Emerging Technologies Project

There are many emerging technologies. I am going to discuss three of them today by describing them and giving you their advantages and disadvantages in the classroom. Overall emerging technology is opening a whole new educational experience for teachers and students.

The first technology I am going to discuss is E-Books; they can be very practical in the classroom. According to an article from e-Schools News, E-Books are economical and practical. E-Books can be cheaper than buying physical books for every person in the classroom. With E-Books it is easier to have up to date current information, because it would cost less to update. I see E-Books being useful and cost effective, but some people have a hard time reading information off of a computer screen. The other problem is that some students might not have a computer, which means students would have to take turns in the classroom. It can lead to problems with self-esteem because some students read slower than others and if they are taking turns students may make fun of a slower student and hassle him or her to hurry up.

The second technology I am going to discuss is Global Virtual Classroom (GVC), this is where classrooms from all over the world can work together to build projects. This program allows students to work together and prepare for their generation which will involve working with other countries. It teaches kids how to collaborate and computer skills. I feel that this would be a good technology to use in the classroom because it teaches kids computer skills which they will need in their future since computers are a major part of our society. It also teaches kids about other cultures and teaches them they can work with people from other cultures. It makes it possible to get new ideas from teachers around the world. GVC gives you an opportunity to make connection with different cultures, which will gives you a better idea understanding of what you are teaching.

Lastly, I want to talk about Leap Frog technology. Leap Frog provides students the opportunity to play with electronics that are not as complex as computers. This company provides lots of games that encourage students to learn. A few examples are Interactive Libraries that have books that interact with the students and help them to read or make them think about the book. They also have personal handheld devices in which you can plug different cartridges. After visiting their website I learned that they have classroom tools as well as individual tools. As a teacher in preparation I feel having this knowledge is useful because I feel that Leap Frog Products are beneficial to the classroom and they are definitely something I would try to get for my classroom. Also, if I have student struggling with reading or another subject I might suggest to their parent about getting a Leap Frog device to help the student. Leap Frog can benefit the student because it is educational, yet fun. Most kids enjoy using technology and are easily engaged by it.

Overall, I feel technology is good for the classrooms to a certain extent. I do not agree with all the different technologies such as E-Books but I find some very beneficial to an extent. As teachers we need to make sure we are not using too much technology in our classrooms we do not want to the students to lose the personal interaction.

Sources:
http://www.leapfrogschoolhouse.com/do/findpage?pageKey=plt
http://www.virtualclassroom.org/clubhouse/3A.html
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=32553&CFID=1590149&CFTOKEN=76324248

Power Point Kiosk

One way to use Power Point Kiosks in the classrooms to help enhance my teaching and student learning is to have the students explore a topic on their own, that way they can move at their own pace. Another way you can use power points to enhance lessons is to have the kids explore them after teaching the initial lesson to search for fun interesting facts. Power point kiosks are another way to learn it can reach out to students that prefer self learning.

The learners who are self sufficient would benefit from this project. Also, the students who prefer to be in control and hands on with projects would enjoy this task because it is hands on move at your own pace. This is also a group project, therefore students who prefer to work in groups will succeed with this project more so than the students who prefer to work independently. The students who will most likely struggle with this project are the ones who do not motivate themselves and push them selves to learn all of the information. The students that need the student teacher interaction would also struggle with this assignment.

After watching my classmate’s presentations I realized that the possibilities of topics are endless. You can use the power point kiosk with any subject and where from science to history and so on. I thought it was clever when the dinosaur group used little dinosaur icons as their back buttons and so forth. After looking at other students projects it has encouraged me to use kiosk in my classroom often.

Teacher Web

With the teacher web project I like how we were able to add extra pages in with out any criteria. I like how not everyones web pages had the same pages. It was a good experience to see how other students created and formated their pages. It was also good to see how other students worded information on their page.
I wish there were more options for backgrounds and different fonts. It was nice that there were many options for pages. It would of been nice to be able to add pictures to any pages. It would have been nice to get a list of all of our classmates teacher webs so it would be easier to browse them.
I feel that a teacher web page would be beneficial in my classroom because it allows a good communication system. It is a good way to communicate with the students and the parents. It would beneficial for parents to know what is going on in the classroom and if the students forget a worksheet at school they will be able to get another copy from the website. It can also, help the parents to prepare the students for up coming assignments.
One problem with teacher web would be that not all families had access to the internet. Which could create a communication barrier with parents as well as the students. Another problem would be the obvious technology problems like it not working. Also, some students and parents might not be able to navigate the web page.

