At the beginning of the semester, I wrote that technology should play a significant role in the elementary classroom. My view on that has definitely not changed. If anything, it has intensified. I had no idea ow many different ways and resources were available to integrate technology into the classroom. There are the obvious ones, such as interactive whiteboards, computers and such that I will definitely use. There are also technologies such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, video cameras, and all of the Web 2.0 tools that are available. I didn't even think of using theses types of resources in an elementary classroom before taking this class. Now I have many ideas on how to incorporate these into my class and I can't wait until I have my own classroom to do just that!
I also wrote at the beginning of the semester that one of my goals is to keep up with new technologies and model correct usage for students. At first, I thought this would be very difficult. After taking this class, I realize that while it may be somewhat time consuming, it is not too hard and is actually very fun! I had so much fun learning about new technologies this semester and I want to keep on learning in the years to come. I especially loved learning about the SMART Board. I have realized even more how valuable a resource it is in the classroom. It makes integrating technologies more seamless. Not only do students love it, but it is very effective.
NETS
The NETS-T that I was focusing on this semester was 3.a.: "Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations." I feel so much more fluent in using technology in the classroom after taking this class. First of all, I had never seen a SMART Board before this semester. Now, I love using it and I have successfully used it for lessons in two of my other classes here at NU. The school where I will be student teaching next semester has ActivBoards and I am excited to be able to use that as well. Now that I know how to use the SMART Board, I will be able to transfer my knowledge to the use of the ActivBoard. I also did not know about many of the free tools that are available on the internet. Now that I do know about them and know how to use them fairly fluently, I want to incorporate them into my teaching. One of the things I really want to do in the 2nd grade class is use podcasting. I think the students will love this and I am fluent enough to be able to use it in my teaching.
The other NETS-T , 2.a., that I was working on this semester also fits into this: "Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity." I think technology is a great way to make learning relevant for students. This is especially true for the students that I will be teaching because they are all digital natives. Besides using the interactive whiteboard, I want to incorporate podcasting, wikis, power points, and videos into my teaching. I think this motivates students more because they feel that it is relevant and that their audience is "real." One of the things I really want to do is buy a Flip and use it in my teaching. I want to be able to videotape the students at the beginning and end of the year to show them their progress. I also want to videotape students doing certain assignments. Not only is this a unique way of assessing them, but it makes the experience relevant and fun for the students. I can't wait to have my own classroom and use technology as much as possible!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Reflection #11
For my reading class, I presented a lesson I created about rhyming. I used the SMART Board presentation that I made as part of my technology project. It was so nice to be able to use what I created right away for another class. This just shows that technology is applicable and practical even now. I can't wait until I have my own class where I can use technology. After I presented, I realized again how much the SMART Board can aid a lesson. So much of what was in my lesson plan would not be possible or would be much more difficult without the SMART Board to use. Not only that, it gets the students interested and involved in a unique way. Another benefit of using the SMART Board for a lesson is that the outline of my lesson is right there for me. I don't have to have a sheet of paper to look at because the next slide is what is coming next. Even though it takes more work before the actual lesson to get the SMART lesson ready, it is so worth it because it engages students and lets the lesson flow a lot better.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Reflection #10
For one of my classes, I created a SMART Board presentation about butterfly metamorphosis. I had to present the lesson, which I created for a 2nd grade class, to our class, Instructional Design. The lesson had to be about 30 minutes long. I had so much fun creating the lesson with the SMART Software. I was able to link a time lapse video from YouTube showing a butterfly turn into a caterpillar, and have students move pictures to the correct spots to create an accurate representation of metamorphosis. I used many other features of the SMART Software also. What I realized from creating and presenting this lesson is that the SMART Board is a great way to aid the teaching of a lesson. It holds students' interests and allows everyone to participate in the lesson. I also realized that although it takes a lot of time in advance to create the lesson for the SMART Board it makes running the lesson very smooth. Everything I needed was already on the board so I didn't have to worry about getting anything else together. The whole thing was a great learning experience and I really enjoyed it!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Assignment #4
Description
For my technology project, I created a lesson on the SMART Board. The lesson is about rhyming with words that are spelled differently and goes along with the book Jesse Bear, What will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. The first page is my anticipatory set. Students have to put different articles of clothing into groups. This is to convey that we wear different things for different purposes - just like Jesse Bear does in the story. At this point, I would read the book to the students. The next page in the presentation is practice with rhyming. The students click on an object, listen to its pronunciation, then match it with words that rhyme. After that, the students get more practice with rhyming by looking at two words that are spelled differently and deciding if they rhyme. Next, the students play rhyming memory. There are eight different pairs of rhyming words. Students will try to find and match all eight pairs. On the next page, the class will create their own poem following the pattern in Jesse Bear. Then next two pages are electronic versions of the final draft of the poem that the students will create individually.
