Assignment #6

Thus far, I have found many things useful in the MD 400 course. I enjoyed working with Inspiration, and Windows Movie maker the most. I was pleasantly suprised how easy the aforementioned two technology were to use. I however, do not like working with Photoshop at all. I find the Photoshop software to be too involved and I really do not think that most students at the elementary level will learn to master this product in the short amount of time they will probably have to use it. In other words, I wish theat we could have used the time spent on Photoshop for something else more useful to the classroom.

In addition, i think that all members of the class should be creating their websites in the same manner. I think it is grossly unfair to have some students use Google while others are to create the site from scratch. The whole class should have been allotted space on the university server so that all could upload their own pages as opposed to using a tool like Google Sites.

My hope for the remainder of the semester is that we use products that are easy for all levels of students to use, as I am in the Elem. Ed. program and I think a lot of students in this age range might have difficulty using some of the technologies we are dealing with this semester.

Suggestions for the instructor:

1-Have different sections of the class (one section for ED. Tech. majors and a different section for everyone else)
2- Cover less technologies and spend more time on each one studied.
3- Have all students create a website without using templates.
4- Provide university server space for all class members.

Assignment #5

Today I revisted the educational blog entitled "The Innovative Educator". I read a recent posting about a lesson plan one teacher created for her class when they had a substitute teacher. She actually created an interesting assignment that utilized technology to ascertain the science background of her students. The lesson even had extensions to be used by the regular teacher or other substitutes. Whether or not the substitute lesson plan succeeded or not is unknown to date, as the plan has not yet been implemented. The teacher's intention for creating the lesson plan was to eliminate the disruption in her class due to having a substitute teacher.

I have substituted for quite a few teachers at the elementary and middle school level and while the above mentioned idea sound godd on paper, I honestly do not think that it is going to eliminate the disruption that exists in a classroom due to the regular teacher being absent and a substitute teacher being present. The eruption exists because most students see a chance to deviate from their regular classroom activity and get away with it because the substitute teacher has no idea who they are so their will be no punishment. In most classes, the best and most interesting of lesson plans is not going to engage the students enough so that it is business as usual.

I did however, think it was great that the regular classroom teacher was actually trying to come up with a way to make things easier for her sub.

Assignment #4

I read the articles on inquiry-based learning and historical thinking and found them quite interesting. I only really first heard or read anything on inquiry-based learning last semester. In fact, for the class I took last semester, me and my group had to create a whole unit based on inquiry-based learning. I must say that it was quite a difficult task considering I was used to creating lessons where the teacher just tells the class what they will be learning as opposed to creating a lesson plan where my make-believe class supposedly came up with the subject matter they wanted to learn. For the sake of writing the lessons, we had to pretend we had brainstorming session with our pretend class and the class would decide on what topic they would explore and how.

Anyway, I think inquiry-based learning is a great way of learning. This method of learning allows students to really think about thinks as opposed to just learning facts. Students learn to think on their own which gives them the tools to function in the real world. The teacher no longer stands up in the front of the class and merely tells the students things. The students no longer just read about the subject they are to learn. With inquiry-based learning the students are thinking, researching and observing. They are trying to figure out how things work on their own and they are trying to do the aforementioned many ways, in they own ways.

I would definitely use inquiry-based learning in my classroom, assuming the administration of the school where I worked did not object to the same. I firmly believe students should reach conclusions on their own. Students need to become real thinkers. In addition, I believe that inquiry-based learning makes learning more interesting for students as they in essence become their own teacher. The class basically learns from each other and I think the teacher also learns something new too.

In summation, again, inquiry-based learning would take place in my classroom in every and all subjects!

Web Quest:

Elementary School WebQuest - Quest

Assignment #3

Above please find the image I manipulated using Photoshop. As I am in the Elementary Education Program, I would use this image for elementary school students. I would probably show this picture to my students and ask them if they noticed anything unusual about the picture and if so, what? Then I would ask each student to write a story about how the pumpkin ended up in a forest covered with snow. I would ask the class to use their imanigation and to make their story as creative as possible.

*So an not to violate any copyright laws, the pumpkin is an image I took with my own digital camera and the winter forest image is one that came loaded on my computer when I purchased it.

Assignment #2 - UDL Concept Map

Above please find my concept map for UDL. I created this concept map with the intention of demonstrating the goal of UDL which is to make learning and information available to all students, or at least as many students as possible. Pedagogy and learning need to embrace the technological age and utilize different medians of material in order to make learning as easy as possible for students from different backgrounds, students with different learning styles, abilities and disabilities. Digital media can assist with the Universal Design for Learning by offering learning materials in many different formats. In addition, students are able to manipulate the learning material by using different technologies. In summation, teachers need to present learning material in many different styles and students need to be able to adjust these tools to their special needs.

The standard I am using this semester as a target of focus is :

Language Arts Curriculum Framework

Exploring and Responding to Literature

2.3 Students recogonize and appreciate that contemporary and classical literature has shaped human thought.

Grade 3

Students make connections between characters' lives and the real world.

Students will use digital images and concept maps, created in inspiration, to make comparisons between their life and that of the characters in the literature read. Students will create and manipulate their own digital images to show a connection to the book read. Concept maps will show connections to real life as well as mapping out real life themes from the story read.

MD 400 First Assignment

With respect to our first assignment this semester, I looked through level of the suggested blogs. I am not someone who reads blogs, so I must say that I have found out that I do not think that I am missing anything. Honestly, I find reading blogs annoying. Although, the blog that I finally settled on "The Innovative Educator" was the most interesting.

I found the ideas for incorporating technology into the classroom inventive and and a great way to reach a whole host of students. For example, the ideas mentioned for use with ELL Students are some that I personally would probably never have thought of using, but they are wonderful. Google Translate, Microsoft Word - Word Talk, and Google Text are great tools to use with someone who is learning English or any language for that matter. In addition, I think these tools would be great to use with any student, especially students who are having trouble with writing, reading or learning another language.

As for Blogging and Facebook, I see the benefits of using them to get student to write and communicate with others, but I must say that I question the safety of these internet tools.

All in all, I found this blog to be very infromative and it provided a list of wonderful resources for teachers.

With respect to the article "Teddy Bears Go Blogging", I enjoyed the article. Again I think this article, like the blog I read, provided great ideas for helping students learn and for incorporating the use of technology in the classroom. However, the above technologies are great for in the classroom and for the students who have use of a computer at home, but what about those students who are unable to use a computer at home or those who do not even have a computer at home? The use of a computer for learning could easily leave out a large amount of students if you are working in a school that is located in a district that does not have these resources available.

As for the artilce entitled "Who Are Today's Learners?", I was not able to read the text due to a problem with Adobe (a typical technology problem). Anyway, I emailed Hugh and asked him to email me a copy of the article, perhaps I will be able to do something with it so that I am able to view the text. I finally viewed the article. Agin, my concern is that not all students have access to technology.

Above please find the two digital pictures I uploaded. They are pictures of two of my animals, aren't they cute!

First Blog

Hello! This is my first blog.