Week #9

            Well this marks my last blog post, and I cannot believe this class is over already. This class has taught me about some of the incredible uses and reasons for integrating technology in the classroom. I am so grateful for what I have learned in this class, and hope I can use most of these ideas and applications in my next student teaching placement. 

           We were also fortunate to have two guest speakers this semester, John Finch and John Evans. John Finch introduced us to the Literacy in ICT continuum. I found his presentation very useful as he taught us the features of the continuum and how to work alongside it with the curriculum. John Evans presentation about Maple and Personal Learning Networks was useful, as well as his tips and tricks about technology.

            Movie making was by far the most educational fun I have had all semester. Our group put together a "#buparkingprobs" video, and I feel our classmates enjoyed it. We used our iPhones to video our movie, and iMovie to edit it. I was very happy with how our video turned our, considering the amount of time we had. I feel in high school making a music video was a memory I will never forget, now I can add this as another memorable experience. I know that if I had this much fun making a video, my students can as well. I think it is important to take time to allow students to record, edit, and present videos because of the learning that coincides with movie making. It is a fun experience, and if planned correctly by the teacher, one can meet both the curricular outcomes and the continuum stages as well. I feel as teachers it is a necessity to make learning fun and engaging for our students, and I feel movie making definitely achieves that. 

          Reading the book titled "Powering Up" definitely added a new perspective to my view on technology and the integration of technology in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed Kathy Cassidy's section about making global connections. Connecting our student with experts, other children, and people around the world is a type of learning that is like no other. Making connections and connecting our students locally and globally is not only interesting for our students but intriguing. These connections allow classroom teachers to maximize learning. For my future classroom, I feel this will be a goal of mine, connecting my students not only locally, but globally as well because I feel it is very beneficial for students.

          In all, there were many important applications, websites, speakers, and assignments in this course. I feel what we learned about curation in the beginning of this course will help keep all our resources organized into appropriate subjects/headings. Technology along with the internet can be very overwhelming, that is why I believe keeping organize and a clear purpose in mind is essential. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and follow along with my journey about technology in the classroom.

Week #8

             This week I have been spending lots of time working on my online ePortfolio. I have mixed feelings about my ePortfolio because of what I have heard from previous professors. In my opinion, I think having an ePortfolio is great because, for one it allows a digital copy of your actual portfolio to be saved online in a safe place. When using a print copy of your portfolio it may become lost or damaged, whereas having it online I feel is a secure place depending on the credibility of the web base site you choose to use. I also feel having two types of portfolio (print & digital) is important because if something happens to one of them, you always have another one to rely on.

            I think ePortfolios are current and up to date with the technology around us. I believe we are in a time where there is an abundance of e-mails and online exchanges taking place. Having to take a print copy of your ePortfolio to a number of future employers, which normally you only have one, is not feasible. If you apply for a number of different jobs, and they all want to see your portfolio this makes it very difficult. If a person just has a web link of their ePorfolio they need to email to a possible future employer, I feel that is very manageable. 

            I think ePortfolios are a way to show our talents and hobbies off in a way that we normally could not do with just a cover letter and resume. Our talents may be highlighted in just the construction and overall professional look of the website. If a future employer is looking for someone like this, I feel it is a great asset. It also allows us to show slideshows and pictures of our interests, hobbies, employment, lesson plans, classroom bulletin boards, etc. The options of the items to include in our ePortfolio are endless.

            Overall, I feel having an ePortfolio is very beneficial. However, I understand that employers are very busy and may not have time to thoroughly look at them. That is why I believe ePorfotlios must be concise and direct. I believe having photos and brief amounts of text will enhance the portfolio because of the time constraint of the employer. I believe having an online ePortfolio can only be an asset to myself when searching for future employment. 

If you would like to check out my online ePortfolio, just click here.

Week #7

Video Making
           This week in class we got to watch all of our classmates videos. The videos were very creative and hilarious! It was amazing to watch all them and see how everyone did something different with their ideas. Watching these videos was a lot of fun for me, as a student in ICT class. Wouldn't it be great if students could have this much fun creating a video and learning at the same time!? 
           This experience definitely changed my outlook on video making. When I was in high school it seemed so complicated to make a video. First we had to rent the video camera, then we had to go to Home Hardware and buy a video for it. Now videoing seems so simple, as we used our iPhones as a recording device. For our project in high school we had to make a music video of our choice, however, this did not relate to any other subject. I believe video making in the classroom is an effective teaching tool for teachers.  I feel I could have learned more about videoing in computer class if it was related to something I was learning about in a different subject at the time. I also believe the skills such as planning, organizing, videoing, and editing are useful tools that will be pertinent to our students future. I feel students could have so much fun with videoing, when given a topic to learn about. For example, in the classroom you could have students "interview" an expert, video a "day in the life of", or reenact a scene of a novel. These are just some ideas for incorporating video in the classroom, but the options are endless. 

