Technology is just Awesome!

(5 min. Presentation)

5 Min Presentation

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Spring into Writing!

(Multimedia Lesson Plan)

Check out my Multimedia Lesson Plan at:

multimedialessonplan.webnode.com

Oh, how I love Technology!

(Reflection #2)

The idea of creating a multimedia lesson plan just set my hopes for my next upcoming weeks which otherwise would be hectic and stressful. Upon entering Audio and Visual Education this semester I find myself eager to work with the new technology tools being introduced. I love to explore, discover and share my creations with others. I find myself and the kid in me, drawn to activities- art activities mainly, because they are often times very enjoyable. Now I have found a new craze to make learning even more enjoyable- and that is through technology!

As a future educator we must not only learn what to teach, but how to teach. And part of teaching is through experiences. Audio and Visual Education course has taught me to Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (ISTE 2008) for my students which incorporates contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning and develop a technology-enriched learning environment.

Upon preparation for my lesson plan I sat and thought up ways to incorporate technology and have it developmentally appropriate. Being an Early Childhood / Elementary Education major, I challenged myself to make a lesson plan I could actually use. I focused my lesson plan for third grade students and incorporated my two favorite subject’s language arts / reading and art. Oh, and lets not forget technology which made this assignment less of a task!

Once I got my lesson plan fitted, with special thanks to the ASSURE Model (IMTL 1999), finding a website creator host was an effortless task. I chose Webnode website creator as my host because I fell in love with a template which then escalated my hopes for my multimedia lesson plan. I added a few tweaks, linked a couple of pages, and to make my lesson plan a bit more realistic, and a sure bond for myself, I had my 8 year old cousin, Amanda, test out my lesson plan. She enjoyed creating the story and painting on a computer, something she never thought was possible, and then I held a tutorial for her on how to successfully upload to SlideShare. Knowing she had fun, and learned a couple of new things paid off instantly all the time and effort spent into my multimedia lesson plan.

So, check it out at: multimedialessonplan.webnode.com, It’s pretty Awesome!


International Society for Technology in Education. (2008) The ISTE- National Educational Technology Standards (NETS*T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers.(2008)Website:http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf


Instructional Media and Technologies for Learning. (1999) Heinich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino. (1999) Website: http://www.unca.edu/education/edtech/techcourse/assure.htm

Technology Tool Assessment

I thought I knew ALOT about computers and the World Wide Web. Luckily I registered for ED-451 this semester to kick me in the butt and show me the ins-and-outs of technology. I’m pleased to say I’ve learned MORE to call myself computer savvy. Through this course I’ve learned about myself and that I absolutely love to Discover, Explore and become Efficient with all sorts of applications! Below are just to name a few…

My rating is 1 star - 5 stars (5 being the highest)

Moodle

This is probably the best tool to use to get you and your class on track and STAY on track. I absolutely love this tech tool. Being the structured individual I am, I found this tool very rewarding being able to know what was due, when it was due, and what was expected, as well as everything else you may need to know such as Professors email off hand, syllabus, assignment examples, what’s due, etc.- all at the tip of your fingertips. Awesome, awesome tool every teacher should incorporate in their classroom.

Rating:
I give Moodle 5 Stars

FireFox

Before being introduced to Mozilla Firefox I only knew of Internet Explorer! The best thing about Firefox would be the Tab Browsing, which makes Exploring the Web much easier. Because it allows you to open many different pages with the click of Ctrl + T. Very very Awesome! And the next best thing is… It’s FREE! My only setback was using it at home. It is extremely slow compared to the performance in class. But that still has not changed my preferences. This tool is good for the classroom in terms of browsing and exploring, or teaching students to multi-task. It becomes very convenient for students and teachers to use in the classroom.


Rating:
I give Firefox 4 Stars

del.icio.us

This site is a way to keep track of Notable websites / pages so that your ‘Favorites’ is not all cluttered. You can Tag each site you add so that it is easy access. You modify the Tags, you write in your own notes, you know what you put and where you put it, del.icio.us host it and makes it super easy for you. I like that you can network and save others bookmarks onto your list without having to use a search engine to locate it yourself. Delicious helps teachers and students keep track of sites they want to keep. When you want others to share the websites they found delicious makes this easy with their networking system. Del.icio.us is by far, hands down, "The Tastiest Bookmarks on the Web!"

Rating:
I give Del.icio.us 5 Stars

Google Suites

What would life be without Google? Google offer email, search engine, interactive docs, Blogger, and other great tools in one. Google email was only introduced to me through this course and has been convenient as far as an interactive doc is concerned. I like that you can upload a file and share with others you wish to have them read and make proper adjustments. I used it while doing a group research paper and everyone in the group was unable to meet at the same time- this really made it hassle free. My favorite thing about Google Suites would have to be the Blogger. I love to write and share my ideas, so the Blogger is a very enjoyable tool that you do not have to only use for class assignemnts but for also personal or just about anything.

