Reflections on Technology in the Classroom

Importance of Technology in the Classroom:

- Having technology in the classroom is very important. Everyday there are new technology advancements being made and if the teachers are not up to date with the current technology, they may just find the students controlling them. The teacher should know and be prepared for the students and as well as to prepare them for the future. Technology has a great importance in the classroom because we are now living in the future and this generation is all about technology.

Benefits:

-There are many benefits that technology brings in the classroom. For example the following are just a few examples:
- makes learning more fun
- opens up a wide variety of teaching strategies
- students become more willing to participate
- all students can engage in the activities
- computers and smartboards make it interactive
- Students learn better visually than listening all the time
- makes teaching a lot easier for teachers: quizzes, flyers, concept maps, documentaries, etc.



Challenges:

-There are also some challenges that may erupt with having technology in the classroom, for example the following:
- copyright issues
- technical problems
- learning the process and material thoroughly
- knowing how to use the program
- how to effectively use it for the lesson
- how to meet standards
-students having difficulty


Reflections:

- Overall there are many lessons that I will take with me after I leave this class. I have learned so much in this class and am very grateful to have had this class. I feel a lot more comfortable with technology now and I think Ms. Mislevy did an amazing job at effectively teaching us and preparing us for the classroom. I will remember to take copyright seriously. I will use smartboard in my lessons. I learned that using boxes for quiz formatting makes grading a lot easier. I learned that technology can be used in so many ways in the classroom, greater than I expected. The material I learned in this class will benefit me in so many ways in the coming years and I am happy to have taken this.

Copyright

  Discuss copyright for teachers. What surprised you? What ways have you observed copyright laws being violated in schools (no names, please. Just examples)? How about violations outside of the school environment? Is it your job to teach copyright respect to your students? How can you do this?

Copyright is a serious matter and many things regarding copyright had surprised me. For example,  here are the following things that surprised me about copyright:

• When the rapper made his version of the song 'Pretty Woman' he won the case because he had an absolutely different audience.
• That movies cannot be shown in schools without having a liscense and such only if it relates to the class 
• That unpublished work has a copyright term of the life of the author plus 70 yrs.

I have also many times have seen copyright laws being violated in schools:

• Teachers would show random popular movies right before winter break or spring break and the movies have nothing to do with the curriculum.
• I have had teachers make copies of chapters from books just to save money or the trouble of having to buy them.

Good and Bad electronic portfolios

good portfolio- http://www.kzoo.edu/pfolio/archive/example/jenks/home.htm
-This portfolio would be considered good because it has many colors and the design is very neat and organized as well as appealing. This portfolio looks like there was effort put into it. It also looks quite professional rather than having inappropriate pictures and such.
bad portfolio-  http://www.cesa8.k12.wi.us/teares/math/it/samplePort/JAMES/Jim%27s%20Index.htm
-This portfolio would be considered bad because the organization and set up is quite off. The colors are not very appealing and the the little character in the corner does not fit in well with the portfolio. This does not seem profession nor does it catch the eye.

Scenario: Video Project in my Classroom

Video Project Lesson

Content Area- Artists and style periods
Project- Students will create a short video with group members to re-enact the life of an artist from a particular art period. Students will have to research the lifestyle, culture, and politics during that time and also research the artist they are trying to portray. A research paper will be required from each student along with the video.
Age- 10th-12th grade

Preparations:

1.  Students will be assigned groups to work with
2. Students will have to borrow cameras from the media classroom and learn how to use the camera
3. Use 2 class periods to inform students how to use moviemaker
4. Have students get a storyline ready on the worksheet provided
5. Students should draw out scenes and write what will occur in each scene. Students should also include the dialogue and props on the worksheet.
6. Have students go to the library for one class and research their artist and the art period in which they were in.
7. Once Teacher has approved the storyline and has seen that students can appropriately handle camera have students look up video shooting tips
8. Students should then be able to begin shooting on school location during class time
9. Students may also shoot out of class time, but will have to check out the camera from the teacher
10. Students will be given a week and a half to finish shooting.
11. Once all groups have completed they will then begin the process on moviemaker
12. After all editing is done during class time students will then hand in their research papers
13. All students will then watch every group's video and give feedback and comments

Challenges

• having enough time for students to learn moviemaker
• responsibilities of cameras
• not many locations that can be used appropriately for filming
• some group members not getting a long

I think overall this video project would be very successful because its something fun and students can be very creative with their artists that each group has chosen, since they will be older highschool students not as many challenges should be present.

Group Video Project

Things that Worked Well

• angle perspectives
• music in background
• location
• keeping everything minimal
• no dialogue
• breaking up the scenes

Things that Could have been improved

• Lighting
• more than one background music
• more humor
• better camera zooming
• more visual interest

If I were to do this project again I would do many things differently. I would make sure we had a lot of practice before actually beginning the shooting. I would also make sure we get in all the scenes we want included. In the project that we did I know that we had to cut out a lot of scenes due to the requirement of the video being from 60-90 seconds. I would also maybe think of having some dialogue next time to keep the interest going throughout the video. I have taken with me many skills from completing this project. Here are some of the following skills I have learned from the project:

• how to shoot several scenes
• how to include music into scenes
• how to use moviemaker
• how to edit scenes
• how to include credits
• how to condense a scene

How to find a book in the Library EDU350 Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8RcBsREo-w&feature=channel_video_title

Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are a great benefit to the classroom in many ways. I believe they enhance teaching and learning in numerous way. Here are some of the following ways they enhance it:

• collaborative way for all students to participate
• It is an active way for students to learn and generate ideas.
• Its a new way to present material to the class
• its a tool that can be integrated into any subject material
• It is great for visual learning and tactile learning
• Teachers can get very creative with communicating the material

I did not think the technology was very difficult to use. I was quite intimidated in the beginning when we were first introduced to it, but then i realized how easy it really was to use. I think it was easy to use because it reminded a lot of something familiar I've used which is  power point, but its a step up from it and a lot more fun to use. There are so many creative ways the interactive whiteboard can communicate and present lessons.
There are many benefits to having the interactive whiteboard installed in the classroom:

•  lessons could include something to hear and see using videos and listening graphics
• go on  field trips around the world by viewing documentaries
•  geographical maps can be zoomed in
• internet interaction can also be used while using the whiteboard
•  student projects can be displayed on the whiteboard.
• substitute teachers can just open it up and see what the lesson will be on for that day

The benefits are numerous and this list can go on and on and on, but there are also a few disadvantages or not so favorable things:

• quite costly for many schools
• a takes a bit of training for teachers and others to learn the different aspects of it
• it requires a bit of maintenance 
• doesn't accommodate well to individual needs of some students
• Some teachers like to move around the classroom and might find it distracting
• It can create a glare for students.

The Smartboard could have also have been used on some of the lessons i previously taught, but since I didn't know how to use a Smartboard at that time I didn't use it. Here are some of the lessons I had and how I could have incorporated Smartboard in the lesson:

• I taught a lesson on the phases of the moon- i could have used a matching game for them to link the name of the phase with the picture and also use the shadow slide to cover and reveal the answers.
• I taught a lesson on right, acute, and obtuse angles- I could have the students move the line to form each angles, I could also have them make one on their own
• I had a lesson on Chinese watercolor lanterns- I could have them watch a small documentary on lanterns and then try drawing the chinese symbols on the smartboard.

There are so many benefits to the interactive Smartboard, but there are very few disadvantages because for the most part the benefits outweigh the cons.