List of Features
Along with all of the basic features, such as changing font style, size, and color; changing backgrounds; inserting clipart; using the pens; grouping and ungrouping objects; and ordering objects (sending to front and back), I used several additional features:
editing an interactive SMART activity - memory
screen shade
magic pen - spotlight
link - objects linked to other pages in project
podcasts - sound clips linked to multiple objects in project
reveal feature with eraser
I had so much fun creating this project! I learned a lot by using the SMART software and creating the lesson/presentation. I definitely learned more that I would have if I had simply read about how to use the SMART Board. I love using all of the features on the SMART Board. I feel much more confident using it and its features now that I have made this lesson. It was fairly time consuming creating this lesson because of all of the different features I used. But the advantage is now that I have it created, it is always there and I can use it again. I also learned a lot in creating it and will be able to do it faster in the future. I think it is a great way to involve kids in the lesson. They are more interested because of the technology and that makes them more interested in the lesson as a whole. It is also a great way to indirectly teach students how to appropriately use technology because they are being exposed the SMART Board.
This project means a lot to me. I put a lot of time and work into it and I am very happy with how it turned out. I will be able to use it for my Reading Methods class on Thursday and hopefully with a class of real students someday! Hopefully the students will have as much fun participating in the lesson as I had creating it!
NETS
This project covers many NET Standards for both teachers and students.
NETS-T:
1.a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
This project models creativity in the way it is created because of all the different features it has. It also promotes students to be creative because of what students are required to do. This is not a lesson where students sit and listen, but a lesson that requires students to use creative and innovative thinking and participate in the lesson.
2.a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
This project is a relevant learning experience that mainly uses a specific digital tool - the SMART Board. It is relevant because it ties into a book the students would be doing in reading. I think it is also relevant because it incorporates relevant technology that the students would be interested in and have fun with. This lesson promotes student learning because it requires their active participation in the lesson. For most of the lesson, students would be at the SMART Board manipulating objects themselves.
3.a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
This is the NETS-T that I have been working on this semester and it applies to this project also. I have definitely become more fluent at the SMART Board by creating this lesson. I learned a lot about the software and the different features that it has. I also feel a lot more competent about using the SMART Board in the future. I think that my knowledge will also transfer to using the ActivBoard because I understand a lot better about how interactive whiteboards work in general. This will be very helpful because the classroom where I am student teaching has an ActivBoard in the classroom.
NETS-S:
2.a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers employing a variety of digital environments and media.
This lesson, based on the SMART Board, requires students to interact and collaborate with each other throughout the lesson. For different parts of the lesson, they have to work with each other to figure out the answers to certain questions in the lesson. At the end of the lesson, they will be publishing their own version of what was on the board.
6.a. Understand and use technology systems.
This lesson promotes student understanding and gives students the opportunity to use the SMART Board. The lesson requires extensive student participation and interaction with the board. This gives them a chance to use the technology which leads to greater understanding.
