Final Thoughts...

     When I came into educational technology, I was nervous because I am not tech savy. I learned many useful tools that will benefit not only my experiences in the classroom, but the ways we learned to utilize technology will help to make my students' experience more rich and engaging. Before coming into this class, I felt strongly believed that I will be entering a twenty-first century classroom, where technology is first nature to students, rather than an acquired tool learned through experiences. It is important to be able to use technology in the classroom because it is relatable to students' experiences, abilities, and will make their content more rich, which will ultimately help them retain the information for a longer period of time.
     I learned how to incorporate social media, not only in the classroom, but in a way that will help my professional network in the future. I think that most vetern teachers have a negative image of social media, and wouldn't understand how it can benefit a teacher's abilities. I would like to help change the prospective of some teachers in incorporating social media. Most importantly, learning how to create a portfolio will benefit my career as I prepare to apply for a job!

Final Blog Entry 12/5

1. Which chat did you participate in?

• This evening I participated in #educoach.

2. Was there a theme to the chat?

• There was not a set theme to the chat; however, majority of the chat was focused on the importance of coaching - particuarily the relationship between administrators and the building teachers. I liked the discussion that was generated on this chat because it allowed teachers and administrators to share ideas about how to bridge the relationships between the two, which helps to make the teaching experience and coaching the most effective. 

3. What did you learn? Give specifics and cite examples.

• I learned that there are many different ways school districts will coach their staff. I also learned that not all teachers have the support and encouragement from their administrators that are needed in order to continue their education through their experiences, therefore, little improvement will be made. 

4. Did anyone post links that you found helpful? List one or two and explain why you found them useful? Use bitly to shorten and share.

• There were a few links, books, and quotes that I thought could be beneficial in understanding and improving educational coaching. Greg Miller is a elementary school principal that I began following, and he was an advocate for positive relations and communications between his administration staff and his teachers. He shared a variety of rubrics that his teachers use to evaluate their performance. Sometimes I think that teachers forget to step back and evaluate themselves unless they are being evaluated by others, and therefore, they may not reflect to improve.
• Another professional that I followed posted a link about the knowing vs. doing gap - bit.ly/VPaeCR. This link was beneficial because it explained how to bridge the gap between knowing and doing. I think this is something that will help myself as a new teacher; I have received all the proper instruction, but it is then a matter of actually teaching using those strategies so that students thrive and succeed. This is a nervous fear of mine as I begin to think about applying for a job, and having someone else's experiences to use is great! 
• Finally a message I found interesting was from Jessica Johnson (@PrincipalJ). She explained that those will teach better if the become a coach. It reminded me of the quote related to the notion that if you want to become skilled in a content material, teach it. 

Blog Number Five

1. What chat did you participate in?

• I participated in Student Affairs Chat (#sachat)

2. Was there a theme to the chat?

• The theme of #sachat was supporting students with mental health concerns. 

3. What did you learn from the chat? Give specifics and cite examples.

• There were many issues that were addressed in this chat that I thought were important to relate to my life at this age, but also as a way to relate to my students. Question two of the chat was how professionals in the education world can be better prepared to deal with mental health concerns of students that are beyond "normal" stress/anxiety. A few participants in the chat discussed knowing when to refer a student, how to address behaviors that are a result of stress/anxiety, including self-harming behaviors and eating behaviors. One participant also discussed professionals understanding and being able to educate other about Asperger's Syndrome. In regards to college students, I think that self-destructive behaviors are witnessed through over-use of alcohol, experimental drugs, and self-destructive behavior, like an eating disorder. In regards to elementary school and my future, I believe that students, no matter what age, can suffer from a form of stress and anxiety. Teachers need to be able to address these issues and deal with them appropriately. 

4. Did anyone post links that you found helpful? List one or two and explain why you found them useful. Use bitly to shorten and share.

• There were not many helpful links that were posted throughout this chat. There was a lot of insight that was provided from professionals or those with experience. There was a title of a book that is the "Guide to Students with Asperger's Syndrome" that I think would be beneficial to have in order to further understand how students suffer. It is important, especially at the elementary level, to understand and accept students who may have Asperger's because they struggle socially but usually succeed educationally - especially in one subject or topic. 

5. Choose at least three people to follow from the chat. 

• I honestly did not follow three people from this chat. I found that this chat was really focused on college life, and therefore they were educational professionals that I did not think would benefit my PLN. I did search twitter and the tweets that came on my home page and decided to follow Education Week (@educationweek) because I think they post some beneficial articles reading education today. 

Blog Number Four

1. What chat did you participate in?

• I did not participate in an organized chat because I wanted to participate in the teacher to teacher chat but the chat was not up when I signed in throughout the hour. I did, however, look at new teacher chat #ntchat, and read through the tweets that were sent today and found some good resources, and am now following some educators that are focused on twenty-first century teaching.

