Jenny Cook

Final Reflection

2010-08-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well...I simply cannot believe we are at the end of this program already! It has been quite a journey for me both professionally and personally and am so glad that I decided to take this huge leap in the right direction! When I started this program I was a bit apprehensive about jumping into an area that, to be honest, I did not know too much about and was not particularly excited or passionate about. That has all changed throughout the course of this program. I am so passionate now about integrating technology into my classroom and helping my students develop those vital 21st century skills they need to become successful in the future.

In this last course we learned all about digital gaming and how it can be utilized in the classroom to complement and reinforce instruction. Students today have been playing video games since they could talk and have developed the necessary skills to master these games. It seems only natural to incorporate these skills into their learning and use gaming in the educational environment. Not only will students be able to utilize these games much easier than students maybe 10 years ago, they are also having fun and it relates to their daily to lives. I had no idea the variety of resources for learning there are in the form of digital games until taking this course.

As a means of continuing my education in technology, I am going to be joining a yahoo and Ning group that is made up of teachers that teach the same grade I do and are interested in implementing useful technologies into the classroom as well. We can all share ideas and create, create, create! I am looking forward to continuing my education in this way. I am teaching new grade this year and am really looking forward to getting new ideas from teachers who have been working with older kids for a longer time. I would never have been interested in doing this prior to this program but now have found a new passion and excitement for using new technologies!

Thanks to all of my fellow classmates and colleagues who have been incredible resources to me along the way. I have valued your thoughts and ideas and hope that I have been able to share a bit with you too! Best of luck to each of you and you begin this new journey!

Application 4 - CMS

2010-07-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to my Week 4 Voicethread about Online Learning and Course Management Systems: voicethread.com/share/1255582

Week 8 Reflection For EDUC - 6714I

2010-06-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

One size does not fit all! This is a statement that could not be more true when it comes to education and instruction in the classroom.This course has allowed me to further discover ways in which I can modify my instruction for diverse learners by using technology and an array of resources. Technology is a vital tool when UDL and Differentiated Instruction methods. By using technology in the classroom students are more engaged because these tools help get them motivated and relate learning material to something they are interested in...technology! Technology also provides a different way for students to view and process information. This is key to providing differentiated instruction.

I have taken the opportunity to review the resources posted by my classmates on our Ning social networking website and have found many of them to be very helpful in planning for next year. I have taught kindergarten for the last four years but will be moving up to teach third or fourth graders next year so having these resources available to me is so incredibly helpful especially as I plan for this new group of students. I really like the idea of using DOTS for differentiated instruction. In addition, I would like to try jigsawing as well. I am grateful to my classmates who posted such great resources and I really like having this social networking page to refer to for ideas! I will definitely need the help next year!

I am really fortunate to have a Smartboard, document camera and a few additional technology resources at my school and in the classroom I will be moving to. I had these tools in my kindergarten classroom as well so I was able to at least expose my young students to such technology. I am really looking forward to trying these new resources with students who can create things on their own and really take off with their learning. I am excited to introduce my new students to these resources and then just facilitate an environment where they can lead the way!

Reflection: Week 8

2010-04-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Upon reflection of this course I can confidently say that I feel better equipped as a teacher to implement technology into my daily classroom. Each step of this program has been like building blocks and now with the knowledge of how to create and build an effective GAME Plan I feel as though I am growing stronger as an educator with 21st century skills. I feel more confident in my ability to create effective and meaningful lessons for even my very young students.
I used to use technology on a monthly and occasionally weekly basis but now I am confident that I will be implementing such skills and tools into my everyday classroom. I now have the confidence to collaborate with my colleagues and help them begin their journey of bringing more technology into the classroom. I feel as though kindergarten students are very young, they are at a critical age for developing an early love for technology and all it has to offer. Obviously I have learned that my students cannot do most of these things on their own but it is critical that I model continuously and keep them engaged and part of these lessons. I am exposing them to skills that will soon use on their own.
Overall, I feel better equipped as a teacher to utilize technology much more in my classroom and I am going to use the strategy of creating a GAME Plan in my planning and instruction process much more!

