Inquiry Wiki

This task took quite a bit of effort but was well worth the time and energy because of the plethora of information, resources, and ideas that I have gained. The hardest part of this assignment for me was finding the resources. There was a lot of resources out there but some were not a helpful as they seemed and some were sketchy. So the key was to weed out the fishy resources. In the end I was able to find many examples, blogs, and presentations on using video in the classroom. Formal resources were hard because every time I did research a lot of the article were about how to operate a camera and select the right kind to use.  In the end I had to do a lot of changing in the phrasing of what I was searching for but what I found was very useful and interesting. So looking back on it I can see how this assignment helped me learn more about research and evaluating resources. I collected so many ideas for using video production in the classroom that I hope I am able to put as many as possible into use in my future classroom.  

At first I was a little leery about the worth of this assignment with the effort that was involved. Now all my concerns vanished when I was near the end of my project because I was able to see how much I learned and I thought about all of the other people that this could benefit. Also, looking at all the other inquiries that were produced I can see how the work of others students will be useful to me currently and in the future.

Delicious

When the concept of social bookmarking was first presented to our class, I thought it had potential to help me organize my bookmarks and website. But I really didn’t like the idea a whole lot; I didn’t want that information to be public and I thought it would get really annoying having to keep up with. At first I had no idea what I was going to put on it other than the bookmarks I already had in the favorite tab on the web browser. The favorites that I had were just a stepping stone. Once I got started the sources came flowing in. There was so many sites that I was given from classes that I added. There were so many sources to add from Dr. Boyer’s lessons and lectures, that it made it hard not to have enough resource. Also, I got ideas from sources from the 5^th grader I work with. She showed me games that her teacher had recommended to the class and her teachers delicious account. I was amazed by the fact her teacher had a delicious, I didn’t even ask about it. One day I was on the computer with her and she wanted to practice her states, so she went to the delicious account and searched for what she wanted. When asked about it the student told me she used it all the time and how easily accessible it was. This incident demonstrated how important and beneficial a Delicious can be and know I think about it differently. I grew to like how delicious was public because I was able to see and find resources from other people’s delicious accounts. This was particularly helpful in creating my technology inquiry wiki. After these experiences and keeping my own delicious I am inspired to keep a Delicious account for my personal and classroom use.

Blogs, Wikis, and podcasts Ch. 10 and epilogue

This book was full of reasons and ideas about why our education system needs to be changed in this ever changing world. The last chapter pulls it all together making it clear to me that technology is a big part of life meaning it should be in education. When our students go into the “real world” they will have an ample amount of technology upon them and the more skills and experiences they have the better. Schools need to teach them these skills and give them practice. As a future teacher I will work my hardest to give them this. I believe collaboration is key to this and technology makes it easy. With it students can share and get opinions from many different people causing them to think critically about what they are learning. I believe that is a great way to practice communication, it may not be in person but now people are having less one-on-one interactions and more technologically based interactions. Along with that I think it makes students more willing to discuss and give opinions because they don’t feel like they are being judged.  The best past of technology in the classroom in my eyes is how it engages, motivates, and excites students because those things are the keys to learning.

I will follow the 5 C’s mentioned in this chapter because I think they are large aspects of learning; they are connector, creator, collaborator, coach, and change agent.  My favorite one is creator. A creator can be a lot of different things but if is definitely what students should be. Students should be enable to learn through the process of making and doing because that requires many things like such as learning, reflections, connecting, and creativity.  In my classroom I will have a variety of ways for my students to learn. There will be videos that they can watch and create video games, web resources, interactive white boards, and much more.  I know that all students learn differently and by using all these tools I will be able to reach all students in a variety of ways.

Blogs, Wikis, and podcasts Ch. 9

This chapter was all about the social web and what it has to offer. The social web enables people to interact and communicate with each other when it would be hard to do with other things. This space enables sharing of ideas and thoughts with others which in turn sparks collaboration (two heads are better than one). This makes the social web great for educational purposes because students can discuss or ask questions here. I like this because it is direct feedback that you don’t have to be in school to receive but on the other hand this part of the web can be extremely distracting. I think that if teachers would have started using the social web right away these distractions would have been minimized; but now student are in the mode of using it to share what they are doing and gossip. FaceBook and Ning are two site that are good for discussion; I talk to people on Facebook all the time for a variety of reasons including education.  If you think about it a good reason to use these tools is because students are already using them and you know they will check them.  Also, the social web is a great way to bring in new information because one can connect with experts and learn through socializing. I think this is also motivational because the social web is something students want to be on.

The social web is something I will consider using in my future teaching. I want to teach elementary education and using tools like facebook is a little hard for me to wrap my head around but there is potential. I could see how it could be a very good way to connect with parents, provide resources, and show updates of what is going on in class. Overall, using the social web is a little hard to think about but will more research I may use it.

Rethink Ch.10 and Epilogue

This chapter emphasizes the point that in a changing world we need to update and change our educational system in order to keep up.  Key points we need to address in education are what learning is; what is the information that should be taught, governmental roles, motivation techniques, preparation of students for future, and the future careers of students. Learning is no something that just stops once someone is out of school but it continues on into all aspects of life. In order to keep up in the lifelong learning process students should be educated and given the skills necessary to learn on their own. Information is now being updated so quickly that it is easy to fall behind and hard for teachers to keep up with, which emphasizes the point of students to access information on their own.  This is something that I have seen because my brother is a couple grade levels behind me and when he gets to information I have learned it is rarely ever exactly the same. Since the information is changing it is important the skills that are taught enable students to cope with these changes.  Solving problems and having large projects are a way for students to apply knowledge rather than just memorizing and regurgitating. I know I always enjoyed being able to pick projects that I wanted to do and I always remember the things I did projects for better than things I took paper and pencil test for. Technology is one of the big things that it changing, so it only makes sense to incorporate it into the classroom.  By using projects and technology it is easier to excite students and motivate them to learn. Reading this also made me think about how students are given grades and how they are assessed. Since the information and means of teaching is changing we need to adjust in all areas. This reminds me of how we are not given a letter grade on assignment in ED 331 but instead we are told if our work meets expectations or not.  I really like this, because it made me focus more on what I was doing and learning rather than worrying about a letter grade.

In my future teacher I will definitely put these ideas into account and adjust my teaching to the changing curriculum.  I will have problem based learning in my classroom and allow students to find answers in the ways that suit them best. If my school does not have the resources I desire I will look into government and other sources of funding to provide equal opportunities for all of my students.  My methods of assessment will change with what and how I am teaching in order to reach all students and ideas.