Final Thoughts on EDU 610

I have definitely learned to be strong and to persevere throughout this semester. With very little technological background, I was a bit overwhelmed with the depth of this course, to say the least! But, my, how much I've learned. I can definitely say that I believe I've learned more from this course that any other I have taken. I also believe that all that I have taken from this course will be very useful in my teaching career, and that the technology that is so readily available will definitely help me to be a more effective teacher.

I really never realized how much technology can be and is used in education. The possibilities are truly endless. I will definitely incorporate as much of what I've learned in this course into my instructional strategy as I can. Learning where to locate all of the educational resources that we did is priceless in itself. There should never be an excuse to not be able to come up with many great ideas for a great lesson plan. Social bookmarking is a wonderful way to network and keep the flow of ideas continuously flowing and growing for any educator.

I enjoyed learning to use all the different software that we used and and I loved blogging. I think blogging was one of my favorite aspects of the course and I am sure I will use it in the future and encourage my students to use it as well. The opportunity to receive feedback while blogging is an incredible educational tool.

Compiling all of my assignments from the semester into an e-portfolio was a great way to really see it all come together. Having all of my work organized in one neat, tidy, readily available location is very satisfying to me. It's a great way to finish the course, and a great way to look to the future. This class will prove to be extremely important to me in the future as a student and as an educator.

I am very grateful that I had the support and encouragement of some very special people that allowed me the opportunity to rise to the challenge of this course and feel proud of myself for completing it successfully. Thank you! You know who you are!

My e-portfolio address is: http://schlappichportfolio.webnode.com/

Interactive Whiteboards

I feel that interactive whiteboards are an amazing teaching tool. I would love to have one in my classroom. They add so much more dimension to a lesson. Students love the interaction they encourage and they just make the entire learning process more fun! For the teacher, whiteboards provide so many options for presenting a lesson. The possibilities are endless. Being able to hold students' interest for a longer period of time is an obvious advantage. The fact that audio and video can so easily be incorporated into even the simplest lesson is a reason to want to have one in the classroom for students and teachers, alike.

The ability to draw or write freehand is a nice, basic option, but all of the images that are available to get the point across are so helpful and interesting. To be able to present a flag, a portrait, a game, a map, etc. right at your fingertips is such an awesome power provided to the educator by the interactive whiteboard. The magnitude of this technology is huge. Getting students involved and holding their interest is the name of the game. I believe that interactive whiteboards have revolutionized the world of education!

Video Project

Carol and I came up with a great idea right away. We got together and created a scenario very easily. The ideas flowed and we worked very well together. I believe the message we are sending about teen pregnancy is an important one. The filming was fun and having a chance to be creative with a new medium was pretty exciting. I had never even touched a video camera before, so it was a completely new experience for me.

Putting it all together was kind of fun too, until our computer froze and we lost everything, but I won't get into that right now! Importing the video and sound into MovieMaker was fairly simple. Editing was fun and not very difficult, just a little time-consuming. I think we were creative and put together a really good video with a very important message.

This project has taught me a lot and with each project we do for class I feel a little more confident in my computer knowledge and skill level. It will be exciting for future students to have the opportunity to work on these types of projects and will add a whole new dimension to their educational experience.

Digital Video

The digital age is providing a whole new dimension to the realm of education. Digital video is changing the way teachers teach. It's no longer just black and white, the flat, cold blackboard, and the white, dusty chalk. Teachers can turn to so many different technological advances. It's truly astounding to me, and I'm not even that old. Back in my day...blah, blah, blah...

Well, it's not back then. It's now, and this is my day. Let's start having fun with this whole school thing. Video is a very powerful tool in the classroom and I would have, I could have used it, especially in cosmetology school. Hello! The entire course is one big demonstration. What better way to have things make more sense, than by demonstrations on video? And, what about if we could have seen ourselves in action? We would have instantly been able to figure out what we had done wrong by watching a video of ourselves in the process of "creating." Why did that woman's hair turn green?...I know she only wanted an inch off. I swear, that's what I thought I was doing!

I am currently preparing a lesson to teach 4th graders about Hawaiian Humpback Whales. In this lesson, I will show video of a mother whale and calf swimming together and interacting with one another. It is so powerful to actually see these magnificent creatures. I could talk about them forever, but until the students can actually see them, I don't think they will be able to truly have an appreciation for them. In the same lesson, I am planning on incorporating a recording of whale song which is truly awe-inspiring.

In a science lesson, I could use time-lapsed video to show a seed germinating, and growing into a plant, and producing a flower or vegetable all in a very brief period of time. This would allow me to show my class the miracles of nature without waiting for the natural process to take place. I'm not saying I'm not a fan of the natural process. In fact, I would prefer it. But, if there is a time crunch, this would be a quick way to slip in another lesson for the day.

No matter what you're teaching or learning, video can enhance it, even make it fun. Multi-dimensional is WAY better than just white-on-black.

