Final Reflective Post

   Over the course of this semester I have thoroughly enjoyed taking this EME 2040 class. I have learned so much about integrating technology into the classroom, and ways to help students who learn differently, and finally about all of the"behind the scenes" work that goes into teaching such as lesson planning. While you can learn a lot just through reading our textbook, I felt that our class assignments encouraged us to go above and beyond by putting what we learned  into practice and that was extremely helpful.

This class covered some very interesting subjects. The most engaging to me was when we learned about the lesson plans. I had previously known that teachers had to create lesson plans, but I had no clue how much work went into creating them for every day of the year. The chapter in the text book was very informative, but I really enjoyed that we were able to work on the collaborative lesson plan project with fellow classmates. It is one thing to read about lesson plans, it is totally different to do the work and create one yourself.

Another aspect of this class that I found very helpful and interesting was our group discussions. I found that by creating my post and then being able to read posts from my classmates really gave me an outside perspective on the assignment. It allowed me to understand other people's views on the material we had just read. The discussion that stood out the most to me was the one where we wrote about a student who had different abilities/disabilities. This discussion made such an impact because after I finished researching the disability that I wrote about, I was able to learn about other disabilities from my classmates, and to get some ideas on ways to accommodate those learners in my future class.

In this class we worked on many assignments and projects that coincided with our learning objectives.

• Communication: Some ways we worked on communication is through our blogs where we all were able to post our opinions and thoughts about our chapter. Also through our group projects like the collaborative lesson plan where we had to communicate to combine our ideas into one finished project.
• Critical Thinking: We practiced critical thinking when we found our information for our discussion posts. We also practiced it while working on our teaching portfolio and web-quest.
• Technology and Information Management: I personalty feel that we used this objective the most. We used technology management with every assignment in class, from our blogs, to our projects, to our discussion posts.
• Global Socio-Cultural Responsibility: We used this objective in our blogs and discussion posts by including our own opinions and beliefs.
• Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning: We used this objective in our web-quests, and discussion posts.

Overall I thought this course was excellent. I learned so much and feel that I have accomplished a great deal through the class assignments. The only thing that I believe would have made this class a little better is that, since I was taking this course online it was difficult to get the group projects completed in time. It was difficult to get everyone to respond to messages and then to agree on a subject for the project. SO I believe that having a few days to a week more to work on group projects would help the success of more students. Overall though I felt that this class was helpful and awesome! I feel that this video explains the concerns and support for using technology in the classroom very well!

References:

Hamilton, Paul. "Technology in Education." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Tucker, Kayla Sky. "My EME2040 Blog." My EME2040 Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.

 Tucker, Kayla Sky. "My Semester in EME2040." Bitstrips. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.


 "What Teachers Worry about." What Teachers Worry ABout. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Digital Blog Post #L

This chapter was about the stages of technology integration. Over all this chapter's purpose was to better explain ways to integrate technology into the classroom setting. The three  that I felt were the most important were, knowing how to use technology, the issues you face while implementing it, and lastly "infusion and inclusion." 

In order to integrate technology into the classroom setting you have to take the proper actions when introducing the technology. As a teacher, if you were to integrate technology into the classroom, you would need to be as informed as possible on that for of technology before using it with the students. The main argument against integrating technology is that if a teacher does not know how to properly use it, it could be harmful to the students learning. I believe that including technology in your classroom is a great tool, but as teachers we need to know how to properly use the technology with our students.

In order to use technology in the classroom, teachers go through quite a few obstacles. There are six main issues that you face; Administrative support, Unwillingness to change lesson plans, reluctance to incorporate technology into a new lesson plan, using technology as reward,using technology in addition to other activities, using technology to separate students based on ability. Working in a school has taught me that teachers need administrative approval for almost everything. If you have administration that isn't in favor of incorporating technology you will have a hard time getting the support to use it. Another thing I have seen working in schools is that the students love to be rewarded. In the class that I work with they are allowed fifteen minutes of computer time every time they have reached a certain behavior goal. This really encourages the students to do their best and to behave so that they will be rewarded.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Tucker, Kayla. "Bubbl.us." Bubbl.us. 28 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015. 

Blog post #K

Created with Padlet

References: Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Tucker, K (2015, 14, Nov) Padlet http://padlet.com/wall/y8jbzqbf2t3e

Digital Blog post #J

References

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Tucker, K (2015, 06, Nov) Emaze
http://app.emaze.com/editor/@AIWZWIZT

Blog post #I

After reading this chapter the three forms of internet capability that I believe best apply to this class are The ability to find and create lesson plans, Videoconferencing, and online learning. These three internet based tools make it easier for students and teachers to learn both in and outside of the classroom setting.

