This month introduced me to the idea of TPACK. It was discussed a bit during the unconferences I went to, but not really explained. Now that I understand what TPACK is, I can see it becoming a bigger part of my education career. I am beginning to understand how to put all three concepts (content knowledge, pedagogy, and technical knowledge) together to create lessons that incorporate all three and teach students in the process. In my fieldwork I am able to see how the use of no technology may actually hinder students learning better. I have so many ideas of what I want to do with my fieldwork students, but don't have the technology at my fingertips to use to make those ideas come to life. I am realizing that simply a laptop and projector isn't as fun as a smartboard would be for them. I also see that Prezi captivates them more than a standard powerpoint. I like learning all these new technologies because I can use them alongside the pedagogy and content knowledge I have learned/am learning/will learn this semester to help move me into a successful student teaching experience (one where there is more technology hopefully).
After going over smartboards again this month, I feel extremely confident that I can utilize them in my future classroom. I actually even more want to. Especially after finding some really fun lessons on the smart exchange. Like Prezi, the smartboard is a time consuming venture, but it's great that there are so many people who put their work up for others to use. It's great that there is a good community we have been introduced to, to exchange ideas with and utilize some of the principles of the newer evaluation models. Also going over the smartboards again helped me see how integrate the TPACK framework and made it a bit more real world for me. It made it more relatable and I liked that. It inspired me to think about smartboards differently and with TPACK in the forefront of my mind.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
TEACHMEETNJ Reflection
On August 22, 2013, I attended TEACHMEETNJ at Stockton. This was another experience with an unconference and it was an interesting one. This one already had the topics decided ahead of time, but you only had 20 minutes in each session and then you would vote for a longer session later in the afternoon. I liked how organized this event was, but I would have preferred longer session times and just done without the really long one at the end of the event. Overall, I did learn some new things which I hope to benefit from in the future.
The first session I went to was App-onomy, Finding ipad apps to fit your curriculum, which I found to be very good considering I only got 20 minutes worth of it. This was one session I would have preferred to be longer to begin with. I feel like too often teachers pick apps simply because it is somewhat close to the lesson they are teaching, but tend to ignore the fact that it may not fit into the curriculum. I also was finding it hard to find apps that fit into the curriculum we were using for making lesson plans at Stockton. I found the suggestions of apps that fit into the different levels of Bloom's to be very helpful! We're constantly being told to utilize the higher levels of Bloom's and being able to find apps that fit into those levels will help me to achieve doing that while bringing in some technology. I liked the suggestions for apps in the different content areas and the information on how to figure out if the app fits into your curriculum. Again, I wish this could have been a longer session or picked for the afternoon one because I feel like I could have gotten so much more out of this, but I did get a lot!
The second session I went to was about Professional Development and how to make it more fun for the teachers. I enjoyed this presenter a lot and liked her use of Prezi because it made a boring topic really cool! Having never gone to PD, it was interesting to learn what is liked and hated about it from other teachers. I liked how she showed examples of how to amp up the PD so that teachers enjoy it. I really liked when she showed her school districts' video for the beginning of the year and how they teased that something big was gonna happen. Her district seems to really be invested in the teachers and their PD!
The third session I went to was the creating a website using Wordpress. I have wanted to use wordpress in the past, and even for me who had done some website work, I found it overwhelming. This session made it not feel that way anymore. I clearly am still on blogger, but now I know how to implement a wordpress website and use it when I am teaching in the classroom. He showed us some really cool tricks on how to only allow certain students to see things, only allow parents to see things, how to make things private, etc. This was another session I wish could have been longer and gone more in depth because I feel like I could have learned a lot! I truly think websites are a great resource for teachers to get information to their students, the parents, and the rest of the school. In today's world, everyone has a webpage and I think learning how to make a very useful one will benefit me when I begin in the classroom.
The fourth session I went to was Pinterest, the professional goldmine. I LOVE pinterest...I would even say I am addicted to it! I had looked on it for some inspiration for lessons I was making in intro semester, but I felt like I came up so short for my content area and my grade level. Most things are aimed at elementary and math and science. Janice Malone really showed us a goldmine of things for every grade level and every subject. She was very knowledgeable about which websites to use and I even followed her and constantly get all her new pins. She had some really great ones for inspiring the students. I wish her session was longer too because then I would have been able to get more info on where to find the best pins for my content area and grade leve.
