Survey: Super Fun Dope Questions

Super Fun Dope Questions

Blog #9 PowerPoints and Flipped Classes

         A "Flipped Classroom" is a class that delivers content in the opposite way of the traditional class.  The lectures and lessons are assigned as videos as homework.  The students then watch and take notes on these lectures, and bring their newly gained information to the classroom.  Once in class, the teacher helps them put that lesson into practice by exploring the subject.  To do this, the students and teachers will work on what a traditional class would call homework, together.  This ensures the students are grasping the concept and can get help as needed.  Flipped classrooms are probably the most common form of blended classrooms in modern schools.

          I have had experience with flipped classrooms, however, I did not get out of it what one might have hoped.  This is mainly because the homework that we would do in class became actual homework if we didn't finish it.  The assignments were always too long to finish in class so we had both traditional and flipped homework every night.  This was frustrating and quite exhausting.  However, I still do believe that if implemented properly, this system can work well.

          Khan Academy is a great place to find math and science video lectures.


          As someone who group in the American public school system, I have created my fair share of PowerPoints, so I did already know a lot of the skills needed for my assignments five and six.  However, there were still some things that I was able to get out of it.  For example, learning how to properly use animations.  I never tried to use them before because they had always seemed too tacky. However, by learning how to select the right ones and how to edit when and how they appear, I learned how to make animations fit very well within a presentation.  I also had a similar experience with learning how to properly implement SmartArt.  The biggest skill that I learned, however, was how to use the Slide Master.  I had never even heard of it before, and even thought it to be a little unnecessary when I did.  But now that I am comfortable with it, I use it as much as I can.

          For Assignment Five, I was very proud of my work.  What I was most proud of was the fact that I was able to implement SmartArt and shapes into my project, along with transitions and animations while still having them all fit the theme of the presentation.  It was my first ever PowerPoint that was not based on the standard bulleted structure, and I am proud of myself for being able to accomplish that.  However, if I could fix anything, it would be to trim it down a little as I felt not everything was super strong on topic, and to maybe have the SmartArt be somewhat more uniform.  I felt as though sometimes it did not fit as well as it could have.

          For Assignment Six, what I like most is that it is a little more uniqie than the usual jeopardy and that I wrote all of the questions myself.  Initialy I was going to just grab some questions offline, but I thought that since I will one day be a teacher, it is important to learn how to do this myself and I worked very hard on it.  My only complaint is that I could have worked the transition buttons a little better and figured them out more.  For the most part, they work perfectly fine, however I was unable to find out how to keep the answers from coming up immediately if one had already viewed the slide, gone back to th home screen, and made their way back to the questions.

Diigo Reflection

          What I liked about Diigo the most was the ability to have an aggregate of information on various topics, that others could add to.  I could document research while simultaneously receiving tips from my colleagues.  Because of this function, I believe that I will use it as a way to organize research and gain new information about topics while also connecting on a social level.  I believe that the social features were incredibly helpful because instead of one person having to spend incredible amounts of time searching for various articles and blogs, everyone is working together to achieve the same goal of compiling research and tools in the most efficient way possible.  Individual efforts were very effective in my learning because I was able to understand better how the tool works, but once I had figured it out, the ability to work with others to achieve a similar goal was much more beneficial.

#8 PowerPoint in the Classroom

          I absolutely loved the tour that we were given of the lab.  I was amazed by every piece of assistive technology we were able to experience.  However, personally one stood out above the rest for me and that was the smart pen that we were shown at the very end.  It had the ability to take an audio recording of the lecture while you take notes with the pen.  Then when you go back to your notes you can touch a certain part of the paper and it will play you that portion of the lecture!  This absolutely blew my mind and would be so incredibly helpful for studying and making sure students are able to know what is going on in class.  If they have a question about what something means as they are going over their notes they can relisten to the lecture.  They also have the ability to take that to me and ask what I meant, if they need further clarification.


          The base of Bloom's taxonomy is "remembrance".  PowerPoint would assist in this, as I would share my presentations with my students so they could go back over them and recall what was talked about in our lectures.  To help students with the second portion of "understand" I would add definitions and captions to more difficult concepts.  I would also add links if there was a useful link to help the students further understand the concept at hand.  For the application portion of Bloom's Taxonomy, students will be able to take quizzes that I will have set up in the presentation.

