Week 6 Video Reading

Changing Times

It's pretty ironic that we finish up this week with a summary of the ten "Big Shifts" in the classroom. Will Richardson's article neatly summarized the big changes in education but it was something that had particular meaning for me already. As a student again after many years, I was struck by how different this learning experience was for me this time around. Certainly the technology has exploded since I was last in class (getting an electric typewriter was huge, never mind a laptop!) but it was more than that. One thing that has struck me during the past few weeks is how few notes I have taken. Though we covered vast quantities of material in all four classes, very little of has through the traditional lecture-based classrooms. Also, the content does not come from one textbook or one instructor but instead from myriad sources that seem to come from many different perspectives. Instead of tests and papers, we engage in project learning, most of it group orientated. And, yes, technology leads the way across the whole process.

Richardson's Big Shifts are evident in our other classes as well. In Learning Theories, for example, we've talked a lot about integrating hands-on, technology-driven teaching practices as the best way to reach our multi-tasking, high tech youth. The idea of student-centered instead of teacher-centered was also looked at critically. Collaborative, social learning was also explored with theorists such as Vygotsky extolling the virtues of relationship, interest based teaching. All of this falls into what Richardson says is the result of the Age of the Read/Write Web. (Richardson, W. p.153). With online information, reading takes place 24/7, inside and outside of the classrooms and from millions of different contributors.

This is very exciting but there are some uncertain consequences for educators. For me, the sheer volume sources available is a little intimidating, though exciting. With this vast treasure trove of information and knowledge at our command, will we have time to access it all? Will it become overwhelming to decide the "what" to teach when the "where"is so easy to obtain? Or maybe it won't be the teachers, but the students who will call the shots. We have already seen how the balance of power, so to speak, is changing, where more and more producers and editors are out there. Interesting to think of what learning will look like in 5 years. For me, the transformation has already been monumental.

Week 6 Video Reflection

Wow. I was totally blown away by what some of my classmates produced in their movie editing projects today. Some of them really have a good grasp of how to use the technology. I thought it was a fun project once I became comfortable with imovie. I spent a lot of time fiddling with small details but I was pretty happy with my effort. I would definitely have added more text and broken up my footage more and would do a better job of adding music of my own instead of from iMovie. Like all the other projects, onceI became more adept at using the tool, I could spend more time on the creative end. I would love the opportunity to edit another movie.

It amazes me what iMovie can do. My efforts to the contrary, it really is a pretty straight forward, powerful program. When I coached my kids teams, my husband took tons of footage of them playing. I wished I knew then what I know now, I could have made some pretty cool movies.

Week 6 Wiki Reflection

I will certainly plan on including a wiki in my future classroom. I love the interactive nature of it and the fact that the readers/students can participate in the content. This are the first courses (Tech and Learning Theories) that I have taken where the syllabus, "handouts", outside sources, and working docs are all on the wiki. I found it incredibly easy to access information and having the ability to create links on the fly gave the instruction so much more freedom in formulating course content. I would like to have that same flexibility with my future students.

I think students in general would really enjoy creating their own wikis. For many special education students, pencil-to-paper work is a huge challenge. Wikis would be a great to assessment tool and would facilitate learning for many of these students. In addition, it gives the students some autonomy in their learning, being able to access sites they are interested in and link to all kinds of information. It really is portfolio learning which is a great method of differentiation.

As usual with my technology projects, the nuts and bolts of the tools wore me down so the content suffered. I especially felt that with my wiki. I feel there were many things I wanted to include but just ran out of steam and time. However, the good news is that I truly feel that this was a course I took away a huge body of knowledge, even if that was represented in my work. By the time I got to the end of the project, and was up against it, I was just beginning to feel as though I was getting a handle on my skills. While this didn't bode well for most of the work I turned it, I do feel as though I am taking skills with me into my own classroom and I feel that perhaps in this case, that matters more.

I came into this course a little intimidated and very, very unsure of my tech skills. I left realizing that my fears were proved correct!! Seriously, I developed a thick skin, always a good thing, and I persevered. My comfort level is improving and I look forward to the day when I can catch up my tech skills to my creativity and really produce some amazing things. At the very least, I definitely have a new found appreciated for technology in the classroom; in fact, its hard for to me to imagine good teaching without it in today's world.

