Wiki Page

I really wanted to say I spent a lot of effort all semester on this project, but I would be lying.  I waited to even start this assignment until way into November because I was prolonging it so I could consentrate on my other studies and also I was still working on my coaching field study.  So I basically had to really do a lot of my research in the final two weeks of the semester as I was completing other assignments for finals.

The value of completing this task to me was to basically get more experience with a screencast and being able to take a look at scholarly information about a question I have had since I started working with Interactive Whiteboards.

This task really impacted my future teaching because a lot of my resourses told me ways to implement interactive whiteboards not only to my math classroom, but also to the school in general.  I really can't stand doing screencasts on campus or on my computer for the fact of issues I have had with connection problems either cause of the school server or with my computer.  Now I have to wait to submit my screencast because the room I am currently in must have issues with blocking my connections.

BWP Chapter 5

An RSS feed is something that I always saw and never really understood what it exactly was.  I knew it had something to do with reading articles since it was always around possible news feeds I'd read online.  As chapter 5 states, I was rather correct with my assumption on what a RSS feed was.  I thought it was more of a hassle to have an RSS feed because I thought it was something that needed a paid subscription or specific tool (ipod, kindle, etc.) that you needed to read it.  As the book stated now that I have a google account, I can set up my own free RSS feed to track content that interests me.  That tool can be used by students and teachers alike to track topics for homework assignments through the year.  Using an RSS feed would empty my email and mail inbox from constant incoming mail about news subscriptions cluttered with knowledge that may not be something I would want to know.

Rethinking Chapter 10

Many times in this chapter, there was a tough time trying to distinguish if there was really any new learning or just recapping what the book covered.  The final chapter really decided to put the focus of the previous chapters into the thinking of teachers in today's society.  The chapter points out that by utilizing technology for students will allow them to broaden their perspective outside of school and not be in constricted in their learning in school.  They even stated that teachers were looking for games to help them teach their lesson, with technology they can research games much faster, and set them up just as quickly.  I remember playing the usual jeopardy games made out of construction paper, with technologies the teacher can just hook it up to their projector screen with a computer or interactive whiteboard.
From my learning as a coach is that motivation is a tough thing to accomplish with some older students.  One thing I also noticed with them is that they'll be on their cell phones or listening to their ipods when they're not in practice.  The book states that in a way to boost motivation one helpful thing would be not only put material in ways those technologies can access them, but also to have games that can be accessed on the technologies too.
Now that this book is done, I am glad I was able to get a peek at what technology means to education.  In high school, my parents thought I should go into a technological or computer field since I knew how to set up and troubleshoot various items like computers, gaming systems, sound systems, and was good working with my hands.  So when it came to using technology in education, I felt that I had a step up on everyone.  Little did I know that before taking this course and reading this book, I knew little compared to what I needed to know.  I am glad that I got the opportunity to have my eyes opened up to see the various uses of technology but to see both sides of the fence when it comes to technology uses.  There is more to life than just Powerpoint.
In my future teaching endeavors I plan on really keeping technology into my classroom to some aspect although I feel that it may be somewhat tough with middle school mathematics.  But as this book repeated several times, just be open to new technologies and keep yourself to finding new resources.  Through trial and error in this class, I really am looking forward to using technology to make my classes fun and interesting for students.

Rethinking Chapter 7

In this chapter, there was a lot of talk about the various losses and gains in education if we go further into what looks like education with technology as a primary or secondary tool.  The chapter expresses feelings that in America that schooling has become more about "getting ahead' in life through getting the better education and going to a more prestigious university.  They feel that parents who have more financial gains are able to pay for other resources that a student with parents who are not as financially well.  A fear is that the thought process will steer children to a certain profession instead of broaden their horizons like education was originally intended for once the industrial revolution came around
Some of the gains of this type of education are the spread of items that can be used no matter of your financial situation.  For instance the chapter points out that many educational resources can be accessed through education at the University of Phoenix online.  The optimists feel that the use of technology like computers will not be the same for all students making them robotic, but will create a way for each student to use the technology to what suits them best.  The move to getting each student a laptop to learn from can enhance their educational resources in and outside of school.  Not to mention the computers allow students to learn in their own way that will really aid in creating discussion in classes when they access resources given by the instructor and by technological resources.
This chapter will effect my teaching by reminding me to be open to the thoughts for and against using technology in my classroom.  I tend to do a lot of my learning of useless knowledge much like the chapter explains how the students will be able to access additional resources, through searches and articles.
I feel this chapter will remind me that no matter what articles say as a skeptic on technological changes in the classroom that no one will really know how well the technology would work without trying it.

