Final Reflection

Reflecting back on this class, I think that I learned things about the way I teach and the way I learn. Teaching for me incorporates finding a way to reach as many learners as possible. In reading our online articles and textbooks, I think that adding technology into the classroom can definitely be a tool for reaching all learners. Will it work for everyone? No. But if it can work for some, it is worth it. I do not think that online learning and technology are the only way to differentiate education though. It is all about knowing what your students need and how they learn best. I think our program question asks about how children learn best and what we as educators can do to meet their needs. This class has given me more tools for my toolbox that I can use to assist students in many areas to enhance their educational experience and success rate.
As a learner, I realized that although I rely on my computer and the internet for so many things, I did not prefer the online course. The amount of time consumed by reading and typing was overwhelming at times. I would much rather converse with my colleagues face-to-face. I think that conversations are more natural this way. With online learning, I could post something, but have to wait over 24 hours for a response. However, I must admit that the freedom of having Wednesday night available without the rush of getting to class and the freedom to work at my pace was a nice break from what we were used to.
Finally, I think that my writing skills were enhanced because I was constantly writing and rewriting my posts and comments to be sure I had my idea stated just the way I wanted it. Online learning forces you to write, which can be a difficult skill to master. Overall, this course had benefits and drawbacks for me that I can reflect on, learn from, and use to make changes to the way I learn and teach.
In the next few days, I plan to finalize my paper and finish my presentation. I also need to read the thread posts that have been made and make comments on what others have written. See you all on Wednesday for our presentations!

Final Project Progress

I have decided to use video conferencing for my final project with an emphasis on the program, Skype. I know that many of you have already used this program before, so I apologize in advance for my beginner's outlook on it. Today I spent time looking for articles written about the pros and cons of video conferencing in association with education. It was hard to know which articles to read because there was so much information out there. It was nice to have so many of the articles be so recent. Some of the research I have done in this program has led me to outdated information. Therefore, sorting through all the current articles took me awhile. I did find a few that I was very intrigued by and will incorporate into my final paper. I want to be sure that my paper is to the point and not full of excess information that is not relevant. Therefore, it looks like I have some narrowing down to do. I am off to read!

Voki

Alright, so I had to try it too. I was not sure what to say, but at least I know it worked!


Get a Voki now!

Week 5 Reflection

This week was a little different for me. Because I had already responded to the threads on the Ning website, I did not spend nearly the amount of time I had the past weeks on there. I did continue to read what others had written, but since many of us share the same thoughts on many of the topics, I did not post commments to everyone. What I did spend time on this week was read Disrupting Class and trying to figure out what to do my final project on. As for the book, I have to say that it was just an ok read for me. Maybe it is because I feel that we have read so much during this program that I have sort of developed a just read and get it over with attitude. I did like the models presented in the book and felt more comfortable with what they actually meant after Patrick talked about them in class. I also liked how Christensen addressed all the comments that are often made about why students have difficulties or why technology is not the answer. He they rebuted the comments with evidence that seemed relevant. The style in which he writes is very easy for me to read so sometimes I think I get reading and then have to go back because even though I read the words, I did not get meaning out of them. One page that really stuck out to me was 111. Christensen talks about the effectiveness of student-centric online technology when it comes to grading and feedback. Sometimes a student can turn in an assignment or test and not get feedback about it for awhile because teachers need the time to get it corrected and make all the appropriate comments. By this time, the student may just take the assignment and not gain any insight as to what was done correctly/incorrectly because of the lapse in time. Online technology would allow for instant feedback in some cases because the time for grading would be eliminated. However, this would limit your assessments to basic true/false, multiple choice, or fill in the blank. The constructed response that requires actual writing would still need to be looked over by a teacher. I can say I definitely relate to this topic right now because I am grading state reports. I have 65 reports to get through and it so so time consuming. The students turned them in last week and I have about 20 left to go. I always hope they look over and read all of my comments after I take the time to check them all. But yet, I am sure some don't due to the time issue.
This week I am going to research video conferencing since it is my topic for my final project. I am going to zone in on skype, but yet look at video conferencing in general. I also want to create a Voki and finish Disrupting Class.

Video

This video is very much like others we have seen in this class, but I thought I would share anyway. Be sure to pause the music player or it will play along with the music from the video.