Website reflection

Phew! Finally finished with this website. This was a really frustrating project for me on a couple of levels. While I appreciated the ease in which pages and links were created in Weebly, I also found adding and manipulating objects and elements incredibly cumbersome. I chewed up huge chunks of time trying to accomplish simple tasks. When I finished, I felt the content of my site felt far short of what I would consider an appealing and inviting site. In the end, to be honest, I just wanted it be be complete. I used to do some website design back in the day, most with Dreamweaver and while it was much more complicated than Weebly, I felt I had more control of the look of it and for a former graphic designer, that was important to me. Things like putting borders and boxes around elements, in fact just the positioning of elements was very hard. And for the life of me, I could not figure out why if I highlighted and changed the text on one element, the change invariably occurred somewhere else.

I would like to keep building a site for future use, however, despite the hardships of this project. Perhaps when I was feeling a little more creative and a little less stressed I could accomplish what's probably right in front of my face. The one thing I will strive for in revising this site will be to put more of my personality into. I thought this site did not reflect much of me in that way. I would like to add quotes, links to music, updates on the Red Sox and UConn basketball (and my daughter's high school team), more links to other cool sites and things that make me laugh out loud. I think that it is absolutely crucial for my students to get to know me and having some of personality come through in my class website would help to accomplish this. I also would like to have a student centered page that included webquests and a gallery of student work. So, very much a work in progress...

My check through Truwex revealed numerous warnings and I did manage to make some sense of what the info told me. For instance there were times when I had images and did not include style sheets or text alongside and I understand this could be an obstacle for some visitors. It was actually an interesting task to see the many things I typically did not consider.

Tech Week 5 reflections on reading

Mrs. Schuppe's Classroom

Reflecting back over the last month and how much exposure I have had with technology in the classroom, it's hard for me to espouse not using technology and online resources in the classroom. Coming from from my position as the anti-techy, that's saying a lot.

There's a few reasons that really stand out for me. We have talked a lot in other classes about recognizing the importance of youth popular culture and the need to attempt to incorporate it into our pedagogy. Because most of our students reside online, I already had the sneaking suspicion I would have to jump in. But what I have learned in this course and through the readings is that the online culture is not only for the young. As teachers, parents, educated adults, the online world beckons. We simply cannot ignore the possibilities and ramifications of having so many sources available at a click.

As educators, I feel we must prepare our students for the world in which they will live and work. Information literacy is as necessary as skill as traditional reading and writing, and one with just as serious consequences if not taught well. Exposing our students to a variety of online projects will help them think and participate critically in their academic and whole- person lives. Realizing how much vaster a landscape of experience we can provide our students through online activity, I feel we would be remiss not to include and teach into these tools. Wikis, blogs, podcast, video technology--for our students, these are all connectors to exploring not only their own worlds but the bigger world as well.

Ok, so I am all for creating online opportunities for my students. But I am less prepared for the social networking culture that I know is here to stay. I am used to the experience of interpersonal, face-to-face experiences and finding it a little intimidating to operate outside of that sphere. But, as in other facets of technology, I am learning and adjusting. Because I'm not as fluent in social networking, it's a little difficult to imagine exactly how this world will look, especially in the classroom. But, I have a few clues.

For starters, I envision a dynamic, responsive environment. As students, colleagues, administration, community, we will be tightly connected. The classroom will no longer be teacher-centered and instead will learner-centered, and by learner I mean students, teachers, everyone. The classroom itself could very well cease to be as we know it with 24/7 and virtual learning replacing the traditional modes. Learning will be directed not just by the curriculum but by what 's happening in our world, day-by-day, minute-by-minute. Social networking in the classroom will mean reacting and responding and reaching out-- to the people across the room and across the world. Hopefully, the interest-driven capabilities of social networking will enhance the educational opportunities of our students (and ourselves, as educators) and also extend into how our students maintain and grow their personal relationships.

Tech Week 5

The PowerPoint presentation that I submitted was a lesson plan entitled "Segmenting Syllables". This was designed to teach second grade or struggling older readers how to read multisyllable words. The lesson described a strategy that involves identifying vowel sounds in words to figure out how many syllables there are and then blending the syllables to say the word. This strategy is useful for those students who decode letter by letter and thus struggle with bigger words.

The features I included in my presentation included transitions, animations (lead ins, exits), some effects, importing images, creating links to relevant sites. I experimented with sound and created some narration for a few of my slides in which the teacher was being instructed to instruct in a scripted manner. I felt that I could have added a table or chart (mostly from creating the screencast with my group) but I was having some trouble thinking of a relevant reason to include one in this particular lesson. I would add charts/tables in future presentations. I learned how easy the animations were, once I played around with them.

