My Beliefs

Technology in the classroom is vital to the education of students and the evolving of the teacher. This is something that will continue to be more integrated in the classroom as more technology becomes available and teachers have to increase their knowledge and understanding about the current technologies that are out there. I would like to use not only powerpoints, but videos as well. I don't believe in just pure lecture or book work in the classroom, this tends to promote what I like to call "Shut Down Syndrome". Students don't like to listen to a teacher talk for eighty minutes or just assign an assignment out of the book. This bores them and they tend not to retain information that is being taught.

Technology and using new resources that kids find exciting will make them excited to learn and become familiar with the material being taught. Teaching and student learning go hand in hand with each other, both teachers and students are able to learn from each other and this increases the pedagogy in the classroom. This will benefit all parties involved and help with the curriculum and even the further progression of the students understanding about the information that is being taught in class.

My own classroom will have technology very much integrated into it and I will try to get my own students to interact with the lessons being taught. I very much believe in getting the students out of their seats and engaged actively in the lesson and with each other. I like the idea of having them create their own assignments using technology and having the proper guidance with the assignment that they can create it on their own with the help simply from the directions. Just because my classroom will either be history or health doesn't mean that they can't learn how to do new things with technology and further their understanding for other classes. Technology and the use there of makes me excited to get involved with my students and help them with their own education and use of technology.

Lessons Learned

As I had the opportunity to go through and read, watch, and partake in the surveys, videos, and news articles I found the topics to be not only eclectic but also very informative. They were up to date and on the current topics that are surrounding the new issues with technology and resources that kids are able to access nowadays at home and at school. There are beyond numerous outlets for kids and teachers to access for information in and out of the classroom. With teachers being further educated on the new technologies that are available it is a great education that helps the classroom evolve.

Some of the concerns I would have with the articles would be contained more around the new internet and social networking. These are great tools is utilized in a positive manner and for positive recreational purposes. However, adolescents are not always able to use the most accurate judgement when it comes to accessing and putting information out over the internet. Predators, cyberbullying, and addictions form very easily to the internet and the world that it provides for the users. These are worrisome especially for the students that readily access them without any parental supervision and there are new ways of bullying that basically don't let kids escape it.

Overall, the articles and videos were very informative and had many valid points that helped me to understand the different avenues that are out with technology and with adolescents and technology. I really enjoyed the social networking articles, all of them would be something that I would access again even in the health classroom. This provides educators with articles and information that will help increase students' safety and awareness, this is part of my curriculum with health education and I really think that it provided me with some useful information that I would like to use in my own classroom in the future to help educate my students with proper knowledge and safety.

Strengths and Weaknesses

When it comes to reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses according to the UNI survey and the NET Standards. My overall standing with the UNI survey was really strong as well as with the NET Standards, I have a thoroughly good knowledge about the concepts that are presented in the laws and understandings about what systems to have knowledge about. As a beginning teacher I would incorporate different types of technology to teach not only health but history as well. Both can have interactive guides and lessons that encourage student participation.

My weaknesses would be more along the lines of using valid sources and incorporating those for my lessons and making sure students understood ethics more thoroughly. As I was doing an internet search for the available workshops or tutorials that were available I found two websites geared towards technology and internet usage in the classroom. I would use http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic76.htm and http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line.htm. Both are geared towards the improvement of technology in the classroom. As you research and incorporate the tutorials on these websites it shows the available programs and how to best utilize them and improve the knowledge and understanding of the information.

Some of my goals would be to further my own knowledge and understanding about the available concepts with the standards and integrate them in my own classroom for my own students to understand. To be able to understand and strengthen my already strengths and my current weaknesses by accessing outside resources geared at educating teachers will help me to further my own understanding about technology and stay caught up with my students. These are extremely vital to maintaining credibility as an educator and evolving as new information evolves.

Classroom Reflection 11/24

This past week in class we talked about the final and the upcoming projects that are expected of us for the remainder of the semester. One of the main discussions was about the PPT activity and how we will contribute to a book.

As a teacher I see the importance of guiding students through projects and giving them step by step instructions on how to complete the project to the best of their abilities. This class was more informative and told us what the remaining projects are, and how we are supposed to complete them. I will not lie I sincerely have been struggling with this class and how to finish all the necessary projects before the final day.

The PPT project is a great way for students to complete an in depth project on their own and be able to use the guidance from the directions of the teacher and use them on their own projects. It is a great tool to know how to put together and to use for the fact that it will help students answer alot of their questions and be able to be visually guided through a project and through a system that they might not be familiar with.

Classroom Reflection 11/10

Today in class we discussed the technologies associated with digital cameras and picasa. We talked about the editing abilities that are associated with the programs and the different uses of different cameras.

As a teacher this means that students can take learning into their own hands and edit their own photography with programs that are free to download that offer a variety of tools. I really enjoyed this activity, I used to be a photography minor so doing stuff with digital cameras is something that I am comfortable with and teaching to others to use and become comfortable with. I enjoyed finding the places, but the weather made the assignment a little more difficult and harder to enjoy just being that we are transitioning into winter and finding certain things made it more difficult to do.

As a teacher in my classroom, this would be great to do as far as learning about history and health, letting kids do their own research and putting together collages that they could share with their classmates. I think that students would thrive when you make things come alive in their eyes and in ways that they will understand and be able to accomplish without much guidance and help from their teachers. Technology, especially cameras are very useful because it lets the user select what they want to take the picture of and how they can use the programs to manipulate it.

Internet Safety Classroom Reflection 11/03

Today in class we discussed the importance of internet safety. We did a webquest and researched several different articles relating to the importance of internet safety.

These articles delved into the different articles relating to how teenagers and adolescents are accessing the internet, the reliability of sources and other topics covered. The video clips that were shown from UEN were very informative about the importance of internet safety and the need to be weary before you trust any clip or any information from random websites. This is very important for future teachers that need to be aware of the dangers associated with using the internet and protecting students from inappropriate content and information.

The internet is a great technology for future students that allows them access to all sorts databases, reference pages and information that helps students know about certain topics and research information. UEN is a great resource for accessing information and allowing students to gain information, they can research the dangers associated with internet safety and dangers so that they are conscious of the dangers and people out in the real world that intend harm for them. Internet safety and encouraging students to be able to access new information and be safe doing so, this is a great resource for teachers to be mindful of the information that students need to have access to.

Classroom Reflection 10/20

Today in class we covered the copyright issues that pertain to technology use and issues that are related to that. I was not in class due to my surgery however I took the time to research some of these issues on my own to make up for the absence.

If teachers and students use copyrighted material and try to pass it off as their own, how fair is that to the author that put all the time into that material? It is the same concept to me if a student turns in a plagiarized paper trying to pass it off as their own. Teachers need to provide the example that shows students that there needs to be laws in place to protect copyrighted material. If teachers are educated about proper materials than students will be as well.

By having this technology in the classroom as well as this knowledge, there will be more resources opened up to teachers and students. If there are proper outlets for gaining access to these types of information, students will be able to put together projects that will use different sources of information and teachers will be able to utilize new types of information as well. There are so many different outlets for information that are free, that make learning more adventurous, teachers just need to be able to be willing to find and utilize this with their time and effort. Students and the classroom will benefit as well.