Rating:
I give Google 5 Stars

Synthasite
Now Yola.com

In my effort to make a site for our group Internet Issues I discovered Synthasite. This is a very easy site to use. They have a bunch of templates to choose from for any theme. They also give you the option of having a webpage or a blog as a webpage. Very user-friendly. One of my setbacks however was uploading a video from TeacherTube to view right on my website pages. It was only available for saved videos and YouTube and the option of linking it instead. I’d recommend this site if you want to create a website with little time on your hands. Synthasite can also be used by teachers as a way to have parents view their child's classroom activites and works.

Visit my website I created through Synthasite: copyrightissues.synthasite.com

Rating:
I give Synthasite 4 Stars

Slide

I first used slide for my myspace account, as a way to share you pictures with others. I did not think you could use it as a way to present your presentation. I used this tool for a power point presentation on an Educational Game Rubric. Slide gives you the option to conform your power point slides to picture images so that you are able to upload it to a slide presentation. Slide offers captions at the bottom of each slide, as well as different types of ways to present your presentation, such as revolving, puzzle, collage, and other great, fun ways. A setback however was that you could not time how long to have one slide stay on view or a certain amount of time. This is a great tool for presentations and a way to incorporate class photos!

Rating:
I give Slide 3 ½ Stars

Slide Share

Ed451 Educational Games

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Slide Share is a way to present your presentations. It gives you the option of uploading not just pictures but also power point slides. You are able to navigate the slides by the bottom control buttons, as well as have it on timer and run on its own. This technology tool is very easy to use, convenient and goes out of the norm of power point slides. I thought a setback was that if you saved it through slideshare.net and then went in and made changes to your power point the changes will not save automatically. So you would have to delete the previous and re-upload. But I guarantee is all worth it! This is a great tool for presentations!

Rating:
I give SlideSahre 4 ½ Stars

Webnode

Webnode is a website creator that is very easy to use. All you do is click what you want to place, and drag where you want to place it. It's that simple. It's FREE- and there are absolutely no advertisements to clutter or distract the image of your webpage. This tool is great, fun and easy to use for anyone creating a website. You can literally create a website in 30 mins. They also offer polls, and a blog section. You can even add-in a comment section for anyone to add to. Very, very fun and easy to use.

Visit my the website I created with webnode: multimedialessonplan.webnode.com

Rating:
I give Webnode 5 Stars

Successful Participants- Assistive Technology

(Reflective Essay- "Enabling Dreams")

Technology is a tool used immensely today alongside Assistive Technology. Assistive Technology offers students with disabilities the chance to successfully participate in all the activities offered in the classroom setting. Being aware of the different diversities in your classroom and accommodating for it will make your lesson plan and time management run smoothly. The important part of your lesson plan is not only the content, that they meet standards, or that you are assessing your objectives, but that it is accommodating for all your students and that all your students can successfully participate. Assistive Technology should not change the total outcome of your lesson plan but what it should do is accommodate for the student with disabilities so that he or she can actively and successfully participate.

Assistive Technology and Technology in general have brought on much advances, but the true core to those advances and incorporating it in the classroom is a teacher who is aware of the different types of Assistive Technology and incorporating it into his or her lesson plan to help accommodate her students, because every child has a need, little or big, and they should have the opportunity to explore with Technology!

Group Project / Presentation #2- Internet Issues

View our Website on Copyright Issues!

ED-451 Online Educational Game Rubric

ED-451 online Educational Games using Slide.com

Ed451 Educational Games

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Ed451 Educational Games

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Connecting Standards and Lessons with Technology

(Reflective Essay #1)

As this lesson is geared toward changing the perspective of technology with teaching, it also withheld many other frameworks such as the Modeling of Digital-Age Work and Learning (ISTE 2008), which aligns with the Standard in which it models and facilitates effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information resources to support research and learning.

I have learned that when integrating technology into your lesson you must have a purpose. There cannot just be a task to use it, and then have no specific reason for using it. The example used in this lesson planning was that we effectively use a digital spreadsheet as an end result to our lesson. With the digital spreadsheet data our task was to have our students evaluate something specific. If the students were unable to evaluate something then our integration of the digital spreadsheet towards our lesson plan would be useless, thus without a purpose.

