Miss Dodge's Blog

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Technology Action Plan

There are so many aspects to a technology based classroom, and Scott Steinberg wrote an article giving pointers as to things teachers need to be aware of. Some of the things that I read that I realized I need to work on is being familiar with social media. I tend to have the few that I can work and be happy with that. However, I need to continue to grow in that so that I do not fall behind the times. I also need to keep up with the latest trends in technology. This one is especially difficult considering that I still have my handy-dandy flip phone! Some of the things I am already proficient in is creating those strong passwords. I enjoy making difficult and yet easy to remember passwords. I am also proficient in how to speak the lingo. Since I am still slightly young, this language phenomenon still affects how me and my friends will speak to each other through texting. Here is a video on technology used in an international school where students use the technology for inspiration for their work in music and movement. This is a great way to incorporate technology with creativity without relying just on the technology. They use it in the way that two superheroes would combine powers, without one taking over the other, like the Avengers at their best. They also used it in other classes too. But the using it for music, creative movement, and art is what really stuck out to me about this video. This video really focuses on using the technology with science. For example taking pictures with an electromagnetic microscope and then showing the pictures on the iPad. This video is about a school in England where they held a case study on iPads and whether or not grades went up as the teachers utilized technology more. The case study proved that grades did, in fact, go up. This blog , written by Lisa, shows 15 ways that a blog can be used in a classroom. One of my favorite is for the substitute teacher. This way, if the sub knows the night before they can look at the teacher's blog and be better prepared for what needs to be done the next day. There is also Symbaloo which is where teachers can find websites based on subjects. As a teacher I feel that a blog for the substitute as well as a blog for parents would definitely be a good thing, that way people who needs to know information, will be able to know said information. I also feel that using technology to enhance creativity is how I would definitely would want to use technology. I feel like I would not be able to use technology everyday for every lesson, because in my opinion there are just those things that should be experienced for how they really are, before they are experienced by technology. Such as reading, I feel that a book made of paper can be twice as magical as a book on an iPad. I also feel that a lot of science should be hands on. That there should be exploring outside for different kinds of leaves, then trying to identify the leaves on their own, and then at the end using technology.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Responding to Changes

There are many new resources online that help a person grow mentally and learn. I will be exploring four resources that can be used.
Free Online Instructional Videos for K-12
This is can be helpful for a student because if they are struggling with a certain subject or lesson within a subject they can watch the video as many times as needed or as they are doing their homework. They can be done by the teacher and there are even full websites full of videos, such as Khan Academy. Here is a video about Khan Academy and how it works. This is by far one of my favorites because as a back up resource this is genius. A student can use it to refresh their memory or when they are doing their homework and it just doesn't make sense.
Free online University classes and MOOCs
This could be good for those who cannot afford to go to college but still have the passion of learning. MOOC has a whole list of courses that can be taken. They are courses taken from many different universities and are for anyone to take over a lot of different subjects. Harvard and MIT have this video about free courses
Plans for free online degrees
This to me is a little sketchy, because it is commonly known that nothing in life is free. But it again would be very good for those who could not afford to go University otherwise. Here is a TED talk about free education. Again, it is just too good to be true as well as where would funding come from for those who teach?
New writers/sources of textbooks.
This could be good because sometimes text books just have the thing teachers are looking for. Sometimes a text book is half good or is mostly great. As a teacher, the idea of getting to fix up your own textbook to be exactly what you need it to be is like... heaven! This link, here, is in the iTunes store. It allows the teacher to basically create the perfect textbook. Which like I said is FANTASTIC!!!!

As a teacher, I look up at the list and I sort of grimace. Partially because getting to pick what goes into a textbook sounds exciting. Getting to choose between authors and then combining your favorites. Which allows you to really give the students what they need. But I am also grimacing because some of this seems way too good to be true. And one thing that I have learned in my young life is that if it seems that way, it probably is too good to be true. I will admit that I do hold an account with Khan Academy because I feel that it is a wonderful resource to use when something a teacher has taught doesn't make sense when you are doing homework by yourself; or for a refresher course in something. I think it is great for that. I am also worried that people will try using that to teach instead of just teaching it themselves. In each of these categories, one has to watch and make sure that the laziness monster does not take over and these become solely relied upon. Otherwise, these are fantastic, wonderful resources that we have been blessed with.

