Assignment 4

It was a lot of fun creating the different parts of my project. I didn't run into any major issues during the creation process except for a minor program error here and there. I feel like I have a better base of knowledge for when I work with similar technologies in the future. I would love to use my website when I have a class of my own one day. I can easily add, remove, and organize information that is helpful to my students and their parents. This class website encourages students to organize and retrieve school information online responsibly (NETS 3, 5-6). Students might also have the opportunity to create and publish their own presentations or make their own educational games for themselves and their peers to play (NETS 1-2). As a teacher, I was able to think creatively when designing and adding content to my custom educational game and hopefully actively engage my students (NETS 1-2). I gained experience working with different technologies (NETS 3) and citing borrowed sources on my website (NETS 4).

Weebly

• Add text, links, pictures/clip art, and new pages (and subpages).
  
• Subdivide a page into two columns.
• Publish it online.
  

Zoho Show

• Add text, pictures/clip art, and shapes.
• Resize objects.
• Size selection of presentation window.
  
• Publish and embed it online in a website.
  

Classtools.net

• Create a game.
• Customize it with own text.
  
• Embed it in a website online.
  

Website: Class Website
Introductory presentation is on the main page. Custom educational game is on the "Health" page.

Technology Project Plan

I will be creating a class website on Weebly that will include a teacher bio, contact information, class news and events, homework, unit content for upcoming weeks, and helpful resources for students and parents. On my website I will also be incorporating a fun flash presentation from Zoho Show that introduces the school year and what can be expected in my class. In addition, I am working on an educational game I will create using Classtools.net and which can be featured on the class website. This project is practical yet I want it to be fun and engaging. I want to gain experience creating online presentations and games that I can easily share with students and parents. When I have a class of my own I will hopefully be able to create and share games that quiz students on curriculum content and help reinforce what they've learned. Online presentations have the potential to get students excited for an upcoming project or school event and it seems like it would not be a tedious task to create one. I'm really looking forward to working on this project!

My Podcast

Resources: Weebly.com, Show.zoho.com, Classtools.net

Assignment #3

Amber and I designed our toolbox of resources to be organized by subject (or alphabetically) for user-friendly purposes. If a teacher is looking for some help in a particular area they only need to look at the links under the particular subject they are interested in. We chose to integrate our resources as a part of our class blogs because of the practicality of it and because it could be easily transferred to a class website in the future. Below are three websites that I chose and have reviewed.

Starfall is an excellent literacy resource for teachers to share with their students and integrate into the classroom. It has activities for every level of beginning reading with a specific focus on phonics. I would use it as a special privilege for students who demonstrated excellent focus on learning and made a positive contribution to the class community.

The Interactive Weather Forecast is an excellent resource for students to create their own 5-day forecast. Students can work in groups to create a forecast based on their own predictions or local news station forecasts. Students can act as "weather forecasters" and make a report at the beginning of class. This website is especially useful because you can save your forecast and the website will give you a code to be able to return to it at a later time. Your forecast can be very simple or extremely detailed depending on the age group you are working with.

These ready made Smartboard lessons are organized by grade level and target subject area. It's excellent for substitutes or teachers who don't have a ton of extra time to create their own Smartboard lessons from scratch. Some of the lessons are focused on a specific piece of literature but most are more general and could be easily integrated into a school's curriculum.

Assignment #2

Students

Creativity and Innovation

The Sound Buttons game allows students to demonstrate their creativity by being able to create words through the computer and apply what they know to their work. Students can also work together in small groups to create words. For instance, the first student may select the beginning phoneme, the second student can select the medial phoneme, and the last student might choose the ending phoneme. It will require communication and cooperation between students to create a word that makes sense.

Communication and Collaboration

Students can work together to make words and change parts of words to make new words. Working together on this game will require students to communicate and interact with one another and students will have to contribute ideas in order for the group effort to truly be accomplished. This idea is strongly connected to the first standard because the students who work in groups will need to work creatively and cooperatively.

Technology Operations and Concepts

By interacting with this online computer game, students will be able to demonstrate their basic understanding of computers and can apply their previous knowledge of how computer games typically work. A working knowledge of how the SMART board functions and how the pen and shape tools work will also need to be learned if not already known.



Teachers

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers can use this activity to engage students in their learning of phonemes and their location, and encourage students to actively think about elements such as isolation and substitution of the different phonemes that make up a word. By introducing this activity into their class lesson, teachers push students to learn through creating and changing words independently and collaboratively with their classmates.

Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

By using this activity on a SMART board or Activboard, teachers are not only incorporating the interactive board as a technological tool in the classroom, but also utilizing internet resources. This activity can also be customized to be challenging for all students depending on their level of need. Students who need more of a challenge could be asked to circle the medial vowel phoneme, whereas those who are having a more difficult time might be asked to only circle the beginning phoneme, which is more prominent and easier to recognize.

Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

During this activity, teachers will need to have a working knowledge of how to use the pen and shape tools on the SMART board. They will also have to be able to easily move objects around on the screen, and model and teach this skill to students unfamiliar with the SMART board. The way in which they communicate how the game functions and the content of the lesson will also need to be very clear and depends in part on the teacher's interaction with the SMART board and their presentation.

Activity: Sound Buttons Game Students are asked to create their own words independently and then collaboratively in groups of 3-4. Each student will take turns circling the beginning or ending phoneme and create a box around the medial vowel or consonant phoneme. The teacher can prompt students where they might need support and suggest words that would be more challenging for them.



The SMART board brings so many exciting possibilities to the classroom setting. It provides opportunities for students to be actively engaged in their learning. Students can physically interact with the board, solving problems or creating examples, all while demonstrating what they have learned. Teachers can easily model an activity for their class or bring up video or sound clips to integrate into their lessons. Teachers can create their own games or pull up any number of activities that are readily available on the World Wide Web. The SMART board also enhances students’ presentations making them more exciting for the rest of the class and more likely that the students will remain tuned in to the content that is being presented. The SMART board utilizes many tools and delves into the various visual, auditory, and kinesthetic areas making it the ideal teaching tool to make for an effective learning experience for students of all learning styles. I enthusiastically anticipate the opportunity to use the SMART board in my own classroom and explore the many ways that it can best enhance my students’ learning!

Assignment #1

Article Reflection

I found an interesting article through the Education Research Complete database about the use of SMART boards in the classroom in the context of kindergarten science. The article talked about what a SMART Board is and the many practical ways in which it can be used in the classroom. The SMART Board can be used to interact with pre-recorded sounds, participate in educational activities, watch simulations, and write and save notes or drawings. Students' work can also be displayed or presented via a SMART Board for greater efficiency or effectiveness. The large screen and interactive nature of the SMART Board appeal to elementary students and allows them to be engaged with the lessons because of the opportunity to be involved and use their visual and kinesthetic learning skills. This article gave some examples of how a SMART Board can be used in a primary elementary classroom. The example class used the SMART Board to present step-by-step instructions on a Powerpoint, record results of classroom investigations, conduct mini experiments, and allow students to work with grouping or classifying objects on the SMART Board screen. I learned that there are a variety of ways in which one can use the SMART Board to enhance class learning and the key is to branch out into these new opportunities and learn how to use the SMART Board to one's advantage.

Credit: Use of SMART Boards for teaching, learning and assessment in kindergarten science by Chris Preston and Lee Mowbray

Teaching Science - the Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association; Jun2008, Vol. 54 Issue 2, p50-53, 4p



NETS for Teachers

The NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) that I want to focus on as a teacher is #5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. What this means to me is that I will continue my own learning, specifically about teaching and how I can integrate technology into my teaching. I plan to learn from others in the educational field, participate in the learning community, evaluate tools and resources that I might use in the classroom, and teach others by sharing the information and insight that I gain. I feel that this standard in particular is important for myself and my future class because it is the building of a foundation for my lesson plans and will in part reflect how engaging and effective my teaching will be.

My plan on how I will focus on this area is as follows...

Read educator blogs.

Research and evaluate valuable tools and resources that will be useful to me in teaching.

Create an organized, categorized list of available tools and resources.

Ask experienced teachers for tips and advice.

Share what I learn on this blog so that others might find it useful for their own teaching.



NETS for Students

The NETS for Students that I have chosen to focus on is #2 Communication and Collaboration. This standard involves using technology to learn both individually and in groups, using a variety of technological tools and resources in projects, communicating or presenting information using technology, interacting with students from other cultures, and participating in group projects and activities. This standard is particularly important for the students I will be working with because the skills they will be applying and practicing now will be used throughout their educational career, and onward into their professional career. I can incorporate this standard into my classroom in several ways:

Use wikis to allow students to sign up for group projects.

Provide the SMART Board for student presentations.

Let students research and briefly teach their classmates a new skill or information relevant to the curriculum through the use of audio clips, video clips, and the SMART Board.

Work with students to create an educational class podcast or video that other classrooms around the world can view.

Give students the opportunity to write a collaborative class letter to another class in a different part of the world.

Provide a way for my class to work collaboratively with a class from a different country on a long-term project.

Allow students to submit entries relevant to the unit theme to the class blog that students may be able to access at home or from the library.