#K

I think the obvious choice for an interesting topic would be the Webquest. I will admit, I do not understand it that well because I have never seen or heard of it. According to the textbook, Webquests are virtual tours that students embark on. Teachers provide links and other resources to virtually guide through a process. I've struggled with applying this type of learning to younger students. It is difficult for students under third grade to research, analyze, study, and interpret information. How do I engage them with a link, and correlate it to a project?

Virtual schooling was easy to relate to. In high school, I attended a summer school math program and I can tell you that I did not learn much. Virtual school is convenient (here I am taking them during college), but it isn't the very best way to learn. Being in a class setting is more attention grabbing, and engaging. I constantly struggle with turning surprise assignments in on time, reading the text I've been assigned and so on. I am not tuned in like I would be if I were taking a Monday at 5-7pm class. I've watched a few videos on Youtube about virtual school, and a lot of girls posted videos about it. They all mention that it's stressful, boring, and challenging.

Silly video that grasps online struggles!

Virtual field trips were something that I had not previously heard of or explored. The book said that google earth provides tours of famous cathedrals, libraries, skyscrapers and more! This would be so cool to experience and I think it would really excite students as a geography lesson or something!

#J

Teaching with clickers seems like a fun and interactive way to learn! I remember in middle school my teacher would create jeopardy games to study for quizzes and it was entertaining. I enjoyed being involved in the activity, and it definitely helped recall information when it came to the test. Also, if a student answers incorrectly, it is anonymous... there isn't any embarrassment so it will encourage everyone to participate. The active learning is the best way to learn in my opinion.

Democratic classrooms let students have voices and opinions. Students see lessons as having no control, sitting there and just absorbing information. These democratic classrooms let students feel like they have a say in what happens, and gets them involved in what they learn. After lessons are taught, students are encouraged to give feedback. I have never personally experienced this type of learning, but it seems like it could be fun and interesting.

Alfie Kohn stated that standardized tests cannot accurately measure intelligence and I agree! I actually did a report for this subject last semester and I was able to uncover a lot of points. Standardized tests produce a lot of anxiety and stress, making it difficult to pass! The fact that these tests are a pass or fail technique is unfair to students and the teachers, too.

#G

Assistive Technology helps those with disabilities to participate during instruction. These disabilities can include hearing impairment, sight, and mobility challenges. I really enjoyed learning about the different helpful tools. Speech recognition software displays spoken words as text and text reading software reads text loudly and clearly. These programs open up a world of possibilities for those who are struggling. 

This video is about Mason, and he is like many children I come across daily! He uses iPads, brail devices, and smart boards to help him live a normal life in a school setting. By using these assistive technologies, he is able to participate and stay aligned with the class agenda.


Electronic spellers and dictionaries assist new learners with correct spelling, check the accuracy of their spelling, and listen to the words out loud. By listening to sentences, students can recognize words in a new way. Some companies have developed hand held devices that are often on Christmas lists! I think that making education fun this way can benefit so many students. Often times, students feel limited to what they can accomplish based on their abilities to do something. These electronic spellers and dictionaries are easy to understand and focus on.

Word clouds take key words from text to summarize it in a fun way. For example, if the topic were zebras, the word cloud would include zebra, stripes, black, white, Africa. It would not include words like are, can, eat, age... These are helpful to quickly see what text is about.

Chapter 7

Higher order and lower order thinking are terms that I have been familiar with since my psychology and sociology classes in high school. Bloom's taxonomy has been revised from knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation to remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. This was something I was not aware of! I use lower order thinking when someone gives me directions to a new destination, and higher order thinking when I draw a map of that same location. 

                           https://magic.piktochart.com/output/8329362-untitled-infographic

I was interested in virtual worlds to see what the hype was about. The book mentions a website called Second Life, an avatar chat world, and it looked really weird to me. I actually tried to make an account but as soon as I was prompted in install it, I decided it wasn't worth it... especially because I wasn't all that interested in it anyway! Next, I looked into Poptropica, a virtual world for kids. So far, I created a little person for myself (relatively easy) and I worked through the tutorial. I wanted to get hands on with the programs that the book talks about because it's a world I haven't been influenced by. I really enjoyed Poptropica, and I think my first graders would enjoy it to. It seems like virtual worlds come in many shapes and sizes!

The final topic discussed was about playing together. All too often teachers are busy grading, making lesson plans, organizing, emailing, and so on. While there is free time in the classroom, kids will have time to play games and puzzles. I feel that it is important to engage in games with students. I make sure that I participate in "four square" outside since I have to be out there regardless. It creates a fun relationship to pair with the structured one. Also, my students get so excited when an adult joins in on the fun, who wouldn't want to be a part of that fan club?!

Chapter 5 discussed websites and their effectiveness quite a bit. I never really considered the layouts, graphics, flow, and information that each website delivers (or tries to). I know that when I am browsing for information, there are websites that I don't even view for five seconds because I am either bored, confused, overwhelmed, or just dissatisfied. On page 116 in Transforming Learning With Technology, the text gives six questions to ask yourself when you see a webpage: Is there an overload of information? Are there a lot of media techniques used? Do the graphics overload the webpage? Even though you are always encouraged to not judge a book by it's cover, when looking at a webpage... it's important to do just that!

Another topic that is I chose to discuss is cyberbullying, since it is always current and relatable. When I think of cyberbullying, I envision some type of chat room with a person or two pick on someone else in the chat room. According to page 122 of the Transforming Learning With Technology website, cyberbullying is defined as willful and repeated harm through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. There are laws in place for cyberbullying, and is treated as a very serious offense.

The third concept that stood out to me was the amount of domain endings there are. I usually only come across .com, .net, .edu, and .org. I had never heard of a website ending in .biz, but it makes sense to use it when you are selling items so that people are aware it won't be a regular website they're visiting.

Chapter three discusses active learning which is when students are physically and cognitively involved in the learning process. Instead of sitting and listening to an instruction, lesson, or lecture, students are jumping right in and comparing ideas. I feel that it is so much more beneficial to get out of the classroom and into a new learning environment. Applying a lesson to an activity outside could resonate with a student more than reading about that very same lesson.

Another concept that stood out to me was online learning. Children have access to iPads and computers and even online books from kindles. The app store has countless educational games for all ages. This aid could relate the student to something they are interested in, which in turn makes learning more fun! Centers could be organized where some groups do paper work and some others use iPads and they all switch around.

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/42e5b2e3-d659-44e0-b7c6-ccc06fe29130