#10 Technology Skills Outcomes

I completed the Technology Skills and feel very confident of the work that was done. I was able to show how savvy I was in Word, Spreadsheet, and Database. I hope to continue to use these in my classroom for the future.
For my Word project I implemented the various editing tools. I have seen other's use this application, but I had never been able to use it myself. I was able to highlight through and comment on the mistakes.
The Spreadsheet project I used a gradebook and used various formulas such as mean and average formulas to compare student grades.
The Database project was my favorite because I had never done a Database project. The project was a merged document about upcoming field trips.
Overall I learned how find information and apply it to produce desirable work.

#20 Final Post

This class has definitely been a journey for me. For one, this was one of my first graduate classes and it was online. Having the class online was difficult. There was so much work to be done every week. Many times, it became quite difficult to handle. But I was able to get the class done. For that, I am proud of myself for enduring. The most beneficial portions of this class for me was the Database and Lesson Plan project. I was able to go above and beyond while investigating and probing to learn various kinds of technology to integrate into ordinary teaching tools. For the Database project, I learned how to merge documents and use Help to find what I otherwise did not know how to do. The Lesson Plan project gave me great ideas that I could use in my present classroom that would benefit my students. This class also benefited me by making me more aware of the various software that is avaialable for education, especially assistive technology.
The format of the course again was included a plethora of work that I feel had to be turned in too soon considering the amount of the work. I benefitted from the actual assignments, the timing is what inhibited me. In the future, I would make this a self-paced class since it is online. The only thing that would be due every week should be discussion board responses.
I am a very interactive person when I am face to face in a class, but online classes tend to "lose me". They are very difficult to maintain. I am also a person that needs to talk out a problem to get a solution. But with this online class meeting only once a month, I felt that I did not receive all the answers to my questions.
Overall, I have become more knowledgable of many more technology applications for education.

#19 Technology for Field Trips

With an ever failing economy, schools and school districts are feeling the pinch to save money. School field trips are one of the many ways to bring learning to life. But with the cut of funding, parents losing jobs, and rising prices, field trips are not as available for students to attend. The good news is students can take virtual field trips to places that they may not have ever been able to visit or at this time could not afford to go. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators would not have to worry about having money for transportation or entrance. Virtual tours offer free tours. Virtual field trips offer its visitors an individualized session that allows the visitor to move about at their own pace. Visitors are able to learn new vocabulary and learn information that they may not would have been able to explore.
Some virtual tours can be taken online with webhost using webcams that focus on different kinds of animals and museums. Students would be delighted to take a three daytrip following the eating patterns of an animal in a zoo that is near or far. They would also enjoy seeing a museum in Washington D.C. This not only saves money, but it extends learning opportunities.

#18 Technology to teach reading skills

Reading is one of my favorite sub-subjects under language arts. I enjoy the various genres that it presents. I would love my students to feel the way that I feel about reading. For my students I try to be an exmple of how much I love reading, so that they will mimic me. I also use various pieces of technology to foster their readability and their enjoyment of various ways to read.
In my classroom, I use leapfrog books to provide additional reading practice for students who need help with sounding words out and fluency. I also use online books from www.starfall.com. I was also told about a website by the name of www.audacity.com. There I could record myself reading books to play back to my students as they read along. In addition, I have also learned how to make movies using Windows Movie Maker. I will use these as individual practice models for students to practice fluency, comprehension, and phonics skills. I also would like to teach my students to record each other while reading using video cameras. I would use the recordings as assessmet pieces to assess students' fluency levels. I would be able to see how quickly and easily students read text.
There are many other ways to teach reading using technology. Some other ways would be to have students to write blogs and read others' blogs and visit Internet sites such as www.pbskids.org for phonics games and stories. These tools not only assist teaching students to read, it also serves as motivational pieces to engage students in learning.