Articles

I have been trying to do some research into video conferencing through the use of Skype. I already encountered that I may have a problem getting this set up because I only have a cell phone, not a landline. It can be done, but it costs a fee. It seems like it could be a very manageable tool once everything is set up. Once I find a landline to use, I plan to attempt to skpye. For now, here is an article I read about it that was helpful.


http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial107.shtml

Out of the Loop

I am currently in Green Bay spending Easter with my family. I had not checked any of my sites since yesterday after school and I was amazed how disconnected I felt from all of this. Everyone else is asleep right now and I am trying to play catch up. I looked at all the blogs and love the Vokis! Do you have to have some kind of microphone to do this? I have not explored the website yet, so maybe that will answer my question. I am continuing to plug away reading the Disruptive book and am finding it to be an ok read. I just stop myself sometimes thinking how much there is out there for technology and how much I truly don't understand about it all. How can anyone keep up with how quickly everything changes? I will attempt to check everything again tomorrow and then Sunday when we get back to Minnesota. Any word on whether or not we are meeting for class. Happy Easter!

Funology

Another topic I want to incorporate more of in my classroom is humor. I wish I had more ways to effectively reach my students through the incorporation of humor. In my searching, I found this website that seemed very user-friendly for students. Be prepared to play! www.funology.com

Final Project

I am thinking of using skype for my final project. Ok, I have a possible topic. Now what?

Tweet Tweet

I made my first post on Twitter today! I had to blog about it because it was a big step for me. After reading so much about it, I wasn't sure I wanted to try this, but I was brave and gave in. I think I was apprehensive because I didn't know how it could benefit my profession. Since I already have so many sites to check, I wanted to save myself the time of adding another one. But, I found this article on classroom2.o and it helped to change my mind. It is called " Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter." Check it out: http://mrslwalker.com/?p=79620905

Discipline

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by trying to figure out appropriate forms of discipline for my classroom. Therefore, tonight I decided to see what I could find on this topic. I found the website called Discipline Help: You Can Handle Them All. This intrigued me because at times I wonder about this. Recently, there have been some issues in my classroom where a student has been pushing the limits. When I looked at this website, I found a description that completely described my student. I found the information to be useful. Maybe you can find a behavior that sounds familiar to some of your students and gain some insights on to how to handle it.

http://www.disciplinehelp.com/teacher/list.cfm?cause=All

Life Post

Today I went to a wake for a 47-year-old mother of three who passed away from cancer. 47. As I watched the people pour into the funeral home, it was a deja vu moment for me. This week marks the 8 year anniversary of my own mother's death. She passed away at the age of 52 from cancer when I was just 19. When we got home, I was shaken by all of this and took some time to reflect on life. I have been stressing about many things lately including this class. I guess I was reminded that life is short and stressing only makes it shorter. Therefore, I am going to attempt to tell myself that what I am doing thus far is enough because I am doing my best and trying to better myself as an educator. I have to learn to be able to turn the computer off and not worry about it afterward. So upon completing this post, I plan to take my own advice. Just think, we are almost finished with this program! Where have the two years gone? Be proud of all you have accomplished and all you have learned. We should all be very proud of our efforts.

Twitter Account

I signed up for a twitter account, but cannot find anyone else from this class on it. Has anyone else created an account?

Week 4 Reflection

(Posting early in anticipation of a crazy week with Easter break coming up and preparing to travel at the end of the week. Being proactive!) This week, I created an online scrapbook through smilebox.com. Since this is something that I have really wanted to do for awhile, I was very motivated to try this out. I was really happy with the outcome and plan to use this site again. How can I integrate this into my classroom? There are templates I can insert pictures into that could show the progress of our class through photos. For example, the students are workig on their state reports right now. We could do before and after pictures of their state boards and how they developed them. I could then link the scrapbook to my school website. I assume the legality of using student photos would be covered just through the permission forms that are sent out at the beginning of the school year. I could even just take pictures of the state boards without any students in them. In a few weeks we are hosting a fourth grade spring showcase. I could try to find a way to display the scrapbook for parents to see at that as well. Furthermore, I used pandora at school this week. We read a story about Gloria Estefan in reading and my students wanted to hear her music. I put her name in as the search and we were able to listen to "Conga." Oh, and of course we had a little dance party as we listened :) As for reading, I liked the articles we read for thread 4 this week because they seemed applicable and relevant. I have found that through this entire master's program, I have come to appreciate text that I can relate to and find I can actually use in my profession. I am still trying to plug through reading Hendron. I think this book will be a great reference in the future as I continue to expand my technology knowledge even when this class is over. I still sometimes get overwhelmed with the online reading and workload, and the textbook reading. It is all about balance. I am trying to take Patrick's advice and set aside a chunk of time on a regular basis that is master's time. I am only allowed to work during this time. This way, I force myself to be productive, and still try to find a balance between school, home life, and master's work. I guess I will know if it is working by keeping track if I am keeping up in the class. My goals for the upcoming week are to finish Hendron, begin reading our other book, look into Skype and try to find an opportunity to use through Classroom 2.0, and to sign up for a Twitter account.