Reflection

     I have always enjoyed learning about technology and using technology.  I love using technology and feel that it has made my life easier in some aspects.  I grew up using technology, and now days it surrounds us.  Before children go to preschool, they are able to use a smartphone to navigate to play games, and use computers or play video games.  
     By taking this class, I have been able to learn how important it is to ensure that the students are able to learn with technology.  The technology has the ability to help the students acquire the skills that they need in order to survive in a complex, high technological knowledge-based economy (Edutopia, 2008).  When the students learn these skills, they will be able to succeed academically or career wise.  I have learned that it is up to us educators to teach these students the 21st century skills, as they will not learn them on their own.  One of the 21st century skills that I deem to be important is for the students to be able to collaborate with each other.  If you are unable to work together in the job force, then the chances of you receiving a promotion are slim to non.         In order to get students to work together, I plan on using a wiki, podcast or a blog.  The students will use these resources to do their class projects, and I think that will really help the students learn how to work together.  When I was growing up, the teachers didn't make us work together, so when I got to college and had to work with others, I despised it.  Now I realize how important it is to work together on a project to finish it.  I want the students to realize this as well, and not grow to despise working together.  
     This class has also shown me that podcasts can be a lot of fun to do and they can be beneficial to the students.  By doing my own podcast for the class, I have realized that they can be extremely helpful to the students.  A teacher can create a lecture podcast and post it on the class blog.  The students will then be able to listen to the lecture again if they don't understand something, and the students who were absent will be able to listen to it and not fall behind in their studies.  
     Throughout my journey here at Walden, I have come to realize that I play an extremely important role to the students.  Every class that I have taken, has shown me things to try in the classroom, along with some ways to solve some classroom management problems.  This class has shown me, how important it is to ensure that we are not just lecturing the students, that we are talking to them and teaching them skills to succeed.  This class has shown me that technology is important to have in the classroom, and how the students will be able to thrive by using it in the classroom.  
     When I was growing up, the teacher stood in front of the classroom and gave a lecture most of the time.  I still see that used today in the other classrooms, which I feel isn't great, as the students are not as engaged in their learning.  When the students are not engaged in their learning, they will not be able to learn the material, and then have the chances of failing, which in return can make many students give up.  By having the students engaged with their own learning, they are taking charge and beginning to succeed.  I have learned that it is important to encourage the students to participate in the class discussions, and giving them time to think about their answers before calling on another student.  I have also learned that a lot of students do better by doing project based learning, such as creating a podcast about an event that happened in history.  
     By continuing on with my education, I feel that I will be able to expand my own knowledge, which will then help me transfer that knowledge to help the students.  I plan on continuing to learn about the different kinds of technology that is available and decide which ones would really help the students become more engaged in their learning. 
     One goal that I would like to accomplish is to have new computers in the classroom for students to work on.  The computers that are in the classrooms now are about ten years old and are constantly crashing and breaking down.  The district is really poor, and therefore it would be hard to convince them to direct funding towards better computers.  The new superintendent is younger and is all for technology, so I know that he would be a big help in talking to the school board to help get the funds.  I feel that by having newer computers, the students will be able to work together to create podcasts, go on virtual field trips, work on a wiki, or contribute to the class blog.  
     Another goal that I would like to accomplish is to have Ipads or some kind of tablet for the students to use.  Right now the textbooks are getting really outdated in the classroom, and once again the district has argued that there isn't enough money to replace the textbooks.  Therefore it will be hard to once again convince the district to part with money in order to achieve this goal.  I know that there are grants out there to get technology in the classroom, and I know that Apple is big on education.  I might be able to contact Apple to see if they could help get Ipads to the students.  By having an Ipad the students, will have access to updated textbooks to help with their studies.
     Looking back at the checklist from week one, I have noticed that some of my answers have changed now that I have completed this course.  I had checked the rarely box on modeling appropriate integration practices having a technology rich classroom.  I feel that answer is now to often, as I am so excited to incorporate the different kinds of technology I learned about in a classroom.  By having a technology rich classroom,  I will be able to help more students become successful, and I know that I will be teaching them the 21st century skills that they need.  
      The other one that I checked rarely on was providing the students with multiple opportunities to use technology tools to help support their learning.  I can now say that I can put my check in the often column, as I have learned how important it is for the students to use a variety of technology.  I’m excited to have the students start using podcast, especially for history, as I feel that it will make it more interesting to the students and that they will have a lot of fun making one.
     In conclusion, I feel that this was a great class to take.  I had a lot of fun in it and have learned so much on how important it is as an educator to teach the students the 21st century skills that they need.  I also enjoyed about the different kinds of technology and ways the technology can be used in the classroom to help enhance the students learning.  
    
References:

Edutopia.  (2008).  Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many.  Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

Podcast

Here is my first podcast.  It is about profiling the students of today.  Enjoy and let me know what you think.