John Evan's Visit

"Teachers are lifelong learners."

          Today John Evan's, who works for Manitoba Education, came to discuss MAPLE and PLNs with our class. A quote that I feel is very important to our career path, and what I want to strive to be is a "lifelong learner." I believe, as a prospective teacher, we must be driven to learn more about our world that is constantly changing around us. With regards to technology, even though it may be overwhelming, we must try to stay current with the new devices, applications, websites, etc. As part of our professional duty, if we feel we are not as educated in an area we would like to be, we must take the initiative to attend professional development workshops, or acquire the resources needed so one can improve their teaching. I feel learning and creating new lessons, projects, games, etc. is a must for a teacher in order to maintain an engaging and fulfilling educational experience. 

           In order to assist teachers in the lifelong process of learning and creating engaging classroom experiences for our students an online forum called MAPLE was created. I believe this website could be very useful to all teachers in the province of Manitoba to share and collaborate with one another. In doing this, and incorporating new methods, ideas, and materials from MAPLE into the classroom I believe a teacher could became an true "lifelong learner". 

Week #6

             I attended a professional development session last Friday, that was not related to technology but was about teaching EAL students, and a quote that Amy Buehler shared resonated with me.

She said, "Always have a lesson planned that does not use technology, just in case."

             I believe it is of the utmost importance to include technology in our classes when possible, and appropriate. Technology must be infused into our lessons, so that it holds a purpose. During our PD, Amy had a PowerPoint and a video to show, and it did not work. She used this as a teachable moment to show us pre-service teachers that you must always have a an alternate plan or adapt the lesson in a way that does not use technology. I strongly agree that we must not become absolutely reliant on technology because there are times when we are unable to troubleshoot the problem, and find out what the issue is with our computer, projector, connection, etc. As a prospective teacher, I feel we must also be able to adapt quickly and "switch gears" when needed. In a classroom setting there might be times where we are unable to book the computer lab, or the server is down, etc. We must take these moments and adapt quickly, so the ultimate goal of learning is achieved.


Video Making
            This week in class has been very fun! We took one day to plan a video, and write down different parts that we wanted to include in our video. We also took the day to collect different props that we needed. I feel having a plan helped tremendously, as when we started videoing we all had a focus on what we wanted to achieve. It also helped with discussing different scenes prior to, so we did not waste time when it came to videoing. Now, we are currently working on editing the video clips. With my group we have had plenty of laughs, and we all said it reminded us of high school again when we had similar projects to do. We did not have a video recorder, but we used an iPhone instead and it worked great. We are currently in the process of editing the video on iMovie. We are having lots of fun with this project, and we can't wait to see the final product. Just to give you a heads up our video is titled #BUPARKINGPROBS, and I think our audience will enjoy it!

~Jenna

Week #5

After John Finch's visit to our class last week, there are a few quotes that resonated with me:

"We are not walking in sand anymore, we are walking in concrete."

This quote really stuck with me last week because I believe times have changed immensely. Years ago a teacher's image, both figuratively and literally, could be easily erased if he or she did not want others to see. Documents, pictures, videos, etc. could be discarded of, never to be seen again. Today, this is not the case. With the internet and technology today we are leaving a digital footprint of everything in our lives that we are involved in. This includes all social media sites, videos, text messages, pictures, cloud storage, and any other forms of our technological advancements. The "concrete" refers to the fact that we cannot erase a majority of the things we are involved in with technology. Technology is so advanced that it is tracking our every post, tweet, share, like, message, etc. Our digital footprint is becoming our permanent record of different events in our own personal lives, as well as in our classrooms. Therefore, I feel for myself and teachers when using technology we must use it the way we teach our students, smart! I feel it is important to use protection and secure tools for personal items online, but always be cautious knowing that nothing is ever safe. We must present and maintain a positive digital footprint to act as a role model for students. Whether this means "cleaning up" your Facebook account, to deleting different social media sites. In doing this, I feel it will display professionalism to fellow teachers, administrators, parents/guardians, and students.

"The curriculum is more prescriptive."

While discussing the Literacy with ICT continuum, John said, "The curriculum is more prescriptive." The curriculum, sectioned into general outcomes, prescribes for us as teacher what we are expected to cover in our everyday lessons. However, John stressed the importance that a continuum is to guide and pinpoint our learning with relation to ICT. There are no grade levels listed on the continuum, but each student moves through it, with guidance from the teacher, as to their ability at that given time. It is used as an formative assessment tool to understand the stage of an individuals learning. Technology is always advancing, and I believe there will always be a wealth of information to learn, therefore, always fitting into the continuum when deemed necessary. 

