Reflective Post

Intro to Technology was my first online class I have ever taken. Here I thought it would be easy but I was wrong. Actually the only difficult thing was getting the motivation to open up my laptop and do the assignments instead of watching Netflix. So that is why you probably saw me at Starbucks or the local coffee shop writing blogs and commenting on my fellow classmates posts because if I do my homework at home it will not get done. It was the same thing with the textbook. I just could not get the gumption to thoroughly read it but hey the homework got done. Textbooks just bore me to death but Transforming Learning with New Technologies was still an excellent tool. I did enjoy the discussions I had with my classmates. I always enjoy hearing and seeing from other peoples point of views. I also learned about some tools that I can see being useful in the classroom. One of them was Frequency Modulated Systems which is a type of assistive listening device. Basically it is a miniature radio system. In one of my college classes the professor used a similar listening device but in reverse. Instead of the teacher having a microphone, there were microphones placed around the classroom so that she would be able to hear better. Funny how teacher tools can work both ways. I think it is cool how we can all come together and share thoughts and new discoveries with one another. Seriously without my classmate's findings I would be pretty clueless about a lot of stuff. I recall maybe about a year ago that Bitstrips were a big Facebook thing. At first I thought they were lame but now I can see how fun they can be! I still have not gotten the hang of Bitstrips but I do enjoy using Powtoon. I think with practice I can master the making of comic strips. The thing about comic strips is that they are eye catching and can be customized to your liking. I would not doubt if there was not two identical comic strips out there(unless we are talking about plagiarism stuff). All in all this semester is almost done. After this I will have one more class and then I can finally get that coveted Associates Degree. I did learn a lot in all the prerequisite classes for the Education Program. Out of all of them I would say this was the most challenging but I feel that it is worth it. Not going to lie: the path to becoming a teacher is a little scary. Or maybe what is scary is that I am transitioning from being a punk kid working dead end jobs to working towards a job that I actually would enjoy and can call a career. One thing for sure is that I am on the right path for myself and when I get there, I will get there.

Digital Blog Post #F

For my previous education prerequisites, I had to do some observation hours at schools. Basically I would sit in a classroom and take notes on how teachers teach and ask any questions that came to mind. One particular day I was observing a 7th grade Gifted Language Arts class. The first thing I noticed was that every student was working on a laptop. Upon closer inspection I saw that they were actually Chromebooks . These devices were classwork and textbooks all in one. In class assignments were all done on their Chromebooks and any references they needed, they could pull up the textbook that was uploaded onto the device. Homework and classwork could all be kept, sent and connected to the teacher's Chromebook. There was also no need for textbooks(although they were still kept in class just in case). Teachers could send messages to students and vice versa. They could also see, in real time, the work and editing the students were doing. This form of one-to-one laptop computing(Maloy, p.306) is supposed to make sure that digital inequality is not present(every student has a computer). Several states including California, Massachusetts, and Illinois are incorporating laptops of sorts in the schools so this may be the future of education. Do you think laptops should be in schools? Click this link and let me know what you think. There comes a time at the beginning of each college semester where I ask myself two questions: Do I need the textbooks and where can I find it cheap? If I do follow through with getting the textbook then the 2nd question turns into "Do I want to rent or buy?" and that turns into "Paper textbook or digital textbook?". Often times I opt for a paper textbook because I have come to find that it is harder for me to study if my textbook is on my laptop or online. I enjoy something that I can hold, put in my backpack, and bring it out to open when I need it. Well a digital textbook, minus the physicality part, is the same thing. It can be put in a backpack(given that it is on a laptop, tablet, etc) and it can be brought out whenever. I have seen some of my classmates use digital textbooks and they have features such as word search where you can type in a particular word and the e-book will pull up any pages with that word. Converting from paper to digital textbooks is a task that LEAD Commission(Leading Education by Advancing Digital) has been working on since 2012(Maloy, p.310). So maybe digital is the future and there are some people like myself who still love books. But at the cost and learning possibilities I may switch to digital. It was not until after I had graduated from high school that I heard about a thing called "virtual schools". They are "organizations that teach students mainly through online learning"(Maloy, p.142). Some of the positives is that you can go to school anywhere and at anytime. Students can go at the pace they want to go. A plus side is that students with medical conditions or mobility issues that make it hard for them to go to school can be still be educated(p.142-143). I cannot believe that I missed out on an opportunity like this: I could have been done with school at an early age, gone to college ahead of time, and possibly be in a career at 24 years old instead of still working on an Associate's Degree. At the same time however I am glad that I went the traditional route. Otherwise I would not have been in as much contact with people my own age and I doubt that there would have been any one on one interaction and help from my teachers(p.143). But hey maybe it is for some people. I think that at least having that option is great. Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #E

