422C- Journal #1

            Mobile Applications can be helpful for educators to engage students during instruction and class activities and can also increase educators’ understanding of how students think and process information. By integrating mobile applications into the classroom, students can illustrate how they process information and communicate their thoughts while they are working out problems (Soto & Hargis, 2014). Specifically, in mathematics, students can illustrate to the teacher what they are thinking during the process of solving a specific problem in applications such as Educreations or ExplainEverything and also have the ability to self evaluate their own process to see where they went wrong or where they need improvement. Through these applications, students can learn from their mistakes and educators can better understand students’ thinking so they can teach and communicate with students more effectively. Mobile Applications can also aid as a tool in different activities, such as a scavenger hunt for students, to help increase the engagement and learning within the activity. Regardless of the subject matter being taught, mobile applications can have a positive impact on students’ learning experience, while also helping students stay focused. By having students use mobile applications in group activities, educators increase students’ collaboration, communication with their peers, and social interaction, which helps build not only their academic skills, but their communication and social skills as well. Overall, mobile applications can help educators in many different faucets within education to help increase students’ engagement and learning experience and help create an environment that fosters students’ development to help them in their educational careers.

            Incorporating mobile applications into the classroom can help both educators and students in many different areas of both teaching and learning. Both educators and students can benefit from using mobile applications to assist in areas such as behavior and classroom management, class activities, assess and reinforce skills, knowledge, and abilities, and positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior. There is an extensive range of areas in which mobile applications can be used in the classroom that help educators teach material more effectively and help students illustrate their knowledge, learn, and become more active learners by helping to engage them in the classroom. Incorporating these applications help educators create an environment that fits students needs and helps students become part of the learning process. By implementing various applications such as Teachers Pet to help with behavior management, teachers can manage their classroom by giving students points for good behavior or taking points away for disruptive or inappropriate behavior. These points can be used to assess students’ eligibility to participate in a particular activity used as a reward. Teachers can also use this application in classroom activities or discussions to randomly pick students or randomly form groups for group work. Educators can also use applications such as Educreations or ExplainEverything to increase communication between students and teachers by helping students illustrate what they are thinking during the process of a specific activity, which can help teachers evaluate how to differentiate their teaching for each student to fit student’s individualized needs and learning style. Overall, integrating mobile applications into the classroom can improve students’ education by increasing student engagement and participation, increasing classroom management by creating structure and reinforcement of appropriate behavior, and providing students with multiple resources and related references to support their learning during class activities and lessons.       

References

Alston, D.M. & Deaton, C.M. (2014). Teach environmental science iPads, QR codes, and                                        StoryKit. Learning and Leading in Technology, 41(7), 29-30.          

Soto, M. & Hargis, J. (2014). Students explain everything using iPads. Learning and Leading in                              Technology, 41(7), 32-33.

Video Project-Primary Colors

Video Project- Primary Colors

Thinkfinity Internet Resources

Thinkfinity

Michael Eyerly

Education Technology 422B

Title of the Web Resource
Big Math and Fries
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
Illuminations: Resources for Teaching Math
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=3170

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Levels: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. This article addresses no NETS Standards #4: critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making and NETS Standards #3d.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource us an excellent resource because it applies math skills by calculating calorie percentages and applies these skills with everyday nutrition choices. This resource provides students with an opportunity to calculate the percentage of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins with real life meals from McDonalds. This also provides students with an opportunity to apply math skills into calculating nutritional guidelines with their meals and what they eat. This is an excellent resource for student learning because they have to calculate the calorie percentages after being given how many grams of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins are in each meal and how many calories are in a gram of fat, protein, and carbohydrate. This let’s students mathematically analyze the food they eat and identify the relationship between nutrients and calories, while performing calculations, percentages, and conversions.

Title of the Web Resource
Heartifacts
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
Illuminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=778

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade levels: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. This article addresses no NETS standards, however this article addresses NETS #4: Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because it addresses the connection between science and health and the field of mathematics. Students learn about the heart and apply mathematics by calculating their beats per minute, hour, and even day. As well they are required to find the number of quarts of blood per hour pumped by the heart. They also evaluate how exercise influences the number of beats per minute and quarts of blood pumped per minute. This is an excellent resource for student learning because this requires critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making by collecting and analyzing the data gathered after the different activities. Students are required to create a problem and solve their problem within the assignment. They also have to use mental computation and explain their answer, which also uses critical thinking skills.


Title of the Web Resource
Construct a Comet
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
National Geographic Education
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/construct-a-comet/?ar_a=1

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Levels: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. National Standards, Principles, and Practices- National Science Standards: (5-8) Standard B-2: Motions and forces and Standard E-2: Understandings about Science and Technology. It addresses standard #2: Communication and Collaboration.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because it applies content knowledge about comets and provides students the opportunity to transform their background knowledge about comets through participating in the activity. After introducing background information, students must use the scientific process to construct a comet, model the effects of solar wind on a comet, analyze and observe the comet, and draw conclusions based on a combination of their knowledge, observations, and findings. Students must also analyze the comet’s environment and how its environment influences the comet itself. This project addresses the 2nd NETS, Communication and collaboration because students must demonstrate the ability to articulate their thoughts through various verbal and non-verbal communication methods. This is an excellent resource for student learning because they need to use written and verbal communication throughout the activity to guide them to a conclusion. Students are also actively collaborating with others throughout the experiment by working as a team while also exercising flexibility and willingness to help and make compromises for the team to contribute towards their common goal. This web resource illustrates an excellent activity that would help students develop both communication and collaboration skills.


