AHA'S-5-1-07

This entire semester consisted of Aha's for me, but I think the biggest revelation was how powerful blogging can be as a medium for communication. By developing and maintaining this blog, I have been able to reflect more deeply on what I have learned and experienced and then also to read and comment on what others have felt about the same subjects. This has also lead me to discover many other educators' and technology educational professionals' blogs which have opened up a world of information for me to use in my classroom and to share with other teachers. Because of this experience, I now have a blog for my students, campus teachers, and parents to communicate about what's happening with technology on our campus. Although it is just getting started, I feel that it has great potential. (http://blogs.parisisd.net/mmdowns)
Other Aha's this semester have been:

• How wonderful it is to use track changes and comments when using Word. This is a great tool for collaborating and writing rough drafts.
• Experiencing a threaded discussion and realizing that I can be successful in an online environment.
• Learning of the NARA website and it's potential. I am conducting a mini-inservice in May for 4th and 5th grade teachers and NARA and NAIL will be my focus.
• Discovering interactive PowerPoint. This has now become part of my curriculum for next year.
• Entering the virtual world of Second Life has definitely been an eye-opening experiencing into what the future could be in educational technology.
  

Finally, I think I will continue to blog at this site. This was my first graduate course and blogging here has helped me to organize my thoughts and opinions. I think, even if no one else ever reads what I write, it will be beneficial to me as a learner and perhaps others will keep their blogs going, and I can continue to learn from them.

Technology Enhanced Curriculum

Romano's fictional classroom of Mrs. Robinson and her son's sounds workable in theory. The balance of traditional teaching and technology seem an easy fit. He addresses several issues: time, cost, grades, availability, software, training, etc... and gives plausible resolutions to some foreseeable problems. It is apparent though that his vision is dated. He didn't mention how podcasts, webcasts, wikis, ipods, smart boards, and other technologies can be used, in my opinion, to build a better technology enhanced curriculum. I foresee more project based integration, with students given a problem, topic, or task and asked to research and then develop a project that shows their understanding while working in teams, not only in class, but through distance learning. I do see the need for subject specific software that has the ability to tutor remedially, but only in limited usage. Students need to be able to collaborate with each other and peer tutor. As I was looking for other schools technology enhanced curriculum's, I came across the New Century School House @http://landmark-project.com/ncsh/index.php. It was cool to see the ideas of other educators perfect technology integrated classrooms. I was disappointed that there wasn't more details as to how curriculum would be taught, but I loved the concept.

Online Learning and Vitrual Worlds

The crux of my educational philosophy is to have the students drive instruction through their needs and interests in a collaborative environment. A successful on line learning program provides students with the opportunity to choose courses that meet their needs and their interests and in its very nature is in a collaborative environment. I can see many applications in a high school curriculum. Enrolling students from around the country or possibly the world in literature, history, foreign language, and government classes and sharing different points of view would be such a wonderful learning experience. The lesson possibilities are endless. Of course like in any educational setting the teacher must be an active participant who guides the learning and pushes the students to think critically.
After learning about Second Life I went to our districts lead techies and asked them for some input. They had mixed views, but were happy to show everyone at our monthly meeting (including the asst. superintendent and superintendent) a you tube movie from teen Second Life showing a very dramatic scene where a 17 year old girl is turning 18 and having to leave the teen world. Their take was that it looks like a game, but it's not fun. I asked about the educational possibilities and they were luke warm. So I decided to look further and see what I could find. I found lots of blogs and information. Below are some links to movies from the blog Cool Cat showing how educational institutions are using Second Life. I was impressed and feel this medium is definitely something I want to explore more.

• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Virtual Island
• Tour of The Rocket Ring at the International Spaceflight Museum
• Architecture on the Double - collaborative building
• A tour of Thomson NETg Training facilities
• Emergency Preparedness Training in Secondlife

Primary Sources/NARA

The ability to access historical documents through NARA and NAIL was a wonderful resource to learn about. Finding a primary source is so powerful when researching any historical time period or event. Reading or hearing the words of a person that actually lived and experienced an event makes history so much more real than just reading a textbook. This was made very apparent in the address of the keynote speaker at TCEA in February, Erin Gruwell (pictured). She is the teacher that the Hillary Swank movie Freedom Writers was based upon. She was a dynamic and inspirational speaker. She told about her students reading the Diary of Anne Frank and becoming so involved in the story that they wanted to talk to someone who had lived through the events in the story. They did research and found that one of the people (a primary source) who had actually lived in the house with the Frank family was still alive. Through e-mail and letters they were able to bring this aged woman to their school to speak to them about her experiences. According to Ms. Gruwell they were blown away by her story. The power of a primary source was made very real to me through her retelling of this event.
Since reading of NARA and NAIL I have shared these sites with several teachers. I am encouraging them to use these databases when teaching students. I can see ways that teachers could use these resources to help students not only do historical research for social studies, but also to understand scientific and mathematical theory and do character studies in reading. The NARA worksheets can be a very viable resource for teachers to use to help guide their students. This is another way that teachers can use technology to do things that would not be possible without it. It is also a prime example of how the teacher has to be present to guide the students questions and searches to make the learning authentic.
I've included the link to these sources on my new school blog and hopefully the teachers and students who read it will be as excited as I am to use this information.