Rethinking Chapter 6

In chapter 6 it covers the three eras of education.  The initial era of education is the apprenticeship era.  The second era of education is the universal schooling era.  The upcoming era is going to be the life-long learning era.
Initially Horace Mann helped move education from the apprenticeship era to the universal schooling era where he and his fellow educators had brought the students to the same page academically instead of having them at all different levels of educational knowledge.  In the apprenticeship era the parents taught their children the same way they were instructed growing up.  Most of the time they were taught many aspects of the jobs their parents are a part of because that is what they were taught.  Many of the parents would end up deciding what profession their child would then be a part of.
The universal schooling era brought in the aspect of assessment especially through testing.  Compared to just being observed like you would be in the apprenticeship era.  Many times it feels like we are moving to a combination of the two, especially when completing the SOE work where we need to not only do well on standardized tests but also prove we know what we're doing in teaching lessons to peers and willing students in the area.
Some things I will take out of this chapter is the fluctuation of the schooling system as we know it in the past in our future.  When I was in high school and they offered apprenticeship opportunities to students who wanted to learn items like construction, nursing, and a few other technical courses I cannot remember off hand.  I thought then that an apprenticeship was just something that was new and was for kids who didn't want to go to college or high school classes in their junior or senior year of high school.  Instead it was a perfect way to get a head start to the profession they want.
One thing I will take with me as a teacher from this chapter is that for over a hundred years schooling has adapted and changed the entire time.  If I plan to be a successful teacher in my future I have to remember that in order to be successful I will need to be willing to adapt with the changes and advances that will come up over the years.

Rethinking Chapter 5

In the different phases of schooling mentioned in this chapter I really believe that homeschooling has the ability to grow to be more resourceful and educational than brick and mortar schools with technology changes.  With all these technological improvements, and schools inability to adjust due to budget restraints we see many opportunities for school age children to flourish in programs that would not be considered typical schooling.  Learning Centers and homeschooling really have an opportunity to grow and be more popular with more individualized teaching that can be available with resources out to be used.  Many students who struggle find Learning Centers to be a help through thinking out of the box a bit when it comes to content and ways of instruction by using technologies some classrooms fail to use.  One of the topics brought up in the chapter was Distance education.  I am one of the many people that has used it and really liked how it worked out.  With D2L at UW-Marathon County I was able to take my EDUC 351 & 381 equivalents from an Ed-Psych professor in UW-Marinette County.  All of our course handouts were sent through D2L while our lectures were done through video and screencasting in a live setting.  It was an awesome experience because the handouts were available online all semester and a lot of our lecture questions were asked and answered from not only my campus, but with other campuses on the live network in our lecture.  One big thing I take out of this chapter is that I should be open to new technologies for my classroom and to be more opened to being individualized more in my teaching and if I can't be, point my students to places they can get that kind of education.

Rethinking Chapter 4

Reading this chapter I get constantly reminded of Professor Brewer's history class where we talk about the industrial revolution and the effect it had on various aspects like schooling.  The chapter highlights how schooling became how we know it today.  The examples show how schooling started out as parents teaching their children the tricks of their trade like farming followed by the shift of schooling to the responsibility of the states.  Ironically, schooling in America as grown just like the technologies that some believe are unrelated to school.  In fact most of the technologies outside of schools needed some sort of instruction that had to be learned in schooling.  Various adaptations to the one room schoolhouse that shows that adaptation in education is possible were graded classrooms, tests, textbooks, standardization, improved structure in high schools.  This reading impacts my learning because it shows that even if computers are barred from school it is a parallel technology that schools need to instruct students to learn much like they did back when agricultural technologies improved and teachers adapted their teaching to prepare students for the upcoming changes in production in various ways.  One thing I will do differently is to try to keep myself prepared in technology changes related and unrelated to the classroom because they can influence what students need to learn once their brick and mortar schooling is finished.