          Through a presentation, I will be able to show various points and sides to a concept, especially with a subject like government.  This is very important to helping my class analyze the information.  PowerPoint gives me the option to have lectures and discussions with my students about different concepts and through these discussions, we can evaluate the subject matter, which is the next step up. Finally, students can reach the tip of Bloom's Taxonomy, by creating their very own presentations.


           In order to stay up to date with education technology news, I can follow Education Weekly as they have a technology section of their magazine.  This is an online magazine about current events that relate to education and the technology section focuses the news to be all about ed-tech.

ILP#2 - Design - Podcast through GarageBand & iMovie

          For my second independent learning project I decided to make a podcast.  To do this, I made an audio recording on GarageBand, added the photo and made it into a video using iMovie, and uploaded it to Youtube in order to add it to my blog.  I had never used GarageBand or iMovie before and this is my first ever podcast.  The podcast is done as if I am a high school government teacher that makes a weekly podcast to give educational tips to other government teachers. If the video below does not work you can find the video by following this link: ILP #2.

Diigo #4

          Diigo allowed me to learn more about assistive technology as a whole and the different fields it can work in.  By looking at multiple articles that have been aggregated, I was able to get a broad view from multiple different angles.  For example I learned that students with intellectual, physical, or learning disabilities are able to become more motivated through the use of assistive technology.

#7 Adaptive Tech and Web Design

          Adaptive technologies are very important for the modern classroom.  As we progress through time we are gradually becoming more and more supportive and accommodating of those with disabilities.  This began with the American Disabilities Act which made it illegal to discriminate based on disabilities and required accommodations be made for those that do live with these disabilities.

          As heard in the podcast, there are many students that will require alternate input or output devices.  For input, they may use text to type instead of having to work a keyboard or a trackball instead of a mouse.  They may also make more use of touch screens or have various different types of keyboards such as expanded, customizable, or mini keyboards as seen on pages 74 and 75.  For output, the student may need a software that speaks the text to them if they are unable to see.  The student may also need to make use of screen magnification software and screen readers as seen on page 76.

          I have had very little experience with adaptive tech, however, I spent a semester working with special needs students as a teacher's aid during my junior year of high school.  During that semester, I was able to see students work with touchscreen keyboards as well as a lot of text-to-talk and talk-to-text keyboards.  Seeing them use these was quite fascinating as it was able to help them communicate what they wanted to get done, much more efficiently.


          From working with Weebly, I learned far more than I expected too.  At first, I did not expect to learn much as I was very well versed in using Wix.  However, I soon realized that the two software were very different as Weebly focuses more on drag and drop technology.  While it was initially frustrating to learn something new, I soon grew to love the software far more than Wix.  I found myself having fun creating a new website and I did not want to stop adding different aspects to it.  I love how user-friendly it is once one is able to get the hang of it.  The only complaint that I had was how long it took me to figure everything out on my own.

          Learning about how to make a website is incredibly helpful for my future career.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the teachers that I enjoyed the most were those that showed that they cared the most.  I find that the most outward way to show this is by having a well-designed website that makes it easy for the class to understand what is going on and retrieve information easily.  If there is something that I could do better, it would be having the text easier to read on backgrounds.  I would have liked to be able to give my text that is over pictures borders, but I was unable to figure out how.  Even with this, I am still very proud of what I created.

One can find my website by clicking on the picture below.

Diigo #3

         From examining various teacher productivity tools I was able to learn how much there is out there to allow teachers to collaborate with one another as well as work more efficiently in their own classroom.  By working behind the scenes with business oriented applications, teachers are able to improve not only their productivity but also that of their students.

#6 Classroom Website and Tech

          To examine a high school teacher's website, I decided to go back to my senior year AP Government teacher at Beavercreek High school in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He also teaches a sophomore through senior elective class on American wars however I only viewed the Government section.  What is visible to the public is what visible to the students and parents.  The only difference is that those that are not signed in as students can not post discussion boards if one is posted.  However, the public is able to see the discussion boards that are posted.  For that reason, it is school policy that students don't use their full names while posting.  The public is able to see all of the teachers information as well as any pictures that are posted and assignments.  Anything that the instructor or students post is visible to the public.  Screenshots from the website can be found below. http://www.beavercreek.k12.oh.us/bhs


          One of my goals for technology is having a very well regulated website.  In my high school career, I dealt with both teachers that worked very hard on their website and some that did not.  Having a website that was designed to help students was one of the best feelings in high school.  Having my homework and assignments available to me with due dates was incredibly helpful.  It felt as though the teacher truly cared so that is what I wish to do with my future students.