Sometimes when I am driving or cooking or even reading, the sounds of outside or food is just not enough to help me feel like I am doing something or really focused. To combat that I will put on music or play a movie in the background. Rarely I will put on and listen to a podcast. I did not know until recently that a podcast is a combination of the words iPod and broadcast(Maloy p.234). A podcast is basically audio that is given out online. The podcasts I listen to are usually music related and what gets me is that it is real, meaning it is really what a person is saying almost as if they were with me in person. Podcasts are a great learning tool for both student and teacher. For teachers who make podcasts, they can listen back and find ways to make a podcast better. For students: listening is a big help but I think it would be very educational and fun for say, as a project, a student makes their own podcast. Listed below is a podcast on music education in Australia. In my senior year of high school there was what the school called an "auxilary" period(or something like that) where we gathered in an assigned classroom to put our highest grade test, quiz, or homework assignment. Even to this day I still feel like it was a bit of a wasted 30 minutes but the point of the class was to help build a portfolio so we could present it to colleges. My portfolio was a binder with a few "B" quizzes(in which case I lost the folder) but now there is such thing as digital portfolios. In essence a digital portfolio is the same as a paper one. A few differences between digital and paper portfolios are it is more easily accessible(paper pages being sent vs electronic transporting) and it allows an avenue for creativity(if you think about it all paper portfolios are a bunch of papers put in a binder of sorts). Digital portfolios will require a bit of a learning curve like learning how to use computers and cameras and such. Another drawback is that the way the portfolio is presented is seemingly more important than the content(p.285). Digital videos tell stories and capture moments and memories. From home movies to Snapchat, digital videos can be used for all ages and in particular, students. The creation process of digital videos can be exciting in the academic world. Even in the non-academic world, making videos can be fun. The thing about cameras is, as cliche as it sounds, they do not lie. So by watching a video, students could deduce answers from real life events caught on tape(p.231). It is one thing to take photos of a class doing a science experiment but capturing the movement and different steps of a science experiment can be used as documentation(p.233) and thus furthering the scientific conclusion. References: Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog #D

I kind of feel that a word cloud is what a brain storm looks like. According to Maloy, a word cloud is a "visual representation of text" (p.253). Word clouds are created from software that takes the most used words in a document and put it in a out of order picture. What I like about using this teaching tool is that it is eye catching, a real attention grabber. The words in a word cloud are going vertical and horizontal, all in different size fonts in colors. Word clouds have been denounced as being an almost too simple way to analyze text (p.253), but I feel that sometimes simple can be better. I have a mindset of "give me what is easy to use and that works". To me, a word cloud is easy to use and works.