Title of the Web Resource
Adapting Under Pressure
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
National Geographic-Education
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/adapting-under-pressure/?ar_a=1

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Levels: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. NETS standards #1; NETS standards #2
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because this activity integrates the information learned with creativity and innovative skills. After introducing foundational knowledge to students, students must then design a creature that could survive in the hadalpelagic zone. This requires students to understand and apply knowledge of the ocean zones and various animals that live in these zones to their creation of their own creature. This assignment uses both #1 and #2 of the NETS. It is excellent for student learning because it requires both communication and collaboration between peers to work in a group and collectively create the required characteristics of a creature that can survive this zone. Students must also make connections between the environment of that zone and the characteristics of the creature. This requires creativity and innovation to invent the characteristics necessary to live in that particular environment. Students can also show their creativity and originality through their creature and communicate, collaborate, and analyze with their peers to effectively prioritize the different characteristics of the creature and how pronounced they would need to be to live in their environment successfully. Students must create original work through means of personal expression while identifying possibilities. Students must also effectively communicate and collaborate with their peers to apply existing knowledge to new ideas to create a product.


Title of the Web Resource
Why Does It Rain?
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
Wonderopolis
http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-does-it-rain-2/

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Level: 8th grade
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. This activity uses NETS Standards 6a and 6b.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because it explains the cycle water goes through within our environment. This article requires students to watch a short video, read an article about a page long, and after take a short quiz on the subject. This article provides detailed information regarding the stages water goes through such as evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. This article also provides interesting facts and introduces the process by answering a question, which would be a good way to introduce topics to students. This is an excellent resource for student learning because it helps students answer basic question they may not know and also helps them realize that there is always more information about a subject area that can be learned. As well, it is powerful to student learning because it illustrates information in a way that is easy to learn. This article addresses NETS standards, such as this is a great resource for students to explore different areas they are interested in and how questions can be explored further.


Title of the Web Resource
Holocaust and Resistance
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
EDSITEment
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/holocaust-and-resistance

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Levels: 9-12
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. This lesson and activity addresses NETS Standards#1: Creativity and Innovation and #4: Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making and
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because it requires students to analyze and discuss the evidence of resistance to the Holocaust and the various questions and dilemmas associated with confrontation and resistance against the Nazi Regime. In the lesson plan, there are four individual activities students can participate in along with completing a worksheet. Students then write as if they were relatives to those who are resisting the Nazi Regime. Students also reflect in a journal format their own roles in keeping the spirit of resistance alive today. This resource is excellent for student learning because this not only requires research and knowledge of information, but also requires critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making. Students need to first put themselves into that event in history and critically think and make decisions about how they would react and what actions they would take. Students need to also reflect on how they are keeping the spirit of resistance alive today, which requires both critical thinking and communication skills. Students also need exhibit creativity through applying existing information to generate new products such as the journal entries and letters they write. Students also create individual works as means of personal expression through the journal entries.

Title of the Web Resource
Factorize
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
Illuminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3511

Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Level: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. The content is numbers and operations. This activity addresses NETS Standards #4: Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills and #6a and #6b.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” This Web Resource is an excellent resource because it teaches students about factoring by using an interactive platform in which students have to find the different factors of the number shown. Students need to find all the factors of a particular number to move on to the next number. This is powerful for student learning because it teaches students to factorize numbers in mathematics in an interactive way by creating rectangles to resemble the different numbers. This is also important for student learning because it teaches them how many factors are in a particular number and lets them find the factors themselves. This activity lets students get the wrong answer and keep trying until they get each of the factors of a particular number. This activity’s content involves numbers and operations. This activity requires students to understand and use technology systems while also using applications effectively and productively. This activity also requires critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making to effectively participate. This is beneficial for student learning because they can easily practice and memorize different factors of numbers at an early age through an interactive and engaging activity while allowing students to either choose their own numbers or have the computer assign numbers at random. This activity is valuable to further their education in mathematics and provides a foundation in which students can build upon.