          I also wish to implement Twitter or other social media into my classroom.  To be able to connect with students is very important to me.  As I wish to teach older students, I want to be able to treat them like adults.  Through this, I would very much like to be able to share things with them through Twitter.  This would act almost as an insurance to my website that I have setup.  If a student wishes to check the website, they can, or they can check Twitter.  I want to go out of my way to ensure that my students understand what is expected of them.  This will not only show them that I care but also take away the opportunity for excuses on missing work.


          The technology that will be most heavily used in my classroom from the Tech Sandbox will most likely be the SMART/Promethean Board.  This is simply because they are essentially standard in the modern classroom in some shape or form.  For example, many schools use the solid and movable models whereas my high school used either the wall mounted boards or the projectors that created the SMART board on the teacher's whiteboard.  These are incredibly helpful for projecting a presentation while giving interactive capabilities.  As I expect to have many lectures in my class, it will be incredibly helpful to have a SMART board in order to project these.  They also allow me to write on the board, and save those writings and eventually share them with my students, if that would be helpful for them.

          The next piece of technology I would love to implement in my classroom from the Tech Sandbox, were I to have the opportunity, would be virtual reality.  I have only ben able to use it once during my previous visit to the Sandbox, but the experience was surreal.  I can only imagine the possibilities I would have in my classroom.  As I wish to teach government, it would be amazing to immerse the students into what we are studying at the time.  For example when I am talking about the debates over signing the declaration of independence, I could send the students to the room where it took place.  The possibilities would truly be endless.

ILP "Participation" - Lynda: Prezi Essential Training

          I learned a lot from completing this project.  For one, I learned about Lynda and how helpful it is.  Seeing how many tutorials that the website has to offer is fascinating.  From Lynda, however, I was able to learn about what I will be writing on.  The tutorial video that I watched was for Prezi.  I first heard of the application my senior year of high school but I have never used it.  I have seen a few students and teachers make presentations with it but I never saw a use.  I did not understand it, and I already had PowerPoint so I didn't see a reason to learn it.

          However, just from watching the first few clips in the two hours and forty-five-minute tutorial, I realized that Prezi is an entirely different beast from PowerPoint.  While they are both used as a technological tool for presentations, the way they go about that is very different.

          PowerPoint is made to be very straightforward and to the point.  It is linear.  One clicks from slide to slide until they are finished.  Prezi, however, does not need to be so linear.  While one has the ability to have a set path, there is still the option to deviate from that path.  One can go back and forth, or skip around.  The presenter also has the ability to zoom in on features that do not even have their own set slide.  I can absolutely see this program's use in the classroom.  It will be very helpful for completing lectures that need to include videos or images.  It will also be helpful because I will have the opportunity to skip around if a student needs me to go back and cover something again.  Students will also have the opportunity to utilize this program when they are instructed to give presentations in my classroom.

          Lynda, as I mentioned was a learning experience on its own.  If I am able to implement this system as an educator I will be extremely pleased.  As someone who loves to learn for the sake of learning, Lynda is a dream come true.  It was absolutely fascinating to me to see all of the subjects that I had the opportunity to learn about.  I spent some of my free time learning about coding simply because the subject interested me.  This tool is beyond helpful for students.  It gives you the ability to learn at your own pace and at your choice.  If you want to learn how to use a certain subject then you have the opportunity.  This would be incredibly helpful for students that do not know either basic technological tools, like Microsoft Office, or even more advanced like Python Programing.  The opportunities are near endless and I look forward to implementing it in the future.

          Learning about all of the different features that come with Prezi has been tremendously eye-opening.  I cannot believe all that I was missing out on by simply using the same linear PowerPoint model over and over again for projects.  Below you will find screenshots of my notes, the program that I watched, and the example Prezi that I made with my newly acquired skills.  You can also view my Prezi first hand at http://prezi.com/m_l2uyrp7jt0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

Diigo #2

Learning about Web 2.0 through a Web 2.0 tool was incredibly helpful with understanding the concept and use.  Understanding the difference in software and how it is able to let you interact with your piers, both in sharing and commenting will be very helpful in my future career.