Probably the most important thing I learned through this project was that despite all the bells and whistles available, you needed to be careful not to obscure the material you were presented. It's tempting to include all kinds of effects but often these become distractions. Sometimes less is more. That said, I am eager to keep experimenting with PowerPoint and I would most certainly include this tool in my classroom. Most learners are to some extent visual and so connecting ideas with images or text in interesting and in many cases, dynamic ways, helps get the point across. I think with kids that are used to navigating in a multi-sensory environment, lessons that include PowerPoint are more engaging alternatives to staid lectures. Lastly, I am envisioning for many of my special education students that this visual, auditory component of PowerPoint will be a support in their learning taks.

Week 5 T2P

Today was an useful exercise in putting T2P into T2P. It's starting to come together and I'm beginning to understand how to incorporate what I know about how I learn and, in today's case, how I think to my pedagogy.

If I can have a structure at my ready that helps me define, analyze, synthesize and examine issues that might arise in my classroom, then I will be better prepared to come up with solutions that promote the general well-being of my students and are congruent with my beliefs and values. Designing a blueprint not only provides me with a starting point and sequence of steps, it prevents hasty, emotional laden reactions that often cause more damage than good. Good intentions are not enough...there is too much at stake.

So I need a plan. I want to be a teacher that cares, of course. I already care about my students and I haven't met them yet. I know I will be taking them home with me each night, carrying their stories, their pains, their triumphs. I will want to protect and provide for them all. But am I truly caring? I agree what Nell Noddings says about relational caring: the student must know that they are cared for. How will my students know that they are cared for? When problems arise and conflict present themselves, will I find solutions that let my students know I care? If I think about our hypothetical teachers Erik and Frank, I believe they cared, they mulled over the last class, they ruminated over failed classroom situations yet did their solutions fell short of their expectations. There were many reasons but the one that jumps out at me was that their students did not know they were cared for.

In my heuristic, I want to make certain that throughout all the steps I take to gather data, examine the data and come up with solutions, my students know they are cared for. That means being honest about examining my personal biases, positive and negative, and checking those that interfere with an objective, fair assessment. That means talking honestly and openly with my students, inviting dialog, encouraging trust between myself and them, and between each other. It means valuing input from other colleagues and asking for guidance when needed. It means participating with my students as much as possible so I cam model for them what it looks like when my process cares about them.

I liked today's heuristic activity because it provided structure, something a "big picture gal" like myself often needs. However, I know there won't always be a clear cut solution that promotes and protects the well-being of all my students. I think Freire and Duncan-Andrade would concur that if my students know they are cared for, then they will trust me to resolve conflicts justly and, in turn, look for just resolutions in their own lives.

Week 5 T2P

I Text, Therefore I Am...

If students can carry aspects of their personal youth culture into learning environments, they are more likely to become engaged, independent thinkers. Kids today embrace a multi-sensory, multi-tasking approach to nearly every activity. Through media and technology, they are invited to be participants and not just recipients in the flow of information. They are presented a constant menu of options from which to consider and partake, and they’ve become expert at prioritizing and cataloging--selecting what’s meaningful to them at the moment, while storing away the rest. In the YouTube video Youth, Technology, and Learning (2009), 15 year old Megan says, “When I’m doing homework, I’ll be texting, watching T.V., listening to music. You’re used to like doing ten things at once. ” She goes on to say, “In school, it’s all really hard when you can only concentrate on one thing and you can’t do anything else… (lectures) are like its in slow motion. They’re must be different and quicker ways to learn”. Morgan, another freshman, adds that the best way to learn is “physically and hands on…when someone’s teaching you and you can do it at the same time.” She points out that when they’ve had labs in class as opposed to note taking, she feels as though she has learned and remembered much more. Vygotsky would agree that the scaffolded, social nature of hands on learning is optimal, where feedback is instantaneous and the learner can absorb the social contexts of what's most familiar, in this case, interactive exchange. Duncan-Andrade reminds us that often students’ youth culture already contains seeds of critical thinking that should be cultivated and not ignored. As a teacher, I must value what kids bring to the mix as learners and recognize one thing they absolutely possess is the ability to operate successfully in a multi-sensory environment. I believe that if students feel competent and in some control of how they learn, they will be more motivated to persevere (Self Determination Theory). I will strive to incorporate this skill into interesting, dynamic lesson plans that engage and challenge my students while improving my own abilities to speak their language, keep up with the technologies and see things from their perspective as well as mine.

