Simulations

The three principles that I think are important to education is, Doing and reflecting, seeing interrelationships, and combining multiple identities.

          Doing and reflecting is all aspects of the learning environment are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive, learning. Seeing interrelationships is learning about and coming to appreciate interrelations within and across multiple sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience. Combining multiple identities is learning involves taking on and playing with identities in such a a way that the learner has real choices (in developing the virtual identity) and ample opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. I believe all three of these are very vital to education!

If I were to create a simulation for a class I would have them simulate a model of a house in math. They could model houses made out of hexagons, circle, Triangle and square shapes. A triangle would be for the roof, a square for the home, a rectangle for a door and so on. This is a great way to use shapes to incorporate math and mimic the world around them by using things to build with.

In conclusion I think all the principles can really be beneficial to education! All the principles that Gee has listed are very important principles. 

Meaningful Learning

I think Technology based rubrics are a neat way to give your students something to look at and to base their work on. By using rubrics students can actually see what a teacher is looking for on assignment. When you give your student access to a rubric you can alleviate some questions students may have on assignment. The student can see what the teacher is looking for presented on the rubric. I would use a rubric in my classroom to set some structure and to give my students something to work off of. I like rubrics because they help me to know what I need to do in order to achieve a certain grade. But sometimes rubrics can be setback for some students. I have been guilty of this. Instead of trying to achieve the maximum amount of points, when I decide to get lazy I look at what areas that give the least points and just do enough to still get by with a B. So sometimes rubrics can allow students to only do so much to get by. Without a rubric students have to do t heir best and wish for the best grade.

Clicker Assessment tools are awesome. I had a chance to use one this summer in class and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We played a game and we used the clicking device to answer questions. If the district I worked for had this device I would definitely put it to use. I think it engages all students and gives them a chance to answer questions without feeling horrible and embarrassed if its wrong. I know as a child if I missed a lot of questions I would never raise my hand. I was the one ducking hoping not to get called on. Mainly in language class because adjectives and verbs were a struggle for me in fourth grade. But this system can help bring those type of students up and help them gain confidence in participating in class.

 The Kidspiration software is just awesome. I love all the features but basically the writing feature. Many young students have a problem with writing and most can’t write, But this system uses pictures to put into a journal to help them express themselves. The school district I work in the students use this and they love it! This too is something I plan on using!!!!!

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Sources:

http://www.rubrician.com/

http://www.inspiration.com/

Visualizing With Technologies

I think Digital Storytelling would be a wonderful tool used in classrooms. Anytime you can use technology to enhance a students learning I think it is quite useful. Language development is very important and storytelling is a unique tool to use to enhance that.

Using hands on aids or real life problems is a very good way to make math more real to students.  Since Math is in everything we do it makes good sense to use our every day things. You measure time in math, using a clock. What time do you get up. How many hours are in a day. How many hours do you spend on doing something. Then there is food. How many cookies will you eat. How much milk goes into making a recipe. I think by taking real life things and allowing students to recognize math around them is a useful way to make math more real.

            If you are talking about is it possible to learn by TV alone. I think it’s true depending on what is being learned. I can watch a show that sings the ABC’s and learn my alphabet by listening to it constantly. When it comes to more difficult subjects then I do not think that it is possible. But on a more primary level, to me TV is another visual aids. When you think about your visual, kinesthetic, language and musical learners, I think TV shows can provide imaging that teaches these kids.  I mean as a kid I learned by watching sesame street. I even learned how to make crafts by watching Barney. So watching TV alone can sometimes teach you. Now I wouldn’t result to it as it being the only source, because as children age, they need more sources to help enhance their learning.

Jonassen, David H.. Meaningful learning with technology . 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

Podcasting

I learned that podcasting is very mobile! There are all sorts of things you can do with podcasting. I could use it in my classroom by pre-recording lectures, songs or poems for kids to listen to on a day to day basis. Interesting enough I had to do a lesson this semester of which I wrote a song on piano and sang a song called needs and wants. Since I have a recording program where I can sing and add tracks I decided to write a song in order for my kids to learn about socials studies needs vs wants! I had a real neat time doing it and playing it for them! They really loved it because each of their 22 names were in the song some way!  I put it on a cd to play! I think that if IPODs and other devices were available for first grade students at the school that I am an aide at, then they could listen to this song anywhere!