Jenny

Using My GAME Plan with Students

2010-04-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Constructing a GAME Plan has been a very valuable experience for me as a teacher and I now feel better equipped to implement technology into my classroom and curriculum because of my experience creating a GAME Plan. I have spent some time reflecting on the NETS-S standards and definitely think they are all very valuable. It can be challenging for me as a kindergarten teacher to incorporate these standards into my everyday classroom but I just have to spend time being creative and coming up with ways to still utilize them. My students cannot develop their own GAME plan of course because they are not developmentally capable but I can always use this strategy to expose them and have them take part in the process as I am guiding them along. Most of the process would be to engage my students and having them come up with learning goals. This is a very important step because I think it is so important for students to know what they are learning and why. The action portion of the lesson would be during instruction and having the students collaborate in small groups. Finally, at the end we would simply have a large class discussion on what we learned and if we met the goals we had established in the beginning. Even though this is a much more basic GAME plan, it still can work for my young students. It is not as involved but it is still important to expose them to such tools of organization. I know that I feel much more organized and thorough as a teacher so this can be incredibly effective on students.

Revising My GAME Plan

2010-04-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

So far I have learned many things in regards to my instructional practices. I have learned that most importantly these new skills and practices need to be done over and over again in order to be completely effective in the classroom. Not only do I need to continue to educate myself on how to implement these skills into the classroom but once they are integrated my students need the time to practice them over and over again. This is really the only way they will become truly effective and comfortable for students.

Another thing I have learned about using technology is that often times the more technology you integrate on a daily basis, the more often you can have issues with it that prevent its use. I have learned to always have another plan for if and when the technology I am using is not cooperating. It is so sad to be completely engaged in a lesson using technology and then comes a hiccup and have to stop completely because I am so reliant on the technology. If I always make sure I have a backup plan I can keep going with the lesson and not skip a beat. This is most effective in regards of keeping student interest.

I am not comfortable yet with adding new goals to my learning experience because I feel as though I am a long way from having it nailed down. I will continue to strengthen my skills thus far and continuously look for ways to collaborate.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

2010-04-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my GAME Plan that incorporates a Five Senses Unit for my kindergarten students that incorporates technology and collaborative online tools. I must say that not much has changed since my last blog post in regards to progress made. I don't necessarily believe this is a negative thing. I simply have been taking this last week to expose my students to some of the online tools we can use for this unit and am having great success keeping my students engaged.

My actions have been quite effective in meeting my goals because I am exposing my students to these new 21st century skills that they will soon be using on possibly a daily basis. Since my students are so young (kindergarten) I am only able to expose them to these such skills. I can also model and complete these activities as a whole group. My actions have been effective because I am just jumping right in and using every opportunity to try something new with this unit. I have taught this unit many times and I am finding that the students are really engaged when I am using the voicethread tool.

I am definitely able to let my students guide their own learning when it comes to cooperative learning groups and hands on activities in the classroom but it is a challenge for me to let my students try things on their in regards to using technology because they simply are not at an appropriate reading level and developmental level to have that capability.

My GAME Plan Progress

2010-03-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

This week I was able to make significant progress in planning for my Five Senses Unit because my Science kit arrived and I now have more resources available to begin teaching this unit to my kindergarten students. I have definitely been able to find the information and resources I need to teach this unit and integrate 21st century skills throughout. I am still on the search for a great virtual field trip that I can do with my students to use to introduce the unit or use as a means of completing the unit and tying it all together on their context.

At this point I do not feel as though I need to modify my action plan because I am finding what I need and I still feel as though my action plan will be effective and the students will be engaged. There is always room for improvement however and I am always looking for ways to improve a lesson or unit even if I have already started the instruction.

Throughout this process of creating a GAME Plan for my Five Senses unit I have learned that there is a world of resources out there but the challenge simply lies in locating them and making them practical and useful in the classroom especially with such young students like mine. That being said, I have definitely learned that even though I do teach young kindergarten students who are not yet independent readers and need a lot of modeling, they are really not too young to try most of the 21st century tools available. They may not be able to try them on their own but I can certainly expose them to these skills and utilize them in the whole group setting. I have learned that these young students are already used to using technology so they are incredibly engaged as soon as any technology is being used.

