Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Class Reflections

In what ways have you grown as a professional while taking this course? How can you use the knowledge gained to increase your leadership within the corporation?

Each new task set before me I hope that I learn new skills to help me be a better person and employee.  I have learned that there are a lot of different applications and means to using computers for staff and students.  Taking the time to research and play with many of them is the key, I will have to spend many hours outside of the classroom just playing and proding to see what works for me.

This class has shown me a lot of resources that I can explore.  Of course professionally this class helped me share these resources with my staff and students if I found that they applied to a conversation or assignment.  
I learned about this course through our adminstration's email and offerings, I recieived professional points for it along with my principals support.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

My Footprint on Land and Internet Sea

I was asked to reflect on my digital footprint, but I had to ask how have I impacted myself, family, friends, coworkers, students, community members and the random people who by accident come across my energy.

First, I Googled my name. Well that is limited by which name you place in.  Since I am a woman I have changed my name each time that I have married.  So any footprint I may have had 1962-1984 is limited. Little or none can be found unless it is on a social media on Throw Back Thursday postings. Once I became employed as a teacher that is where my digital steps can be followed. Each degree, each teaching certificate, each school I have taught at, and then any professional articles or videos are clearly imprinted for all to see.  
Second, is deciding if the steps people view are positive or not.  Who is to decide that, me or society.  Given I am a servent of the public education system my hope  is always to have positive posts and connections to be read.
Thirdly, what role do we play as educators to help promote students to think about their expressions on line is the next step to address.  Walking the talk of a citizen who is proactive to helping society through all actions is key.  As a teacher, show how much the internet is used to reserarch people for employment.  As a parent or tax payer, expain how you are just like your students parents and relatives and give them real life connections to latch on to so it becomes real. As a community member, show how data and information can help them become more informed and involved in helping their community. 

We are all part of the infromational ebb and flow of the internet.  Since our society has chosen to collect data in a variety of ways and areas, we can only hope to try to understand how or why this data is collected and when it can and will be used. The morals and ethics needed for any society have to be taught at a very young age.  No matter verbal or written, these ethics are real and positive.  Giving people lifevests and a safety checklist will help them navigate their foodprints throughout the waves of the internet sea.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Susie spent hours collecting and curating resources for her upcoming unit on cells. She is able to successfully use much of what she has found when implementing her plans.


The following year, when it is time to begin the unit on cells again, Susie forgets about the resources she curated. She essentially starts from scratch, performing the task of searching, saving, and sorting once again.


Create a plan or provide suggestions for ways to make your curated resources a regular part of your planning.
Here are the steps I would do to help keep resouces available and growing over time,

Step one:
introduction of resources, paper reference page to be available in hand, PDF on line as well

Step two: 
use more than one online tool such as Google,  symbaloo.com,  or check out this site http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/12/15-tools-to-help-students-with.html#.U3tisfldWBU


Step three: 
back up resources on line and on an external drive daily, weekly or monthly 

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Daniel Pink has a presentaion on TED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y about how we motivate humans to work.
Although he is speaking about business productivity, consider how his points could apply to education.  
Good grades mean more job opportunities, more scholarships, more personal fame, but does that system create thinkers.
I agree with him, nessesity produces results. Doing a task or skill for the joy of it, the purpose of it beyon just money is what humanity might be missing.


How might you incorporate autonomy, mastery, and purpose into your professional situation? 

  Personally, as a teacher I have set hours of teaching in the classroom, to help my time in the room, I seek information to ehnance that experience.  Finding things that will make it more interesting or real life for me and the students.  If an actitivity or resource makes sense I introduce it, the hope is that it will remembered and used when needed by the students.


Choose a particular area and identify a specific way you could increase motivation using Pink's ideas

As a teacher I try to have students choose the homework they wish to do to support the class unit. They have 2 weeks to get this done in, they can hand it in anytime before the due date.  I find that I get more at home applications of my subject with this Choice Work method of homework.


Monday, March 31, 2014

After viewing a lesson on http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php 

1. Where would you rate yourself in each area?
Levels of Technology Integration into the Curriculum

Entry

Adoption

Adaptation

Infusion

Transformation

Active

Students are actively engaged in using technology as a tool rather than passively receiving information from the technology.

Information passively received

Conventional, procedural use of tools

Conventional independent use of tools; some student choice and exploration

Choice of tools and regular, self-directed use

Extensive and unconventional use of tools

Collaborative

Students use technology tools to collaborate with others rather than working individually at all times.

Individual student use of tools

Collaborative use of tools in conventional ways.

Collaborative use of tools; some student choice and exploration

Choice of tools and regular use for collaboration

Collaboration with peers and outside resources in ways not possible without technology

Constructive

Students use technology tools to connect new information to their prior knowledge rather than to passively receive information.

Information delivered to students

Guided, conventional use for building knowledge

Independent use for building knowledge; some student choice and exploration

Choice and regular use for building knowledge

Extensive and unconventional use of technology tools to build knowledge

Authentic

Students use technology tools to link learning activities to the world beyond the instructional setting rather than working on decontextualized assignments.

Use unrelated to the world outside of the instructional setting

Guided use in activities with some meaningful context

Independent use in activities connected to students' lives; some student choice and exploration

Choice of tools and regular use in meaningful activities

Innovative use for higher order learning activities in a local or global context

Goal Directed

Students use technology tools to set goals, plan activities, monitor progress, and evaluate results rather than simply completing assignments without reflection.

Directions given, step-by-step task monitoring

Conventional and procedural use of tools to plan or monitor

Purposeful use of tools to plan and monitor; some student choice and exploration

Flexible and seamless use of tools to plan and monitor

Extensive and higher order use of tools to plan and monitor

Charaactristics of the Learning Environment  areas my teaching is only at the Entry Level or Adoption Levels.  Individually there are a few opportunities to go farther, but with liminted technology few students get that far.

2. Where do you think you could reasonably be at the end of the next grading period? 
I think I can bring in more experiences where students can adapt more. Since this is the first year teaching this age level and subject, I can adjust my "Choice Work" to include more areas of the Rubric based on what technology our school has and the student has at home.  
3. What steps will you need to take in order to make the growth happen?
I think I can write a small grant, apply for more technology in my room and also compile some existing resouces to reinvent my "Choice Work " page so that more technology can be intergrated.