Revised Philosophy Statement

Wow! These past seven weeks sure have flown by! I have learned a lot from this class, honestly more than I thought. Since I'm in my mid-twenties, I considered myself very tech savvy. Little did I know how far off I actually was. I was familiar with blogs, I used to keep a personal one in my teen years. But I was very unfamiliar with wikis, e-portfolios and creating podcasts.

I am very thankful for this course and the lessons I learned because I think it is crucial for today's teachers to be up to par with technology. Students these days are being raised in a digital era and it's important that the teacher's don't get left behind. We, teachers, need to be prepared to teach the students and keep up with modern technology so that even they don't get left behind on new developments.

When the semester first started, I wrote my Philosophy Statement as a Constructivist. To this day, that still stands. The only thing I revised in my statement was that I added a section on importance of technology in the classroom and posted it below:

Philosophy Statement

The purpose of education is to prepare children for their life outside of school. As teachers, it is our job to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need for after they graduate. It is extremely important to have a philosophy and plan in place so that an effective classroom can be run with full learning potential.

After reading through the six philosophy resources, the one that I most closely identify with is Constructivism. I believe a classroom should be student-centered where high-level thinking and student autonomy are encouraged. There also needs to be a reflection time so that the students can figure out how and why they got their answers. Constructivism places a lot of responsibility on the students and keeps them accountable for their own learning.

The role of the learner is to seep up information that will prepare them for the future. Also to expand their knowledge off of what they currently know and incorporate it in their everyday lives. The role of the teacher is to set up a classroom that encourages all levels of learning. Lesson plans need to encourage higher-level thinking and the teacher needs to serve more as a facilitator than a lecturer. Children need to be challenged, but also supported and encouraged to do well.

Technology is also a vital part of the classroom. We live in an age where new technology is coming about and advancing every day. The current students are also being raised in a digital age. Teachers need to be trained and keep up-to-date on current and new technologies. Technology should be implemented in the classroom for learning. It is crucial to have so that the students will be prepared for later classes and to be successful outside of school.

My objective as a teacher is to run a positive classroom with set expectations and rules. There will be order and organization in my classroom so that full learning potential can be met. I will have the students work in groups more often than not so that they can learn from one another. I want the children to learn to think for themselves and learn to come up with answers on their own, rather than them sitting through a lecture and writing down notes. I don’t believe that just lecturing allows the students to use their brains in creative ways, nor does it encourage high-level thinking or student autonomy. I believe a student can grasp a concept best if they try to figure out the problem on their own. Of course, the teacher should always be there to help and to guide the students. I also will have a fun classroom, learning needs to be seen as fun and enjoyable so that maximum learning can occur.

I like to look back at my previous teachers and see what had the best effect on me. My worst teacher was my 2^nd grade teacher. She was very mean, always in a bad mood and was very hard on us as a class. That is the complete opposite of what kind of teacher I want to be. I want to be more like my sophomore year World History teacher. While her class was very tough and challenging, it was also fun. We worked a lot in groups, doing different projects and activities. I believe I learned more this way, since I was actively learning, rather than passively learning.

I will hold true to my philosophy on Constructivism and set high expectations for myself and my students. My students will always be expected to excel on their assignments and completely fully and to the best of their ability. I will hold myself accountable for them as well. If a student is struggling, I need to recognize it and come up with a plan to help them understand and ultimately do well in the class.

Reflective Blog 6: Podcasts

As I was reading through the article, "Teaching with Technology Podcasting," I noticed that the studies conducted and the methods talked about were really targeting the higher education realm. Honestly, I think podcasting would be more beneficial and useful in higher education more so than in grade school. I think the future of podcasting is bright, even though it is a fairly new endeavor. Podcasting allows teachers to record lectures and make them available on-line to students. It also allows the students to get involved if they are to create their own podcasts. Studies have shown that pre-recorded lectures made available by podcasts have had a positive effect on exam grades. Also,  podcasts are available not only on the computer, but on tablets and MP3 players as well. They are readily available to everyone everywhere.