Creating lesson plans for the year is supposed to be a very stressful and time consuming task. Every lesson has to be planned out ahead of time so that the teacher can be on task each day. Luckily there are many websites that provide lesson plan templates, ideas, and even teacher blogs to share ideas that were successful in their own classrooms. I think this is great and extremely helpful for teachers. For lesson planning in Florida schools, you do need to know the Sunshine state standards for your lesson. Luckily you can also use CPALMS to find the standards for each grade, subject, and lesson. CPALMS also has lesson plans already made for some lessons. Internet access has become a necessary tool for creating lesson plans in today's day and age. 

Videoconferencing is great for communicating between teachers and parents, and teachers and administrators. Videoconferencing can also allow teachers to add guest presentations that they may not have been able to add without this technology. Many times parents can't make it in to parent teacher conferences because of work schedules. Videoconferencing can allow teachers and parents to have their conference without interfering with the parents work schedule. I believe this could be an extremely useful tool.

Lastly Online learning, my personal favorite. Since I personally have to work two jobs in order to pay for college, I don't have the free time every week to go into multiple classes. Online learning allows me to get my work done when I am able to, but still attend college and be involved in my school. FSW has a great online presence and they offer almost every class in an online format. This is so helpful for people like me, or people who have children and can't leave them alone to go to class. This is also useful for younger students as well. Some children are home schooled either by choice or necessity and online learning allows these students to stay on track with other students in their grade level. My friend has a little brother with Asperger's syndrome. He attended public school for a few years but it proved too challenging for him. His mother decided to home school him using an online learning system and he has come so far in his education since then. Online learning can really help students to excel!  

Overall these three tools are just a few of the amazing assets that the internet has to offer. From teachers having help lesson planning, and having the ability to video conference with any one you need to, to the ability for students to learn from the comfort of their homes, technology is incredible!



References:

Maloy, R. (2011). Fostering Online Learning with Educational Websites and Apps. In Transforming learning with new technologies (Second ed., pp. 132-144). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Tucker, Kayla (2015) http://flipquiz.me/u/kaytuck95/online-tools-for-teaching

Digital blog post #H

     Technology has certainly brought about a change in the way that teachers provide instruction. When I was in elementary, middle, and some of my high school classes all of my teachers used chalk boards, and projectors that they would write on and then project the image onto the front board. If we needed to use a computer to do our assignments we would have one or two days where we would go to the computer lab and that was all the access we had to the internet during our school days. Now when I go into a class room I see smart boards and just about every classroom has computers. 

     

      In place of using projectors for note taking classes use power points for notes. Power points provide bright and entertaining visuals while note taking. Videos, sound clips, and pictures can be used in power points, and they can even be used to create review games. To me this is quite an upgrade from the technology we had in school. It makes note taking and lectures less boring and can be a fun method of teaching.

    

      Another tool that I really like the idea of is audio books. Audio books will allow the students to follow along in their own books while listening to a narrator read the story. This allows the students to hear the correct pronunciation of words that they aren't familiar with. Other technologies similar to this are Podcasts and vodcasts. Podcasts are basically the same as audio books but they can be recordings of a teacher lecturing. Vodcasts are essentially podcasts but with video. These can be highly beneficial because they will help audio and visual learners. Since the majority of these are available online students can use these tools at home to help them study or to work on homework. 

      Smart boards are probably my favorite new form of technology. They can do all of the functions of a projector, you can write on them like a white board, but you can save what you have written. They allow you to project your power points on them and really are an amazing advancement in technology. These have become an extremely common form of technology in the classroom and I certainly hope that my future classroom has this form of technology.

      Overall technology has come such a long way in just a few short years. teachers have almost every technological advantage that they could ever ask for, even attendance can be completed online. Of course teachers do have access to non computer based learning materials such as books, white boards, worksheets, and many other things. Needless to say teaching tools have come a long way!

References:

   Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

     Bellows, Adam. "5 Tips and Tricks for the SmartBoard." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

   

   

         I 

The three concepts in chapter 10 that really stood out to me were, "Adaptations For Classroom Learning With Technology", "Assisting Technology to Reach Diverse Learners", and "how does technology promote learning success for young writers?" 

