Journal #6

September 30, 2013

Chapter 6 Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources

Focus Question #4 What are WebQuests and virtual field trips?

WebQuests are online inquiries that brings school work to life. Students follow a map or tour that allows them to visit other websites and get their information. The topic they pick is researched as they explore and investigate their questions. WebQuests are made for students and teachers; teachers can assign what level they want their students to work on in a WebQuest. For example, they have different models designed with students of every need, whether they have a problem or reading or they are really good at reading. A virtual field trip is when students can interact without leaving their classroom, they can simply see through a computer. Students can visit museums, science centers, and historical sites as they embark on this online journey. Virtual field trips allow students to communicate with each other or even interact with others in a different country or state!

                                                   Photo Credit to GalcierGuyMT on Flickr

Tech Tool 6.1

It is always a good idea to choose where your students can visit when they go on the Internet, this leads to no distractions or inappropriate websites. I agree that when you do not know what you are looking for, it is easy to get off track, especially on the computer. Teachers have the ability to save websites and let students have a chance to explore more into them, which is helpful for assignments. A tool used is called Portaportal that lets teachers and students bookmark favorite or important websites so they can share them or look at them later. It is a good resource to use when students are assigned a certain topic and the teacher provides a Portaportal that lets them go right into research. As I visited this website, I saw how easy it was to sign up and use this tool to simply copy and paste websites that contain information that is valuable. 

Connection and Summary

I think this is the most helpful chapter I have read! It included so many online tools I can use to easily integrate technology in lesson plans. Bookmarking will allow me never to forget websites that will help me in the future; it is also resourceful that I can discover more websites posted by other people. There are websites that are appealing to both students and teachers that allow both to design and explore them on their own. There are a bunch of websites that help teachers make lesson plans, find information, involve yourself in the sites, and even exchange ideas virtually. This chapter will surely be bookmarked for me!    

Resources

Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming learning with 

new technologies. Allyn & Bacon. 

Journal #5

September 25, 2013
Chapter 5 Researching and Evaluating Internet Information

Focus Question 5 How can teachers respond to problems of plagiarism when students use online sources?
Teachers can use multiple ways to prevent students from plagiarizing, whether they know they are doing it or not. There are websites such as turnitin.com, ithenticate.com, and canexus.com that electronically scan their papers to check for information copied from other sources. Even before giving out an assignment, teachers should go over rules that help the students stay away from plagiarizing. They should distinguish the type of research they should be conducting, stay focused on essential questions, have students develop their thinking and construct their own answers, stress using citations, and assess their work as they are doing an assignment. Teachers should instruct students to critically think about the information they are using.

Tech Tool 5.1
Pictures, videos, and sound are an ideal way to keep students awake. They are visually stimulating and make any lesson worth their time. Flickr is a website where people can share photos, and there are instructional options for teachers to use in the classroom. It allows you to divide your photos into different groups so maybe you can have a tab for school and another for hobbies. These photos can also be used in slideshows, calendars, photo books, cards, and stamps. After visiting Flickr, I learned I could search for anything and a variety of pictures would appear. If I wanted to get more in depth in my search, I could use the advanced search option to limit my pictures. Also, I can find my friends and view their photos as well. Another website was LibriVox, which has free audio sounds from books to other publish materials. Their goal is to make every public domain book free on audio and available to us! Teachers can use this website to enhance their curriculum.  

Summary and Connection
The first step of technology is to become information literate, which means students are able to use information as needed and locate and evaluate it effectively. This does not happen in one night, even as teachers, we are learning about technology to this day. In the future, students should be able to access and assess information correctly so they can use it in their work. Search engines and keywords allow students to find what they are looking for without having to search on every page. Also, when looking at websites, teachers should be able to guide students on what is reliable and what is not a good place to be finding their information. I want to become information literate so that my students do not have to suffer from plagiarism, getting bad grades, or using information that is not valid. This chapter taught me how further my knowledge on how to evaluate a website. There are no shortcuts when it comes to writing good papers, so cheating or using false information will get me nowhere.

References
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming learning with 
          new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.  

Journal #4

September 12, 2013
Chapter 4 Integrating Technology and Creating Change

Focus Question #3 What are "digital inequality" and the "participation gap"?
Digital inequality means that putting technology in schools and at home will not show the differences that social groups have to access them. Adding more technology is not the answer when some students can not even get to a computer because of how they live and their life at home. The gap between students who have access to computers and those who do not is called the participation gap. Without computers, the students without access fall way behind the other students who can just do their work at home. It is not fair because it is not their fault they do not have technology at home and have to limit doing their homework during school hours or until the public library closes. Also, these students do not have the same experiences at the ones with computers; they do not have a chance to connect online, do more research, or just explore the media.