Title of the Web Resource
Factor Game
Name of partner site and Link for the resource
Illuminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4134
Grade level or Age group this Web Resource is appropriate for Grade Levels: 6-8
NETS Standard(s) addressed by the resource (if any), if none, explain why. This activity addresses NETS Standards #2; #4; #6a and #6b.
Summary of why you feel this Web Resource is an excellent resource AND why it is powerful for student learning.
HINT: address both criteria in separate sentences, start the sentences with “This Web Resource is an excellent resource because….” The Web Resource is an excellent resource because it helps students to practice factoring in an interactive and collaborative way. This is an online game where one student picks a number and the other student tries to find all the factors of that number. Each turn is scored based on how many numbers are found. If a number’s factors have already been used previously, it cannot be picked as a factor again. This activity is played with two players and requires communication and collaboration between players. This activity addresses NETS Standard # 2 by requiring players to communicate information and ideas successfully and #4 by identifying problems or questions that require investigation. Also, students must collect and analyze data to identify a solution while understanding and using technology systems and using applications effectively and productively. This is a powerful activity for student learning because students must collaborate and communicate with their peers to play the game successfully. Also the game requires students to use critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills to successfully obtain factors in the game. They use problem solving skills to factor numbers picked by their peer, use critical thinking and decision making skills as well to pick numbers strategically so one can achieve a higher score. Students also use technology systems and applications effectively and productively while playing this interactive game.

My Personal Learning Network

            The Personal Learning Network I have built by using various social media, blogs, and RSS newsfeeds have increased my knowledge with the field of Education and has given me countless resources to utilize for my own benefit as well as students’ benefit. I use the RSS Newsfeeds to help keep myself up to date on news and current issues within the field of education. The different RSS newsfeeds helps illustrate issues that I may have been unaware of and brings these issues to my attention. Feedly.com provides great resources for teachers in their RSS newsfeeds to help them develop all areas of their pedagogy such as teaching styles, instructional materials, technology, activities, psychology of student learning, and even how to relate to students and help them become more engaged in their education. I have subscribed to many feeds on feedly.com but the most beneficial feeds I have found is the Edutopia RSS newsfeed and Education Technology newsfeed. These are great resources to help teachers become more aware of the technology available and how these resources can increase student learning as well as make themselves a more efficient and educated teacher. Students can also benefit from the RSS newsfeeds by being exposed to specific topics and issues within education and help them gain a perspective of their environment and how they fit into their environment. Overall, I am able to research and learn about almost everything within the field of education to help me refine and perfect my pedagogy for my future students.  

            Twitter has also been a useful tool to learn and explore different areas within education. Twitter allows me to search for specific areas within education such as common core, education news, or various resources and follow the conversation regarding that specific issue. Once I have followed the conversation, I can then either add to the conversation or just read and learn from what is being said within the conversation. Resources such as articles, websites, blogs and other sites are posted on Twitter as external links, which can add to my learning and can help me develop my pedagogy further. Some of the feeds I am following on Twitter that I have found beneficial are Education week, Discovery Education, KPBS News, Huffington Post Education, DML Research Hub, Edutopia, and National Geographic Education. These have been shown to offer various resources for both teachers and students and can also illustrate issues within the field to help broaden students’ perspective and develop their critical thinking skills. Since I am fairly new to Twitter, the only discussion or hash tag I currently follow is our class hash tag #422sp14 and school #csusmedu. Since I have signed up for a Twitter account, I have only tweeted once for our class. I have not had any responses from that particular tweet, however I plan to use Twitter for my personal and professional growth in the future to help keep me up to date on current issues within education. Overall, I believe Twitter is a great tool that can help teachers collaborate and communicate with each other on various issues and help keep the lines of communication open between teachers and people within the field of education.   

            Diigo is another tool I found to be useful for developing educators’ pedagogy and professional development. Diigo allows educators to join different networks that are interesting or useful in their profession, research these issues or topics, and contribute to their network through articles or other forms of information. This helps educators gain perspective and knowledge within a specific area. Also, Diigo offers educators research articles within either their network or even community to help them in their teaching profession. Some of the groups in my Diigo library are EduBlogs, Wikis in Education, and Teachertube. These pages offer many different resources to help teachers understand the nature of school and help students achieve their full potential. I have learned from these pages that there are many different methods to teaching and resources available to help teachers with their professional development and pedagogy. Overall, Diigo provides resources to teachers to help them develop professionally and provides a community for educators to collaborate and communicate resources with one another.

            The Ning Group I explored was the “Classroom 2.0”. I also applied for a membership with both Educators PLN and Classroom 2.0. The most interesting part of Classroom 2.0 were the blogs and articles posted within the site. There were over 1000 blogs to search and vast amounts of data within each blog discussion. These blogs provide endless amounts of information for educators to perfect their pedagogy and help their teaching become more efficient and engaging for students. Articles and blog posts include technology in education, classroom management, teaching styles, activities and lessons, and even resources to help students better understand what skills will help them succeed in school. I found articles within the site relating to the common core, which would help educators transform their lessons to meet the new common core objectives for their subject and class. These are all great resources to help teachers gain the knowledge they need to help students to the best of their ability. As well, teachers are better equipped to convert their teaching methods and material over to the common core. Overall, The Classroom 2.0 site has shown to be an excellent resource for helping educators prepare their students so they achieve their best in school and helping teachers provide the necessary tools and information to their students to assist them with their educational careers.

