Exciting New Experience!

Today, I am excited because I was able to use technology in a new way. I was printing the course reading materials for this class online and had to bring my kindergarten students into the computer lab so I could get the 78 pages copied so I could read them at my convenience. As my students were sitting around waiting on the papers to print I began to start opening computers to www.starfall.com. I am using the little readers and we have read about 7 in class. As I moved around the room and put students on the computers, I could see the joy and excitement on their faces. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. We were there for 30 minutes and they were amazed! Every student was able to read books that we have used in class and participate in the learning activities each book provides. We do have 3 computers in our classroom and one is set on the starfall website. Up to this point I have only put my readers on this computer. The children rotate through the literacy stations once every 7 days. I was able to provide assistance to individual children as they worked at the computer.

I wasn't sure I could manage a group of 20 five year olds all on the computers at once but it was so easy. I was able to challenge my readers and also provide letter recognition and letter sound skills for those students needing extra support. Different ability levels are provided on the website. This experience ran so smoothly and I was impressed with the interest, motivation, and utter joy on their faces. They were all excited and I was able to secure another day this week for the lab. This is the first time I have used the computer lab with my students. Usually, all the times are taken when I would need to use it.

I am so excited about our success today and I am eager to find other useful websites that provide interactive activities for kindergarten students. As we left the computer lab, several students said they had so much fun and wanted to go again. I feel I am spreading my wings by using technology to teach literacy and reading skills as well as all other subjects. By achieving this hurdle today, I feel more confident using the computer lab with my students. I plan to sign up for a regular time if I can find one. This has been a great opportunity for my students.

This class is teaching me to integrate technology in all areas of the curriculum. Now I am hoping to add more new experiences for my students in the future! Learning is GREAT!

Integrating the Internet into the Curriculum

In reading the chapter on Integrating the Internet into the Curriculum, I began to understand what the terms in technology mean. Many of the terms I have heard before but had no idea what it was. Simple terms that people expect everyone to know for example like PDF, HTML, JPEG, GIF, Java, and plug-ins. The explanations of these terms have helped me better understand the world of technology.

Another area in which I gained knowledge was in the integration strategies used to implement technology in the classroom. Strategies include promoting activities and projects that provide rich resources and other learning experiences. Web-based projects and activities provide support for children’s research, motivate writing, practice literacy skills, visual learning, problem solving, collaborative skills and multicultural experiences. There is a whole wide world out there awaiting children’s curiosity and discovery. We, as classroom teachers, need to insure the best possible learning experiences and provide real and meaningful experiences. I have learned that I need to become more computer literate so I can provide learning that is exciting and highly motivational to entice children to want to seek knowledge. Computers can be accessed in the classroom to provide electronic penpals or keypals, provide electronic mentoring, vertical field trips, electronic publishing, group products, problem-based learning which can motivate collaborative learning and encourage social action or social justice projects. What a wonderful learning opportunity to provide to children and teach them to take action in making this world a better place in which to live. Technology can be used to enrich any subject, from science, social studies, math, history and geography to literacy and reading.

I know I am learning things that I can implement into my classroom. Technology has transformed learning in today’s society. Our students are very lucky to have rich technology to enhance learning, and make knowledge come alive! How exciting to be a teacher exposing children to great learning opportunities using technology in the curriculum.

Comments in Technology Class

Definition of Learning – Comments

• I agree with you. My definition was about the same as yours. I also agree with your example of all the knowledge you gain in school but that does not prepare you for the role of teaching. It is only truly gained through experience and by applying what you have learned. In order to apply it you must understand it.

• · WOW! Your definition really goes in depth. I like that you included that learning is acquired through physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. I also, like the fact that you said that learning empower individuals to make wise choices and solve problems. These are all important to learning. You did a great job!

LESSON PLAN CRITIQUE – Comments

• I really liked your lesson plan choice. We know that children learn best when they are allowed to choose a topic that interests them. This lesson plan provides for that. Children can be grouped according to interests. This in itself will motivate children to want to learn more about the topic. They can work together as they progress in the process of learning about using PowerPoint technology. Great job!
  

• I liked your lesson plan critique. I think your objectives are very appropriate for first grade students. I like the way that the students are not overwhelmed with too many objectives. The two you listed are important. I would use this to allow my kindergarten students to become familiar with the keyboard and have time to practice using the computer. We must provide the time to become proficient. I also like your quotes from your book references. This really backs up the lesson plan as a way to introduce students to the keyboard and word processing skills. In kindergarten, many skills are an introduction and do not require mastery but do move toward proficiency through practice. Computer technology is a hands-on experience.

• Great job!

• I really liked your critique. I am not familiar with Excel and wonder with what grade level this lesson plan would be appropriate. I like your choice of lesson plans as it is a real and meaningful way to learn skills that show significance with real world math concepts. I like the way it is a collaborative project. Concepts should be taught in authentic ways such as this one. The concepts of the lesson plan are teaching math skills but technology plays a big part in the learning process.

• Great job!

