Lesson 8

Wow, I cannot believe we are in our last week of classes! I have gained so much valuable information, resources, and knowledge throughout this educational technology class. As we discussed at the end of class last week, it's a shame that I took this class as my VERY LAST CLASS! How useful it would have been at the very start- but I'm glad I have some exciting and new ideas to use in the following school year. Educational technology is here to stay, and we should be sharing resources with one another that can improve our teaching and student learning as often as we can.

This week I will be sharing my thoughts on the security of our computers within my school, as well as "netiquette" (network etiquette). The security of our school's computers is crucial! We have important, private information on these computers about each of our students as well as colleagues. Fayette County Public Schools has an incredible technology department that takes care of these issues for us, throughout the school year. I appreciate how accessible they all are whenever I have a computer issue. We are asked to change our passwords to log into our computers multiple times a year. The program will notify us if our password is too "weak" or if it is "strong". We are expected to log out and shut down our computers every night when we leave. Our district also provides updates and such that prevent viruses and keep our computers safe.

Our school has a computer lab as well as laptop carts that can be used within the classroom. Students are taught throughout the year the importance of using passwords to protect their personal information. I think that it is awesome that we teach our students at a young age the importance of computer security because they will carry that with them throughout their lives. Eventually our students will have their own computers and they must understand that their private information could be at risk if they do not take the full precautions necessary to prevent viruses, worms, malware, or any threat to their computers seriously. We must teach them that as an adult, people can have their “identities” stolen easily! We pay our bills online, enter in our social security numbers, passwords to our emails, photographs, documents, and much more. It would be an utter nightmare to have these items altered or stolen from us. It would take months to clear all of this up!

I also read the article on “netiquette” this week. Basically, the article reminds us that although a majority of our interactions and communications with people is through our computers these days, we must remember that we are still dealing with people! It is incredible important to teach our students at the kindergarten level that what we say, do, and place online can stay with us forever! As we all know, cyber-bullying is a huge issue these days. People hide behind online “identities” and bully other people. There are serious consequences to these actions now that cyber-bullying has had some let shed upon it. Even if students are not bullying others, we must remember that our behavior online should remain professional and appropriate, just as we would act in our real life interactions.

Week 7

As a special area music teacher, my educational software that I use is different than the kinds that are used in regular education classrooms. Sometimes this can present itself as a problem because I do not have a support system to ask questions to or help by bouncing ideas back and forth. I was so excited when I began a music educational technology class last year at the University of the Cumberlands because it was just what I needed. A chance for me to be challenged, supported, and stretched to better use technology within my classroom and within my lesson plans, daily. My main learning and teaching objectives for using educational software within my music classroom are to create engaging 21st century lesson plans, especially when learning about music from past centuries. Also, with teaching every single student in the school, educational technology allows both my students and myself to maintain organization.

During our music technology class, we learned how to use a music software program called Finale. This program can do so many amazing things, I doubt we even scratched much of the surface, although I know we learned a lot.

In my music classroom, I use Finale in so many different ways. For example, if we are doing a lesson on elements of melody and high and low pitches, I can hook up my Finale software on my computer to the Smartboard. Now, the students can see on the large screen each note, which is more engaging and also easier than in our books most of the time. Finale allows for the music written or uploaded into the program to play, with a choice of hundreds of different instruments as well. So, if we are about to do a melody activity on our classroom xylophones, Finale will play the music with a xylophone voice. The lesson becomes even more exciting when each note in the selected melody lights up as the music progresses. Not only are students hearing the melody move up and down, they are also following it and making a connection.

When I need to write a piece of music for my chorus, DRUM rhythm ensemble or even just a regular lesson plan, Finale allows me to connect the software to my electronic piano and play the music as the program writes it for me. What an incredible time saver! Fellow musicians would agree and understand what I'm talking about.

Another awesome example of educational software that I use daily within my classroom is my Classroom Performance System (CPS). This software consists of 32 student remotes and a sensor that is wireless. The system is designed for students to input answers to a test, assessment, game, exit slips vote through using their remote. Each student is designated a remote number for accurate grade keeping and data collection. Teachers can also allow students to choose remotes at random if the activity benefits from them remaining anonymous as well.

