Current View of Technology

My current view of technology has not changed very much since the beginning of class. I still think technology is a great tool to use in the classroom. I think technology is a good thing to use in an elementary classroom. The focus of the classroom should not be on strictly technology. I have learned some great ways to use excel in lessons. I also discovered and learned about different programs that are kid friendly such as Kid Pix, Kidspiration, The Graph Club and much more. I have definitely discovered more educational websites I could use in the classroom. After taking this class, I have discovered and realized even more ways to use technology in the classroom! I still believe children should use technology to get use to it and to start to develop their skills for future classes and their careers. I have realized even more that I have no idea what my school or classroom will pertaining to technology.

Blog 11 Non-computer tech use in the classroom

One non-computer tech use in the classroom that i think it is helpful and interesting is a switch. A switch is like a huge button that can do various tasks. A switch can be hooked up to a computer to be used instead of a keyboard. It also can be hooked up to educational toys and other toys. Switches are used for students with severe physical disabilities. It takes a lot of fine motor skills to use a keyboard and to write. Switches allow students who have trouble with fine motor skills to do the things that involve fine motor skills. A switch can easily be hooked up to a toy where a marker is attached to the toy and can allow a student to draw a picture. I think switches are still needed today because they are very helpful to students with physical disabilities. They allow student with physical disabilities to get tasks accomplished that other students are doing too.

Blog Post 10

I enjoyed listening to the presentations. I learned a lot from all of the presentations that have presented so far. I never knew what an AUP was and that every year my mom and I were signing an AUP. I definitely think AUPs are very helpful and a great idea for schools to use. I also found the way gender and technology are related. I never would have guessed that women use the computer more for word processors and building relationships. Men use the computers for analysis and to figure out how it works. The presentation on e-portfolio brought up some really great ways to continue using them after we are hired as a teacher. I never would have thought for students younger than college age to use e-portfolios. I really think these presentations helped me a lot because it got me excited about technology even more. The presentations also taught me some great ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. They also got my brain flowing with some great ideas for lessons I could use in my classroom! Overall, the presentations were very good and very informative!

Blog Post 9

The article I found is called "Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!" from the Education World website. This was not a bad article at all. I found it interesting because it talked about blogging in an elementary classroom. The article brought up a point I never thought about. It mentioned that children are more likely to do better on a writing assignment if they actually have a writing audience. Students would feel that they are writing for a purpose and someone else besides the teacher would actually read what they are writing. The article not only talks about the benefits of blogging for younger children it also mentions how to start a blog or what teachers need to start the blog. It is also a great article because it gives some great safety information! Saftey on the internet is a big issue now!

Website: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml

Video

I thought this video was interesting because it shows the classroom in the past and the classroom now. It also shows the technology differences! Enjoy!

Half-Way Reflection

Things are going well. I never realized how much technology you could implement into the elementary classroom until now. There are a lot of fun sites and programs students can use. I think it is good to use some technology in the elementary classroom, but I do not think I would use it everyday. The most important lesson or concept I have learned so far is how to implement technology into the classroom using the basic programs like word and excel. I never thought of using excel the way we have in class.

Internet Use in Elementary Classroom

There are many pros to using the internet in an elementary classroom. Using the internet in an elementary classroom allows the students to access a great deal of sources. They can use electronic encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, and mapping sites. Those types of websites are great for research projects and just finding out more information about a subject. There are a lot of great educational websites that allow students to be interactive and learn a lot of information about certain subjects. Students also like going to the educational websites or using the internet because it is fun and you can keep them motivated in during their work! Unfortunately there are cons to using the internet in the classroom. Internet sites that students are able to use are not always going to be working all the time. The internet can be down or the site could be having server problems. The site also could go under construction for a period of time. A lot of the time you never know what could happen to a site you want to access with your students. I also think the biggest concern when it comes to using Internet in the elementary classroom is safety. Teachers have to make sure every website is safe and that students are only accessing the sites you asked them too. Teachers do not want any personal information to be shared with the world about their students.

I believe it is important in our society today to implement technology into my classroom. I think students should be able to experience the internet while in an elementary classroom. Students should gain some experience in researching topics or learning about a certain subject because they will need to know how to do it eventually. I would want to greatly secure the things they are researching and looking at on the Internet. I would put the safety of my students first when it comes to using the Internet. I would check out every site before any one of my students would access it. I do think it is important to incorporate but I do not think it is necessary to use it all the time. I think if they used it at least one time in my classroom I have helped in some way with their technology development.

One of my favorite educational websites is Funbrain.com. It is a great website because it has math, reading, arcade, and playground games that are all educational! The website also allows you to pick a grade level and gives you a bunch of fun games that work on subject areas that pertain to that specific grade level! They even have a specific section for teachers and blogs! It is a great and fun interactive website that both students and teachers can enjoy!

