My Prezi

The Battle of Iwo Jima

Enjoy at your leisure,

Don

Digital Citizenship Online Module: Part 2 Cyber Safety

To All here is my link to digital citizenship, part two cyber safety.

CyberSafety: CyberPredators

Learning & Leading with Technology Article Response #3

OneBook to Connect the World

            This article is an inspiring one of a teacher reaching outside the norms to create an environment of learning and an understanding of global citizenship.   Pernille Ripp, used a combination of technologies with her fifth grade class to create a Global Read Aloud.   The idea behind the Global Read Aloud is that one book (in this case The Little Prince) can connect a wide cross section of kids and help them understand that although they speak different languages through sharing the same book they can share the same experiences and a since of togetherness through literature.   The idea was to accomplish the task over a four week period bringing in new Technologies every week.  Before beginning the project they received lessons on how to communicate, blog, and comment on the internet, they then started the first week with blogging.  They also promoted participation through Twitter and on wiki, towards the end they tweeted, blogged, Skyped, used GoogleMaps, made videos and used Animoto.   Through this they built a community of fellow students from around the globe, including Michigan, Florida, Australia, Canada, and Wisconsin.   The students were amazed at the ease of communication with other students from around the world.   Pernille Ripp stated  that “ The Global Read Aloud did something to my kids, something that  they will remember the rest of their lives as they return to their hopefully battered versions  of the The Little Prince.  It brought us closer, made our classroom smaller, made the world smaller, and set them on a path to believe in the power of a global connection through the use of technology.”

            After reading this article I was impressed at the steps the teacher went to engage her class into the use of technology through reading and sharing that experience, but what I found even more inspiring was the enthusiasm of the students both for the project, and for the book itself.  I feel that the results of this project go well beyond the introduction of technology into the classroom.  This project not only exposed the students to technology but it also introduced or in some cases reinforced a love of reading and literate to the students that will go on for a life time.

            This article applies to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students and Teachers in a number of ways.  For students it brought Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, Digital Citizenship and lastly, Technology Operations and Concepts.  For the teacher she was able to do the following; Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, and Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.   Through a few simple steps and a little innovation the teacher was successful in not only having her students absorbed the lesson plan, but also in opening up a whole world for them, in such a way as to leave them excited and hunger for more.  What a great example of educating, lighting the flame of knowledge and given the students a taste and a hunger for more.

Ripp P. (2011/12). One Book to Connect the World. Learning & Leading with Technology . 39 (4), 32-33.

Learning & Leading with Technology Article Response #2

Grounded Technology Integration: ESOL Teaching Strategies

            “Teachers working with English language learners can and should help both ELLs and monolingual students meet the same curriculum-based learning goals.”  Never a truer statement, but often times I think it is easier to make the statement than it is to follow through.  This article is about that, the follow through .  It gives a solid no nonsense guild to incorporating a classification of strategies with the corresponding possible educational technologies to assist the teacher in the progression of the students’ language proficiency levels.   In all there are 67 specific ESOL teaching strategies which they organized into eight general recommendations for working with ELLs.  These are; Communicate clearly, Make Content understandable, Check the students’ understanding, Elicit or draw out the students’ responses, Demonstrate and model, Encourage interpersonal communication, Group students to assist their learning, and Promote cross-cultural awareness.  They relate these area’s into categories and sub categories and each of the recommendations come with suggestions to incorporate within a specific lesson, unit, or project.

            I found this article to be focused specifically towards teachers, it did not relay directly to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students.  Although not directed at students in relation to the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers it met the following, Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, lastly Technology Operations and Concepts,  (Especially in the selecting and the use of applications effectively and productively).  All of these NETS-T standards are represented in the taxonomy overview that was presented in the article.   It meshed well the strategies necessary for the teacher to achieve needed goals with the possible technologies to help reach them.  

            I felt this article a worthwhile read, which had a direct approach to the issues when dealing with incorporating ways to ensure ELLs learn to the same standards as mainstream students.  Furthermore the article spells out nicely the way to go about it, giving a simple rubric to help teachers incorporate technology to meet goals.  It also raised my curiosity enough that I followed the wiki link (http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/)  that is addressed in the article and reviewed the teaching strategies that were provided by The college of William & Mary School of Education on the site.    I found it very informative and the taxonomy goes much more into depth, showing that the article is more of an abstract for what I reviewed  on the William & Mary site.  I definitely think it’s a great source for ESOL teaching strategies.  With that said I also think a lot of it can be adapted for teachers to use in mainstream education.  Such as approaches for promoting cross-cultural awareness, this is relevant in any classroom.  All in all a worthwhile use of my time, and I’ll put the ideas it gives in my tool box for future use. 

Stanfield S. (2012/13). Grounded Technology Integration: ESOL Teaching Strategies. Learning & Leading with Technology. 40(4), 37-39.

