Reflection+-+June+21+-+June+27

June 21 - June 27 Reflection:

Standard Addressed

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (a,b,c) Both of the pieces we were assigned I believe fell on the Real World Context, Higher Order Thinking, and Coaching/ Constructivist axes. I really believe that the teachers in both of these pieces really have the 21st Century Instruction concept headed in the right direction. I decided to read “Walk the World”, because I thought it sounded very interesting and it was for grades K -12. I really enjoy when there are activities that are adaptable to any grade level. I did find, however, that I am lacking in using technology in this way. While I was reading this article I noticed 4 different categories from the Range of Use Chart – “What We Know” 1.)Problem Solving with Real Data Sets – The idea of this project was to have children go out and research the community in which they live and document their findings. Identifying – how things have changed/stayed the same, building materials used and why they chose these particular materials, etc. 2.) eCommunications Video/Audio/Data Online Environments – The students were to take pictures and videos that they could use to create a movie or podcast when they were finished. 3.) Online Research – Students could then find another community to compare their community to. 4.) Expression/ Visualization - The students could use their creative abilities to show their particular part of the “Walk” in any way they chose as long as they used technology. I found this article to be fascinating. I love the way that the children could have control over what they were doing with definite boundaries for the younger children, more guided learning. I also really liked the “Seven Wonders” activity I thought this would be a great way to introduce the concept of “Wonders” to children. They would go out in their own backyards and choose things that they see every day to share with others. Then after they choose the “Wonders” from their community they could compare them to the real “Wonders”. This would incorporate researching on the internet. I know the children in my community have never visited the “Wonders of the World” and this in its self would be amazing. I think I could incorporate this is a couple of different ways in my classroom, but it would be more for using the picture and video aspect. I do a project on Native American groups every year we started just creating posters, then we moved to Power Point, and now I think I will try having them create videos. I also watched the video “Kindergarten Classroom Project”. I wasn’t really crazy about the video. I think the concept is great, but I didn’t really understand exactly what was going on because it seemed a lot of things were cut out. I did pick out a few different categories from the Range of Use Chart – “What We Know” 1.)Problem Solving with Real Data Sets – The idea of this project was to have children blog and document activities that they do in their everyday lives. Identifying things that are the same and different with the group they are communicating with. 2.) eCommunications Video/Audio/Data Online Environments – The students were to take pictures and videos that they could use to show the activities they were doing with the other group. 3.) Online Research – Students could then find another group to share their activities with and discuss different learning experiences. 4.) Expression/ Visualization- The students used their technology abilities by recording their voices to explain what they learned to the group they were communicating with. I think that this was a great activity from what I could tell from the video. I am not sure what I could improve because I don’t think I caught all of what was done. I really liked how the teacher had the students practice what they were going to say before they recorded and then had another student do the recording. I also thought it was great that she made sure they knew that if they were unhappy with what they said they could redo it. I think that I could find a way to incorporate the voice recording in with videos that we would make. My only problem is going to be access to materials. I feel that is the biggest reason we don’t use technology as much as we should because we are lacking the tools we need. All in all I think that both showed great ways to use technology to help enhance student learning as well as connect students to all students from around the world. I feel I am lacking in this department and I hope to improve this deficiency through ideas and collaboration in this class.

After reading and watching the assigned material, I posted it to the discussion boards and had great discussion with my fellow classmates. We discussed things like blogging, grant ideas, and setting up a "Wonders of the World" unit with my students. I also discussed with a few other classmates the idea of Skype, ways to use technology in classes such as Phys. Ed. and Health, and different websites that can be visited to obtain technology or at least a few ideas. I found all of this information to be very useful.