#5 Web 2.0

          As stated in previous blogs, the web 2.0 software that I find will be most the most useful and implemented in my classroom will probably be Twitter.  I have been using the social media for years so I am very comfortable with it, and I also have experience with teacher interaction in it.  It is very useful for sending out information to students quickly, whether it be assignments, extra credit, or simply things that I find interesting and fit into the curriculum.  I also find Youtube and Diigo would be very useful.  Youtube is great for sharing clips that fit into the curriculum.  If I can implement clips into my lectures, the students will be more likely to stay engaged.  Diigo would be very helpful as my preferred subject is American government.  Government involves a lot of research, and Diigo would be incredibly helpful in allowing my students to collaborate on information. 

          Personally, I do not believe that blogs will be too useful in my classroom.  That is simply because of the subject that I wish to teach.  I find them very beneficial in many classes such as English, or an education technology course such as the one I am in right now.  However I believe that what blogs are used for can be accomplished better through other media in the subject of American government and history.  

          I find that SlideShare is an incredibly useful web 2.0 tool for the modern classroom.  The purpose of the website is to aggregate presentations such as Prezis or PowerPoints similar to how Diigo does with websites.  However, instead of finding the presentations, you upload your own.  This allows you to access your presentations from multiply different computers and also allows others to access them as well.   With this you are able to show your presentation to another in a matter of seconds as well as receive comments on the product.  This could be very useful in the classroom as a way to let students view and give constructive criticism on one another projects.  

          I believe that of all the emerging technology for education, the most useful is probably seen as one of the more boring.  I see cloud computing as the most useful as a future teacher.  For one reason, I cannot count the amount of flash drives that I have lost.  The stress that comes with losing one of those small USB dongles is immeasurable.  With cloud computing, we no longer need to fret about remembering where our flash drive is, or whether or not it will even work when we get to school.  As a teacher, I will feel far more comfortable with my students being able to upload their work to the cloud and access it at school.  It also allows for lots of collaboration which is imperative for school.  Students can work on projects with one another without having to find a meet up.  The ability to save assignments to the cloud, where my students can reach them is also very useful.  I will  not need to worry about printing every last thing, and if a student forgets something that was a hard copy, they can print it off of the cloud.  

          If I were to pick one of the more exciting advances in technology, I would have to go with augmented reality.  As my dream is to become a government teacher, it could be very useful to allow my students to see first hand what it would be like to live in the 1700's.  We could take class trips back to all of the different places we are talking about such as the debates over the declaration of independence, the ratifying of the constitution, or the swearing in of George Washington.  In my government class, we were given a virtual tour of the White House simply through pictures, and I loved it.  To go to the next step and virtually take my students there would be outstanding.   

Diigo 1: Academic Software

From this activity I was able to learn how important it is to tag in regards to collaboration.  I was unaware of how necessary it was in allowing the collaboration process to be so much more efficient. I also learned about collaboration as a whole.  I did not know that collaborating with links would be used and it is fascinating to see it work in such an efficient way.

#4 Tech Utilization in My Class

          Twitter is not something that is new to me at all.  I have been using the social media platform on a personal level since I was a freshman in high school so I am very familiar with everything about it.  I also had multiple teachers in high school that utilized twitter as a way to keep in touch with us students about assignments.  Because of this, I was also very familiar with how it would work in the classroom setting.

          However with all of that said, I still have found that it has become a different experience for me.  I am treating my account for EME2040 in a more professional sense and it is somewhat new.  I have used it to interact with other students, as well as the class twitter and instructor for this course, Ms. Michelle Cates.  I have been able to view it from a different side and have put in some thought as to how I would handle using the social media as a teacher.  It would be very helpful to have an account that I could use to post information about homework or extra credit opportunities.  It would also be very helpful to post and retweet things that I find interesting (in a professional manner of course) to let my students become more familiar with me.


          The digital divide effects those in schools in that it furthers the gap between socioeconomic statuses.  Those with more wealth are able to have access to much newer technology which helps them better themselves and further their education.  On the other hand those with less wealth are left behind and stay behind do to their lack of technological experience.

          As a teacher I will need to be very sensitive to the chance of the digital divide occurring in my classroom.  If there is an instance where a student does not have the technological resources at home to complete an assignment, I will need to think of a way around the issue to make sure that all students are able to complete the work with no advantages.  For example if there is an online worksheet, I may need to spend the extra time to print out copies for all of my students to take home. I will also try my best to ensure that all of my students are well versed in the basic technological programs that are necessary to know in order to succeed in the modern day workforce.