The reason I think podcasts are better for use in higher education is because there are a lot of students in grade school who do not have access to computers, tablets or MP3 players at home, especially in lower income areas. However, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be used at all in grade school. Projects can be completed in the school computer lab, as they should be. Students need to be exposed to all realms of technology, including podcasting. Especially since podcasts are being used more often in higher education, grade school is the perfect time and opportunity to expose them to this.

One possible negative side effects of podcasting would be less class attendance. Students may see the podcasts as a way out of not actually going to class. However, so far, this hasn't been the case. And this most certainly wouldn't be the case in grade school since students have to attend school. So as of right now, this possible side effect is really a non-issue.

As far as personal use of podcasting in my classroom goes, I would say really depends on what grade level I am teaching. I am Highly Qualified to teach 4th-8th grade. If I am teaching a 4th-6th grade classroom, I probably wouldn't use podcasting as much as I would if I were teaching a 7th-8th grade class. The 4th-6th graders would be exposed to podcasting in a lesson, but wouldn't be something heavily used throughout the year. I may have them do a fun little project involving creating a podcast so that they are at least exposed to it. In the 7th-8th grade classes, I would probably use podcasting more frequently. As in delivering pre-recorded lectures that they can use while doing homework or studying for a test. I would also have them create at least one podcast so that they are exposed to that side of it as well.

Podcasting is a great tool for the classroom. It can be used in many different ways and accessed through many different outlets. I have a feeling more and more schools and universities will be using podcasting more often down the road.

Tech Project/Reflection #5

When starting this project, I took the quiz to see how much I knew about technology. I scored a 5, which told me that I'm "somewhat savvy." This made me realize that I didn't know as much as I thought I did about computers.

For this project, I chose the article "California's Velcro Crop under Challenge."

Meta-Web Info

Initially, I did not recognize the domain name, and the extension is a .com, referring to a company. Since it is an article written by one man, it is a personal page. There were no embedded links on this site. To do further research, I used the search engines altavista.com, excite.com and infoseek.com. On all three search engines, my specific site was the first one to be listed in the search results. There were also articles written by other people about the issue and discussion forums. Altavisa.com said it found 44.4 million results. I didn't see results on the other two sites. I also noticed that excite.com pulled from Google, Yahoo and Bing, arguably the three most common, popular search engines. Also, infoseek.com is powered by Yahoo.com. Each site had the exact same findings on the first page. Surprisingly, there were no ads on the sides of the search engines. I know that there usually are, and they are typically ads that will attract you personally. There are tracking devices on computers that follow the sites you visit on the computer, and then there will be similar ads on search sites to try to pull you in to buy something. The company that places the ad usually gets paid per click.

Author

After typing the domain name into easywhois.com, I noticed that the page I visited wasn't registered. This doesn't show too much credibility to the website. However, just by reading the article, we know that it was written by a man named Ken Umbach.

Purpose

The purpose of this website is to educate people on California's Velcro Crop and why it's under challenge. According to archive.org, the website has been crawled 159 times since April 18, 2001. There is not much evidence for credibility of the site. As mentioned before, it was not registered on easywhois.com and we only know that the article was written by Ken Umbach back in 1993. This is an informational piece that tells people the background, issues, status and recommendations of the California Velcro Crop.

Reflective Blog #4

I actually prefer composing documents long hand first and then transferring my work on-line. I feel like I can get my thoughts across better when I am handwriting. This also makes proofreading easier because when I transfer my work to a computer document, I often catch my mistakes in grammar and spelling. I have no issues with creating something online first, but personally I prefer handwriting initially.

All of my phone numbers, notes and half of my calendar are on my phone. I do keep a day planner at work because I like to be able to see my week at a quick glance, rather than having to go into my phone and look through it one day at a time.

I don't necessarily join meetings via laptop or tablet. However at my day job, in the sales world, I have attended web-based conference calls where I will be on the phone and watching a presentation through the internal network.