The fifth session I went to was Google Tools, which was good too! I liked learning about some things Google offered that I didnt know. I learned about google forms, chromebooks, utilizing google drive and a bunch of other google things in the classroom. I am amazed at how easy google has made my life and I would love to be able to do that for my students. I never really thought about using some of these things in a classroom, but during this presentation, it began to make perfect sense to me!
The sixth session I went to was another Pinterest one, because as I said, I love it! This one was very different from the previous one. What I liked about this one was they showed us specific people to follow and why. They also had a list of people to follow based on your content area. I went and found those people and have been getting new pins from them every day! This one turned into a longer session, and I went to it. I probably should have picked a different one, but it was nice to think of different ways to use pinterest. Like I never thought to have the students use it to share and save their ideas with their groups members. However, I'm not sure many schools would be happy about that, but maybe in the future.
The seventh session I went to was all about google forms. I now LOVE the idea of google forms. I like that I can create this form and it will do all the work for me! I also like that I can make it look pretty and interesting to my students. I also think the students would be more willing to do a test, quiz, do now, or exit card on the computer than with their hands. Plus it allows me to take all the answers with me simply on google drive so I can access it from my phone, computer, wherever! This will allow me to do work without having to take all the papers! Plus this will save the environment too!
Overall I did enjoy my sessions at TEACHMEETNJ. I wish they were longer, but I got a lot out of them. A lot of the sessions aimed on helping to create that harmony between technology, content knowledge, and pedagogy and helped me see it can be done. It helped me see that there are things out there to use that will fall into my curriculum, help me assess my students at a higher level, that are in my content area, and that will be technologically appropriate!
The first session I went to was App-onomy, Finding ipad apps to fit your curriculum, which I found to be very good considering I only got 20 minutes worth of it. This was one session I would have preferred to be longer to begin with. I feel like too often teachers pick apps simply because it is somewhat close to the lesson they are teaching, but tend to ignore the fact that it may not fit into the curriculum. I also was finding it hard to find apps that fit into the curriculum we were using for making lesson plans at Stockton. I found the suggestions of apps that fit into the different levels of Bloom's to be very helpful! We're constantly being told to utilize the higher levels of Bloom's and being able to find apps that fit into those levels will help me to achieve doing that while bringing in some technology. I liked the suggestions for apps in the different content areas and the information on how to figure out if the app fits into your curriculum. Again, I wish this could have been a longer session or picked for the afternoon one because I feel like I could have gotten so much more out of this, but I did get a lot!
The second session I went to was about Professional Development and how to make it more fun for the teachers. I enjoyed this presenter a lot and liked her use of Prezi because it made a boring topic really cool! Having never gone to PD, it was interesting to learn what is liked and hated about it from other teachers. I liked how she showed examples of how to amp up the PD so that teachers enjoy it. I really liked when she showed her school districts' video for the beginning of the year and how they teased that something big was gonna happen. Her district seems to really be invested in the teachers and their PD!
The third session I went to was the creating a website using Wordpress. I have wanted to use wordpress in the past, and even for me who had done some website work, I found it overwhelming. This session made it not feel that way anymore. I clearly am still on blogger, but now I know how to implement a wordpress website and use it when I am teaching in the classroom. He showed us some really cool tricks on how to only allow certain students to see things, only allow parents to see things, how to make things private, etc. This was another session I wish could have been longer and gone more in depth because I feel like I could have learned a lot! I truly think websites are a great resource for teachers to get information to their students, the parents, and the rest of the school. In today's world, everyone has a webpage and I think learning how to make a very useful one will benefit me when I begin in the classroom.
The fourth session I went to was Pinterest, the professional goldmine. I LOVE pinterest...I would even say I am addicted to it! I had looked on it for some inspiration for lessons I was making in intro semester, but I felt like I came up so short for my content area and my grade level. Most things are aimed at elementary and math and science. Janice Malone really showed us a goldmine of things for every grade level and every subject. She was very knowledgeable about which websites to use and I even followed her and constantly get all her new pins. She had some really great ones for inspiring the students. I wish her session was longer too because then I would have been able to get more info on where to find the best pins for my content area and grade leve.
The fifth session I went to was Google Tools, which was good too! I liked learning about some things Google offered that I didnt know. I learned about google forms, chromebooks, utilizing google drive and a bunch of other google things in the classroom. I am amazed at how easy google has made my life and I would love to be able to do that for my students. I never really thought about using some of these things in a classroom, but during this presentation, it began to make perfect sense to me!
