Educ 630. Blog 4

As a kindergarten teacher I am constantly looking up resources to help me strengthen my instructional delievery and improve the academic levels of my students.  The web based resources below have been extremely helpful in this process for a number of reasons; not just for kindergarten but for various grade levels.

www.readingz-z.com

This website is useful to me because it is a great extension to the literacy program that we have implemented at my school.  This website provides numerous resources to help enhance the reading skills of my students, and that is especially important in kindergarten. There is a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books, worksheets, benchmark books for each level, comprehension quizzes, and lesson plans.  This website is useful for teachers to facilitate direct instruction to their students because the lesson plans are available. All of these things are a great resource to help build the literacy skills of students.

www.abcteach.com

This website is useful to me because it has a variety of tools that can be used to generate worksheets, activities, workbooks, wall décor, etc.  All of these things save plenty of time in my classroom because more time is spent on instruction rather than trying to plan out worksheets and activities from scratch.  Also this website includes all core subject areas and that makes it where educators don’t have to go to a variety of websites to generate worksheets on different subject areas.

www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids

This website is useful to me because it allows me to incorporate technology into my classroom.  This website offers a lot of information on science, science inquiry and social studies.  This website has been incorporated into my lessons that were themed around countries, animals, living environments for animals, etc.  This website is great because it shows real life photos, videos, games and activities about every category offered in the kids national geographic.

www.kidslearningstation.com

This website is useful to me because it has a variety of tracing activities for students among other things.  This is a great resource for kindergarten and preschool teachers because students in these grade levels are just learning the handwriting skills and tracing will help them learn how to correctly form letters.  This website not only offers numerous tracing activities, but also activities about numbers, shapes, colors, math, phonics, etc. 

www.atozteacherstuff.com

This website is useful to me because it offers great free printables for all subject areas. This website can incorporate all learning styles due  to the variety of material offered in each subject area.  The activities from this website have been used in my classroom all year round.  The search options are very useful because they allow the teacher to search for material by grade level and subject.  The printables from this website include activities, craft ideas, worksheets and flipbooks.  These are all very useful printables, especially in my kindergarten classroom because the students need manipulatives and activities to help reinforce their learning.

educ 630: blog 3

How do you personally view your learning and the use of "presentations" - what works for you as a learner?

I have always been a very visual learner.  I love to be engaged in my instructional activities.  Therefore presentation give me the motivation and incentives I need to learn.  Often times when I do not find material to be interesting, presentations allow me to still become engaged with the material that is to be taught.  The use of graphics, text, pictures, graphs, audio, etc, all add to the learning environment for me and enhance my ability to learn.

I know that as a visual learner, I can use my other modes of learning but I learn most from visual aides.  When given information in a lecture or auditory format, I take that information and put it into a graph, spreadsheet or draw pictures cues beside the information, etc.  These things allow for me to make a visual connection between any types of information that are not given in a visual aspect.

In my classroom I also capitalize on the use of presentation because I know that kindergarten students work best when they can manipulate information and the material is presented in a visual format.  This can often be seen through the use of a Smart Board because the lessons are typically presented in an interactive fomat.  Presentation software can be used for numerous purposes but it can add to any instructional enviornment when the students are able to become more engaged in the learning process.

Educ 630: Blog 2

Blog 2 Topic

Please reflect on the following question in your blog:

Reflect on your own participation in online communities (where do you go? what do you do? what does your family do?)

If I can recall correctly I was introduced to my first online community in 2005.  I was a freshman in college and became a member of facebook.  It was through facebook that I stayed connected with some friends and family members.  Facebook was also a way for me to meet new friends that shared similiar interests, went to my college or were from my hometown.  I was constantly on facebook talking with others, viewing their posts and posting my own post.  I was truly convinced that facebook was a great means to stay connected to people; even so much so that it became addicting.

Currently,I have family members that are members of facebook as well.  Facebook has become a widespread social network that is used an an online community.  I also have family members that are on twitter and myspace as well.  Due to courses at Liberty, I have also joined the Skype community to participate in group projects.  Family members of mine use Skype as well but they use it more for social purposes; especially some of family members that have loved ones in the military overseas.  Overall I feel that online communities are used alot in my family, and moreso for social purposes.

educ 630: Blog 1

If you are currently a classroom teacher, please reflect on the nature of technology adoption in schools. Are there barriers in your school? Teacher-related? Resource related? Is there anything that can be done? If you are not currently in the classroom, please take an armchair quarterback approach here and judge local school districts, local educational institutions, etc.

I am currently a kindergarten teacher.  This is my second year teaching.  In my school district there is a constant push towards technology integration in the classroom.  Even at the kindergarten level my students are being introduced to a variety of technology forms, especially due to the new Common Core Standards that our district adopted this year.  My students are now learning how to type on microsoft word, explore microsoft paint and do simple searches online to complete research projects.  I feel that all of these things are helping to build a foundation for my students in technology education.

On a school level there are still barriers in technology.  The teachers are not all adequately informed about various modes of technology that can be implemented into the classroom.  There may be brief mentions of technology integration concepts and ideas but there are not any guides to help the teachers implement the technology in such a way that the students are can obtain the most from the lessons and the material also be relevant.  There is also a shortage of resources because a lot of the technology resources in our school are shared.

