Personal Learning Reflection

Stepping into this virtual classroom seven weeks ago, I came as a tabula rasa or “blank slate.” I knew that no matter what, I was going to leave with some very beneficial knowledge and most importantly, how to incorporate it in my future classroom. I was not disappointed, through weekly “meetings” I was provided with information on some new (at least, to me) technology, how to find it and how to use it; then, through discussions with my fellow classmates, I was provided with ways to effectively introduce them into the classroom so that my students would get the most benefit from them. Given the time constraints of this class (8 weeks) as well as the others in this series, I don’t we could’ve effectively or efficiently put more on our platter. I liked that we were given a tool, say the RSS feed, and allowed to play around with it for a week, finding our likes and dislikes and then having to set one up. This is important because as we learned with learning styles, no two students learn alike. Providing multiple options allows for greater success, lecture, reading, exploring and hands-on experience gives us the student, several avenues in which to find our learning “comfort zone.”
When integrating technology we, as teachers, must accommodate our students’ diverse learning styles. It is too much, I believe, to try and adjust our teaching style to all of our students. However, it is important to at least find a few that most can adapt to, especially hands-on learning and then perhaps, allow the students a variety of ways to assess their learning. That way, even if they learn just enough, they would be given more than one way to show what they learned. Also, teachers shouldn’t replace effective teaching with technology just for the sake of it. They should integrate technology to be a support for what they are learning, a means to show what they’ve learned and a way to demonstrate their knowledge. I think integrating the internet helped show us how valuable a tool technology can become. Especially when considering social media and its reliance on the internet to be effective. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all rely on the internet to connect their subscribers. Blogs are also an effective way to disseminate information, allowing discourse from as many people as you want to have; these discussions ranging from educational theory to book reviews, and even, to cake recipes.
I believe that, for me, all our assignments represented good teaching with technology. None really stood out from the others and I believe that is a reflection of good teaching within the course. I believe this because I feel that each assignment built on the one prior and that with each new assignment, we were given multiple options on how we could present our work. For me, I had heard about RSS feeds but I didn’t know what they were or how, if used properly, important they could become in a classroom setting. Creating a blog, using Twitter, using various other available social media allowed me to expand my knowledge base and provide me with ways to incorporate these tools into the classroom.
I believe that I have surpassed most, if not all, of my learning goals for this class. Knowing that I was coming in with very little knowledge made it all the easier for me to meet my goals. I learned about new technology, social media and how it can be used successfully in the classroom and further cemented my opinion that effective teaching can be supported with technology and that its use as well as social media, will make the world a lot easier to bring into our classrooms. Do I have any new goals? Yes, I do. I would love to continue to explore ways in which social media can be used in the classroom. I would love to learn about developing a class website that is safe, secure and available for my students and their parents. I would to learn how to use technology to create my own illustrations or models, for example: using tech to create a model animal cell, instead of having to rely on internet provided materials alone. Perhaps, another way to put it is to be able to technology to make myself more self reliant and able to create my own work. These are goals that I have for myself. I plan to continue my technological learning with continuing education classes, seminars and workshops once I have completed these classes. I believe that to be important because technology improves at such increasing rates, that if you don’t keep up, you’ll get left behind, quickly.

Current use of tech in my work in Education- Personal Tech Plan

For the past several years my use of technology in the realm of education has been limited to three fronts and in this post I will address all three.

The first front has been that of teacher working as student. In pursuit of my Master's and my teaching degree/certificate, I have been quite busy searching the internet, working with colleagues and instructors and reading up on current tech hardware and software. My classes, especially CEP 810, have been particularly useful in providing support in terms of social media, incorporating tech, like iPads, into the classroom; and how to accommodate the diverse community of learners we encounter in the classroom-all with technology. In my CEP 810 class alone, we are provided with proof that technology makes the world smaller as it includes students from various places across the planet. Without technology, this type of collaboration is extremely limited, if not impossible.

