Spotlight on New and Emerging Technology

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Spotlight on Emergin Technology

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Spotlight on Emerging Technology

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Reflections 6714

As I began to reflect on taking the course called Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology, I am so elated that I had the opportunity to enhance my teaching practices by learning new instructional strategies to incorporate into my class. I have more insight about how students learn best and I have gained skills that will help me with modifying instructions to meet the needs of my students. I realize now that lessons should be planned so that the visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners can have the opportunity to perform activities that will help them master course content. When students enter my class, I will create surveys so that I will be informed of students learning styles and those essentials skills that students possess prior to taking my class.

I have explored advanced technology such as created wikis, participated in social networking groups, used voicethread software and utilized various multimedia applications which will be beneficial in assisting students with learning complex content information. I know how to integrate technology into my instructions to help make learning more relevant, fun and meaningful. Technology is a powerful tool that give teachers the flexibility to adjust instructions so that all students will be able learn the curriculum in ways that best suits their learning style.

While taking this course, I was introduced to two instructional strategies that will transform my teaching practices. The first strategy was differentiating instructions which is a concept that I was very familiar however I had never imagine learning more in-depth information about how this strategy could improve student achievement in my class. I realize that differentiating instructions will allow my students to be creative, improve their literacy’s skills and increase student’s knowledge about key concepts while keeping then engaged in the lesson. According to Dr. Rose, the brain is divided into three areas which are recognition, strategic, and affective networks (Laureate, 2009). When I differentiate lessons, I will plan activities that will allow students to utilize all three areas of the brain so students can learn more effectively while utilizing a range of skills.

The other strategy is UDL (Universal Design for Learning) which provided me with the fact that student has their own unique characteristics of determining how they learn. “Universal design for learning suggests that instruction can be designed and implemented for students with diverse learning styles, preferences, abilities, and motivation,” (Cennamo & Erthmer, 2009) I  will implement UDL to create a stimulating environment where students are working to their full potential while connecting to content information. I will give students more options to learn key concepts because it is important that students demonstrate their knowledge and skills through various methods.  I realize that students will have different interests, talents, and academics level so it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide students with multiple learning tools that will enhance their knowledge.

In summary, I have been introduced to a wealth of information that will help me improve both personally and professionally. I have collaborated and share ideas, thoughts, and strategies with educators globally. This dialogue has been very pivotal because I was able to gain knowledge from expert educators on strategies that they will be implemented into  my instructions to help students improve in areas that they find challenging while providing strategies to stretch student’s learning. I understand how students learn best, what tools to implement to assist with learning the process, how to implement a variety of learning tools so that all students will retain and apply the knowledge taught in class. I realize that I must constantly stay abreast of new methodology, pedagogy and technology advances so that I will prepare my students  to become successful 21^st century learners.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach.  (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Brain Research and Universal Design for Learning [Motion picture]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

REFLECTION EDUC-6713 Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

After taking the course called, Integrating Technology Across the Content Area, I am now more knowledgeable of how I can incorporate technology into my curriculum to help students master course content knowledge. I am more aware of the importance of creating lessons that will help sparks student’s interest by providing them more opportunities to think critically, collaborate, communicate, be creative and utilize technology. My role as a teacher has shifted to a more “student-centered” classroom because I now realize that my instructions should be driven by students who have multiple opportunities to actively engage in the learning process. 

I have acquired new technology skills that will help me enhance my teaching practices.  I have learned how to create blogs, wikis, and implement digital storytelling into my instructions.  All of this new technology will be incorporated into my instructions to provide students with multiple ways of learning content information. Today students learn differently so as their teacher, I need to stay breast of the latest educational trends which include learning innovative technology, new pedagogy, and current research so that I will be informed of the changes in my profession. As the teaching profession continues to evolves, I will make sure that my students understand the importance

One of the most beneficial aspects of this course, were the numerous opportunities available to share suggestions, thoughts, and ideas with my class mates. I have gained more insight about the teaching profession from other educators who have strengths, talents, and experiences in areas that I was not as familiar. I have found the being able to communicate with other teachers globally is providing me with a wealth of knowledge and skills that will help transform my classroom to meet the needs of the 21^st century learner. I understand that students learn differently and it is my responsibility to assess their weaknesses by seeking strategies to implement into my instruction that will allow student to grow academically.

