Kassi+Wright

My name is Lauren Wright, but I go by Kassi. I am currently majoring in English Literature, but plan on switching to Secondary Education focusing on English.My minor is Classical Civilizations. I am from a very small town in Indiana and graduated with just over 100 students. I have been a vegetarian for almost ten years which I mentioned on the first day of class. Because this is my first quarter taking education classes, I am slowly getting used to a different type of college experience and work load. I want to be an educator because I have a passion for learning and making a difference in the lives of children. Good teachers are difficult to come by.I never considered technology to be very important in the classroom because of my focus. I do not feel there are many forms of technology which are beneficial to English students. Honestly, I do not know much about technology. I know I need to learn different ways of implementing technology, but the task sounds daunting.

Issues in Ed. Tech. March 29
 * 1) Does technology make a difference in the learning process or could you teach just as well without it?
 * 2) Are students today fundamentally different than students in the past?

1. Although technology makes a difference in the learning process, we could teach just as well without out. Technology makes things more accessible to students and makes things easier for educators.

2. Students today have grown up using different forms of technology in order to complete tasks and make life easier. They are technologically different than students in the past, but are the same in other aspects.

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campustechnology.com/articles/2012

The articles and discussions I read validated my previous answers. Though I do feel technology is a great thing, it is not the most important thing in a classroom. Teachers who do not conform to the new, technologically advanced way of teaching are considered "ineffective". In reality, educators are just as able to teach without all the cords.

Objectivist vs. Constructivist Theory: April 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxufdpcfpJY This video displays Constructivism. The teacher explained her students would take a test, then forget the material shortly after. They were only "learning" the information for a short period of time, then filtering it out again. In order to have her students truly learn the geometry material, she had them actually create designs using what they learned throughout the entire school year requiring them to put their knowledge to use. She encouraged the students through the use of active techniques. More teachers should apply this learning style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-S54bbX6eA This movie clip displays Objectivism. The teacher lifelessly lectures to the students and lists of facts each student should memorize. This is the most common form of teaching I have been exposed to. In elementary school, my teachers would make up games for us to play in order to learn our material. As I got older, those games were no longer considered school worthy, and Objectivism learning took over. Memorization played a large role and falling asleep happened often. When I started my college courses, nothing seemed to change until I was in my higher-level classes which had much less than 300 other students. My professors are now more involved and most now try to use Constructivism.

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Some solutions for a lack of support according to the article are raise the priority level of technology-related planning items that run parallel with the curriculum, provide more technology training for teachers and other administrators so everyone is on the same page, and only incorporate technology which is understandable to the students, showing the necessity for technology in the classroom.

1.http://greatgatsbygame.com 2.This game was a mixture between virtual-environments and a role-playing game, but at a lower thinking level. 3.Standard: RL.9-10.7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment. 4.The game was fun for the first couple of minutes, but it got pretty old. The students would want to continue playing the game to get better at it, but I don't think it really helps with comprehension of the novel. I probably would not use the game in my classroom for a very long time.

1. http://pbskids.org/superwhy/#games 2. This game is a mix between virtual-environments and drill-type. 3. Standard: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.Indicators: Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun //I //. Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships. 4. I think this is a great game for younger children. The teacher needs to explain to game to the students even though there is a tutorial at the beginning. It could spark the interest of young children in an English classroom.

Website Eval I decided to evaluate Save the Guinea Worm Foundation because I have never heard of such a thing. Since I had never heard of a guinea worm, I automatically questioned the motives of the site. As I began exploring, I came to the conclusion the site was a fake. There are multiple grammatical errors in the site, the graphics are nonexistent, and the tabs make no sense. In order to "join them", the site says processing may take a very long time because they have so many requests. Sounds like a hoax to me!

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/diamante-poems-30053.html#overview

E-Portfolio b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources
 * Standards**
 * 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

My favorite thing about this course was the amount of real-world issues we were faced with during our class time and assignments. As future teachers, it is very important for each of us to be prepared while using digital tools and resources. We were presented with many challenges which could happen in our classroom, and often do happen due to certain technological problems. Most of my teachers before college were not at all prepared on how to solve problems with digital tools and resources. Now, I feel like I can use such things in my classroom while engaging the students, and I can do it in the right way.

Our classroom management assignment did a great job preparing us for these issues. In this assignment, each group was in charge of adapting a lesson to fit the technology resources the classroom had. In my group, we had 5 computers with Internet access, Microsoft Office, Movie Maker, and Internet Explorer. There was no computer lab in the school and we did not have a web cam. We had to figure out how to have our students create their own broadcast news report on tornadoes. My partner and I struggled with the small amount of resources we had, but came up with many different ways to complete the assignment. One of our suggestions was to use the digital camera which takes still shots. The students could take a ton of pictures and put them together like a slide show. The problems we had to solve during this assignment are most definitely seen in classrooms today. http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Management

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:
 * 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences**

b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.

