Week 4: Web Conference Reflection

Saturday, October 21, 2013 - 10:00 a.m.

Dr. Abernathy spoke about the issues with Blackboard, and said that Adobe Connect should be getting better.  She said that we shouldn’t have any more Blackboard outages.  Apparently, Lamar was over capacity.  This felt very unfair to the on-line only students over the past few weeks.  I’m looking forward to this getting cleared up in the future. 

Week 5:  This is discussion board, and reflection.  Dr. Abernathy said that she thinks this is worth 75 points, and the discussion is worth 10.  She mentioned that in the weekly overviews, there are examples of in text citations.  She reminded us to always use 12-point font with Times New Roman, and with References on a separate page.  This is APA format.  Week 5 should be summaries of what we’ve completed. 

Week 5, Part 3: Dr. Abernathy said that when working cooperatively with your real school for week 5, that you can just work with 1 teacher.  It doesn’t have to be a large group.   We will need to create a UDL lesson and an eBook that either 1 of us can use (or both).  Get input from the other teacher at your school, but you are the one doing the writing of the UDL lesson and eBook.  She mentioned that if we need more examples to Google it.  Then, she said to put everything on our personal Google site.  If we decide to change the location of where this will be housed, to just let our IA know.

Then, Dr. Abernathy mentioned that she would take the whole week 5-assignment overview down since it is not correct, and repost it on Monday.  This should take care of much of the week 5 confusion.  There seems to be a lot of confusion about how to work Adobe Connect as well.  She mentioned that if we have a specific question for her, to just call her, and she’ll stay on the phone all day.  She also said that if we generally follow the assignment rubric that we would be ok. 

Our team discussed with Dr. Abernathy that we have 9 technology activities for Week 4.  She said that the eBooks would also count as an activity in week 4.  The expectation was only 5-8 activities, but our team created 9. 

5397- This is our next course, and Dr. Abernathy reminded us that this should be our halfway check point for our internship hours. 

She spoke about the extra courses that you can take (stand alone) that will offer more certifications.  It’s possible that one of these might be free. 

Dr. Abernathy will not be posting this video web conference because it was highly confusing.  I couldn’t agree more.  Typically, I learn a great deal from these web conferences.  However, I left more confused than ever after this morning’s web conference.  I have a prior commitment, and will not be able to attend tomorrow’s web conference. 

Week 3: Reading and Video Reflection

This week had numerous videos and readings that explained how important technology is to student-centered classrooms where ALL children can learn and grow.

The Kansas Technology Rich Classroom grants helped provide classrooms with the technology that would allow for student-centered environments, and would engage them at their specific level of learning.  These types of classrooms give students the chance to guide their own learning, and be an active member of the learning in their classroom. 

One of the Edutopia videos featured 18-year-old Louis while he shared his daily life, and explained how technology is seamlessly flooded throughout every minute of his day.  This is true about the majority of the youth in today’s schools.  Technology is not just something that they do on the side.  It is and runs their life.  Louis was even able to teach his parents about many things they could do online like paying the bills.  For many students, technology is more than a tool.  It’s a necessity in their every day life.  Very rarely do kids read the instruction manual for anything.  They are motivated to just go out and learn as much as they can about something when technology is involved.  This type of mindset is what we, as teachers, need to take hold of and run with in our day-to-day lessons.  Most of the students walk in the door ready to learn.  The teachers are responsible for making the curriculum engaging and interesting.  Technology makes this easy. 

Edutopia.org (nd). Welcome to the Digital Generation. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project-overview-video

Edutopia.org (nd). Digital Youth Portrait -- Luis. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-luis-video

Schooltube.com (nd). Kansas Technology Rich Classrooms – Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved from http://www.schooltube.com/video/36743/Kansas-Technology-Rich-Classrooms--Partnership-for-21st-Century-Learning-Summit-Video#

Week 3 - UDL eBook: Helen Keller

I had never used the UDL Book Builder before today.  I thought that the site was not very user friendly, and it took so many clicks to complete just 1 page.  The little people that I made speak at the bottom of the screen were cute and funny!  I know that elementary school students would love to create e-books, but I don't think they would be able to utilize this site without a lot of teacher direction.  It does not have high def graphics, and it is not very visually appealing to the eye.  Like Nikki mentioned in our team reflection, I really like the idea of the students being engaged  through reading, pictures, and audio.  I will pass this site along to a few of the teachers in my school and see how their students like this program.  

Click below to read my eBook created using CAST'S UDL Book Builder!

eBook: An American Hero: Helen Keller

Week 3 - Using the UDL Lesson Plan Builder

Reading about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been a very informative experience.  UDL uses a set of principles for instruction development that give all students in your classroom an equal opportunity to learn.  It levels the playing field of learning inside the classroom by developing different technology related activities in your lesson plan that will trigger 3 different parts of your brain (recognition networks, strategic networks, and affective networks).
After talking with my team, we decided to focus our unit of study around a third grade citizenship TEK.  Listed below are the TEKS that our Unit of study focused on.

SS3.1 (3.1) History. The student understands how individuals, events, and ideas have influenced the history of various communities. The student is expected to:

(A) describe how individuals, events, and ideas have changed communities, past and present.