Adaptations for classroom learning with technology contains multiple levels of accommodations for at risk, or diverse learners.These levels were low-tech, which consists of easy adaptations that don't take too much work or disrupt other learning situations, are inexpensive and do not require much technology. Mid-tech, involves an alternate curriculum, and includes digital materials to assist in message delivery. Lastly, high-tech  which uses specialized digital material in the classroom. Using these technologies in the classroom can help integrate diverse learners into a class with all students.

 Assisting technologies for classroom learning focuses on integrating tools into the every day curriculum that help to teach each type of student in a universal form. Elaborating on that, these tools can help students with disabilities to perform tasks that they other wise wouldn't be able to do. These are important tools because it allows schools to begin to integrate students with disabilities into the normal classroom and it helps them to develop the ability to coexist and learn with other students. This also helps other students to become comfortable and learn to coexist with students that do have disabilities.

How does technology promote learning success for young writers? The internet is such a vast tool with endless amounts of information and web tools. As a writer these tools allow you to brainstorm, to use online dictionaries, to get ideas, learn how to publish your writings, and to get feedback from other writers n how to improve writing of your own. Even tools we use in this class could help a writer. Blogs are a good place to start, they can be open to the public and are a great place to receive some constructive criticism, or even to see ideas from others. Another great tool that we use in class are brainstorming charts. Technology allows young writers to research and write in ways that they never could before.

Resources: 

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

https://www.emaze.com/@AIFOLRLC/chapter-8



references

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Blog post E

Concept 1- A section that stood out to me in this chapter was developing problem solving skills in children of all ages. This is an incredibly important concept. Children from a very early age are automatically developing problem solving skills, it is up to the teachers and the parents to guide the child in the right direction with their decisions in problem solving. Using computers as a tool for teaching problem solving is an excellent strategy. Online games, tests or quizzes give the students an entertaining and engaging way to learn different methods of problem solving.

Concept 2- Another great concept in this chapter is gaming, As i said previously using games to engage your students and get them focused on problem solving is an awesome and fun class activity. Involving technology in this way is a great tool to intrigue students. Having a fun and interactive method of involving students in the lesson leads to more students remembering and enjoying the lesson that they have learned.  There are many websites that give you many games that you can choose from. 
Some of the sites are;
Funbrain.com
Knowledgeadventure.com
http://www.uen.org/k12student/interactives.shtm
Concept 3-  There are also online software that you can use that does not involve games. You can use online tools to take quizzes, tests, and to read articles. Things such as google earth, and other search engines allow students to see the world around them in a really fun and interesting way. Google earth can help them to develop a sense of direction, and their geography skills. Online software has really come along way!

<script src="https://www.gliffy.com/diagramEmbed.js" type="text/javascript"> </script><script type="text/javascript"> gliffy_did = "9075745"; embedGliffy(); </script>

Resources: 
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post D

My first concept is Internet challenges and responses. Seeing as how the internet has abundant amounts of information some of it is bound to be incorrect. Some sites are not necessarily "incorrect" they just provide "misinformation", meaning they leave out some information. Others have information that is completely false. n example of a site that has a lot of misinformation is Wikipedia. Wikipedia allows anyone to write their own page, so many times the articles are missing facts, or are just created by people who do not know the information at all. With students having access to the internet they can come across almost anything. With allowing the students to use the internet teachers and parents both need to monitor the children's searches so that they do not come across any inappropriate information, or misinformation. Ultimately it is very important to teach the students the correct ways to use the internet and recommend them against using sites like Wikipedia that may give them incorrect information.

The second concept I would like to address is Cyberbullying. With students added access to the internet, they can also communicate with classmates, friends, and even strangers. This is an extremely important topic for teachers to go over with their students.Cyber bullying can take place using any form of social media, texting, IM-ing, really any form of technology that allows students to communicate with one another. Bullying is unacceptable in any capacity but since access to technology has increased so exponentially it has made it where students can now bully others outside of school using the internet. A friend of mine went through a cyber bullying situation in middle school. He said it was worse than normal bullying because he could never escape it. Teachers need to pay a lot of attention to their students to try and keep this from happening.

So far my post has been mainly about the negative forms of technology so for my last concept I would like to include some positives! Just being in college has taught me many important attributes of technology. One of my favorite tools are E-books. These allow you to access text books, normal books, really any kind of written information you may need right from your laptops. It is incredibly beneficial being a student because before you would have to lug around all of your textbooks from class to class. Now all you need is your laptop. I can access my math course and text book from the same site. After math when I go into my history class I can just pull up that text book. As stressful as it is to be a student, E-books sure do make things a lot easier. 