Rethinking Chapter 3

After reading the prior chapter I was really enthused about making sure I can find educational advancements through technology, and with reading this chapter I still feel that way.  Technology skeptics bring up good points on not having enough resources or time to be able to implement and use technology in the classroom.  I chuckled when I read a statement from a skeptic about the need to turn on a computer, log in, and set up the lesson.  They make it seem like the teachers who use technology do not anticipate issues with setup and closing time in the classroom.  Just like a teacher would prepare an overhead sheet to use on the bottom lit projection screen by making them prior to class to start, a teacher who needs  to use any bit of technology would take transition time to start up their media.  This chapter feels like it is written by teachers who like to use the same lessons for years on end without changes.  Probably the largest factor that helps the skeptic's argument is the cost of implementing technology on a widespread basis.  Schools cannot afford a major overhaul of their curriculum to bring in technology because of the cost issues up front.  Skeptics forget that if you really calculate costs that if you were to go with a one to one style the upfront cost would be alleviated when you no longer have to buy new books given access to comparable knowledge through the Internet.  I just feel biased while I read this chapter since I really like the thought of using technology in schooling.

Rethinking Chapter 2

I think this chapter changes my thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning because of how the chapter highlights the many changes in education because of technology.  One of the various tools that this chapter reminds me of is the game Mario Teaches Typing which is simply a game that is used to be able to learn how to type on a keyboard.  In this chapter it shows how teaching and learning have changed to not think of computers as just an occasional tool you use once a week for its games, but more as a primary or secondary source for learning.  Another game we used in my generation was the Oregon Trail where you learned about the hard times of westward bound pioneers.  These were the technological connections to lessons of their times.  The chapter covers simulation games that can be used as learning tools now days.  If I would have told I was using Madden 95, 97, 2000, and so on as learning tools to work on math and finances, my parents would've taken it away from me.  Using popular games like Call of Duty would help me simulate history lessons to middle school students on warfare.  As a teacher I will try to keep an open mind when it comes to using games as a tool in teaching not just going to traditional educational games that can be considered lame by older students.  This chapter generally focuses on the individualized instruction that technology can bring.

BWP Chapter 10 & Epilogue

I really liked how this chapter brought out the facts of how education has evolved much like it has illustrated the book, but also mentioned old technologies that my teachers were handcuffed into using.  As much as I liked the comment of using the filmstrip, I know that some schools/teachers only use or know those resources.  Chapter 10 reminds me that technology that will be out there when I start my teaching will be extinct in 15 years (That was about the same time period it was since I was first exposed to filmtrips, no pun intended).  The fact that this chapter says how there are many print resources that can be used in the classroom, but they are being digitized more and more each day.  Resources now days are just a quick a click away.  The simple click away is not just to a website but to other teachers who may have tried a similar lesson you are planning to do.  I am reminded that efficient teaching is not just standing in front of the class and lecture the students, but to basically be a mediator in conversations based on the objectives of a lesson.  I may have to purchase a later edition of this book when I get into the field just based on the reminding that the final chapter does telling me to not get in the rut that many teachers tend to fall into by not "thinking outside the box" and using different ways of teaching.
The epilogue is a rather cool way to imagine what a technologically inclusive school would do to impact a teacher.  In the 15-20 minutes detailed, it runs through the teacher's morning and shows how care-free and easy it seems to prepare the day of school with the various updates in many aspects of the day.  I can relate to the routine because when I am able to sit down in the morning I tend to do my own style of a prep time.  Instead my routine usually starts with checking my email, then off to facebook, check my fantasy football teams, check on my teams' injury reports, and read news headlines I find interest to me.  When I got into teaching I never expected that I could stay up to date with assignments and school news just as easily as going through the routine I just listed.