For my technology project, I created a lesson on the SMART Board. The lesson is about rhyming with words that are spelled differently and goes along with the book Jesse Bear, What will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. The first page is my anticipatory set. Students have to put different articles of clothing into groups. This is to convey that we wear different things for different purposes - just like Jesse Bear does in the story. At this point, I would read the book to the students. The next page in the presentation is practice with rhyming. The students click on an object, listen to its pronunciation, then match it with words that rhyme. After that, the students get more practice with rhyming by looking at two words that are spelled differently and deciding if they rhyme. Next, the students play rhyming memory. There are eight different pairs of rhyming words. Students will try to find and match all eight pairs. On the next page, the class will create their own poem following the pattern in Jesse Bear. Then next two pages are electronic versions of the final draft of the poem that the students will create individually.
List of Features
Along with all of the basic features, such as changing font style, size, and color; changing backgrounds; inserting clipart; using the pens; grouping and ungrouping objects; and ordering objects (sending to front and back), I used several additional features:
editing an interactive SMART activity - memory
screen shade
magic pen - spotlight
link - objects linked to other pages in project
podcasts - sound clips linked to multiple objects in project
reveal feature with eraser
I had so much fun creating this project! I learned a lot by using the SMART software and creating the lesson/presentation. I definitely learned more that I would have if I had simply read about how to use the SMART Board. I love using all of the features on the SMART Board. I feel much more confident using it and its features now that I have made this lesson. It was fairly time consuming creating this lesson because of all of the different features I used. But the advantage is now that I have it created, it is always there and I can use it again. I also learned a lot in creating it and will be able to do it faster in the future. I think it is a great way to involve kids in the lesson. They are more interested because of the technology and that makes them more interested in the lesson as a whole. It is also a great way to indirectly teach students how to appropriately use technology because they are being exposed the SMART Board.
This project means a lot to me. I put a lot of time and work into it and I am very happy with how it turned out. I will be able to use it for my Reading Methods class on Thursday and hopefully with a class of real students someday! Hopefully the students will have as much fun participating in the lesson as I had creating it!
NETS
This project covers many NET Standards for both teachers and students.
NETS-T:
1.a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
This project models creativity in the way it is created because of all the different features it has. It also promotes students to be creative because of what students are required to do. This is not a lesson where students sit and listen, but a lesson that requires students to use creative and innovative thinking and participate in the lesson.
2.a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
This project is a relevant learning experience that mainly uses a specific digital tool - the SMART Board. It is relevant because it ties into a book the students would be doing in reading. I think it is also relevant because it incorporates relevant technology that the students would be interested in and have fun with. This lesson promotes student learning because it requires their active participation in the lesson. For most of the lesson, students would be at the SMART Board manipulating objects themselves.
3.a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
This is the NETS-T that I have been working on this semester and it applies to this project also. I have definitely become more fluent at the SMART Board by creating this lesson. I learned a lot about the software and the different features that it has. I also feel a lot more competent about using the SMART Board in the future. I think that my knowledge will also transfer to using the ActivBoard because I understand a lot better about how interactive whiteboards work in general. This will be very helpful because the classroom where I am student teaching has an ActivBoard in the classroom.
NETS-S:
2.a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers employing a variety of digital environments and media.
This lesson, based on the SMART Board, requires students to interact and collaborate with each other throughout the lesson. For different parts of the lesson, they have to work with each other to figure out the answers to certain questions in the lesson. At the end of the lesson, they will be publishing their own version of what was on the board.
6.a. Understand and use technology systems.
This lesson promotes student understanding and gives students the opportunity to use the SMART Board. The lesson requires extensive student participation and interaction with the board. This gives them a chance to use the technology which leads to greater understanding.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Kidspiration and Webspiration
Today in class we played with two related programs. Kidspiration is a program that you have to pay for that is then downloaded to the computer. It is a great tool for kids to use. It is very kid-friendly: the toolbars are fun and easy to use for kids. It also has a way for teachers to see what the kids have done. There are also pre-made activities for kids to do in several subject areas. One of my favorite tools on Kidspiration is the idea web. You can link idea bubbles and such to make a web. Webspiration has this same tool (making idea webs) but geared for older people. I would definitely use this site for making idea webs. It is much easier and more fun than writing it on paper!
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