Describe the most striking revelation you had about the teaching of new literacy skills to your students as a result of this course.
This course has been a real eye opener for me. I really wish that I took this course first. I have learned a lot of valuable information to use in the classroom. I was not formerly taught to use the internet and relied on my prior reading skills to help me along. This is not acceptable for students or even teachers. The literacy skills will allow the students to utilize the the 21st century skills and decipher reliable and non reliable sources. The literacy skills allow the students to think and solve problems, while using the internet sources

Describe how the knowledge and experience gained in this course will influence your teaching practices going forward.
I am going to start teaching ancient Greece in January and plan to have a research project on Greece. I will use the the literacy skills taught from this course and from the unit that I created based on the literacy skills.

Identify at least one professional development goal you would like to pursue that builds upon your learning in this course and develops your own information literacy or technology skills. Describe the steps you will take to accomplish this goal
I have found that the students have not been taught how to properly use the internet as a source, just as, many teachers, including myself have not been properly taught. The amount of time to teach the students concerns me a lot. There is a lot of content that must be taught and although many of the literacy skills partner up with the California Content Standards, they are extremely time consuming. My ultimate goal is to have the entire staff teaching these literacy skills. I am starting to work with our computer teacher and principal and other staff members to incorporate the skills into the computer classes. Unfortunately, the computer teacher has archaic computers and not all students take computer classes. In order to have the entire staff use the literacy skills teacher inservices or training must occur. Our district computer tech could teach the staff. 21st century skills must be taught and the literacy skills give the students the necessary tools to be successful.

Final Reflection 6711
I believe that Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences fits my beliefs in education. I believe that students need information delivered in different manners, depending on their learning style. As a teacher, I use a variety of techniques to allow all the students to learn. I have not changed my view of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences; however, from this course, I have added some great technology resources to help with the different learning styles and 21st century skills. In the student-centered classroom, the pupils create projects collaboratively and by themselves, based the student’s interest. They are provided explicit directions and a rubric to help understand my expectations of the project.
I have three new technology resources that I am going to use in the classroom immediately. This will allow the students to have a student-centered classroom and higher level thinking. I found several WebQuest that will work extremely well in my 6th grade history classes. I have also found several Virtual tours that I will use in the classroom to allow the students to build upon their prior knowledge and get an idea of what life was like back in time. The last resource is VoiceThread. All three of these resources will allow the students to use higher level thinking and different learning styles.
As a long term goal I would like to create my own WebQuest and have the students reflect upon their work, by using rubrics more consistently. I need to front lode the students with the proper tools and resources in order to allow them to be successful in their learning. In order to create my own WebQuest I will have to set aside time to learn how to create the WebQuest. Finding or working with a partner or history department would make this task a lot more manageable I plan to share my newfound information with the staff to spread the wealth of knowledge and excitement on technological resources available. We have staff meetings that I can share the information and eventually hold some classes to help teachers utilize the technological resources available.

Voice Thread in the Classroom,

This was the first time using Voice Thread. The accessibility and format is extremely easy to use. In fact, I did not encounter any problems with Voice Threading. I practiced with pictures that I already have stored on my computer. Next , I used pictures from pic search to create a Voice Thread about a problem in education. When the assignment was complete, I responded to other student's Voice Threads, which was another easy task. On this Voice Thread I used only the text device. Next time, I would like to use the audio device. I am hoping that Voice Thread is not blocked at my school.
I was thinking that this would be a great tool for students to construct a Voice Thread on a specific event in history,a famous person, invention, unsolved problem. The students could create a Voice Thread from a different point of view. Allowing the students to respond to each other is a great way to have peer feedback. The Voice Thread could be a collaborative project on various topics. The students are thinking at a higher level by analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating pertinent information.

A VoiceThread about a problem in education.
http://voicethread.com/#u427478.b570737.i3050548

Social constructivism can be used in the classroom by utilizing technology and 21st century skills. The theory of social constructivism focuses on students constructing meaning from the information provided. The interaction allows the students to acquire a indepth understanding of the material. WebQuest are a great example of a social constructivism assignment. The students are required to create a product after researching, analyzing various resources from the Web. The students can collaborate to play a multimedia educational game on the unit of study. Students can utilize their area of expertize to create a competitive strategy. I use this method of teaching in the classroom quite a bit. It is important to have concrete directions and rubrics or scoring guides for the students to follow, otherwise the the project or objective is never met. Working with other teachers to create collaborative projects helps to create successful lessons for the students.