Unfortunately, I am probably too connected. When I'm at work, I keep my Internet Explorer up and my phone is right by my side. When I'm at home, I'm really only on the Internet on an actual computer for school, otherwise I just use my phone for everything. The reason I started out with this being an unfortunate thing, is because I could put my phone down more. I can't say how many times I've been with my friends and we're all on our phones playing games... with each other. It sounds ridiculous, and it is. There needs to be a lot more face-to-face interaction. Sometimes when I am at home, I try to leave my phone in my room so that I can enjoy the company I have and not have my phone attached to my hip all of the time.

I am not sure if I can specifically put a number on how many things I can do at one time. Maybe 2 or 3. At work, I always listen to music when I'm recruiting or on the phone. Sometimes I'll be watching TV, playing games on my phone and talking to whoever is in the room. But then sometimes, I can only do one thing at a time... like reading or writing with no distractions.

Generally I don't play video games, and I haven't played a computer game in probably 15 years. If I am at a friend's house and they have a Wii or XBox Kinect, we will sometimes compete in those type of games. Other than that, I just play games on my phone.

Since I was born in the mid-1980s, I fall under then Generation Y category. Even though I wasn't submerged in technology growing up (because it wasn't available) like today's students are, I do believe I have a firm grasp on today's technology. I think it's very important for teachers to be up-to-date. Not only are today's students well-versed in technology, the world itself is making technological advances every day. These children need to be prepared for when they get out of school. Old teaching methods just aren't going to cut it anymore, so teachers, especially older teachers, are going to have to make some adjustments.

Reflective Blog #3

After reading the article, I definitely relate to the tenant of Assessment for Learning. While I think it is important to check for understanding on the student's past and current works, it is important to keep looking forward as well. The students need to focus on building their learning, as a fluid movement, rather than a cold stop and start method. I also believe it is crucial for the student to be involved in their own learning plan, not to just be handed assignments from the teacher. The teacher needs to be in conversation with the student on their individual learning plan and also welcome any input by the student. These assessments need to focus on improvement and compared to their own previous works, not how they compare to other students in their class. Since I am a constructivists, the assessment for learning really fits in with my ideas on how a classroom should be run and how students should be taught. Classrooms need to be a student-centered environment, not a teacher-centered environment. I believe more learning and growth within the student is better accomplished this way.

I think there is great potential for portfolio assessments. It's upsetting that students see these portfolios as something they have to do, rather than want to do. When I was at the University of Oklahoma, we had to make a portfolio of all of the projects and assignments we completed. The finished project was amazing and I was able to showcase my work to other professors, students and even employers. Students need to see portfolios as a way of showcasing their own works, not just another assignment. What you take and learn from the portfolio is priceless and can be helpful with future projects and assignments. I do think that portfolio assessments, from the teacher standpoint, should be formative because the student needs to focus on how they can improve their future works and not focus on what they did wrong in previous works. Portfolios can also showcase different talents. Projects can be created in different software programs, blogs can be written, students can even make a movie on their own computer and put it in the portfolio. All of these different things can be compiled into one portfolio, which I believe showcases the student's talent than just having the class write papers all of the time.

The creation and development of my portfolio will only enhance my learning. I have and will discover new avenues of technology, for example: wikis. Once my portfolio is started, I will be able to look back to see what I knew at first, compare it to what I know now, and figure out what other areas I need to grow in. I do not see any negative aspect of creating and using a portfolio.

Concept Mapping

Reflection:

After completing my research and created my map, the one thing that surprised me the most was how many hours students actually spend playing video games and watching television. I know that we live in a digital age and there are many different mediums of technology, but spending over 40,000 hours watching TV, playing video games and spending time on the phone is just appalling. I do believe traditional lessons need to stay intact, like reading an actual book, but teachers need to realize the world is changing and technological advances are being made every single day. Lesson plans need to start incorporating more PowerPoint presentations and use of computers, to not only keep up with the rest of the world, but to keep the students' attention. I'm not sure if I personally would change anything on how I conduct searches on the Internet, I feel like I'm on the edge of being a digital native and am very familiar with different search techniques. I am very confident with the information that I've used in the past, I feel like I grew up with most of the technology we have today and am well versed in it.