                                                 Photo Credit to Viktor Rosenfeld on Flickr

Tech Tool 4.1
As a person who does not know much about the computer, it is true that integrating technology in the classroom, as well as doing everything else, is going to be a lot of work. Thankfully, they have some helpful programs to make it easier. The National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) has videos of other teachers and how they integrate technology in their classroom. There are also rubrics to see how well I am integrating technology; so basically a check to see if I am doing everything right. Edutopia resources on how to integrate technology, which is probably a website I am going to use a lot. NCTE Inbox includes articles sent to me through email. They are updates and important things I should know that are happening in the teacher world. The NCTE Inbox Blog explores any subject field lessons.

Summary and Connection
Although this chapter includes the cons of integrating technology into the classroom, there are many helpful ways that computers and such can help us. There are many tools that can help put technology in every aspect of the class. There are ways to help the teachers, and even the students. Students can work together and get work done. Some very cool assets are digital pens and digital notepads; they seem very advanced and can even help those with disabilities. Like I said before, I am not good with technology so this chapter taught me about how I can put away those differences, and add more excitement to the classroom by using technology.
Resources
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.

Journal #3

September 4, 2013
Chapter 3 Developing Lessons with Technology

Focus Question #1 What is meant by "lesson development using technology"?
Lesson development are all the steps teachers go through as they create and teach lessons for students. They base it upon what to teach, how to teach, and how to find out what students have learned. Internet sources allow teachers to look up curriculum outlines, technology tools, search engines, and online databases. These tools help teachers to form what they are going to teach in class. Different tools that help create diagrams and software are sources to use when figuring out how to teach. When it comes to the students, online tests and assessments, and surveys allow teachers to see how they are progressing.

Tech Tool 3.3
It is true that as teachers, creating rubrics and quizzes is going to be very time consuming, at least for me. Being able to find online resources and templates to tweak different models will speed up the process. RubiStar and QuizStar seem like good sources to trust. RubiStar seems like a personal site where you can choose your own subject and rubrics to create for your students. It seems very helpful that you can customize to your own particular assignment. QuizStar provides formats where you can create various quizzes and tests. It also has a section where you can view the results of your students, once they have taken a test. This would make grading easier and helpful that it is all on one website.

                                                  Photo credit to SalFalko on Flickr

Summary & Connection:
Making lessons with the help of technology makes life easier. Student learning objectives show the intended outcome of the activities teachers choose and how the students work with them. By working backwards with understanding by design techniques, we can see how each step of making a lesson plan works, also teachers can spend time evaluating what works and what does not work. Being able to assess and evaluate the students using technology can be more organized, especially the grading portion. State testing allows us to see how students are doing individually and where they need help. These scores determine how we can be better teachers and where to place the students, whether it be in a gifted or regular class. I think these forms of technology will make grading and creating assignments for students more efficient. Also, the lists of approved websites and sites where I can find curriculum will be very helpful in my career. I want to learn more about technology now so I will be prepared when I become a teacher. Maybe I can be like the teacher mentioned in the book who did not need lesson plans, but knew from memory, how and what she wanted to teach every day.

Resources:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R.. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming  learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.
  

Journal Post #2

September 4, 2013
Chapter 2 Transforming Learning with Unique, Powerful Technology

Focus Question 7: How can students express their creativity using technology?
Creativity allows students to electronically enhance their work. It is a talent shown throughout the students that gives them a chance to go beyond paper and pen. Now, they can use programs such as photo editing, podcasts, desktop publishing, design tools, and much more. Computers transform ideas and make them better; students can change the colors and sizes of letters in a presentation, even a simple picture that was copied and pasted can become a new work of art. The use of these technologies has helped me when I want to make an engaging Powerpoint or spice up a research paper.

Photo credit to San Jose Library on Flickr

Information technology and creative practices (ITCP) give artistic students an opportunity for self- expression and creative thinking. They are able to use paint, Word, and  design programs to further their assignments. Also, it allows students to work together and put all ideas into one project. Creativity must stand the test of others; apparently, they decide who is creative and who is not. As a teacher, every student is creative in their own way and each piece they create will be seen as magnificence.

Tech Tool 2.1 
I liked how some of the websites had interactive parts that you could work. The websites were very informative and easy to follow. It was interesting to see how all these subjects like frog dissections to skeletons were portrayed to help students learn more about them.

Summary and Connection:
There are many unique and powerful technologies that enhance students learning. We can use computers that contain so many programs to edit photos and papers, create Powerpoints and Word documents that are visually engaging, and even bring together students to make art. Technology does not have to control the classroom and we do not have to rely fully on it, but with the help of computers, we can create work we could not make without the use of them. I may not know much about computers, but I do know how to manipulate letters and pictures to make my assignments visually pleasing and to make them my own.

Resources:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010).Transforming learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.