The Final Entry: Applying What I Have Learned

     I can't believe how fast this class went! It was only a two week class, but I learned a lot and brushed up on things that I learned in 201. I hope that I will be able to implement the ideas that I have learned into my own classroom. We have done a lot of different types of activities and covered many different topics so I hope that I can remember everything I have learned. It seems that if you don't use something then you will lose it. This definitely applies to me when it comes to technology. If I haven't used a program for awhile it takes me awhile to learn it again. I feel pretty confident about my technology skills after having this course though so maybe they will all stick.  The only thing I am worried about is being in a school that doesn't have much technology. I haven't been in a school yet that has been very technology oriented so I haven't been able to practice many of these ideas with actual classrooms.
     This was an interesting class because we were always doing something. The time always flew by when we were doing an activity. I think that this is an excellent way to teach because it engages the students and they are actively learning the content and then applying it. I will strive to have my lessons be like these when I am teaching. I enjoyed all of the activities we did but one of my favorites were the book talks. I love working in groups so I had fun coming up with a script with my group and then filming it. I think that it would be an activity that students would really enjoy. I also really enjoyed the I spy activity because it is an exciting way to teach poetry. Students would like the activity so much that I don't think they would realize that it is a lesson that is based on poetry. The web 2.0 sites were great as well. I didn't realize that there are so many that are geared for children! I am glad that I will now know many resources that I can use in my classroom. It will help to keep my lessons fresh and exciting for my students.
     All in all, this was an excellent class for me to take. I was apprehensive at first because I thought that it would be really overwhelming to learn about all of this in just two weeks. It was great though! I feel like I have learned so much and I didn't feel too overwhelmed. I have learned that there are so many ways for technology to enhance education. From interactive white boards, to social networking sites, and to iPads to name a few there are just so many possibilities! I think teachers can find ways to create innovative lessons with technology and there needs to be more of a move toward it.

The Role of Social Networking Sites in Education

     I really enjoyed the discussion on social networking sites today! I liked the examples that Denise Lindstrom showed that proved how these sites can be used positively and effectively in the classroom. I also enjoyed the discussion  that we had as a class during her presentation. TodaysMeet is a great way to get people involved in a conversation. Instead of just feeling like we were being talked at during the presentation I felt like I was part of it. It was interesting to see what other people were thinking about and reacting to what she was saying. It was instant feedback and we didn't have to wait until the end of the presentation to talk about it. I don't know about anybody else, but I am always thinking of good questions and comments during a presentation, but when its over and we are asked to give questions I forget what I was going to say. This is a good format to get all of your thoughts and ideas out before you forget them. It was difficult at times to pay attention to both, but overall it was a great conversation and a great presentation.
      In regard to the topic itself I believe that social networking can be used effectively in schools and I am glad that there are schools who are embracing this new form of technology. It is a fact that students are spending a lot of time texting and using Facebook outside of school. It is a technology that is really motivating for them. As teachers we will always be looking for new ways to motivate our students and if social networking sites is something that motivates them then why not use it. It is sending students the wrong message if we are telling them that expressing their ideas and communicating with peers is a bad thing. It doesn't matter if its online, its just great that they are doing it! Students these days are probably communicating their ideas and feelings through written word far more than students did just 5 years ago. The examples that we saw today are proof of that. For example, we saw fifth graders sharing compelling and thoughtful ideas on important matters such as global warming. It was great to see how it could connect with the curriculum!
     I agree with Denise Lindstrom's comment about there being a disconnect between home and school. We should try to eliminate this and incorporate the new forms of literacy and technology in our classrooms. We can't be afraid of this new stuff. We need to show students how it can be used in a productive way. This will show students, parents, and administrators that there are many more possibilities to these sites. This is especially true using safer sites such as Edmodo. I realize that it may not be possible in a lot of schools and there are risks, but I would love to try something like this is in my future classroom!