What Kindergarteners Need to Know

I believe it a very good idea to have a list of what kindergarteners need to know. I do feel that standards are becoming very prominent in our schools. The way the article talks about what kindergarteners need to know is more like a guide then standards. I think it is very helpful for teachers to know what they need to implement into the curriculum and lessons. I agree with Veronica Rieck about how new teachers might forget a topic or an important benchmark and older teachers might forget something the same way new teachers can forget them. I also believe it is very good that the school has a 90 page written guide and they are training their teachers on the benchmarks. Overall, I think it is a good idea and very useful tool to have.

Images in Education Lesson

I made a collage by taking a picture of various items. I made sure I included different colors. I pasted it into a word document and wrote the question: What colors and items do you see? below the picture. I would use this for color recognition. My class would tell me all the color they see. I would then expand by asking my students if any of the items are related. I am sure I would get interesting stories on how the object are related. It would be a different and fun way to implement color recognition!

Teaching Philosophy

My Teaching Philosophy:
-want students to succeed
-learning = fun/educational
-high expectations
-teaching=rewarding
-make a difference

Gardner, Dale, and Bloom

Gardner's multiple intelligence theory is where each person learns differently using different intelligences. The intelligences include: linguistic, musical, logical-matematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Each person has a part of each intelligence but some are stronger than others. Bloom's taxonomy says that there are three different types of learning. The first one is cognitive which deals with a person's mind and mental skills. Next is affective learning which deals with the growth of a person's feelings and emotions. Last there is psychomotor learning which deals with a person's physical skills.
Dale's Cone of Experience is a theory based on how people learn and how much they remember. At the base of the cone is demonstrating. If a person does a presentation or model a real experience then they will remember 90% of what they do. At the top of the cone is reading. If a person reads then they remember 10% of what they read. If they remember what they do then the learning outcomes are analyze, design, create, and evaluate. If a person remembers what they read the learning outcomes are define, list, describe, and explain.

In Dale's Cone of experience the support for technology integration in the early elementary classroom is supported. It is supported because Dale talks a lot about hands on activities and how much children can learn with hands on experiences. Children will also remember more from a hands on experience rather than just reading something. Technology allows children to do a lot of hands on experiences. Children can easily benefit and remember more from technology and hands on experiences. Children cannot learn everything from technology though and still need to be able to read even though Dale only says they remember 10%. A lot of Dale's theory mentions presentations and demonstrations by people. It seems that it is not really including technology even though a child could use powerpoint for a presentation.

Bloom's taxonomy supports and detracts technology integration in the early elementary classroom. Bloom supports it because one of the types of learning is cognitive. Cognitive includes the development of intellectual skills. When children use technology, it allows them to learn more and stay up to date with the world. There are so many educational games that children can use their cognitive skills and use technology at the same time. Bloom's taxonomy detracts technology integration because the other two learning types are affective and psychomotor. It would be harder to integrate the affective type because this type is deaing with emotions. It is easier to learn emotions by working and being around other people. Psychomotor deals with physical movement and coordination. Even though, using technology can help with a child's coordination and small motor skills, it is hard to develop more of the physical skills like large motor skills and full body movement.

Gardner's mulitple intelligences supports and detracts technology integration in the early elementary classroom, too. When using technology in the classroom children can easily use all the intelligences in some way. When I look at Gardner's intelligences there is not one intelligence that says technology can easily be placed into this theory.

All three theories can relate to all three types of technology. All three theories can relate to Type I because in some way the theories could use technology and the teacher would be the integrating the technology. When a teacher includes technology then the teacher is becoming a better teacher just like technology in Type I. In Type II, the students take control from the teacher and there is an emphasis on instruction with the program. In all three theories, children are the ones that are in control of their learning. The way they learn and their experience affects their outcome, but they are still always receiving some form of instruction from the teacher. All three theories need more work with Type III because it is about using technology as a tool. Type III is all about looking at the teacher, student, and instruction as a whole. These theories do not really focus on using technology as a tool.

Websites:
http://teacherworld.com/potdale.html
http://www.tecweb.org/eddevel/edtech/blooms.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html

An Introduction

My name is Robyn. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio. I love to go swimming, play broomball, and shopping. I am here at BGSU to get my degree in early childhood education. I expect to become the best teacher I can be and learn as much as I can! I want to learn as much as I can about technology and add to some of my technology skills I already have developed. I think using technology in elementary is a good thing because technology is increasing everyday. Children are going to need to know how to use the internet, word processor, powerpoint, and much more for their education. As children continue their education they will use technology more and more. Now, children will have a harder time getting things accomplished if they do not have technology skills.