          The softwares that my students and I will be using most will most likely be presentation software, desktop publishing software, and academic software.  These will be necessary as I hope to be teaching an older range of kids, preferably high school seniors.  Both my students and I will need to utilize presentation and desktop publishing software in order to present ideas to the class or to present assignments or projects.  The academic software will be important because the students are at an older age.  They will need to be more comfortable with citing proper academic sources, as they will need to do so in college.

          What will most likely not be utilized in my classroom are photo-editing software, and various other graphics softwares.  These are very important for art and design classes.  They could even be useful for a math or physics class that needs to visualize a real world problem.  However, I will be teaching a social science class and I do not foresee myself utilizing these tools as much as another subject might.  They could possibly be used by students if I am to assign a project with an option to get artistic, however this would only be used if it were offered by the school.  I would also most likely not make that portion mandatory to the students as I cannot expect them to know how to work the software, and teaching the software would not fit into my course description.


          My experience with the eCourse was very useful.  I only encountered a few small bugs.  For example when I reached the third section, my ability to pause or move forward or back was taken away.  This made it somewhat difficult to take notes on the subject.  The only other issue that I came across was that the website crashed upon completing the course and I lost my certificate.  Eventually I was able to retrieve it but it was rather scary at first.  Other than these two issues, I greatly enjoyed the course.  I learned a lot about things that I thought I already knew.  For example I did not know the various other ways that web conferencing could take place and all of the options that come alone with it like in the Adobe software that was mentioned.  I also enjoyed that there was help to be given while completing some of the post course quizzes.  They refreshed my mind and allowed me to get the answers right and retain the knowledge.

#3 From Tech Standards to a Newsletter

          

           The ELA standards that I feel most comfortable with are Using Digital Media, and Using Technology.  I am most comfortable with these asI have grown up as a "digital native".  I have been working or playing with computers for as long as I can remember, and I have had my own since I was in 8th grade.  I have also had a smartphone since 8th grade.  I am very comfortable working with others through technology to reach a common goal and using the internet.  I also have a lot of experience with audio and video recordings and distribution.  In high school, I made many recordings using my trumpet and laptop.  Over time I grew more and more skilled at the editing process.  I also have had experience editing video files in iMovie, for school and family.

On the opposite spectrum what I will need more work in is Multimedia.  For both literature and informal text.  Of course, I have experience in both of these fields from my years of high school and middle school.  However, it is not something that I am as fluent in as digital media or technology in general.  I will need to work most on the analysis of multiple sources.  Growing up, any subject that involved heavy analysis was one that I needed to work very hard on to do well.  I feel as though I will need to become better at it however, because comparing text to digital media could come in very handy in a social science class. 

           My major allows me to be able to work with a very wide age range of students.  I will have the opportunity to work with students from age 11 to 18.  However, with that said, my preference is to work with students in the range of 16-18.  Also, not only do I get a wide variety of age from my major, I also will have the opportunity to use a wide variety of technology.  One of the most common uses, I would like to implement would be discussion boards.  I want students to be able to post to the rest of their classmates and have discussions over the assignments at hand.  To go about this, I may use a system the school has on their website like my high school did, or use an online blog, if the school I work at would allow.  Of course, I will also implement research through the internet in order to complete assignments, if the task at hand calls for it. 

           Because of this use of technology, I will need to make sure that the students follow the majority of the digital citizenship concepts.  The most important will be that they demonstrate “netiquette”.  As I wish to have the students post to a discussion board and comment on one another’s posts, I will need to make sure that they are doing this in a respectful and professional manner.  I will also need to demonstrate how to properly protect one’s personal information.  To publish something online if the posts are public we will need to find a way to continue with the assignments while also not sharing personal information.  If they are using information that is not their own they will also need to understand the copyright laws at hand and properly source their info.

          The Open Education movement is based upon the idea that people want to learn and that it is their right to learn.  The essence of knowledge is sharing, and the movement wishes to capitalize on that.  To spread knowledge around the world freely is the goal.  This would be able to help a wide variety of people.  From those simply seeking knowledge, to students needing access o scholarly works, to workers needing more information about a job.  To spread this knowledge freely around the world would allow not only access but free modification of the information at hand as well.  To spread awareness the the organization behind the movement holds a special week out of the year dedicated to informing the world of the project.  openeducationweek.org  

         Open Content serves the purpose of the individual works that are able to be distributed due to their copyright.  As told in the podcast, this is done through the four R's, or five according to opencontent.org. Retain gives the user the right to own and control copies of the work.  The is the essential backbone of the open content movement.  Reuse gives the user the ability to show the work in a classroom or as a part of a project, or however else they see fit.  The ability to revise also is given to the consumer so that they may adapt or modify the work.  Through the remix function, one can take the original work and manipulate it with another.  Finally redistribute lets one share copies of the work, either the original or ones remix thereof.  The content however becomes less and less open through stricter legal restrictions and poor technical choices such as being published in an exotic format.  