Constructivism in Pratice
Constructivist believe that students construct in their own mind to create an artifact or product. In order to allow the students to create the teacher must have a classroom environment that allows students to explore, research, develop, question, problem solve. Technology is tools that can help the students develop their ideas and construct a final project. In the text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, there are several examples of how to focus on Constructivist assignments that utilize technology. Chapter 11 focuses on Generating and Testing hypoheses, which according to Bloom's Taxonomy, higher level thinking. There are six task that can be used to create and test hyphtheses: system analysis, problem slolve, historical investigation, invention, experimental inquiry, and decision making. All these task correlate with the 21st century skills needed to succeed in current and future jobs. As a history teacher, I was interested in the web sites that are geared toward history. Web Resources are the most enticing as a history teacher. Finding a game that allows students to create a hypotheses, problem solve, is Construtivism in action. www.making-history.com Other web sites that are history related, focus on primary sources. Students can analyze the primary source and then create a hypotheses from the document. The student can research their hypotheses to construct an artifact as a final product. I noticed that Constructivism and Constructionism both lend themelves to science.
I thought it would be a good idea to colloborate with the science department to develop assignments that overlap in science and hisory. I would also like to see how Data Collection tools are used in a history class. The text mentions that students could use a digital microscope to record detailed images from an archeological excavation, but do not demonstrate how to find or create this for a class assignment.

The Coginitive learning theory works best in a constructivst classroom, which is the focus of this weeks homework. I believe that this type of learning will prepare the students for the 21st Century. The following are examples of learned skills that are necessary in the 21st century: Information seeking, Information presentation, Knowledge organization, Knowledge integration, and Knowledge generation (liyoshi et al, 2005). Each one of these techniques focus on higher level thinking or problem solving, by utilizing technology. In chapter four from Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, knowledge is referred to as cues, another name is schema. This is a great way to engage your learner. I have used a KWL chart and do not have a lot success with the "W," What would you like to learn. I usually use "K," for the students prior knowledge and "L," for learned information. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to successfully teach the students to write questions for the what section on the chart. In a constructivist classroom, students are expected to use thinking tools to help them create or solve. A few examples from Chapter four Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers are creating a spreadsheet to organize ideas, numbers etc., an advance organizer that focuses on answering an essential quesion, multimedia as a advance organizer or final product. In chapter six Summarizing and Note Taking, the students learn how to summarize using technology to help provide support for this extremely necessary skill. A specific feature on Word called AutoSummarize highlights areas on the document that can be altered, or activate the Track Changes on Word to show how the writing was altered. Both would be a great teaching tool for the students. Another great tool to use is Summary Frames where the teacher can ask questions.

I must say that the the suggestion from the authors to have each student download the software to his/her laptop is presumptious. My school has one computer lab for 1,300 students, no laptops. The other suggestion that I disagree with is the students should take notes as the movie plays.

I love constructivist teaching. Even before the dawn of technology, I have used cognitive tools in the classroom. I use Gardner's multiple intelligences, which lend themselves to this style of teaching. Technology allows students to continue to rich for the stars, just in different solar systems than in the past.
Cathy

Week 2 Behaviorist Methods

This week we learned about the Behavorist theory. This theory focuses on actions and the behavior can be changed from reinforcement and punishment. Behaviorists want to see a measurable outcome, since they believe that people can change from exterior responses.

In the reading from “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works” (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007) two strategies focused on how to incorporate technology in the classroom to assist the students. The first section "Reinforcing Effort “ helps the student understand the importance of effort put forth in the class. It was found that students come to class with preconceived notions about success or failure, based on bogus information. To help the students visualize his/her habits, each student creates a spreadsheet on his/her work habits, which directly correlates with the grade received on an assignment. The students are taught a rubric based on efforts and then are asked to create and fill out a spreadsheet on his/her study habits. The students conference with the teacher about to assess the progress. Behavorist focus only on the actions, but "Reinforcing Efforts" acknowledges that students may have negative self efficacy and that this will affect the student. This method does not focus on instantaneous rewards,which are required of the Behaviorist theory. Tracking a breaking down the habits and studying them and reflecting upon your actions does lend itself to Behaviorism