As I began to reflect on the steps of creating a Game Plan, I decided to focus on the following two indicators: Facilitate and Inspire Student’s Learning and Creativity and Engage in Professional Growth and Learning. I am elated that I got an opportunity to experience this process because it has been very instrumental in helping me become a more effective teacher. This activity forced me to take the initiative to plan, set goals, and to take the necessary steps to complete the tasks that are required so that I can continue to grow both personally and professionally.  I learned that it is crucial to create a timeline so that I can stay focus on tasks that should be completed at a specific time. This holds me accountable for the actions that I have taken and I can evaluate my progress accordingly. I am no longer afraid to modify my plans, if I see that actions taken are not feasible or ineffective. I will take this as a challenge to re-examine my teaching practices and to reflect on how I can best achieve my goal. I am more willing to take on leadership roles at my school because I realize the value of sharing new skills with my colleagues so that will gain knowledge through my personal experiences. A leadership role exemplifies that I take pride in my profession and that I am constantly seeking opportunities to hone my skills as an educator. I have more knowledge about creating inquiry based projects where students will have the opportunity to demonstrate content knowledge through various means of activities. I realize that students will take ownership for their learning when they are exposed to real-word issues that connect to the instruction.  Learning should be meaningful but also fun so to ensure that all students are engaged in class, I will be constantly seeking instructional strategies that will help stimulate my students to excel academically.

MY GAME PLAN CONTINUES

Indicator: 1) Facilitate and Inspire Student’s Learning and Creativity

As I continue to accomplish my goal of creating lessons for my students they will allow for more creativity, problem solving, communication, and collaboration skills, I have gained knowledge about how to use digital storytelling as an instructional tools to help increase student achievement in my class.  According to the NETS-S standards, teachers should be implementing activities that will promote a stimulating learning environment where students can exhibit essential skills that will allow them to grow academically. Digital storytelling is an instructional strategy  that will give students another way of demonstrating content knowledge that they have acquired in my class.  After reviewing this week resources, I now understand the impact of incorporating digital storytelling into my lesson because this instructional strategy supports the advance digital age learning requirements.I have also located a very helpful website which is www.learnnc.org it features classroom teaching resources, K-12 lesson plans, assessments, web links, and professional development guide. I can learn on my own from articles and multimedia, tips for best teaching practices, or take an instructor-led CEU credits— all correlated to the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards. 

Indicator 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

I am continuing to review the Shelly Cashman textbook so that I can increase my knowledge about the content of MOUS certification.  I have found that part of my curriculum can be added to my instruction to give student’s additional practice with understanding the modules in MS Word. I now know that because of the many different ability levels of my students that I will have to create a checklist for students to record each lesson so that they stay abreast of their current status.  Students will have the flexibility of moving on to the next modules when they feel comfortable with the concepts.  My school received a two million technology grant which will allow students to have more access to additional resources for learning. They have also posted several technology positions for the upcoming school year which I am interested in applying.  I am planning on being very instrumental in assisting with implementing this grant so that my school can benefit by helping teachers hone their computer skills which will drive instructions in the classroom.   

Continuing to Evaluate My Game Plan

Indicator 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

I have completed four MS Word Modules using the Shelly Cashman Series textbook for MS Office 2007.I have also joined an online organization called ITBusinessEdge this group provide access to hundreds of calculators, checklists, tutorials and IT Downloads. I am able to receive updates and complete tutorials on MOUS certification so that I will become more knowledgeable of the skills that students will need to complete the certification process.  One of my colleagues shared a very helpful website which is http://mous-office-2000-certification-training.com. This website provides free courses with an expert staff of curriculum developers who has created a 13 CD-ROM / 13 Video courses set for Microsoft Office 2000. It will prepare me for the Microsoft Office User Specialist Exam, which I plan to take this summer. This information will allow me to be capable of teaching all aspects of Office 2000 to my students.