2. Was there a theme to the chat?

• There was not a theme to #ntchat because I only looked at the tweets that were posted today, but there seemed to be a lot of posts focused around finding educational videos that could be implemented in the classroom. This made me think about Universal Streaming, and how many resources are really at educators fingertips. 

3. What did you learn from the chat? Provide specific examples and cite. 

• After looking through the tweets from today, I realized how many educators want to help one another in order to ensure that the students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. One professional that I am now following from today's tweets, The Therapy Group @Thetherapygroup, who are speech and occupational therapists provided a quote that I thought was interesting. The quote said, "Must reward imagination as well as memory". I think this quote is important at any age level because the more students have the freedom to create without structure, the happier students will be, which will lead to students being academically successful. 

4. Did anyone post any links that you found helpful? Please share a few. 

• Eyeoneducation posted a link for more #hashtags that would lead to more education chats. The link is attached in this post: http://www.teachthought.com/social-media/50-important-education-twitter-hashtags-with-meeting-times/. Also, after asking for educational videos, one educator tweeted that Teacher Tube would be a good place to find resources. 

5. Pick three people to follow. 

• I chose to follow Jill Bromenschenkes (@JillBromen) who is a professional educator interested in 21st century teaching, and is an education consultant. I am now following The Therapy Group (@Thetherapygroup) who is a group of speech and occupational therapists; my last new follower is HP Teacher Exchange (@HPteachexchange) and it is a professional group of educational leaders. 

I will be doing my personal interest project on iPads in the classroom. I will present it through a separate blog, and will post all resources found with an annotated bibliography.

Blog Number Three

• Which chat did you participate in?
• I participated in the new teacher chat (#ntchat) at 8pm on Wednesday.
• Was there a theme to the chat?
• The theme of the chat was focused around differentiated instruction; teachers having the ability to reach each student in their classroom.
• Did anyone post links that you found helpful? List one or two and explain why you found them useful. Use bitly to shorten and share.
• There were a few really helpful articles that were posted throughout the duration that I observed the chat - two of which I re-tweeted. The articles were posted by @weareteachers (an online community of teachers), and @cybraryman. The article posted by @weareteachers focused around how to reach every student and provided seven helpful facts about differentiated instruction that new teachers might not have thought about. The link posted by @cybraryman was one that was full of information, including definitions and the best ways to help differentiate. The links are included below:
• http://www.weareteachers.com/community/weareteachers-blog/blog-wat/2012/09/25/7-facts-about-differentiated-instruction
• http://cybraryman.com/differentiated.html
• What did you learn? Give specifics and cite examples.
• A professional tweeted "I like to open with something that can easily be related to life/present day" (@williamjgabriel). I really found this tweet interesting because he notes how important it is to really hook your students each lesson, and in order to do so, it is crucial that you know your students.
• The notion of knowing your students was something that was continually repeated, particularly with differentiated instruction because as the teacher you need to know your students strengths and weakness and address each to ensure they are successful.
• It was also discussed that delivery methods can and should be altered with each lesson so that the students are benefiting most from the instruction being given. As teachers, we have a preconceived notion of how we view an outcome in a lesson; however, if the students are not understanding, than adjustments must be made.
• When using differentiated instruction, teachers can refer to Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, which allows students to engage in visual, tactile, and kinaesthetic activities.
• Choose at least 3 people from he chat and start following them. Tell me about these new people who are now in your PLN.
• The individuals that I chose to follow this week were individuals that posted valuable articles or tweeted valid information. I am now following @ScottBGoldscher (Education Consultant and Teacher), @Weareteachers (Online community of teachers), and @teachingwithsoul (Lisa Dabbs - the founderof #ntchat).

Blog Number Two (9/13/12) Twitter

1. Which chat did you participate in?

• I participated in the innochat (#innochat); however, I did go back and read the new teacher chat, and found some good resources.

2. Was there a theme to the chat?

• The chat was centered on social media and its abilities to be both positive and negative in the in the real world. This chat is primarily focused around organizations and different companies, rather than the world of education, but can be interpreted and applied to both.

3. What did you learn? Give specifics and cite examples.

• As a student in the twenty-first century, it is hard to understand much of what life was like without everything being at my fingertips. It seems as though many of the individuals that were participating in the chat were around when conducting research or collecting data could not be done through the internet. The participants of the chat acknowledge that there are benefits of social media sites, but the negatives can still be detrimental to the repuatationSysparatem); http://ht.ly/dGCF4, this article is an example of the negative effects.
• It was also discussed through an article provided that social media can be beneficial, but there are specific things companies should know, http://jawbrain.com/brandchat-brand-lessons-for-the-social-media-age/. Also, it was discussed that because it is still new and upcoming, organizations may under estimate how harmful social media can actually be.