CPS has allowed me to track student grades, progress, and data patterns in a more efficient and accurate manner. With 27 different classrooms, inputting grades by hand takes up a ridiculous amount of time, and doesn't allow for instant feedback as well. As a special area teacher, I only see my students once every three days, so instant return on quizzes and tests is crucial. The students enjoy tracking our classroom scores, comparing to other classrooms and competing for better scores, and also creating graphs and study guides with our data and scores as well. Not to mention they love using the remotes rather than paper and pencil. In a class like mine, we have a limited amount of time together, so organization and efficiency is key.

As with any electronic tool or software, there will always be challenges! Teachers must always have a plan 'B' when it comes to technology. There have been countless times we have been in the middle of a quiz using our CPS remotes and the wireless internet on my side of the building goes out, leaving us with a frozen computer screen and useless CPS remotes. This can be very frustrating, so I have learned the hard way to always have paper and pencils on hand. Technology can be a blessing, but sometimes a curse if it doesn't work or save your work properly. Some things are just out of our control. Successful teachers are flexible in moments of mini-crisis throughout the day. I have learned my students remain flexible and easy going when I keep my nerves in control :)

Week 6- Webquests!

This was week was a change of pace in our educational technology class. Rather than explore several websites and tools online, we became familiar with and developed our own webquest. A webquest is an online lesson for students at any age level. Teachers create an engaging journey that allows students to learn more about a topic in a fun way. Webquests can be set up as an independent exploration, or in my case, designed for a group.

This week I designed by first webquest, called "Musical Instrument Adventure". The URL for my webquest is http://questgarden.com/author/members.php . This webquest is aimed towards 2nd and 3rd grade students who are learning about instrument families, and the instruments which belong to those four families (strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion). Students will be split into "exploration teams" of four, and will assign one person to be an expert in their instrument family. They will work together and take turns exploring the websites I provided, and once they are done, will fill out an information chart to organize their thoughts and findings.

I enjoyed creating my webquest this week for several reasons. The first reason is that it truly caused me to focus on the lesson itself. The webquest host site I used is QuestGarden, and the process for creating the webquest was VERY tedious. But- it was great! There were so many "check points" where you really had to reflect on what exactly you were trying to get across to your students and to other teachers as well. Several times I went back and made changes to my webquest, trying to make it better, clearer, and more fun.

The second reason I enjoyed creating a webquest was because it is a completely different teaching approach for me than what I am currently used to. Being a special areas teacher, I do not see my students every day and very rarely allow them to work on their own. This is mostly because with our short 30 minutes of time together, I try to fit in a lot of music, a lot of performing, and a lot of hands on activities. This webquest is hands on- but in a totally different way! Students get to work together and take turns trying different virtual instruments, discussing their findings, etc. It will certainly feel odd at first not having "control" over the lesson (as if I do now! ha!).

The third reason I enjoyed creating this webquest is because we do not have orchestra instruments in our classroom. The kids have no access to actual orchestral instruments until they are in 4th and 5th grade, yet they are required to have knowledge about them. This webquest allows them to look at virtual instruments in 360 degree views, listen to the instruments, read about them, play games matching their sounds to the correct instrument, and much more. These website resourcs allow them to develop a knowledge base that absolutely could not come from a cd, movie, book, picture, or lecture.

I had some struggles this week as I designed my webquest. Being that it was my first one, I wasn't super confident in what I was doing. However, as I mentioned earlier, the GardenQuest site literally walks you through the design process, step by step. Although I had help, I still had to research and double check each thing I was doing and adding to make sure it was the right fit for the webquest.

Overall, I am excited to use my webquest this coming school year, and very eager to see how my students react to them as well.

Lesson 5

This week was interesting because we learned and investigated a wide range of websites, videos, and resources available to students and teachers. One important thing I learned this week that Visual Literacy is very important in schools, and needs to be something that is discussed among teachers when planning a unit. I think many of us are using visual literacy within our classrooms, but maybe aren't aware that it is what we are doing and not fully engaging our students into what visual literacy can offer our students as well.

The video of Martin Scorsese sharing how visual literacy is important in education these days was very engaging and useful! I was touched mostly by how as a child he became intrigued with imagery and films, but wasn’t even able to afford to see movies in the theater. He still found a love and passion for film despite his circumstances. This helped me realize that as teachers, we may the only open door to students when it comes to technology, visual literacy, music, and so forth. The classroom may be the only place they are stimulated and exposed to certain things which may eventually turn into a passion for them. As teachers, we must be willing to learn new lessons to teach, and new tools and resources to use with our students so that we do not hinder their learning experience. One way to become a better teacher is to better understand certain things. For me, this week I feel as though I have a better understanding of what visual literacy means.