#17 Technology for fitness

Being fit is ever so prevalent as a basis for topics on magazines, televisions shows, and many other sources of media. But not technology is being used to help people to become healthy and maintain their health. Some tools include pedometers, heart monitors, and even calorie counters that allow a person to place food on a scale and the scale calculates how many calories the food contains.
Many websites offer tracking support for those who are trying to lose weight. Some of these websites include www.self.com. Guests are able to log onto the website and view how many calories that they have burned according to their weight and the activity performed. Blogging and chatting groups offer support from those who are losing or who have lost weight.
In additon to tools for weight loss, technology helps those with diseases to keep track of their health. For example those with diaetes are able to use a digital device to track their blood sugar levels.
The health devices can also be used with students in school. The teacher can have students track how many steps they take over a period of three months. In a Spreadsheet document the student can create an organization framework of his steps over the period of the months. The student could also add a graph to simulate the changes over the period.
Technology can be integrated in many ways: at school, home, or work in healthfully beneficial ways.

#16 Funding for Classroom Technology

I am in such a trance right now. I am slightly disturbed for the technology that I feel is needed in my classroom. The overhead projector in classroom is helpful. But, I feel that technolgy such as ELMO's and in-focus machines could help me deliver my lessons so much more effectively. My students would also not have to move around the classroom so often. Neither would I have to adjust things in my classroom as often for viewing purposes.
My frustration begins when, as a teacher, I am shown all of the technological tools that would benefit me in the classroom, but not offered a real way to attain them. My salary is decent for me to live but not supply my school with the necessary equipment that is needed! I believe my next goal willl be for me to learn how to write grants to receive funding for not only my school, but my classroom.
I must also clear something up. I am not saying that my campus does not provide technological equipment. The equipment is scarce and basically given to the Library Media Specialist. There is usually only one of whatever technology is given. This is better than nothing, but our students deserve to have the opportunity to encounter technology of various kinds everyday. Not just when the teacher is able to check it out. Following this blog, my endeavor will be to find alternative ways to get technology that will support my teaching.

#15

My colleagues and I were able to participate in an on-going study on the affects of how technology helps students. In addition to the students being in the study for 1st grade they will be followed throughout 3rd grade.The students are placed on the computer twice a week using a program call istation. Istation provides reading instruction across the spectrum for alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonics. Students were first assessed on every level and depending on the students score, they will receive computer based instruction. The students enjoy accessing the software when they are able to access it. I enjoy seeing my students with vigor to learn. I cannot yet say that I see the results of them using the software, but I am looking forward to seeing my student's readability increase.

#14 Computer Workstations

I recently was given four computers for classroom. I have implemented these computers into my classroom for centers. My students log onto www.starfall.com and practice phonics skills such as sounds for -ar , -er, -ur, sh-, ch and many more sounds. I have seen tremendous outcomes from my students. They are engaged in learning and yearn to go to the computer center for practice.
In addition to the website, I have used the computers to help students with writing process. My students used a website to organize the main characters, what the characters are doing, the problem, and the solution to organize the story. The students took their stories and typed them in Word. The students were able to revise and proof their work.
The computers have been beneficial to my students for their academic advancement.

#11 Assistive Technology

I was unaware that there were so many technologies available for those impaired in one way or another. Assistive technology is technology that provides the use with the ability to perform a task that they otherwise would be unable or incompletely be able to do. For example braces on one's legs enable them to walk when they previously would not have been able to. Assistive technologies in the classroom and school usually allow for students with handicapps and impairments to perform normally with peers. For example, to enhance a student's ability to use the keyboard, the student can use alternative keyboards.
Some other examples of Assistive Technology Resources are as follows:
Screen readers- these are used for students with sight impairments. It interprets and reads what is projected on the screen to the student.
Optical Character Recognition- This technology is also used for students with sight impariments. This application converts printed material into audio information for the student.
FM amplifications-For individuals for hearing impairments. This application is attached to the teacher using a microphone and the student using the receiver. While the teacher is speaking, the student with the hearing impairment will be able to hear without difficulty.
WriteOut Loud-This tool will allow students to hear what they have written
Assistive Technology allows for students participate in a regular classroom setting.

