"Aha" Moments

I truly can't believe how confident I am now with new technology. I can actually have conversations with people about computer-related tools and applications. The article, "Don't Be Afraid to Explore Web 2.0", by John Thompson, was NOT like reading Greek - I could identify with all the technologies he addressed. Blogs, wikis, Google Docs, del.icio.us, Bloglines, and so on, are part of my vocabulary and more importantly, I feel comfortable teaching with them. I'm not going to say that I haven't been frustrated a time or two...or three; for instance when Photobucket wouldn't upload my slide show and when I spent four hours trying to navigate Wetpaint, I was a feeling a bit of tension and my keyboard was too. I have, though, worked through most of the kinks and feel successful with my artifacts. (I'm still trying to tackle Wetpaint because I don't like loose ends!)
My "Aha" moments are endless. Just to name a few:

• Windows Movie Maker is so simple. This was my first time to use it and I'm just hoping people will send me photos so I can make slide shows.
• Blogs are fun - bottom line. You can talk about anything and someone out there will read it eventually.
• Social bookmarking is pure genius. I can't count the times I've needed a link at school, only to realize I had saved it at home.
• Always check the validity of sites you allow your fifth graders to navigate. Thank You, MAPit!

Every moment of exploration in class and on my home computer was a learning experience. I walked into ETEC 524 with very little background knowledge, but I'm walking away with a variety of strategies that will improve my instruction and confidence to share what I know with my colleagues.

Integrating Technology - What Will I Do?

"I'm not attention deficit - I'm just not listening." This statement from the YouTube video, Pay Attention, really struck a chord with me. Teachers (I'm guilty as charged) are so quick to say that "kids these days" don't know how to sit still and listen and they won't be able to hold down a real job because they can't focus on anything. This statement really has to be evaluated! Ever notice how kids can sit still for hours at a time in front of a computer, TV, and/or cell phone? They CAN sit still and focus when everything in front of them is zooming by at 100 miles per hour! I am very animated during class but my gymnastics days are over, therefore I can't cartwheel around the room to engage my class but I can do a few things better.
1. Speak up. I have to go to my principal and be an advocate for better technology. I didn't know about blogs, wikis, del.icio.us, and Avatar a month ago, let alone how to use them in a classroom. Web 2.0 isn't going away so I have to show what I know...not to be confused with showing off what I know. I am not going to show my principal my neat blog with pictures and music and a pretty background. I'm going to walk her through the process of creating a blog, beginning with Tim Tyson's podcast on blogging in school. I have to ask the questions, "How can we use this?" and "Why should we use this?"
2. Start small. I tend to get overwhelmed when I see what everyone else is doing in class. My timeline looks good, but hers looks better. My blog is cool, but it doesn't have that. My portfolio is growing, but it will never look like his. I have to stop saying these things because it's not about what everyone else is doing, it truly is about what I have learned. This is why educators are nervous about technology; the fear that someone else is doing it better. I have to let go of being the best at everything and start small. It's impossible to integrate everything we've learned in ETEC 524 into the first six weeks of school. Instead, I am going to pick a couple of things and really become an expert. That is the best way to serve my students and inform my fellow teachers.
3. Summon the students. Remember show and tell? Well how about show and tell 21st Century Style? Students can bring cell phones, iPods, websites, or any technology tool as long as it demonstrates an application for classroom use. I can notify the parents in advance so they know why their 5th grader needs an iPod at school and hold technology class in my own room at least every two weeks. Every student I will teach from now on already knows the Internet, Google, Mp3 players, cell phones, and so on, like the back of his/her hand. Why not allow them to train their peers and me; show us the tricks, shortcuts, gadgets. I use Unitedstreaming in my history class so students can view reenactments of events that occurred hundreds of years ago. I have a hunch, though, that one of my future students will know MovieMaker and may have a better idea for those reenactments.

