The Community

In our class, we have learned a tremendous amount about technology, why it’s so good for our students and how we can and must integrate it into our classrooms and our lessons.  We learned about such great Web 2.0 tools such as Wiki's, Podcasts, Google Docs etc.  In my last blog I talked about my Technology Integrating Plan, where I weaved technology throughout my entire lesson.   While creating this lesson I learned about even more tools that worked so well throughout the lesson.  I have been thinking a great deal about how to incorporate these tools within the classroom and it made me think about how schools can use them for the adults in the building.  Are there ways that these technologies can benefit the faculty in the schools?  I then saw that Schrum and Levin dedicated an entire chapter in their book about such a thing.  Web 2.0 tools are a wonderful ways for leaders to communicate to the faculty.  Of course the district's website can help communicate valuable information to the staff and parents, but web 2.0 tools can go beyond this. Just think how useful a community blog could be.  How great if a principal could relay school happenings in a weekly blog. Parents and teachers could have the opportunity to comment on blog posts and asks questions. Teachers can also use blogs to communicate with parents and family member about specific things that are happening in their classrooms. They could post pictures and videos so that grandparents and other family member can feel a part of classroom actives.   Wiki sites could also be open forums of communications.  Because, all users have opportunities to edit wiki sites, this could be a wonderful place for discussion posts.  This could also be a place where each grade level can leave important info about their grades and the school could develop a calendar that different groups could edit.  These type of tools could help create a school wide community and help truly incorporate parents into the schools.

Trucking Along

I recently handed in the next assignment I had for this class.  This class is so crucial, and the assignments have thus far been extremely relevant.  I am so looking forward to putting them to good use in my classroom. Now, I just hope that I am lucky enough to get hired in a school district that can take advantage of my great teaching and technology skills.



But, that is a topic for another blog post.  Back to the current topic....my Technology Implementation Unit Plan. I initially created a unit plan on the Holocaust for a Social Studies class in a previous semester.  I worked very hard on this plan, and was proud of it in the end.  The goal of the unit was to delve deep into the subject matter and understand how and why the events unfolded as they did. The revamped plan had the same goals, yet this time technology was weaved throughout the unit.  I am even more proud of this plan and believe that it is more relevant to students' lives.  I used such amazing tools like Skype, glogster and Edmodo.  Initially, I thought I would create a classroom website using Wiki Spaces, but upon further investigation I realized that Edmodo would better fit this classroom needs. I was able to create literature circles and student blogs through this site.

This project and the class in generally opened up a whole new world for me.  I feel like I have built a strong foundation for technology that has enabled me to learn more about the importance and what tools can be used in the classroom.  I keep discovering new tools that would be great in a classroom. For example, just yesterday I learned about a website called Wallwisher that is a virtual post-it wall.  This is a wonderful way for students to work collaboratively to create background knowledge for any given unit.   I also recently learned about Webquests, which is a fabulous way for students to learn about what they are interested in. Its also a good way to differentiate.

I believe that this class should be requirement for all students in teaching programs. Moreover, I think that schools must make technology a priority and dedicate time and effort to quality professional development opportunities.

The Journey

This class had taken me on an incredible journey. In the first part of this class, I leaned about all the reasons why technology is so crucial for the 21^st century learner.   We need to teach our students skills that will enable them to survive and thrive in a technological advanced global world.  Furthermore, these students are technological natives; they have been fully immersed in technology since their birth.  These students learn very differently than students of previous generations, therefore our teaching must change.    So then I began to learn about which digital tools will enable us to integrate technology into the classroom and allow are students to learn in an authentic manor.  I became very excited at the prospect of integrating these tools, yet I was a bit nervous that I would not be able to use these tools and implement them in a meaningful way. 

This brought me to the past few weeks of this class, which started with this blog.   I was not comfortable with the though of even creating a blog, and now with this second entry, I actual feel much better about it.   I actually dare I say it, enjoy it!  Another requirement of this class was to create a website using wikispaces. That’s right I had to create my very own website! Before this class began, I knew very little about wikis or wikispaces. I started playing around with the sites and began to see how these could be beneficial in the classroom and for professional development.

For this assignment, I decided to create a site that would serve as a as a literacy learning community for educators.  I envisioned this to be a forum where teachers could collaborate on high quality children’s literature and its uses in the classroom.  There would also be an area for a book of the month and a parent’s corner. I was extremely excited about my plan and was looking forward to beginning.   All of my excitement quickly turned to frustration when I began creating my site. I had difficulties navigating the site and realized that I was unable to develop my website exactly the way I envisioned it.  With time and practice, I began to feel more comfortable with the tools on the site and I was able to tweak my plans so my idea would work within the wiki site.  Slowly, my site began to turn into something that I was proud of.   I could not believe that my vision turned into a reality. True it might not have been exactly what I initially envisioned, but it turned into a collaborative work space that could truly help teachers and students.  Please feel free to visit it a qualitychildrensliterature.wikispaces.com

I am now ready to take on another challenge. I am currently working on revamping a unit I created on the Holocaust to fully integrate technology. I plan on creating another wiki site and using digital tools such as Skype and blogging in order to enhance the students learning.  I am again a little nervous about this project but eager to begin another new challenge.

The First

So, I am embarking on a whole new experience!  I never imagined myself a blogger, in fact I never had any kind of desire to write a blog. What would I write about and why would people follow my blog?   If I did write a blog, how would I make it insightful, meaningful or witty? I would put too much pressure on myself to make the perfect blog, and quite frankly I was never up for the challenge.  So, why now, you ask?  I would love to tell you it’s because I want to challenge myself or because I want to inspire the masses, but honestly it’s because I have to, that’s right, I have no choice, I am doing this for a Technology Class. That being said, I am glad I have to, because I am actually excited about this blog, and know it would have never been created if it was not a requirement. I am also finding that blogging is an excellent learning tool.

I am taking this technology class as part of a requirement for my masters/certificate program for elementary education.  I am currently in my final semester and feel that this class has opened my eyes to many new types of technology.  I am familiar with technology, and I am constantly “connected” with my IPHONE, IPAD and Laptop.   In my previous life (I used to work in corporate America) I was actually the “go to” technology person in my office. I did not really have any formal education in technology, yet I was much more versed then my older colleagues.  I was always trying to find new more efficient ways of doing things.  Google search was my best friend.   However, as I embark in career number two, I realized there is so much out there that I am just now being exposed to.  From Google Docs to online registration and classes, things sure have changed in academia.

In the few short months that I have been enrolled in this class, I have really seen the importance of technology in the classroom.  It is essential that we prepare our students for the 21^st century. In order to do this, we need to integrate technology in a meaningful way in the classroom.   Although I am a little nervous about my technology assignments going forward, I am so excited to learn about all of these new things. and to eventually implement this in my own classroom.  I know that the students that I will be teaching are growing up in a much different world than I did, and therefore we need to alter our teaching methods to accommodate these children. 

 I will leave you with an example…here is my three year old daughter playing on HER IPAD.