            My overall Personal Learning Network experience has taught me that there are great resources online for teachers and educators of all types and as long as educators are flexible and open to new information, educators can benefit from developing a Personal Learning Network. These resources can help educators develop professionally by providing tools, such as lesson plans, behavior management plans, communicate and collaborate with other educators, ask questions, assist other educators, share experiences or information, learn how to integrate technology into classrooms, and more. Educators can become prepare themselves to shift their lessons and material over to common core standards and use technology within the classroom to help guide instruction and engage students’ activities. I have learned from developing my own personal learning network that I can find almost any resource within my personal learning network for developing my teaching strategies and pedagogical practices to better my students’ educational experience. I have also learned through developing a personal learning network that education is a profession of continuous learning and that I am committing myself to a lifelong commitment to my education as well as my students’ education. Overall, I have learned that my personal learning network will continue to grow as I continue my education in the teaching credential program and develop my pedagogy as an educator. 

Classroom 2.0 Badge

Visit Classroom 2.0

Classroom 2.0 Badge

                                      

Mobile Learning for Education

Mobile Learning (iPad)

Student Pledge for School iPad Use

1. I will always keep my iPad cover on my iPad at all times.

2. I will always keep my iPad with me at all times, if I don’t, it must be safely and securely locked up (i.e. in a locker, backpack, or other secure area).

3. I will care for my iPad (ex. carefully plugging in cables, cleaning the screen only with a soft clean cloth, NEVER using water or any solution to clean the screen, ect.).

4. I will not download or remove any applications without prior permission from authorized personnel (Teacher, Teacher’s Aide).

5. I will ONLY use my iPad for educational purposes (i.e. Educational games, educational research, and other activities related to my education).

6. I understand that my iPad is subject to inspection at any time, for any reason, without notice.

7. I will NEVER bring my iPad into the cafeteria for any reason or have food or drinks near my iPad, as this may cause significant damage.

8. I will be the only person using my iPad and will not let anyone else use my iPad for any reason, unless my teacher gives permission.

9. I will charge my iPad every night so it is charged for school the next day.

10. I will NEVER use my iPad for cheating, plagiarism, or anything construed as dishonest or inappropriate.

Printed Name:__________________           Signature:____________________   Date:______________

Application Evaluations

Conent Based App Evaluations #1

Conent Based App Evaluation #2

Content Based App Evaluation #3

Criterion Based App Evaluation #1

Criterion Based App Evaluation #2

Criterion Based App Evaluation #3

          

422B-Reading Reflection #3: Build an Assistive Technology Toolkit

Build an Assistive Technology Toolkit

            The article “Build an assistive technology toolkit” and the video “Universal Design for Learning” communicate the importance of building a curriculum that fits all types of learners. We can achieve a “Universal Design” curriculum that accommodates all learning styles by incorporating various tools and assistive technologies, and by practicing flexibility within our lesson planning as educators. Since all students’ learning styles are unique, educators need to incorporate different tools and techniques to accommodate students’ individual needs, strengths, and interests. Educators need to support students’ unique learning style through demonstrating flexibility within their lessons to allow for students to learn in their own way. Educators can accomplish this by being flexible in their techniques and presenting their lessons using a variety of different instructional materials such as verbal content, visual content, animations, pictures, and videos, and highlighting important content in the lesson. Presenting varied representation of the material in a lesson is extremely important so it can accommodate all types of learning styles. Visual captions, animations, and graphics can be utilized in lessons to accommodate all types of learners as well as students with varied disabilities to help fit their needs and create the least restrictive learning environment possible. Demonstrating flexibility in their action and expression is also important in the development of all learners. Allowing students to demonstrate what they know in different ways and supporting their unique expression of the material is important to their development and autonomy as an individual. As educators, we can support their individual expression through positive feedback and allowing freedom of expression in assignments by promoting creativity and innovation in the classroom. Also, giving students options for engagement helps maintain students’ interest and allows students to stay engaged. Offering students different choices, while engaging them in activities permits students to find what interests them the most and what teaching methods and environment create the best learning environment. As educators, we should strive to minimize the barriers while maximizing the learning experience for all students to help reinforce an effective learning environment for all students. Overall, flexibility and accommodation are key components to creating an effective learning environment in which all students have the opportunity to learn and develop their skills.

            I completely agree with both the video and the article and believe all educators should advocate for creating the best learning environment for all students’ individual learning styles. Educators should inform themselves and seek professional development opportunities to better their students’ learning experience and increase their opportunity for growth in the classroom. Educators need to be flexible and open to new ideas and approaches of instruction to create this atmosphere for students. This would not only help educators find the best approach for teaching individual students, but would also help educators find the most effective and efficient method of instruction, which would increase students’ learning opportunities and development. I also believe educators need to be open to self assess their instructional techniques and methods to create a universal design for learning. This requires constant self assessment of an educator’s communication style, instructional techniques, instructional materials, activities, and the tools used throughout instruction and activities. Educators should be open and flexible to changes that could positively influence students’ learning opportunities. Educators’ self-assessment should drive their instructional approach in their classroom. Overall, I believe the more educators remain flexible, open to change, and committed to their students’ as well as their own education, the more engaging students’ education will become and the more learning opportunities will develop.