In order for things to change for the positive my school district needs to establish more professional development sessions where teachers are trained on various technology resources.  Also we need more grants or technology resources in the classroom and in the school as a whole

Assessment in Online Education

Mobile education and online education are two recurring systems that are of high interest in the field of education.  It is often shown that educators are not completely sure how they should implement mobile devices and adequate assessments into their curriculum.  Rocco (2009) states that assessments and evaluations in an online program often have challenges with the development of the rubrics.  Seeing that the classes are taking place at a distance, it is essential that instructors make clear and precise expectations when they are developing their rubrics by which they will assess the students. 

As mentioned in the quote, the issue of cheating is always one of the major issues with online assessments.  At one point there was talk at a few universities of requiring students to have a registered webcam device that would record the students taking assessments.  This would give the universities proof as to ensuring that the actual student is the one taking the assessment and doing so according to the classroom stipulations. 

Buchanan (2008) states that evidence exists that Web-based versions of tests may not always measure the same constructs as their traditional antecedents. This also presents to instructors that they must develop assessments in such a way that accurately measures the progress of students just as well as in a traditional classroom setting.

No matter if assessments take place in an online educational setting, through the use of mobile education or online education, there is a need to ensure that the overall assessment is relevant to the students and can show a demonstration of their ability to comprehend the course material, not just recall facts.  Robles (2009) states that online assessment must measure both learning objectives and application of knowledge.

 Many current assessment techniques can be modified for online use.  It is an important factor that the assessment is of great value to assess the objective mastery.  Therefore by allowing students to place all of their work in one central location, that give the student, as well as the instructor, a better ability to assess the students and determine their academic gains, in respect to their educational community.

Buchanan, T. (2008). Online  Aassessment: Desirable or Dangerous? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 33 (2). 148-154.

Robles, M. (2009).  Assessment Techniques.  Delta Pi Epsilon Journal. 44 (1).  39-49.

Rocco, S. (2009).  Online Assessment and Evaluation.  New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education.  113. 75-86.

 Select one learning, distance education, Briefly summarize the distinctives of your chosen theory. You may choose one or two. Then, summarize the key strengths (or usefulness) and weaknesses (or non- usefulness) of the theory for online or mobile course development.Your discussion of strengths and weaknesses may focus upon a specific population of your choice (i.e. third grade students, university undergraduates, adult learners, etc.); the discussion should be based in research. Then, identify how you might practically apply this theory in distance education course development, or how the theory may serve as a foundation to your distance education course development

The distance education theory that I researched had a lot to do with the negative views on distance educaiton.  The theory emphasized that distance education is simply a hodgepodge of ideas and practices taken from traditional classroom settings and imposed on learners who just happen to be separated physically from an instructor.  The theory also focuses on the quality of learning that takes places in a distance education program in comparison to a traditional classroom setting.  To adult learners this theory could play a major inpact on their thoughts towards distance education because a lot of employers have prejudices towards distance education and base some of their employment decisions off of these ideas.  This also plays a factor because this view could discourage those potential students that are interested in distance education.

This theory is a strength towards online course development because it challenges educators to push the bar and differentiate their instruction in such ways that they meet the needs of all of their students.  This could also challenge the potential students to research more about educational institutions and make the educational choices that best fit their educational needs.  A weakness is that the discouragement in this theory could cause some instructors to not care as much as they should when it comes to accomodating lessons and implementing instructional practices.  Therefore the quality of educational experiences would be limited for the students. 

In distance education course development I would apply this theory when it came to developing my overall curriculum.  This is important because I would have to be able to understand this theory in order to establish my curriculum built on frameworks, standards and course guides.  By doing these things I would be able to ensure that my distance education course is structured in such a way that it does not diminish the educational experience through the distance course, but rather the experiences are just as filling, if not moreso, than a traditional classroom experience.

Anthony Ch 10. Hall Ch 6

This weeks reading in the Anthony text was interesting to me because it presented information to me that had never entered my thought process.  One thing that stood out to me was the infomation about how school districts evaluate software and determine what products they will use in their schools.  It was interesting because technology use is being pushed so hard in the classrooms that school districts often put in place new software that is engaging to the learners and opens them up to a variety of technological skills. 

At times it is difficult for school districts to implement new hardware and sofware programs becacuse of cost issues that are associated with the enhancements.  Therefore school districts have to allow certain funds to go towards their technological advances and still maintain budget for their other departments.  It was interesting when the book mentioned that large urban school districts will often not change hardware manufacturers even if better performing software is available or if its less expensive; this is due to them not wanting to change or convert the software.  This makes me wonder where do the interests of these school districts lie?  Seeing that they are willing to not upgrade systems for better performance, how can they offer the best to their students when choosing cost over quality instruction?

Another thing that stood out to me was the mentioning of the evaluation of hardware for instructional applications.  I think the fact that school districts allow teachers and schools to have flexibility when choosing the types of hardware to use in their classrooms.  This is beneficial to the teachers because they can choose hardware that they are familiar with and that will help to maximize the learning that is taking place. 

The Hall text really broke down how reflection of assessments and material can contribute to effective growth.  It is vital that people understand how they are performing and what areas of strength and weakness need to be addressed.  As a teacher, I related the Professional Growth Plan to Long Range Plans.  I am currently going through my Adept, Safe-T formal evaluation process and I have to complete my long range plans.  Similiar to the Professional Growth Plan, goals must be outlined, areas of growth must be stated and numerous other things.  I think that the ability to accecpt constructive criticism and use it as a source of reflection to help evaluate performance; it helps to develop strong leaders that can contribute to a team or a to an organization.