Personal Learning Reflection: CEP DUE June 19th

Some things that I have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology include the use of UDL principles, which allow educators to create maximum learning experiences for all learning styles and various presentation forums that add variety to delivering content. It is important to use various teaching methods and to evaluate lesson plans so that all students’ learning needs are being met. By using various methods for delivery and critiquing lesson plans students learning potential is increased.

Integrating the Internet helped me evaluate uses of technology by providing ways to search for vast amounts of information. It helped me evaluate technology by following fellow educators and learning how they use technology in their classrooms, creating an RSS feed gave me access to update information about the technologies that exist and allowing me to search to research how social media influences positive learning experience in the classroom. The internet allows for more information to be processed quicker and for educators to share materials and lesson plans that they have created.

T he assignment that I have turned in that really exemplifies good teaching with technology was the SIG presentation. Our group did an excellent job presenting information that we acquired through Google Presentation. We added appropriate graphics and images that illustrated and supported the purpose of our presentation. We utilized Google Docs so that collaboration was increased and had a Works Cited page that was linked to Diigo, where we were able to post our resources.

I have met my goals that were established in my Personal Growth Plan. My first goal was to learn the different forums of collaboration that I can incorporate into my classroom. My SIG group focused on social networking. We researched all of the positive ways Facebook and Twitter can be implemented into lesson plans and the classroom. I feel that increased collaboration between the students and teachers and amongst students themselves allows for increased learning.

My second goal was to increase my skills in using technology. Coming into this class I have very little exposure to Twitter, RSS feed pages, Creative Commons etc. All of this exposure has increased my level of skills and knowledge of technology. It has also increased my interest and allowed me to be a first hand witness to how successful technology can be in the classroom if used the appropriate way.

After this course, I definitely have new goals. I want to incorporate all of the items that I was introduced to in this course in my classroom. I want to continue to take technology courses so that I can go from a basic user to an advanced user. I think that technology is wonderful and essential for our students in this global community that we have created!

Online learning. CEP 811 Due June 13th

The best part of this assignment was to realize that because of this program, I am being exposed to a lot of online learning experiences that I can use in my classroom. These technologies are essential for the maximum optimal learning experiences in the 21st century. I think that it is absolutely necessary that these technologies are incorporated in the classroom as much as possible because of the various resources that are made available to students through the internet and the ability to communicate with so many individuals. The technology that I use the most often is Webquests. I believe Webquests have numerous pedagogical strategies and reach all learning styles. I utilize them often because they allow students to work at a pace that they are comfortable with; they provide numerous animations and feedback. I use Webquests in my Biology, Earth Science and Health classes. After this class, I have a rubric that allows me to evaluate which ones are suitable to reach all learning styles and are the most effective.

Technologies that I believe would be harder to use in my current situation are podcasts and video conferencing. My school does not have the tools to support this online learning experience. I wonder how my students would handle this experience if it was available. I see video conferencing etiquette and space being a concern.

Wiki Lab - CEP 811- Due June 5th

I teach at Brandon High School in Ortonville, Michigan. I was surprised to see that it actually had a Wiki Page. When I found it, I was not surprised to see that it had very little information on it. It lacked so little information that I actually had a hard time deciding what to edit. At first I wanted to put a link to my cross country page but I thought I would start simple with this lab. (I still have some editing to do to our cross country page). I decided to edit the motto at our school which is “Leading the Way in Educational Excellence and Equality for All”.

Here is a screen-shot of my edit:

I have little exposure to wikis but they seem like I would be something that I can implement in my classes. I started a Brandon Cross Country (XC) wiki page and I am extremely excited to explore what this forum has to offer and use it as an organized tool of collaboration.