            The ideas in the article and video about integrating various types of assistive technology and tools to accommodate students’ unique learning styles and create a universal design for learning connects to a number of NETS standards. The first standard illustrated is NETS standard #1, creativity and innovation. Through changing curriculum to minimize barriers and maximize the learning opportunity, students can explore more options and develop their creativity and innovation with the various activities and assignments introduced in the classroom. Also, when educators are flexible in allowing students to approach learning tasks and demonstrating their knowledge in their own way, students increase their creativity and innovation in other learning experiences as well. The second NETS standard addressed is #6, technology operations and concepts. While educators need to incorporate assistive technology and other tools in their classroom to increase students’ capacity for learning, students need to demonstrate their ability to use these different tools and assistive technologies. Students need to learn how to effectively transfer the knowledge they are learning to new technologies to help create a less restrictive learning process to effectively complete tasks. Students will also need to use these new technologies effectively and productively within the classroom to ensure the learning environment is safe and effective for all students. Although assistive technology may only be used by a small population of the class, the use of this technology affects all students and should exhibit a positive influence on the entire student population. Overall, educators need to promote an effective learning environment through the use of various tools and assistive technology to support students’ needs, interests, and strengths to create an effective universal design for learning, which minimizes barriers while maximizing the learning for all students.                     References

Ahrens, K. (2011).  Build an assistive technology toolkit. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3),             22-24.

422B-Reading Reflection #2: One Man's School is Another Man's Prison

One Man’s School is Another Man’s Prison

            The article “One Man’s School is Another Man’s Prison” questions the purpose of our education system and argues the position for increasing the quality and diversity of education rather than the quantity of education. The argument that children should be in school six days a week twelve hours a day was introduced by the U.S. Secretary of Education,  Arne Duncan, and ignited debate over what our education system needs in order to encourage and sustain a leading economy and society in the world. The argument for increasing the quantity of education in our schools asserts that students should not have three months off in the summer and vacations if students are falling behind as a nation. The U.S. Secretary of Education claims that to compete with China and other nations, students need to be in school longer and participate in more rigorous testing and assessment to catch up to other nations in the subject areas of math and science. The counter argument for increasing the quality and diversity of children’s education arose as a response to the Secretary of Education’s comment. Clearly, many people within the field of education did not agree. Their position argues that students don’t need more time spent in schools doing the same things that are not working or more standardized tests or assessments, but rather students need a more diverse education from teachers who are more qualified to increase the quality of the students’ educational experience. They argue that increasing teachers’ professional development and students’ educational experience through introducing a wider variety of subjects is more likely to increase the quality of education within our society, which would influence our educational standing around the world. Overall, education is a key component of our society and as a society we have to decide what the purpose of education is in our society and what we want to gain in providing education to our society.

            I completely agree with the position of the article that children don’t need more time spent in a classroom but rather more qualified teachers in the classroom along with a more extensive curriculum that covers a broader range of subject areas, such as art and music. This introduces them to the subject matter of a wide range of disciplines, helps them develop a broader perspective by integrating different learning experiences, and increases their range of knowledge. This foundation of diverse experiences will help students find a subject area or discipline they feel passionate about, which will increase their overall interest in school and learning. Educators should encourage this personal growth and passion within students to explore new ideas. This will help students in their future to keep exploring new areas of interest and further their education, which will increase their commitment to lifelong learning. Encouraging students’ exploration of their interests and supporting their personal growth to create educational experiences is one of the most important roles of educators in our society.     

            The ideas in this article debating whether students should spend more time in school or not and the purpose of our education system does not specifically identify any NETS-S standards. However to better our education system and find out the purpose of our education system, students’ education should encompass all the NETS Standards. The position that is supported within the article connects with NETS standards #1, creativity and innovation, because instead of spending more time in school practicing rote memorization, this article supports spending less time in school to support creativity and innovation in various student and teacher led activities. Innovation and creativity are supported through learning a variety of subjects and providing a well rounded education that introduces many different subjects to students at an early age. Students spend time applying existing knowledge to new ideas to create new processes and products as a result. This helps students develop a broad perspective and keep an open mind when they encounter new situations. The position in the article also supports NETS standard #2, communication and collaboration, which supports socialization skills and communication skills among peers and even students and teachers. Supporting collaboration and communication between peers opens up new opportunities for students’ growth and interest in new ideas. Students also develop social skills and learn effective communication by interacting in group activities with their peers. By increasing the quality of education, this article also connects with NETS standards #3 and #4  by requiring students to support their opinions and positions with research and through requiring critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills to evaluate their research and develop conclusions. In school, students should be involved in critical thinking during every activity instead of mere rote memorization. The article’s views that quality of education outweighs quantity supports why students are involved in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and activities that support creativity and innovation in school rather than rote memorization or long hours in school. Overall, education is a continuous process that requires educators to be highly qualified to teach a quality education and requires students’ motivation and interest to create a quality educational experience.  

References

Fingal, D. (2009). One man’s school is another man’s prison. Learning and Leading with   Technology,               36(8), 40. 

422B-Reading Reflection #1: When Will We Ever Use Math in Real Life?

When Will We Ever Use Math in Real Life?

