CEP 810 Reflection

This course was my first one towards my Master’s Degree. I was very excited to take my first class, until I read the syllabus that is. When I looked at the syllabus I had a hard time thinking about what the assignments said and how that was going to apply to educational technology. Over the last 8 weeks I have come to understand the meaning of each assignment.

The Network learning project was probably my favorite assignment of the class. I really enjoyed teaching myself a new skill through YouTube videos. I have continued this type of learning through watching videos of other classrooms and teaching styles to improve myself for next school year. I love the idea of implementing this in my classroom next year, yet I am still trying to figure out how this would work with 3^rd graders.

This course has changed my views on technology. The week we spent on TPACK was very influential and gave me a new outlook on using technology in my own classroom. Instead of always saying how I do not have a lot available to me and I need more technology but that is really not the case. I just have to be able to use what I have in the most meaningful way possible. I think that starting next school year with this in mind will help a lot.

I still need to figure out how to integrate off of these wonderful resources into my classroom. Issues such as short time frames during the day and making sure all other mandatory tasks get completed it seems as those it will be a challenge to figure out but I know that it is something that needs to be done.  With a classroom of 3^rd graders it is important to get a management system down so that students can be productive. It’s a challenging task when most of your students do not know how to work the basic technology, such as a computer and you constantly have to troubleshoot issues for each student as they arise. Even so I know how important it is to teach with technology and how much I want to master this skill and use it in my classroom.

I truly enjoyed this course. I am very excited to continue with this program and see how my teaching changes for the better.

Network learning Project Final Reflections

My Network Learning Project has come to an end. It has been an interesting experience using only YouTube videos and help forums to learn how to draw with pastels. There were times in which I became very frustrated when I could not find what I was looking for in a video or I was struggling with a particular drawing. In the end I was able to learn how to blend the colors together through different techniques to give you different effects. I was even able to draw and color a basic flower in which my future mother in law wants to hang up at her house, as well as a sun set which focused on blending a lot of different colors from white all the way to black. I read a lot of help forums in the beginning but then turned to almost solely YouTube videos. I liked this type of learning because I could pause and restart the videos as many times as I needed to get something right.

I hope to use this project in my classroom with my students next school year. I will narrow the topic choices down to something more education related but I think they would have a blast learning something new this way and being able to show their class mates their new skill. I also plan on using this learning style in my future as I have already turned to vidoes and help forums to learn new teaching strategies that I want to implement in my classroom such as whole brain teaching. There a tons of free vidoes about this teaching style and I cant wait to continue to watch them and implement the ideas into my classroom next year.

Below you will find my final video. There in an introduction of what the assignment was about as well as picture from my other blog posts. Then you will be able to see me draw my final sunset picture to show my newly acquire skills, in fast motion of course. I didn’t think anyone wanted to know how long it really took me to do this drawing.  I hope you enjoy the video!

Creative Commons

I am a 3rd grade teacher and am currently working on my master in educational technology. If you see something you would like to use you may just make sure you give credit to the author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Cooking with TPACK

This week we learned about TPACK. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a form of knowledge the teachers need to have in order to successfully integrate technology in their teaching (Kereluik, Mishra, & Koehler, 2011). This is a theory of technology integration in education developed by Dr. Matthew Koehler and Dr. Punya Mishra at MSU.

My fiancé choose a small plate, a soup bowl and a beater that goes in an electric mixer for me to use. Of course he looked for the oddest utensil he could find, even not knowing what I was going to need to use them for. Then he picked a number out. I was secretly hoping he would pick the one with the heavy cream but my luck was not so good. He selected number 4, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Completing this task with the materials I had was slightly challenging as you can see from my video. This relates to technology in the classroom as technology can represent any items used in a classroom, even chalk (Mishra, 2012).  It is important for a teacher to think about how to repurpose items in the classroom for other uses and to select the most appropriate technology for each task as one type of technology is not necessarily the best suited for all classroom tasks.