• What a wonderful idea. I want to incorporate this activity into my classroom. Our school does have a digital camera I can use for this purpose. Thank you for sharing this idea with me. I am always looking for new ways to teach skills. This is one I will try. Thanks!

• WOW ! What a great lesson plan choice. What grade level would you use this with? I am overwhelmed with the amount of technology required in this lesson plan. The use of digital cameras, PowerPoint, and word processing is amazing. This is a great way to incorporate the skills learned about the parts of speech and provide a way of expressing this learning. Remember, I am a kindergarten teacher and am amazed at what students can accomplish through technology. I am learning more and more every day.

• Great job!

• I really liked your critique. I am not familiar with Excel and wonder with what grade level this lesson plan would be appropriate. I like your choice of lesson plans as it is a real and meaningful way to learn skills that show significance with real world math concepts. I like the way it is a collaborative project. Concepts should be taught in authentic ways such as this one. The concepts of the lesson plan are teaching math skills but technology plays a big part in the learning process.

• Great job!

AFFORDANCE ANALYSIS – Comments

• I agree with you. I love to read to my children and I want my students to develop a love for books. For young children, crawling up in a parent's(or grandparent's) lap for a story is priceless. I want children to want to go to the book display case and have a burning desire to read and experience a good book. I like to watch their excitement as they share a good book with a friend. I read to my students several times during the school day. This is a very special time for my class. I do use the internet to download free readers that I use with my students. I see the value in these as well. But in the end, nothing beats a real book.

• You did an excellent job organizing the information. I am very impressed with the Venn Diagram. You made it so easy to see how each tool is utilized. I love how you used color to help distinguish types of tools. Great visual! Janet

• I re-posted my analysis. Please try it again and let me know if it will open now. Thanks for letting me know there was a problem.

• Because a couple of people could not open my affordances, I will try to re-post it. I hope this helps. If not, please let me know. Janet
  

• I'm sorry you can't open my attachment on my Blogs/Email assignment. I do not know what to do. I have re-posted it and I can pull it up with no problem. I need to find out what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions?

• Paula, Thank you so much for your help with this. I finally figured that out with the help of Dr. Wang. Hopefully, I will not have any more problems. I appreciate your response.

Ja

• I like the way you set up your affordances. I wanted to put mine in a chart form but didn't have time to figure out how to do it. Yours is neat and organized. I have enjoyed learning about the different affordances each tool provides along with the learning activities that can be implemented. I am beginning to use the internet more frequently than in the past. I still like the fact that young children can get a real tangible book to hold and enjoy. The internet opens so many doors and has fast access to anything you want to know about. Great job! Janet
  

• I am not sure I did mine right either. Hopefully we will jointly figure this out

• I love the way to set yours up. It looks great! Easy to read. I may need to go back and set mine up differently. Mine does not reflect color or creativity so I will try to make some changes on my final draft. Again, yours looks great! Janet
  

• Your affordances look great! The only thing I can think of is maybe that with MSWord you can add graphics. Can't it? I'm not sure.

• I hope to learn to do PowerPoint soon. Again, great job! And it looks so professional!

• Your comments will be kindly received. I hope I did it right.

• Thanks for your comments. I would like to make it more appealing to readers but I am not skilled at making charts or doing PowerPoint presentations. Is it complicated to do?

• Your affordances look really good. I could only think of one more affordance for internet that you might want to include and that is the internet can be easily accessed from computers, cell phones, and ipods. This is only a suggestion. You did a great job.

• Please read mine and give me some suggestions to add. Janet

• YEA!!!! I am up and running!!!! Computer problems fixed! I am so excited!

• Tiffany,your affordances look so professional! Great job.

BLOGS – Comments

janet said... to Melanie’s blog.

The things you do in your classroom with technology amaze me. I would love to observe in your classroom. I know I would learn some new things to incorporate into my classroom. You have to remember that I have been teaching for many years. Technology is new to me and I am not familiar with using PowerPoint and other things like this in the classroom. It's nice to see what the younger teachers are doing in their classrooms. You inspire me to learn more. It goes to show that one is never too old to learn! You being a year older than my oldest daughter really age me! Great job! I'm proud of you!

janet said... to Aaryn’s blog

What a great idea to post favorite websites. These are very helpful and I want to visit them. I do use Starfall in my classroom but many of the others are new to me. It's always nice to get information like this. It makes my search easier. Thanks for sharing these educational websites.

janet said... to Lyn’s blog

I, also agree with you. I, too, was impressed with the alex website. I was able to look up a subject for my grade level and get all the objectives and step by step procedures. Although, I usually get ideas and use the parts that I feel are relevent to what I am teaching. Other teachers provide a wealth of ideas and resources. It was great to find this website. I will use it when needing ideas or just a fresh approach to a learning objective. I never dreamed there were places like this that provide actual lesson plans for a particular subject. This will be a great resource for me in the future. I am learning so much from this class about the internet. Sometimes it is fun to play around on here and find interesting things like this but "time" is always an issue. I am glad to find helpful resources to make my job easier and more effective.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES – Comments-

· Most of my comments were sent by email which I cannot retrieve. Sorry! This was when I was having major problems with my computer.