If anyone has any resources available for young students that would help me in improving a Five Senses unit, I would greatly appreciate and welcome your feedback and ideas!

Thanks!

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

2010-03-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

As I continue to explore strategies for integrating technology into my content area of instruction I must look at what resources I may need in order to expose my young kindergartners to the 21st century skills they need in the years to come. In order to carry out my GAME plan I am going to be utilizing a variety of technology tools in the classroom during the instruction portion of my "Five Senses" unit plan. I chose these resources because they were most relevant to and age appropriate for my young students. I am going to utilize and expose my students to using voicehtreads, PowerPoint, and my interactive whiteboard software for my visual and auditory learners. As important as it is for my students to have access to such technology and resources I also feel as though it is equally important for me to also provide "hands on" activities where my students are physically involved and touching. This will help to accommodate my tactile learners as well.

I have been able to gather the information that I need for this unit but am simply waiting for my science kit to arrive at my school this next week. Although I will be using the online tools and computer based resources for much of my lesson, I will still need the "hands on" resources that are included in the kit.

I have created a voicehthread account and have set up the foundations and organized my groups for this activity. I will be working with small groups at a time in order to expose them to this tool. We will be creating a class voicehthread about our five senses. I have also been able to located some of the pictures and sound effects I will need from my SMARTboard software file in order to do the sight and hearing portion of the lesson.

Any ideas as to how I can strengthen my unit with the use of mote technology is always greatly appreciated!

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

2010-03-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

As I develop my personal GAME plan I will be referencing two of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers.

Standards:
The first standard is that I will "design or adapt learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity". The second standard is that I will "model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments".

My GAME plan will include: Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation

Goals:
I am creating a unit centered around the "Five Senses" for my kindergarten students that incorporates technology. Because my students are very young and not yet independent readers, my goal is to teach them about the five senses while modeling the use of a variety of digital tools in order to engage them and enhance their learning. Another goal of mine throughout this unit will be to facilitate student collaboration while using technology and 21st century tools. Again, I will be doing a lot of modeling and simply exposing my students to these tools and how to utilize them because of the young age and developmental levels of my kindergarten students.

Action:
This unit plan will take action on my part and part of that will include careful selection of the tools in which I choose. I still have some thought to put into this unit and how I want to use the technology resources available but I am considering using voicethreads, virtual field trips and powerpoints to aid in student learning.

Monitoring:
Again, because if the young age and developmental level of my students I will not be able to assess and monitor their progress in a way that you could older students. My monitoring will have to be very informal and it may be simply having discussions in small groups and possibly even creating games on the interactive whiteboard that I can use to assess student learning.

Evaluation:
I am not completely certain at this time how I will evaluate my students on this unit but I am thinking about having a final product that we complete as a class or even in small groups since my students will not be able to do this on their own. Each student will be completing a "Science Notebook" on paper as a product but as for the technology portion, we will most likely be developing something together as a class in order to simply expose my students to the resources they will utilize in the future.

Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom - Reflection

2010-02-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

The most striking revelation I have had about teaching the new literacy skills to students is that most students, although highly proficient in many ways when it comes to the digital world, are in fact lacking the skills necessary to navigate the web and locate, evaluate, and synthesize information . It is my obligation as a teacher and educator of young people today to continue to educate myself and model appropriate and effective skills when it come to online inquiry. In my particular case, because I teach kindergarten, I simply need to model these skills and at least expose my students to many of the tools they will soon be using independently. This will be necessary to ensure my students have a solid foundation and they move along and learn further skills in navigating the resources available to then in the years to follow.

The professional goal that I would like to further pursue will be to basically continue to educate myself and practice more inquiry based exercises myself in order to further expose my students. I hope to find more ways in which I can expose even my youngest students to these tools. This is the best thing for these young students because they are not yet at a stage where they have the capacity to understand these inquiry based projects and work on them independently. I did really enjoy creating a screen cast project earlier in this course and hope to use that more often in my work. This is a very helpful tool for the older students but I can also use it to help my young students learn to navigate particular websites as well!
This course has been quite beneficial and I am excited to further my understanding of online inquiry in the classroom.

