Reflective Post

As a future educator, there are many different tools and resources I must master in to be able to give my students all that I can. Since our society is constantly changing with new technologies and areas of interest, teachers must mold their lessons and outlets of teaching with these technologies- as most students are exposed to these technologies and quickly learn to function with them. This course has given me the opportunity to understand these new technology trends and issues, how to design my lessons and use curriculum with technology, the use of educational websites and apps, how to communicate and collaborate with social media, and most importantly, how to integrate technology and creating change as teacher leaders.
What I most appreciated about this course was the hands-on activities that I have already noticed benefiting me in the technology world. As a student, I have been able to enhance the way I communicate via technology. As a future teacher, I cant imagine all that I have at my fingertips now in order to relate, collaborate, illustrate and portray to my students. In this course, I have created my first lesson plan,teacher webpage ,web-quest and wiki- all in the potential hopes of grasping the knowledge of how to use these tools in my own class as the goals of my lessons. I now feel comfortable and as if I have mastered these technology concepts by how I was able to evaluate and critic a website through the courses activity "website review"

In an online course, it can be very easy to become frustrated and confused when trying to grasp new technology without a teacher and classmates around you to aid. However, being this course was based in an on-line classroom, I do not feel as if this has impacted my success in the course at all. Though I believe it would have been beneficial to see an instructor show me the steps in using the technology as I was using them, the learning modules were very clear and helpful throughout all of my questions. I feel this relates solely back to the instructor. Since the instructors knowledge of technology in a technology based course is crucial, and the patience and the availability to communicate and understand set the tone of the class. For that, I thank you. I surely could not have completed this course without you!
I cant begin to explain all that I will take from this course or how much it has benefited me as an individual. One thing that I know, however, is my new appreciative perspective of the teaching career and the impact we have on those placed in our classrooms. In this post I included a picture of my favorite quote from the movie "Dead Poet's Society". I believe this quote illustrates my desire for becoming an English literature educator and I can only hope and prepare for my first day of teaching to be filled with the knowledge and skill I need to give my students the best experience in our world today.

Digital Blog Post f

Chapter 12 discusses integrating technology and creating change as teacher leaders. As this post concludes my blog in this class, I thought this would be a good chapter to cover since it addresses more specifically teachers and technology- and will give me a broad view of my own personal experiences I may encounter. Chapter twelve discusses technology integration, educational change, and professional learning networks as the ingredients teachers need to more successfully infuse technology into classroom instruction and professional work.
The first thing I found interesting in this chapter was how it emphasizes the use of technology most teachers dont get the education and pre-knowledge to master. As a future educator, I must be willing to address the new changes of technology and learn form my past experiences. The textbook describes the technology-using educator can be defined as someone who makes informed choices with technology- I could use this advice by only using technology for whenever it has the potential to increase student involvement, and not so much for when I have low classroom activity. Secondly, the technology-using educator explores technology. I could take this into affect by allowing my students the availability to see technology in all of its worth- the good and bad. This will help develop informed students as well as critics in the education world. Lastly, the technology-using teacher promotes change. I see this as simply being a change in perspective, as we must not change with the world for our own good, but to rather blossom with it.
Another topic I found interesting was stages of technology integration. I was interested in learning what stage I am in right now as a student and the potential stages I could grow into as an educator. According to the text and my own opinion, I am in the "adaptation" stage. This stage refers to, if I was an educator already, teachers fully integrating new technology into traditional classroom practices. At the adaptation stage, a teacher is using technology regularly as a part of teaching. I feel the main reason I am at this stage already is solely due to the generation I was born into, as it seemed the beginning of the technology transfer.

Digital Blog Post E

For this blog, I chose to write about the concepts delivered in chapter 9- expressing creativity with multimedia and technologies. Chapter 9 focuses on presenting and sharing information through the use of multimedia and digital technologies. presentation software, commercially made and hand crafted videos, digital cameras, movie making software, and podcasts/video-casts offer ways for teachers and students to express themselves creatively across the curriculum. I thought this was a very important chapter to cover as these resources will be used throughout my teaching career and I will be able to apply what I have seen in my current classes as a student to what I wish to do as a teacher.

I wanted to explore PowerPoint and the next generation tools as this will most likely be my backbone to my classroom lectures. PowerPoint has been used by many teachers, of all grade levels and subjects, to aid in the classroom for many years. For teachers, who must continually present information to students in ways that will engage and inspire, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of PowerPoint is essential. By loading text, data and images into PowerPoint, teachers can produce slides for visual information displays featuring colorful graphics, pop up or slide in windows. and other attention getting techniques. As a student, I can see and remember the ways my past teachers have used PowerPoint.
What I found most interesting about PowerPoint was Tutte's critique of the technology. Theorist Edward Tutte argued that PowerPoint didn't in fact benefit teachers, but instead weakened them. He describes the advantages and disadvantages of this tool, Although I agree with some of his arguement, I think we must be able to expand our world and open up to the technologies our society has given to us. As teachers, it is our job to create a classroom environment that engages our students through technology, but leading them down that path with our past goals in mind.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog post D