            The article “When Will We Ever Use Math in Real Life?” illustrates how students may incorporate the concepts learned in the classroom in everyday activities with various professions and how mathematics can be applicable in future situations. Although students are asking the question, when will we use math in real life? Educators are now better equipped to respond to their question by using technology to support their answers. Educators can now help motivate and teach students through the use of various videos of different individuals from diverse professions demonstrating how mathematics is used in their profession. An example of this is an architect, who illustrates how he uses mathematics when he makes blueprints for a building or home. These videos illustrate that mathematics can be applied to a broad range of different professional areas and learning these different concepts has a real application within their lives. In the videos, professionals even added their own experiences in high school math classes to relate to students’ experiences. This illustrates to students that, although mathematics may be a weak subject now, students can always build up a strong foundation to help them increase their chances of success in various professional areas in the future. After displaying how mathematics can have a real application outside the classroom through videos, teachers have reported an increase in students’ interest in mathematics and even an increase in students’ test scores. Overall, teachers have successfully found a way to illustrate the application of concepts within mathematics outside the classroom, which has established a positive impact on their motivation and interest to learn mathematics.

            I believe this is a great method to illustrate the application of mathematics outside of the classroom to students. Although educators may understand the application of mathematics outside of a math class, students may not understand. Verbally explaining to students how mathematics is used outside of the classroom is not always the most effective technique for all types of learners. The videos of different professionals sharing their experiences with mathematics and how they use mathematics within their profession may be a more effective tool in giving all types of learners a better understanding of the real application of mathematics outside the classroom. This helps educators by allowing them to incorporate these videos into their curriculum and lesson plans. Rather than having one or two guest speakers coming into one classroom, videos provide a variety of guest speakers to reach a larger audience of students. These videos also help reach a bigger audience of students. After presenting the videos, students can then make connections between the lessons they are learning in the classroom and situations outside the classroom. This will not only increase their awareness of the broad applications of mathematics, but will also help students realize how many connections are present with what they learn within the classroom to the situations they experience outside the classroom.

            The ideas within the article of videos and visual aids being incorporated within the classroom regarding how mathematics can be applied in real life situations and professions integrate a number of NETS-S Standards. The first standard that is addressed by integrating videos into curriculum and lesson plans to connect with students is NETS Standard #3: Research and Information Fluency. Students who watch these videos are required to apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use the information within the videos. Students have to gather and evaluate the information presented in the videos and apply the information to their own experiences. Although students’ experiences differ, the various professionals presented in the videos and their different experiences with mathematics will help ignite students’ interests and help ensure the videos reach the diverse types of learners that are in a classroom. Another NETS Standard addressed in the article is #4: Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. Students need to identify and investigate questions, such as how mathematics can be applied in their lives currently and potentially in the future. Students will have to investigate the different ways they may apply mathematics outside of their class and explore diverse perspectives to gather information so they can educate themselves on the application of mathematics within their environment. Overall, using technology to reach a broad range of learners is an excellent method to help students increase their interest in a subject and understand the application of a subject within their current and future environments.                   

References

Ware, J & Stein, S. (2012). When will we ever use math in real life? Learning and Leading 
           with Technology, 39(8), 34-35.

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Reading Reflection #3- "One Size Never Fits All"

Reflection #3

            The article “One size never fits all” illustrates the idea of using applications within the special education classroom setting to help students with various disabilities achieve their Individualized Educational Program (IEP) goals. The article introduces what support teachers would need, the techniques they would use to implement these different forms of technology into the classroom setting, and how these forms of technology are matched with students and curriculum. Since every student has a unique set of individual goals and learning styles of which the teacher has to be aware, the process of implementing these forms of technology has to be thoroughly thought out and well developed. By implementing a technology support plan for students with special needs, educators are seeing those students meet their IEP goals and achieve benchmarks quicker. The developers of the program have tried to connect curricular activities and tasks to various forms of assistive technology and other technology resources. The training and professional development educators need would have to offer various choices in which they could learn the material and various methods to apply these strategies into the classroom. Integration of this technology is done in three tiers due to the individualized attention each student needs and how diverse learning environment is in a special education setting. In the first tier, teachers participate in workshops getting familiar with technology and how to use them to increase learning and help them meet IEP goals and benchmarks. In the second tier, teachers participate in student led conferences and have both students and teachers develop their own e-profile. In this tier, teachers learn in both a face-to-face and online environment to experience learning in an online format as well as become more familiar with what the student experiences. In tier three, although face-to-face interaction continues, most collaboration is done online and utilizes texting and other forms of communication for support. Technology integration in special education settings has had real results. For example, students who may have difficulty expressing their thoughts into words on paper in writing might find it useful to use speech-to-text feature, word prediction, and other supportive tools. Since implementing new technology into the classroom students’ attitudes towards writing have drastically changed and their motivation to write has greatly increased. The advantages to the integration of technology are seen throughout classrooms and the possibilities for different learning experiences are endless.