While we're on the subject

This word cloud was created via www.worditout.com

There are so many ways for educators to help students experience a different way of learning. There are textbook readings, videos that relate to a project, podcasts of experts on a particular subject (p.248-249). It is a totally different ball game learning from a PowerPoint lecture about owls versus having an experienced owl trainer come in the classroom with owl pellet samples for us to dissect and see the bones, fur, and other parts of the animal an owl cannot digest. Which in 5th grade, an owl trainer did come into my class and do a presentation. And I did take apart owl pellets. This was one of the few learning experiences I remember from elementary school and it's probably because I got some hands on experience. Differentiated instruction is how teachers create experiences for students to learn. It is supposed to include the different learning styles that different students have. There are several key steps for differentiated instruction and below is a fun video of these steps seen in movies. Being that in 5th grade there was about thirty 10-11 year old boys and girls with short attention spans, I like to think Ms. Viola knew what she was doing.

Even though I haven't seen half of these movies, I still think it's helpful.

As a kid, I remember there was this little English to Lao translation book. Or maybe it was Lao to English. Whichever it was I remember reading it and trying to say English words in Lao, which is the language of my nationality (Laotion, country of origin Laos). I'm pretty sure this book belonged to my grandmother and I was fascinated by it. Today I have something that can translate quicker than me flipping through the pages of that little red book given that I have a data connection or a wifi signal: my cell phone or my laptop. Through Google translate I can easily translate words or phrases to over 50 languages (p.247). Imagine this: a student who may be an ELL (English Language Learner) who can follow along and enjoy a book the class is reading because it can be translated into his/her native language. My current job is working at a grocery store. One day a customer who spoke Spanish came in and was looking for "carbón". I don't recall learning this word in my 2 years of high school Spanish class so I pulled out my phone and did a quick Google Translate. Carbón means coal in Spanish and thus I was able to help out the customer get what he needed.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O' Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson 

Education, Inc.

T. H. (2013, March 17). Inclusion and Differentiated Instruction: Teachers in the Movies do it Too. Retrieved March 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rEy3Lqfio

Digital Blog C

As an artist, copyrights are my pepper spray to thieves. It is a protection from the United States for one's music, artwork, or writings(p.118). Copyrighting is basically having the rights that say a person owns the piece of work. If anyone else uses it in any way that the original artist does not like or deemed fitting then legal action can be taken. Although there is a thing called creative commons that say an artist keeps the copyright, allows it to be used as long as the credit is given to the author. I think that this is the best approach for use of teaching material. Credit should be given to where credit is due but as long as the it is used for education it should not matter. I am not saying that there is not the one educator who will claim that a lesson plan was thought of, created, and solely their own work when it was not but that is why we have copyrights. Being part of a band, I like to think that no one will steal our ideas. Although it would ruin someones life if they used or stole our music because guess what? We have copyrights.

Don't let this happen to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH44tHK5so4

Sometimes when I want to check a quick fact I will do a Google search and usually pick the Wikipedia link. Why? Mainly because it is usually the first result. Then after I check what I needed I click a related link from the original page to another and then another. 30 minutes later I am a page that is completely unrelated to what I started with. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that is online. There is a staff and volunteers that pick and choose which articles can stay and police the pages. They do this because pages can be revised or new ones can be made by anyone. Now some of the pages might be totally true but they can also be utter nonsense. Not going to lie: I have used Wikipedia to write papers because they have cited sources and related links at the bottom of the page; that is something more reliable and can be used. I like to think Wikipedia is more of a search engine, something that can give you a piece of information. It's just up to you to figure out if it is legit or not. Other online encyclopedias can be a more accurate source(Microsoft Encarta, How Stuff Works, etc) because they are written and edited by scholars (p.114-115).

One thing that I absolutely despise is Badware. It has ruined my past computers and laptops. Luckily the were all free or cheap and when I finally got around to buying my own decent laptop I had a buddy install software that stops pop up ads and such. Badware can also be called adware or spyware and it is a software that gets into the computer and takes control over it. It can redirect websites that you use and work against the software used to prevent invasive software (p.164). It really can be troublesome like when you are trying to do research and you get a million ads for President's Day sales or how to fix your credit.

So I have a question: Do you know how to prevent Badware? Click the link and let me know your answer!