Indicator: 1) Facilitate and inspire student’s learning and creativity

I designed two lessons where students got the opportunity to explore new software and then create a computerized artifact that demonstrated their mastery of understanding graphic image design, computer animation, and virtual reality. Students task were to work in cooperative groups and design a computer animation that could be featured in a movie theatre. Students helped me create a rubric as a guideline for this project. I wanted students to have as much flexibility in completing this assignment so I allowed students to utilize variety of technology resources such as movie maker software, pod cast and adobe applications to help enhance their projects. This gave students more tools that will help them gain more knowledge and skills about this objective. I am also planning a trip in May where students can visit Duke University’s Virtual Technology Center.  This tour promotes the use of visualization and virtual reality technologies for improved understanding of scientific data and human cognition. After this trip, students will have a better understanding of the virtual environment and this will help them make a connection with the course content knowledge on this topic.

Evaluating My Game Plan

I am accomplishing my plan by collaborating with educators who are teaching the Microsoft Certifications course. They suggested that I use the Shelly Cashman Microsoft 2007 & 2010 so that I can familiarize myself with the activities that students will have to complete for the course. I have a copy and  I am examining the content of the book and deciding how I can use this information to help my students have success in completing the certification.  Each week, I have decided to review a lesson for each objective so that I can continue to gain more knowledge about the certification. I have also registered to participate in the moodle training which begins in June.  This will give me time to complete my course work for this semester at Walden. I am so glad that I was able to get started on pursing this goal because now I feel more confident that I will be better prepare to teach this new course in the fall.

I have also decided to contact local industries that are in my area, so that I can partner with them  to assist me with becoming more knowledgeable about the Microsoft certification process. This will definite give me more insight on the technology skills that they expect all new employers to possess. I want to prepare my students to enter  higher institutions or the workplace feeling confident that they can compete with other students worldwide. I am so elated to be taking the necessary steps that will help me become a more effective teacher.

Monitoring My Game Plan Progress

Indicator 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

I am finding resources that will be very helpful in assisting me with seeking additional professional development that will help enhance my technology skills so that I will be able to share with my colleagues what I have learned. I receive an email to participate in a 2 day online workshop on MS Office 2007/2010 application. I am planning to complete this workshop doing my summer vacation because I will have more time to commit to this goal.  This workshop dates are very convenient so my schedule will not have to be altered to accommodate this event.  I have learned that when I search for opportunities to expand my professional growth I will be seeking those that will are online. Online workshops help save me time and I have more flexibility to complete the process on my own time.  I have also learned that it is better to plan ahead so that I will not be overwhelmed because I am taken off too many tasks.

Indicator 1: Facilitate and inspire student’s learning and creativity

I am finding resources that will help me facilitate and inspire student’s learning and creativity by taking graduate courses through Walden University. I am learning how to create lesson that are going to provoke students to think critically and creatively. The literature that I read weekly is assisting me with helping to transform my classroom into one where students are more engaged in the learning process.  I know now that students learn best in a positive environment where they teacher allow students to become independent thinkers, exhibit their talents and skills, and incorporate advance technology. I learning that classroom should be student center instead so my role in the classroom is more of a facilitator. 

Carrying Out My Game Plan

 Indicator 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

One of the ISTE standards that I would like to improve as an educator is indicator five which is Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.  In order for me to ensure that I seek more opportunities so that I can grow professionally is going to require that I set realistic goals of the number of professional developments that I can participate in on a semester basis.  Because I am pursuing my masters’ degree it does limit the extra time that I have to seek additional technology workshops.  However, on the other hand I am learning innovative technology strategies to enhance my instructions while completing my masters degree. The technology workshops would be beneficial as well because these are hands on sessions, where I have an opportunity to use the latest software and devices as it relates to my specific content area.

Goal:

To obtain credentials as a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) so that I can demonstrate proficiency in the newest standard of the world’s foremost desktop computing applications.

Resources:

I will need to enroll in Moodle training so that I can take one or more of the Office 2007/2010 suite exams to include Word 2007/2010, Excel 2007/2010, Excel 2007/2010, PowerPoint 2007/210, and Access 20076/2010 courses that relate to my business education curriculum.

Additional Information:

I would need to know the requirements for course which includes a timeline for the length of course, fees, and certification process.

The Steps that I have taken so far:

I have talk with others business teachers in my district who are already teaching the MOS certification curriculum inquiring about the textbook, content, teaching skills and knowledge required to instruct this class. 

