Week 11

I observed Mrs. Yollis' third grade class blog from California. Along with her teaching degree, Mrs. Yollis also has completed a master’s degree in integrating technology in education and it shows in her class blog. The blog was filled with interactive and engaging material. She has everything from class videos and pictures to visitor maps and other fascinating links. Her blog is fully loaded and is a great example for any future or current “teacher blogger.”

FlipSnack

Bloom's Taxonomy (Week 10)

Bloom’s Taxonomy is presented in a pyramid with evaluation on the top followed by synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension, and lastly, knowledge at the bottom as the foundation of the theory.

It was tough to identify what was really meant by Bloom’s Taxonomy; however, the site I read over listed verbs that you as a teacher could use when trying to grasp the students’ overall understanding.

I feel technological integration would be beneficial for students and teachers when working up through the pyramid of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Technology could assist teachers during lessons and explanations, giving them multiple potential approaches when adapting to different student learning styles. This will also help students stay engaged and could even further research in certain areas.  Due to how simple technology can be, accessibility to it can further knowledge. For example, something as easy as using google gives us a quick overview on a topic one needs or is interested in.  

Technology Project Plan

Voice Recorder >>

Bob Sprankle's Article (Week 9)

Reading, “Caught on Video” by Bob Sprankle allowed my mind to drift and really ask myself if his idea of using point and shoot cameras would really be beneficial, or just outright ridiculous.  I wouldn’t go as far as that, and I actually think this could work; however, like I’ve mentioned in similar posts, there has to be a happy medium.  I felt at times Sprankle was a little too excited and optimistic about his plans.  There were things Mr. Sprankle didn’t mention, or touch on in his article. 

My first concern with Sprankle’s idea was the issue of privacy.  The thought of a student always being watched makes me uncomfortable.  Having someone, or in this case something, for the most part always looking over you shoulder during your studies leaves the student with little privacy.  Students need to at times learn how to progress and discipline themselves on their own.  This is one way a student can grow both in the classroom and even life.  Also on the topic of privacy, with these point and shoot cameras, students could easily document anything on the web.  Both positive and negative material within seconds could be put up online for the world to see.  I understand that this can already occur with smart phone accessibility; however, we as teachers would be promoting video taking.

Don’t get me wrong; the positives Sprankle mentions are beneficial. I agree that in many cases this idea would work; however, there would need to be a plan in place with strict rules and regulations prior to implementing his idea. I feel if this was not done properly, this method could be very counter productive and could easily spiral out of control.

Reading Game - week 8

There are many interactive and engaging games for the class when using a SMART Board. They offer a site (SMART Exchange) where you can download specific lessons for your class that are taught on a SMART Board. In some cases, the materials on SMART Exchange are games that teach many different areas, even reading and writing.  Here is a link to an example of this:

http://exchange.smarttech.com/search.html?q=reading+games

The link above is a reading comprehension game similar to the classic game show “Family Feud.” The spin off game focuses on the events in Dr. Seuss books. Regardless, kids love games and that is why there are so many gaming systems out there. We are even trying to have children get fit by playing video games, so why can’t we have our students at times learn via interactive games?

"Blogs for Educators"

Looking over other teacher blogs was really interesting. I was especially intrigued when looking over Nancy J Johnson’s blog.  She is currently an 8^th grade teacher at the Singapore American School. This stood out to me because I feel teaching abroad is sometimes overlooked by up and coming teachers, at least by me anyway. It would be amazing to see the world while doing the profession that you chose. Another thing that was fascinating in Johnson’s blog was how she was a professor at Western Washington University prior to her move over seas. The wide spectrum of students she must have taught and the different denominations is incredible.  She must be very versatile in not only her teaching methods, but within her own personality as well.

There has always been technology in math, at least calculators. Now with the technological push in our society there have been some new innovating ways to teach certain lessons.  One method in which we as a class learned was by “glogging.”  We made “glogs” which is a program where students can make their own posters. Students can add graphics, videos, audio, etc. to their poster when grasping the lesson’s learning outcome. As a class we made posters based on the math unit of geometry.  We put together glogs that consist of obtuse/acute/right angels, symmetry, parallel lines, and quadrilaterals.  All these aspects of geometry were present and this was a creative and interactive math lesson.