Changes to my Teaching philosophy

Over the past seven weeks, my teaching philosophy hasn't changed on some grand scale, that is a 180 degree turnaround. That being said there are a lot of little things that need to be changed, I realize how easy a lot of the tech the we used in this class is. So now I can enhance my class through technology with, Online wikis for study guide, and podcast to keep the kids interested. I can create a blog to share my successes and failures with other teachers and hopefully learn something in the process. I learned how to critically evaluate the information I get off the internet so my presentations can be more precise, and I can spread this information to my students. I can use E-portfolio's so that my students can become motivated to improve themselves as well as see their progress.
The things that impressed on me the most where the blogs, the wikis and the podcast. They are all different engaging ways of presenting information, and they are simple enough that all of my students can present in the production of them.

Reflection #6

After spending several hours exploring, and creating podcast, I have come to the conclusion that These could be a great tool, for education. I can create a podcast over a video on you tube, or where ever, and now not only are the students getting the information from the video but also getting my analysis and input. Now I can be sure that my students understand what parts of the video are the most important, and which ones the need to spend extra time on.  I see this in the future to be a staple of both all online classes as well as technology integrated classes. I can see i being uses as both a primary source as well as a supplement to the information you are supposed to deliver to the students.
I think, I will use this in my classroom, on every video I require them to watch outside of class, This way they can be sure about which topic are important and I can be sure that the video isn't lacking any pertinent information.

reflection #5

So this week, our Technology project was on Critical Analysis of information, basically checking to make sure that the information you are getting from the internet is true and correct. I did mine over the website http://www.dhmo.org/. I’d suggest before finishing my reading my blog, you should check out this website, before reading the rest of it. Most of the information is veritably correct so you can trust it.

I did the steps that the program requires, checked the domain name, and this one is pretty standard with DHMO being a not necessarily common name for this chemical substance, but when it’s referred to as Dihydrogen monoxide, this is an acceptable term.

Most of the time .org is safe because it is based on a organization. The website itself looked, decent you can tell it was designed a while ago, and there is a single ad space for amazon.com on the website, So not too shady. Another finding that is positive is that it is the first result in the searches for Google, yahoo and excite. So it is fairly commonly used. While I cannot see that it who owns it Tom Way owns the copy right, the fact someone went through the trouble to copyright it is a good thing.

Now that the analysis is over, I can spill the beans. I found this website hilarious. Based on my experience as a research chemist in high school and undergrad, I recognized DHMO as another term for H2O. So all the things I read about were hilarious, because it’s all true, it just isn’t exactly as advertised. Obviously steam can burn you and if inhaled water can be dangerous. One thing I am desperate to know is if like it mentions on the site if the church of Scientology actually refuted the they use DHMO on a regular basis, because that is funny.

Reflection #4

After reading the chapter, is it Age or IT.  I realized first and foremost that I identify with Gen X-ers way more than my own generations. Then I tried to answer the questions posed at the end of the Chapter.
1. Are you more comfortable composing documents online than longhand?
I'm more comfortable longhand I write almost everything on a notepad before I transcribe it.


2.Have you turned your "remembering" (phone numbers, meetings, and so on) over to a technology device?
This is mixed, I learn important numbers like my wife's or pizza hut. However if it is someone I am studying with or someone I work with I trust my phone to keep up with it.  

3. 
Do you go to meetings with your laptop, iPad, or tablet?
no, done have a tablet or a smart phone, I do however bring a notebook.

4. 
Are you constantly connected? Is the Internet always on whether you are at home or work? Is your cell phone always with you?
Yes, to a point, I keep the internet running at my house, and always have a phone on me. No smart phone though.

5. 
How many different activities can you effectively engage in at one time?
This is a hard question, I can manage the big picture on many tasks at once, But i prefer to focus on one thing at a time, to make sure I get the details right. 

6.Do you play video or computer games?  
Yes.

Now I realize that most people my age and younger, are much more tech savvy than I. So I obviously need to get used to these things, and proficient in them if I am going to excel as a teacher in the future.

Reflection #3

After reading the article"Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning". I realized that the authors thinking about education is much in sync with my own. She brings about a comparison of things like checking the" assessment OF learning vs. the assessment FOR learning." This strongly correlates with my belief that it is more important that we teach our kids how to learn, than what to learn. Granted I respect the standardized testing as an important check for teachers, making sure we are capable of our jobs but it does have downsides. When we teach to the test, and it is all we are judged on we can get lazy. Critical thinking skills are lacking as well as the ability for children (and adults) to understand complex concepts as a whole, as opposed to a single blip of information completely separate to all others. To rectify thinking like this the author brings up the idea of grading through portfolios, and I like to think I took this idea a ran with it. With the use of the portfolio we can see how a student progresses, and what kind of tutelage presents the greatest change from week to week. I think if properly use, although it may take a lot of work from both parties, portfolio could provide, learning on a deep intrinsic level as apposed to surface learning mention, enabling students to finally make connections between their blips of knowledge. Hopefully with the development of this blog, through out the semester I can check my self. Find the items that enabled me to learn faster, and deeper, as well as find ways to make my career in education more efficient and useful, for myself, my school, and my students. I'm starting to come up with ideas, for my future students, that without a class like this I would have thought impossible. I'm very excited about the premise of my wiki and hope to use it sooner than later.

Reflection #2

After Reading the articles Digital Native, Digital Immigrants, I finally understood something, I was hopelessly a Digital immigrant. I do all of the things it mentioned, invite people to look at my computer screen instead of sending a URL; I call to ask about the reception of e-mails. Worse than that I wrote all of this on a legal pad before I typed it up on word, then I’ll paste it into this blog. Like I said, I am hopeless. However now that I know this I can start to try an bridge a language/thought barrier I didn’t realize existed. The breakdown of how educational gaming was enlightening to a point, however in this generation you don’t have to look far to see its footprints. I have gathered over the last few years that the video game industry was on to something important; Interactive, goal-oriented, technology is the quickest deepest way to affect these Digital Natives. Most of my observations come from the X-box, and its achievement system, and one truth regarding that, that truth is that I will continued to play a video game long after I have lost interest in its content to get that last achievement. So by creating an interactive, social, digital platform, that features a series of goals, we may be able to improve both initial interest and participation after the initial excitement subsides. This to me could be ground breaking, and with the advancements in technology both with capacity and price it is highly possible to accomplish in the near future. If we continue using archaic methods we will slow down the progress of these Digital Natives, as well as the generations after us. Using these methods we may be able to teach them to filter through all of the information they see every day, and only let the relevant and true information affect their decisions and values.

P.S. To further explain my concept map on my previous post, it was based on something I have read, the brain can connect one concept to seven others on average. It is based on the interconnectedness that i feel our system needs. Also on a lighter note it is supposed to resemble a water molecule( <==Chemistry Nerd) symbolizing that it is an integral part of our education

Success of Seven Connections