Exit Slip 12/9

To start this day off rather confused because there is no week 14 agenda on D2L.  There is a link, but it goes literally nowhere.  Well ok, it actually goes to an empty google site.

In my middle school math classroom I would like to integrate an interactive whiteboard and possibly a SMARTTable so my students can have a more hands on way to learn their geometry than just drawing the angles on a chalkboard.  I would hope to be able to create more interactive games to make the subject more entertaining to the students.  I would use a networking site such as twitter, blogger, and/or wikispaces to list homework, answer homework questions and post notes for students to have access to outside of class.  I as a former student at that age has gone ahead and left out notes that I realized I needed later outside of school and did not have access to a secondary means of attaining important notes other than calling a friend/classmate.  Since I would like to use an interactive whiteboard (SMARTBoard) I would like to also create screencasts of the SMARTBoard lectures (if you would like to call them that in middle school) to post on my blogger site for students who were absent from class or even for my substitute to use in my absence.  Of course, being like 10 years from now I'll be asking Professor Boyer during Ella's parent teacher conference about newer technologies that I may have not been keeping track of as much as him.

I am really bummed over the changes that were "wikileaked" to us about changes not only to this class but also to our Professional Portfolio.  The changes on the book would've really helped me to complete the tasks on time without having to scramble to fix all the posts.

When I originally thought of technology in the classroom I really thought of the media of projector screens, televisions, calculators, and computers and really not about what is being used on them.  After going through this class I have learned probably more resources and got to try a new technologies I never would have heard of or tried before.  My new best friend is probably SMARTResourses with its collection of lesson plans on there.  Prior to this class I had one professor at University of Wisconsin Marshfield/Wood County who used the SMARTBoard as a whiteboard than for its actual resources.

Exit Slip 12/2

Miss Bobiash has integrated technology into her classroom and basically allowed her students to thrive by using it.  For instance, her SMARTBoard wasn't just a tool for her to use for teaching, but also for her students to actually interact with.  Her students also participated in online collaborative projects with students in the area and worldwide.  Miss Bobiash went ahead and started using blogging as a way to tell students what the upcoming assignments were.  No only did it preview but also reflected on assignments.  The blog also gave a chance to allow parents to see what was going on in the classroom.  She opens up a lot of technology like laptops to the students, but we were not sure if they were given to each student or offered on school grounds.
The Jigsaw conversation piece was a rather fun and interesting way to break down our discussion.  I was in group #2 and we talked about creative ways to gain technology (making it yourself, buying it yourself, spearheading fundraising).  My second topic was talking about not using your school computer at home for personal reasons.  I felt that using your work computer for personal reasons was a way for people to get a look at a personal side you may not want people to see.  I became long-winded in our group so then our group had to explain our piece to the class, oops.

BWP Chapter 9

Social networks are plain and simple to me as places you can meet people to stay connected.  A few of the popular sites that I have had contact with before this class and even before this chapter were MySpace and Facebook.  I use those sites for ways to connect with extended family and friends from high school and junior college.  I opened a MySpace account because it is easily customizable to show your character.  Another reason I opened a MySpace because at the time Facebook was still a eligible college networking site where you needed a valid school email address to join.  I only learned about another networking site before, Twitter, with everyone talking about tweets and Facebook making adaptions to their original format to mirror Twitter.  Ning is still a site that is rather new to me.  Ning is basically as customizable as a blank website where a teacher can develop it with posting personal profiles, photos, video links, groups, discussions, and blogs.
Before reading this chapter, I never really thought of any of these social networking sites being a tool I would use in my classroom, much less not knowing all of these (Ning) existed.  I could see using Facebook as a way to connect with fellow teachers in my school, in my state, in my content area, and stay connected with the people who went through the education program with me in college.  I guess because of hearing all the professional athletes using Twitter to make a joke of themselves I just found Twitter a public way to create a story.  I never really put thought into using Facebook/Twitter as a way to give students links on related content to class or even forwarding classroom/school news to parents and teachers alike.