Evaluating Research Methods

2009-12-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

Having studied research and the variety of methods that can be used to conduct it I have concluded that the researcher could choose from a couple of different methods to conduct the same research in some cases. It is quite important however when deciding on what methods to use, the researcher takes the time to really make the best choices possible for what it is they are trying to discover. I think that the road in which the researcher decides to go down, greatly affects the outcome of the research and data.

The first scenario would be most conducive to a qualitative approach and this would be due to the fact that the students chosen for the research are participants of the mediation program already and so sampling is in a way already determined for the researcher. The point of the study is to determine through interviews with the participants if there are currently any concerns about the program. The subjects will be observed and interviewed so that the researcher can determine the true :feelings, beliefs, ideas, thoughts and actions" (McMillan and Schumacher, 2008, p.136)

The second scenario is a study that uses random sampling. This is most usually conducive to quantitative research methods. The fact that 2 classrooms are involved created less concern for individual influence in the data collection however it is a small enough size that the research can be ea sly managed.

The third scenario is a study where more than one method of research could be used simultaneously. By conducting interviews the researcher is creating a qualitative environment for research however, when the researcher deciphers between the group who had less referrals and their attitudes about the mediation group this would be more explanatory in design.

The fourth study requires a triangulation method of research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods would be used concurrently (Mc Millan and Schumacher, 2008). The quantitative data is effective to provide support for the research and the qualitative interviews are effective for providing the study with purposeful sampling and personal interaction.

references:
McMillan, J.H. & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (laureate custom education). Boston: Pearson.

Research Questions

2009-11-22T22:47:00.000-08:00

My problem statement is:

I want to learn whether or not K-5 students who are given technology based language arts interventions have a higher level of academic success than those students who receive traditional language arts interventions without the use of technology.Who: Kindergarten through Fifth Grade StudentsWhat: technology based language arts interventionsWhy: to discover whether technology based language arts interventions are more effective than traditional language arts interventions.

Some questions that I have in regards to my research topic are:
-How will I measure the academic success of both groups of students?
-What measure will I use to compare my data?
-Are there traditional language arts interventions that have been used that are more effective than technology based language arts interventions?
- How frequent and for how long are both groups of students receiving intervention time?
-Who is conducting the research and how large are the groups of students?
-Are both groups equally English speaking or English language learners?

My research problem will yield quantitative questions because I am dealing with the aspect of measuring academic success. As I have quickly learned in education, things are always changing and effective strategies, theories, and methods of how to teach best are constantly evolving. I am open to the idea that I may not necessarily come to a concrete conclusion as I explore the literature out there and the data in regards to technology based language arts intervention programs. I do however have a specific intervention program that I will be researching (Earobics) so I hope to conclude whether or not this particular intervention program is more beneficial than traditional intervention programs.

Technology Based Language Arts Intervention Programs Vs. Traditional Language Arts Intervention Programs

2009-11-15T23:37:00.000-08:00

As I first began this assignment my research topic was one that immediately popped into my head and was one that pertained directly to my role as a kindergarten teacher. I am extremely interested in the issue of retention in kindergarten and its effects on students in later years. It was easy for my to come up with the research topic, however, the challenge came when I was required to add a technology component to this area of study. As I searched for this link to marry the two topics, I discovered that I was breaking too far away from the topic that I was originally so passionate about and decided to search for a new topic for research. Well, this new path has led me again down a road that excites me and that I find quite interesting and relevant in this ever growing, technologically advanced time in education.

As an educator, it is important for me to be involved in programs that support my student’s learning and that are effective tools for student development. My school has recently adopted a technology based language arts intervention program designed for those students who are performing below their expected grade level benchmark. The program systematically teaches the critical phonological awareness, auditory processing, and introductory phonics skills required for learning to read and spell. It also develops general cognitive skills that support learning, such as attention and memory. In addition to addressing all of the previous skills, it also teaches language processing skills that are critical for extracting meaning from spoken language and written text.

This intervention program supports components of the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) act and I feel strongly that I should educate myself more on whether or not these programs indeed are effective and are making a large impact on the young students in my school.
I am looking forward to what I may discover about technology based language arts intervention programs and their role in student success.