            As a future Special Education Teacher, I want to use technology as much as possible in the classroom, not only to benefit students’ learning and development, but as a benefit to the teacher as well. I find that technology can help when students don’t want to communicate they are struggling or may not be able to make progress due to their attention span. Applications can help in instruction, assessment, reinforcement of information, and practicing knowledge already obtained. Regardless of students’ needs, there are many different applications and tools that technology has to offer which would help the students and support the learning process. Interactive games and other applications can help increase students’ attention span and their ability to communicate to their teacher where they are struggling. They also help educators assess where students’ ability and skill levels are and what methods of teaching leads to the most progress. I feel that as long as students are engaged, positively interacting with their peers, and learning, that the basic goal of education is achieved. As a substitute teacher, a lot of the issues with behavior management stem from either a lack of engagement or being distracted. If teachers could shift students’ attention towards the lesson and engage them in the classroom and as a result, teach them the information by using technology, then technology has proven successful in contributing to the learning environment. Educators need to find ways in which they can grasp students’ attention without having it be a constant battle between what is distracting them within the class. These issues take away from instructional time and hinder learning from taking place. Overall, I believe as a future educator, technology will play a major role within my classroom, and as time moves forward, more opportunities will open up for technology to contribute to the educational process.

     This article supports implementing technology within a special education setting. Educators should be experts in the various concepts of the ISTE standards for students; however specific standards are necessary for integrating technology within a special education setting. This article illustrates how educators will implement technology, instead of the methods they will use to teach and implement technology. Certain standards need to be addressed in order to move forward with the integration of technology into a special education setting. This article does not address any specific ISTE standards for students. The main standard that is addressed for teachers is “Technology Operations and Concepts.” Teachers need to understand and demonstrate a sound understanding of the concepts, systems, and operations in order to implement and integrate them into the classroom as well as teach these standards to their students. Another concept that needs to be addressed for teachers is “Research and Information Fluency”. Teachers need to apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information to help their students learn the information in the lesson and use a variety of teaching strategies to best fit students’ needs and learning approach. Overall, I believe Special Education Teachers need to develop a firm understanding of different strategies to implement and integrate various forms of technology into curricular tasks and activities to help students achieve the objective of the lesson as well as their goals.       

References

Courduff, J. (2011). One size never fits all. Learning and Leading Through Technology, 38(8), 16-18.

Reading Reflection #2- "Unlock Literacy with iPads"

Reflection #2

            The article “Unlock literacy with iPads” illustrates how iPads as well as other technology can be integrated into classrooms. This article introduces the idea that by using the right applications on iPads, student can do activities, receive feedback, and have the application assess their skills and abilities all at the same time, while also keeping students engaged and focused on the task. There are many different types of applications educators can choose from that can help with the learning process, such as reading apps that have a built in dictionary, vocabulary applications for building such as “Words with Friends”, storytelling apps that allowed students to engage in digital storytelling, and authoring apps that allow students to create their own poems and stories with inserted hyperlinks within the writing to connect their ideas to sites that illustrate their ideas further. High scores from games could be posted to help motivate other students to achieve higher standards. Also, journal entries and other writing could be immediately turned in online when students are finished. This gives students the freedom to do the work and turn it in all at the same time in the comfort of their home. This also gives educators the freedom of grading the work wherever they are and not having to keep track of papers. By using the applications in the classroom, this particular educator noticed that assessment scores, student engagement, and completion of school work all increased. When educators use technology in the classroom, this gives students the feeling that they are more in control of their education, which leads them to take more responsibility for their work. Access to having iPads positively correlated to increased passing test scores for both reading and writing. Also, students who had iPad access rated themselves lower on reading and writing compared to those who didn’t have access to iPads in the classroom due to iPads giving students more accurate assessments of their skills and abilities due to having experience with the various programs available on the iPads. Overall, technology and applications have given educators endless possibilities and more freedom to create a unique and successful learning environment that gives students more control over their learning and academic careers.    

            As a future educator, I think that the more teachers incorporate technology into the classroom, the more engaging and interactive the environment will become. Although using technology may have its issues, such as distracting students or having to teach students how to use certain programs, the reward of creating a more interactive and engaging environment will outweigh the costs. The different types of applications offered by smart technology have endless possibilities to assist with the learning process. There are applications for all subject areas for every aspect of the learning process such as teaching, practicing, assessing and testing, using interactive games that teach and reinforce information, grading, behavior management, classroom management, and many other applications that can be utilized to help create a more productive learning environment. Applications can easily be learned and students have the freedom to take more control over their learning and even testing, which leads to increased productivity and test scores (Harmon, 2012). Overall, I believe that for educators to develop an effective lesson plan and curriculum, educators need to incorporate students’ interests to engage and motivate them to learn.          

            The idea of implementing various smart applications in the classroom connects to different NETS-S criteria. The first NETS-S criterion that is illustrated by utilizing applications in the classroom is Creativity and Innovation. By using smart applications, students are able to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas by using new technology to reinforce existing information. Another criterion that is present is Communication and Collaboration that occurs by letting students collaborate and communicate during individual or group projects, assignments, games, and presentations. Students can also collaborate through a variety of applications and programs to help complete assignments and communicate with each other. Students can communicate with other students around the world to complete assignments, such as interviews, compete in interactive games, or even collaborate to complete assignments together. Educators’ possibilities with using smart technology and integrating the various types of applications within lesson plans are endless. Educators have the opportunity to create a collaborative and interactive environment by using technology, such as smart applications, that will increase student engagement and help increase the control they feel over their education and learning.              