Patterns and Connections

When I was a little girl I remember my dad taking a course at the local junior college where all of the instruction was through television. He thought this was the best thing since sliced bread and just knew that I would be learning this way in my school. Of course I don't remember ever seeing a television in school until I started teaching. It is interesting to see the parallels between educational television and educational technology. It wasn't until the mid '90s that computers where seen in our school and at that time everyone just knew that we would be using computers to teach everything. I feel the failure of educational television was for some of the same reasons that educational technology has failed to take hold as quickly as was hoped. Lack of money for equipment, lack of quality in service, and the fear of change are obstacles that were and are encountered. Hopefully through money being spent wisely on needed technology and more specific inservice, fears will be dispelled and educational technology will continue to thrive.

Romano's perceptions that I most identify with are as follows:
Humans will become more dependent on the microchip and will continue to adapt. This was proven to me today as it applies to education when a seasoned teacher who resists using technology was in a panic when her Elmo wouldn't work. She has become dependent on technology and is adapting without even knowing it. This is awesome to me, because it shows that even those who are hesitant to change are becoming more and more comfortable with technology.

Computers can be programmed to replicate and amplify certain basic cognitive functions of the human mind and therefore have great potential in teaching and learning. One of the most wonderful things about computer technology is its capacity to store, compute, and retrieve information without any personal bias. This allows teachers the opportunity to guide students towards reliable information in a faster way than in the past allowing more time for thoughtful interaction with the information.

Using a computer amplifies our capacity to perform basic cognitive functions, yet cannot make an emotional connection. Although as stated above the computer does amplify cognitive functions, there is still no replacement for the teachers roll in guiding the student to use the information in a responsible manner.

There is a feeling that computers should have a vital role in teaching and learning, but there is a need for a focused definition of the teacher's role in integrating technology. This is the battle that I feel we are fighting. Teachers are required to use technology but are still unsure of how to do this effectively. I hope to continue to learn and teach how to do this in a way that helps teachers understand their role.

Course-specific software allows individualized learning experiences based on the learners needs rather than the teacher's availability. A skills based computer program is used by many teachers to prepare for the TAKS test. This program is individualized and seems to have positive results. I do see that the teacher must be available at all times to help the students.

The fundamental role of computers in the classroom is to extend the capacity of teachers to provide individualized tutoring, compensating for the disparity of learners abilities. I agree with this perception to an extent. Yes, computers should be used to help teachers provide more individualized instruction, but I'm not sure that I agree that it is the fundamental role. I believe computers should be used not only as tools to tutor, but as a way to show students a world that is beyond their classroom. Computers should be used to enhance the learners imaginations, to show new outlets for creativity, and promote problem solving. Computers are a fantastic tool that teachers should embrace as a way to take their teaching to places that were not possible in the past.

Perspectives

I spent the last four days in New York City on a mini vacation. I was inundated with digital technology. From the electronic check in at the airport to the giant streaming billboards in Time Square, I was definitely aware of the impact that digital technology is having on our world society. I encountered a group of teens intently reading the CNN news feed stream. It occurred to me that if this information was coming to them in the form of a lecture or print, they would not have been as connected. Romano's perceptions that all human activity is driven by information and that all learning is perceived by the senses was very apparent.
But without the benefit of a giant teletron, we as teachers must be able to inform our students in a way that makes the learning intrinsic. The perception that how a teacher manages the information has a great impact on the learning process is one that I see everyday. Teachers who rely solely on lecture and print are losing their students interest and therefore not making links to the information. I am working with teachers to help them manage their technology use to create interest and encourage learning by showing them the different skills, programs, and tools I am learning in this course.
The perception that information technology can be used by teachers to plan, communicate, guide, and evaluate more effectively has been amplified to me in the form of video conferences. I have had the pleasure of helping facilitate video conferences with the University of Michigan science department in the last few weeks. The students observed crickets in a habitat while learning the scientific process. This was a very effective lesson due to the teacher's planning, guidance, and communication while using the video conference. She was also able to evaluate her students effectively by monitoring their responses to the scientists questions and their observations.
This experience also follows the perception that a verbal description alone compromises the learning experience. If the students were only told the steps of the scientific process their learning would have been compromised. By conducting the observation with a scientist, watching video, and having hands on experiences, a greater "sensory impact" was accomplished.
The perception addressing fidelity, relevancy, and accessibility were also seen in the video conference lesson. The live crickets used in the observation and the expertise of the scientist meet the issue of fidelity. Understanding and being able to use the scientific method are relevant in most problem solving situations. The crickets are to remain in the classroom and the students will have access to the information through websites and videos.
Through the use of video conferences, blogs, webquests, online video, skill development, etc... I hope to continue to find ways to help teachers and students acquire and manage information effectively.
.