Resources

Mishra, P. (2012). Punya Mishra -Keynote Speaker @ 21st Century Learning Conference – Hong Kong 2012 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9bwXYa91fvQ.

Kereluik, K., Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2011). On learning to subvert signs: Literacy, technology and the TPACK framework. The California Reader, 44(2), 12-18.

Learning Project Update 2

Another week has passed for the NPL. I have not been able to find a particular series of videos for beginners and therefore have spent time jumping around to different  you tube videos this week. I am able to pull information from each of the different videos that I have watched. I think this has presented to be more of a challenge than taking an in-person class on pastels. In high school it was nice to have an instructor that would walk around and check on your work throughout the process and make comments and suggestions on how to improve your piece of art work.

This week I wanted to expand and try to draw and object/picture. I found a video that said it was for beginners on drawing waves. This became very challenging and frustrating for me. I stopped and continued searching.

I watched a few other videos about drawing flowers for beginners. One of them showed how to draw a sunflower. I decided to give this a try and I found this to be much more enjoyable. I even added a background to really make the flower pop off the page. I love flowers, so it is not a surprise to me that I enjoyed drawing this one. I am very surprised at how well it turned out. I was excited to share it on my blog. I look forward to continue to watch videos next week and continue to draw with pastels. One of my other favorite things is sunsets. Maybe I will see if I can find a video on that or may be some other types of flowers.

21st Century Lesson Plan

Title: Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday Vocabulary

Subject: English Language Arts

Grade: 3^rd

Time Needed: 2 days (60 minutes each)

Rationale: It is critical for students to gain knowledge of new vocabulary words throughout the school year in all subjects. Little bird tales is a creative way that students can illustrate and write about new words that they learn.

Objective: The learner will identify and look up new vocabulary words.

Digital Technology: Little Bird Tales

Materials Needed:

• Laptops
• Open Court Text book
• Headphones with microphones

GLCEs:

• R.WS.03.08 in context, determine the meaning of words and phrases including  synonyms, homonyms, multiple meaning words, content vocabulary, and literary terms using strategies and resources including context clues, concept mapping, and the dictionary.

 

Procedure:

1. Background Information: Students have practiced finding and looking up vocabulary words. They are going to be extending that this week with technology.
2. As a class read this week’s story Alexander who used to be rich last Sunday on page 24 of our open court text book.
3. Locate vocabulary words in the context of the story
4. Record Vocabulary word and the sentence in which the word is used on recording sheet
5. Look up definition in the glossary of the book and record it on their recording sheet
6. Introduce the technology:
   1. Using the smartboard show an example vocabulary book that was created by the teacher. Then walk the students through the different steps that they will need to do in order to complete the project.
   2. Students will log onto the computer and log into Little Bird Tales.
   3. Each student will create an online vocabulary book. Their book will include the definition of the word, the word used in context and an illustration that the child will create that demonstrates the meaning of the word. The student will also include their own sentence in which they use the vocabulary word. The students will record themselves reading the definition and sentences.  * If more class time is needed we will continue working on the projects the next day.
   4. Assessment:
      1. Students will be graded on the completion of the project making sure that it has all required components. Students will get to share their creations with their classmates and will present using the smartboard.

Reflection

Thomas and Brown (2011) say that students must learn to know where to find what they need to know, know how to make things that represent their learning across a range of contexts, and perhaps most importantly, know how to play. Technology is becoming such an important part of our lives that students really do need to know how to use it, although in the elementary school level I feel that you cannot just solely rely on technology, that some of the basic skills of learning still need to be taught the old fashioned way and just enhanced with the use of technology here and there.

This week we were asked to create a lesson plan that incorporates a digital technology. Before writing the lesson plans I explored a blog called Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools, to “Play” around with different technologies available to use in the classroom. There were so many great tools out there but as I was looking at them the challenging part for me was to visualize my students being able to use them. I teach 3^rd grade, where my students are still young and need a lot of assistance with new technology. Since I work with young children I came to like a website designed especially for them called Little Bird Tales that allows children to create their own books using their own words and illustrations. It also lets the child read and record their voice to their story.

