• What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?
Modeling is very important when integrating technology into education. There will always be troubleshooting necessary, but much of that can be eliminated if the software or project is first modeled for the students. The focus should be on the curriculum first with technology being the tour guide to get you to the learning objectives. Avoiding as much troubleshooting as possible will help keep the focus on the goal.
When integrating technology the students become active learners. The teacher can become a guide many times as the student takes charge of their own learning.
• How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?
Evaluating web based technologies would have been next to impossible without first integrating them on my own. Through using Google documents in the CEP courses, website creation tools, survey creators, blogs, delicious, and more I was able to learn about the technologies and truly evaluate them. Exploration of the web based technologies opened up my imagination to start thinking of different ways within my curriculum that these would be useful. I even extended my thinking to helping my husband out at work! Being a pool manager he now uses Google calendars to create his employee schedule and survey monkey to collect data/available dates for scheduling meetings and parties. I will be using Google calendars this upcoming school year to do my volunteer schedule, my website to communicate with parents, survey monkey to assess technology access, Microsoft Photo Story 3 to create digital stories, and more!
• How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration?
I set four personal goals for myself when beginning my CEP courses.
1. To use technology in positive ways to deliver instruction.
2. To use technology to give students practice on concepts being taught.
3. To aide instruction, not just to use it.
4. To learn to use programs to their fullest potential.
Through the CEP courses I was able to reach each of these goals. Through my work on the WebQuest I was able to use web resources to positively deliver instruction. Through my StAIR I was able to use technology to give students practice on concepts being taught. Through my TechQuest I was able to use technology to aide instruction and not just for the sake of using technology. Through the tutorials I was able to learn a great deal more about the Microsoft programs and how to use them to their fullest potential.
These were all positive experiences that I can take away from these courses and use in the future. I have already used my WebQuest, StAIR, and part of the TechQuest with my students. The success with my students from this gives me encouragement to go forward with more of these types of lessons.
• Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?
My new goals are:
1. To continue researching web based technologies and finding uses for them in my classroom.
2. To continue research on Digital Storytelling and use it in my classroom this year.
3. To do more research on Digital Voice Recorders and set up a recording studio in my classroom by Fall 2011.
4. To update and use my website as a communication tool for my classroom.
5. To complete my MAET by the Spring of 2012.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
TechQuest Evaluation
Given what I learned from this TechQuest, next time I approach a project of this type I would tackle my research a little differently. It was difficult to know where to begin so I just started searching how others used technology for my similar dilemma. I didn’t find those searches to be particularly useful. I found it much more useful to start thinking about what I already had available to me as far as resources at my school. As I researched those resources and ways to use them, I discovered other programs, often free downloads, people used for similar projects such as Microsoft Photo Story 3.
Grants are available, but if your problem can be solved using what you already have then go for it! I learned a lot more about the resources my school has ready and waiting for teachers to use such as Kidspiration through this project. Your school may already have what you are seeking. If not seek out a grant.
If I were to do this same project again, I would add an element in phase 2 for students to record their voices as they talk about their story in a prewriting setting. I was inspired by fellow group member Dina Matasovsky’s research and TechQuest project. She is implementing a Recording Studio into her classroom. I endeavor to do the same in my classroom through writing a grant for digital recorders as she mentions in her paper.
I would also add more mini lessons to Phase 4:Revising. There are so many different things you can do to a story to add style and voice. It would be useful for teachers to have a stock pile of revision mini lessons at hand to choose from.
In reflection, my students took writing more serious than ever before once they learned how they were going to digitally publish their stories. I saw beautiful thoughts and detailed sentences coming from my first graders. Next school year I look forward to implementing the TechQuest in its entirety and hopefully convincing my first grade team to all take part in this quest for improving our children’s writing using technology!
Grants are available, but if your problem can be solved using what you already have then go for it! I learned a lot more about the resources my school has ready and waiting for teachers to use such as Kidspiration through this project. Your school may already have what you are seeking. If not seek out a grant.
If I were to do this same project again, I would add an element in phase 2 for students to record their voices as they talk about their story in a prewriting setting. I was inspired by fellow group member Dina Matasovsky’s research and TechQuest project. She is implementing a Recording Studio into her classroom. I endeavor to do the same in my classroom through writing a grant for digital recorders as she mentions in her paper.
I would also add more mini lessons to Phase 4:Revising. There are so many different things you can do to a story to add style and voice. It would be useful for teachers to have a stock pile of revision mini lessons at hand to choose from.
In reflection, my students took writing more serious than ever before once they learned how they were going to digitally publish their stories. I saw beautiful thoughts and detailed sentences coming from my first graders. Next school year I look forward to implementing the TechQuest in its entirety and hopefully convincing my first grade team to all take part in this quest for improving our children’s writing using technology!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Implementation Plan Podcast
Click here to listen to my TechQuest Implementation Plan!
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Implementation Screenshots
The following screenshot is the 5 senses descriptive writing prompt
created in PowerPoint.
The following screenshot is an example of the student's final product of the brainstorming web made in Kidspiration.
The following is a screenshot of the template the students will use to create their brainstorming web in Kidspiration.
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