We were all in this class because we want to become teachers. During class, we were grouped into our certain subject-areas and worked with fellow students for many assignments which we completed. Because my focus is on English, I never thought it would be beneficial for me to learn about any other subject area or the tools you can use in those other subject areas. Throughout our time inside and outside of the classroom, each of us participated in a Diigo group online. Regardless of our subject areas, our classroom created an entire site of lesson plans useful to all educators. This was the greatest digital-age learning experience. I learned new information each week about different lessons I can use in the classroom and all the different ways I can go about providing these lessons to my students. We had to comment on the work of our peers, regardless of their subject area. Many of my classmates found some of the most amazing resources. I think it is awesome we designed and created such a wonderful learning experience with something so simple, and I will use the resources found by my fellow classmates and myself in my own classroom one day. []

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers: <span style="color: #414141; font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Geneva,Arial,sans-serif,'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">c. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #414141; font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Geneva,Arial,sans-serif,'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px;">communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.
 * 3.Model Digital-Age Work and Learning:**

This was extremely prominent in our classroom. Most of the work we had to do was online. This was our way of communicating with our classmates. This was also our way of learning. Though we learned many different things during our class, we did not have enough time considering we only met once a week for a short period. Not only that, but we did not have two of our classes, leaving us very little time as a whole with the instructor. She guided us in the right direction, then we had to do the assignments and communicate with our classmates outside of class time.

At first, I was extremely weary about the class Wiki. It was very foreign to me and I felt it would be more of a nuisance than an effective tool. I was wrong! We posted almost all of our assignments on the Wiki, and it was a great way to get to know the thoughts and views of our fellow classmates which we did not get to really experience with such short time in the classroom. Our class Wiki was a perfect model of digital-age work and learning. We each were able to communicate our own ideas with that of our peers in an effective way. Not only did our fellow peers get a sense of who we are, but we got a sense of who we are and where we stand ourselves.

Our Diigo group, which I mentioned previously, was also a fantastic tool we used in class to exhibit our knowledge and communicate with our peers. We all got to actively participate in the group, ask questions about certain lesson plans, and propose lesson plans individually.

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http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #414141; font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Geneva,Arial,sans-serif,'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px;">Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers: a. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources
 * 4. Promote and Monitor Digital Citizenship and Responsibility**

Before this class, I did not realize many things about technology and the classroom. I was uninformed of the copyright laws completely and did not realize how important appropriate documentation of sources was as a teacher. I considered sources as a student, but I never thought about implementing such things in my classroom. Now, I realize how important things such as these are. It is necessary to know this information to protect myself as an educator and my students as minors. Not only are these things important to save my own butt, but they are also important in implementing lesson plans for my students. I need to make sure what I am doing is legal and done properly. One of our assignments focused on the internet safety and copyright laws. We were split up into groups, then given different scenarios in the classroom regarding problems we, as teachers, will get into in the classroom, especially if we are not aware of the different laws. This was a great lesson because it was very interactive, and we were able to hear the scenarios and responses from other groups as well as our own. If I would not have taken this class, I would not have learned the value of internet safety, copyright laws, and protecting myself as a teacher in the classroom. http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/Internet+Safety

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #414141; font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Geneva,Arial,sans-serif,'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px;">Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #414141; font-family: Helvetica,Verdana,Geneva,Arial,sans-serif,'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px;">a. participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
 * 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership**

Almost everything we did in this class was focused around engaging in professional growth and leadership. We worked on improving by participating in our two main learning communities, which were the class Wiki and Diigo group. The groups could be viewed by many other educators and our participation allowed other people to learn. We were part of something much greater. By posting on the Diigo group weekly, we were able to keep up with current teaching practices while implementing technology into lesson plans which were all very creative. Our class Wiki allowed each of us to be involved and state our thoughts and opinions on certain teacher-related issues, which we previously had little knowledge of. These communities we created were absolutely fantastic, and although I did not enjoy them each time I posted, I am so glad we all were able to be a part of them. I want my students to be able to learn from each other just as we were able to do in this course. http://computertools12s.wikispaces.com/ []

When the course had just started, I was not very excited about it. I thought I would learn absolutely nothing. Honestly, I felt like we were going to play around with SmartBoards all day or create Word documents. I was mistaken. I learned much more in this course than I ever expected. I felt the assignments would be very simple, and I could just Google something if I got stuck. That was not at all the case. I learned so much about lesson plans which include technology by posting and commenting on our Diigo class group. I also learned all of the tools UC has available to my peers and myself in the library and online. I was able to learn how to protect myself in situations which I never even thought about before, such as Internet issues in the classroom. I loved our class time together because we were always able to interact with each other because Dr. Angelone set up the assignments in a constructivist manor, which she feels we should apply in our own classrooms. This class gave me the introductory tools needed to create a classroom which includes technology. If technology is available in the classroom I teach, I will refer back to the assignments I did in this class to aid me in my teaching. This class opened my eyes to the endless possibilities in and out of the classroom by incorporating not only computers, but all other forms of technology as well. I am very glad I was able to take the class and feel it was a great use of my time. I will be a better teacher because of it.
 * Final Reflection**