If we fail to bring technology into the classroom, I believe we would be crippling the students. Technology is present every day in pretty much every thing. From navigation systems in a car to different software packages in the corporate world. The children need to be equipped with the knowledge on how to use these outlets so that they will be prepared for the future. And not even in the real world, but as early as high school and especially college. Students now have more opportunities to go to school on-line, and knowledge of this process will be required in order for them to succeed.

For my social bookmarking tool, I chose to use Wordle. I like how easy to use it is and the format that it creates the information in. There are advantages to using these tools, such as organization and pulling out the important parts of the ideas and definitions. I will use these tools in the future for introductions to new lesson units and also have my students create their own. This will not only build their knowledge on social bookmarking tools but also be able to use their creativity. It should spark interest and get them ready for the unit/plan/assignment.

Philosophy Statement

The purpose of education is to prepare children for their life outside of school. As teachers, it is our job to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need for after they graduate. It is extremely important to have a philosophy and plan in place so that an effective classroom can be run with full learning potential.

            After reading through the six philosophy resources, the one that I most closely identify with is Constructivism. I believe a classroom should be student-centered where high-level thinking and student autonomy are encouraged. There also needs to be a reflection time so that the students can figure out how and why they got their answers. Constructivism places a lot of responsibility on the students and keeps them accountable for their own learning.

            The role of the learner is to seep up information that will prepare them for the future. Also to expand their knowledge off of what they currently know and incorporate it in their everyday lives. The role of the teacher is to set up a classroom that encourages all levels of learning. Lesson plans need to encourage higher-level thinking and the teacher needs to serve more as a facilitator than a lecturer. Children need to be challenged, but also supported and encouraged to do well.

            My objective as a teacher is to run a positive classroom with set expectations and rules. There will be order and organization in my classroom so that full learning potential can be met. I will have the students work in groups more often than not so that they can learn from one another. I want the children to learn to think for themselves and learn to come up with answers on their own, rather than them sitting through a lecture and writing down notes. I don’t believe that just lecturing allows the students to use their brains in creative ways, nor does it encourage high-level thinking or student autonomy. I believe a student can grasp a concept best if they try to figure out the problem on their own. Of course, the teacher should always be there to help and to guide the students. I also will have a fun classroom, learning needs to be seen as fun and enjoyable so that maximum learning can occur.

            I like to look back at my previous teachers and see what had the best effect on me. My worst teacher was my 2^nd grade teacher. She was very mean, always in a bad mood and was very hard on us as a class. That is the complete opposite of what kind of teacher I want to be. I want to be more like my sophomore year World History teacher. While her class was very tough and challenging, it was also fun. We worked a lot in groups, doing different projects and activities. I believe I learned more this way, since I was actively learning, rather than passively learning.

            I will hold true to my philosophy on Constructivism and set high expectations for myself and my students. My students will always be expected to excel on their assignments and completely fully and to the best of their ability. I will hold myself accountable for them as well. If a student is struggling, I need to recognize it and come up with a plan to help them understand and ultimately do well in the class.

Reflection

Response to Stephen Downes-  I think blogging is an excellent medium to communicate thoughts, ideas, news and interest. I think it's great to incorporate into a classroom because I believe the students will see it as more interesting versus just writing a paper for the teacher. This allows the students to share their thoughts and ideas  publicly, therefore welcoming feedback by other peers as well. Blogging, like many other types of social media, has developed more over the past 8 years. I disagree with Downes when he says that blogging is not over content, but can be expressed personally in short spurts. I say that because in today's world, children have FaceBook for that. I strongly believe that blogging is over content, and people blog to share more serious news, like what is going on with today's world, or even subjects like food, rather than personal stories. I think we have met this today because of social media outlets like Twitter and FaceBook, reserving blogging for everything but personal stories.

Response to Alan November- The area that stood out to me the most was number 6, Collegiality is What's Needed. I am a firm believer in having a student-centered classroom. I think that by including children in the technology training process will give them a sense of being included. The teacher does not want to become automated. The classroom needs to run as a whole, not separated by teacher/student. This also can give students confidence to do well and behave well. If the student's are being included, they will feel respected and therefore, show respect. This will also build a relationship between the teacher and the students, where the students will feel comfortable coming to the teacher with questions or problems.