          The basis of the Open Source Initiative is to promote non-proprietary software.  Software that is public and can be accessed by anyone.  This allows software to become far more ubiquitous and keeps predatory venders from growing. The initiative is based on trust and allowing cooperation between more and more groups.  Through this cooperation, more and more innovation is able to take place in a far more accessible fashion.  This was able to grow due to the widespread fame of Linux in the 1990's allowing more and more coders to work with one another and promote education on a widespread field.  

          Working on my Newsletter was able to teach me more about Microsoft Word than I had previously expected.  In its beginning I was not too thrilled simply because it was homework, however once I finished I felt a sense of pride over my work.  It is far from the best, but I feel as though it fits the theme of the class I created, and therefore had a reality to it.  By that I mean, formatting the newsletter made me feel like I was an actual teacher and I will absolutely utilize that skill in my career.  From from working on the assignment, I was able to the ins and outs of word art, shapes, and formatting for Word on Mac.  There were always slight differences that tripped me up when creating anything other than a paper, but by the end, I was able to fly through my editing and formatting with ease.  One of my biggest accomplishments came from learning how to properly manage the multiple columns and articles.  

          Next time, I feel that I could add more color and images to it.  I kept it as a faded yellow, because I wanted it to appear to be written on an old document, however for future and different assignments more color would work very well and I feel far more comfortable with that idea now.  I feel as though I can also improve on the use of word art.  While I tend to not care for it as I think it can be a little too unprofessional, there is a definite "sweet spot" of sorts that is still professional while also adding more life to a page.  I feel as though I can work more in the future to reaching that point.  

          

#2 MS Word and Student Protection

          I have been using Microsoft Word for school since I was a very young child.  I first used it in second grade.  We were given a day where we were taught the basics of Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.  Since then I have used it every year of my school career.  Every english class that I have taken, starting in 4th grade on, has required me to write essays using Microsoft Word.  I have also had to use it to create various other assignments such as vocabulary lists, brochures, resumés, etc.  In seventh grade, I had to become used to the apple version as my parents bought a macbook so I am now proficient in both apple and windows.  In my experience for teachers and Word, they tend to use it to create handouts for the class.  Any kind of rubric, list, lab, test, quiz, or anything else one could think of that the students would take a copy of was created using Microsoft Word.

          Personally, growing up in the public school system, my only experiences with copyright were through issues of paraphrasing.  However I never viewed it as someone else's intellectual property that has its own legal rights until I was well into high school.  As someone looking to get good grades, all that I cared about was not failing due to paraphrasing and didn't think about it anymore than that.  I believe that this is in part due to the fact that I was never asked to cite anything other than information that I researched while writing a paper.  I was on occasion asked to cite videos or movie clips, however not as often as one might expect, therefore I never really thought about the copyright issues.  When I am a teacher I will definitely ensure that my students are taking the proper precautions to not infringe on someone's intellectual property.  Any information that they glean while researching should be cited, and any clips, videos, or images, they use should be cited as well.  I will be clear to inform them of my policies through the class syllabus.  I will also encourage my students to educate themselves on the idea of fair use and the importance of protecting their own intellectual property.

          In order to solve the issue of unacceptable technological use, I will make it abundantly clear in our first class that it will not be tolerated.  It will also be explicitly laid out in the syllabus how to properly use technology in the classroom.  If I would like to use my students work as an example, I will make sure to ask them ahead of time and clarify that it will be done anonymously.  If I do not receive consent to display the student's work, I will find something else to use an example, weather it be from a textbook, or another student.  Finally, in order to ensure that the students' records are kept safe, I will keep my login information absolutely secret.  If a student requires the use of my computer, I will make sure that they log into their account, or if they must use mine, that they are monitored for the duration of the experience.