"Paralyzed"

Due to the advancements of technology, there is a constant wealth of information, websites, applications, programs, etc. our students are being bombarded with. As John said, I do believe students are becoming "paralyzed" when trying to work with, and make sense of technology. Students naturally use what is closest to them to help them do their work. However, the first five hits on Google are not always accurate and reliable websites. I even feel, as a prospective teacher, that when I go looking for something online, I am also very overwhelmed. There is so much information on the internet today, which is why I believe teaching online citizenship and strategies for locating valid information is key. We must teach our students techniques to navigate this enormous technology overload so our students do not become "paralyzed." 

In all, I enjoyed John's presentation, and I look forward to learning, and working with the ICT Continuum. 

Week #4

      Digital storytelling tells a story through the use of pictures, music, and animations. I feel digital storytelling is an amazing tool to use in the classroom because of the emotion it can evoke, and for the learning that can take place. Some sites, such as Animoto, takes a few selected photos, and turns them into a professional looking slideshow. There are many different sites and programs you can use to create a digital story, however, I believe it is important for one to consider the purpose of why you are creating this, and who your audience is. Some sites are more advanced then others, well some are basic to create a quick slideshow. If the teacher has a clear purpose in mind, exploring a few sites would help the teacher decide which options to give his/her students.
   
      I think digital storytelling could be used for a variety of different grades and subject areas. For younger students, the teacher could suggest a basic program to help students easily create their stories, well considering how much time is available.

      I believe this could be a good tool for teachers to help get to know their students during the first few days of school. For example, the teacher can give the students a choice of choosing any (appropriate) pictures to tell a story about themselves. In it they could include pictures of themselves, their family and friends, any pets, favourite things to do, etc. I believe giving the students choice in what they want to share with their teacher and the class is important.

      Students could also use this in any project, or assessment to show key areas of understanding. For example, if students were learning about different types of endangered, extinct, and threatened animals, they could have a heading and text to show the different category in which different animals fell under. In this unit they probably would have learned about different reasons for the animals extinction, which they could then insert text to demonstrate the students understanding of this process. This would also be a good teaching moment to talk about copyright issues when using photos off the internet. The teacher could show the students different techniques to find photos that are legal to use in their story.

      When the year or semester is coming to an end, the student could take different pictures of his or her art (or any subject) work over the year, and show this to their parents, possibly at student-led conferencing or parent teacher interviews. The students could also do this with any projects they have created over the year. Allowing the students take pictures and teaching them basic components of photography and uploading photos would add a whole new learning component to computer class. This is a reason I love digital storytelling because I believe the options are endless! I feel I will use this in my classroom whenever possibly because I believe students have fun creating digital stories, while it allows other students to watch their work and it has the ability to increase learning!

       

Week #3

       This week in class we have been learning about making websites for both our ePortfolios and for a classroom. When I think back to high school, creating a website was fairly difficult, and I definitely struggled with where to start, and how to format different sections of my web page. With Weebly, a website for creating web pages, I feel it is quite simple and basic. I feel the pre-made templates and layouts definitely ease the stress of creating a website. I also feel that the templates make the page look fairly professional, as oppose to when I created them in high school. I am pleased so far with the overall look of my web page, but I still have a lot of work to do!

       For my tentative classroom website, I want to create a practical website that someday I could use and just have to tweak depending on the job I get. For my web page there are a few things I want to include such as: an "About Me" page, "parents" page, "resources" page (with embedded Symbaloo), "Calendar" page (showing holidays, events, due dates, homework, etc.), "classes" page, and a few other different pages.

      I believe there are many benefits of having a classroom website. Some parents are very involved in their child's school experience, and therefore love to know what their child is doing at school. Parents also like to know when different events are taking place, as well as when different homework, assignments, and tests are. I also believe that having a "parents" page with current topics on parenting, and different issues that are arising in schools would help keep them informed. I also feel a website is beneficial for the teacher because posting resources and extra help sites that are teacher approved, and readily at students' fingertips has the ability to maximize learning. I believe a web page also assists in the planning and organization of a course, as you want to show the parents and students the trajectory of the course, and different expectation that you have for students as a teacher. According to different school policies, I also think posting pictures of students and their work, when appropriate and necessary, keeps parents informed about their child's learning.

      However, I do feel there are only a few disadvantages of classroom websites. Due to the involvement of today's parent, I feel posting due dates for different assignments, homework, tests, etc., takes away student responsibility. Knowing different due dates prepares students for high school, or university, and for their job. It also teaches students time management and planning. If parents are constantly reminding, and forcing their son or daughter to do different assignment, I feel it does not teach them valuable life skills that are essential for success.

       In all, I think there are many advantages to having classroom websites. If used wisely, and in accordance with divisional policies, I feel websites can enhance students' learning. I believe these advantages and disadvantages can also change due to the location, grade, and parental group of the class.

      Here is a link to my website that I have just started if you would like to check it out: http://learningwithmissj.weebly.com/