The sixth session I went to was another Pinterest one, because as I said, I love it! This one was very different from the previous one. What I liked about this one was they showed us specific people to follow and why. They also had a list of people to follow based on your content area. I went and found those people and have been getting new pins from them every day! This one turned into a longer session, and I went to it. I probably should have picked a different one, but it was nice to think of different ways to use pinterest. Like I never thought to have the students use it to share and save their ideas with their groups members. However, I'm not sure many schools would be happy about that, but maybe in the future.
The seventh session I went to was all about google forms. I now LOVE the idea of google forms. I like that I can create this form and it will do all the work for me! I also like that I can make it look pretty and interesting to my students. I also think the students would be more willing to do a test, quiz, do now, or exit card on the computer than with their hands. Plus it allows me to take all the answers with me simply on google drive so I can access it from my phone, computer, wherever! This will allow me to do work without having to take all the papers! Plus this will save the environment too!
Overall I did enjoy my sessions at TEACHMEETNJ. I wish they were longer, but I got a lot out of them. A lot of the sessions aimed on helping to create that harmony between technology, content knowledge, and pedagogy and helped me see it can be done. It helped me see that there are things out there to use that will fall into my curriculum, help me assess my students at a higher level, that are in my content area, and that will be technologically appropriate!
PADCAMP Reflection
On August 8, 2013, I attended PADCAMP at Galloway Middle School. It was my first experience with an unconference, and I have to say, it was a pleasurable one. After breakfast and topics were decided, I headed to four very interesting sessions. The first session I went to was titled, "Free apps for Educators". I really enjoyed this one because they were really prepared and had some free apps already in mind and showed us how to use them. I think what I liked most about this session was the fact that all of us were able to put great free apps into a spreadsheet that we could share with each other and go back to after the unconference. I enjoyed meeting other teachers and hearing how they use technology in their classrooms everyday. They explained how they will take the app that works with their lesson that day and utilize it in the classroom, whether in a 1:1 format of iPads or with just one the iPad. These teachers explained how they knew the apps were working for their students and how found them for their content area. It was nice to see apps being to be used because until I took this session I felt like I was falling flat on finding apps for my content area. I think it's great to learn new free apps that can be used in the classroom to further the content knowledge and teaching of students in a way that is effective.
The second session I went to was all about Edmodo. Having only used Edmodo as a student, I was interested how it worked for teachers. I'm so glad I took this class because I realized so many things about Edmodo that I had never known before. I liked it being compared to Facebook for the classroom, because it truly is. I liked a lot of the suggestions to use Edmodo to Flip the Classroom, do formative assessments, and to get to know the students. I feel like this is something that everyone should use in their classroom because not only is it a great tool to communicate to the students, it's also fun for them as well. They view it as a social media, but it has boundaries so the students cannot get in trouble. I also feel like it is so versatile that any teacher could use it and I feel like it would engage students to participate more as well.
The third session I went to was the podcasting one. I was interested in this because I had done some podcasting in college, but nothing like what they're doing today! I was amazed at all the amazing features and benefits podcasting affords the teacher and students. I really liked the idea of being able to broadcast something happening in school for the parents to watch later at home or in real time. I feel like something of this nature could even be used everyday. If the lessons are being broadcast over the internet, then students who may be home sick can watch from home and not worry about falling behind. Or even students who may not have gotten everything in the classroom setting can go back and watch the lesson again to get the information they may have missed the first time. The students can show their parents the projects they have put together or their parents could watch their child get an award or big recognition online. The possibilities are endless when it came to this session, which was very informative!
The fourth and final session I attended was about apps for social studies high school classes. It was the one I was most interested in, but was the least put together. It ended up being a few teachers discussing what they use and what they have found to work in the past in regards to apps, youtube channels, and websites. It was good to get a good amount of resources to go back to and look at, so I have some idea of where to go when it comes time for me to use technology in the classroom. I also liked that the teachers shared their experiences with each thing they suggested and how their students liked it or not. This session was more of a discussion but it was a big help!