#6 Spreadsheet Reflection

Spreadsheet from my previous understanding was a software program used to store information such as phone numbers or basically organizing personal information. Spreadsheet now I understand can be used to add formulas to retrieve medians and modes from numerical data. I also learned that graphs and visual models can be added inside a Spreadsheet document to simulate the numerical data for viewers to see a relatable image to the data.
For my classroom, I could use Spreadsheet to implement a gradebook that would store assessment scores from the beginning, middle, and end of the year. I could use the average formula to average the scores and compare student growth. I would also insert a graph to simulate the scores over a period of an academic school year.
For students, Spreadsheet would be valuable for drill and practice functions. Students could drill and practice with math and subtraction facts, multiplication facts, and division problems. Students can also use the what if functions for higher level problems. Spreadsheet can also be used for math assessments.Teachers can premake an assessment in Spreadsheet that includes the formulas. The student can answer the various mathematical questions and retrieve immediate feedback if the answer is incorrect. Spreadsheet provides teachers and students with accessibility to organize numerical data.

#5 Database reflection

I recently created a merged document using information from a database created file. In the database file I saved my students' names, phone numbers, parents' names, addresses, and other helpful information to help identify the student. I merged the Database document with files from Word. The Word document was a field trip letter updating parents of upcoming field trips. When I merged the Database document and the Word document, the Word document implemented the students' name into the letter heading and parents' names onto the parent name line.
Before this class, I never knew anything about database. I have heard of the the software previously , but never had the opportunity to implement for my own use. After reviewing Roblyer and using Database software, I learned that Database is a software that is used for storing and organizing information. Not only does Database include text information, it also stores numerical information. Basically Database is a record keeper. As a teacher, I can use Database to store information about my student's personal information and assessment scores. I can also teach my students to use Database for organizing purposes. Database is a great tool for storing information in a sequential order.

Technology in the Arts

My kids are becoming interactive!

I received four new computers in my classroom about two weeks ago. All computers have Internet access. I have now incorporated these computers as a center or workstation in my classroom. My students are using the computers to reinforce phonics skills taught whole group. I even use the computers to help students with writing ideas and editing their work. The computers have been a wonderful asset. During whole group my students are doing better with the phonics skills that I used the computers to reinforce.
Here are the websites that I use and would like to use to continue to teach phonics skills and would like to teach reading skills:
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.pbskids.org/
Also, I have a new idea for pushing for more interactive and creative writing: blogging. I believe this will also assist my students with keyboarding skills. I think that I will have a class blog and students will use the blogs to write and share creative fiction stories with their classmates. I will also have them to write about various things such as about their family, house, and their favorite holiday. Blogging will help students to become more relaxed with writing and as a result be creative.

#12 –Technology across the senses

Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences shed much light about my own capacity of learning, which is how I learn. During my freshmen year of my undergraduate degree program, I was challenged to learn how I learn. I was given a test that helped me to best identify it. Although the test, as far as I remember, did not mention Howard Gardner, but his principles such as the multiple intelligences were used to test the capacity in which a person learns best. From the results, I discovered that I learned best from doing this or having hands-on instruction. This multiple intelligence was kinesthetic. That was over five years ago. My second highest intelligence score was visual. I have changed as most people do, and throughout my undergraduate program I became more of a visual learner than a kinesthetic learner. If I saw it I could relate and process the information. I no longer majorly relied on the former intelligence of kinesthetic. I adapted to one of the highly traditional ways that universities teach now, which was through PowerPoint presentations and handouts. I became visual and connected the lectures (I scored poorly on verbal) to the visual text to learn at a pace that was most comprehensible for me.

I teach best using the intelligences of verbal and visual, and in some cases kinesthetic. I teach first grade and this is the grade where my students are really grasping phonics concepts because they are jumpstarting into becoming readers. I use a lot of writing and visuals to help them to connect with the text. But, to become good readers students need to be both phonemically aware (aware the words are made up of letters) and phonologically aware (aware that words and letters have sounds). Students must first be phonologically aware before phonemically aware. Therefore a lot of my teaching in reading has a lot to do with me saying, stretching, and sounding out words. Next, I connect what students hear to text. I write the letters and words that they hear for them to see and sound out. Teaching reading to first graders has challenged me to become a better auditory learner, because I have to pay attention to what I say and listen for specific things that students say. I use my kinesthetic abilities in mathematics because students need to experience firsthand the mathematical calculations and how they come about for them to understand.