Indicator: 1) Facilitate and inspire student’s learning and creativity

The other indicator that will help me improve my teaching practices is learning how to facilitate and inspire students to work to their full potential. As an educator, I find that student’s academic achievement is based heavily on teacher’s ability to facilitate instructions in a manner that is going to inspire student learning. This require teachers to incorporate activities that will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of course content through various means of strategies that will promote students creativity and critical thinking skills.

Goal:  

Design and create lessons that will spark student’s interest so that they will become immerse in learning how to use advance technology to grasp complex course content knowledge.

Resources:

I will need a variety of technology online resources such as access to blog websites, podcasting application and multi-media software such as movie maker and Adobe. I will also collaborate with my colleagues to seek additional educational websites to explore variety of instructional strategies that will help students learn new vocabulary in my curriculum.

Additional Information:

I will inquire about whether the educational websites are freeware or shareware programs.  I want to know if students can access these websites through smart phones and home computers. I will also make sure that parents, administrators, and central office staff will approve technology use in my class.

The Steps That I Have Taken:

I have taken a technology interest survey in all of my classes so that I can be more knowledgeable of the kinds of electronic devices that students are familiar and how they use these devices daily. This survey will help assist me with selecting the kinds of technology that students would like to use in class. I could also assess students’ skill level in using a specific application or device. I will also use this opportunity to introduce students to advance software they may not use often such as voice recognition, computer animation and multi-media software.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-S) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

According to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), there are five indicators that teachers should focus on to enhance instructions which are the following: 1) Facilitate and inspire student’s learning and creativity 2) Design and develop digital –age learning experiences and assessment 3) Model-Digital Age Work and Learning 4) Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility 5) Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.

I feel that I allow students the flexibility of using varied methods of learning styles to demonstrate that they fully understand course content material in my class.  I plan activities where students can use their talent, ability and knowledge as it relates to the curriculum. I want my students to be engaged in the learning process so I am aware of the importance of incorporating activities that will allow them to be creative while still mastering course content.  My lessons include cooperative grouping, inquiry based problem solving lessons, so that students will be motivated as a learner.  Because I teach business education technology courses which are all related to new advances in technology, my students are required to learn how to use new devices and software applications daily.  One of my responsibilities as a technology teacher is to allow students the opportunity to explore a wide range of technology so that they will have the essential skills demanded from the workplace. 

One of the areas that I continue to find a challenge is making sure that I am continue to seek professional development  workshops that will help me improve my technology skills.  Technology is changing so rapidly, so once I learn how to use a new devices or software, something new and more advances is introduce into the society. I am constantly having to stay abreast of these advances as well as teaching new courses in my curriculum. This can becomes overwhelming at times however the positive side of this is that because I am a technology teacher, there will always be something new that I have to learn, so my job will always keep me growing professionally. 

My game plan for improving in the area of engaging in professional growth and leadership is to continue to attend the week session during the summer for business teachers. During this conference, I learn innovative instructional strategies, updated curriculum changes, and explore the latest advances in technology.  This conference is so valuable because I also have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators from my state.  This helps me build a network of relationships with others who are able to share their teaching strategies, challenges, and success stories that they have encountered in the classroom. This year, my plan is to become certified in the Microsoft Teaching Academy, which our state is mandated for all high schools.  I will have to teach the Microsoft modules to my students and at the end of the year, students will take the test to become certified.  This certification will allow students to enter the business industry showing that they have acquired the necessary skills to be successful using MS Office applications.  I will have to attend numerous workshops on this certification so that I will feel comfortable teaching students about completing each module. When students see that I am a lifelong learner this will motivate them to become more active participant in the learning process.  At the beginning of the year, I will share with my colleagues, what I learned in the summer conference about new education trends.  This will also give me the opportunity to collaborate with teachers who would like to integrate technology in their class..

In summary, the ISTE is the guideline that will help drive instruction in my class.  If I use this plan effectively it will help increase student achievement and improve my professionally growth because it will direct the steps that I will take to improve my teaching practices. My job as an educator is to make sure that I am preparing students to be productive citizens who will have the skills and knowledge to compete with students globally.

 

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/classtech.html

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 2