Final Reflection

As I look back at my "Personal Theory of Learning" that I developed in the beginning of this course, I have to say I would change anything. I sum up my theory by saying that all students learn differntly and there is no one way to teach. I think this couse and the strategies that I have learned go right along with my theory of learning. I will take bits and pieces of what I have learned and incopotrate them into my class and lessons when appropriate.

I definitly want to incorporate more technology into my class. I feel that I have learned about new tools and strategies that will effect my students in some really positive ways. Like I have mentioned, I am getting my Masters in Integrateing Technology in the Classroom because I know I have a lot to learn. This class has made me use tools and find programs I didn't know were out there. Two tools I would like to use with my students are voicethread and virtual fieldtrips. I think my students will really respond to these tools in a positive way.

My goals are going to be to incorporate technology as much as I can in my class and to become even more child centered. I think these will go hand in hand. I want the stduents to use tools that will allow them to tech each other. I think I can accomplish this because we are suppose to be getting new technology that will allow us to incoporate it so much more. I plan on becoming very knowledeable about the new tool and using in the more productive way.

Voice Thread

Here is my voice thread link:http://voicethread.com/share/786770/

Let's Learn Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!

This week we read about collaborative learning in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works and we were suppose to relate our learning to the Social Learning theory. I definitely think that the strategies that were discussed in the text, align directly with social learning. Having students collaborate and work together on projects allows the students to bounce ideas off each other, teach each other, and work out problems through discussion. In today's society students have to learn how to collaborate and learn from others.

I really like the Jigsaw strategy and have used it before in my class. Students really like feeling like they are the expert and teaching other what they know. It also helps to break up the information to the groups and they can choose how they teach their part. Students use different vocabulary that sometimes make it easier for the others to learn from them.

I like to use collaborative groups in my class, sometimes it is very difficult because several of my students do not work well with others. I think it is important to keep using these groups so all the students have to practice skills that should be used in social settings.

If they create it, they will learn!

I have to say, this weeks' readings were very interesting but at the same time I am not sure how I will incorporate some of the ideas in my 3rd grade class. The Contructivist theories say that students building and creating help them put what they learn into long term memory. I defenitly agree with this and feel that hands-on activities are best. Students love to be involoved with what they are learning.

In the reading this week it spoke about students creating and testing thier own hypohesis and creating spreadsheets to organize data. I am not sure my students would be able to this. They are very dependent on teachers and I think most would just give up. I am all for incorporating higher order thinking skills such as this, but I am not sure they are quite ready.

Relating Technology to Cognitive Theories

This week we were asked to read two chapters out of the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works and consider how the strategies in the book correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theories. The chapters had some great strategies that require students to really understand the information they are learning. I especially like the idea of having students use an organizer in class. It requires them to focus on a central question that relates to other information that is linked to smaller parts of the organizer.

Using an organizer helps students to code information in the brain in more than one way as it relates to cognitive theories. This helps students to link all the information they are learning in an organized way, which will help link it to long term memory. Students learn so much information throughout the year, storing most of it in short term only. I really like the strategies discussed and plan to incorporate them in my class.

Behaviorism in Practice

This weeks readings in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works contained great ideas and resources. I felt like the technology ideas that were shared go along with the behaviorist theory.

"Reinforcing Effort" was my favorite chapter because I love the idea of having the students complete a rubric that correlates with their work. I have been trying all year to get my students to see that they are in control of their grades, they earn them, I don't give them what I want. I think having them complete the rubric then create a chart, will allow them to see that the effort they put forth reflects in their grades. This will also give them a since of ownership over their work. I LOVE this idea!!

The "Homework and Practice" chapter had a lot of great resources that I feel I would use more in the classroom. I hate to require my students to use a computer for homework because so many don't have access. Some of the sites mentioned I already use in class and my students love them. Anything to do with technology really gets the students excited about learning

New Mind Set

Wow, I can't beleive it is time to move on to a new course. I definitly feel like I have learned more from this course than the others so far. Not only did
I learn about new tools and different ways to incorporate technology into my class, but it made me more aware of how technology influences our lives. I feel like I am more comfortable with tools I already use and excited to use some new ones.
I now know some ways I can get my students more involoved and excited about learning, and how to plan activities that are more student-centered. I have already been incorporating technology in my class more this year, partly because I actually have some technology that works and allows me to do things I haven't been able to do. I know there is still a lot for me to learn and even more for me master as technology goes. I plan to continue working on my master's in technology and using these new tools in my class.
Two goals I would like to put into action is having a smartboard and student computers that are up to date. This is tough because money is tight in our system like it is in many others. The main thing I can do is make sure the higher ups know how important this technology is and make them understand we are behind in the tech world.
I really feel like I have learned a lot and I am excited about putting these things to use in my classroom. Just hope I can remember how to do everything.

Technology Podcast

Here is my first podcast. http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/1479

Welcome to the 21st Century

This weeks assignment required me to visit the website for the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills. This is a great site that incorporates businesses, teachers and students in preparing all for the 21st century. There are many resources and support systems through this partnership. The site was a little overwhelming at first, but once I started exploring it was easy to navigate. It is great to see groups working together for the future of our children.



I was surprised at how many states are not a part of partnership. I was actually not surprised that TN wasn't, but I thought that there would be many more states.



I can't say that I disagreed with anything from the site. I will explore more and let you know if I do.

Hopefully having an organization that supports technology in the classroom and strives for businesses to help put schools, all states will one day be up to date with technology. I know it will probably be a while, but it gives me hope to see that there are people out there who see the importance and understand schools don't have all the resources when it comes to technology and educating our kids in the areas we need to focus on.

I guess the answer is blog

After reading the views and ideas of others in my class and at other educational blogs I follow, I should blog in the classroom. I have read so many neat ideas on how I could use it to communicate with parents and cool ideas to get students excited and involved in lessons in a different way. Stay tuned to see how it works in my class.

To blog or not to blog? That is the question.

I have mixed feelings about having a blog for my classroom that I have the children interact with. The positives are that it would be a great way to get the students involved and learn how to create a blog, which is something they will need to do later in life. It also would be a fun way to have them reflect on lessons, I think they may pay more attention to a lesson if they were going to get to blog about it.

The negative is, what will they post? I would be worried that the students would get on and maybe write something inappropriate, I know I have to monitor it but you never know what they may do.