Here is my problem statement:

I want to learn whether or not K-5 students who are given technology based language arts interventions have a higher level of academic success than those students who receive traditional language arts interventions without the use of technology.

Who: Kindergarten through Fifth Grade Students

What: technology based language arts interventions

Why: to discover whether technology based language arts interventions are more effective than traditional language arts interventions.

If anyone has any information or input on this topic of research or experience with language arts interventions, technology based or not, I would greatly appreciate your insight or suggestions in this area of study!

Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Relection

2009-11-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

Upon reflection of this course, I remember my first application and how it required me to explain what my personal theory of education was. I am also reminded of the feeling I had when I thought to myself that I do not really have just one theory. I have learned, however, throughout this course that it is suitable to combine several theories and create what I think is the best process of instruction and learning for my students and for me as a teacher. I feel confident in my theories and feel better equipped having learned about all of the theories behind how students learn and how I can better assist and facilitate for my students. I today’s classroom, access to various forms of technology and web tools is vital in order to prepare my students to become 21st century learners. Technology creates a very engaging environment that students are interested in and they feel more power to construct their own learning. Upon completion of this course I truly feel more educated on the different ways in which we learn and how to best accommodate for my students in these ways. I feel as thought the most important thing I can do as a teacher is to utilize as many resources as I have to engage students in a variety of ways using a combination of senses. One technology tool that has been introduced to me throughout this course was Virtual Field Trips. I instantaneously loved this tool and was completely unaware of its existence prior to this course. I love this tool and feel as though it is a great way to create visual and auditory representations of many experiences that we may not otherwise get to have. This is an especially helpful tool to use with young students such as my kindergarteners because they are instantly engaged when they see pictures and on top of that, sound. I use these field trips often and I show them on the class SMARTboard. This way it is not only engaging visual and auditory learners, but tactile learners too. I am also going to be sharing a virtual field trip idea with my team for learning about the first thanksgiving and the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people. For the first time we will all be utilizing this excellent tool and allowing our students to travel back to that time period and really experience what it may have been like for them. In addition to virtual field trips I really enjoy utilizing Voice Threads. Both of these tools allow students to be engaged visually and with their hearing. These tools both keep students engaged and they assist students in constructing their own learning.

Cooperative Learning

2009-10-11T22:20:00.000-07:00

Cooperative Learning is a vital tool to use in today’s 21st Century classroom. Now more than ever students have an increasingly higher role in collaboration than ever before because of the demands society places on students today. Cooperative Learning is a strategy that encourages small groups of students to work together on a particular task in order to maximize student potential meanwhile gaining positive social interaction. Through the uses of technology teachers can provides a variety of opportunities where cooperative learning can occur. This week we explored the world of utilizing VoiceThreads. What an incredible way for students to create and share their information while utilizing some of the most up to date technology out there. This technology is also not limited to just one classroom. Because it is web based it can be shared across the globe. This is definitely an excellent tool to be used even with very young students like my kindergartners. With guidance my students can teach other students how to build something or maybe put something in sequential order. This can be shared and other classrooms and they can teach us something in return. Just the mere fact that my students can see their images and hear their own voice instantly gets them engaged. I think it also shows students that they can be leaders and teachers as well. I do not always have to be the only one teaching. They can teach each other many things. Dr. Orey did state that “Teaching others helps the learner develop a deeper understanding of the content.” Orey 2008). This is so true and even my kindergartners can participate in this valuable experience.

My Voice Thread

2009-10-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.voicethread.com/share/661363/

Kindergarten Science Unit: Our Five Senses

Constructionist Theories and Technology in the Classroom

2009-10-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

The instructional strategies described in the resources that I explored this week definitely correlate with the principles of constructionist learning theories and this was supported in the text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Chapter 11 introduces a variety of instructional strategies that are technology based that in fact support constructionist learning theories such as tools for collecting data, spreadsheet software, and a repertoire of web resources. All of these tools help students generate and test their hypothesis. As students begin to generate and test their own hypothesis they are then able to participate in higher level thinking and are able to become problem solvers.
As I have learned this week, constructionist theories are all about having students constantly building and constructing things with their own hands and own ideas. Now students can actually still do that while utilizing some excellent technology resources. Chapter 11 also touches upon interactive spreadsheets, and ways in which students can collect data. All of these amazing tools allow students to get information quicker and more efficiently so that they can spend their time generating their own ideas and testing their hypothesis, discovering patterns, and analyzing data rather than spending most of their time just trying to enter in the information they need to get started. That can be a very tedious task and it can waste away precious time that students should be using to think critically and be exploring their own hypothesis.