I think Podcasting  and web 2.0 is similar in a sense that they both require recordings and voices. THey both can get a point across and is useful for saving something you said where you can play it later at a different time. A way that it is different is that Podcasting can be uploaded to any portable device. I am not sure about the web 2.0. I think you have to only access by web. 

I do not own an ipod or mp3 player and I have no idea why because I love portable devices!! But I think I take my laptop everywhere and there is no need for any of those devices. I would use it in my classroom. For instance I would read a book that I recorded and add it to an ipod or mp3 and open it up as a center for my first graders. 

The advantages of using online tools is that it allows students to be able to access it online anywhere. The disadvantages would be that everyone may not have access. In closing I think that podcasting is very useful in education.

WEb 2.0

As a teacher I would use wikis in my classroom as an extra talking voice. This summer I took a  class, and my partner and I created a wiki to sing a song called “If you’re a foot long and you know it,” We recorded three stanzas and did the motions. I would use this in my classroom to get the students engaged in an activity with singing and chanting. I would also add blogs. Although I want to teach grades pre-k-1, if I had older kids I would post upcoming spelling words on the blog and have the word of the week where students would have to look up the word see what it means and submit it with a picture. Then with all my entries I would put those students in a drawing to win something cool each week!

      I think social bookmarking is a great way to save your sites! It is organized and it opens up the floor for more teachers to give you more sites and for you to give them more sites as well! It would be very useful for students and teachers because it gives more options and ideas for teaching a subject. More ideas are available and you can easily share amongst peers and teacher peers your information and findings. As far as a voice thread I really don’t think I would want to create one because its easier to just blog and type what I wanted people to know rather than vocalize it.

      I have not really explored tapped in but from research I think that it could possibly be useful for teachers. It would be great to share experiences, learning information and sources to create a better educational community!

E-Portfolio

Why do you use assessment activities? Using assessment activities is a great way for you to track your learner’s performance. As you teach you need some sort of feedback to see where your students needs improvement. You use them to help assess how much your students really know. Once you teach something you definitely want to know how much of the information is attained. The way you assess a student can vary. You can assess them orally or on paper. If you assess several times you can keep track on how well a student is doing.

      An e-portfolio is a hypermedia document of many things that a person has learned over time. It helps teacher’s and students know what to do and where to go. A teacher can keep up with the students progress and the students can keep up with what is coming in the future. A computer based test is a test that is given on computer. And due to certain circumstances it could impact validity and reliability.

I think that e-portfolios are a great source for students and teachers. More people should use them!

Copyright and Fair Use Policy

In today's society you would want to respect copy rights and fair use rules for many different reasons. One you could get in trouble if you don't and two it's like stealing. And in America we know how we dishonor thieves. But to be honest if I wrote something, and I plan to in the future, I would want people to know to whom it belonged to. I worked in a newspaper office for a year and I wrote articles for the town's paper. I interviewed people and wrote some really interesting stories. I would be very hurt to find that someone used my article without giving me credit for it. So I think these laws are very beneficial and helpful to maintain proper accreditation. 

Safety online? Where? Sometimes I think that even though there is so much "Protection" out there we still aren't fully protected. What about the people who create the protection? They know the kinks and holes. Well when it comes to online safety I think of this. "Protection for the most part until there is a hole."  So is online safety different from cyberbullying? Well online safety is suppose to promote  safe browsing and safety for kids. Cyberbullying is really a way to bully others. We can try to protect our kids by talking to them and explaining to them some things about the sites. You would also want to allow them to upload certain unimportant information about your whereabouts and life. And I just had to mention this, people on Facebook have been known to explain their whereabouts in a message link. This is a bad thing to do when considering safety. So if you say on the link you are at aunt Joan's with just you and your sister, how can you expect a predator not to look up aunt Joan's address, because maybe she has a Facebook too, browse through the information, take down her town and address, drive there, spy to see if someone's around and later kidnap you. We have to be better at keeping ourselves safer. 

The activities that were given this week were very interesting and I always learn things that are new. I enjoyed learning things I didn't know and I frowned upon the fact that I didn't really know some things I should have known. Sadly, I scored in the 60% on the quiz and I really thought I knew more than what my brain had emptied out, but I think if I continue to read and  research I can know a lot more. Thanks to the cheat sheet I'm on my way!