Reflection # 4

The article, Is It Age or IT made me start to reminisce about what life was like before I was connected to the World Wide Web. For as long as I can remember I have been around computers, but I still remember the day my family was first connected to the internet and I even laugh now thinking about the impatience and the static-y sounds associated with dial up. I am just amazed that the generations coming up now have never known what it is like to be without the Internet (probably just as amazed as they are that there was a time without internet). After reading this article I realized that I am a part of the "Net Gen" too. I am a laptop toting, cell phone using,video game loving, multi-tasking technology lover! Another thing I noticed in the article was that it talks about the different views on what technology is as defined by all the generations. It suggests that the new generation calls labels something as a technology by first assessing it's usefulness, not how it is made. This means that I must always be getting down to the real core and purpose of the new technologies that I am learning and make them relevant to my students.

Reflection # 3

I agree with all of the principles, but there were a few that really made me think about how I do portfolios with my pre-K students and how I would like to do them better in the future.I believe that the portfolio system I use now is more assessment of learning instead of for learning. I do believe that AFL should be part of effective planning and learning. As I constantly keep track of my students' portfolios I become aware of which areas they may be lacking and what small groups and experiences I need to plan for so that I can document their growth in that area. If I did not plan ahead I would not have a well rounded reflection of what they are learning. Another principle I believe in is AFL should focus on how students learn. I believe that in the past my portfolios have simply shown what skills the students have learned but not a true reflection of how they met that accomplishment. I am working to change this. As I strive to incorporate more technology into my classroom I am currently working on a grant for pre-k to recieve Flip cameras, so they we may not simply tell a parent what their child has done through annecdotal notes, we can show them through videos how they did it. I am very excited about this possibility because it will be a great opportunity for parents to see how their child is learning through play and eventually I would like to morph our portfolios into a kind of video scrapbook. The last principle that really caught my attention was that AFL should foster a child's ability to be reflective and self managing. I have definitely missed the opportunity to include the children in their own portfolio process. To improve in this area I will start giving them more of a choice in what goes into their portfolio and discuss with them why they think certain samples should be in it.

I think that portfolios are a great way to reflect on what we have learned and are striving to learn in the future. I hope that this is what I accomplish with my portfolio. I also hope that I can continue to use it to remind myself how much I still don't know and push myself to really explore the unknown areas and find a way to incorporate them into my daily teaching.

Reflection # 2

I thought the information on the the November Learning website was very useful. I bookmarked several of the mentioned sites for future use. For the MAPping project I chose the Victorian Robots website because it sounded interesting.The URL didn't seem to have any red flags but the pictures seemed so unrealistic. After using the link command my suspicions were confirmed when I discovered links to the author's personal website, personal blogs, and most importantly a brief description of my site that included the words "fictional" and "hoax". Although it wasn't too tough to see that this site was not credible, there are many other sites that I would be unsure of. The only method I felt comfortable using to check credibility was looking at the URL and website content. Now I have more reliable ways to check out a questionable site. This project has also made me question the reliability of sources that I have used for writing papers throughout my college career. My curiosity has me thinking about finding copies of my old papers and checking the sites that I used using this new criteria!

After exploring Delicious I do see some advantages to using it. I can view my bookmarks from my home or school computer. It would be a great way to share new sites with my fellow pre-K teachers and when I am a librarian I can hopefully get the teachers involved in this site so that I can share helpful sites with them.

After learning about the uses for wikis and seeing different styles of wikis I have the idea to create one so that other pre-k teachers involved with a grant that I am a part of can communicate. My plan is to make different subject related sections related to our trainings, such as Letter Knowledge, Phonological Awareness, Math, etc. Teachers can post ideas that they have had and different strategies that they have learned to teach these areas. They could also post helpful links or videos to better explain something they have done. I can see advantages to using wikis in the classroom. It gives students a new and comfortable forum to find assignments and share ideas. It might be a disadvantage though that you can go in and edit another persons ideas and add to them. Some students could abuse this feature.



I loved how the November Learning site had examples of activities you could do with students to teach them how to use the analysis tools. This would also be a great activity for teachers to complete during a staff development. If they are aware of these tools then they could teach it to students. I may have been able to see that the Victorian Robot site was a fake but a young student might not be able to see that. When students access information at home we cannot watch over their shoulder to make sure they are using credible sources, so we must equip them with the knowledge and tools to do this themselves. I also think that students should have access to educational databases through the library so that they can have the opportunity to find information on a site that is known for it's credibility.

This week I have definitely learned more about web 2.0 tools and a few that I would like to explore further are educational podcasts and Flickr.

Reflection #1

Having my educational technology philosophy down in writing helps me to think more deeply about teaching and learning using technology. It helped me to reflect on how I am using technology in the classroom and realize that I still have a long way to go, in terms of being more of an informator.

In regards to the blogging article, I really liked the example of the students posting their writing to a blog because it gave them a chance to get feedback from people around the world that have a totally different background and view of life than they do. This would be a great way for students to see the other opinions and angles of an isssue. I also liked another teacher's idea of giving the students material to read and letting them freely reflect on it through their blogs. I loved the mention that blogging is a tool that puts students on an equal field because every student, from the shyest to the most outgoing has equal space and time to voice their views. I still think we have a long way to go because there are many teachers who use this medium for assigning writing prompts. Also, it is hard for blogging to truly include free flowing thoughts because of the of the boundaries and limits of the school setting.

In November's article, one of the many areas that caught my attention was the student's belief that if something is on the Internet, it must be true. I believe this is an area where some teachers may be falling short. Students are assigned a project and shuffled off to the library or computer lab without being equipped with the proper knowledge to decipher information. I believe this is an area that I could help with when I become an elementary librarian because it is never too early to teach these skills. This will not only help students create more accurate presentations, it will also improve their critical thinking skills and prepare them to be more informed citizens of the future.

My Educational Technology Philosophy

I became a teacher because I have a passion for helping others learn. I love seeing light bulb moments and knowing that I played a part in them. I enjoy the daily challenge of using my knowledge of the required skills and finding a fresh and memorable way to present it to my students.In my own schooling experiences the best teachers were the ones who understood the level I was on and related to me through my interests and ideas. This closely relates to the Pragmatism view that all children want to learn, but they do not learn in the same ways. Children have varied interests and personalities, so it is up to teachers to find a way to mesh those with what they are teaching. Also, just because teachers are adults does not mean they must lose their imaginations and childlike thirst for knowledge. A teacher should never pretend to have all the answers because they will miss the opportunity to model for students how to find the answers themselves.

I also believe that in order to teach my students I must speak their "language" more fluently. This is why I am striving to broaden my technological horizons a little every day. In fact, I have already seen the small ways that technology has benefited my students. In my classroom learning is hands on because you cannot discuss a subject with students and expect them to have a deeper understanding if they have no way to experience it. We take many field trips, but the school budget does not allow for everything. Our newly installed Promethean boards are a wonderful tool that students can use to view videos, pictures, and play theme related games. This new technology has allowed us to step outside our world, sparked rich discussions and inspired us to further explore topics. In my opinion, this is what educational technology is really about.