I'm Emo, Your Emo

If those students who reside outside the social landscape of their peers can explore their own identities in a safe and meaningful way, then they will be more likely to develop positive self-esteem and self-efficacy. In the YouTube video emo, teens, emo cutting, emo suicide, high school, urban emos (2008), urban high school students explore the relationship between being “emo” and cutting. The video starts out with a teenage boy relating the many kids he knows who cut themselves, “They complain about their lives…they try to commit suicide so many times and they still haven’t succeeded…it’s for attention.” Another girl agrees that cutters aren’t trying to kill themselves and speculates on the addictive nature of cutting. A third girl explains about being emo (emotional, with problems) and how it is really a perception that others have about you. She says, “No one wants to be emo, it just sort of happens. People call us emos because we are different. It’s a stereotype. You don’t decide that you are emo; it’s what other people are saying. I’m not going to admit it…” Teenagers often have a difficult time coming to terms with their own identities and accepting their own differences. As a result, they view themselves in terms of what others think. In Maslow’s terms, many teenagers who do not have their basic needs of love and acceptance met cannot progress to the level of self-esteem. In fact, in the case of cutters and “emos”, these students often replace self-actualization with what others expect and stop there. The visible scars of cutting are symbols of compliance, a plea for acceptance of what outsiders expect. I understand that I will need to help these particular students find their own identities, independent of their peers. One way to do that is to use content material and curriculum to explore the differences among people as a whole. Another way is to identify the “bridgers” within the class who can help reach out to those on the fringe. Most importantly, as a caring teacher in Nell Nodding’s model, I need to try and know my students. Hopefully, if they believe that I value and respect what makes them different, it will help them to feel more confident about understanding and accepting who they are.

Listen to Me!

If young adults feel as though their opinions, views, and ideas are valued and respected by the authority figures in their lives, they will be more encouraged to participate meaningfully in the bigger world around them instead of shutting it out as irrelevant or intimidating. In the YouTube video Sit Down for Your Rights: The Morton West Story (2008), students held an anti-war sit-in at an Illinois high school. Thirty-eight students were suspended and threatened with expulsion. The sit-in was the idea of Matt who wanted to show “them that peace is possible, that it is not a dream, it can be a reality.” The prevailing thought by the students was that nobody was listening and something more attention getting needed to happen. One girl said, “I didn’t think it would work, at first. I figured the police would just come and nobody would be heard.” As the word spread and more students joined, authorities within the building began to threaten the students with expulsion. The emphasis shifted from what the students were trying to say to how they were saying it. From the perspectives of the students, the administration was neither valuing nor respecting what they had to say. Eventually, widespread publicity and the intervention of many of the parents and notables such as Jesse Jackson prompted the school administration to rescind the punishments. For the students, it was important to know that their parents and people outside the school were supportive and in the end, it legitimized their actions. Matt said, “It proved to me that if you stand up and say something, people will listen.” Andrade-Duncan would contend that students have a lot to say about the world around them and it’s our job as educators to help them articulate their opinions in constructive and appropriate ways. I agree with Duncan-Andrade that when we as teachers (and parents) value and respect what our youth has to say, and encourage dialog and debate, we can empower them to become a critical participant in their world.

Technology Week 4 reflections

The Internet provides limitless opportunities for our students to learn, to solve problems to answer questions, to make connections. But the sheer size and scope of the information available necessitates our guidance and direction. If we send our students out blindly into the information wilderness, it is likely they will return frustrated and overwhelmed. As teachers, we want to encourage initiative but also provide a structure. To do this effectively, we have to pay attention to how our students go about their work. Do they have effective strategies in hand or are they unsure of where to begin? Do they get diverted and off-task easily? Do they work better in groups or individually? Do they know how to evaluate and analyze information after they find it? It can vary greatly from student to student. Like most good teaching, we need to provide some effective strategies, practice together with our students, gradually scaffolding our instruction to increase their independent thinking.

There are several important ways teachers can help students make meaning of primary source material. Instead of relying solely on one search engine or Google tool, we must teach our students to critically think about the source they are researching to discover not-so-obvious ideas and deeper understanding. We need to help them look at a problem or topic from more than one angle to establish perspective. We can point out to our students the bias and subtleties of database searches (November, 2010, p.73) and assist them in developing critical thinking and questioning skills. We can show them how to examine alternative and additional sources to shed light on a primary source. And lastly, we can help students find authentic audiences in which to review and evaluate their research. (November, p.77).