The second strategy "Homework and Practice" shows the importance of practicing new concepts, especially in math. (Marzano et al., 2001, p. 67) state that "typical students need about 24 practice sessions with a skill in order to achieve 80 percent competency." Technology can assist in creating pertinent homework for the students to digest the new concept. The next day it is imperative that the teacher follow up on the homework. There are many technology resources provided to help with reinforcement of a new concept. Again, Behaviorist believe in clear cut directions that breaks each component down, and give explicit directions. One of the recommendations on issuing homework is to articulate purpose, outcome and give homework policy. The technology allows the student to use various ways to enrich his/her knowledge.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Behaviorist learning theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology . Baltimore : Orey.

Marzano, R.T. (2007). The art and science of teachig: a comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Developmenet
.

Reflection EDUC 6710

This course has put into perspective the urgency to change how technology is used in the classroom. The business world and classroom are at complete polar opposites which is a big injustice to our students. My goal has always been to help the students become a productive member of society. This is difficult with such imbalance of teaching and the 21st century skills necessary to succeed.

I have personally learned a lot from this course. Before I started I had never heard of blogs, wikis, podcast, and now I have created one of each. I feel frustrated that my school district blocks most wikis, podcast, and blogs, so I am not able to use them in the classroom. My whole mindset has changed since taking this class. I am problem solving more with the computers, instead of panicking that the program, site does not work. I have started to "warm up" to technology, which is a huge hurdle for myself. I am talking to my students more about technology and how they utilize media in their life. I created a 21st century skills lesson plan that focuses on finding solutions to our environment by collaborating with group members to create a podcast on their findings.

I already use critical thinking skills in the classroom, but I need to use more of the 21 century skills that incorporate technology into my curriculum. Problem solving needs to be taught so the students are able to solve "wicked problems" in the future. Problem solving in the business world is done with different media, which allows the entire world to work together to create a product or solve a problem. The Flat World has changed our society, but most schools are not teaching the necessary skills needed to succeed. If the students can learn to use the media properly than they will be on their way to becoming productive members of our society.

I have known for a long time that a classroom should be learner-centered. I personally do not learn well by listening to lectures. I teach 6th grade history and my school uses a program called History Alive, which really lends itself to learner-centered lessons, and focuses on higher level thinking. I need to add more technology based lessons that are learner-centered. The students just finished an independent assignment on China. The students collaborated to create a project on the topic of their choice. Most groups created power point presentations, that looked professional. I have two students who struggle in my traditional classroom setting, but are technology natives that produced incredible projects with their group.

Referring to the checklist from week one, there are many answers that have changed. The use of critical thinking and reflection is somthing that I use often, but prior to taking this class, the technology was sometimes to rarely. I have begun to create a vision for my school, not just myself. I have spoken to my principal and Technology teacher about ways to improve technology on our campus. New keyboards were ordered for the computer lab, by me asking for new ones, in the middle of a finacial crisis. I have spoken to several teachers about grants for computers, and having companies donating media. It is scheduled to be discussed at the next teacher, parent meeting. I have been visting a lot of different websites to gain more knowledge about technology. Creating lessons that incorporate the 21st century skills, which prior to this class I did not even know that they existed. There have been a plethora of changes in a short amount of time.

I need to teach the students how to properly post a blog, how to communicate with different media. We just adopted a new grading system that is on the internet called School Loop. The students have the opportunity to email their teachers. Many students email, with texting jargon. The students need to be taught how to communicate in the Flat World. Collaborating with other students is another important skill that must be taught. Also, how to research properly with different sources. I better get started soon, the list seems to keep growing.


Goal 1 Start in services on 21st century skills and how to use them in the classroom at my school site. Hopefully the in services will be mandatory. More teachers need to be aware of the skills and the change in presenting information from teacher-centered to learner-centered. I plan to meet with my principal and our tech teacher to set up a schedule of classes that can be taught to the staff. We do not use all of our 6 hours of monthly adjunct duty hours, so hopefully this can be part of those hours.