Renee Hobbs (2011) lists “five communication competencies as fundamental literacy practices that are now part of learning across all subject areas” (p. 12). These are access, analyze, create, reflect, and act. The lesson that I created tried to incorporate as many of the competencies as I could into this lesson plan. The technology part of this lesson focuses mostly on the create aspect, with them creating their own vocabulary book.

It is important that teacher prepare students for the world and with a world absorbed in technology and digital literacy these are things that we need to add into our classrooms. By incorporating technology into the classroom it allows students to gain independence, be more creative and explore their own interests. I am very excited to use this tool and others in my classroom next school year.

References

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky: CreateSpace?.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.

Learning Project Update 1

This week I have explored youtube and other websites related to drawing with pastels. I have purchased my pastels and drawing paper to practice with. It was interesting to find out that there are two types of pastels, oil pastels and chalk pastels. I decided to give oil pastels a try. There are so many videos on the internet that have to do with drawing that it is a little overwhelming. I decided to start with something basic to simplify my searches to the basics of blending with oil pastels.

I found it very exciting to be playing with my pastels. It has been a much needed stress release activity, that I have been enjoying, to take a break from some of the end of the year craziness. I also watched some pretty awesome videos of artists creating entire pictures from pastels, from portraits to landscapes it is so cool to see what people can create. My goal next week is to start small by following some of the step by step videos to drawing and coloring in simple object with pastels. I can’t wait to give it a try and share pictures of my work.

GTD: Getting Things Done

Then end of the school year can be crazy, so this week’s  lesson came at the perfect time to help get things done. I found it interesting that there were a few of the tools that I already use for various purposes. We use edmodo at our school to communicate with students, especially on projects. I love being able to post resources for the students to use on edmodo. I also use Google drive and Google calendar at my school. I love the Google drive because you can access your stuff from anywhere. I also love the Google calendar. My school posts all school events on their calendar which is shared with the staff then I can add my own event to my calendar and mesh them into one to view both at the same time. These are both great tools.

This week I decided to take a second look at pinterest. I had started a pinterest account a while ago but never really stuck with it. This week going back to pinterest, I have become addicted. At first it is overwhelming to see all the different types of things that you can pin. I am definitely a visual person and pinterest is great for that because the different images attract your attention and link to many great websites and blogs. I have spent hours on pinterest this week pinning things for education purposes as well as for my wedding and my new house. You can create as many boards as you like so that you can get as detailed as you choose for organization. I plan on going back through my now many teaching related pins and organizing them further by, subject, grade level, etc. I think this is a great tool, especially for educators to collect and organize ideas from other teacher and teacher blogs. I will be continuing to use this tool from now on!

Professional Learning Network

Here is my popplet for my professional learning network. Being a new teacher there are a lot of people and resources that I use and lean on to help me improve my teaching. We have PLC’s at our school which falls into the idea of PLN’s because they are groups of teacher that get together to help each other and review student data and ideas every week. This has been very beneficial in improving my teaching skills is to share ideas and concerns with other teachers in my school.

http://popplet.com/app/#/1040539

Network Learning Project Part 1

For my network learning project I have decided to teach myself through the internet how to draw using pastels. I have always been a very big fan of drawing and art. I used to sketch with pencil all the time but I never ventured to expand to different mediums. I have admired other artwork done in pastels due to the vibrant color combinations that I have seen.  There are hundreds if not thousands of videos online about drawing and using pastels. From youtube videos, to ehow.com to specific websites that others have created specifically for the purpose of teaching others how to draw there are many resources for me to use.

Commercial pastels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am excited to take my basic knowledge of drawing or sketching that I used to do when I was in high school (which sadly was quite a few years ago) and expand that knowledge to a new medium. I will keep you posted on my knowledge and take photos of my art throughout the process. I am open to suggestions of what my first pastel drawing should be of. I have always loved photos of nature, such as flowers and landscapes but we will see where my learning takes me.