Digital Blog Post # j Chapter 11

    Engaging students in performance assessment and reflecting learning is a great way to give students learning goals and help them to accomplish these goals throughout the year. Involving technology in performance assessment can help a student become more independent. Three concepts that i thought was interesting in this chapter was digital portfolios, Democratic schools and classrooms, and Pre-assessments.

   Digital portfolios in teacher education has become popular in the last few years. These portfolios helps teachers keep track of educational and professional materials in an electronic format. These portfolios help teachers to see their growth and development over time. It can contain copies of paper material, videos, PowerPoint,photographs and other materials. Its best to start a portfolio as soon as a teacher seeks a teaching license . Teachers can design their portfolio to represent them in many creative ways.Some elements of a portfolio are academics, teaching, talents, and accomplishments.

      Democratic schools and classroom was another interesting concept in chapter 11.  Teachers and students work together to  make substantive decisions about important aspects of educational operations from the curriculum to school climate and rules. The goal of democratic schools like this is to increase student involvement. Students don’t make all the decisions but they do have a say in things. Some people don’t agree with democratic schools or classroom thinking students will not want to learn but focus more on socializing. Democratic schools and classrooms require teacher input as well. The students and teachers have open honest discussions about how their classroom will be operated. The teachers are still in charge in the Democratic classroom and schools.

    Preassesments is one of my favorite concepts in chapter 11, I like preassesments because I feel their really needed in the classroom. Preassessments occur before introducing a new lesson in the classroom. They determine what a student knows before learning anything on the new lesson or topic a teacher will teach. Some examples of a preassessment would be a pretest, writing prompt, questions, or surveys. Preassesments are part of Prior Knowledge –based learning. Which is the idea that when teaching new material the teachers need to connect their lessons to what students already know or have taught.

     Involving technology when seeking a teachers license is something that I  will make sure to do. A digital portfolio is something that I’m going to look into because it is a great way to keep track of  my accomplishments and with a digital portfolio its allot easier to carry around. Democratic schools may not be for every school or classroom but its a neat idea to get students involved with decision making, or even discussing ideas with teachers. Preassessments are something I always like as a student and will continue to like as a teacher. I think its necessary to see what a student knows about a subject instead of assuming that they will know the material.

Digital Blog Post # I Chapter 4

       A teacher’s job is not only to teach the student the content that is required for the student to know. Teachers also designs lesson plans and develop curriculum to teach students. Many teachers integrate technology into all aspects of lesson design and development. Learning assessments, National curriculum framework and electronic grading software are three important tools or concepts that teachers use to help develop lesson plans and curriculum.

         One tool that I really liked was learning assessments they can help teachers to figure out what a student knows. They have summative assessments which summarizes what students have learned at the end of a lesson. Formative which happens during a lesson and Diagnostic which happens before a lesson to see what a student already knows. Learning assessments can help a teacher to evaluate student knowledge, understanding and performance. Some great technology tools to assist with learning assessments is electronic test and quizzes, digital portfolios, and grade keeping software. I observed in a first grade class and the teacher did a quick learning assessment after the lesson to see if the students understood what she was teaching and to figure out what areas were hard for the students and to give more time to focus on those areas.

         Another concept is the national curriculum frameworks or learning standards which guide teachers on what to teach. In Florida we have the Florida state standards, I thought this was really important because as a teacher there are certain things we have to teach. National curriculum standards is basically an outline on what to teach. It has certain topics and skills that a student most learn in that grade level but it still leaves the teacher room to teach the content how she wants. Which a lot of teachers don’t seem to like the standards because of the testing, but I think as a teacher you have to be flexible and adapt to changes. The national curriculum impacts a teacher lesson plan because there planning their lesson on what the state mandates them to teach.

  Electronic grading software is something teachers didn't really have when I was an elementary and middle school student. I still remember the grade keeping book they had and they would write your name in a column and all your grades next to your name. Now the grading is electronic which makes things easier for teachers. The grading software allows for teachers to quickly calculate and record student’s grades. They have stand-alone software which the teacher personally use and it only keeps tracks of grades or what I've seen in most schools was a record keeping system and that keeps tracks of grades, attendance, teacher correspondence, and supports lesson planning.  It haves the student names and a picture of the student. There are some pros and cons about using electronic grading software, a pro being the amount of time it takes to calculate grading and a con being teachers depending on the software to grade test and not really looking at what students are getting wrong.

   I think that integrating technology in designing lesson plans and developing curriculum is a great thing to do. It can really help with getting things done quicker and staying organize. Learning assessments that are electronic can give the teacher quick feedback on what a student knows, what questions students are getting wrong. The national curriculum framework can be found online for Florida and is a great outline on what teachers need to be teaching at each grade level, and electronic grading software is how most schools take attendance and keep track of a student’s performance. Lesson planning and curriculum development with technology can help you get things done quickly.

tackk

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Tackk created by Ella Kies

Digital Blog Post #H Chapter 9

        Attending different schools this semester for observation hours, I noticed a lot of multimedia Technologies in the classroom. The classroom have gone from just focusing on the teacher to a mixture of lecture and technology based tools. Digital projector, digital video cameras (alphabet books) and concept books are a few tools that I saw in the classroom while observing or as a future teacher would try to incorporate in my teaching style.

       Digital Projectors are seen in most classrooms in 2015 in Collier County. It’s the new technology that took the place of the overhead projector that teachers use to use when I was in school. Multimedia use in education is rising because of the assumption that student learning will be enhanced if more than one mode of learning is used in the classroom. The digital projector is such a great tool for teachers because they can project images or video from the computer onto a large screen or other external viewing surface. How it works is a document camera captures whatever is placed under its lens. Most classes are equipped with this device so teachers don’t have to move it around to different classrooms.

    Another great tool mentioned was Digital video cameras; I’m focusing on alphabet books. I want to teach elementary school, so I thought this was a creative and fun idea for the younger grade levels like kindergarten, first and second grade. An alphabet book is illustrations put into a book to help students learn about vocabulary words, spelling, letter sounds and reading skills. You use the digital video camera to record the students holding up their illustrations of the letter of the alphabet. I really liked this activity because it gives these students a chance to do hands on things and be creative but also bringing in technology so they can have a fun time and learn how to use a video camera.

Another idea that I liked in chapter nine was concept books which ties in with the digital video camera. As a potential teacher that wants to teach in elementary; I thought this was another fun activity for students just beginning to read or English language learners, whom are very common in our schools in Florida. Concept books are made up of photographs that are taken by the student. Giving a child a camera to take a picture of a shape, number, pattern, whatever it may be the possibilities are endless can also help them learn the information and recall it because they form memories. I still recall making a book like this but at the time we didn't have digital cameras we just drew our images and the whole class added a page to the book.

  Multimedia Technologies in the classroom are very common the digital projectors are in the majority of the classrooms. This generations have all grown up with some form of technology so ideas like alphabet books and concept books are great ways to bring technology into the classroom and to bring a new approach to ideas that I’m sure have been around for years. As inspiring teachers I think finding a good balance of lecture and technology will help with engaging students.

created by Ella Kies

Resources:

Kies, E. (2015, March 12). Retrieved from https://www.gliffy.com/go/html5/7498843?app=1b5094b0-6042-11e2-bcfd-0800200c9a66

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.