Lesson plan objective:

The learner will listen for the sounds in various words, observe the strategies in blending words, and apply listening and sounding out techniques to decode words.

Verbal/Linguistic	Leapfrog Alphabet/Phonics Pad	http://www.starfall.com-/ Learn to read-links 1 through 5
Logical/ Mathematical	www.storyit.com/wgames/wgames.htm	www.readwritethink.org/Materials/Wordfamily/
Visual/Spatial	Jumpstart for First Grade	www.pbskids.org Word world
Bodily/Kinesthetic	http://www.starfall.com/ Learn to read links 1-5	www.pbskids.org Super why -sounds bingo
Musical/Rhythmic	Phonics CD with songs that sing the various sounds of the alphabet such as ABC rap	Rock and Learn: Songs for Phonics
Intrapersonal	Leapfrog Alphabet/Phonics Pad	www.pbskids.org Word world
Interpersonal	www.pbskids.org Super why-sounds bingo	www.pbskids.org Super why- freeze dancing rhyming
Naturalist	Plastic container	Sandwich bag
Existentialist	simulations	Recorded Reader’s theatre story

Word Processing

Word Processing is one of the most used computer software among teachers. This product allows users to create documents, edit, and add to them. Teachers can use italicize, bolding, and highighting, formatting, borders and shading along with a variety of other custom functions. The appearance of documents can be improved. Many times, teachers have to use manuscript to create various products for their classroom, but Word processing will allow its users to create products that will be decorative and quickly made for the classroom. This not only saves the teacher time but also money by being able to produce in home products. Word Processing is flexible and holds almost no limitations on the production of items. Teachers can produce newsletters, track student growth by creating graphs, and even implement pictures in a document.
Students using word processing will benefit from letter and word formation. They will be able use the editing formats such as spell check and grammatical checking throughout word processing documents. This makes the writing process flow more easily by providing immediate feedback. Students can also practice keyboarding skills for further use of the computer. Although word processing, is beneficial to student processing and editing, but it may impact the development of students manuscript.
In addition to word processing being helpful to a student, it will be additive to team and group effort due to word processing being able to transfer information easily. Word processing is beneficial to teacher preparation for the student, classroom organization, student individual practice, and collaborative practice.

Model Classroom Lessons

I visited the Technology Applications Network website and discovered a lesson plan for second grade level. Here is the link: http://www.techappsnetwork.org/. The lesson was very detailed without unnecessary information included. The learning objectives and standards are expressed in the beginning of the lesson. To have a successful or good lesson, the lesson must be engaging to students. Secondly lessons must be learner-centered, in other words the learner must be thought of and considered on every level of the lesson. Lessons must have activities that develop the necessary skills that are to be taught. For example, there should be activities and not a majority of teacher directed instruction. Students need the opportunity to use their creativity to develop their problem solving skills. What also made the insect lesson good was the organization. Lastly, the creator also included a rubric to help the student and the teacher assess learning and keep track of it.
Therefore the things that make a good lesson plan are as follows:

• Detailed, not confusing
• Objectives, goals, and standards are clearly stated
• Learner centered
• Activities. Plenty of opportunities for students to develop skills
• Rubrics and Accountable Assessments
• Organized

The next lesson plan that I viewed was about Letter Writing by Toad and Frog. The link is included:http://www.techappsnetwork.org/lib/multimed/file/lesnplan/14/495/Letters_to_Frog_and_Toad.pdf

What made this a great lesson is that it was detailed, objectives were clearly stated, learner centered, activities, rubrics, and it was organized. But what made this an even better lesson was that it was a breakdown of activities to be covered day by day. The previous lesson only stated how long the lesson would be, but did not include what days that activities should be on each day.

I discovered a lesson about story problem writing. Here is the link: http://www.techappsnetwork.org/lib/multimed/file/lesnplan/15/551/Lesson%20Plan.pdf This lesson was:

Detailed, not confusing
Objectives, goals, and standards are clearly stated
Learner centered
Activities. Plenty of opportunities for students to develop skills
Rubrics and Accountable Assessments
Organized

Although this lesson consisted all the above necessesities, it lacked depth. Students were just told to log onto Kid Pix and create a story problem. The problem is that students need modeling.