Concept Mapping & Cognitive Learning Theory

2009-09-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

I find the study of Cognitive Learning so fascinating! Now I really understand how cognitive strategies are designed to help learners develop an awareness of how they think so as to improve understanding not just simply telling them what to think. The strategies linked to cognitive learning are very practical to utilize in the everyday classroom and make so much sense when I think of how I learn as well. As I was learning about "Elaboration" and how it is the primary mechanism for long term memory, I could relate to the fact that my students (just as I do) need to have those associations and connections that all link together in order to remember something. Everyone can relate to the feeling of "forgetting" or "blanking out" on something that we have already learned. I really was intrigued at the idea that I did not "forget" but simply forgot how to find my way to the connection of that memory of whatever it was. The General Lee concept map was a great example and a great way to illustrate the elaboration process.

I have been trained on "Thinking Maps" at my school which are along the same lines as concept mapping. They are simply visual ways in which students learn to organize their thoughts. "Thinking Maps are INCREDIBLE and can literally be used in ALL subjects. I use them everyday with my kindergartners and they can even tell you why we choose to use each map. They love them! This strategy of concept mapping correlates to the principles of cognitive learning because Dr. Orey mentioned that each idea that we have in our memory is linked to other memories and that images are better at helping people store information rather than just text. The Dual Codes Hypothesis that was referenced in the video links sight and smell to the primary mechanisms used for memory. When utilizing "Thinking Maps" students then have a visual representation and are linking ideas together that are forming strong connections. The more connections being made the more elaboration happens, thus those ideas enter into students' long term memory. If technology is then added to that mix (using my interactive SMARTboard with Thinking Maps"), now you not only are providing visual organization but you are integrating multiple senses as well and this will create successful information processing among your students.

Behaviorism in Practice

2009-09-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

I am going into my fourth year teaching Kindergarten and while I do implement strategies that incorporate many different theories of learning, I also use a variety of tools that would be considered behaviorist strategies. I am aware that many people argue that behaviorist theories are outdated in classrooms, however, I feel as though with a fine balance of learning theories implemented, there is indeed room for behaviorist strategies in the everyday classroom. Many teachers may not even recognize that they are using these strategies when they are. I, of course, am not implying that the behaviorist theory is the only way to go but that utilizing it at times can be quite effective.

My students are very young and are at the very beginning of their educational careers. In kindergarten they are learning, most often times, what behaviors are appropriate and inappropriate and quite simply the basic foundational skills for reading and math and norms for being a student and functioning member of the community. This is also a time for students to learn about positive reinforcement and consequence for the first time in a classroom setting as well. It is very important for me to be firm and consistent in my behaviorist methods because I am helping my students to become problem solvers, independent thinkers, and disciplined students for their future. If I do this well then then hopefully a students behavior will not interfere with his/her education down the road. Most of the time for my kindergartners it is more about boundaries and consistent routine more than anything else. If they do not learn these things in their first year of school they will have a harder time adjusting and feeling successful in the coming years.

In my classroom to reinforce "good character" with "character cash" as a way to reward students for making positive choices and or showing good character in class or an the playground. In addition I also use many systems where my students get immediate results from me in regards to their behavior and effort. In addition, I use a variety of verbal cues and musical cues for classroom management. This creates a very calm environment. As for technology and behaviorist strategies, we have a couple programs at my school that allow students to get remediation practice while access results immediately. We use Earobics as an intervention program for students who are below grade level benchmark in one or more areas. This is a computer program that reinforces foundational skills while allowing for drill practice and rem edition. The program is able to track all of the student's progress and rewards them with levels to pass and a way to move up in the game. The kids really enjoy it and always ask for more time to play.

