Week 5

This weeks videos were excellent. It provided me with an opportunity to reflect on some of my previously held beliefs. The most profound change in beliefs is the use of video games in the classroom. The Edutopia videos were excellent. It shed a different light oh how video games can reinforce learning in the classroom. It provides students with problems solving skills and engagement that the typical classroom does not provide. It allows students to work collaboratively with others to solve major problems. These skills are vital to keeping our country relevant in a global world. We grade kids on knowing facts, that can easily be researched in a matter of seconds. We need to get students to figure out how to solve the problems in the world. The best way to do that is allow teachers to develop curriculum with outside companies, and other community members. This is the only way to truly prepare or students for this global world.

Another issue that was discussed in the videos, was the poor tools that teachers are given. Teachers are given water, and asked to make wine. According to the Sasha Barab, "We are setting teachers up for failure. We are giving them old kinds of tools, and we are giving them expectation and outcome that their kids are going to be held accountable to, that don't engage students" (Edutopia.org, nd). I am really looking forward to the day that textbooks are no longer used in the classroom. Our Schools spend millions of dollars on books that are completely outdated with in a year. A lot of this money can be put back into a school technical infrastructure. Schools can greatly benefit from putting the ball back into the hands of our students.

Edutopia.org. (nd). Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on New-Media Engagement. Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-sasha-barab-video

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 tools are absolutely brilliant. This is the definite wave of the future. My favorite aspect of these tools is how it conforms to individuals. It is like differentiation for everyone. These tools come along pretty quickly, as a result, it is responsible for making other software much more affordable. A couple of sites that I have been tinkering with are Edmodo, Animoto, and Blogger. These tools provide some very good tools for little to no cost. Edmodo is a educational site that allows students to submit assignments, save assignments, and request help from me. It allows me to send links, documents, and presentations to my students whenever it is convenient for me. The best part of all, students are able to work from home or at school, with out owning a flash drive. Animoto is another software that allows students to make professional presentations with relative ease. This software is free for educators. This software makes a better product than Microsoft Power Point, and it is free. Finally, Blogger is a blogging website, that allows people to publish their ideas to the web. This is a great tool to use in the classroom, because it allows students to have a voice. It also is a great way to facilitate good classroom discussion. Solomon and Shrum say, “Blogs offer a number of advantages for student-centered and constructive teaching and learning, including giving students a vehicle for contributing to the content of the class; allowing students to comment on each other’s posts and link out to other resources; enabling students to make their voice heard and to develop a sense of voice” (2007) There are so many other collaborative tools out there, so there is no excuse for teachers not to incorporate these tools into the classroom.

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, New schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 108.

Technology allows students to flourish

Technology is a great way to allow students to become leaders. Every child that walks in to your classroom, has a certain set of skills, that other kids do not possess. It is imperative that we allow students a chance to hone those skills, so that they can become more successful. The traditional way of teaching does not work with todays kids. This generation is used to instant access and instant feedback. I honestly think the problems with teachers is, we take to long to get them the relevant information. Think of it like a DVR, we record TV shows so that we won't have to watch commercials. To our students most of what we say are commercials to them, they only want to know what is relevant. When we lecture, most of what we say is irrelevant, so our students turn us off. We have to engage students at their level, if we want to be successful teachers. As teachers, we have to be entertainers. No longer can we say, I am not comfortable with technology, we have to embrace it, and allow it to flourish, so that our students will flourish. How will they flourish you may ask? Students will become more independent, they will learn to self manage, and in a group setting, they will collaboration and leadership skill.


My discussion Post

By watching the videos this week, it has only confirmed my belief in implementing technology. Our students have so many hidden talents, and we as teachers need to give them an opportunity to shine. I find in education, to many teachers want to be the holders of knowledge. In other words, some teachers believe that they should be the students only source. I personally tell my students that I do not know everything, if there is something I say that you don't agree with or believe, please feel free to look it up, and report back to the class. The learning ball needs to be in their court, if it is, students will go much further than we will take them. May favorite quote this week " very rarely do students look at instruction manuals, just give them the tools and get of their way" (Edutopia 2009). This quote meant a lot to me, because I see it every day. When students are allowed to create and design with technology, they will use creative ways to improve technology. This is one of the things, I have been emphasizing in my classroom. Students have been given free reign on using technology when it comes to creating presentations.
Using differentiation in learning will inspire more students to do things that they have not done before. An example of this was the young boy in the Kansas technology rich classroom videos. The father of one young boy said, "He doesn't enjoy reading, he doesn't enjoy writing, but you give him that technology and let him shine a little bit, and now he is showing leadership skills he never showed before" (Schooltube 2009). This is why UDL is so important, we can not find out what skills our kids possess, and the students will not be able to hone the skills they possess, if the teacher is the primary holder of knowledge


Edutopia.org (nd). Digital Youth Portrait -- Cameron. Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-cameron-video
Schooltube.com (nd). Kansas Technology Rich Classrooms – Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from http://www.schooltube.com/video/36743/Kansas-Technology-Rich-Classrooms--Partnership-for-21st-Century-Learning-Summit-Video#

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

I really enjoyed the articles and this weeks videos on Universal Design for Learning. It really reaffirmed what I have been doing in my classroom over the last couple of years. Since moving from New Orleans to Houston, I have had a very big increase of diverse learners. I used to try teaching with a traditional method, but that was very tedious, ineffective, and my students were not retaining information at the level I would like. So, I begin to incorporate modifications and option into my lessons. This took much more planning on my part, but it led to an overall improvement in student achievement. As a I became a more seasoned teacher, I was able to tweak things to meet each one of my students needs with little effort. UDL is not a brand new concept, it is brand new to teachers that have not tried it.

As teachers, we owe it to each student to provide a quality education. We cannot stay in our comfort zone, we have to make adjustments that will allow students to be successful. UDL is not "just another thing do", it is something that we have to provide to ensure that our students are learning. If we embrace UDL, it will actually make our jobs easier in the long run, and our students will enjoy much more success.