The new technology I learned had broaden and made my activity experience less tedious. I learned that there are more than one Browser and one Search Engine. I used a newly downloaded Browser, FireFox, to help with my searching and multi-Web tasking, using Tab Browsing. I also used a more tapered search engine for faster results rather than the traditional Google. All of which helped make my lesson activity much easier. The task of creating a blog and posting our lesson plan and reflective essay was probably the easiest and exciting part of the lesson, because then my lesson is posted for others to see (Blogger).

What I liked least about the activity was coming up with a lesson that would have an outcome with the spreadsheet, and then incorporating it with my content area, young learners, and being creative all at the same time was a bit challenging. What I liked most about the activity would be learning that you have to have a purpose to the technology you are integrating in order for your students to fully understand the uses of that specific form of technology, because if your students do not know the reason behind the technology then you would not effectively be teaching anything but to obtain data and post it. I have learned through this lesson that not only can we connect Standards to our lessons but we can also incorporate Technology.



International Society for Technology in Education. (2008) The ISTE- National Educational Technology Standards (NETS*T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers.(2008)Website:http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Blogger. Amber- Connecting Standards and Lessons with Technology. (February 2009). Website: http://atajalle.blogspot.com/

The Food Pyramid & Me!

(Lesson Plan #1)

ANALYZE learners

Learners General Characteristics
The instructional unit is for fifth grade students enrolled in a general Health class geared toward the average learner. The students range in age from 10 to 11 years. None of the students have learning disabilities but they are culturally diverse. They come from various socioeconomic environments; however, the majority of the students are local students. Some are Asian and from the Marianas islands. Generally, the students behave well when the lesson integrates interactive activities that focus on topics of interest.

Entry Competencies

The fifth graders have received prior instruction and have working knowledge in:

1. Working with the World Wide Web
2. Conducting a Research using search engines
3. Keyboarding
4. Using MS Word, MS Power Point, MS Excel
5. The updated Food Pyramid


Learning Styles
The students dislike reading from textbooks. They prefer updated material of real-life issues. They appear to learn best in cooperative team settings. They like to work on projects and conduct oral presentations. Some of them do not test well on paper-and-pencil assessments. Therefore, rubrics allow them to know in advance the objectives and expected outcome of their performance.


STATE Objectives

The objectives for the instructional unit:

1. Students will record for one week the foods they eat.

2. Students will sort their data into the categories of the updated Food Pyramid using a digital spreadsheet.

3. Students will evaluate their data to see if the food they ate within that week met the total servings on the Food Pyramid per day according to the USDA.


SELECT Methods, Media, and Material

The teacher will develop instructional materials and evaluation guidelines. The method chosen was large group discussion with individual outcomes. The lesson will begin with a brief introduction on the Food Pyramid. This lesson will include the integration of technology with the use of a digital spreadsheet (MS Excel) so the students can sort out their data per day per category on the Food Pyramid. Then compare each day with the actual total servings to see if they have met the required food servings according to the USDA.

Using MS Word the teacher will create a set of handouts providing each student with the list of objectives, instructions, grading rubric and samples for the spreadsheet.

UTILIZE Media and Materials

Preview the Materials
The teacher will view the World Wide Web to verify that the information the students need are readily available.

Prepare the Materials
The teacher prepares student handouts and rubrics, as well as examples of what the students should accomplish. The teacher will make sure there are other means of digital spreadsheet access in the case that a student could not access one.

Prepare the Environment
The teacher gives the students a brief run through of what the students will have to do in order to complete the lesson and is available for any questions.

Prepare the Learners
To prepare the students, the teacher presents the overall plan and objectives for the lesson. Each student receives the required handouts, objectives, rubrics, etc. The teacher conducts a whole class discussion of the evaluations guidelines using the large screen projector with the teacher’s laptop.

REQUIRE Learner Participation

Once all students have completed the assignment, the class as a whole will get into mini groups and answer, note and share with others questions which would be available at that time. The questions will ask them to evaluate their digital spreadsheets to see what they noticed. The answers for their questions will be taken brief note of and turned in after group discussion.

EVALUATE and Revise

Assessment of Learner Achievement

The following rating will be used to evaluate students’ knowledge and performance of the assigned lesson.

(Total possible points: 50 pts.)

1. Recording of Food student ate for one week (10pts.)

2. Student’s sorting of their data into the categories of the food pyramid using a digital spreadsheet (20pts.)

3. Student’s thorough evaluation of their data. (20pts.)

Evaluation of Media and Methods
The teacher will evaluate his/her students based on the assessment of each student and find any similarities s/he sees through the assessment. The teacher will evaluate the lesson to see if all students were able to access a digital spreadsheet.

Evaluation of Overall Instruction
The teacher will do a review of the Food Pyramid and the lesson to see if the students understand the concept. If the student feedback is the same as before the lesson the approach was ineffective thus a re-teach of the lesson and a different approach is needed.