Course Reflection

2009-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Upon reflection of the last several weeks in this course I have been able to really see how much I have really grown as a teacher and professional. This course has really helped me to develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher and I feel more confident about actually implementing more of these tools in my everyday classroom. This course has shown me how to actually navigate and utilize three of today’s most used tools on the web. I have been able to learn the process of creating blogs, wikis and podcasts and how to use them in my own class and how useful they can be in the 21st century classroom.
My knowledge of the teaching and learning process has deepened since the start of this course because I have come to the realization that students today have to learn an very new set of skills in order to become a successful member in this 21st century society. I had never been aware of how the learning and teaching process has really changed. I think that for teachers to be successful in teaching their students we have to understand what skills they need to be successful.
I have now changed my perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered and have realized the importance in this way of teaching. It is so important that our students get the most up to ate and relevant instruction and part of that is relating what they learn in the classroom to real life challenges they face in the world today. By creating a learner centered way of teaching the teacher becomes the facilitator and the students begin to take charge of their own learning. This will ultimately help the students as they enter the real world if they have been given the proper education and experiences. I am going to continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement by committing myself to the implementation and use of Web 2.0 tools in my daily classroom. I am also committing myself to stay focused on my Masters courses and get as much out of them as I can because I know they are going to prepare me to become the best teacher I can be and provide my students with a diverse and high quality education.

My Podcast

2009-06-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

I interviewed two students from my school to ask them what kinds of technologies they use at school and at home. I spoke with a kindergarten student and a first grader and discovered that use computers and Smartboards quite often in their daily classroom. The technologies that they use at home are mostly computers and video games.

Here is a link to my podcast:
http://jennycook.podomatic.com/entry/2009-06-07T15_41_41-07_00

The Partnership For 21st Century Skills

2009-05-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am quite excited to have been introduced to this excellent new resource. I really enjoyed exploring the website for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and find much of the information on this site helpful and insightful to educators of 21st century students. I especially liked how well stated their mission statement was and found that some key words stood out to me. "Every child in America needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century." The word leaders is a powerful word that I as as an educator need to take seriously. This website is a blessing to teachers who are dedicated to creating the leaders of tomorrow. It is powerful and encouraging that we do not have to stand alone in this. We have the power to seek help and work together with our communities and surrounding businesses. In addition, this site addresses the problem that "there is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces". This is so apparent in this time in society but we are now on the verge of vast improvements and resources. I look optimistically into the future of education and hope that educators, with the endless resources we now have, can provide all students with the highest quality education for the 21st century.

This website is incredibly user friendly and full of vital resources for educators to utilize in their own classrooms. I will definitely be visiting this website again and will spend some more time exploring the possibilities!

Kindergarten and Blogging...?

2009-05-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

I am quite new to blogging in general, especially in the classroom, but am quickly becoming a fan of this incredible tool. I teach kindergarten and and have been asking myself the question..."How do I incorporate the use of blogging in my classroom when my students are so young?" I have come to my own obvious conclusions considering the age of my students and the limitations I have when implementing some technologies in my daily classroom. Blogging is not a practical and or appropriate form of technology that I feel I should be using in my classroom and my students simply do not have the capacities for responding to classroom blogs yet.

With that being said...I am excited to incorporate blogging into the variety of ways I communicate with the parents and families of my students. I can now create a "Room 2" blog where I can make a post each day or every few days about what we are doing in class, important things for parents to know and any other information I would like to share with parents. This would be like a daily newsletter except that parents can now respond to my blog and give me their immediate feedback and or ideas. This will open up the lines of communication between myself and the parents, as well as the communication from parent to parent. They can all share parenting tips and other relevant information among each other while establishing friendships and creating a sense of family and community.

I am I like how our classroom blog will establish a two way road of communication rather than a one way road coming just from the teacher. I also think that educating parents on these technologies and making them easy and available will help them stay in touch with the resources and technologies that are out there that their children will have access to. If parents are able to use these resources or at least are familiar with them they may be more likely to monitor what their students are using.

I am extremely excited to get this going and to see how effective this tool can be!