Hopes and Fears-3/6 Blog

When outlining the skills I would like to learn in an earlier blog, I had listed building a web page for my technology club. Several years ago while taking a staff development class, I developed a web page for my homeroom class using Front Page. But, after moving grade levels and classrooms, I stopped keeping up with it and it disappeared, along with what I had learned about web page development. When my technology club students wanted to have a web page for the club, I thought it was a great idea, but somewhere along the way, I had become somewhat afraid of my ability to create a web page. When Charlie began teaching Dreamweaver some of what I vaguely remembered from Front Page came back, but I was still leery. After reading Clara’s blog about Microsoft Live, I began to feel a little more encouraged. Now I am even more hopeful. I went to a technology staff meeting on Thursday and was shown a new free web page developer that our school district is going to be using called Joomla (http://joomla.org/). It looks very user friendly, and I think the kids and I will love it. My other hope is that by using some reverse mentoring the students can help the teachers use it and create their own class web pages that students can help write.

While reading in Empowering Students with Technology, I found myself scribbling notes and nodding my head in agreement with Dr. November’s views. Teachers are definitely more challenged by the use of technology than their students. In my first blog, I talked about how interesting it is to see how excited kids get when they are given the opportunity to use technology. In my lab I have been trying to help students take this enthusiasm and build on it. I try to show them how to take the technology skills they are learning in computer class and apply them to what they are learning in their core classes. My fear is that these connections are not being made due to the classroom teacher’s reluctance to use technology in their classroom. When teachers (not all of course, but a majority) are shown new technology to use, they must be coerced, coddled, and sometimes pushed into using it due to their own fears. I know that some of this fear is due to several of the barriers that Dr. Romano sites in Empowering Teachers with Technology. In many instances teachers have not been shown convincingly how using technology can enhance their teaching and the student's learning. We have been told you must use technology, but have not been given examples of how it has empowered other businesses and teachers, or how it can be better than the status quo. Many unproved software programs have been thrust on us, usually because some administrator somewhere heard from some other administrator somewhere, that it is wonderful. But then the promised gains in student performance have not been realized. My hope is that I am able to dispel some of their fears and break down barriers by showing teachers that they do not have to be masters of the technology they want to use, but can learn it with their students. I hope to research and find new software that is course specific. I want to help teachers understand that if they give their students opportunities to use technology in a managed environment, they along with their students will grow. One small way I hope to help is by starting a blog for technology on our campus. Through this blog, I am going to encourage teachers, administrators, students, and parents to share ideas, best practices, lessons, questions, etc... I am also going to encourage teachers to video their best practice lessons and share them through the technology web page that the students and I are going to develop. Of course this will bring up more fears, but without facing our fears we won't grow.

2/20-Reading Response

As I read Dr. November's chapter on expanding relationships, I was pleased to see that many of the teachers in my school and district are on the right track in building and expanding relationships through technology. We are very fortunate to have video conferencing capabilities on each campus and have several teachers that utilize this technology. In the next few weeks we will be connecting with schools around the nation to celebrate Read Across America. Of course there is always room for improvement and part of our technology vision is to have more teachers use this forum to build connections and broaden our learning community. Our greater challenge is to make sure that students are not just passive participants but are learning actively. Each classroom teacher in my district is also required to have a district hosted website to post their lesson plans, schedules and homework assignments. As in any business we have some teachers that post the bare minimum and others that go above and beyond. I love the idea of posting student work through these websites to give affirmation to the student and create more connections with parents.
Romano's chapter on the technology gap in the classroom made me smile. It is wonderful to read someone who sees that there will never be a total education revolution. Educators are not going to give up completely on traditional teaching practices, but they must be persuaded to evolve if we are going to close the gaps in education. The importance of teachers realizing that our students learn differently than they did in the past and then being able to utilize the appropriate technology effectively to reach them is tantamount to that evolution. Hopefully through staff development and in my classroom, I can help facilitate this evolution by sharing tools such as blogging, desktop publishing, critically evaluating websites, and managing the information we find through RSS and del.icio.us.

