Internet for Educators- Week 9- Final Summative Projecy

Hello everyone! Here is our Final Summative Project! Tim and I reflect on how the class and technology has affected us personally and give ideas of how we will be integrating into our class. I had a great time with all of you and I hope we all learn that technology can be a great asset and tool to use in the classroom and that if we use it affectively it will not only increase our own learning but also our students learning.

http://youtu.be/wdaLy0hFEyw

Internet For Educators- Week 8

Well we are wrapping up the semester for Internet for Educators and it has been a blast. This year by far has been the most educational in showing us the true ways of how to use Technology. I have used it more than ever. After being a bit intimidated by it, I have finally used it for my unit on Age of Exploration and finished the Unit. The social studies unit looks great and much more eye catching and it feels good that I have finally integrated it into my work. Yesterday also, I have made my very first Podcast using iMovie and then transferring it to youtube. You will see this work in class tomorrow as Tim Wiebe and I reflect on our course, what we have learned, and how we will be using technology in the future. The funny thing is that I was so intimidated by technology but when you begin to get a little bit more familiar with it, even if it is just simple work, it starts to get addictive and you want to use it more and more as you become more knowledgeable with it. I have had a great year in this course, and a big thank you needs to go out to Mike Nantais. He is very smart and has shown not just myself but  our whole class how to make a more engaging and creative classroom. I am excited to see what the future holds for technology in my class!

As for all my classmates, I want us all to make sure that we do not fall into the spinning wheel of how classrooms are now with just a pen and paper. We need to expand our students minds and develop knowledge and skills in using technology to further their learning. So lets do it!

Week 7- Internet for Educators

We did not have class this week in Internet for Educators, but the spare time gave me some free time to play around with some different sites and online tools I could use in my upcoming placement. As I have mentioned in my previous weeks blog, I have been working on my Social Studies Unit for my overseas placement in Kuwait. I have been wanting to increase the use of technology in my presentation. As I had mentioned before, Prezi has become a more engaging method of presentation as it can be a more interesting process and more eye catching than powerpoint. I have recently, and FINALLY, introduced a technological activity into one of my lessons. This was very nerve racking as I have mentioned a million times, I am not very knowledgeable with technology. The unit I am creating is a Exploration Unit, and the technological tool I will be using for the activity is Twitter. And yes, I am very excited. For the activity they must create an explorers Twitter Feed. They will create the explorers twitter name, profile picture, and create a couple of statuses that this explorer might use while they are travelling, or if they have just landed, etc. They then must comment on two of their peers twitter feeds. I think this small activity will be very interactive and engaging and can relate to what teenagers use every day. I think if they hear that they are able to use Twitter, they will be very excited.

I am glad I am finally incorporating technology into my classroom. It took a lot of courage for me to actually do this so I am excited to give it a try. If it fails it fails, but it will be a great learning experience and I can build from the experience I have.

Internet for Educators- Week 6

As our Education classes are coming to an end, and our pre-service teaching placements are in sight, I have finally implemented some technology into my classroom for Social Studies. I remember being told not every to use powerpoint unless you are incorporating something engaging and interesting into it. So, the unit I am presenting overseas is going to be on exploration. I will be using Prezi as one of my teaching tools to teach the material students need to know. The reason I chose Prezi is because it brings a different vibe and visual presentation to the table. The background I chose was the world map as I can place different slides where the different explorers have been. I am very excited to use this tool in class and I think it will engage the students as we go along.

This week, we also had a guest speaker Kelli Boklaschuk from the Brandon School Division. It was excellent to have her presenting as she talked a lot about how technology is being implemented into the Brandon Public School System. The point that stood out the most to me was that Brandon wants to get on board and begin incorporating more technology into the school, but then the topic changed to how much restriction there really is on computers and the internet. Youtube, twitter, and Facebook to name a few. We have been shown how useful these tools can be in the classroom, but yet they are being restricted to many brandon students. 

 Legal implications can be a scary thing for both parents and teachers. This is one of the reasons why many sites are blocked, as it avoids conflict or chance of trouble. But, if teachers and administration are well prepared and knowledgeable and know what they are doing, teachers and students can follow the rules and use the internet to benefit. 

Another problem that technology can bring is change. Many people do not like the thought of change, especially when it comes to the school system that has been working the same way for centuries.To many parents, if the system is changing in some way, and they begin filling out permission forms to use the internet, they can get curious and wonder why they need forms to use technology. It can become annoying to always have to be filling out forms every week.But,  if administration and teachers can show parents how the internet can be used to learn, assess, and open new doors, then parents will get an understanding that maybe this change can be good. Just because it is different does not mean it is bad. It is only a matter of time before technology becomes the dominant force in schools and it will be used on a daily bases.

Internet for Educators- Week 5

This week in Internet for Educators we had Martin Ingenmay and Bryce Ridgen come to the University to discuss the integration of technology into the public school system. They discussed many aspect of technology including one to one initiatives in Manitoba Schools, different ways to engage a classroom and how technology is going to be the new trend in schools.

The very first topic we discussed with the SAMR acronym. Substiution- tech acts as a direct tool substitute with no functional change. Augmentation- tech acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement, Modification and Redefinition

Bryce also went on to discuss how the SAMR acronym is very similar to the Blooms Theory. I found this aspect very interesting as he compared the two, and both of these concepts have very similar traits.

We then discussed the various ways to engage a classroom. Bryce talked about how you may not be able to use many of these as types of summative assessment as many of the ideas did not go as in depth as he had wanted, but the positive side was that it brought out the creative side in students and got them thinking about the topic at hand. For students to show their own understanding and interpretation of the topic and represent it in their own way is crucial for learning, especially with all the different learning styles out there.

Some interesting types of ways to engage the class that I thought would be the most useful in my classroom were:

Vines- Students look at vines every day, why not get them to make their own vine on the topic you are instructing? They can be as creative as they want in the 10 seconds they get.

Selfies- Can be used in several different ways. How they are feeling about the  class they are in, a selfie pretending to be an important individual in a historical time. The options are endless.

Twitter- We have talked about twitter many times, and the more ideas I get from experts like Bryce, the more I want to use it in my class. Seeking out experts on student questions is a brilliant idea. Helping them make real world connections with people who have the answers works on several aspects including independence, self-engagement, and interest.

PopcornMaker- During the presentation of a video or picture, add in pop up facts. This is a really cool tool that can be used in any subject area.

Padlet- Easy to use question page. All the teacher has to do is sign in and you go from there. There is no fumbling around with students forgetting passwords, etc. Also beneficial to students who are to shy to ask questions.

The thing I liked the most about technology being integrated into the school system were the various assets it brought to both students and the school system. Bryce mentioned the benefits it brought to the table such as:

Student choice, differentiated instruction, helped kids foster creativity, it incorporates the students interests, and can measure the depth of the students understanding of the material. It also brought things such as collaboration, transforming the way students learn and the way teachers teach, and is cost effective.

This presentation brought many useful technological tools to the table and I am looking forward to implementing them into my classroom in the future.