Teaching the Skill of Keyboarding

     I had never thought about teaching keyboarding in my future classroom. I have thought about teaching many subjects, but keyboarding has not been one of them. I have realized through our discussions that it is important to teach it to students though because they will need this skill in their future education. I don't remember actually being taught though I just remember using my keyboarding skills and getting better along the way. I am sure that I was taught the skills through my keyboarding classes though and just didn't realize that I was learning it. I think that teachers can find a way to make it more fun for their students. The way I was taught was typing the combinations of letters from a book that we set up in front of our computer. I always thought that it was really boring. We never had much direct instruction either. Our teachers would just tell us what page to type and we would do it. When we finished we were able to play computer games, which was the best part.
     I found out that it is important for students to utilize the skill in a meaningful way for them. For example, I became a fast typer because of MSN Messenger. I was practicing the skill without realizing it and became more accurate and faster. If teachers can make keyboarding exciting for students then they will improve their keyboarding skills without realizing it. Some of the examples that we talked about it class today seemed interesting. For example, I love the idea of the Chris Van Allsberg activity. I remember doing this activity in 378 and it was a lot of fun. If you have the publish their work though it is typing something that is meaningful, not just typing random letters, words and sentences. Another example that we did today that shows how to use keyboarding was the TitanPad writing activity. This is a great way to practice typing because students are typing their contributions to the book and aren't really focusing on typing the letters they are just applying the skill in an engaging way. I am glad we had this discussion in class because it will be something that I will be sure to think about now when I am teaching my own classroom.

Using the iPad in the Classroom

     After exploring the iPad this weekend I thought I had come up with a lot of ideas for how to use it in my classroom, but after listening to everyone in class I now have a lot more ideas. This is a reason why I have been really enjoying this class. I come up with ideas for how to use a specific technology on my own, but after listening to my classmates share their ideas I am continually revising my ideas. It is nice that we can all gain or build on ideas from each other for our own classrooms. The iPad discussion in particular was a great way to gain new ideas because I hadn't even thought of some of the ideas that others came up with. For example, using the iPad as a personal white board is an excellent idea. During my student I used the personal white boards all of the time. The students actually really enjoyed using them because it was more fun than pencil and paper. The negative aspect of the boards was passing them out to the class, gathering erasers or tissues, and finding markers that worked because it took time out of the lesson. In my fifth grade class it would take at least five minutes to gather all of these materials. If every student had access to an iPad though this problem would be eliminated. The iPad whiteboard acts the same as a personal white board, but it can actually do more and this would motivate the students. One problem that I could see happening though is the students wanting to play with it instead of focusing on the work that needs to be done. For example, I would use the white boards during mental math lessons and I would notice students doodling on the boards instead of writing down the correct answers. This may become an even bigger problem with the iPad because they are so stimulating.
     Another application in the iPad that I really enjoyed was Doodle Buddy. I found it very fun and I am college student so I can't imagine how much fun it would be for a kindergarten student. One idea I had for it was to use it in kindergarten classroom. During my student teaching we would have students construct sentences and then have them draw a picture above their sentence all of the time. Using Doodle Buddy would be a more interactive way to do this same type of activity. They could use the text to type the sentences and then they could draw it above. They would love it!
      I also thought that the Teacher Pal application would be very useful for a teacher. For example, it would be a easier to take attendance because you could walk around with it and it would show the same view of your classroom so that you could quickly figure out who was missing. When I was in student teaching I would have to look up at the students several times from the computer to figure out who was gone. Overall, I think that the iPad could be beneficial in a classroom if a teacher uses his or her creative to make it innovative for the students. I know that I would enjoy one if I had one!

Blogging in the Elementary Classroom

This has been the first blog that I have ever had and I have realized that it is pretty simple to blog. The only technology skills that you need to have are basic keyboarding and internet skills and the only technology you need is a computer with internet access. This means that it could be easily implemented in the classroom.

Blogging is an excellent way to express personal thoughts and ideas about various subjects. Your ideas are also getting across to a lot of people due to the internet. I have learned that you really pay attention to what you write if you know that a lot people will be reading it. This is why blogging can be motivating for students. Most of the time when students write things in school they are only writing for the teacher. There is not a larger audience that the writing needs to be done for. This sometimes results in students not putting forth their best effort. If students are held accountable for their writing though and they are writing for an audience then there is a greater chance that they will give their best work because there is a sense of positive peer pressure to motivate their writing.

