Teaching+with+Technology

Wow, this week was an eye opening to me. The Cyborg by Kevin Warwick, I just could not stop searching more information on this topic. I could not stop thinking about when I was young boy and seeing on TV the One Million Dollar Man, where he could run faster then any other man, stronger then any other man and could see pretty far. Now in the near future where we can download information into our brains and know the whole encyclopedia in few seconds. Wow, talking about teacher becoming extinct and schools and universities becoming data servers.
 * Week 1**

In my discussion for this week "Teachers sometimes are concerned about such a shift; they worry about losing control, not fulfilling their role, or being seen as less effective by parents, principals, or supervisors." (Sprague, D. & Dede, C. (1999). If I teach this way, Am I doing my job: Constructivism in the classroom. Leading and Learning, 27(1). Retrieved October 4, 2009 from the International Society for Technology in Education at [|http://www.iste.org/content/navigationmenu/publications/ll/llissues/volume_27_1999_2000_/september10/if_i_teach_this_way,_] I chose this quote because it reminds me when I just move from one district to another. My first district I came from was very traditional. The administration told us that the classroom needs to quit and lesson needs to go on. Students should be setting down and quietly doing their work. It was my first years of teaching so I was mold that way. I believe on the system or the way I was teaching mainly because I was though that way. I was so good at it that I got excellent evaluations every year. When I move to a new district, their philosophy was student center learning and they have centers. It was so hard for me to change because I was thinking what my co worker, principal and supervisor will think of me when my class was so noisy and kids were moving all over the room. It took a lot of me to change and meetings with my supervisor that it’s ok to have a noisy classroom at long as the students are learning and engaging in the lesson.

This week has been a little crazy with my team members. We finally complete the team of five members. I really like this weeks reading. I really did not know that a lot of research has been done on the effectiveness of technology. It was not a surprise to me to see that research say that technology enhance the students learning at a faster pace. Also, how special education benefits the use of technology. This week it was great with the web site on special education and technology. Some schools are asking me what new technology it there for special education, and I could address them to the web site we cover this week.
 * Week 2**

In my discussion for this week Schacter, J. (1999). The impact of education technology on student achievement: What the most current research has to say. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Retrieved on November 28, 2009, from http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME161.pdf.

“Eighth grade students whose teachers received professional development on computers showed gains in Math scores of up to 13 weeks above graded level.”

I chose this quote because I agree with the research. Staff development is a very important component on the development of using technology in the classroom. Our district had only two persons to do staff development for all 32 campuses on Math. Our district had low scores on math on the middle schools. So our district hires two persons for high schools, two persons for middle schools, and two persons for elementary schools. Our district felt that all three levels had their unique problems so they hire people that can target those problems. I remember going to a middle school classroom and see the teacher using a smart board as a black board for her projector. When I approach her, and ask her why she does not using the smart board as a smart board. Her response was that she has not been train or in-service on it and that she does not know how to use it. Our district sometimes makes the mistakes of buying new technology but they forget to train the staff how to use it.

**Week 3**  This week has been very interesting; I really enjoy learning more on the CAST’s solutions or also called Universal Design for Learning. UDL provies a blueprint for creating flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments that accommodate learner differences. I really enjoy the video about the brain. How CAST has identified three primary brain networks and the roles they play in learning. The three networks are Recognition Network, Strategic Network, and Affective Network. One thing that I really enjoy was to create an electronic book by using the CAST’s UDL Book Builder.

In my discussion for this week

“Teachers want their students to succeed, but a one size fits all approach to education simply does not work”

Cast.org (2009). Model UDL lessons. Center for Applied Special Technology. Retrieved on December 5, 2009, from [] 

I chose this quote because I agree with it so much. When I teach my lesson in my classroom and half of my class does not get the concept, then is time to re-teach the concept in a different way. One reason why our school district has different styles workshops is for us to be able to adjust and recognize the different ways our students learn. Some students learn with hands on, other students learn with visuals. When a company comes and tries to sell us their curriculum to us, the first thing we ask is if it offers different way to teach the concept. Another thing we ask if it has technology intergraded with the lessons. As a teacher that cares for all my students to learn, I need to be created and make sure that all my students are learning.

This week it has been fun and very educational seeing the videos. I true believe on cooperative learning, I feel that students learn more from each other then just from the teacher. I really like what Mr. Seymour Papert, a distinguished professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that we don’t have to teach all the objectives before the project but let the students find and explore the objective they need in order to complete their group project. I really enjoy the video from Ms. Vicki Davis, where she uses all the web 2.0 tools to teach her class. I feel she is ahead of the game using cooperative learning as well as technology to enrich all her students.
 * Week 4**

In my discussion for this week

“Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face.” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using technology with classroom instruction that works.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 139-154.)

I chose this quote because it reminds me when I move from one district to another where one embrace cooperative learning and the other district did not believe on it. Neat less to say, I am in the district that embrace cooperative learning. In the early 90’s every thing was cooperative learning. We had centers and students or should I say a group of students will go to each center and complete the task that each center was assigned. Then few years later the TEKS came along, and everything went back to teacher center. It was more of traditional teaching where teacher does everything and the students just take notes and listen. Today in the classroom and with the help of technology, cooperative learning is coming back. I see more teachers using Web 2.0 tools in their classrooms then never before. I feel that Intel curriculum that our district offers to our teachers is one reason that we use more cooperative learning. Intel stresses the use of wikis, blogs and Google docs to be use in the classrooms.

Week 5

In week five, the video were very interesting. I like some of the things that James Paul Gee said. He state that students learn by doing, just like the scientist do on science. Students like to create things and not just consume things. He also mentions a very interesting thing. He said that video games are the best way to do assessment on the student. Students are digital native and they do very good on computers. Another big thinker is Howard Gardner who is sixty five years old, I thought that was funny he saying his age, He talk about ethical issues. He said that digital students have no problem with sense of identity, with sense of privacy, with sense of ownership or author, with trust wealthy and credibility. Students have no problem being another person on the internet. Another big thinker is Sasha Barab. He works with a company that is international learning and teaching project that uses a three dimensional multiuser environment to immerse children in educational task. The next two video was very impressive. I wish I was at that level of using technology in the classroom. It sure was a WOW moment. In my discussion for this week “The instructional strategy of reinforcing effort enhances students’ understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning.” Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 155. I chose this quote because I believe on it. Also it reminded me when I was teaching to my special students how to do pre Algebra solved simple equations. Some students just with the word math or numbers they will starting getting nervous but when I said Algebra, then they really shut down on me. I keep telling them that they need to try to understand the steps and formulas. I start with the basics and reward them or give them high five when they get it right. I always feel that the student needs to feel some kind of success or accomplishment in order for them to continue working on it. I always praise them for their efforts; in return, they get motivated to move on.