Teaching in a High Tech World

This class has been amazing. Truly.

My favorite thing? It’s not taught by a professor who isn’t in the classroom. It’s taught by someone who is a teacher, who is in a school, who has great ideas and applications for the classroom. It is taught by someone with a wealth of knowledge and current ideas and ways to apply them. It is so nice to take a class and be able to say I will apply this information in my career.

It was also hands-on! I appreciate that very much. I liked that we weren’t just introduced to websites and programs. We actually used them. We discussed how they apply to our teaching. I have so many new ideas to take with me to school the first day.

I will definitely use the knowledge I gained. The class served a purpose and made me see how I really need to know this information. I need to connect with my students. Technology is the greatest way to do that. These kids are “hyper-connected”. They have technology at their fingertips, information at the ready, they are often experts well before their teachers. This class made me see that I need to strive to catch up, to try and keep up, to try and incorporate this into my lessons. Kids are so distracted by all they have available to them. This is one way to engage them, interact with them and get them excited about learning.

I truly enjoyed this class and I am actually sorry it’s ending. There is so much more to learn out there. Steve, if you teach any tech continuing ed classes or in-service for Fairfax County, let me know. I’ll sign up for sure. Thanks!

I really like the idea of Podcasting. I have an iPod and I will admit I don’t take advantage of Podcasts. I have dabbled here and there but not used them enough or ever created one. The presentation on Podcasts has me intrigued.

I think this would be a great way to reach ESL kids. You can do supplemental lessons, summer lessons, differentiated material. I can think of so many ways to use this. I think I will give it a try this summer and see what I can come up with.

This video is another example of food for thought. I really never thought about any of these issues before this class. I have to say, I navigated the net with little to no thought about how the content was created, who was creating it, how I could apply it to my teaching and how I could better organize the information I was taking in each day.  Take a look:

Twitter is something that I was vaguely familar with before this lesson. I had never tried it and thought I might like it since I do like Facebook quite a bit. However, the format turned me off. I could not navigate the site easily and had a hard time figuring it out. It was not user-friendly at all and I immediately disliked using it. I think I will stick to Facebook.

I thought our presentation went well. In retrospect, I suppose we should have made it more interactive. We talked a lot about what a great interactive tool this was but then we didn’t let anyone play with it! We were pressed for time, but perhaps that might have been worth going over our limit a bit. Kate and Cindy did a great job with their portions- I was fortunate to have terrific group members. It’s scary to go first but I am glad we got it done and can focus on other things now.

In 2005, I took a trip to Chile through the Rotary Foundation. Here is my story:

I enjoyed using this software. While I found it more limiting than Photostory, it’s simplicity was rather refreshing. I could definitely see myself incorporating this into a lesson in the futire.

A week ago I had no idea how to create a blog, how to embed videos, what in the world a Prezi was and only a limited amount of experience with SMART notebook software. What a difference a week makes. I was able to upload my resume into my bio page tonight using Scribd. I could not have done that just seven days ago.

Today’s class was interesting. We spoke mostly about the 21st Century Classroom. I really enjoyed the topic because it’s so relevant. We had an interesting class discussion and watched some great videos. The Where in the Hell is Matt? video was great. Coincidentally, I stumbled upon it on YouTube when I was looking for something for my integrated lesson plan. I think Steve’s purpose in having us view it was to show us how easily the world can be connected through technology. People all over the world have seen this video- it’s been shared through a simple website called YouTube. Matt’s not a professional actor or traveler- just a guy who started making the videos for his family and friends and it’s turned into something much bigger through the power of technology. Amazing.

Click here to see a larger image.

Verbs: demonstrate (application), describe (evaluation)

Nouns: events, Civil War, soldiers, women, slaves

Essential Questions:

1. How would you describe the life of a slave in Virginia? (Think about where they lived, what they did, how they were treated.)

2. How can you demonstrate the different ways in which the underground railroad moved slaves through the United States?

Teaching Strategies:

1. In order to describe the life of a slave in Virginia, I would give the students a role to play. They will receive age, name, location, family information. I will give them the opportunity to trace the life of that person, their escape from slavery and describe what happened in their life and how they felt.

2. I would have the students demonstrate the different ways in which the underground railroad moved slaves through the country by having them create a map of their escape.

How will technology support this instruction?

1. Photostory- students will use this program to create a story about the life of their assigned person. They will write the content and record the narration themselves. I will provide tech support as needed and a selection of images for them to choose from and include in their story.

2. Google Earth- Students will use this application to trace the path of escape for their assigned person. They will design the escape route and describe the hardships faced by their person, landforms and weather they might encounter as well as calculate the distance traveled.

I am gaining so much information in this class. One thing I really like about it- we are given interesting, practical applications to use in the classroom. It’s really a great class- it’s nice to learn about things we will actually use!

I spent most of the day learning Photostory, a terrific application. I can really see how this would be useful for ESOL students and I have several ideas on how to incorporate it into my integrated lesson plan.

Here is the photostory I created. The idea behind it is a fun way to get ESOL kids talking about their own countries and the things you would see if you visited.

Nick’s Cross Country Road Trip from Nevada Sprung on Vimeo.

I really enjoyed Melissa’s photostory- it was really interesting with terrific pictures. What an amazing experience to be able to travel to Africa. You can see it here.

My brain is in overdrive. But in a good way.

We spent the day mostly on presentations. We talked about PowerPoint, it’s positives and negatives and it’s usefulness. PowerPoint appeals to me because of it’s familiarity. I know how to use it, manipulate it, and I can make a presentation easily and quickly. However, it’s getting old. We discussed how it can be over-relied upon, it can be boring, the animation and clip art and sound effects can just be too much. It’s time for something new.

So we were introduced to Prezi, an innovative tool for presentations. I just finished navigating it to make my own. I felt that it was not very user-friendly, but now that I have worked out the kinks in it, I will certainly use it again. You can check out the presentation I created on my products page.

Prezi definitely has a “wow” factor. I have never seen anyone use it before. I think it would be a great way to impress my new principal and students.

I have so much new information in my brain. It’s still overwhelming but definitely exciting!