References

Harmon, J. (2012). Unlock literacy with iPads. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(8),

            30-31.

Reading Reflection #1-"What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook Page?"

Article #1

            The article “What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook page?” illustrates how educators can introduce the subject of history to students while incorporating technology and social media to help classroom engagement and help them learn important facts, historical events, and the people involved. Educators can ignite students’ interests by incorporating technology and social media into their lesson plans. This article demonstrates how history can utilize Facebook to sustain students’ interest and attention while also making the learning process more interesting by creating an assignment in which students make a Facebook page for a particular person in history, such as Abraham Lincoln. The activity of constructing a Facebook page for a specific person in history has students learn biographical information, important historical events they are involved in by developing Facebook posts, viewpoints, preferences, and hobbies by “liking” certain pages, and posting photos and videos of paintings or movie scenes with captions to portray historical or personal events in history. Another activity students can perform is to generate a Facebook page for a specific person or country involved in a historical conflict, such as the Cold War or World War II. Students could start by researching and filling in the “About Me” section of the country’s history, economic, political, and social atmosphere, government philosophy, and then illustrate views and interests through what they “like” on Facebook, and even “friend request” other countries to show ally relations. Further action could be taken by “personal messaging” specific countries to show important historical events that required communication between other countries such as the Warsaw Pact or German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Overall, this article illustrates that lessons can utilize technology, while also keeping students’ attention and interest during the lesson.

            I think this is a great example of how to integrate technology into the classroom. By using students’ interests and what already captures their attention, educators aren’t fighting an uphill battle to keep their attention during lessons or making sure they are staying on task. Also, using technology within the lesson can benefit students academically. Students truly want to learn and develop skills for success, but it is up to educators to use innovative methods of teaching that will capture students’ attention and motivate them to want to learn. I believe the learning process should be fun and interesting, and by integrating students’ interests and technology within a lesson, educators will reinforce the learning process and information presented. Although technology may be distracting in some circumstances, I believe educators can successfully integrate technology into their classroom by using different programs or applications that help engage students and reinforce collaboration within a lesson.

            The ideas in the article of integrating technology into the classroom by utilizing social media connect with the NETS-S indicators. The first indicator this activity uses is Creativity and Innovation, by having students create a Facebook page for either a person or country. This activity combines the existing knowledge they have of Facebook and the information from the lesson, while exploring ideas and creating an original idea. I also believe this assignment uses the concept of Research and Information Fluency. Students must not only research their person or country in depth to create a Facebook, but they also analyze and evaluate the information from a variety of sources. Students need to then process the data from multiple resources to create a resulting product, a Facebook page. Students also use the concept of Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Decision Making by identifying specific questions to investigate in their project. They must also make informed decisions and use multiple processes from a variety of perspectives to explore their topic successfully. If an issue arises, they must develop a strategy to successfully develop a solution for the issue. In this activity, students are also using the concept of Technology Operations and Concepts by demonstrating an understanding of the technology concepts, systems and operations by creating a Facebook page and updating the Facebook page regularly. This illustrates they understand how to navigate through the page, edit, and connect with other users. Integrating technology and social media into lessons engages the students, while also helping them develop the skills they need to become successful in their academic careers.                    

           

References

Glover, B. (2013). What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook page? Learning and Leading            Through Technology, 40(8), 38-39.

Evaluating Websites Critically

I will effectively search for information by evaluating websites critically. I will first evaluate to make sure the source is a credible and trusted source that publishes articles and websites from scholarly sources. I will also search for credible information by taking into account the sites url, whether the site is a .com, .gov, .edu, or .org and examine whether the information is credible. For example, a .org can be from an organization that has extremist views such as extremist religious groups or hate group organizations that may have .org websites. Although .edu tends to be the most credible source in my opinion, as a researcher you must also evaluate who is sponsoring the research being published. For example, if it is a pharmaceutical study proving the effectiveness of a certain drug, as a researcher I want to evaluate and make sure the study wasn't sponsored by a pharmaceutical company or organization that is supported by a pharmaceutical company. This will ensure the study is unbiased and not skewed to the satisfaction of the sponsors. Some tips to evaluate the sources credibility are to:

• Check the dates of the publication to make sure information is up to date
• Check the websites url to examine the source of the information
• Examine the content of the site 
• Examine the organizations views or the sponsors of an educational study

Overall, I will try to effectively search for information through evaluating the trustworthiness and credibility of the sources and examining the content and information of the site to make sure I am using relevant and credible information in my research.  

A Pressing Issue In Education

I think the most pressing issue in Education is how we interact with our student population and the methods we use to educate them. There are a variety of student populations, teaching practices, and pedagogical styles of teaching that exist today, so a universal standard or fit for how we interact with student populations wouldn't fit our society. We will need to create a interactive and engaging foundation in which each educator can build upon to help educate their student population with their own unique pedagogy.

Education and Technology