Overall, my experience at PADCAMP was great. I was able to speak with real teachers who employ technology in their classroom in an effective way. I was able to truly understand how TPACK comes to life in a classroom. These teachers knew ways to take their content areas and find the best methods to teach it using technology, no matter what the technology was! I hope to become that knowledgeable one day so that I know immediately what to use to accomplish that sweet spot where technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge come together!
The second session I went to was all about Edmodo. Having only used Edmodo as a student, I was interested how it worked for teachers. I'm so glad I took this class because I realized so many things about Edmodo that I had never known before. I liked it being compared to Facebook for the classroom, because it truly is. I liked a lot of the suggestions to use Edmodo to Flip the Classroom, do formative assessments, and to get to know the students. I feel like this is something that everyone should use in their classroom because not only is it a great tool to communicate to the students, it's also fun for them as well. They view it as a social media, but it has boundaries so the students cannot get in trouble. I also feel like it is so versatile that any teacher could use it and I feel like it would engage students to participate more as well.
The third session I went to was the podcasting one. I was interested in this because I had done some podcasting in college, but nothing like what they're doing today! I was amazed at all the amazing features and benefits podcasting affords the teacher and students. I really liked the idea of being able to broadcast something happening in school for the parents to watch later at home or in real time. I feel like something of this nature could even be used everyday. If the lessons are being broadcast over the internet, then students who may be home sick can watch from home and not worry about falling behind. Or even students who may not have gotten everything in the classroom setting can go back and watch the lesson again to get the information they may have missed the first time. The students can show their parents the projects they have put together or their parents could watch their child get an award or big recognition online. The possibilities are endless when it came to this session, which was very informative!
The fourth and final session I attended was about apps for social studies high school classes. It was the one I was most interested in, but was the least put together. It ended up being a few teachers discussing what they use and what they have found to work in the past in regards to apps, youtube channels, and websites. It was good to get a good amount of resources to go back to and look at, so I have some idea of where to go when it comes time for me to use technology in the classroom. I also liked that the teachers shared their experiences with each thing they suggested and how their students liked it or not. This session was more of a discussion but it was a big help!
Overall, my experience at PADCAMP was great. I was able to speak with real teachers who employ technology in their classroom in an effective way. I was able to truly understand how TPACK comes to life in a classroom. These teachers knew ways to take their content areas and find the best methods to teach it using technology, no matter what the technology was! I hope to become that knowledgeable one day so that I know immediately what to use to accomplish that sweet spot where technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge come together!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Screencast
Here is the screencast of everything I did for the semester in this class. It was a really great semester and I had a lot of fun, and certainly learned a lot! I look forward to learning more next semester in ITLA and utilizing everything I have learned in this class in my fieldwork classrooms, as well as my future classroom.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Twitter Reflection
Today in class our group (GASP) presented the use of Twitter in the classroom. I think it went pretty well in regards of showing the class how to make their own fake tweets to use in the classroom in order to engage students through using social media. I think there were a lot of ways we didn't even think it could be used in the classroom, especially the back end stuff Dr. Harvey was talking about. I think this could be used in the classroom for real, if the classrooms either have electronics (smart phones, Ipads, etc.) and if the kids have twitter accounts. The latter may be the hardest since some students will most likely be against starting one (I was...I only started one because of this class).
Overall, I think we made it pretty clear that Twitter has a place in the classroom, whether it be fake or real. As someone who went to high school before smartboards and Ipads, Twitter seemed like a sorta weird idea to be used in the classroom before I did this project and learned all the valuable ways Twitter could and should be used in the classroom. It has some the benefits of the smart response systems and a unique way to engage the students in a world where social media rules their lives and everyone else's as well.
For this project, I helped Chris create the video on how to make an account, and I put all the fake twitter feeds together (because the website for some reason would not show LONG tweets, so I had to photoshop them together). And I also experimented with the other fake twitter website and made the hilarious Thomas Jefferson tweet that for some reason did not show up.
Here is my lesson plan!
Overall, I think we made it pretty clear that Twitter has a place in the classroom, whether it be fake or real. As someone who went to high school before smartboards and Ipads, Twitter seemed like a sorta weird idea to be used in the classroom before I did this project and learned all the valuable ways Twitter could and should be used in the classroom. It has some the benefits of the smart response systems and a unique way to engage the students in a world where social media rules their lives and everyone else's as well.
For this project, I helped Chris create the video on how to make an account, and I put all the fake twitter feeds together (because the website for some reason would not show LONG tweets, so I had to photoshop them together). And I also experimented with the other fake twitter website and made the hilarious Thomas Jefferson tweet that for some reason did not show up.
