reflection of first masters course

This class has helped me develop my technology skills by showing my more options that are available for my classes related to technology.  The idea that the internet is more interactive than the past is encouraging because it gives the kids extra motivation to produce quality work since it may end up online for the world to see.  Learning how to start things like blogs, wiki’s and even podcasts have given me new ideas on how to assess and incorporate technology into my classroom.  Being able to change the format of some of my assignments is a very encouraging and exciting opportunity.

I am not sure that I deepened the knowledge of my teaching and learning process from this class. I have been a teacher for 13 years, and having lived a with a teacher all my life.  Every summer I spend some time trying to figure out how to better understand students as well as try and find ways to hone my craft so that the most kids will be able to comprehend.  I have also been a technology junkie for well over a decade, so I have spent a lot of time trying to find ways to incorporate technology into my class.  For these reasons my craft hasn’t been effected, just some methods with which assignments will be administered or assessed. 

When I think of how long I have been teaching and how much education I have it is difficult for me to say that the students’ level of knowledge, common sense, and problem solving ability is equal.  I have spent a lot of time trying to make my class both challenging and entertaining for students.  I model a lot of problem solving for my kids.  Learning how to find answers to questions, talking about the validity of website information, and making sense of situations are all things that are taught in my class.  The idea that all the money spent learning about this is not necessary is not something I completely agree with.  In my class the students still need my help figuring out how things work.  They may be able to find the basic information on their own, but most of the information that they find is beyond their level of thinking.  I have to help them make sense of the vocabulary that they are unfamiliar with as a part of the learning process.

I am looking forward to the near future when there will be the ability to expand on the technology that is available in my classroom.  As a part of a process that our district is going through we will be able to purchase some new technology in an effort to improve the knowledge base that our kids are expected to know to pass our state test.  The idea that I can finally purchase some probe ware to work with our data collection devices that we have is extremely exciting to me.  I have been wanting to make better use of this technology for quite a few years now.  Fortunately we will have that chance in the very near future.  I will continue to be a technology junkie and look for ways to add more and more technology, I am just not sure what this will look like or how it will happen.

I would like to have at least 5 more labs that make use of probe-ware in my class. If I could accomplish this I could change my class from being a data collection and graphing class to an analysis of data and interpretation class.  Giving students a chance to check their findings by repeating experiments and confirming or challenging their results is something that would make their process different from anything they have every seen before. 

I would also like to find a way to make good use of web 2.0 tools for my physics class.  They are constantly struggling with how to process the information that they are learning about in class.  Having a blog for them to chat as well as a wiki to find out more detail about physics concepts should make their learning in this class more concrete.

Honestly I missed completing the technology survey during week one so I have nothing to compare answers with.  I do everything on the list at least sometimes, and some items I participate in often.  In reflecting on the experiences on this class, the only changes would have come from internet opportunities that I wasn’t really aware of before. 

week 5 assignment

This week as a part of my masters program we were required to create a demographic of the students technology access.  This podcast describes the demographic profile of the students at the school where I teach.  I was surprised to find out the level of computer and internet penetration that exists at our school.  Whenever we have talked about this most of the teachers in our school have thought that the percentage of students without a computer or internet access was much higher than this survey might indicate.  Hopefully this is truly an indication of the internet accessibility within our school district and we could then use this to better serve our students.

I can't seem to get you to the direct link, but it is close.  From this link, click on the masters program chanell, and then on the technology demographics episode. 

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

There is a lot of information on this website.  One of the things that I do think is interesting about this website is the lack of PE/Health documentation.  We are one of the most obese countries in the world and have a horrible diet as a country.  Now learning how to avoid major health issues as adults apparently isn’t important, so we will be smart obese people who die prematurely because we don’t know how to take care of our bodies.  

One of the things that I did find interesting is the emphasis on things that are not technology related.  I have been trying to make my kids problem solve more and more.  We also work in groups when we do labs and I am trying to make the learning process more collaborative in nature as well.  Motivation is a key issue that is also addressed in this website that our school has been trying to address for the last couple of years.  

One frustration that I have that the politicians, administrators and frankly parents underemphasize is the opinion and support of parents.  Our school district has many things that other schools don’t.  We have 3 computer labs that are designed for classes to visit.  There are about 5 teachers that have at least 10 computers in our rooms.  We are in the process of purchasing one 16 station and one 8 station COW (computers on wheels).  Our entire school has wireless for kids to use on their laptops or phones.  We have spent a bunch of time reviewing and aligning our curriculum, and yet we haven’t addressed the parent support of our school.  I really feel like until our parents tell their kids that school is important and have actions that match their words, our school is not going to significantly change.  This document talks briefly about the support of parents but I think that this area is massively underemphasized.  

I feel like I am already being reflective in nature of trying to find ways to help prepare my kids for the 21^st century, I just need to continue to adapt and improve my technological practices in my class so that the kids can continue to be better prepared for their future.

Here is the link to the website I am talking about:  http://www.p21.org/

Use for my Blog

I teach High School Science, Math and Physical Education.  Right now I actually have an immediate use for a blog that I am going to try as this class progresses.  My students seem to be having a hard time understanding the content in my Physics class, so I have created a blog for them to chat with me and each other to promote discussion about Physics.  The plan would be that they visit this blog when they are frustrated or confused about a topic from class and hope that the discussion that can occur from this will help them to understand the content necessary for them to be successful in my class.  This would be a public forum in hopes that occasionally other people from the world my chime in to help them better understand what they are supposed to know. My hope would be that by discussing the topics with each other as well as anyone else who looks at this blog they will increase their physics comprehension.

My First Post

As a part of my masters degree, I am using this to as a part of the program.  Not sure what content will end up on this blog, but hopefully I will find many uses for it in the future.