Teachers can use podcasts and multimedia tools to help connect students and schools to one and another and exchange ideas, experiences and learning. For example, using podcast recordings, classes can produce school radio shows that highlight particular activities, achievements, or interests. Using free, easy programs such as Audacity or Skype, (Richardson, 2010, p.119) teachers can help students create audio archives of virtually anything that students want to share. Teachers can visit the Education Podcast Network to access thousands of podcasts. Through TeacherTube, teachers and students are collaborating on thousands of projects that are shared around the world. Multimedia publishing is a great motivator for students (Richardson, p. 129) and a great opportunity for students and teachers to work together to publish their ideas to a vast online audience.

Internet Workshop Reflection

Since the Internet Workshop was the first lesson plan I have created, it was especially helpful to get feedback from my group. The feedback I received was truly in light with how I reflected on my workshop after its completion. My group was helpful in pointing out the need for comprehensive assessment tools. I believe I needed to concentrate a bit more on the content of my assessment since at the end of the day, the real purpose of any lesson is to ascertain what your students took away from it. In this same light, I need to remember that although a lesson plan might be modified to differentiate learning, it is still important to assess it in a meaningful way. I think I did not give enough thought as to how my special education students could accomplish this as well. As my own reflection goes, I feel I concentrated too much on the technical/web side of this project at the sacrifice of robust content for my lesson plan. I hope to to take this into consideration on my next attempt.

I would certainly use the Internet Workshop I created in my own classroom some day. I think the interactive nature of the website I selected, as well as the nature of the message, was engaging and meaningful to students. What I really liked about the Internet Workshop model was it hits kids where they live. Jeff Duncan-Andrade talks about bringing the popular culture of our students into the classroom and the opportunities it creates for critical reflection and positive discourse. This is a perfect example of relating content material to the realities of our students' lives. Exploring the Internet together with our students gives us, as educators, real world opportunities to model safe and effective information literacy.

Our group thought that young people are especially vulnerable to the dark side of the Web. The needs of acceptance and conformity work against the discovery of one's own identity, and the result is a "consumer" who is impressionable and eager to take at face value what's being offered. It's really a matter of critical literacy... reading the world instead of just reading the word. We teach our students to ask questions, interpret plot, look for author purpose, and analyze character in the books they read. We must teach information literacy in the same way. We believe that we must guide our students through the vast quantities of information available online and provide them with the skills to identify, analyze and evaluate intent and content on the web. We need to teach to them ask the right questions, think critically, and then make smart decisions. As educators, we need to keep the dialog going about what they're seeing out there and what meaning they are making of it. Hopefully, with our guidance, they will eventually be able to independently and safely navigate the Internet.

Theories Week 4

Special Ed Students: Self Determination and Empowerment

Self-determination theory states that autonomy, competency and relatedness are the factors necessary for intrinsic motivation. But does self determination always result in learning? Is there value in self-determination if the resulting motivation does not result in the highest level of Maslov's Hierarchy where morality, creativity and problem solving are taking place? For many special education students, self determination can look very different. I observed a fifth grade Cerebral Palsey student who labored for six moths to master an assisted technology that allowed him to use his eyes (the only part of his body in which he had any control) to activate a voice control apparatus to say a greeting to his classmates. Autonomy, competency and relativeness were all present yet the result would be viewed by many as minimal. As special educators, we create many opportunities for our students to exhibit self-determination, in varying degrees. But it many cases, it will not be enough to ensure successful learning in the typical sense. Self-determination, however, is still valuable and viable and necessary if we believe that our special needs students are capable of having meaningful, productive lives.

For the "can't dos" as opposed to the "won't do's", we must continue to have goals that are broader than just the specific objectives on their IEPs. Teaching a few simple words to the farm workers was enough for Friere to feel that he had empowered the oppressed. In the same way, each opportunity we give our students to realize autonomy, competency and relativeness is an opportunity for empowerment, not just from the inequities imposed by society, but from the limitations of their own disabilities. Social justice teaching includes guiding our students to be advocates for themselves. Just as Duncan-Andrade believed students come to the mix with a sense of agency regarding social justice and their own popular youth culture, special education students carry with them a powerful understanding of their own particular needs and goals. It should be our job as educators to be ever mindful that our students do indeed possess this understanding. As special educators, we need to always be seeking opportunities to help them articulate these ideas.

minor tech triumph

Ok, so Slideshare was pretty easy and my upload worked. It did some funky things with the spacing of my PowerPoint on a few slides but, one must take the good with the bad.

