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The CI 335 course focused on educational technology. Before I took this course, I did not think technology would be essential to my future career as a teacher. From most of my experiences educational technology meant PowerPoints, videos, and a standard overhead projector, which did not have a significant impact on my experiences. however, I am now able to understand theimportance of technology in the classroom. I think all my success came out of the challenges I faced with the different forms of technology I was exposed to. One resource that the CI 335 course presented to me was blogging. It was difficult in the beginning of the course  to understand the educational value of blogging. In my opinion, blogging was the online version of handing in homework assignment. Instead of handing in a piece of paper, the teacher would see your work on the internet. The point that I missed was the community that developed around blogs. communities of people share their ideas with one another to create a massive forum of information that can expose people to new ideas they never considered. Seeking information and new ideas from educational blogs would be a good way to learn from other teachers. Also, students could use blogs to learn from one another and develop deeper understanding of any subject. I think i was able to achieve success by understanding the educationalpotential of blogs. Another success that I was able to achieve was understanding the numerous resources that were out there. Although I may not know how to use new forms of technology that exists I do understand their potential to improve learning. Seeking new resources and experimenting with them will allow me to continuously update, diversify, improve my students’ learning environment.

There are plenty of new forms of technology based resources that are being used in schools to enhance the learning experience. Two examples of these resources are Smart Boards/Smart Notebooks and Discovery Education streaming. I think smart boards can improve the learning and teaching experience in classrooms by creativing an interactive classroom environment. A SMART Board/notebook would allow me to present lessons to my students while incorporating videos, images, and even music to enhance the lesson. For example, I could use political cartoons, pictures from newspapers, and freedom or labor songs when discussing slavery in the United States. Discovery Education streaming offers valuable videos that cover important historical events. videos give the students a real life picture of what happened and can provide them with a more detailed understanding. Here are two videos that can be found with Discoverey Edcuation streaming. The first is presentation of Hitler’s rise to power and WWWII with actual footage during the 1930s and 1940s. The secondvideo presents the end of WWWII and the start of the Cold War. These two videos go along with two SMART notebook files. The first notebook file covers Hitler’s rise to power, and asks questions about information covered in the video.The second notebook file covers the Cold War.
HitlersRiseToPowerUS
BeforeTheColdWarPotsdamUS

This week, I explore numerous tools for digital storytelling. I think there are many benefits for using digital storytelling that can improve learning experiences. The tools available for digital storytelling can be used to make reading more interactive for students without relying on expensive equipment like smart boards. Having these tools online can also be a resource to students that they can use at home. I think I would use digital storytelling and digital media to make lectures and presentations more interactive for students. Videos can be used that demonstrate different aspects of social studies. In my opinion, the voicethread website was one of the best tools available. However, voicethread did present many problems when I tried uploading videos and other multimedia sources.

In a blog post entitled “Faith and Tolerance” by Ms. Educator, the issue of teacher’s sexual orientation is discussed.
Ms. Educator’s Blog

Check out a presentation on Imperialism that my future students will learn from.

The type of education students receive is sometimes influenced by many factors. One major factor is a teacher’s ability to engage and teaching his or her students. In my opinion, the way a teacher behaves and acts towards students can determine how much they learn or don’t learn. In a blog post entitled “No Hammocks, No Papers” Jose Vilson, a New York City teacher, discusses everything that is wrong with teachers that don’t care about education. One important point that Jose raises is that bad veteran teachers make all veteran teachers look bad. Another important notion that Jose brings up is just how difficult it is to fire tenured teachers. I think it is wrong for tenured teachers to have almost complete job security, even if they don’t even try to teach their students. If tenured teachers are not being evaluated or affected by their evaluations, then they will not have any incentives to continue the hard work that made them into successful teachers. Once tenured, teachers would be able to relax and take it easy knowing it is almost impossible for them to be fired for performance issues. I also am confused by the school’s administration who allow this teacher to remain on staff. If school administrators are willingly to keep ineffective teachers that don’t even try to improve ability to teach, efforts to improve schools, regardless of means,  will not be enough to undue the danger caused by bad teachers.