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Creativity can be defined as "thinking and acting in ways that generate alternative approaches to people, presentations, and problems" (Maloy, p.61-62). From how we see colors to how we dress, everyone is their own sort of person and unique. Creativity can come in the form of music, pictures, words, building, inventing, and several other ways. It can be a form of expressing one's self, an outlet for emotion. Schools help students express their creativity through extracurricular activities; art classes where you are taught how to draw and color but initially creating the work yourself. Schools have music classes such as band, orchestra, or choir where you learn an instrument and are eventually taught to be self sufficient and make your own songs or pieces of music. There are technology classes where you are taught how to make your own websites and computer programs.

http://storybird.com/poetry/poem/umzetqmk58/?utm_source=storybird&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share-poem

A learning style I find intriguing is constructivism. It is a theory that is based on how people learn, through their own mind in forming new information given(W.L). Think of it as the question of is the red you see the same red that I see? A big part of constructivism is taking the knowledge that a student already knows and helping them grow and construct from the prior knowledge. As of now, I am the only one who signed up to follow a discussion blog about constructivism but I do look forward to hearing how others feel about this practice being used in the classroom.

Feedback can be a very effective tool to help improve a students wor. Aside from it being a line of communication between student and teacher, it shows support from the teacher. By using feedback as a teaching tool, it lets students know if they are not from learning the content or if they are understanding and comprehending work material. Feedback can also help a student to learn from the mistakes or the right answers; this way they could possibly use feedback skills for solving problems or thinking critically(Maloy, p.54).

See how big a difference in how and what you say something can be?

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

 W. L. (n.d.). Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/ 

Time To Catch Up With Technology

Coming from a work to get by, lower middle class family, I was a little late on technology. I did not get my first cell phone until I was seventeen(a cheap flip phone, not the cool Razor phones). My first experience with high speed internet was after I graduated high school so I had to go to the local library to research and type papers. I do not own any Apple products beside a scratched and out dated iPod that cost me $80 at a pawn shop. All this being said to said to say that I am not at all technology savvy because growing up I just simply could not afford it. Now that I am out of high school with a decent job it is a little different; I do own a smartphone and a laptop but I use it for the simplest of things.. So what does that mean as an aspiring teacher? Do I understand that some students do not have access to certain tools and technology for learning because of the cost(Maloy, p.5)? Well yeah because I was one of those students.

Part of the requirements for some of my teaching classes was to venture out into schools and do some observation hours, basically just sitting in a class and taking notes on how a teacher teaches. In a gifted 7th grade Language Arts class I noticed that every student had a Chromebook. I asked the teacher about it and she said that was how the class lessons and assignments work, not just for her class but for all the student classes. They were not so far into technology that textbooks were considered primitive. One student could not get her Chromebook to work properly so she was set with the old fashioned textbook, paper, and pencil process. Even the teacher had a Chromebook to actually see in real time the students working on their projects. I have also seen, in my school observations, that many teachers and professors are using smart boards to work out their lessons. In college I have briefly used the Socrative app to take quizzes. There are countless tools to be utilized in the classroom(p.9) I think we have only breached the surface.

With all this technology that seems to be taking the lead for tools in a classroom it looks like I have some learning to do. I basically only use my phone for its intended uses and for social media or note-taking purposes. If I have a laptop that has Microsoft Word and some sort of web browser(beside Internet Explorer) then I am satisfied. My mindset is of one that says if it works, it works but my knowledge of technology is very limited. If learning how to use the countless tools and apps teachers use to help students learn then I myself have to start learning, given some time(Maloy, p.14). I mean that is why they have teaching courses to teach teachers how to teach with the new teaching tools right?

This is something I found that I think could really help, in regards to the use of a Chromebook
Four Ways to Use a Chromebook

If I'm going to learn how to use a Smartboard I have to start somewhere. Plus the speaker's voice is British

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.