Reflection of Course EDUC 67101

This course has taught me a great deal of information in seven short weeks.  I never thought I myself would have my own blog page, participate in a wiki page, and create a podcast.  As a teacher I have heard of podcast and wiki pages but never really knew the true impact that they could have in education.  After taking this course it has become apparent to me that these resources can be extremely beneficial to students in my classroom.  I personal blog on a daily basis and never realized it before from social media sites to visiting different websites that you can post a blog response to.  I never thought about introducing these ideas into my classroom before taking this course.  I have discovered many powerful ways in which these resources can help educate and cause my students to analyze and critically thinking.  In addition, these are different types of technologies that they are exposed to on a daily basis.  They are also ways to make education fun and appealing for students by using tools that interest them. 

In addition, to the technology I used in this class I also gained a better perspective of the 21st century standards.  I have heard about the 21st century standards however, I myself did not know about them.  This course has forced me to have better understanding of what these standards are.  In addition, it has caused me to want to change my teaching strategies.  It is no longer important for the educator to know all the information in the classroom but to act as a facilitator help bridge the gap of knowledge together.  As educators our job is to prepare our students for their future workplace even if their future jobs have not been created yet.  In order to prepare our students we need them to be able to collaborate, problem solve, and be creative with their ideas (Partnership, n.d.).    These are ideas that without this class I would have never considered their importance. 

This cause has made me realize several reason why it is important for classrooms to no longer be teacher centered but rather student centered instead.  It is apparent that when students are able to control their own questions and discoveries in education it is more meaningful to them.  In todays world with the technology available to students they are able to discover and find out anything they are interested in.  They no longer need a teacher to stand in from of them and lecture what they should know.  Where as, in a student centered environment students are able to control the knowledge they learn and most analyze like the information to learn out to apply it.  As a teacher I want students to learn in my class and not dread having to learn.  I think in order to make sure that children are understand ideas and concepts you must allow for students to research and discover information that interests then as well.   This class has caused me to want to expand on these methods of teaching.  I want my students to be able to problem solve, critically think, express their creativity, and collaborate with others. I want to introduce more project based learning in which students are able to direct the way in which they are going to learn.  I want students to work in small groups and where they will have to take a concept and create a project on in that elaborates on many different aspects on it.  I want my students to be able to teach other classmates through their research.  I want to incorporate technology into my lessons to help students learn and elaborate on their idea.  However, these are ideas I had several weeks ago but never knew where to begin.  After, exposing myself to several different types of available resources I can no introduce them to my classroom.  I know I am not an expert in blogging, podcasts, or wiki spaces but you have to start somewhere.  In order to become better acquainted and more familiar using I will have to begin somewhere.  In the next few weeks I plan to introduce these ideas to my class and begin a new journey of teachers I never thought I would use.

As an educator the goals I set for myself that I would like to achieve is to incorporate more 21st century standards into my lessons and utilizing more digital technology use for students.  I know that it will take some time to direct my teachings from teacher centered to student centered but I plan to make small changes.  I plan to increase problem solving and critical thinking skills within my classroom.  I also plan to incorporate more collaborative group based projects in my class.  In order to introduce more digital technology next year I plan to start a blog that students will answer discussions questions on.  This will allow my students an opportunity to critically thinking around from the classroom.  I reviewed my checklist from week 1 and I do not feel that my answers have changed yet.  Although I have a better understanding of some of the technologies I do not feel completely comfortable yet.  I think it is going to take time and practice.

References: 

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Parntership for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/

Interview of Technology Usage

Interview of Technology Usage <-- <--PODCAST LINK!!!

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO VIEW MY PODCAST!

I recently surveyed 76 of my students to determine their daily usage in technology.  I also asked them questions regarding the different kinds of technology that they used in both their home and school environment.  I also asked them questions regarding their interest and experiences for using technology socially and academically.  I created a podcast and personally interview three students named Bryan, Lisa, and Bryanna.  In addition, I also include my class demographics to the technology survey.  Please listen to my podcast I create regarding their personal technology usage of my students.

Evaluating 21st Century Skills

I also find the website to be extremely helpful in simplifying the understanding of the 21st century stands.  It provides a brief overs of the framework and address the core subject areas and themes that are essential for students to master.  The website also briefly describes the different components that are necessary to educators to address in education.

·      The interdisciplinary themes: 

o   Global Awareness, Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy, and Civic Literacy.

·      Learning and Innovation Skills:

o   Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration.

·      Information, Media, and Technology Skills: 

o   Information Literacy, Media Literacy, Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) Literacy

·      Life and Career Skills: 

o   Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self-direction, Social and Cross-cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, Leadership and Responsibility.