4. Did anyone post links that you found helpful? List one or two and explain why you found them useful? Use bitly to shorten and share.

• Overall, I did not find this chat applicable to the classroom; but I personally found it useful because of entering the professional world and understanding how serious social media  is when being hired and remaining in that position. This chat helped to hightlight some of the negative effects social media sights have and how important it is to be aware, and know how to manage social media sites.

5. Chose at least 5 people from the chat and start following them. Tell me about the 5 people you chose to follow.

• I only chose three people to follow because I felt as though this chat did not have a ton of people that would be beneficial to follow in the future. Most of the participants were CEOs or worked for organizations that are now facing issues with social media. I did however follow some educators from the new teacher chat that I missed last evening, but thought they had valid information that would help in preparing to teach. The websites they provided are included in my blog post today.
• http://eyeoneducation.com/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2575/Three-Steps-to-Engage-Students-in-Science
• http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/08/great-teacher-websites.html

Week One: Classroom Tech

1. Did the physical layout of the classroom differ from traditional models? Did the  physical layout affect how the technology was used by students? What did you observe that supports your view?

• The physical layout of the classroom was somewhat differed from how a normal elementary classroom would be set up that did not utilize technology the same way the teachers in the two videos did. Normally, the classroom would be arranged in small groups with the desks together, or in rows; however, the classroom set-up from the videos consisted mainly of long tables that students would sit around and the teacher or "facilitator" was able to see everyone easily. In some cases the physical layout affected how the technology was used by students, particularly in the case of Larry because there were a limited amount of Ipads and each day some students were required to share. Overall, the layout of the classroom did not have a tremendous affect on the implementation of technology in the class.

2. What was the nature of the teacher/student interaction? Did the technology in  the classroom influence or facilitate the nature of teacher/student interaction? What did you observe that supports your view?

• The teacher/student interaction was completely different from that of a classroom that was not utilizing technology in the same manner. The teacher acted more so as the facilitator, rather than the teacher; they provided assistance when needed, but work was done through programs on the computers, the Internet, or apps. In both videos, the teachers stressed the connivance of using technology in the classroom. Most work was submitted through email, which was graded more quickly and therefore, problems were addressed and fixed at a quicker pace. In Larry's class, where Ipads were used, students had the ability to really understand topics and concepts because they would instantly receive feedback regarding their work, which allowed the teacher to address the problems at that moment. Students were also given the time to "master" concepts.

3. Did you observe examples of differentiation of instruction in these classrooms? How might technology facilitate differentiation? What did you observe that supports your view?

• After viewing both videos, there were examples of differentiated instruction; however, this was different, and in some cases more efficient that a normal classroom. Students in Larry's class who were excelling academically had the ability to work alone with an Ipad, while the students were completing problems in pairs. Technology also played a role in the teacher grading material at a more rapid pace, which allowed students who were struggling to have more time on a topic, and the teacher could really address the problems at hand. This is an advantage to students in a normal classroom, particularly as a future elementary teacher because of their attention span, prior knowledge, and the goal of each unit.

4. Which classroom model resems your concept of how technology would be ideally implemented in your classroom setting? How would your classroom be different?

• Ideally, I think the use of Ipads in a classroom would be wonderful. The range of ability and material that could be taught using an Ipad is currently endless in way because discoveries are constantly being made that can be beneficial to learning. It was neat to observe Larry's interaction with his students because they knew what was expected of them in his class; however, he allowed them to explore the Ipads and they did so educationally by finding new apps that would help to further explain a particular concept being taught. I do however still believe in the concept of what a classroom is today and the ability for books to be read and explored by hand, or activities to be done that allow students to make a further connection to what they are learning. Overall, I think that technology needs to play a more vital role to compete with the activity and life styles children are living outside of the classroom; pencil and paper activities are no longer going to stimulate children because of the technological advances.

5. How did the use of technology differ from your expectations of tech in the classroom and from your actual experiences?

• I was surprised at how much technology was actually implemented in the classroom. From the videos, there was very little instruction or work that was completed in any other way. This is something that is new for me because I was a student that visited the computer center once a week if my teacher had blocked time to do so. I remember a math game that I played on the computer when I was in elementary school that awarded me money if I got an answer right, and the I was apart of a rock band. The more money I won would help to pay for my gigs and transportation, along with instruments. I really enjoyed these videos because I think as a twenty-first century teacher, competing with technology is going to be constant; if the use of technology can improve, learning opportunities could be endless.