Learning & Leading with Technology Article Response #1

Five Tips for Incorporating New Technology in the Classroom

            This article “Five Tips for Incorporation New Technology in the Classroom” informs us not only of ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, but on what is the biggest hurdle to incorporation technology into the classroom.  Form what Stanfield writes there are two reactions from educators to bringing technology into the classroom, the “Oh no!” and the “Oh wow!”.  The former, seems to be from the reluctant teachers which are quick to admit they are not interest in using new technologies. Furthermore they readily admit that if it requires extra time to learn how to incorporate new technology into their lesson plans and courses of instruction, that they want nothing to do with it.  The later set or the, oh wow, group are the enthusiastic teachers that are excited, motivated, and eager to bring technology into their classroom to make the students lessons that much richer.

The article is more about this division of teachers and how to overcome the issues that arise from it. Stanfield discusses talks about how to encourage those more reluctant teachers to bring new technology into the classroom.  Thus she gives five insightful tips to gain the acceptance, and the growth of new technologies, by teachers.   These tips include having tech-savvy teachers work closely with the not so tech experienced teachers.  Also a big factor is to listen to teachers and their concerns over new tech. Stating that teachers will be able to identify their short comings with new tech, and that by listen to their concerns and requesting feedback on any training the teachers get on new technology, the teachers needs and concerns will be addressed, resulting in teacher becoming more willing and accepting as a whole. The third suggestion is to find and demonstrate free applications that can help the teacher in the classroom.  With this have teachers become comfortable with the apps in a training session this will give them more confidence in using this new tech in the classroom.  Next Stanfield discusses the idea of a blog for teachers, a forum where they can post comments and work in conjunction with their colleagues.  This blogging offers teachers some flexibility to engage in conversation when it is convenient to them.   Lastly Stanfield suggest that we try and create a climate where innovation is valued.  This part I found the most valuable of all the article, giving the teacher the environment to be creative, explore and take risks, to become more innovative in the classroom seems the most relevant.  I state this because without an environment where risks are taking and failure is used as a tool and a building block for later accomplishments the environment becomes stagnant.  It concerned me when thinking of accepting failure, but there are a good many examples in history that support this model.  One of the most notable examples is President Abraham Lincoln, in his home state he failed miserably as a dry goods store owner.  With this in mind and letting teachers know it is important to risk, push the envelope and learn from their setbacks for future success, I believe is paramount for the success of bringing new technologies into the classroom.  This is not to discount the other four tips all seem relevant but I believe none compare to a creative climate of innovation.

I would follow this up by saying, new technologies in the classroom for the sake of being a new technology should not be entertained unless it serves a purpose in the classroom.  Furthermore technology should be phased in, and only updated where necessary. If it is updated constantly we will quickly find ourselves on the outside of the technology “ODA” loop.  By this I mean we would be caught constantly trying to adjust, and instead of teaching and the students learning the subject being taught they are only learning the ever latest technology.  

With that said this article relates directly to NETS-S (1,2, and 4)  It discusses Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration among teachers, and Technology Operations and Concepts. It is reflective as to how we are working with and learning these new technologies, and how we will need to incorporate them into the classroom.  Some of us are the “Oh wow’s, some the “Oh no’s”, but all of us will run into teachers weather ourselves or others that will need to become accepting of new technology in the classroom.  This article can help facilitate that interaction to achieve the best results.

Stanfield S. (2013/14). Five Tips for Incorporating New Technology in the Classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology. 41(4), 34-35.

Summary of researching the web

How to effectively search for information?  

If we were to simply Google what we choose to research our screens will be flooded with information, but how often is that information accurate or even relevant.   As seen in class aprox 1/6 of the information came up in the first search was discounted through simple filters.  

How will you evaluate the credibility of an online source?

The following are some ideas on how you would evaluate the credibility of an online source. Obviously just because it is on the web does not necessary make it accurate.  Many sites have multiple reasons for their existence and it is not always to impart information.  Weather it is an advertisement, or a campaign to get across ideas, sites need to be checked for accuracy and accountability.

·      Check with other trustworthy sites, does this site hold water?

·      Research the authors, sponsors, and the like.

·      How often is work updated, is it outdated and no longer valid?

·      Check the citations and cross-reference, are they accurate?

·      Content, arguments, evidence, and origination of the web site.

·      Is Design a factor.

·      Is the web site bias in it’s options and or research.

o   I.E. Southern Baptist Church would not be the best site for information on military service members..

Technology for Teaching

I think the most pressing issue in education is the over stress of special interest groups.  All students should be treated with equal value in the classroom, no one group should overshadow the other.   At first this might sound callus but meaning behind this is that all students deserve the right to an education no matter their race, gender, gender identification, culture, or socioeconomic background.

Global Classrooms