Incorporating Technology Into the Classroom

I am thrilled to know that I have a fellow cheerleader on my campus. Her name is Kelly and she is the technology specialist and a "graduate" of ETEC 524. When I found out she had taken this class in the spring, I quizzed her about how I would fit in amongst techno-savvy folks. She assured me I would be fine because everyone doesn't know something! Well, it turns out that the most fun I've had so far is reading my classmates' blogs. This class does know a lot and I love how everyone is interacting with one another and asking questions. I would love to replicate this in my classroom and I'm glad that Kelly has been through this same experience and can help me when it comes to filters within our school district.
Blogs: Don, I too was laughing when I read Schika's blog titled "Web 2. what?" She stated that she is regarded as the technology guru on campus but was "totally uninformed" about Web 2.0 technology http://schikasblog.blogspot.com/. As I was researching material for my timeline, I stumbled upon this tidbit of information; The first weblog (blog) was posted on the Internet in 1998. 1998? I've been an adult during the years in between, so where have I been? The first time I heard of blogs was on MySpace less than two years ago! Schika, I sympathize with you and realize that continuing professional development is vital in order to stay current with so many new tools. I would like to create a classroom blog and begin with adding music to the page. That is the tie that binds! I use http://www.playlist.com/ to create my personal playlists. *It is easy to use but be sure you listen to the whole song before posting it - it may have been cut short or you may hear a band member's voice talking at the end.* Even though students may not like my taste in music, creating a classroom playlist and posting it on the blog is a fun way to connect students and get them talking (singing!)
Avatar: Okay Linda, do not feel like the Lone Ranger on this one. I also had a blast creating my Avatar and adding graphics to it. When I say blast, I mean I was playing on the Meez site, www.meez.com, for two hours! Selena made the comment in class last Monday that she views Avatars as the new generation of paper dolls. I didn't know what she meant since I had never created one, but she was absolutely right. After my experience, I started to think about how I could apply Avatar technology in the classroom. (And Linda, I promise I'm not stealing your ideas...I had the same exact thoughts as you!) I felt this would be a great "Getting to Know You" activity for the first week of school. By fifth grade, students have heard the same old questions for initial team building activities - What is your favorite food? What is your favorite book? If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? - but building an Avatar by adding clothing styles (all of our campuses have standardized dress so this will be especially fun), backgrounds, gadgets, animation, etc. is so interactive and will really demonstrate the individuality of the students. I would also like to utilize Avatars while reading novels in order to create character profiles. Character webs and critiques get a little mundane but with Avatar, you could achieve the same purpose using a different medium. What I'm worried about is 1)being able to access Avatar sites (again, I'm so glad I have Kelly) and 2)I've noticed that Meez has a pregnant physique as a body style and a few questionable T-shirts, so I was wondering Linda, if you found any others that were more child-friendly.

Web 2.0

I was sitting in a staff development session two years ago and the presenter was discussing students categorized as low SES, or low socio-economic status. She made the comment, "Do you realize that there are still some homes that don't even have access to the Internet?" I slumped into my chair because I was one of those homes! While I am not typically low SES, I do live in a rural area where dial-up is a joke, there are no ethernet cables and the phone companies tell you, "We're researching that area for future DSL capabilities." Luckily there is such a thing as wireless Internet - thank you Verizon - and we country folk can catch up. During this period of Catching Up, I have dabbled in Web 2.0 but the world of blogging, social networking, RSS feeds, etc. is still very new to me. I have only recently begun to understand the educational implications of such technology. I currently have a teacher webpage which I must confess, I haven't updated or even viewed in a year. It's just sitting there, lifeless. I know I can make it better and more interactive, but one teacher in our building was put "in charge" of the teacher pages so the rest of us have had little ownership of taking care of them. I believe that Web 2.0 can change that. Any person can be an author and publish on the Internet. With a blog, a teacher can easily (keyword: easily) post assignments, video-clips, comments, homework tips, etc. Web 2.0 removes the Middle Man and puts the teacher in control of the webpage. Students can have a blog site, too, allowing them to ask questions and collaborate with classmates. With RSS feeds, the teacher can manage large amounts of students and concentrate only on updates to the students' pages, instead of viewing each page individually. As long as the school districts' filters will allow students to use blog sites, I can clearly see the advantages of Web 2.0 technology. Parents, too, will be able to access the teacher blog at home and receive up-to-date information instead of waiting for a newsletter or email. Although there are still some homes that do not have an Internet connection, Web 2.0 is an effective method of putting students, teachers, and parents on the same "page."

Information Literacy

Your instructor has just assigned a research project on the final year of George Bush's presidency. You hurry to the supermarket to purchase Star Magazine and the National Inquirer because they both feature articles on the Bush administration. Would this ever happen? No, because we all have a certain degree of information literacy. We just know who is reputatable in the magazine world. We trust encyclopedias and publications from institutions of higher education. But when it comes to the Internet, I would venture to guess that many educators possess a naivety that could be reckless in the classroom. I was one of those educators and I feel the need to apologize to my students after completing the activity called MAPping.

My language arts program is designed to include free writing. This is where students are able to pick a topic (with some restriction), research it and freely write about it. Our school calls them PROBEs, Practical Research on Basically Everything. One of my students had gone on summer vacation and visited the site of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. He had pictures of the balcony and hotel but wanted to learn more about King's death. I thought this would be an excellent topic for his PROBE journal and encouraged him to Google Dr. King and gather information. I was so proud as he accumulated facts and made connections with his experience on vacation. Wow, isn't that what teaching is all about?! Well, I missed one important detail. One of the sites that my student could have accessed (as it remains high on the "hit" list on Google) is a Martin Luther King Jr. website created by a white supremacy group. If I had known how to MAP websites, a process where you can check the creator of a site and who is linked to the site, I could have ensured that my student was getting accurate, reliable information. It really bothers me that I don't know how many trustworthy sources my students have visited during PROBE time and for that, I am sorry. But thanks to MAPping, I now have a higher degree of information literacy and have the responsibility of passing this knowledge along to my students and colleagues.