References:
Maloy, R. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Digital blog post #B

With society having evolved into one based on technology, it is imperative that as teachers we are comfortable using technology to access the tools it provides to us. Technology in the classroom is highly debated because not all parties agree with its place in the classroom. In order for a technologically based class to work all parties need to be on board. I found this site which made very good points about why technology in the classroom is beneficial.Technology integration. The three topics from the chapter that stood out to me the most were, A.) Identifying technology readiness. B.) Personal teaching philosophies. Lastly C.) Barriers to technology.

A.) Technological Readiness 
One common complaint formed against the use of technology in the classroom is whether the technology used is too difficult for the students, and even if the teacher can fully grasp how to use it properly. It is important that while using technology in the classroom you be sure that as the teacher you are completely comfortable with using it prior to introducing it to your students. It is also important to use technology that your students are either previously familiar with, or is easy to learn so that it is both beneficial to you and the student. Technology use in the classroom is great so long as all parties involved are clear and ready to use it.

B.) Personal Teaching Philosophies
The two most popular teaching philosophies are teacher based, and student based teaching. Teacher based teaching to me seems the least beneficial to the students. As a teacher I hope to be very hands on with my students. I would like to engage them in the lessons, ask them questions, see what they like and don't like about the lessons and hopefully by doing that I can create a learning environment that is beneficial to both the students and I. This can be applied to technology because I can get feedback from my students after we use tablets or computers in the classroom to see if it seemed to benefit them at all.

C.) Technological Barriers
Technology in the classroom is great for those that live in areas where the school district can afford to supply the classes with it. There are many school districts however that simply do not have the funding to put computers in every classroom. Also not every student will have internet access from their homes. In cases such as these I believe that the teacher will be able to benefit the students by having printouts of the assignments available for students who cannot access them online, or allowing them access to the school's computers during class time so that they have an opportunity to complete their research during class.

Blog post #A-chapter 1

In today's day in age, technology plays a vital roll in our everyday lives. Chances are that regardless of your age, young or old you use some form of technology every day. It is estimated that children between the ages of 8-18 use the internet in one of its many forms for a total of one third of their day. Technology has become so influential that most kids know how to use an I pad or play games on a phone at a very early age. Due to this increase in technological proficiency the age group of 8-18 has become known as the igeneration. With this sudden increase in the use f technology in everyday life it is n wonder that teachers are finding the need to incorporate technology into the classroom setting. "Most 8 to 18 year-olds are using technology, experiencing a "digital childhood" and becoming an iGeneration of technology users in their teens." (Pg.17, Maloy, 2014.) 

Throughout my last few years in college I have had numerous experiences in the classroom setting. One in particular was very eye opening and relates well to this chapter in our text. I was observing a sixth grade American government class that had spent the last few days in a lecture about the branches of government and how the US government works. As soon as the students came into the class on this particular day they were given a short five question quiz asking basic questions on the US government. Most of the students failed this quiz. Next each student was allowed twenty minutes on the computer to play an interactive game in which they ran their own government. After the twenty minutes was up they were given the same quiz again, this time the majority of the students were able to pass. I thought this was a very neat exercise, and a great example on ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. By adding the game into the lesson plan the students were able to have a fun and enticing lesson in which they also retained the lesson that was being taught to them.

Using technology in the classroom is not only beneficial to the students but also the teachers. I have had many teachers tell me how much easier it is to plan a lesson now that they can use their laptops to find ideas for lesson plans and share their lesson plans with other teachers across the country. A great site for this is Sharemylesson.com. Teachers also can use technology to help students in and out of the classroom, and to stay in contact with the parents. Many classrooms now have Smart boards in them which I think are an amazing asset to any classroom. They allow the teacher to display information from the internet, any worksheets they want to use, and even allows them to interact with what they display by writing on the screen. Integrating technology into the classroom  has had a positive effect on both students and teachers.

Throughout this course I hope to be able to build my "digital identity" and learn new concepts that I will be able to integrate into my future classroom. I really like the idea of the class being able to interact with each other through a clicker system (as my video shows). I also would like o be able to create a fun and easy game/review session to help my students study for tests, which can be done through power point or other various sites.

In conclusion we live in a technological age, and in order for the teachers to engage the students they have to adapt to the times. When I become a teacher I will recognize the importance of using technology in the classroom. This will be beneficial to both the students and myself, and hopefully it will lead to a thriving, fun and educational classroom environment!


References:
Maloy, R. (n.d.). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYowyQ-o4oQ


http://www.sharemylesson.com/home.aspx