I then remebered that to have an excellent lesson plan is to also include:

• Modeling
• Guided Practice
• Independent Practice

The second lesson included it levels of practice. But, the first and third lesson did not include as much depth.

Standard Summary

Texas Essentials of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), standards for Master of Technology Teacher, and National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) instructs the educator on what content to teach and the standards to mold the learner according to what they should know.
NETS insists for teachers to be facilitators of their students learning and creativity, TEKS require for students to use text, digital audio, and graphics, as use for creativity. MTT standards require for master teachers to model creativity. The Master of Technology Teacher models active learning, evaluate student learning, applied knowledge of Internet research, graphics, animation, video technology, and Web site mastering.
NETS instruct master teachers to model (up to date) work and learning, citzenship and responsibility, and seek to grow as a professinal leadership. MTT standards require master teachers to provide professional development.
TEKS require students in grades kindergarten through second grade to acquire information about technology through concepts, data input strategies, evaluation, research, analyzing, and problem solving. On the other hand, The Master of Technology teacher according to MTT standards the Master of Technology Teacher models active learning, evaluate student learning, applied knowledge of Internet research, graphics, animation, video technology, and Web site mastering.
TEKS are different from the MTT standards and NET standards that it is the essential rules for what students should learn, while MTT standards and NET standards are necessary rules for what the teacher teaches and how the educator is to teach. All three standards are similar in that they all promote active, student learning. The MTT and NET standards differ due to the fact MTT standards are directions for Master Technology Teacher for assisting the in class teacher in the classroom and the NET standards are directly targeted to the in class teacher.
The TEKS, MTT standards, and NET standards reinforce student learning as they reinforce teacher growth. The standards support each other for providing information and allowing the learner to express creativity through technology.

Individual Progress Plan

Technology is ever changing and so are the means for acquisition. Throughout Teaching and Learning with Technology, I seek to further my understanding of software and applications that I am aware of and familiar with. In addition, I seek to expand my knowledge base and learn how to integrate, formulate, and manipulate software and applications that is unfamiliar to me. In this course, I will not only read about the various softwares and applications, but I plan to learn about their usages through video simulations and practice.
Microsoft Excel not only allows users to record numerical data, but also formulate drill and practice mathematical equations and number simulations. Acquiring the knowledge of formulas to create drill and practice equations will not only assist me with teaching addition facts, but also my students on learning them. To be knowledgeable of Microsoft Excel, I plan to retrieve formulas for entry and learn how to apply the formulas. I will implement the formulas for practice and critique my understanding and knowledge as I progress.
I also aspire to create, organize, format, and manipulate videos. Videos are useful for giving students directions for various assignments. To assist me in guiding instruction and rigorous academic learning, I will expand my video making and editing knowledge base that I may apply these skills to my classroom. I will read instructional text about how to create videos. In addition to this, I will practice video making skills by creating personal videos for the purpose of editing and formatting.
The adage "A picture says a million words" speaks volumes of the various learning opportunites that I could provide my students with by creating and rightly organizing, formatting, manipulating and communicating images. Students could use images to make inferences, predictions, and to also expand vocabulary through descriptions. Learning image creation and formatting will be practice and presentation. I will read instructional pieces for this application, but to best retrieve the knowledge that I desire to learn, I will create photos using digital camera and test the various settings that are available when I upload the picture onto computer. Communication retrieval is evolving. Publishing and editing have become a way for communicationg ideas and information. I will proceed to read to gain more information about the software. I will learn who is the audience that Microsoft Publishing is usually written to and what kind of topics are usually dispersed using Microsoft Publishing. I will also practice the usage of Microsoft Publishing by creating communication pieces. Unlike Microsoft Publishing, Microsoft Powerpoint is common for presentations and reports, but I would like to further its usage and integrate this software into my academic instruction. During the course of this class, I will learn about the various usages and advantages of Microsoft Powerpoint. I will learn the usage of this software by inquiry, reading, practice, and researching through the program.