Achieving Success With the Net Generation

Unfortunately, information technology, though readily available to most students, is not being used to it's full potential, if at all. Internet resources are not yet fully integrated into the day-to-day classroom setting. There is a large gap between the educational technology that is available and the amount that it is being used. This gap impacts interactive technology, what faculty incorporate into their teaching, and the design of the curriculum.

There are many goals of education. These include forming a good connection between a learner and the social context in which learning will take place. Also, making the curriculum and instruction relevant to adolescents' experiences, cultures, and long-term goals, so that students see some value in the high school curriculum is important.

The Net Gen is constantly connected with a strong need for interactivity. However, it can be exhausting for teachers who have grown up with a traditional view of faculty roles to no longer control the subject matter the students will use. Educators of today need to let go of the control factor and, instead, realize the teaching and learning potential information technology can unleash. Knowing the subject matter is no longer sufficient in reaching one's full potential as an instructor in the classroom. People who innovate and create in cyberspace likely will not sit still for a lecture.

In order to be a successful educator of the Net Gen, I will have to relinquish control and let the world be my students' teacher. The world truly is at the fingertips of those who choose to access the infinite supply of information out in cyberspace. I can guide my students and encourage them in their learning experience on the Internet. I can help them have a truly liberating experience via the World Wide Web and we will all grow in a much more immediate and authentic experience of inquiry.

Social Bookmarking and Excel Take On Education

Social bookmarking creates endless opportunities for educators to gather and organize vast amounts of information. The whole social aspect exponentially increases ones ability to expand his or her database of educational tools. Social bookmarking will help me stay organized and ready to present interesting, stimulating, and motivating ideas to my students. I chose Diigo as my preferred bookmarking site. My address is www.diigo.com/dashboard/alexchristina.

Now, let's move on to the subject of using Microsoft Excel in school curriculum. In history class students can create a timeline using the Excel timeline template. For instance, let's say you're studying the life of Thomas Jefferson in your class. With this tool students can plot all the significant dates in his life on a timeline in a well-organized document. This will allow a clearer picture of all of his accomplishments and the order in which they occurred.

Another way Excel can be used is for students to collect and graph data they have collected in a science class experiment. In one such experiment students can simulate earthquakes of different magnitudes and observe the effects on different buildings. Students will then be able to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of earthquake-proofing construction by analyzing the graphs they have created from their data in Excel.

A fun thing to do in health class would be to gather nutritional information on different meals from different fast food restaurants and graph the data using Excel. Students would pick comparable food items from each restaurant and find out the fat and calorie content for each item and for the total meal at each restaurant. This data would then be graphed so that students could see the amazing, and scary results of their research.

You could engage your students in a lesson involving something that affects their everyday life. Have them form a hypothesis about why the amount of daylight varies during the year. Then have them collect data on the times of sunrises and sunsets and use the data to create an Excel chart. The chart they create will help them understand how the Earth's rotation affects the amount of daylight over the year.

Bring to class several bags of M&M's candy and have students sort and classify the contents. Students will investigate the color distribution in the bags of M&M's. They will learn to use formulas, summarize their findings, and convert numbers into charts all by using M&M's and Excel.

By using some of these entertaining lesson plans you will be teaching without your students even realizing they're learning. So, go ahead and have fun!

Google Apps

Google Apps is a suite of collaboration and communication applications whose capabilities are numerous and varied. Through Google Apps teachers are provided with a more open, direct way of collaborating with other teachers in real-time. Everyone can access and work on a task at the same time without having to be in the same physical location. Joint research projects with faculty from other schools become more feasible and less time-consuming. It becomes easier to work in groups with administration. Google Apps move the focus from the individual to groups. This is the case for student activities as well. When assigning projects to a classroom full of students a teacher can keep track of the interaction between group members and monitor their progress. Students can also work individually on their group projects from their home computers. Members of student groups can contribute and stay informed as their project is planned, develops, and comes to fruition. There are many times that Google Apps could have helped me as a student, but they did not exist. Now that I am a student again I will have the opportunity to benefit from this new technology. And, in the not-so-distant future, it will assist me in my new role as a teacher.

Lesson Plan 1: Historical Novel

Students read an historical novel, based on a period in history, and arrive at its meaning and main ideas, discussing it "all class." Various Google tools are used for information gathering, working with partners, and final student projects. Students will study background information, read and discuss the novel, and work with partners collaboratively. Then students will write questions and the novel will be discussed in class, using the questions written by the students. The Google Apps that are used in this lesson plan include: Docs, Blogger, Form, Maps, and Earth. ISTE standards that are linked to this lesson plan are 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Lesson Plan 2: Telling Time & Google Calendar

This is a k-3 lesson plan and introduces the agenda format as a way other than the use of digital and analog clocks to teach students how to read and calculate time. This format allows students to see "blocks" of time and challenges them to find different ways to visualize and think about segments of time. This lesson uses Google Calendar. First the class reviews times on an analog clock. Then the passage of time is reviewed. The teacher introduces Agenda Format on Google Calendar. The class reviews how time works on Agenda and everyone makes their own agenda on Google Calendar. ISTE standards that are linked to this lesson plan are 1 and 4.