Thank you to the following resources:

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Message and Copyright Info

Copyrighting, we have all heard of it, but what is it exactly? Copyright is the thing that protects creativeness in a sense. If there was no copy write, people would be stealing everyone's awesome ideas left and right! Richard Baraniuk has a TED Talk, that you can watch here, that talks about having an open access place for teachers and students alike. A place where everything is freely shared so as not to infringe upon copy write laws. This is very inventive, because as teachers we have to teach the students that copy write is not OK. As a teacher, every move we make is seen by the student. If we burn discs of music (as a professor of mine used in her lecture) and hand it to the students, we in the long run are teaching the students that it is okay to steal music. A lot of people believe that if there is no copyright sign on something, or if it is on certain websites that it is free game. However, as explained in the article talking about myths of copyright, that thought is completely wrong. Anything written or created that is put in a tangible domain (such as this blog) is technically copyrighted. This is something I had never known honestly! The only way that it is for public use is if the creator of that content explicitly says that it is for public use. Another thing that was new for me was the fact that you cannot write something based on anything else, unless it is a parody or it is a criticism piece. Those are the only two exceptions to the rule. Another crazy new thing I read here, was the copyright years. Did you know, that those are not the years that copyright ran out, but rather, it is the years that it was written and/or modified? So when you see the years on the inside of a cover and it is like 1998, 2002, 2005 and things such as that, the copyright did not end in 2002, it was just modified! Which this a great to know as a teacher. Especially if I end up teaching older children I will be able to explain that to them. It is really hard as a teacher to abide by the law, because there are just so many fun pictures out there! Most people do not even think twice just Googling a picture and just pasting their favorite into a powerpoint. I will admit, I have done this. You don't even think about it unless there is a watermark in the middle of the picture. But as a teacher, I think it is especially important not to do this. To only use things that are explicitly for public domain. The children that I teach deserve to be taught how to respect others' creative property and to be taught that their ideas are still theirs. Even in this crazy world of technology that we live in. So even though, that means that making a fun powerpoint might take a little longer to make to keep it legal, it is important to do so, because children absorb everything around them. I would rather my students be respectful online and respectful to other people's ideas than to just have fun powerpoints.

Thank you to the following websites:

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Utilizing Different Types of Media

Media. What a crazy thing to think about in classrooms! When I was school, media was having computer day and pushing in a TV on a rolling cart to watch some Magic School Bus or Bill Nye the Science Guy! That was all that media used to be. And yet now, imagine this, they are having classes doing something called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Here is a video explaining why this is seen as a productive activity happening in a classroom. One teacher, Zaich, talks about how she uses media in a limited fashion to help teach. (Here is the article) All of the media tools are provided since most of the students are unable to afford their own. She uses articles and blogs on the internet to help relate her lessons to real-life. She also uses video tutorials and other materials such as hand outs and other forms of lessons that the students can pull up on their devices whether they are at school or if possible, at home. A school in Jefferson County, Colorado uses a video conferencing app to help with learning foreign languages. This app allows the students to speak with other students from France and learn to speak French, while the French students are learning English. This is also a great app for learning about cultures from people who live in those cultures. Along with the app, the school has conference rooms, but the app is the most commonly used thing. Here is the article that talks about this fantastic application.

Thank you to the following websites:

Thursday, October 9, 2014

How Technology Changes the Method

Technology is a really great thing. There are so many different methods to use in teaching now, some that were not possible even ten years ago. We are now thinking to bigger and better things, technology wise. Which is great, except, technology is only a small and new part to something that has been around for ages. There are new technologies that are holographic, such as the holographic meeting rooms seen in this video. We can now put together virtual choirs, as in this video, with numbers bigger than a choir has ever been before! But are we losing something? Are we losing the realness of life by having so many virtual things? Yes, we can take virtual tours and they are necessary for places we know we could never know, but for somethings, wouldn't it be vastly better to go there ourselves. Same with teaching. We have more resources than we could have ever have imagined! Which is great! We have so many different methods of teaching! We can use it for discussion, like having power point. We can use it for simulations, or discovery (like a in a web quest). These are all fantastic things! Wonderful things! But in a blog written by Rebecca Alber, she reminds us, that as teachers we are there to help with non-virtual things as well. We are there to ask questions, we are there to answer questions, and we are there to encourage questions. We can take the technology and intertwine it with our question asking. We can ask the questions, see if anyone knows the answer and then explore! This is an example of constructivism. It has open-ended answers. In a journal article written by Dian Schaffhauser, it is made clear how having the internet and technology is so great. They explain that pictures are very key to learning, which is very true, and the internet has a lot of pictures! This sort of learning is more behaviorism because it is often done in a presentation. So overall, methods of teaching are greatly impacted by technology and if used correctly can be invaluable in the classroom!

Thank you to the following websites: