525 Week 1

I really appreciated the straightforwardness and layout of the Teaching and Learning Principles. The first thing that struck me in the teaching principles was how important it is to know what your objectives are, and make sure that what you are presenting, as well as asking the students to produce, match those objectives. Six or seven years ago, when I first learned about setting measurable objectives, I did not realize how important they would be. After five years of teaching, I now realize how helpful it is to me to have a very clear map of where I am going. I leave room for detours throughout the unit, but having a clear picture in my mind, as well as in my students' minds has been invaluable.

The fourth teaching point involves prioritizing what is truly important for the students to know. I am currently teaching first graders German during a summer enrichment class. I only have a total of 12 hours in two weeks to teach them about the German culture and language. It seems obvious to me, with such little time, what I want to focus on. However, it is not always so obvious in my classroom. With much more time, and much more to cover, it is more difficult to prioritize what I need to cover. There are many things which dictate what I need to cover, and I am so concerned with getting through all of the material, that I end up plowing through grammar and vocabulary for the first three quarters of the year. Once I know that I am through a sizeable chunk of material, I take a deep breath and include more culture. My eighth graders seem to really appreciate the "break" at the end of the year. When their other teachers are scurrying to complete district outcomes, my students are doing skits and talking about daily life in Germany.

I really liked the seventh teaching point, which focuses on flexibility. There are so many teachers who plan out their units day by day, and then refuse to divert from their master plan. It is so important that teachers remain flexible in what they are teaching, and re-teach if necessary!

The first learning point on prior knowledge is really important for me to remember. I teach seventh and eighth graders, who sometimes think they are coming in with more knowledge than they already have. I need to remember to ask questions to assess prior knowledge and make sure to clear up any misconceptions that they have!

The Waxman article looked intimidating at first. I managed to get through college without ever taking a stats class. (I started college in chemical engineering, and then switched to German and Political Science, going back to school for my teaching certification after spending a year teaching in Germany.) I understand that it is difficult to obtain recent data. However, when hypothesising about ever-changing technology, it is important to use the most current data available. So, I was shocked, when I got to page 14.

"A final limitation of our study relates to the recentness of the review. Although we were interested in recent applications of technology, a few of the studies included in the meta-analysis stated that their article was based on projects completed in the early 1990s. In other words, even though we chose only articles that were published within the last five years, some of those articles are still based on technology (i.e., software and hardware) that is nearly a decade old."

The authors are citing technology studies from the early 1990s. So much has changed in the world of technology in the past 15+ years. It causes me to question the validity of the paper as I read it in 2009.

Is there anything that can be done about this problem? Surely, the researchers would like the most up to date, relevant, accurate information. But, in the fields of technology and on-line learning, what can they do to ensure more reliable, current, information?

After reading the first three chapters of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, I was reminded how much I love using RubiStar with my students. It is a great tool to create clear rubrics for my middle schoolers. I can create the rubric, and then hand it out the same day that I present the assignment. I have had much success using it in my classroom. It provides clear expectations for my students, and then I have them self-assess before I grade their work. It has really taken the surprise for some of them out of their grades! I had them grade their work using the rubric, prior to my grading it. Then, I asked them what grade they think they should receive. A few students whose rubrics showed a 70% said that they should earn "A's," but the vast majority of students graded themselves close to how I graded them! RubiStar was a great tool, that I use in my classroom to create clear expectations and minimize surprises!

Blog 3.....Journal Articles......

I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting the journal articles I found were! Sometimes, it is really easy for me to assume that my students know how to use the Internet, and I forget that I need to teach the technology skills in addition to the content.

One of the articles that I read was about advantages and disadvantages for both instructors and institutions when it came to Internet-based learning environments. It was very insightful to read about the process that colleges and universities would need to go through to start an online program. It caused me to think about what I would need to learn if I were teaching a solely online class.

It also brought up the issue of instructors who are reluctant to use technology in their courses. At my school, we have several staff members who are very set in their ways and reluctant to add technology to their instruction. Not only that, but we are not given much inservice time to learn about technology. This makes little things, like the migration from GroupWise email to Google a huge headache for all of those involved in the technology department. I cannot believe that some of my educated coworkers could not understand how to use Gmail after a 45 minute session on it. If they cannot use Gmail, then how can we get them to use other technology with their students?

I don't know that there is a simple answer to that question. I know that more inservice training will help, but with the huge literacy push going on in our district right now, I don't know that tech will get the time it needs. It would be great if we could integrate technology literacy into the current literacy goal, but I am not sure that the higher ups value technology as much as they ought.

Blog #2.......thinking about how to evaluate websites

This week, we had to create an evaluation form that our students could use to examine websites. It was great for me to take a step back to think about how to teach middle schoolers to think critically about information they find on the web. One thing that was really important for me was to make sure that my students give open-ended responses to the questions, and not simply check a box.

It was also interesting to check out the different services offered through Google 411, Google Voice, Ta-Da, etc. Google 411 and Voice would be beneficial for me to use in my personal life, while bloglines or Survey Monkey could be welcome additions to my classroom!

First Week of Internet Learning Resources

I use the internet on a daily basis, but I have much to learn about the myriad of different ways to use it. Therefore, I am excited to see how this course is going to improve my ability to not only use the internet, but also better instruct my students on using the internet.

One of our assignments for this week was to create a wiki page about ourselves. It is hard to capture my real life awesomeness in a few paragraphs without sounding like one of those personal ads that one finds in the classified section of a newspaper. I wrote the assignment a couple of times, because I thought it sounded a little too over the top. My friend who was grading papers across from me as I was writing was laughing hysterically as I told her "all about me."

Her only comment was that it would be easier if I had kids. Parents can go on and on about their children, she rationalized. No, I do not have any kids, yet. But, if I did, they could have provided me with other things to write about.

Back to this week's class. The assignment on defining internet learning resources was interesting, but I am not sure if those resources also include the applications that one would access, or merely information that is to be found. I also found an interesting article that I could share with my students on how to be better discriminators of information. Seventh graders need all of the help that they can get when it comes to determining the validity of information on the internet. After all, if it is on the internet, it must be true, right?

What I have learned from this class.....

Honestly, I was very intimidated at the start of this class. I knew almost nothing about how my computer worked, and opening the case was daunting at first. I was worried that I would mess something up, and my computer would never work again!

The main thing that I have learned from this course is that I now have the ability to discuss how a computer works with people who know more than I. I spent the weekend with my brother, and he started talking about his computer. I was able to ask intelligent-sounding questions, and he did not laugh at me! He did not want my input, but it was nice that I could actually talk to him about different computer components, and I knew their functions!! And, then we started to talk about the importance (or lack thereof) of an operating system, and I felt like I knew what I was talking about!

I also found the Triumph of the Nerds series to be very informative. I knew very, very little about how computers came into being, and it was great to learn more about how they started. It will be interesting to see how the future of computing progresses.

I doubt that I will be building an actual computer any time soon, but I think that I will be a more informed consumer when I go to buy my next computer!

What I would lose.......

If my personal computer were to fail, I think that I would be quite frustrated.

I know that computers fail, so I try to back up some things. Most of my pictures are backed up on Google's picassa. And, I have started using Google Docs for my word processing, but I do have many Microsoft Word files that are only stored on my old desktop.

Then, there are the little things that I would lose, that would really annoy me. I would lose all of my bookmarks. Yes, I have a delicious account. No, I do not use it. I would also lose the passwords that I actually store online, like the one for my library account. I have a list of "important" passwords, but the bar code for my library card never made the cut.

I do not store much music on my computer, but if I did, I could see that also being a problem.

I do think that day to day, I would have issues with not being able to communicate with my friends and family. Not having a computer at my disposal would cause me far more disappointment than the items I mentioned above. A day without email and facebook does not occur very frequently in my little world. And, I might have to actually pull out the phone book to call Barnes and Noble to find out their hours, or if they have the book that I would like to purchase in stock.

Cloud Computing and Operating Systems

I think that the idea of cloud computing, and using more web-based applications, rather than software that is tied to a specific computer is the wave of the future. As a teacher, I see so many benefits to using a program like GoogleDocs over the Microsoft Office Suite. The fact that information can be stored online, and is thus accessible from any number of locations is tremendous progress. I think that some will be reluctant to switch to completely online storage, but the benefits for collaboration will hopefully outweigh this fear for some.

I was talking to my brother, an engineer for a very large company, about the wikis that I was having my seventh graders create. He said that he was on a team of 10 people who were providing training on wikis and other forms of collaboration to the top 250 partners in his firm. I told him that he should mention my wiki, he politely said that he would skip that detail!

One of our assignments was to use Linux this week, and I have been using a very small laptop that runs Linux. Honestly, I have not noticed a difference in operating systems. I am really only using the computer as a vehicle to get to the internet, therefore the operating system has not affected me. I could use its open office suite, but I already use GoogleDocs, and, I have not had the need to use any other functions in the last handful of days that I have been using the Linux laptop.

However, I do see operating systems changing to meet the improved Web 2.0 tools, and other such programs. I do think that operating sytems will change with the thin clients that are out there. As the server begins to do more and more, the operating system will continue to be more and more simplified.