BWP Chapter 8

Chapter 8 covers various ways to present materials through audio and visual means through your computer or other devices.  Originally when I heard the term podcast, I seriously thought that it was something that can be only played on an ipod and nothing else.  The chapter not only points out that a podcast is more than just an audio file that can be played on anything that can play an mp3 audio file.  I knew that a podcast was basically an informational audio file prior to reading the chapter because my favorite baseball team Chicago Cubs announcers have been doing podcasts for the last season and a half so I have become aware what it is about.  The video features talked about in the chapter of screencasts and streaming video were rather simple not only by name and popularity.  Screencasts are simple to figure out just by the name that it would be a telecast basically of what is on your computer screen.  Before reading the checking the chapter I really wasn't sure of how it worked, much less what can be used to make a screencast an effective school tool.  A couple tools that I feel are popular for not only home, but also school use are youtube and even live streaming audio.  Many of my colleagues use youtube as a way to show samples of lessons they are presentations they're doing basically being the lead example of how youtube can be used in schools.  I use youtube to post videos of events I have attended that I would like to share with the public.  I listen to live streaming audio shows of music that my friends have produced and put on their respective outlets.  When it comes to live streaming video, there are outlets like the sample of ustream from the book where you could use in class for news students can use.  Other outlets I have seen are Stickam and Justin.tv.  Some television networks offer tape-delayed video on their sites while some even offer live feeds of their news casts.

BWP Chapter 7

Chapter 7, Fun With Flickr highlights the positives and advantages of using a media sourse like Flickr to post, edit, customize, and label pictures for use with the students or parents.  I am more inept with a similar program photobucket to post and share pictures for others to see or use.  As the chapter points out that Flickr can use a RSS feed to give me as a teacher a way to tag a topic and if someone posts a picture with that topic, I'll know about it.  I think that would be way easier than just going ahead and using  a search site like Google to constantly try to find a picture on a topic.  I really like the option to be able to tag portions of the photos and give a description through text for viewers to understand what is going on in the picture.  I would find that helpful describing what was done on a field trip to explain to incoming students, fellow staff members, and other teachers inquiring about the field trip location.  Not only can you post/view pictures but also video to describe what was going on.  That also can be done on describing pictures taken on lessons in the classroom.  As a future teacher, this chapter really opened my eyes to using visual media like Flickr to show my parents different aspects that they can't see on a daily basis.

BWP Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The Social Web: Learning Together showcases the new ways of communicating and sharing between people over the Internet.  After being prefaced in the chapters before about wikis and RSS feeds, the chapter starts off with ironically a combination of the two in Twitter.  Twitter is essentially a free RSS feed that people can get information about other people and their interests.  Before reading this chapter and discussing the topic I really had no use for Twitter over Facebook.  I would only use Twitter as a way to post assignments for my students and to keep parents updated on in class tasks.  Facebook started out with short ways to communicate much like dry-erase boards on doors in college dorms with ability to show pictures and I would not want to use that as a educational resource over Twitter which can use pictures but is more based on the limited 'microblogging' Twitter offers.  Another feature of this chapter was the topic of social bookmarking.  I really never thought anything like social bookmarking was around.  I was one of the people prior to using Delicious in class that if I didn't have the bookmark from my laptop to my disposal I would have to search and hope I found the right site.  I will more than likely retain my Delicious account after completing it for the assignment because it is way easier than to just transfer favorites from machine to machine as you toss out computers.

BWP Chapters 4

Chapter 4 is simply titled Wikis and talking about its nuances.  When I heard the term wiki tossed around in this and another of my classes, the first thing I thought about is wikipedia.  I couldn't figure out why we needed to make a wikipedia page but of course that was all my knowledge of anything termed wiki.  I found it rather interesting that in the chapter it said that a purposefully incorrect post on a wikipedia page was corrected and edited to become correct in a matter of hours.  I never thought that a wiki was like a blog version of a live encyclopedia when it comes down to wikipedia.  Oddly enough the chapter points out that people find wikipedia to be the most accurate encyclopedias.  Some other people are more skeptical because of the ability to easily edit posts.  But much like encyclopedias, wikipedia is made up mostly of siting sources.  Wikis are more that just known as wikipedia, but in the classroom teachers and students can create a wiki to list their knowledge on a topic related to a task in class.