Throughout this course, I have learned a great deal about communicating with students and interacting with them using technology. While studying chapter 8, I learned more ways I could have a relationship with my students through social media such as email and text messaging, teacher or classroom websites, blogs, online discussions and wikis. All these routes of communication seem to be able to match at least one grade level and can connect us to technology ti share ideas and information with different audiences for different educational purposes- which I believe makes them more credible. For a high school level English class, however, I can see myself mostly working with email (text messaging can easily get out of hand) and teacher or classroom websites. Through these websites, I can communicate information about myself, expectations in the class, due dates and post a discussion where my students can feel free to post and ask/answer questions.
I also enjoyed learning more about creating wiki's in the classroom. I thought this was an interesting topic since we have just finished completing our first wiki in this course. I can see myself easily going the route of guiding my students through a wiki and letting them take the lead in their own group project. If I were to assign my students into groups with an analytical essay of a literature feature to complete- (i.e poem, Author, story, etc. ), I would be able to see my students grasp the hold of technology as a tool, provoke teamwork among themselves, and view the participation levels of my students.
Lastly, I learned a great way to be "there" for my students is to hold online office hours. This time would be dedicated for when  I can answer student questions and discuss class assignments electronically. I figure I could direct my communication mostly through email- as it can be quickly responded to and students have the confidentiality and privacy they desire. Though there are some drawbacks to the idea of having online office hours, I can manage my online office by using password protected sites, allow myself multiple email accounts to manage professional email with personal and maintain a archival record of communications with students and families.
http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/comics/9ZCVQ1/

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

powtoon for digital blog post c

Digital Blog post C

In association to Bloom's Taxonomy, there are two different types of thinking that has been discovered, ranging from basic recall to to interpretation of information. These are called "lower-order thinking" and "higher-order thinking". These levels can be described from lowest to highest by "remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating.
I appreciated learning about this topic, as this rule can be used to determine the thinking strategy I will be allowing my students to take on. In an English classroom, simply asking my students to memorize the definitions of vocabulary words would only be requesting they use lower- order thinking. To me, I think higher- order thinking would be more valuable in showing comprehension in an English class. To do this, I would have to ask my students to create poems, read and analyze books. Games and apps would be helpful in my classroom to achieve higher-order thinking as well. As the teacher, however, I would have to personally make sure that the games help the students to motivate them to learn more, be able to balance this time with lectures to make sure my students receive the proper information and learn how to use these games and apps along with my students.

I have always been very interested in learning about the real ways teachers have used technology to deliver types of problem solving and inquiry- learning software. I would love to see how each grade level and subject has software that aids in the classroom, and to review how each one energizes the students in it's own way.
I learned from the text that there is composing and calculating software available for student's disposal. I remember being in high school and using these tools- ranging from Microsoft word and excel. This seemed to be beneficial to students in an English or Math class, as these subjects are core parts of every school curriculum and require the student's mastery. I also learned how Google Earth could be beneficial in an English class, as the text's example of guiding students around the world using this tool to discover the places where action in a novel occurs. This example hit home to me, and inspired me to think of many other ways I could use Google Earth in my class and expresses just how much technology helps to aid in student's comprehension.

Lastly, it was interesting for me to learn how there are now Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) available to students. This aid allows students to answer questions as the computer records their responses and then calculates the proper questions to ask in order to help the student in the areas they most need it. I liked this concept since it allows one- on- one learning and can give students a taste of the technology world if they incorporate this idea into elementary classes. With our growing world, we are mostly an education of computer- based testing, which the ITS can help students practice for as well. Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post B

Reading throughout chapter 2, there are many concepts discussed to better help students understand educational technology issues and trends. As a potential English Literature teacher, I learned about a poetry app that would be perfect for my high school English classroom that would both engage my students and aid in my lessons. In today's era, apps help students and teachers be readily connected to sources on specific topics when questions or curiosities arise. If I were to request my students to find a poem that hits home to them on a variety of emotions, this app may make the difference on their search.
I also found interesting reading about how teachers are responding to innovation and change, I would describe myself as an early adopter in relation to other teachers on a technology innovation use scale. I think the difference between the teachers who readily embrace the new era of technology in their classrooms compared to those who are lagging and resisting change is solely due to how they were brought up and the way their foundation of their teaching was formed. Lastly, I enjoyed reading about the critics of technology in schools. With schools holding a strong reputation of not been using much technology and working just fine, there are many skeptics and those who do not believe it will impact much of the school day. I thought this was an interesting outlook as to how there are so many of us who push technology in the school system compared to those who do not. For example, with the critics who believe that the role technology places in student's lives has a negative effect as to them not having as much time reading and doing "school activities", I believe this idea can be challenged by working around the skeptical viewpoint and actually integrating technology into the student's readings. Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Coleman, M (2016, February 7) Responding to Innovation and Change, Rogers Innovation Curve. Created with https://bubbl.us/mindmap