Concept Mapping

Concept maps can help students organize information better, to better understand what they are learning. With concept maps you can easily add new information unlike the traditional notes. Concept maps also allow for a student to see how the different ideas are connected. For my students I feel that they could use concept maps when talking notes so they can understand the big picture and see where things can connect. I can have my students take traditional not but then have them go to a computer to make a concept map, that way I can see how they think the topics connect.

I feel that this would be a useful tool in the classroom. It did not take me very long to understand the concept and make it work. I feel that it would take some time for the kids to understand but it would be worthwhile to teach them. It can be frustrating trying to do some of the formatting but that was after only trying it one time. I feel this would be useful for me as a teacher to know what the kids are understand and for the kids because they have to critically think about how these topics fit together.

Educational Blogs

After searching around on the internet about educational blogs I have discovered there are many great uses for blogs in the educational world. Blogs can be used to share teaching ideas with other teachers. Blogs can be used by the students to create pen pals across the world as well and do group projects. Blogs would be a good way to get kids out of the normal classroom setting; you can have students respond to reading questions online in a blog rather than doing the normal classroom discussion setting. Lastly, blogs can be a beneficial way to keep parents informed and to get their input.

Aggregators and RSS/readers can be used in the classroom to help students locate other peoples blogs based on a specific topic. Specifically, I could create a project for the students to find an activity based on a specific topic I give them and put it in to action. The requirement would be for them to go on to Web quest to find an activity. Once they find the activity they will have to adapt it to fit out classroom standards.

I think that blogging and using RSS readers will open more opportunities and ideas for K-12 classrooms. Teachers can find more ideas of the classrooms. Also, incorporating these two tools in the classroom will get students thinking about technology, which is good because our world is become more and more dependent on technology. It also opens new doors for students who are tired on the normal classroom setting.

It is a positive to use technology like blogs and RSS readers in education, however there are some downsides to using these tools in the classroom. One downfall is that you cannot control who the student is contacting or who is contacting the student. Another negative is that the students maybe too excited about being on a computer and not really learning the material.

Multiple Intelligences in the classroom

Today, Tuesday, January 22, I took a multiple intelligence test. My test results fit me well.

The intelligence that I scored the highest on was kinesthetic. After going to the surf aquarium website I agree with this score. Some of the core characteristics for this intelligence are sensory, reflexive, tactile, concrete, coordinated and task orientated. Out of all of the core characteristics listed above I feel I am task orientated. I learning by doing rather than watching. I need to partake in the activities with my whole body not just my mind. The more interactive I am with activities the more I will learn.

According to surf aquarium students with high kinesthetic learning scores tend to prefer interactive environments, hands-on activities, and seek out other students who prefer being active. These students all learn more and stay focused longer if the in-class activities are hands-on. Students who prefer the kinesthetic learning style also enjoy being around other active students.

In the future I plan on incorporating lots of hands-on group projects and testing along with the traditional work by yourself activities and tests. I plan on using group technology projects, such as making presentations on the computer for the students to prove the knowledge they have learned. If the students are in groups they can get support from their classmates and be entertained with working on computers. Working on computers can be more hands-on and exciting for students.

After studying multiple intelligences I feel that this information will be important to incorporate these learning style in to the classroom. It will be important to be aware of my students learning styles, so I can plan my lessons based on their particular learning styles. Every student is different, and it is important to reach out to as many students as possible. One way to reach out to all of your students is to incorporate as many intelligences as possible to each lesson plan.

www.surfaquarium.com/MI

Day One

Today is my first day of T&L 445. Technology is foreign to me, but I think with the help of my professor Guy I will be able to become knowledgeable.