignments.

 

Google groups facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity because the students will be intrigued with the idea and want to create a story or presentation themselves.  If the teacher uses the technology, they have to design and develop their own presentation for the class; this is the second standard.  If the teacher presents their work to the class, they are modeling it, which is the third standard.  The teacher is evaluating and reflecting on the technology that is used frequently in the classroom, which falls under the fifth standard.

 

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is a great resource for teachers.  Teachers that have children in their class that have a disability are able to use the computer.  The magnifier can be used not only for children with disabilities, but also for grandparents that come into the classroom that may have trouble seeing due to old age.  The narration is not only good for children that are vision impaired, one could also use it when helping children learn to read.  The children will hear the words as they see them on the screen which aids in learning to read.  These are only examples of a few of the technologies that are on Microsoft that help the children with disabilities.  I love these technologies and cannot wait until I can use some of them in my classroom.  Like I previously stated, one can make use of these technologies even without having a child with disabilities.  Prior to this chapter, I had no idea my computer had these features.  I knew of the common ones like the toggle keys and the magnifier; however, I had no idea that my computer could flash the screen when it made a sound for the toggle keys, nor did I know that I could make my screen change to contrasting colors to increase visibility.  I am very grateful for the section because I feel as though learning assistive technology will make a difference in the future when I start teaching.

If a teacher were to use the narration on a Power-Point as we did in class, they would be addressing the second and third standards.  The second standard states that one should design and develop new age digital learning experiences and assessments.  Using narration accomplishes this because one, it is new aged, and two the teacher designs it and presents it to the classroom.  This is where the third standard comes in.  When the teacher is presenting the Power-Point to the classroom, she is modeling digital age work and learning.