The second front is that of teacher using technology. For one glorious year, I had my own classroom, granted I was a long term sub but I taught 4th grade from October to June and was responsible for everything regular teachers had to do: lesson planning, conferences, grades/report cards, and everything else that was expected. The availability of tech, hardware or software, was quite limited in my building. Students had about an hour of computer time and it was quite often a waste of time. I take part of the blame for this because of my inexperience with technology was quite limited at the time so I let the tech teacher run the class. However, over the years, my experiences have grown exponentially, and again; I give credit to CEP 810 and my peers for opening my eyes to a wonderful world filled with tech, social media, glogs, blogs and websites. My potential students will benefit greatly from my growing pains.

The third and final front is my current situation, teacher working as a substitute. I have been working as a substitute for the past 5 years and with the exception of my first year in which I held a long term teaching position; I have worked in different schools all over Kent and Ionia County in western Michigan. The diversity of the buildings range from rural to urban, rich to poor, and large to small. As a sub, you find yourself in a different building, a different grade; each with differing levels of technology available. I have been in large districts with no tech in the classroom except for the teacher’s computer and small schools where each child in the classroom has “their own” ACER laptop with apps built in and are internet accessible. In other words, you work with what you have, and often you get to police what the regular teacher has planned and put in use. Quite often, the only tech that I get to use in the class is the ELMO, which is basically a high tech overhead projector. The few times that kids are using tech to work on a power point or other class project, my help isn’t often asked for; because, after all, I’m just a sub, what do I know? The other type of tech usually involves a “student run” television-style morning news program.

What does all that mean for me in the future? Well, I am still optimistic that I will find a teaching position before I have to retire. Secondly, my exposure to the classrooms and my awakening to the benefits of incorporating tech and social media into the classroom have only helped to make me a better teacher. Notice I said “incorporating tech” and not “replacing classroom instruction with.” My CEP classes, colleagues and my own personal experience have helped provide a solid foundation on which I can construct a classroom community built with the helpful benefits of technology.

Learning Styles & Strategies

Looking back at my learning experiences from K through 12 and upwards, I find that no one strategy was any more effective than the others. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it was perhaps a combination of styles and strategies provided my teachers/instructors. For instance, during my early elementary years, rote memorization, ancient-looking filmstrips/ movies and teacher centric instruction ruled the day with very little hands-on experience. Of course, back then we also had plenty of field trips to support material in class. Very little of this changed in junior high and high school, unless you took Chemistry, advanced Biology and a few other specialty classes. Here you were expected to get your “hands dirty,” so to speak as activities reinforced or ran concurrent with lecture.
I have found that I have a different learning style for each subject and that I struggle if needed to adapt a new strategy to a particular subject. For instance, take math. I am more of an active/sequential/visual learner who needs to see things worked out and explained step by step, perhaps several times before I feel comfortable trying a problem on my own. I would be totally lost, however, if asked to try a new style. This is my comfort zone and anything else just decreases the likelihood of my understanding the concept. With regards to the Montgomery/Groat article, I find myself identifying with Cluster 1. The primary learning style is dependent/participant/Competitive and the primary teaching style is Expert/Formal Authority, with a focus on exams/Grades emphasized, lectures with teacher centered questions, although I believe that students must be able to be an active participant in this or any other style of learning/teaching.
So what worked and what didn’t? This is what I found to be true in order for me to be successful. Teacher lead discussions with active student participation, a personable delivery that doesn’t lull the student to sleep, engaging supportive material: movies, movie clips, connecting material to real world applications/situations or “what if’s,” and instructors willing to take a different approach/perspective and even, incredibly, admit when they don’t know or have made a mistake. I find that that fallibility evens the landscape and helps the student better connect to the instructor. What didn’t work: bland, stale lectures, handouts without explanation, relevance or discussion, an authoritarian instructor who can never be challenged, no real world connections or hands-on experience. These strategies spelled out ultimate failure, yes I may have passed the class but my level of understanding was very low.
In order, for teachers and students to achieve the success that they want, balance must be created. For each learning style, there is a different teaching strategy. When you factor in, on average, 27 students in a classroom, a teacher must be adaptive. No one teacher is going to be able to reach that many students because each and everyone probably learns best with differing strategies. Perhaps the best teacher is a juggler, able to differentiate her teaching strategies based on the whole of their classroom. Experimenting and rotating how materials are presented and even more importantly, how students are assessed on their knowledge. The one year I taught fourth grade I gave my students options on how they could show me that they understood the material. For instance, in our unit on the “Anishnabeg or Three Tribes” I allowed my students to write a report (blah), create a diorama, make a poster, write a song, act out a skit that was related to one or all the tribes, or in a group, with some help from their parents, provide a small feast of foods that the tribes would have eaten. This assessment went better than I had expected as the children were extremely eager to show off what they had done. This project also helped the students with the required chapter test from the text, as each student showed at least a ½ grade bump in their scores. That I believe is the key, since we cannot possible employ all strategies at once, allow for different learning by changing up our teaching strategies and how we assess our students.

