Ed Tech Standards

First I would like to start out by saying that after looking at these standards that are "law"...I find it hard to understand why Willamette University is the only Univ. to make Ed. Tech classes a requirement...although this does give me and my fellow cohorts a leg up when it comes to being marketable. In a world where schools are turning to virtual classes to save money it is absolutely necessary for children to know how to access and be proficient in technology and not simply for academic use but also out in the professional world. A person has to know how to use technology to even apply for jobs now. Technological literacy is invaluable in todays society...everything is computerized and if a person does not know how to utilize technology, they will be left behind.

The OETS and NETS were created to make sure that teachers are prepared to teach technology to students so that they can not only improve their academic achievements but also be able to maneuver in the professional world because they will have strong technological skills. However, I feel that in order to make sure that 'all students have access to technology", as stated in OETS, schools need to have access to technology...which means more funding.

Learning technology has been challenging for me but I am grateful to have had this course because I can now impart this knowledge to my students. I can use googleapps to do a variety of things in my classroom. I will be starting a teacher blog in order to keep parents updated on what was done in class, on a daily/weekly basis. This will also help students who are out for extended periods. I will be able to upload/download information into my blog so they can work from home. These applications will also be useful for students to use on collaborative assignments/projects/presentations. Googleapps will also help me to compute grades easier/faster in order to see how students are doing test to test and help me to understand if there are any assignments or tests that need to be adjusted. I can use technology to do online discussions with the kids and god forbid if our district ever has to go to an online setting I will be able to do this without hesitation.

Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

Well, hopefully I did this right, lol. If I did, it wasn't too difficult...after all is said and done that is. I of course had anxiety while doing it. I don't know why I let technology give me anxiety because once I learn something its not so hard the next time. I guess I always go into it thinking its going to take a long time, which sometimes it does, and that I "can't" do it. Well...I have proven to myself that i can:} Feels good!

My analysis of the information, from a teachers perspective is that, even though these students were under the overall average their scores consistently went up with the exception of Katherine. Initially, her score soared from test 6 to test 7. Does this mean that for her test 7 was too easy? Was the test set up differently so that her understand was easier? Although in test 8 her score plummeted again, so does this mean that test 7 was a fluke? Or, was test 8 too easy? Was there some sort of environmental issues going on her life such as family problems or was she ill or distracted? Or maybe this would be a clue that she misunderstood or even didn't get a concept that was taught. These would be good questions the teacher would need to find out, in order to better help this student. My initial thought would be that its probably an environmental issue since all of the other students' scores consistently went up and also after test 8 Katherine's did as well.This would be excellent to use to for not only evaluating the students trend in achievement but also this could help evaluate the effectiveness of the teacher.

My favorite web2.0 tools

Web 2.0 tools are tools used to create word processing documents, blogs, photos, videos, spreadsheets etc. that are stored on a secure website that you can access from any computer from anywhere, anytime. This technology is called Cloud computing and a person can create/edit/share their creations as well as collaborate with groups simultaneously.This would be helpful in education for when teachers want to collaborate with other teachers, or with students who are out on an extended leave of absence.

Delicious is one tool that I was interested in because there have been plenty of times I was not at my computer when I needed a website from my "favorites/bookmarks". Delicious is a web based site that holds my favorites/bookmarks information that I can access from any computer anywhere, anytime as well as share this information with anyone for their use. This would be helpful for when I'm a teacher because I can update blogs or classroom information, emails from home if I forget to do this before I leave school.

Voice thread is a tool that creates videos/presentations. A person uploads pictures/images and then creates audio for those images....kind of like the yodio video we did? This could be helpful for students to use when collaborating with group presentations because they all can work on this together from their own computers, saving time and then the video can be shared/published to the web or blogs.

Googledocs experience

This was an exciting experience. Google docs is a tool that essentially works like Microsoft word except that with Google docs groups of people can work on the same document simultaneously. To be able to collaborate with a group of people at the same time is an amazing time management tool. Admittedly I was confused at first, but then I always am:} This tool would come in handy to help teachers keep in communication with students who have a long term illness, or parents who want to keep up on whats done in class daily/weekly (teachers could post whats been done in class and what assignments are due soon. Since there was only two of us, Don and myself just worked on it together, side by side contributing equally.




https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1lUj510-6VTm5yvt8NvZRFMNxf4NsgLwBwZgQtOZu15c&hl=en

G.S. Ed Week article #2

I got a little behind so I am doing two article reviews in a row.One of the articles I loved the most was "Pledge of Allegiance Debate Heard by Federal Court". The article basically said that the federal district court upheld the New Hampshire statute that states schools have the right to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The Court stated that "teaching our country's history to the elementary and secondary pupils of this state does not have the effect of coercing children to support or participate in religion". I for one grew up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. My thought is, and I am probably opening a can of worms here, that the Allegiance is a Pledge to love this country as one nation no matter what your religion. I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least in some schools the Pledge is still done...and that Court systems are not letting anyone take it away...it is a part of our history. As the teacher that I am doing my observations with stated, "we do the pledge of allegiance in this school, but the children are given the right to either stand and say it or politely sit and wait", I think thats fair. Just my opinion.

G.S. Ed Week post #1

In the September 22 issue I read the article about Michelle Rhee, current Chancellor of the District of Columbia schools. The article "Rhee Reflective In Aftershock of D.C. Primary", conveys her concern over the lost election of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. Fenty and Rhee have spent 3.5 years overhauling the District of Columbia's schools. Rhee and Fenty have been criticized for their "hard-charging pace of change" but Rhee said that she didn't think "waiting one more day knowing that another D.C. child was not getting the education they deserve was worth slowing the pace". One of the comments made in the article annoyed me because of the lack of thought process it must have took...which is... "a public poll was done over the past year and voters liked the many improvements to the schools, but not the leaders who brought about the changes". I truly can't comprehend that if the public thinks the process is working, that why does it matter if you "LIKE" the leader? Its not about you, its about your childs education right? Rhee is not afraid that she might lose her job or even that she will stay if given the chance, but that the new Mayor Vincent C. Gray will undermine all that she and Fenty have accomplished, and that she said would be "devastating for the schoolchildren of Washington, D.C.

OTEN Conference 2010

First off....I will never understand why it takes me soooooooo very long to do something that ends up at the end to seem so very simple. This whole thing took me about 5 hours. I was very frustrated. However, now that I know how to do it, I should be able to do it again...and at a faster speed.

The conference overall was inspirational. I came into this class with very basic knowledge of technology. I knew how to check and send emails..I did know how to navigate facebook. Knowing how to do blogs and posts like this yodio really will be a valuable tool to keep in touch with parents and students and will help with collaborative learning. I will try to incorporate this somehow.
October 3, 2010 10:20 AM

Yodio - OTEN Conference 2010