Goal 2 Tight district website blockage needs to be lifted in order to implement 21st century skills. As of today,minimal podcast, wikis, and blogs are allowed. The states and schools that worked together to make changes are the successful schools that use 21st century skills in their classes. I need to do some research on our district policy, district server and what is blocked. I need to write the superintendent and ask for the strict blockage to be lifted. This means that teachers would need training on how to properly. In week seven's discussion Robert M and Kevin J talked about how to lift blocks on websites. I need to research and utilize the information given, and then contact the "proper authority"

Sign me up for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills needed for students to be successful in life. There is a lot going on on the website. I was repeatedly drawn to the states that already have the partnership in place. I am wonder about the results of this program, not that I am a statistics kind of girl, but it would be interesting to take a look a the before and after effects. On the website I bookmarked several websites that I thought were useful. Kidsrgreen.org/krg.html was a great website that is kid friendly, but poses "Wicked" questions for the students to answer, such as Global Warming. I also found a website that teaches pretty much anything in online classroom setting for FREE! ICT is the company.
Honestly, not seeing California on the list of states that is participating surprised me, and not in a good way.
This partnership realizes the parmount importance of teaching our students technology, like other countries like Japan that subsidizes 98% of internet access in ALL household. Their High Schools have online learning. This is an example of one country.
The NCLB was mentioned several times on some UTube sites and it is obvious that there is not equal opportunity for all students. NCLB has a technology section mandating every student become technologically literate by the end of 8th grade. There is a law without the necessary tools, even with the tools there are so many variables that do not allow this to succeed, but closing the gap, is allowing all states access to programs like the Partnership in the 21st century. Thornburg and Dede supported the Partnership for 21st century. ( communication, thinking/reasoning, literacy) These are the keys to the future.
I did not disagree with anything on The Partnership for 21st Century Skills with my limited techonological experience, in fact, I love this site.
Schools need to change the focus of classrooms from book learning to a well balanced classroom of books and technology. Students must learn how to effectively work in a group that is not is not in the classroom with them. Groups should become world wide, since the government is creating a Cyber Infrastructure to work in a virtual setting around the world, that should be complete by 2020. Companies are already using technology to assist them. As described by Dede Technology Interface must be taught properly to students(World to desktop, virtual environment, and augmented reality)

How to use a blog in the classroom

Today I went surfing or blogging, which both sound like a lot of physical activity. The only activity involved was to let my fingers do the walking. I came up with some great ideas for a classroom blog. I teach history, so I thought that a current event news article about one of the civilizations that we studied, preferably the one we are "currently" studying would be great. I would have the students tie the article to our society, the past civilization and write any questions or comments about the article. The parents would be invited to respond to the article. A biweekly article would be a great way to bring history from the past into the present, not to mention getting parents involved in the learning. I would also have a requirement that each student must respond to a minimum of one student. Each student would be assigned a buddy.
Another way to use the blog would be to post a primary source and have the students analyze and respond to each other on the source. Again, parents are encouraged to participate. Students will learn how to create reponses and how to properly respond to others, share their ideas with the world, and use critical thinking skills.
When I was looking through other blog sites, I found a site that had 10 ways to use blogs in the classroom. I noticed that our new internet grading system called School Loop has already allowed a lot more communication, including assigning group discussions, class newsletter, post assignments. I have some studying to do with this new technology. The teachers were only trained for 1 hour prior to using School Loop, just like blog sites. I did see some rubrics for blogs, so the actual grading is not illusive, but I teach 187 students, and I wonder how do you efficiently check all blogs. I must admit this seems quite daunting.

Technology in the classroom

Is technology really set up for 1-12 grade classes? A technological revolution is occurring in our society and most schools are not keeping up with the new advancements. In fact, there are so many filters on websites that new technology cannot be implemented. There are many changes that must happen, in order to have technology based schools. What changes need to happen? A lot of training is needed for teachers and students. Teachers need to learn how to teach technology and include ethics into their curriculum. Districts need to provide access to computers for all students. My school district has a great grading program called School Loop. It is linked to the internet. This is a great tool that allows students and parents easy access to grades. The problem is with students who do not have a computer at their house. These are the students really need to check the grades, but are not able to utilize the advanced technology. Technology is only beneficial if you learn how to use and have easy access to the tool.