My iMovie NETS-T 3

This is my iMovie I created using iMovie software, iTunes music, and images from around campus here at Cal State San Marcos that Professor Heil provided. I put in transitions in between clips and added screen adjustments to add a little creativity. I also chose the music that was added for sound. The purpose of this movie was to educate someone about our campus. I did this by sharing facts about CSUSM on some of the clips in the movie.

Journal #1:"Taking Laptops Schoolwide" (NETS-T I)

Bass, K, Donovan, L, & Green, T. (2010, August). Taking laptops schoolwide: a professional learning community approach. Learning and leading with technology, 38(1), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital_edition_august_2010.aspx

BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION: <br />Bass, K, Donovan, L, & Green, T. (2010, August). Taking laptops schoolwide: a professional learning community approach. Learning and leading with technology, 38(1), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital_edition_august_2010.aspx <br />[NOTE: Italicize "Learning and leading with technology" and the volume number - "38"]<br /><br /><br />PARENTHETICAL CITATION: <br />(Bass, Donovan, & Green, 2010)<br /><br /><br />


Summary: This is an interesting article about a collaborative approach laptop program for learning.  The authors questioned the success gap among schools in the same district for integrating laptops in classrooms. In the schools that were successful, a plan for student use of the laptops and teacher collaboration was in action. Successful schools also helped students progress by moving beyond the skills they already learned the previous year. Teacher collaboration in teams as well as with students and parents is a very important tool for success. Collaborative teams at successful schools help set goals for the program and assess those goals to ensure the program is running smoothly. The teams also work on providing struggling students with web based study tools. 

The authors list four key areas to focus on when considering integrating a collaborative approach in your school and they discuss how other schools achieved success. The four areas are: school climate, communication, collaboration, and progression. In order for schools to be successful, the school climate needs to be supportive. Classroom teachers who have parent and administrator involvement will have more time to devout to providing innovative ways to use technology in the classroom. Communication with colleagues, administrators, parents, and the community will help teachers gain the necessary support for integrating a computer program into the classroom. A classroom webpage that explains what the program in the class will entail and provide for the students is a great way to communicate with everyone. Teachers can post them on the school website for everyone to view. Teacher collaboration should be done formally in order to be more effective. A more formal approach can also be achieved with a website or a blog on which teachers can share their ideas and what has been most effec tive for them in their programs.

A plan that shows how students will use a computer program from year to year to show progress in their technology skills from grade to grade is a great way to assess the success of the program. Sharing this information will be very helpful to teachers at the same school and other schools, even other districts. All four areas of focus addressed in this article are equally important in the process of achieveing a computer program with a learning community approach. Schools should approach every program they offer to students in this way. Teachers need the support of a learning community to be more effective at integrating innovative ways of teaching material in all content areas. Perhaps the reason why some classroom teachers do not integrate innovative ideas and programs into the classroom is because they do not have the support of their administrators, parents, and community.

Question 1: How can a program like this laptop program be integrated into schools that have less money?
If laptops are too expensive for the district it will be difficult but they could probably integrate computer use into the curriculum more and just make better use of the time they do have with computers. Teachers would need to be more resourceful and work collaborate to figure out ways to provide students with the best program possible. The importance of using computers is to teach students innovative and creative ways to use technology. The best place to start is integrating technology into assigments for the class across content areas. Since students may not have computers at home and individual laptops are not an option, teachers could give assignments ahead of time and give students class time to work on them in the computer lab and in class.

Question 2: How will having students who may have no computer knowledge or experience transfer in to the school effect the success of the program?
It will require the teacher to actively seek support and resources to help the student get up to speed with the program. That is one reason the school needs to build an effective learning community around the program. If the classroom teacher does not have the support of parents, administrators, the community and other teachers it will be very challenging and almost impossible to work on helping those students. Collaboration with colleagues is very important, especially at first because they will be able to provide helpful information and tools.
 

(Bass, Donovan, & Green, 2010)

Excel Crossword NETS-T 1,3

This is a crossword puzzle I created using Microsoft Excel and I uploaded it onto my blog using embedit. I created the puzzle with Christmas words and I used conditional formatting to add clues. I also formatted the height and width of the cells to fit the words and I filled in the background with the color red to show some creativity with the use of technology tools.

Panchita's NETS-S Presentation Survey

NETS-S Presentation

Amazing Lesson Plans for NETS-S PK-2 Performance Indicators on Prezi

School 2.0 Assessment NETS-T 5

I took an assessment testing my knowledge of technology as an educator on etoolkit.org. When I got the results I took a picture of them and saved the image as a JPEG file and uploaded it onto my blog. I also researched one of the NETS-T standards, I chose NETS-T 2 and I found an article about a great digital program that helps teachers identify students' strengths and weaknesses and helps them to meet the individual needs of every student. The article mentions that the program was designed for students in special education, but it can benefit students and teachers in general education as well. I reflected on the research I found about current practice with technology in education on my blog.

I chose the NETS-T standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments because it seemed to be the standard that I would have the most difficulty with given my level of knowledge and experience in the use of technology.  The aspect of that standard that I decided to find resources on was the third point which says: I develop and use digital tools to effectively differentiate content process, and product for students in order to meet their individual learning needs and preferences. The reason I was interested in that particular aspect is because I strongly believe that meeting the individual learning needs of all students should be the most important goal in teaching. An article about RTI titled RTI: Not just for special education

Data-driven approach to instruction is finding its way into general education, too

By Laura Devaney, Senior Editor

Professional development for data-driven improvement

Apr 16th, 2009, was one of the resources that I found in that specific category that was very informative and interesting. I learned a wealth of information about the interesting and clever ways that technology and a system that was primarily considered for Special Education can be used to make vast improvements in general education. I would love to go on and share a lot of what I learned and find fascinating, but to keep it short and simple I will just add the link to the article and let you venture there on your own if you are interested. I will leave you with a couple of points about one program that is offered in the RTI system. There is a program that offers feedback to the student as they are working on a skill so that they can easily self-correct which I believe is a major help to the teacher in the area of time management and to the student in the area of self-reliance and discovery of their learning progress.

The skills program should also help students to make vast improvements in their abilities to retain content skills. When students learn content in the classroom it is often difficult to gauge how well they are retaining that material, and many times students who appear to understand what is being taught may not be able to carry with them that same level of knowledge later because the skill of holding on to learning material has not been sharpened yet. Well, the skills program in RTI assists the student in sharpening their ability to retain information by providing the necessary areas to work on when they are attempting to strengthen their skills. Students need immediate intervention when the skill is still fresh in their mind. Teachers are not able to provide each individual student with that kind of assistance in the time frame the student needs them to, and once that time frame has been passed up it is difficult for the student to revisit the content skill and try to follow feedback from the teacher. A student can improve the hard way, with support from the teacher later in the year, but it would be much more beneficial for students to have access to a program like this with immediate and ongoing support. Unfortunately, very few schools can afford a systematic approach like this because of the costly expenses that go along with the program. Many schools with low budgets are filled with students whose educational potential suffers greatly due to the deficit and lack of financial support.

Test Survey-All About Me