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Week 13

Technology interview.
I was impressed with what I found out about the technologies students have at their fingertips. I noticed there is a Promethean Board in the Resource room so I hope I will have one in my classroom too. I will also have a computer and projector hopefully. There aren't any technologies that I can think of that aren't available. There will be a computer lab so students will be able to explore Stellarium, Google Earth and many other programs that might not be available in my classroom but will be available in the school. I think some ways to get technologies into classrooms is to give evidence that they can help students in their learning by making up lesson plans and showing them to other teachers, principal, school board, etc. Peer pressure can be good ;).

Week 12

The most important thing I noticed about how the teachers integrate the technology was how well it correlates with the standard they are trying to teach. Also, I noticed the teachers had faith in their students in using that technology. They didn't underestimate their students because of the use of technology they might not have had. I was amazed to see Kindergartners using computers to draw their vehicles, it really shows you that kids can do anything if they are taught, even if we think they aren't ready for it because of their age. Never underestimate your students.

Week 10

I explored Stellarium and Kidspiration. Both can be found on the internet. Stellarium helps students explore space like Google Earth helps explore the Earth. Kidspiration has different activities according to teaching standards that teachers can use as activities for further learning for their students.

Week 9

A teacher can tell when they have successfully integrated technology in their classroom when the students are learning through that technology and the knowledge they are gaining pertains to their studies.
This technology should only be used if it fulfills the learning requirements and if there is someway to keep building on that knowledge. If technology can enrich the learning content of the students then it has done it's job.
Trial and error is the true way to see if the technology you have integrated is an appropriate one for the students but that is not ideal. You (the teacher) can tell if the technology is the best one by doing the learning yourself. Try the lesson for yourself and if it leaves out any parts there might be another technology that can teach it better.

Week 11 Reflection on TPACK

TPACK is a way we can think about integrating technology into our classrooms. It is split up into different sections: PK, CK, TK, PCK, TCK, TPK and TPACK. PK is Pedagogical knowledge or the knowledge of teaching, basically knowing how to teach and the fundamentals therein. CK is the content knowledge or how much a person knows about a subject to be taught. TK is technological knowledge, or what a person knows about technologies to be used while teaching. PCK is Pedagogical content knowledge or describing what teachers know in a specific content area. It is more than just knowing about something, it is being able to apply it to different things and teach it. TCK is technological content knowledge or knowing different technologies that can teach different things and being able to use them to teach. TPK is technological pedagogical knowledge or knowing how technologies can be used in a general teaching context. TPACK is being able to use technology to teach content. Is it adding everything together, making it possible for someone with the knowledge of how to teach to be able to teach content using technology. Beautiful isn't it?
Let's see this in a real senario: I was teaching kids how to blend words by breaking apart the phonemes. I knew how to teach this content, and I knew about the content myself, so I added a Promethean Board with words that would said the phonemes of each word and the children blended them together.
There are many different technologies that help students learn with textual, visual,and audial representation. Smart Boards (or Promethean Boards) help students gain visual and audial representation. Slide shows help students textually, Stellarium helps students visually, and Google Earth helps students textually and visually. There are so many wonderful technologies out there to help teachers becomes TPACK champs! Which helps students become learning champs as well :)

Week 14 Internet Safety!!

I read Elder Bednar's article "Things as they really are" which went along really well with what we have talked about in class. It was good to hear not only the voices of statistics or stories about the dangers but to hear words from an Apostle was extra encouraging because I know God cares about the seriousness of these issues too. Watching the videos and reading the talk really made me realize how serious this is and made me want to be a careful mom when I have kids because I do not want them getting into trouble that I could have helped get out of.
When I shared this to a friend they already knew about this safety stuff but they also said it was good to hear again. I know my friend is already really good about her internet safety so I wasn't too surprised when she didn't elaborate on what I had said. I know this will be in her mind but like I said before, she has been doing a very good job with it already.
I enjoyed this assignment, it is good to know that there are evils out there and that innocent people are being taken advantage of because of them. This teaches me I need to be better to people I see who trust a computer more than a friend in front of them and tell people what I have learned.