Theories Week 4 Powerpoint

Attached is a PowerPoint presentation comparing the theories of Jeff Duncan-Andrade and Lev S. Vygotsky and looking at how culture impacts learning: Theories 6_21

Theories Week 3

Supporting ADHD learners in my class

Because ADHD students possess unique strengths and weaknesses in their learning styles, I will need to incorporate several things into my pedagogy. First and foremost, I must believe that my ADHD students can and will be successful learners. As a special educator, this belief is a pre-requisite to teaching in this field. But it is especially important that this belief be articulated daily to my student through my thoughts, actions and words. I must be patient, flexible and honest with my students. They will need to trust that I will be an advocate for them at all times but especially within the general education classroom, where the delivery of material and/or structure of the particular class might be challenging. I need to prove to my ADHD student that I understand his or her particular struggles by creating opportunities to adapt the learning environment or the particular learning task. I will need to identity what makes my students tick, cognitively and affectively, and most importantly, look past their disability to the whole student. I will need to partner with my students to navigate their particular challenges.

I know from this week's lesson that intrinsic motivation is more effective than incentives. I will need, therefore, to motivate my ADHD student not with extra recesses or gadgets to keep his hands busy, but with things that will help he or she develop self-determination. Providing my ADHD student with choices is one way to accomplish this. For example, I have sat through numerous student intervention meetings where strategies for engaging ADHD kids have been bandied about. What about this? Have you tried that? Rarely is the student asked for his or her input about the ways that work best for them. I believe that often, ADHD kids have clear preferences and insight about how they learn best. If we "tune up"(Garcia) the insights of our students, not only are we likely to identify successful strategies, but we are giving them a sense of autonomy and control.

Another way to foster self-determination is to provide opportunities for mastery. On their podcast, Group 1 discussed time limitations being a problem for many ADHD kids. By breaking apart tasks into manageable chunks without time constraints, I can help alleviate the debilitating pressure that timed assignments can cause. By giving ADHD students more choices about the nature and structure of their assignments and then by breaking the assignments into smaller, more easily accomplished tasks, I will provide them with better chance to realize success.

Further reflection on reflection

How do students "make meaning" out of their learning experiences? If students feel safe, valued, and cared about, then they can begin to make authentic connections from what they are learning to the bigger world around them. This ties into both Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Self Determine Theory (Deci & Ryan). When a learning experience satisfies affective domain, higher lever thinking can take place and true problem solving can occur. Students feel what they are learning matters, not only to them but to others around them, teacher, parents, peers. This realization becomes intrinsic motivation. Their learning now is not just relevant to what they knew previously, but now becomes more meaningful in a new more empowering way.

Screencast Reflection

I felt that the screencast was a good project to begin with. It provided an opportunity to work together as a group and for me, eased the anxiety of navigating through unfamiliar waters. I also liked that we had to come to a consensus quickly and determine the content for the screencast. It was a good exercise in looking at large body of information and targeting what worked for this project. It was a good way to practice collaboration and efficiency.

The feedback to our screencast was generally positive. It was helpful because it confirmed that we did, in fact, accomplish our goal of conveying some basic features of Powerpoint. The comment that we could have added some graphic tools was also valid because thinking back over the project, Powerpoint is a presentation tool so our tutorial probably should have included more visual aspects. We need to always keep the purpose and audience in mind. Looking at the other screencasts was very informative. It was interesting to see what angle the other groups came from, how they scripted their casts and what they felt was important to include. Watching the other casts definitely gave me some helpful hints for any future projects.

Students can benefit from these screencasts because any tutorial lets learners go at their own pace. Especially when unfamiliar technology is involved, it lessens stress to be able to digest information slowly. Also, screencasts produced by students for students tend to be from the same perspective. I would definitely think of using screencasts in my classroom as a great tool not only to motivate and engage students, but to strengthen students' competency by encouraging them to teach each other.