SS3.11 (3.11) Citizenship. The student understands characteristics of good citizenship as exemplified by historical and contemporary figures. The student is expected to:

(A) identify characteristics of good citizenship, including truthfulness, justice, equality, respect for oneself and others, responsibility in daily life, and participation in government by educating oneself about the issues, respectfully holding public officials to their word, and voting.

SS3.12 (3.12) Citizenship. The student understands the impact of individual and group decisions on communities in a constitutional republic. The student is expected to:

(A) give examples of community changes that result from individual or group decisions.


My UDL Lesson's title is "An American Hero: Helen Keller".  My specific learning targets for this lesson is in the form of an "I can" statement.  "I can explain how the gift of communication helped Helen Keller".  I enjoyed using the UDL lesson planner, and found it to be user friendly.  I can see myself encouraging the teachers at my school to use this type of lesson builder to ensure that all the students in their classrooms are able to feel successful.

CLICK HERE to access my UDL Lesson Plan!


References

Cast.org (2009). Model UDL lessons. Center for Applied Special Technology. Retrieved from http://udlselfcheck.cast.org/

Week 2 - Web Conference Reflection

Web Conference Reflection
September 7, 2013 - 10:00 AM

In this week's web conference, Dr. Abernathy mentioned that Lamar would like feedback on what's most beneficial through the end of course surveys.  This is a great way for the university to update the current curriculum and make it more meaningful for future ed tech students.  A few people mentioned that App Docs for iPads was a great resource for visually impaired students.  Someone also said that Speech Journal was good except that it didn't offer on screen text.  I will have to check out both of these resources considering that in our scenario, one of the students has a visual impairment.  Dr. Abernathy discussed parts of the week 3 assignment.  In week 3 our ULD lesson and eBook will need to be completed.  In week 3, we will also need to have a group reflection on our team website.  This group reflection will be more like a conversation where we discuss what we knew/know, best practices being used, and how we can use these practices in the future.  I look forward to hearing my teammates ideas and views!

This has felt like such a quick week.  My group got to a quick start this week on Monday (Labor Day) with planning what needed to be complete for Week 2.  I am so thankful for this group.  It has really made these last few classes an amazing experience.

Week 2 Reading/Video Reflection

This week there were many extremely helpful videos and reading about the importance of having differentiated learning activities that meet the specific learning needs of all students inside the classroom.  This would even include students with disabilities, or students who are gifted and talented.  “In our 21^st century schools, the mix of students is more diverse than ever.”  This is why as teachers; we need to be able to respond to the student’s individual learning differences.  The one size fits all learning style just doesn’t work anymore.  It is virtually impossible to meet everyone student’s learning needs if differentiation is not happening.

According to CAST, “The Brain Research”, Neurological studies have shown that each person’s brain can process things differently.  The recognition network of the brain helps with learning facts, strategic networks help with planning, performing tasks, and organizing, and affective networks focus on how engaged and interested the learners are.  If you can utilize all 3 of these networks in your lesson planning then, your instruction will have a greater impact on learners with different learning styles.  One way to implement these types of networks is through the use of ULDs or Universal Learning Design.  Universally designed learning is learning designed to accommodate a variety of learners.  UDL uses technology to all students regardless of ability.  Universally Designed Learning principles help teachers differentiate learning experiences for all the students in their classroom.  ULD will offer many different ways to teach students the same content information, as well as, different ways for the learners to express what they have learned. 

Technology integration can make this differentiation way of thinking a lot easier.  The literature reports from, Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, explain, “technology-enriched classrooms were prone to produce more student-centered and individualized interactions, and non-technological classrooms consisted of the traditional model of teacher centeredness” (Page, 2002).  The students of the 21^st century require differentiated learning in the classroom that includes meaningful technology components.  If we choose not to meet the needs of the students, then as teachers we are not preparing them for the next chapter in their lives.

         Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). Diversity of Learners. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

             

         Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). Principles of Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

         Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). The Brain Research. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

         Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

         Page, M. S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389–409. Retrieved from the International Society of Education at http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Number_4_Summer_20021&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=830

Web Conference Reflection- Week 1

There were 2 scheduled web conferences for this first week of Teaching with Technology.  I attended both!  haha...

Web Conference 1 - August 29, 2013
Dr. Abernathy said in today's (Saturday) web conference that she forgot about this one.  Oops!  However, I used this time to chat about the weekly assignments with a few of my fellow classmates on our Facebook page.  This Facebook page has been extremely helpful when needing to figure out how to do the weekly assignments, and trying to figure out what the assignment document is actually saying.  Many times they can be a bit wordy, and hard to figure out.  I am thankful for this type of collaboration.  It is extremely helpful!

Web Conference 2- August 31, 2013
 In this morning's web conference, Dr. Abernathy spoke about the importance of team collaboration in order to be successful in this course.  She mentioned that our teams would need to have a working google site for our assignment, and that our team would need a team leader.  Our team already chose Nikki Looper as the team lead.  It was discussed that we would need to post our reading/video reflection and web conference reflections in our blog and personal google site.  There seemed to be many new faces in this web conference.  I look forward to collaborating with all these new faces!