The boy and the birds by czech6 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This day at the beach, near Melbourne, Florida, started off cold and miserable. The kids were ready to give up and go to my Aunt's house but not before Connor found a flock of sea gulls innocently minding their own business.

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "Bravest Lion fan I know"


A picture taken of my brave daughter demonstrating her loyalty to the Detroit Lions on Nov.14, 2010. It was a beautiful day gone horribly awry, when the elements turned and she wasn't prepared!

05Nov09 ~ Place Value Game

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: Place Value Games
05Nov09 ~ Place Value Game, a photo by g_kat26 on Flickr.
Place Value Game by g_kat26 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

This picture shows a place value board/game which would be very useful when instructing elementary aged students place value. Place value seems to be an an abstract idea, that if not presented correctly or at least in a hands on fashion, is usually lost on younger students. As seen in this photo, units from ones up to the thousands are represented by cubes in a way that children will be able to easily grasp.


Via Flickr:
Some students playing during math class today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68776611@N04/

PC Maintenance & Security

Understanding How Malware Spreads

1.       Malware can be spread through email attachments, file sharing (P2P software), IM’s, unpatched Windows, unprotected systems and even by those who do not have any plans for security.

2.       The thing that surprised, though I suppose it seems obvious now, is that all those free software items that come in the mail or that appear in emails or websites, have spyware buried within that helps advertisers or may even corrupt your system.

Understanding the Threat of Rogue Anti-Spyware

1.       Rogue anti-spyware actually scans files for virus but reveals a “false-positive” for spyware. They then “fix” with junk files that actually weighs down/slows your system. There is a site “Spyware Warrior” that helps detect these rogue spyware files and how to beat them.

2.       The fact that we should all have more than one anti-spyware system operating but make sure that they are trustworthy and compatible.

Explaining Cookies

1.       There is a third type of cookie called a “tracking cookie.” This cookie creates security risks by working with advertisers to track where users go on the web and report their activity so that they can place ads on the sites that are visited.

2.       I never understood what a “cookie” was, other than the fact that I love choc. chip, peanut butter, snicker doodles and that I love to have a cold glass of milk when I eat them. Nope, cookies are small info files placed on a hard drive that is read by a website, most often a retail site. They let the website recognize you and keep track of what you do. There are 3 types, the third is mentioned above, Persistent, which stays on the hard drive and Session, which only stays on the drive for as long as you are on the site.

gtd share

First, I put pencil to paper and itemize a list of tasks that I need to complete. Next, I prioritize by ease and due date and then commit them to an online calendar that I can print off and have handy. I also save some items to my phone because it sends me audio reminders. Since I already use this common- sensical approach, it wasn’t that different from any other agendas I have built. I plan to continue using this approach because it allows me to focus my priorities much more clearly and allows me to get things accomplished without much stress.