Week 3 Technology Reflections

Now that there are endless opportunities for students to publish their work online, there are some important considerations to consider. How do we as teachers manage the flow? Are we merely the gatekeepers of posting students' work, allowing everything our students produce to float out for public inspection? Is that even the point? I think that teachers need to manage online publishing in much the same manner as conventional writing. In other words, teachers still need to teach students what to say, how to say it and when to say it, and how to respond to feedback about what they produce (November, 2010, p.44). The important difference is the audience is much more vast, and in many cases, anonymous. So teachers need to model for their students appropriate, safe and respectful ways to communicate on the Web. By establishing their own Web sites, wikis and blogs, (November, p. 44) teachers provide themselves great opportunities to show students effective ways of getting their ideas across and encourage their students to do the same. I also think that starting cautiously, especially for younger grades is important. For instance, creating a class wiki with some password controls (November, will keep initial student work within the bounds of the classroom until they, and the teacher are prepared to send the work out to a greater audience. Perhaps, gradually branching out to include parents and family members, then other classes in the same school, etc.

Week 2 theory & practice

If students are taught in an explicit, succinct manner, where objectives and guidelines are clearly communicated, they can better understand how to incorporate that newly acquired knowledge into what they've already learned. When instruction is vague and ambiguous, energy and focus are expended away from the task and opportunities to learn are lost.

I am beginning to understand how teacher's beliefs play a critical role in how students learn. It seems obvious that teachers have a set of beliefs about teaching but I'm not sure they are always clearly defined and certainly not always faithfully followed. I can remember having teachers who seemed to have been guided by no discernible beliefs, or if they did possess such beliefs, they stopped following them long ago. Through our study of critical pedagogy and social justice, we have seen "big" beliefs articulated e.g., empowering the poor through literacy, advocacy for urban youth, cultural diversity. While these are admirable, it is equally important to formulate beliefs centered around student learning styles, expectations, motivations, and societal perspectives. Whatever these may be, it is crucial as a pre-service educator to begin to construct a well thought-out set of personal beliefs about how and why I teach. I need to trust that what I bring to the mix as a teacher---these beliefs--- will positively impact how my students learn.

If a teacher can develop a set of beliefs and then incorporate these with the beliefs of their students, a richer learning environment results because a community of trust develops between teacher and students. If we follow Vygotsky's theory of socio-cultural development (Goodman, 2008), and believe that scaffolding and guidance through the Proximal Zone of Development (Goodman, 2008), a classroom includes this relationship of trust and mutual respect can become an optimal starting point to begin effective learning.

How can we we as teachers work to incorporate our beliefs with those of our students? One way is to become a "bridger" (Putnam, 2000). By working to bring together various affinity groups within our classrooms, we learn to appreciate the differences among our students, to encourage groups to come together and most importantly, model for our students what it looks like to open yourself up to new ideas and ways of thinking.

Resources that promote my teaching beliefs

I agree with the Focus on Teacher Thinking (Yero, 2002) article which states that how we teach does reflect our beliefs, values and our personal thinking processes. I also agree that we need to be constantly mindful of that so that how we teach is a conscious reflection of this and not just habit or convenience. Here are three of the resources I would employ in the classroom which would reflect some of my views on teaching and learning.

1. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) I believe this site presents unlimited opportunities for learning, teaching, discussing, evaluating, and connecting content area with real life. I believe most students are visual learners to some degree, either primarily or as a confirmation of instruction. I also believe students learn best within the mode they are most comfortable using. YouTube represents the manner in which most kids receive their information: short, sensory-stimulated, soundbites. For better or worse, I feel this is how to get their attention. Good teaching should not ignore the mediums and contexts in which students learn best, even if they are not what teachers are used to. In other words, good teachers must be open to new ideas and resources. YouTube would probably not be my first source for information but I realize that for many of my students, it is. As far as content area is concerned, YouTube would be a valuable resource because of the vast scope of subject matters. No matter what the topic, there would be something relevant to be accessed.

2. Wrightslaw (http://wrightslaw.com/) This is a website developed by a husband wife team (special education attorney and educator, respectively) that provides information about special education, special education law, education law, and advocacy for children with disabilities. As a special educator, this site would be indispensable to me for several reasons. In order to be a good teacher, you need to be informed. Special education is an area in which the legal and educational landscapes are changing constantly. This site not only provides up-to-date information, it also links to other highly relevant government, legal and advocacy organizations. Another characteristic of an effective special educator, I believe, is empathy. We need to be able to put ourselves in the shoes of students, parents and colleagues to better understand the particular challenges of raising and teaching a child with special needs. Wrightslaw includes articles, blogs and links to perspectives of the families of special needs students. I have already gained valuable insights from the stories, struggles and experiences of special needs parents through blogs and articles on this site. I think this ongoing process of learning about the "other side" will make me a better teacher and certainly a better advocate for my students. In fact, I believe all learners can understand an issue more completely if they are exposed to more than one perspective or viewpoint. WrightsLaw does a commendable job of presenting information from all sides: parents, students, educators, legal and legislative. Lastly, this site includes information and links to many teaching and instructional methods which, in turn, could help enhance the content area instruction of my future special education students. For example, linking to article about effective note taking strategies for students with ADHD could improve how I teach a child to better understand and retain what's being taught in his or her social studies class.

