Multicultural Glog!

http://kpludwig.edu.glogster.com/ludwigglog/

Scenario

I knew that I wanted to be an educator my sophomore year of high school. I went with my high school class to an inner-city day care and worked with some kids on their school work and played with them at recess. At the end of the day, the little girls hugged me so tightly and said "You are my bestest friend". I knew after that day that I needed to work with kids and felt very much called to do so. As I have continued my education at Kansas State University, I have chosen to concentrate in English as a Second Language. I have never felt so at home or motivated to work on my future as I have in Block A. I am certain that education is what I want to do with my life. I am, however struggling with certain areas of my career choice. I am worried that number one, my content expertise in math and science is not strong enough to be a sufficient teacher. I also am worried that I will want to care a little too much about students, and therefore not have all of my attention and focus on the curriculum. 

In three to five years, I see myself in Kansas City, Kansas. Teaching second graders and coaching Bishop Miege volleyball. In order to do so, I need to continue to work hard in my blocks, gain more hours of experience in the classroom. I also need to work on my lesson planning and implementation. 

In a new software implementation, I would make sure to practice and read as much about it as possible. I can also view tutorials online and make sure that I have mastered the software enough to help my fellow colleagues out in their learning of the software. 

The more that I learn Response to Intervention and Assistance technology, I think that technology in the classroom is necessary. iPads have several programs for autistic children all over the spectrum. These programs can allow students with mental and physical disabilities to participate in the general education classroom and associate school with an accepting and warm environment.

By pointing out how much this technology can help students in the classroom is how I would allow my fellow faculty members to implement it in their classrooms.

In my classroom, I plan on implementing Animoto, Glogster, and blogs. This will allow for students of all ages to use a creative outlet and find ways to make assignments and lessons more fun in the classroom. This can also be a great way for students to work collaboratively and creatively in the classroom.

My Wow Moment

My 'wow' moment was implementing an animoto video in to my micro teaching lesson.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

My class and teachers were extremely complimentary of my implementation of technology within my lesson. It was at that moment that I realized how much I enjoyed teaching in general, and also how I was actually capable of using technology in the classroom. I was never very "good" at using the most up to date technological programs and with the help of animoto, I was able to do so. I am so thankful for these resources that I will continue to use throughout my teaching career.

Podcast Favorite

I really really enjoyed the Tech Chicks podcasts. They always had fun things to discuss and great resources to share. I also really enjoyed how they moved their podcasts around to different places around their Texas town. They would have podcasts at restaurants (Chick-fil-a) or be fitting an hour of technology talk in during their daughter's karate practice or gymnastics meet. This made me realize that these two women truly enjoyed what they do in sharing out resources. They took time out of their busy mom lives to focus on technology in education and vice versa. I liked how the tech chicks also made their resources relevant to teachers and students alike. They always came up with fun activities and lessons for teachers to use. I really enjoyed listening to the Tech Chicks podcasts!

Semester Favorites

When I think about my semester favorites, two specific things come to mind. Glogster and animoto. These two resources were extremely helpful in making creative and fun projects. Before educational technology class, I was very unsure about my abilities as a technology educator and student. In today's times, technology is changing so much and so rapidly that I felt very overwhelmed to start out this whole course. With animoto and Glogster, two of the resources which came in at the beginning and at the end of the semester. I found these two resources not only extremely easy to use, but also a wonderful creative outlet for pre-service educators like myself, but also for young students in my future classrooms. I used an animoto video (see below) in my micro-teaching lesson to incorporate the importance of adjectives in a third grade language-arts lesson. This was such a great spark plug for my student's brains to get going, rather than having written objectives up on the board. This was also a great way for myself as a teacher to get my creative juices flowing and allow for some time for me to get my thoughts together. The Glogster seemed very intimidating to me at first when I learned how much we needed to put on it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was very easy to use, and would also be easy for young students, even first or second graders to use this resource as a creative way to do a research based project. This could also be a great template for teachers to start a lesson by sharing pictures, videos, and resources for students to explore. This seems so much more exciting for students rather than opening a book and reading content objectives from a chapter book. 

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Podcast #12: iPads in the classroom

I have heard several podcasts about the use of iPads in the classroom. At first, before block A I thought that this was an outrageous idea and that students, young students especially did not have any place in having iPads in the classroom. I thought that this would be a distraction and not have a place in the classroom for young learners. Although I still feel that it is necessary for students to have hard backed books to read, write, and complete assignments in; my opinion on iPads in the classroom has completely changed since I first heard about the idea. Especially after learning about RTI (response to intervention) and AT (assisting technology) for young exceptional students in the regular classroom, I was sold on the idea of implementing this technology in the classroom. I have seen students who were unable to turn a page in their whole lives due to physical illnesses do so using an interactive book on an iPad. There are also several programs that are used to work with autistic children in the classroom. This allows students to communicate what they need and want without becoming frustrated and give up. Also, being an ESL concentrated future teacher, I have found that the use of technology with translation, research based cultural projects, or even simple day to day conversations, classroom environments are more and more accessible and efficient. These reasons alone made me very "pro iPad" for the classroom and I hope to have the chance to use this technology to help to teach my future students.

Podcast #11: The Chicks at the Chick (fil-a)

In this podcast, the tech chicks share several resources at their local chick-fil-a restaurant. They share that CIO's need to keep in mind that if they don't keep technology in their implementations, that their programs will not succeed. The tech chicks also share how this is very similar and parallels to technology and education in general. If you (teachers and leaders) do not implement these new changes and practice what is new, then the small steps will never be taken for improvement. The tech chicks also talk about how like technology, teaching can be frustrating and lessons do not always go the way that teachers anticipate. This is a very good comparison to make because it is very true. The tech chicks describe that just because you do not understand something right away, doesn't mean that you as a student or teacher need to give up. It was helpful and inspiring, with all of the end of the year craziness going on, to hear these words or wisdom and keep pushing through to learn more not only about technology, but about teaching in general. These women do a great job of sharing their insights about teaching and learning, and also finding ways to make it relevant for future teachers.