Final Workshop

At the beginning of this class I thought for sure that it would be a waste of my time. I have grown up with technology all of my life. I'm up on facebook, myspace, twitter, webpages, and I've incorporated many technology pieces into my classroom. After all I am the one that the computer lab teacher comes to with questions about problems with teachers computers and smart boards.

Boy was I wrong :). This class showed me that there are so many more aspects of techonology and teaching students 21st century skills than just helping them to figure out how to type a story in Microsoft Word, or make a Power Point presentation. I have seen myself grow because of this. In order to be successful in the real world I should be helping my students gain other skills. In 4th grade they should be developing collaboration, communication, and many other skills they will need for the rest of their lives.

With this knowledge I have already seen my teaching evolve into more of what it should be. Instead of just having my students work together on something, I model a communication or collaboration skill I would like them to acquire before we begin. This helps to combine lessons we are already have planned to meet other standards while also introducing some of the 21st century skills. I have also begun to be more of a leader within my own cohort at the school I teach. Always before they knew I had knowledge of technology skills and things and I was always willing to answer questions, but I never really felt like enough of a leader to actually bring new and fun things to the group for them to try. I have also become more encouraging of my older coworkers who are fearful of new things and trying to help them be successful as well.

This class started out to me like one I'd never get anything from and turned into a very beenficial one for not only me but my coworkers, students, and school :).

Workshop 5

After looking through the material for class this week there is even more exciting ways to integrate technology into our teaching. Looking at my grade level there are lots of ways that I can be a leader and support my team to help encourage personal growth as well as professional growth in the area of technology.

Luckily for me my team of teachers at very interested in new ideas. They are always willing to try new things even if they aren't very confident in the material.

When I went through this weeks material the one area I immediately thought of when I read through the material was creating a personal learning network. We all work well together but we don't share much when it comes to technology. Every year our team has to have a goal we work towards. Next year I think creating and sharing as a personal learning network in the area of technology would enhance our teams skills.

I also would like to sit down and look at what we consider the technology component of each of our units. Each project focuses on integrating a specific program (word, publisher, etc) with the unit theme. However with the NETs standards we really need to enhance even more integrating more than one NETs standards. Using collaboration and communication with our PowerPoint project for example.

This class has really made me begin to think about 21st century and technology skills as more than just learning how to use a computer and it's programs. It's about prepping our students for the "new" real world!

Workshop 4

With all of the technology we have been learning about the past few weeks in our class, I can't help but become excited at all of the possibilities that could arise for use in my classroom!!  However, I also have many concerns.  Relying on technology at my school runs the risk of a lesson being ruined by a network that is down, slow computers, and even blocked links with our networks firewall.  I am a planner.  I like to know exactly what I will be teaching and with the chance of a lesson being ruined it would throw off all of my plans.

Thinking ahead I believe there are some ways that I could make sure that I can utilize this technology.  First of all, if I find a great site or program at home to use with the kids I need to test it on my own at school.  If the site is blocked I could request it to be unblocked alleviating that problem.  I can also work at being more flexible.  My plans are made for 2 weeks at a time when doing a unit.  If the network is down for the day, I can switch my plans with another day.  There are lots of things to think about when utilizing technology, but if I want my students to really get the lesson and enjoy school being 21st century learners I will have to make it work!

Workshop Three

Thankfully I have a supportive district in terms of techology. I have a teacher computer with the newest software and 4 student computers with software and access to the internet. I have a smartboard that is hooked to my teacher computer and not movable so it is for my use only.

When it comes to software applications I use Microsoft Word a lot! Every Tuesday I have a newsletter that goes home to my parents that lets them know about upcoming events in the next week. My district uses Microsoft Excel as a way to organize our data for our assessments. We record almost all of our power standards, writing assessments, weekly work (Math mastermind, spelling numble jumble, and 40 fast facts). Using this document on the schools network drive allows our principal and superintendent access to see how each grade level is faring when it comes to the standards our students need.