Desktop Publishing

Desktop publishing is a great way for students and teachers to provide information to their selected audience in an easy and creative way. Teaching students to plan what information they want to convey and then giving them the opportunity to choose from different formats, i.e. poster, newsletter, greeting card, sign, etc... helps students think critically and consider design aspects as well. Students in my technology club are going to be working on print and video public service announcements towards the end of the semester about our school. They will use desktop publishing and word for their print ads. I then hope to use these students as peer tutors for other students and perhaps for their teachers .
I, like most, have used Microsoft Word for basic word processing. It was very enlightening to find out about the tracking capabilities. My daughter is a freshman at Texas State and often sends me papers to critique. I have played around with inserting comments, but she or I knew how to get them off once they were there. She'll be glad to know that she does have the option of accepting or declining my changes. This will also be great to share with language arts teachers to use with their writing students. I'm already planning staff development sessions on all the skills I've learned through this course. I can't wait to learn more!

Cool Tools-Using RSS,Bloglines, and del.icio.us

Wow! How exciting to find all these great ways to organize and keep up to date on information. I know I've spent uncountable time searching through history or unorganized bookmarks. Now I can tag them in del.icio.us and always be able to access them from anywhere. I'm pretty new to the blogging experience, but after attending TCEA and finding out that everybody has a blog(or it seems that way), I was so happy to find that I could not only access blogs about information I'm intereseted in, but now through Bloglines and RSS can save them and be kept up to date on their newest blogs. It was awesome to be able to find presenters and attendees blogs about their TCEA convention experiences and to add them to my bloglines. A recurring theme at the convention was our responsiblity in teaching children how to find and disaggregate information. The cool tools that we learned through the last 2 weeks TSD's are definitley helping us do just that.

Good News to Share

Yesterday I received the great news that the two students whose products I had entered into the Region VIII Student Technology Contest had won 1st and 2nd places in the 3-5 Multimedia category. The students had done PowerPoint presentations over Togo, West Africa and Albania. The students were assigned to find a country that they knew nothing about, research their chosen countries through the internet (citing their sources), and then put the information into a PowerPoint following the contest criteria. They did an awesome job, and now we are making improvements in order to enter them in the state TCEA contest. It's awesome to think that these students were able to learn about places and people that they probably would never have been exposed to without technology, and to be able to present it in a way that was engaging and informative.

Technology Skills to Learn and Share

Technology Skills that I would like to develop:

• digital storytelling - I would like to implement this in my technology classes to help students be creative when writing.
  
• web design- I have several students in my technology club that have expressed interest in creating a web page for our club. This is an exciting way for them to develop communication skills.
  
• finding and using online resources- Although I tap many resources for lesson development and student research, I know I am only tasting a tiny bite of what is available, and I want to be able to share these with teachers and students.
  
• using photoshop programs effectively-The use of digital movies and photography is so powerful for students to use to create projects over any subject matter.
  
• troubleshooting - I would love to be able to solve more of my campuses computer woes without contacting the tech guys who are so over worked. This would help teachers and students not have as many breaks in their access to technology.

Technology Skills to share:

• Use of Kid Pix Deluxe in elementary classrooms
• Desktop Publishing and Powerpoint
  
• Scavenger Hunts and Web Quests
• Windows Movie Maker
  

Educational/Instructional Technology- Defined

A prevalent definition of Instructional Technology is as follows:

Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development,
utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. ...
(Seals, B.B., & Richey R.C. (1994).

In response to this, Rodney S. Earle (Vol. 42, No. 1 January-February, 2002, ET Magazine) writes that:
despite this viewpoint that instructional technology encompasses the broader
processes of teaching and learning, the public perspective incorporates instructional
technology as a synonym for computer technology. In other words, as noted above
technology means computers in the minds of many.

After reading various definitions and Earle's perspective of the topic, I believe that instructional technology can be much more than just the teaching of how to use hardware and software. That insturctional technology is the task of developing ways for students and teachers to solve educational problems, find innovative ways to relate to a subject matter, and teach and learn more effectively.

I'm sure as I progress through this course I will gain more insight and be able to add to this definition.

My Family

Here we are in the stockyards in Fort Worth. Yee Haw!

My Vision

As I walked through the 3rd grade hall of my school last week, I was thrilled to see that teachers had displayed work that their students had done in the computer lab. One of my goals as the technology teacher is to get the teachers as well as the students excited about the use of technology in their lessons. The work that was displayed was created in a program that had been introduced to the students in my technology class and to the teachers in a mini workshop that a colleague and I held. It is my vision that as I progress through this course and work towards my degree, I will learn of many more programs and technology skills that I can share with students and teachers. I want to learn ways to help teachers use technology in their classrooms to enhance learning and make their jobs easier. I feel that technology in the classroom should not be something that is just added to meet a PDAS requirement, but as a tool that is used as readily as a textbook to help students understand a concept or acquire knowledge.