Educational Technology Associations

After researching associations related to the field of educational technology, I found two that closely align with my philosophy of education. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) offer teachers support in their design and application of technology in the classroom.

• ISTE states that its purpose is "Providing leadership and service to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in education." What I appreciate most about this statement is ISTE's service to the teaching profession. At the beginning of each school year, teachers are bombarded with new ideas and resources to enhance technology in the classroom, but then struggle with the application part of the process. How will this technology work in my class? Do my students have access to the right hardware and software? Where do I begin? These are all questions I have asked and ISTE can help. The website says, "We support our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education. ISTE meets its mission through knowledge generation, professional development, and advocacy. An organization of great diversity, ISTE leads through presenting innovative educational technology books and programs; conducting professional development workshops, forums, and symposia; and researching, evaluating, and disseminating findings regarding educational technology on an international level." There is also a tab on the ISTE home page titled "Support Ed Tech." This is where a teacher's voice can be heard. "ISTE’s advocacy initiatives bring the voice of local educators to the nation’s policy-makers." Teachers continually listen to the needs of their students and it's refreshing to know that someone is listening to us. http://www.iste.org/



• SITE's mission is "to promote research, scholarship, collaboration, exchange and support. It is an association of individual teacher educators, and affiliated organizations of teacher educators in all disciplines, who are interested in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education and faculty/staff development." As with ISTE, the SITE association places its emphasis on better serving the teacher, not the technology. Some features of the website that I found beneficial were the SITEblog and the SIGs tab. On the SITEblog, http://www.siteblog.org/, you can access information posted by teachers specifically targeting the content you teach. I am interested in improving my social studies curriculum through the use of technology and the blogs I've read have already given me ideas. SITE members can also participate in Special Interest Groups, or SIGs at http://site.aace.org/sigs/. "These SIGs are organized under three councils: Information Technology, Teacher Education, and Consultative. The Information Technology SIGs focus on the application of technology across multiple curriculum areas, such as E-Folios, distance education, and Faculty Development. Teacher Education SIGs are broken into subject area and Consultative SIGs manage communication, governance, convergence, and journals." I would like to join SITE in order to access the Teacher Education Social Studies SIG. It's chairperson is Dr. John Lee from North Carolina State University. He led part of the TaRGET American History Institute sessions that I attended during the 2007-2008 school year. He is an advocate of technology in the social studies curriculum and is an asset to the SITE association. http://site.aace.org/

My Goals

This is my first Masters class in pursuit of a degree in Educational Technology. I have been out of school for eight years so I have a few adjustments to make in time-management! My life is busy; I have three children, ages eleven, five, and two, I teach fifth grade, and I help manage my husband's cattle and farming business. I selected this course in order to collate the technology skills I possess, as well as learn new ideas to incorporate into my classroom. Technology was never my first choice, but I was intrigued by the possibilities it could offer after completing a grant program through Region 10 last year. The TaRGET American History Institute involved seminars in history, law-related education, and primary sources. Each participant created an internet-based resource for teachers covering a topic in American History. I was able to connect the information I found in the National Archives and Library of Congress with online activities to use in class. What I learned in the program was just the tip of the iceberg. I would like to use more tools, especially in my history class, to enliven the curriculum. My school, A.C. Williams, is an older building and has limited technological capabilities, so I currently use UnitedStreaming, slideshows, and audio files in my lessons. This will change when the new A.C. Williams is completed in 2009. I plan to have completed more Masters classes so I can be ready to share the information with my colleagues.
In the future, I plan to use what I've learned about technology and apply it at the high school and/or college level. I feel that agricultural education and other career-based courses are a vital component of the high school curriculum. Many rural schools have good programs in place, but lack the technology piece to appropriately prepare students for their career. Perhaps somewhere along the way, I may even engage my husband in a few technology classes to aid in his business!

My Definition of Educational Technology

My friends and family have asked me about my class this semester and when I tell them I'm enrolled in Educational Technology I routinely hear, "What is that?" Educational Technology empowers people to use technology. It serves to disseminate the vast amounts of technology and chunk it into something tangible and user-friendly. http://ejite.isu.edu/Volume2No1/nanjappa.htm

http://www.brainconnection.com/gen/?main=conf/nov00/sousa-int

Like many others, I have been a little intimidated by technology. I'll never forget my first semester as an undergraduate in 1996, when my professor said our class would be using the Internet as a research tool. I remember thinking, "The Internet! I've never used that before. What if I mess up?!" It is amazing how much I have grown, but I have a long way to go. My philosophy of education has changed within the past year in that it now incorporates technology. The use of technology as an educational tool is not a trend that will phase in and out of schools like so many others do. So what do I do when I feel intimidated by technology? Ask the experts - they are sitting in my classroom! I listen to what the students know and how they access technology in their own homes. If I can connect to their knowledge, even in a small way, coursework will be so meaningful to them. They love to be my teacher and are so proud when I "get it." I no longer worry about messing up - there is usually an "undo" or "back" button to help me.