Getting Things Done

I haven’t always been a planner, although I consider myself to be quite organized. However, as I get older I notice more and more that the better I plan the better organized and more I become at achieving my goals. I don’t that I have been a procrastinator but someone who looks at a list of tasks and organizes them first, by due date and second, by ease of task. The next step is to hope that a few tasks on my list sort of rise to the top of the third, mental list and I try to kill two birds with one stone. On several occasions, mostly due to unforeseen circumstances, I have waited to the last minute and that feeling of overwhelming dread surrounds me.

In David Allen’s Getting Things Done, he discusses 5 steps to help prevent becoming overwhelmed, overloaded, and overworked. The most important idea behind these steps is prioritization; the ability to know what task needs attention and when to begin another. His first stage is called:

Collect: this is the gathering of information about tasks that need to be completed. He stresses the importance of physical lists in order to prevent memory loss. When possible, I try to keep 2 lists: one a printed version on my refrigerator (thanks, mom!) and another, either stored on an online Cozi Calendar, FaceBook or on my phone. Either way my list of tasks is always handy.  

The second stage is Process: this is where decisions need to be made in order to act, so you must ask yourself: What is it? Is it actionable, does it need to be done now? If not, toss it or put it in a file for later. What is the next action? Will it take less than 2 minutes? Yes, do it. No, then: Defer or delegate.These questions help build a list of tasks that quickly become manageable.

The third stage is Organize: this is more of a sorting stage, where I am able to decide the importance of each task and prioritize accordingly. Here Allen provides task buckets: Projects: must finish, Calendar: tasks that are due at a particular time or date, Next Actions: tasks to be done ASAP and Waiting for: other tasks & projects that you’re supposed to do and care about

The fourth stage is Review: Allen advises to review your lists or check your buckets weekly to make sure each task in on target for completion.

The last stage is Do: here the implication is obvious. Make sure all your ducks are in a row and tackle each task as you have prioritized. Ask yourself the following questions and Allen says you will have greater success:

·         What can you do?

·         How much time do you have?

·         How much energy do you have?

·         What are your priorities?

Using these steps, both personally and professionally, may eventually lead to greater organizational capability and a stress free work environment.

Social Networks and Teaching

Social networks are becoming increasingly more useful in all settings, both personal and professional. Frrom a workplace/professional point of view, social networks can help teachers discuss ideas for units and lessons, teaching methods and how to create better avenues of communication between parents/students, teachers, and even administrators. However, caution must be exercised when creating a social network involving parents and students to make sure that private information is not put out for public consumption. Items that can be shared include assignments, both classroom and homework, their due dates and what's missing; social agendas, including field trips, speakers, classroom activities and parties. An art gallery can be created, grades can be posted. Anything that parents and teachers need to better effectively communicate and help their children can included. Personally, I think social networks are a great thing. I use several, including FaceBook and Twitter to keep in touch with family and friends that are scattered all over the world. They allow me to briefly check in when I don't have the time to email, call or gasp-write a letter. I can share everything from pictures to videos, to recipes and unit plans.
As for my peers and students, I don't see any fundamental differences between how I use social networks and how they use them. They are are used for socializing, communication, work and play. The only difference might be the percentage of time between work and play, but I'd imagine that no matter the age, it amounts to 50-50, with slight fluctuations depending on what particular assignment is due when.