BWP Chapters 1-3

Reading the beginning of chapter one I really had to laugh that the beginning of the Internet started back when I was only five-years-old back in 1989.  Not to mention that Internet became simpler when I was in the second grade.  I found that interesting because we didn't get our first computer in our house until 1995 because my older sister could use the resource in high school.  I want to say that we got our first dial-up Internet connection under two years later.  Of course then Internet was much slower and I didn't consider it a teaching/learning resource because it was faster to just page through books than crawl on the Internet.  Not to mention I didn't know what a blog, wiki, or podcast was and even when I heard about them I imagined tech nerds with their glasses, pocket protectors, and DOS manuals.
One thing that I found helpful in the chapter was the fact that it provided tips on what is a good website and what is not for research.  I always thought that the .com sights were not effective and the sites like .gov were.  I'm glad I know that a little better now.  I found it interesting to use blogging for many concepts of in-class work and providing ideas, for instance, the AP Calculus class the book used as an example.  The teacher can post ideas about the new chapter to give the students something to prelude/reflect on.  Of course, that is very much similar to what I am currently doing for this class.  Of course for younger students it is best to go through what is expected on the weblog and even the security settings.  It would even be smart to keep parents and administrators in the loop about what is going on and expectations of the blog.

Rethinking Chapter 9

Chapter 9 talks about how technologies that children use are usually not understood by their parents.  One of the technologies that they mention is the video game Madden football.  If I told my parents that I was playing Madden on Super Nintendo, Playstation, and Playstation 2 while I was in middle and high school as homework, they would've taken the systems and hid them in a closet.  Believe it or not, but I actually used Madden and football in general to help become faster in my multiples of 7 to do better on my times tests when I was younger.  One of my friends mentioned how the sevens are just like scoring touchdowns.  So then the next time I played the video game I was more aware of the score and became faster on my seven multples.  Of course growing up as technology has increased from being like a one dimentional video to being two dimentional and now even three dimentional video.  Many of the games can be used as simulations for missions like the new video game Call of Duty Black Ops.  Between the systems of Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii there are many games that can be used to help aid in curriculums, even physical education with the latest advances in all three systems.  Not only video games, but also just watching tv has been benefical to academics believe it or not.  As the book pointed out that people can watch their favorite shows and then post on fan sites or blogs related on the shows.  That is where the students practice their writing skills and interpersonal skills.  With these various skills it leaves the schools in a place where they can impliment technology inovations as a suppliment in education or be replaced by more progressive schooling.

Exit Slip 11/18/10

Well, today's class started out with going over the grade updates and I found out my cool tools screencast bombed.  The outline I decided to use wasn't very effective because as I transitioned between points I used the "uhms".
Discusssion plus/Delta on Chapter 10.
One positive we used in our presentation was right away we broke into a jigsaw discussion groups.  The group made serious effort to make colors and shapes to divide the groups.  A related delta to using the jigsaw is to actually call it a jigsaw discussion to improve our terminology vocabulary.  The group did a positive job using multiple tools like the interactive whiteboard and using the document camera instead of focusing on one tool.  A delta is to watch the "uhms" again, which I find to be a problem with myself.  Another positive that they went over the directions prior to moving into the groups to avoid confusion and getting off task.  They also had good movement roaming between the group but a change would be to coordinate it differently so once one instructor leaves the group another doesn't arrive.

I found the media search rather fun when it came down to finding items to get one of the five topics of an online video, a podcast, a SMART Notebook lesson, a Scratch project, and an online game.  I found it kind of fun to do a quick search.  A lot of the material I searched to begin was just to get the ball rolling and that I wanted to get at least three, but instead I got four.  My topic that I would like to teach is mathematics in the Elementary or more likely the Middle School level.  I found it interesting that I found a person who posted youtube videos of homeschooling mathematics.