One idea I have for using blogging in my classroom is to use it with literature circles. If it were possible I would do it in a pen pal format by setting up literature circles with another school. Blogging would make it possible to for students to communicate about literature with students from other schools, communities, or even other states.  The other teacher and I would pick out five books for the students to choose from. We would have the students rank the books from one to five for which one they would enjoy most. We would then set up the literature circle groups based on the students’ interest level in the books. The teachers would then conduct the literature circles in a similar format to how they are usually carried out, but blogging would enhance it. The students would read the books and then would do their literature circle jobs, but they would blog their responses instead of discussing them aloud with their group members. In this format the students would have the chance to convey their thoughts freely and would have time to think of their responses. For example, some students may be nervous when they are in a literature circle group so blogging would allow that type of student to express their thoughts that they wouldn’t normally share. The other students in the group would be required to comment on each other’s posts, which would further the conversation about the book. I think that it would be interesting for students to communicate with students from another school through blogging. It is something that they wouldn’t be able to do without the technology. I think that it would be really fun for the students to see what students in other schools are like and what they think about the books. It could also result in pen pal relationships between the students.

Another positive aspect about the literature circle blogging would be that the literature circle discussions would be in print for the teacher to read. This would be beneficial for the teacher because he or she would be able monitor what the students are discussing. In normal literature circle groups it is difficult for the teacher to know what the students are discussing. When I conducted literature circle groups in my fifth grade placement I noticed that the students would be discussing the book great when I was listening, but they would get off topic when I would walk away. The blogs would eliminate this problem. All in all, I think that blogging would be an innovative way to carry out literature circles in the classroom.

Creating Effective TPACK Lessons

     As I have been creating my TPACK lesson for this class I have learned that coming up with an effective one is challenging. The purpose of the TPACK lesson is for the technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge to be intertwined completely. During my four years at Iowa State I had been focusing on integrative lessons. I was always taught that we should be integrating subject areas together to make the lessons more meaningful for students. This included integrating technology into lessons. I have created many lessons that included integrating technology. I had learned that it was important for students to be exposed to technology in their learning because it is so evident in their daily lives. I agreed with this and I thought of several ways of how technology could be integrated into lessons.
     Through this class I am learning something completely different with technology. This is the idea of innovative technology. In order to have a successful innovative lesson it would mean that taking the technology out of the lesson would derail the whole lesson. I have found this idea to be very challenging! Every time that I think of a lesson with technology I realize that the lesson could be carried out without the technology. The lesson would be more difficult and time consuming without the technology, but it could be done. Therefore, innovative technology requires teachers to push their creative thinking. I think that it will take me awhile before I completely get the hang of the idea, but I am working on it!

Using Class Websites for Parent Communication

           I love the idea of classroom websites! They have been around for awhile, but many teachers do not have one. I think that every teacher should have one for his or her class. They are an excellent way to communicate with parents and they are a way to showcase what your class is learning and doing in the classroom. I have been in classrooms where they have class newsletters that get sent home every week. This can provide the same information that a website does, but it’s not guaranteed to make it home. On several occasions I would find the newsletters stuffed desks, in backpacks, in the trashcan, on the floors and I’m sure many were lost or forgotten about. If the students don’t bring it home then the parents will not know what is going on in the classroom. I think that websites are a way to remedy this situation. On the websites the teacher can put the class news and reminders on them like a regular newsletter, but there are many more possibilities. For example, there is usually only one newsletter sent home a week, but with a website there can be news updated daily or sometimes even hourly. It can also provide more information such as homework assignments or projects’ explanations and due dates, links to extra homework practice, pictures of projects and activities that students have completed, podcasts of presentations students have given, and even blogs! There is so much that a teacher can do with a website.

It is a great way to let the parents see and learn about what their child is doing in school. Their children are spending eight hours a day in the classroom, and most parents would like to see what is going on. Most people these days have access to computers and internet sometime throughout the day so it would be accessible for parents. A teacher would need to keep in mind that he or she would still need to send home regular notes for the parents that don’t have access though. School administration can also use it as a way to see what the teacher is doing.

Another idea that was mentioned in class was the use of a class Facebook page. This would be a great way to get parents to look at the page because they probably check their Facebook anyway, but I’m not sure how it would work. We as teachers have been discouraged from having Facebook accounts, so it would be interesting to use it in a purely educational way. It shows another side of Facebook. It proves that it can be a positive tool for teachers and students if it is used in the right way. I myself would be cautious using Facebook with my class, but I would love to hear ideas for how it has been used successfully!