Social Media

Social networks are an extremely effective form of communication. For me professionally, at the moment, they help me stay in touch with teachers for whom I have subbed for and have been asked back. I can actually see using a social network solely for the purpose of obtaining work until the day that I FINALLY get my own room. Once that happens, this tool can be used to help me grow professionally, keep in contact with fellow staff members, and communicate more effectively with both students and parents-setting up a classroom only FaceBook page for assignments, class activities and other important goings on. Personally, social networks allow to stay in contact with friends and family through either brief or full messages, posting videos and photographs, etc... Without breaking stride, it seems, I can switch back and forth between work (school, mostly) and FB and find out what's happening with friends all over the world.
Students use these networks for games and communication more than anything, which is just another distraction between them and their classwork, which is quite a drawback. Even though they are not supposed to have them in class, I notice many kids sneaking their phones out to text or play. This isn't the case for the majority of kids but it's enough to distract those who really need to be paying attention. I'm sure as time goes by, that tech will be readily available and lessons will be engaging enough that students will not jump at a chance to go off the rail. But even then, they will still need to be closely monitored.
As far as my peers, both subs and regular classroom teachers, are concerned; social networks allow the freedom to find new and creative ways for students to investigate and explore subject matter I have heard of teachers allowing students to create their own blogs and websites for book reviews, unit creation-where the kids gather their own "intel" and present material in groups as experts on any number of topics. Social networks, as I have already explained, are also effective forms of classroom communication, allowing freer access to happenings in the classroom, student behaviors and academic performance. 

RSS Page Reflection

     For this assignment I have chosen to add 3 web page feeds and 1 blog. I chose EduTech because it is university linked, supported and connected to the MAET program. It not only provides current tech postings but links and ideas associated with this program. I chose eLearning because it provides updates, links to useful tech ideas and programs that should help me will this class and the ones that follow. I chose the NCTE site because of its focus on literacy education, something that I consider a weak subject matter. Lastly, I chose Tony Bates’ blog because after reading several articles and clicking on many links, I found his blog to provide readers with many helpful articles, posts and links.



Here is my first screen dump showing all the required feeds except for Tech and Learning, a site that refused to cooperate-anyone who had success with this site is welcome to share how they succeeded. It also includes my 4 new feeds.

     This screen dump includes comments I made on an article entitled, "the New normal?" The author discusses what the ideal or "normal" form of education may have to be re-configured as other options to standard practices begin to emerge, like: vocational/tech only programs, eLearning, home schooling and other alternative means begin to gain more traction.It discusses how students become disenfranchised and de-valued in a process that is suppoesed to benefit them.
     One thing I've discovered about RSS feeds is that no matter how often you check the feeds, you still find yourself waiting for a post and/or comment. I have have checked on several of my feeds and especially articles that I liked only to find that I have been the last person to comment. While other sites, such as NPR, CNN and perhaps even ESPN are news sites that have articles that hit many times and shared on Twiiter, Facebook, etc...Their feeds are suspect to the everyday man who posts to create controversy, show off their education or lack of; posts come from all people and despite safeguards, that are hurtful, rascist, and ignorant.
     It amazes me that through these feeds, people are able to share information towards a common goal and that despite delays in the sharing process, help speed up the overall process. The sharing of ideasacross the internet enables people of all professions communicate in a manner that will help improve the human condition, with ideas on surgical techniques to teaching models to better ways to incorporate social media and other technologies into the educational process.
     I myself have learned through the article, "The New Normal."My experiences teaching and subbing has definitely shown me that children do not all learn the same way. This article explains that perhaps it's because the material is not relevant to their home life, maybe work is more valued than education. More and more students are engaging in home schooling and vocational ed and eLearning. How schools adapt to these significant changes will help determine their future success and relevance.
     I can definitely see adding RSS feeds as part of my weekly planning. Groups can be formed based on the core subjects, specialized interest groups where "experts" would share their info with the class, or even setting up a feed based on a social ill/disease and then turned into a community activity or service learning. Instead of me being the focal point of they're education, the students would be handed the reins and asked to lead with me providing support.

Updates

After what seemed like endless hours and days, I have officially added a calendar to my blog. It looks pretty infantile and it gave me no parameters to change in hopes of making it look nicer. On the positive side, I have joined Aubrey's blog and extended invitations to the first of many classmates. I have also added 2 links: Dept. of Ed and an educational tech link~hopefully they will be helpful!