3. Scholastic (http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp) As a former reading tutor (and life-long reader), I strongly believe that reading constitutes one essential element of successful learning. For most special education students, however, reading consistently remains an obstacle and will be an ongoing focus in all content areas. While I support the inclusion of all forms of literacy into a student's daily life, I still find great value in books. I also strongly believe that the more a student reads books for pleasure, the stronger those reading skills such as comprehension, inferring, summarizing, analyzing, etc will develop and carry over into all their learning experiences. Great teaching involves successful scaffolding. One way for reading teachers to scaffold is to "guide" students in their book selections. I think students learn better when they have choices and some ownership in the material. Usually, they resist being told what to read. However, simply being told "just find a book and read" can also be a daunting task, especially for struggling readers. Reading level, content, author style, etc all need to be considered. Scholastic.com is a fabulous site for selecting, promoting, summarizing, and organizing books. The site is a great resource to find books about particular topics or issues that span reading levels, to preview books, to find multi-cultural books and topics, to explore author purpose and craft, to develop corresponding lesson plans, to link to dynamic online activities such as blogging and interactive games that supplement the reading. Great teachers constantly find new ways to keep their students excited and engaged in material. I will rely on this site not only to maintain a differentiated and diverse approach to the books I promote, but for ideas and methods to help my struggling and reluctant readers become excited about reading.

Instructional models of Internet Use

Among the similarities of the four instructional models, all teach students and instructors the basic navigational skills for accessing and publishing online. They also involve gathering content knowledge and research skills to access, organize and
present information. They all are interactive and exciting methods to improve and enhance our teaching. Internet project and Internet Inquiry are much more centered around developing collaborative skills... between students, between teachers and students and between classrooms, both locally and globally. Also, they serve to increase the feedback skills between information published. Not only can students learn and post information but they can also get valuable insight from their more audiences to increase knowledge and understanding. Finally, projects like Internet Inquiry allow a student to take greater control of the project than simply accessing an outline of an existing project. Being able to synthesize what information is already published with new and original ideas, a student can truly "own" a project and develop a better understanding of the material.

Evaluating online information

As the sources and globalization of information increase, we as educators (and parents) need to guide our children to effectively evaluate and legitimize what is published online. There are several ways to do this. Meta-web information can help to distinguish the content and origin of the information by analyzing URLS, links and search engines. By understanding more about who or what sponsors a particular site, as well as what other organizations connect themselves to it in various ways, we can help our students evaluate its legitimacy and content. The simple task of determining if a site is a personal directory or university-backed space, for instance, can immediately help to distinguish the site's content.

Another way to discern and evaluate information is to learn more about the author or contributors of a site. Doing searches and background digs on the architect of a site will give us valuable insight as to whether or not they are legitimate experts on a topic or, even more importantly, what there purpose for publishing their information is. Finding other published sources of an author or examining links to contributing organizations helps provide a better picture of the information source.

Lastly, we need to teach our students how to evaluate the purpose of a site. Is something being sold, promoted, supported, evaluated, compared, or criticized? Just as in other forms of literacy, distinguishing author's purpose helps to get a clearer perspective of what information is put forth to us and allows us to better evaluate, synthesize and compare the content.

We need to teach our children (and ourselves) how to be investigators as we navigate through these sites. For example, Wikipedia accounts need to be closely examined for the same clues as I mentioned previously. Who are the authors and what are ther connections? Who is collaborating? When was the information posted and updated? The need to research and then further research is the best way to evaluate and legitimize what is online.

intro

Hey! My name is Maryann. I graduated eons ago from Boston College and after raising two daughters, I am looking forward to a new career as a special educator. I have been in the classroom the last few years as a substitute teacher and then as a reading tutor. This is a little intimidating but I think it will be a pretty cool tool to use with my students.