• I like the way your group put the technologies into a Venn Diagram. It is easy to see how these all relate to each other and overlap. Great job!

• I agree with you. They did a good job! I, too, have problems with the language of technology and like to get the information in layman's terms.

• I am glad you explained SharePoint. I am not familiar with it. I am learning so much about different technologies.

INTRODUCTION:

My name is Janet White and I am a kindergarten teacher at Leeds Elementary. I have been teaching kindergarten for 30 years. I am looking forward to learning new things that I can use in my classroom. I have not met any of you in our group but you have been very helpful to me as I have struggled with computer problems. I want to thank you for that. I am not confident with technology and am not familiar with the technology that is available to us but with some practice I hope to be able to bring what I learn into my classroom. Thank you for all your patience with my posting problems.

Using the Internet

In reading Chapter 7 on introducing the Internet, I found it very interesting, yet frightening, to learn the common potential pitfalls of using the Internet. I have experienced many of these first hand. The main ones include:

• accessing inappropriate sites with obscene materials and pictures.
• safety and privacy issues for students - This covers online predators and sales pitches geared at children.
  
• fraud on the Internet - This would include the chance for people to get access to your credit card information. This is one reason I am afraid to order things online.
• computer viruses and hacking.-Two ways to get viruses on your computer is from email attachments and downloading files with a virus. These are called, worms, logic bombs, and Trojan Horses.
  

I raised two daughters who are now in their twenties. It was very scary as they were pre-teens and teenagers. I was so afraid they would talk to strangers in chatrooms and something terrible would happen. Children are so gullible. They believe people on the Internet are trustworthy and never take into consideration that it could be a sexual pervert claiming to be a girl their age but in reality they are criminals , psychopaths, rapists or killers out there wanting to connect in person. Children do not see the danger. I have also experienced a Trojan horse. That was a stinker to get corrected and off my computer. It took a computer Guru to fix it. I also had a hacker steal my password. So I know first hand the real dangers of the Internet.

It was interesting to know that there are some precautions that parents and schools can take to help protect children. I know now the benefits of a firewall. or other filtering software. I am glad our government has seen this real problem and has passed the Children's Internet Protection Act and it became law in December, 2000. I wish I had learned this information back when my own children were growing up.

Along with the information on pitfalls of the Internet, the book gave suggestions and strategies to prevent problems. I would use these strategies before I put students on the Internet. These include installing a firewall or filtering software. A good website to visit for help is SafeKids.com. Two things can be done to increase privacy and safety on the Internet and that is to teach the rules and manage cookies. Strategies to prevent computer viruses is to keep anti-virus software updated, download only from reputable sites, never open email attachments from people you do not know.

The more I read in this book the more I learn. The more I learn the more confident I become. I am gaining so much knowledge and will apply what I am learning to my classroom and to my own personal use of the Internet. I have definitely learned from my mistakes! And boy have I made some whoppers!

Distance Learning

In the chapter on distance learning I gained much helpful information. I learned that there are many ways that distance learning supports the learning process. Distance learning offers many advantages. There are four types that are beneficial. These activities provide student research, online classroom materials, web-based lessons, and virtual courses and programs. Distance learning promotes success by providing:

• fast access to information
• access to experts not available locally
• fast communication to groups
• resources support collaboration
• access to learning materials
• access to courses and lessons not locally available
• access to education to homebound students
• lesson ideas from many sources
• interaction with students and teachers
• interaction with students with other students

One thing that I found very interesting was that the success of this type of learning has a lot to do with attitude. Four characteristics come into play as predictors for success in online learning environments. These include achievement beliefs, responsibility, self-organization ability, and technology skill/access. I found it to be true as I began this online technology class. I started out having very little knowledge and no self confidence with the computer. All I have ever done with a computer were, email friends, use Microsoft word to write weekly newsletters and notes to parents, and allow children in my kindergarten class to play instructional games. So, as you can see, I am having to learn so much more than the average student. Beginning this class was unpleasant as I had several computer problems. Once these were corrected and ironed out things got better. With more and more experience I am gaining confidence with this new learning. It has really opened my eyes to all that is available for teaching support that I have not accessed in the classroom. This is a big mistake on my part as a teacher. I have always been afraid of the computer because in the past I have made big mistakes that wiped out whatever I was doing and I am constantly afraid it will happen again (which it has).

Each chapter in this textbook is loaded with all kinds of information to improve teaching and learning. I am constantly amazed at all that is out there available for me to use in my classroom. I am working hard to be able to expand the use of technology in my classroom. I owe it to my students. As a reflective teacher I have to continue to look for new innovative ways to motivate children to learn. Technology offers a refreshing twist to learning by making learning real and meaningful.

One reason distance learning is popular is because convenience is more important to students than teacher interaction. Although I agree with this statement, I think I prefer a face to face instructor to provide extra assistance especially when I am not computer savvy. I know many in this class are computer savvy, and I am learning much from them. I am glad to say that they seem to be very supportive of me and offer encouragement and assistance when needed.