[Prompt: Review tools for visual mapping and discuss how you might use these tools in use in your classroom]
I like the idea of using concept maps or visual organizers or whatever you would like to call them for putting ideas on paper. In a math or science classroom, it would be awesome to have an ongoing concept map where the students could add topics as we learn them. I think they're also a great tool for students to use individually for smaller assignments such as timelines or brainstorming.
The thing that makes me nervous about virtual concept maps is that I've yet to see one that was done really well. Personally, I think my popplet presentation is extremely simplistic and I'm not really sure what could be done to take it to the next level. Obviously the topic is irrelevant to teaching in a middle school, unless the assignment was to allow students to get to know something about me.
It could be a great tool for the beginning of the school year, especially in a school setting such as Montevideo Middle School in Rockingham County where the incoming 6th graders were previously attending at least three or four different elementary schools (not factoring for students who move to the area), and thereby probably don't know everyone.
Overall, I think the technology is great, what with the option to add images and videos from the internet or your own computer, but it might be a little too complicated for a middle school setting. Popplet is the simplest I think, and I even had trouble deciphering all of the tools. Prezi seems very impressive, but I have doubts as to whether or not the time investment for teaching such a tool to middle school students is worth the pay off of them creating such a product. I suppose time will tell. Perhaps the students are already fluent with the program and will be able to teach me something =)
Friday, February 22, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
My Vision for How Technology will be Used in My Classroom
[Prompt: Provide an overall vision of the role that technology plays in education along with specific examples of ways that you incorporate the use of technology for instruction. Describe the technology resources that you feel are necessary.]
First, please let me say "Welcome!" I think technology and education go hand in hand, and in today's society you really cannot have one without the other. Technology is everywhere around us. I would even go so far as to say it is impossible not to encounter and utilize it each and every day, unless of course you literally live under a rock... but one could argue that some form of technology was used to dig the hole for you under said rock, which is a whole other conversation.
That being said, education is also very, very important. Without out, children cannot grow up to have the greatest potential for occupational, emotional, financial or even social success. Our culture is rapidly developing and changing and without providing the opportunity to learn about our world and how to survive in it, we would be doing children a disservice.
Because we have so much technology at our disposal, and because it reaches children on an entirely new and different level than was even possible when I was going through primary school, it just makes sense to incorporate them. Technology such as computers, projectors, stereos, Smart Boards, iPads and the like give children a variety of ways to see and hear and think and manipulate the information they need to learn and become active citizens.
I think, at the very least, every classroom needs a computer and a projector. While teaching with just a blackboard or whiteboard is not impossible (obviously, because it was the only option for many years and people were still educated), having the power to project images that are still, or are moving, that are color or black/white, or that can be zoomed in or out on to add emphasis and clarity adds a whole new element to learning. It gives us the power to let students feel as if they are really "there" when learning about a historical event, something which is much more difficult to imagine from a still shot in a textbook.
I also think that every student needs to have access to a personal computer by the time they reach middle school. It doesn't hurt if they are exposed at a younger age, but by the 6th grade students should be researching and writing about topics they are learning and are interested in. Encyclopedias used to function just fine for the retrieval of information, but they are no longer the only source and a computer is the only way to access the countless reputable sites on the world wide web. Having access to a personal computer also allows teachers a way to communicate with their students (and their parents), just like this blog, or a personal website. The benefits of this type of communication cannot be measured, as it can allow students to access their assignments and due dates when they forget to bring their planner home from school, or when a crazy series of weather events causes the schools to be closed for ice, snow, and flooding all in the same week (true story, this happened in Shenandoah County just 2 weeks ago!) and students aren't sure what changes will be made to the schedule.
The third resource that I deem "necessary" is a Smart Board or similar apparatus to allow individuals, groups or entire classrooms of students to interact with the material while learning. The advantages include, but are not limited to, engaging students who were previously unreachable in a standard lecture/note-taking lesson because you can incorporate videos, sound clips, and kinesthetic interaction through moving around, among others. Very few students learn solely from audio lessons, so even if the teacher is projecting the notes on the board (or writing them in chalk/dry erase marker) for students to see, they're far less likely to retain the information or be engaged without some form of interaction; and the Smart Board technology opens the door for just that.
While there are many other wonderful technological advances out there that we can incorporate into the classroom (and many more on the way, I'm sure), I feel that these three are the biggest and most important to have streamlined in classrooms throughout the country. Thus far, from the classrooms I have been in for practicums and substitute teaching, our part of the state seems to be on board with this as well.
First, please let me say "Welcome!" I think technology and education go hand in hand, and in today's society you really cannot have one without the other. Technology is everywhere around us. I would even go so far as to say it is impossible not to encounter and utilize it each and every day, unless of course you literally live under a rock... but one could argue that some form of technology was used to dig the hole for you under said rock, which is a whole other conversation.
That being said, education is also very, very important. Without out, children cannot grow up to have the greatest potential for occupational, emotional, financial or even social success. Our culture is rapidly developing and changing and without providing the opportunity to learn about our world and how to survive in it, we would be doing children a disservice.
Because we have so much technology at our disposal, and because it reaches children on an entirely new and different level than was even possible when I was going through primary school, it just makes sense to incorporate them. Technology such as computers, projectors, stereos, Smart Boards, iPads and the like give children a variety of ways to see and hear and think and manipulate the information they need to learn and become active citizens.
I think, at the very least, every classroom needs a computer and a projector. While teaching with just a blackboard or whiteboard is not impossible (obviously, because it was the only option for many years and people were still educated), having the power to project images that are still, or are moving, that are color or black/white, or that can be zoomed in or out on to add emphasis and clarity adds a whole new element to learning. It gives us the power to let students feel as if they are really "there" when learning about a historical event, something which is much more difficult to imagine from a still shot in a textbook.
I also think that every student needs to have access to a personal computer by the time they reach middle school. It doesn't hurt if they are exposed at a younger age, but by the 6th grade students should be researching and writing about topics they are learning and are interested in. Encyclopedias used to function just fine for the retrieval of information, but they are no longer the only source and a computer is the only way to access the countless reputable sites on the world wide web. Having access to a personal computer also allows teachers a way to communicate with their students (and their parents), just like this blog, or a personal website. The benefits of this type of communication cannot be measured, as it can allow students to access their assignments and due dates when they forget to bring their planner home from school, or when a crazy series of weather events causes the schools to be closed for ice, snow, and flooding all in the same week (true story, this happened in Shenandoah County just 2 weeks ago!) and students aren't sure what changes will be made to the schedule.
The third resource that I deem "necessary" is a Smart Board or similar apparatus to allow individuals, groups or entire classrooms of students to interact with the material while learning. The advantages include, but are not limited to, engaging students who were previously unreachable in a standard lecture/note-taking lesson because you can incorporate videos, sound clips, and kinesthetic interaction through moving around, among others. Very few students learn solely from audio lessons, so even if the teacher is projecting the notes on the board (or writing them in chalk/dry erase marker) for students to see, they're far less likely to retain the information or be engaged without some form of interaction; and the Smart Board technology opens the door for just that.
While there are many other wonderful technological advances out there that we can incorporate into the classroom (and many more on the way, I'm sure), I feel that these three are the biggest and most important to have streamlined in classrooms throughout the country. Thus far, from the classrooms I have been in for practicums and substitute teaching, our part of the state seems to be on board with this as well.
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