How do you make a teacher great? Bill Gates clearly explains the significance of having great teachers. Data clearly proves that top quartile teachers significantly improve students learning. However, there is a problem within the education system when it comes to rewarding teachers. The education system rewards teachers with raises based on their degrees and seniority. The more experiace a teacher has the more money teachers receive. Also teachers recieve higher salaries after receiving Master and/or Phd. Higher degrees and more expericance, however, are not what make high quality teachers. Gates explains that there is a need for research on what makes good teahcers, and is in favor of using data to rate teachers perfromances. The assessment of teachers through students scores is something that tkaes place at KIPP schools across the nation. Teachers are evaluated on their ability to improve students’ learning. In most public schools, teacher evalauted by adminstrators that sit and observe the teacher’s classes. Since teacher know when tehy will be evaulted they will work harder to present themselves as good teachers.  Many my high school teachers have asked students to behave themselves and pay attention during their evaluations so   they won’t be seen as bad teachers. In my opinion I think it is kinda wrong for teachers to ask for students cooperation during evaluations because it does not allow the administrator to accurately judge the teacher. Teachers should be able to control their classes at all times while effectively teaching the students. This allows bad teachers to continually hurt their students by not promoting students learning. Another point that Gates makes is the idea of using video cameras to evaluate teachers in different situations, and use video of good teachers to teach other teachers. In my opinion, I would not like to have a camera recording me. I feel like it is an invasion of my privacy and would strongly prefer random evaluations by administrators and other teachers. I also do not think that video taping classrooms can serve as educational videos for students who were absent unless the teacher lectured the entire time. In that case the student would be better off copying notes from the teacher or other students. I think Gates raises some important points on how to more effectively evaluate teachers and improve students learning. As a teacher I will make sure to engage students by using different strategies and learning activities. I will also welcome students’ concerns or criticism of my teaching methods that may not be helping students’ learning in my classroom.

Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

The ability to be creative is generally valued in our society.  Creativity produces new innovations that can transform a society. When you consider the impact social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have had on society you can see what I mean. Even though society values creativity, creativity is not something that society tries to teach all the time. The education system seems to incorporate or promote creativity less and less as we move from grade to grade. This lack of creativity is something that Ken Robinson views important. Robinson claims that creativity is as important as literacy, and is an essential part of children’s creativity. Robinson notes that children lose their ability to be original, because of the fear of being wrong that they learn in school. Robinson notes that a hierarchy of academic subjects that exists. At top of the hierarchy is math and at the bottom is art. Robinson claims that schools do not value art, because of their inability to help students find jobs. Assigning different values to different subjects ends up making students feel less intelligent when they are good at subjects with low value. Robinson talks about how intelligence is diverse and can take shape in a variety of forms that society has overlooked. Another characteristic of intelligence is that it is dynamic and constantly evolving. The third characteristic of intelligence is that intelligence is distinct, and manifests itself in clear ways.

I think Robinson raises a lot of important points regarding the way students’ creativity are handled in schools. I would generally agree with Robinson that creativity as the ability to create an original idea or thing that has value. Thus creativity is essential to component of intelligence. There are many different learning activities I can use to help promote my students’ creativity. Debates and discussions provide students with an opportunity to share their ideas and perceptions that may differ from others. Debates also provide students with a chance to persuade others in certain direction by analyzing information. Besides debates and discussions, I can use art projects to help students learn about different historical events. For example, I could have students analyze caricatures found in Nazi or Soviet propaganda to see how society was affected by certain policies. Besides images, students could demonstrate their understanding by write songs about historical events or topics.

In the world today new forms of technology are being invented to improve the way society works. As technology improves the way we communicate, learn, and function, it becomes more important for people to know how to use technology. Since technology will play a significant role in our children’s future, I think that teachers should be required to incorporate technology into the classroom. I think technology can improve students’ learning experiences by providing interactive material. Things like Google Earth and email accounts can be used to enhance learning experiences that do not involve much technology. For example, teachers and students can use Google Earth to see historical landmarks that they are learning from instead of just looking at a map. Students could also replace letters with emails when communicating with a pen pal. Teaching students how to use technology is very important since it will most likely be a major part of the students’ lives. Teachers should also use technology because provides students greater access to information. Teachers can use the Internet to share information with students that is not found in their textbooks or library. Other programs like Skype and iChat can allow students learning French or Spanish to communicate with students in other countries who are learning to speak English. Since students will be communicating with native speakers they will be getting a more realistic experience without actually traveling to a foreign country.

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  • Reflections on Educational Technology
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  • Sexual Orientation in the Classroom
  • Digital Citizenship

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