I found a definition of visual literacy that I really liked; "...the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.". This was found from the wiki we were to investigae, found here: http://visual-lit.wikispaces.com/What+is+Visual+Literacy%3F. If a teacher is not sure what visual literacy is, this would be a great place to check out because there are links to activities and sites that provide information.

Students at a very early age can understand visual literacy. I shared an example in my discussion post on visual literacy of how I use visual literacy with my elementary music students. Prior to beginning a song, I often start with a photo or image that is connected to the song. Sometimes I have to research and find one, but most of the times there is an image provided in the teaching series I use to open the lesson with observations from the students as well as discussion. I have showed a picture of a mother holding and rocking her baby. The students would share with me their observations about what the mother is doing, who is she holding, and what kind of song would be be singing? The students would share with me that she is holding a baby, and maybe rocking the baby! This would lead to what do mothers and father do when they rock a baby? This is a great way to opening the door for students to understand how to interpret an image and why it is important. Visual literacy allows students to investigate and think outside of the box on their own. It is important that we provide them with the opportunity to do so!

Lesson 4

Hello again fellow grad students!

Well, we are half way through our class at this point, and I am still amazed at how many resources I have been introduced to thus far! I need to keep a log sheet of all of these resources for after this course is finished so that I can refer to them during the 2012-2013 school year! Phew! 2012-2013 sounds crazy, doesn't it? It seems fitting that we are nearly 13 years into the 21st century and that I am just now discovering technology tools that will greatly inspire and engage both my teaching and my students!

The TED website that we visited was awesome. I had to really think about which topic I was interested in researching prior to watching my first video. With all of this discussion about introducing more technology into our classrooms, it got me thinking. Yes, our kids love technology, but yet many teachers still do not. I considered myself to be somewhat "techy" and it turns out I am just barely scratching the surface! I cannot imagine what it would feel like to be a student nowadays in a school setting where teachers truly resisted introducing their students to creative and academic technology. The video that spoke to me the most was called, "Gaming can make a better world" and was presented by Jane McGonigal. The video can be found at the following link: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Whew! Talk about somewhat with passion! McGonigal is a researcher and game designer. She focuses on researching how gamers can use their passion for the virtual world to be transferred to improving our real world. Students are escaping to a virtual world every day, and are extremely passionate and talented at completing tasks, problem solving, communicating effectively, and team work. However, their time and passion needs to be implemented into the real world! Well, I believe this starts with public schools and the attitudes of the teachers within the schools.

The technology explorations were cool this week as well. One website that stood out to me was ComicLife, which can be found at http://www.comiclife.com/ . Perhaps this website stood out to me because I have it in my mind that we as teachers need to be connecting the technology that our students love using to our classrooms! ComicLife is fun because it allows students to add spunk, fun, text, and dialogue to their media presentations in a comic book format. I especially liked this website because I think the boys in my class would be especially interested. I imagine this resource allowing some of my shy students to come out of their shells and attempt to share their humor with their classmates in a safe way! How fun!

I realized that if I want to engage my students using technology, I need to make my PowerPoint presentations cooler! I have one particular PowerPoint that I made for my 5th grader music students on Native American Music. I am pleased that I was able to upload some photos, clip art, and link to videos. However, I still feel like it's not engaging enough. I would like to use some of the new resources we have discovered to make my presentation more engaging and interesting. My students tend to respond fairly well to PowerPoints, but in order to keep them interested I often ask them to read the points with me, forward the slide presentation to the next slide, or use a worksheet to follow along. They certainly don't appear to "excited" when I open up a presentation, but they don't complain either. I think this presentation would be more interesting if I was able to make it more interactive, rather than just something for them to sit and watch. I LOVE the online collaborative sites we explored this week that allow multiple users to review presentations, comment, doodle, and discuss. It would certainly make for a fun assessment in the future.

I enjoyed this week because I am certainly a visual learner and teacher! Being a music teacher, I rely heavily on audio, media clips, video, and presentations that I can use on my interactive white board (Smartboard) with my projector. When you teach every student in the school, you realize quickly that using a Smartboard to present content is far better than printing thousands of pieces of paper! Learning about more resources and tools to help me present my material more effectively to my students is priceless!

Lesson 3

Wow! What another interesting week. So much knowledge was gained this week from our Technology Explorations. I had no idea that there were so many text-to-speech programs available for teachers and students to use. Oh, and free as well! Each week I have been humbled a little bit as I realize that I am not "technologically savvy" teacher that I thought I was. These explorations have opened my eyes on how much more I could be doing with my students.

I learned that it is incredibly easy to convert text to speech using such programs as "Read TheWords" (www.readthewords.com). This program is incredible. It can read any type of DTP program as well as a website or RSS feed. I would like to use this program myself to help me focus and get through articles and reading assignments as a graduate student! But as a teacher, I imagine how much a tool like this can assist students with learning disabilities, or even language barriers.

In our blog assignment, we are asked to reflect upon differnt documents that we hand out to our students. I hand out a variety of things to my students. However, as a teacher of everyone in the entire school, I try to save paper in any way I can. Ever since my classroom was equipped with a Smartboard and projector, I use this to display assignments and lessons rather than on paper whenever possible. Of course, this allows me to make the assignment incredibly appealing to look at. The software program we use is called Smart Notebook and it comes with tons of graphics, animated graphics, graphic organizers, fonts, backgrounds, and much more.

I also create a program for each chorus concert I put on at our schoool. Our students perform two times per year for the entire school and parents as well. My first time making a flyer was a DISASTER. I was using Microsoft Publisher, and felt like I had to use the cheesy clip art that it came with. As time has gone by, I have "cleaned" the program up a bit to make it easier to read and get the information across. I also learned how to save an image a "Gif" file which allows me to overlap images to make them more attractive. Below I attached the handout that was sent home to parents for our Veteran's Day Program at our school. One of the worst habits I have is filling a flyer up too much with information, that it becomes information overload. I learned quickly that in some cases, less is more! Make the information simple and easy for parents and students to remember. After all, the point is to get them to the venue for the performance.

Lesson 2

http://www.technokids.com/computer-curriculum/camp/excel-for-kids-technothink.aspx

Before this week, the idea of using spreadsheets and databases within my classroom was not even on my "teaching radar"! To be honest, when we hear the words "database" or "spreadsheets", many of us may instantly think math. However, spreadsheets and databases can be used to create worksheets, gather information, create word searches, and group data that any teacher can benefit from.

Databases and speadsheets are also valuable because they can be used to teach students how to conduct a research or science project, graph progress and changes, and then the information can be charted and graphed. Students need to learn early on in their education the importance of providing accurate data and evidence for many classes. Starting kids at a primary level with fun and simple database and spreadsheet activities will provide them with confidence and familiarity in the future.

I'm sure everyone agrees that the sources we were to explore and interact with this week were awesome. I kept asking myself, "how did I not KNOW about these!?". After lesson two, I believe that I know more about Wiki's than I thought possible! I"m excited to use my PBworks account this summer and get it ready to launch for the 2012-2013 school year. I learned that Wiki's provide teachers and students with a "central learning and communication hub". We can teach our students to collaborate and share information with students from other classrooms, schools, cities, and countries! Students can log in to the system with a user name, edit work, download assignments, share presentations, post discussions, and so much more.

For a teacher who is new to the world of Wiki and why it can be such a beneficial tool in the classroom, I thought that the article written by Lamb that was posted provided a great argument. It was also intersting to listen to the podcast of S

teve Hargadon interviewing Vicki Davis and Adam Frey. They were both honest when interviewed, and provided examples of the pros and cons in using Wiki's in a school. Vicki Davis' classroom almost doesn't even seem like a school classroom! Her high school students were so completely engaged. When watching her in action in the video clip, PBS Digital Nation, I admired the way she allowed them to teach and lead in her classroom, and think that she was correct in saying that her students teach her! Wasn't that video eye opening?

I think that I miss out on some of the latest technology opportunities because I teach in an elementary school. I'm not saying we don't use technology, but it is very interesting to see that students in middle and high schools are so knowledgeable in Wiki's, Google Docs, and podcasts! I plan to use many of the resources were discovered this week in my classroom, hopefully to increase our already creative environment.