Here is my lesson plan!
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Clicker Lesson Reflection
Today I presented my lesson using the Clickers. I have used the clickers before in college classes, and I never really enjoyed using them because they were mostly used for attendance or for a quiz that counted as our attendance.
Overall, this lesson was fun. Definitely made me rethink how I feel about clickers, I think because it was used for a game instead of a quiz. I think that may be one of the only ways I would use the clickers or maybe to check for understanding during lessons. I think the lesson went well, and I'm glad I made it a game because this class LOVES games and competition so it really made them get into it and try to answer the questions correctly!
For the purposes of this class I think I should have shown a youtube video maybe to give the class a little background, but I decided it against doing it beforehand because I thought it would make the lesson too long. In the end, it would have been good simply for this class, my students should remember that stuff if its review right after a lesson, but the video may have helped move the questions along a bit quicker and thus, made my lesson presentation quicker.
In the end, I think this went well! It showed me a different side of the clickers and made me look at using them as an educator and not a student. I think making it a game was me remembering what I didn't like as a student so I could fix that as an educator. I enjoyed using these and hopefully I'll be able to use them in the future!
Here is my lesson plan!
Overall, this lesson was fun. Definitely made me rethink how I feel about clickers, I think because it was used for a game instead of a quiz. I think that may be one of the only ways I would use the clickers or maybe to check for understanding during lessons. I think the lesson went well, and I'm glad I made it a game because this class LOVES games and competition so it really made them get into it and try to answer the questions correctly!
For the purposes of this class I think I should have shown a youtube video maybe to give the class a little background, but I decided it against doing it beforehand because I thought it would make the lesson too long. In the end, it would have been good simply for this class, my students should remember that stuff if its review right after a lesson, but the video may have helped move the questions along a bit quicker and thus, made my lesson presentation quicker.
In the end, I think this went well! It showed me a different side of the clickers and made me look at using them as an educator and not a student. I think making it a game was me remembering what I didn't like as a student so I could fix that as an educator. I enjoyed using these and hopefully I'll be able to use them in the future!
Here is my lesson plan!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Video Reflection 3
For my third video reflection I watched Connecting High School to Career on edutopia. This video was mostly focusing on the idea of magnet schools and academies that prepare high school students for careers they want to head into in the future. The good thing about these school is they challenge the students in way that are different from the typical high school curriculum and they have the opportunity to use technology in different ways as well.
These schools really enhance their curriculums by using real world experience and classes that are mainly geared towards what these students want to do when they head into the real world. Cedar Creek in our area is actually an engineering magnet school in the area and students instead of taking all the "well rounded" classes for graduation, they focus heavily on the sciences and math that will prepare them to head into college to major in one of the engineering fields. They use technology and are even discussing the possibility of working with colleges to get the students college credit. The schools portrayed in this video were having similar experiences in their fields of choice. They're integrating technology to create cures for cancer, their own cartoons, and green ambulances to cut down on the country's carbon footprint.
Using technology in the capacity it is used in the real world to teach students about it and how to use it is very cool. I think that is one of the best applications of technology in the classroom. It really helps them understand how technology can be used and it aids tremendously in their education. I wish these schools were more prominent here when I was in high school. My high school recently added academies that allow students to focus on careers in medicine. They're looking to continue adding them to support this current trend and the use of technology.
These schools really enhance their curriculums by using real world experience and classes that are mainly geared towards what these students want to do when they head into the real world. Cedar Creek in our area is actually an engineering magnet school in the area and students instead of taking all the "well rounded" classes for graduation, they focus heavily on the sciences and math that will prepare them to head into college to major in one of the engineering fields. They use technology and are even discussing the possibility of working with colleges to get the students college credit. The schools portrayed in this video were having similar experiences in their fields of choice. They're integrating technology to create cures for cancer, their own cartoons, and green ambulances to cut down on the country's carbon footprint.
Using technology in the capacity it is used in the real world to teach students about it and how to use it is very cool. I think that is one of the best applications of technology in the classroom. It really helps them understand how technology can be used and it aids tremendously in their education. I wish these schools were more prominent here when I was in high school. My high school recently added academies that allow students to focus on careers in medicine. They're looking to continue adding them to support this current trend and the use of technology.
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