This year I have signed up as a part of a larger group from my district to learn about new software while using document cameras and interactive clickers. I would love to feel confident enough with these to create some new lessons and ways to help utilize them on a regular basis with my students.

To accomplish this I plan to attend the monthly workshops put on my district's technology coordinator. After learning these skills, researching some on the internet about ways other teachers have used these programs and equipment in their classroom I hope to have some ideas to get me started. Next school year after familiarizing myself with them I hope I will be able to see ideas for ways to use them as I'm creating new lessons.

Workshop Two

Looking at this week's reading for my Technology in Education Class the topic of 21st Century Skills was the main topic. How to prepare our students to succeed in the 21st century using many skills that were not taught in previous classrooms. The main skills focus on problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, technology literate, flexible, innovative, globally competent, and financially literate. Personally I feel well prepared to help my students with these skills. My school corporation is very into jumping on board with programs and skills such as these that they feel the students need to be successful in the future. Our school district started at the high school level when they instituted New Tech high and then they have just spread the skills from their. With the support and training that they provide, I feel like I am not only prepared but encouraged to teach these skills to my students.

Just like every other subject I teach, I hope my students leave my class with the skills that they need to succeed. I know that some of my students who are immersed in 21st century skills even at home will be more likely to be able to apply the skills they learn, but with the programs we are using and the constant modeling and use of the skills in my classroom I feel I am preparing them to the best of my ability.

I feel like my strengths help my students acquire and learn positive problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, communication, and collaboration skills. However, teaching 4Th graders there are so skills that I do not know how relevant they are yet. It is hard to teach both Indiana history along with being globally competent and they are bit too young to be worrying about financial literacy.

All I can do is my best like in every other thing I teach my students. Modeling is always the best form of teaching especially in the elementary classroom. Making sure I am showing my thinking in terms of critical thinking and problem solving skills, along with letting my class collaborate with me on important topics and communicating with them is my best form of teaching.

Week 1 Computers in Education

Currently I teach 4th grade in a small rural community in the middle of Indiana. My school is actully on the cutting edge in terms of technology and I feel lucky to be a part of it's integration into our student's curriculm. As a teacher, I however feel like I have plenty of equipment opportunities to provide my students with a great technology curriculm, but I struggle to find the time to create successful projects as well as the support for ideas and help with integration. I also struggle on finding the most important things to teach to 10 year olds when many of them haven't had much in terms of technology curriculm in the past. Also, many of the NETS standards involve ideas that are hard to grasp for 10 year olds (such as copyrights laws and citing sources).

In my district there are many different resources available for teachers in terms of equipment. Each room has 4-5 computers, a smartboard, and one specials time a week for computer lab. We also have in each building a video camera, digital camera, elmo machines, and electronic clickers. However, with this comes many barriers. First of all, the equipment is there but there aren't many if any opportunities to learn about how to use them or when to use them. Also, our districts 3 technology directors are in charge of not only teachers issues but also the issues that arise with the entire junior and senior class having laptop computer for each student as well as a new tech high school. This often means that issues that arise at the elementary school level are bypassed until the other issues are taken care of and it can often be several days or even longer before your issues are taken care of.

As I was reading through the devotional for this weeks class it was all about the times when "fear not" is presented. Fear not most often refers to that God is watching over us and taking away the things to which we might feel restricted if we let doubt or the devil enter into our lives. Going without fear into the unknown allows us the chance to experience things and give our whole heart which allows us as teachers to give our students opportunities they need even though we may not feel qualified ourselves to teach them.

Looking ahead there are many things I hope to get out of this class that would be useful to both my students as well as my collaborative team. I hope to get some new ideas of ways to use technology in my classroom and help younger elementary students understand the importance of technology and safety while using it. I also hope to help my team develop atleast 2 new technology projects to incorporate into our science and social studies units for second semester. Finally, my last goal is to learn how to use a set of the interactive clickers and find some ways to try them within my classroom.