#1 Textbook Readings, ITSE Standards, and Digital Natives

          Incorporating and being influenced by technology is one of the most important aspects of the modern classroom.  For one thing it keeps students interested and focused on the task at hand.  There is no longer a need for an instructor to give dry lectures day in and day out.  Teachers are able to incorporate the different learning styles of their students and make sure that what is being taught is also being understood.  These learning styles tend to combine visual and kinesthetic needs which is perfect for the technology of today with advents such as gesture computing.  When students can have a hands on approach to what they are learning, they are far more likely to be interested and comprehend the concepts being taught.  Technology will also only grow in importance in the lives of the students, so to get them knowledgable with modern tech sets them up quite nicely for the world they will be entering.  While it is very helpful with students, it is also very helpful for teachers to stay organized.  As more and more public schools are giving teachers their own personal websites, they have a way to keep their assignments, syllabi, and contact information in one organized and easily accessible place.

          The ISTE standards for students are fantastic to see as they are pushing for the classroom to progress in the world rather than stay stuck in the past.  It is good to see that there are people out there that don't listen to the Luddites of our world and promote the use of tech to further our nation's posterity.  Each of the seven steps support the idea of students communicating with one another and across the globe as well as being creative and innovative in how they go about their educational career.  These ideas fit well along with the standards set for instructors.  Each of the teaching standards focus on being supportive of both students and the technology that is being used.  Teachers are expected to learn about the tech along with the students to be able to guide them in class and in life on the proper uses.  Teachers are expected to be there for the students to show them how wide their world can be if they are able to open it up with technology.  Progression is very possible with the opportunities many students are given in the modern classroom and they need their instructors to show them the way.

          To be born as a digital native and a millennial I feel as though we are often looked down upon by previous generations.  We were thrust into a world with technology that is absolutely astounding, yet are at times treated as though it is our fault that we were born at this time in history.  That being said I am not in anyway attempting to speak poorly of all digital immigrants.  As stated in the podcast there are many digital natives that prefer to live their life as Luddites and many digital immigrants that relish the fact that they too get to live in a world with the bountiful technology we have today.  For example, I had the privilege of having a guest musical conductor for a concert that I performed in, high school, who loved technology.  He was an older man, approximately in his sixties, and would rave about how if there was a new piece of technology out he would be first in line to purchase it and figure out its workings.  It was very refreshing to see someone like him respecting and admiring how fascinating technology really is and not shunning it.  However I have also had many teachers that refused to learn about new tech and would constantly belittle us digital natives for having it so easy growing up in a world of cell phones and personal computers.  Just from personal experience, it is obvious that the gap between digital natives and immigrants is quite wide and it is very important to bridge it.  By teaching students and informing teachers on the usefulness of technology, I believe that it can be done.

#0 Experiences in Technology

        Technology has always been a part of my life in some aspect.  As a child, I enjoyed learning how the different things around my house worked.  From being very young in a home without computers, I would mess around with our televisions and VCR players.  Eventually, around the early 2000's when I was in the early stages of elementary school, our family bought a home computer.  As soon as we purchased it, I was absolutely astounded by what it could do.  That being said, my parents didn't quite trust me, so what it could do for me was play pinball and a hockey game that my father had downloaded.  However, just from using these two games I became far more versed in how computer technology worked than one would expect.  As I got older, I lost some of this drive to learn about computers until I began working with Microsoft word and excel.  At this point all that I cared about though was being able to show off to the kids in my class that I knew how to make a smiley face out of different characters.  Due to the lack of drive, I never felt a need to build my own computer or play more computer based games.  While this does bum me out to an extent because I would have liked to learn those skills, I do understand my parents mistrust of my child self.

        From this class I would very much like to become more well versed in technology.  As I would like to become a high school government teacher, I want to keep the students as hooked on the lesson as possible.  I am well aware that I am not in the majority of people that are fascinated by the American government and its history.  Anything that I can do to get students interacting and interested in the subject matter is something that I would like to do.  I believe becoming more well versed in technology that can help in the classroom will aid in this goal.

        I find that being rather balanced between active learning and reflective learning is very accurate.  While there are many situations in which I like to learn by doing, I also very much enjoy thinking through my actions before hand.  This is especially true in regards to working on my own versus in a group and taking notes from a lecture, which I have always enjoyed.  Being balanced between sensing and intuitive learning, while leaning intuitive is also quite accurate.  As someone who is fascinated by government and politics, I find learning and discussing about theory to be very interesting.  I also was somewhat aware that I prefer to see information rather than simply hearing it or looking at words so being more visual makes sense.  Finally being a sequential learner is very accurate.  It is very difficult for me to understand a concept if I do not look at it in linear steps.