Link to podcast in case there are problems with the embedded player.
https://archive.org/details/Podcast_201402

Music in Podcast:

Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor "Moonlight", Op. 27 No. 2 By: Ludwig van Beethoven Retrieved from: https://musopen.org/music/278/ludwig-van-beethoven/sonata-no-14-in-c-sharp-minor-moonlight-op-27-no-2/ 
Public Domain: This work is free of known copyright restrictions.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

As an educator, I know how important it is to prepare the students that I have worked with for the future.  In order to prepare them, it is vital to teach them the 21st century skills that they will need in order to enter higher education and to succeed in the workplace.   This week I have been looking at the site called Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  This website is full of a lot of information, and it will take more than just a few minutes to look through the whole site.  

     My initial response to the page was pretty positive.  On the front page, they have have links to other sections of the page, along with with icons for Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Linkedin.  They also have a small box with some of their twitter feed in it.  I also like how they have a section towards the bottom on the main page that has featured blog posts.  I also enjoyed reading about their mission.  Part of the mission states that, every child in the United States needs 21st century skills and knowledge to succeed as an effective worker, citizen and leader (P21, N.D.).  

     One thing that surprised me was all of the resources that they had available to educators.  My favorite resource was the one on a 21st century learning environment.   A 21st century learning environment enables the students to learn in a real world 21st century contexts, such as doing a project based assignment (P21, N.D.b).  The information listed here will definitely help me develop a whole new learning environment for the students. 

     Another thing that I found to be helpful and surprising is the information on the 21st century skills maps and ICT literacy maps.  There is as ton of information that is extremely useful to an educator, and this information can be used in the classroom to help teach the students the skills that they need to move towards a good job.  

     In conclusion, I found this website to be intriguing and filled with a lot of information.  I didn't find anything that I disagreed with, instead I found a lot information that I agreed with and liked.  I think this web site can be helpful to all educators and I recommend it for all educators to read.  

References:

P21.  (N.D).  Twenty First Century Children.  Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/about-us/our-mission 

P21.  (N.D.b).  A 21st Century Skills ImplementationGuide.  Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/p21-stateimp_learning_environments.pdf 

Utilizing Blogs in the Classroom

       Blogging has become very popular and there are tons of different kinds of blogs out there.  Educators have started to use blogs in their classroom for learning.  These blogs have the ability to expand the walls of the classroom and can support the different kinds of learning styles (Richardson, 2010).  Teachers have the ability to use these blogs to help expand a students knowledge.  The teacher can put visuals, enhance text, add videos of lectures, and assignments to the blog, which will help with their students learning styles.  

     Blogs have the ability to work well for the students as they can be worked on at any time, in any place that has a computer with the Internet, which can be helpful to those students, who need extra time completing their assignment (Teaching Today, 2006).  I have thought many times that a blog would be great to use in the classroom, and think that it could help a lot of the students that I have worked with.  I have come up with many ideas on how I would use the blog in the classroom, and what grade levels the blog would work wonders with.  

     One of my ideas of using a blog in the classroom is where I would post assignments, announcements, lectures, and a class newsletter.  This kind of blog can be used for all grades, and all subjects.  The parents can be involved by looking at the blog, leaving comments and questions.  The students would be able to log onto the blog and leave their own questions and comments about what is going on in the classroom.  The students would also be able to get that day's work and lecture,when they have missed school, that way they would be able to keep on top and not get behind.  

     Another idea of using a blog in a classroom, is where the blog is set up to be used as portfolio. Also with this kind of a blog, a teacher can use it as a portfolio assessment, to assess the students work.   This kind of blog can also be used across the grades and subjects. The students could set up a blog of their own, and showcase their best work. The other students and teachers can comment on the work, making suggestions for improvement or comments on what they like about the work.  I think that by using this kind of blog, a teacher is helping their students to learn how to use a blog, and communicate with others online.  

     One last idea that I have for the use of a blog in the classroom, is where the students would use it to collaborate.  This blog would be used in social science, with an emphasis on the the civil war in the fifth grade.  The students would be divided into five groups of four, and each group would need to create a blog.  The blog would be a newsletter that the students create about the civil war.  The students would work together on designing the blog, and as a group decide what information is needed in their newsletter.  The newsletter would report on the different battles, how the war is affecting everyone in the states, and if there were any casualties.  

     The blog would be used during the whole unit on the civil war, and will need to be updated at least once a day with news.  The students would get their information to put on the blog from the lessons, and approved websites.  If the student takes information from a website, then they will be required to state where they got that information from and supply a link to the other page. Each student will be required to participate in the blog, by posting articles and responding to the other groups blog by leaving comments about the articles.  

     This blog can really enhance the students learning, by getting them involved with their learning.  The students will take a hands on approach to the lessons, and will have to work with each other to make their blog a success.  This blog will be a different way for the students to learn about the civil war, and I think that it has the possibility to help them understand what life was like back then for the people.  

     In conclusion, I can really see how blogs can enhance a students learning and a teachers way of presenting the lessons to their class.  I'm excited to start using blogs more and see where it will take the students and me in our journey.  

References:

Richardson, W.  (2010).  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

Teaching Today.  (2006).  Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom.  Retrieved from: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

Welcome

Welcome to my corner of the world.  I am currently a student at Walden University, receiving a graduate certificate in Integrating Technology in the Classroom.  I have received my Master's degree from Walden University in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.  I'm looking forward to continuing my journey, and hope to have a PHD degree one day.