Learning Styles- CEP 810- Due June 4th

This online quiz was great! It describes me perfectly. I am Naturalistic, both Intrapersonal and Interpersonal and learn as a Bodily-Kinetic. I love moving around, exploring nature and reflecting on my actions as well as others. When I think back about my own learning experiences, I remember the learning strategies that were engaging and hands on. I remember the lessons that encouraged me to explore and think outside of the box. I loved working and collaborating groups. I feel that these lessons spoke to my personality and learning style. I use these lessons from high school as a template for how I construct my own. I believe that students learn from doing and having to problem solve on their own. Both of these were an integral part of my learning process and believe that many students learn this way.

Strategies that were least effective of my personality and learning style include the long-winded lecture and the busy work (read the chapter so we can discuss or the read the chapter and do the questions at the end). I LOVE reading but when it comes to learning from reading, I struggle. I feel that the lessons that have little student involvement I get little out of. I need to feel, explore, move around, and manipulate objects. Maybe this is the reason I went into science and physical education. I love labs and being active. I think that is what makes learning fun and engaging.

I realize, as an educator, that it is a challenge to focus on every learning style that we encounter in the classroom. I believe that the focus should be on maximizing the amount of optimal learning experiences. While it is extremely difficult to reach EVERY student that enters our classroom, we CAN create lesson plans that reach multiple learning styles. I believe that educators’ focus should be on construction lesson plans that provide multiple delivery methods, utilize various technological resources, give adequate feedback and allow students to have options in how they demonstrate that they understand the content presented.

Creative Commons Lab Due June 4th (810)

I chose this image of the water cycle because I just recently put this into a PowerPoint lecture of mine for the ecology unit. I am an extremely visual person. I like to explain the content and then provide numerous images that support the topic. I think by doing this I am increasing optimal learning experiences. While we are reading about different learning styles, I believe that by incorporating imagery I am providing a different media that allows more students to start to put together the concepts that are needed to fully understand the “big picture” of , for example, the water cycle. In science, there are a lot of technical terms and processes that the students are responsible for knowing. I feel that images and diagrams are a crucial tool that simplifies the terms and allows students to see how they are interrelated.

This lab was extremely informative for me. Unfortunately I have not been using the correct copyright procedure but that has now changed!

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The image I shared on Flickr is of the Grand Canyon during a road trip to Vegas. I have had zero training in photography but I absolutely love to take pictures.

Image by Cassandra Weddel

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

UDL- 811

UDL ROCKS! While I was extremely bummed that this lesson had more barriers than it did features, I was excited that this exercise has opened my eyes to increasing optimal learning experiences in the classroom. By evaluating this lesson with UDL, I have come up with numerous ways to alter this lesson plan so that I can eliminate the maximum amount of barriers so that more students will be successful in the classroom. I always knew, as a younger teacher, that the traditional lecture did not reach and engage the most students. This exercise reiterated that lessons need to be interactive, encourage students to take risks, provide options for them to express what they know and provide a variety of ways to relay the content.

810 PC Maintenance and Security Lab: Due May 24th

In the PC Maintenance and Security Lab I watched three different tutorials about computer security. The firs tutorial I viewed was the one about Google and changing the preferences for a “safe search” It walked you through how you can change a few settings to make sure that explicit text and explicit images do not pop up in an internet search. I think this is an awesome tool for parents who have young children working on the internet for assignments or even just being on the internet for enjoyment. I know firsthand that I have been on the internet before, performing searches and some unpleasant images popped up. This is the tutorial that I will be sharing with others because I believe it is a great way for parents to protect their children from images and texts that they do not want them to be exposed too. I was surprised how simple it is.

The second tutorial is using Karen’s replicator as a free file back up. Everyone should know about this. I am always worried that something is going to happen to my computer and I am going to lose all of my pictures and documents I need for school. I have downloaded this program yet but the tutorial made it seem real simple. I think more people need to know about this free tool and I will definitely be sharing it. This was a surprise to me, I always that these programs were expensive and hard to navigate.

The third tutorial I viewed was demonstrating Spybot’s Tea Timer intrusion detection. This program was a little hard for me to follow the first time. I think that idea is great! I want to be able to know if there is an intrusion on my computer. This tutorial seems helpful and I will be revisiting it.

Great Lab! I learned a lot!