I find this website to be extremely helpful in many ways by providing me with new ideas and suggestions of how to implement these standards into my classroom.  It provides an interdisciplinary theme along with samples of how to implement it in your classroom.  I found that to be the extremely useful because it provides teachers with ideas of how the standards and skills can be address in each subject.  I also find it helpful that the site provides skill maps for all core subjects that have been created through professional develop and feedback from other educators across the nation. 

This website provides a variety of different resources to help teachers become acquainted with the 21^st century standards.  The website also has a blog where questions are posted to better explain these standards or questions people may have.  In addition there are a variety of other different blog topics that are also available on this site. The website also provides short video segments that can help explain how the 21^st century standards can impact students learning.  It demonstrates how students collaborate to create a project.  It is usefully because it addresses different components that should be address in all educational lessons of the 21^st century.  The website provides a variety of resources that are extremely beneficial to educators to help them begin implementing these standards.

I do not disagree with the information on this page because I think it is very user friendly and informational.  The information on this page can help improve teaching strategies to help make students better prepared for their future work place.  Educations today should no longer be teacher centered learning but student’s collaboration and project-based learning.  In order for students to be successful in their future educators needs to start preparing students for their future.  They need to encourage students collaboration with other to problem solve and use real world technology and experiences to help enhance their learning.  However, I do believe that parent’s support is necessary to effectively implement these strategies and standards.  Teachers can help introduce these skills to students but parents need to be onboard with these skills as well. 

References: 

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Parntership for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/

Benifits of Blogging

My blog would be used for a high school  college prep biology course.  I would use the blog for extra reinforcement of class material for students to for analyze topics discussed in class.  I would begin my blog at the class level in which students can communicate with their peers.

I find the most beneficial way to incorporate a blog in to my class is for communication with parents and students.  I would be able to post information regarding class announcements, testes, quizzes, projects, and up coming class and science events.  It would also be a place where I can incorporate current events to encourage students to read about science in the news.  The blog would provide parents with information about the course and allow them to know what is going on in the class.  I would also incorporate pictures of class activities, projects, and samples of students work that students have completed in class.  It would provide parents evidence of students learning and success in the class. 

As a teacher I have never incorporated blogging into my lessons.  However, I feel that incorporating blogs into my classroom can have many beneficial advantages for students.  Blogs would provide students an online cooperative group in which they can discuss biology topics.  I would be able to provide students with a prompt in which they would be able to respond to.  In addition, responding to me the prompt they can also read other classmates post and respond to them.  It would provide students with the opportunity to collaborate with classmates outside of class (Richardson, 2010). 

Reference

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web 

tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Introduction to Blogging

       I am a high school biology teacher who want to effectively incorporate meaningful technology based activities and lessons into my teachings.  We currently live in a society that is technology has become the center of our everyday life.  However, despite these changes in our world many classrooms are not changing at the same pace (Thornburg, 2004).  As a teacher I want to stir away from class lectures and integrate more powerful and educational tools that will help build and have a lasting impact on children.  I am currently a graduate student who is learning new strategies and techniques to incorporate into my classroom.  However, I often run into the problem of lack of available resources.

       In my school I utilize daily a projective in which I can incorporate PowerPoint, video animations, and illustrations to help further students understanding of complicated concepts.  For example in my class I am currently teaching on DNA replication and protein synthesis.  As an introductory lesson I showed students models of DNA and they examined the structure of it along with illustrations that I was able to project.  I provided my students with brief notes using PowerPoint.  I my class I find it extremely beneficial to incorporate hyperlinks into my PowerPoint’s to show video animations to my students.  The concepts in my class are often difficult for students to understand that incorporating a video animation or you tube video into my class it help students to visualize the lesson and have a better understanding.  In addition, I often find many songs on you tube that relate to the lesson to increase the understanding of students.  Many of these songs are to the beat of commons songs that students lesson to that they often find the lyrics catching and memorable. 

Contrary to video animation I find it important for students to utilize hands on activities.  This week in class my students worked in groups to model DNA replication.  Each group was assigned a different DNA sequence and used various types of candy to demonstrate DNA replication.  The group had to create the original strand and then create its complimentary bases pair.  As the students were working I would assess each group and ask them questions regarding the creation of their structure and helped made sure they were designing it correctly. 

Although I utilized technology in my lesson I would like to begin to branch away from what I am used to using regularly.  However, I often have difficulties due to the lack of computer lab space and availability in my school.  In addition, there are often times that the Wi-Fi is not available in the building and makes it difficult to depend on a computer-based activity or project.  I am hoping that you will reply to the blog and provide any examples of useful technology you incorporate into your lessons.     

References:

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf