CH 2

For this week's chapter, I decided to write about objective one which states: Discuss the development of a pedagogical content knowledge for teaching with technology. TPCK is the body and knowledge that is needed to teach with and about technologies. It is often known as the interconnection and intersection of content, technology and pedagogy.

As described, there are four differnent types of thinking; delcarative, procedural, schematic, and strategic. All these are a way of thinking strategically that involves planning, organizing, critiquing and abstracting for the specific content, specific needs and specific situations. Our beliefs about how you learned the content knowledge is most likely affected by how you learned that content. The challenge for teachers today is to overcome and enhance your prior learning and develop new ways of learning with technology so that they can be prepared to teach their students.

There are many questions that are important to consider when teachers are preparing themselves for teaching: Was it easy for them to do? Do they have TPCK that prepares them for integrating technology as a tool for learning? Have they incoporated the pedagogical reasoning to integrate what they know about their subject, what they know about technology, and what they know about teaching and learning? Have they learned to think strategically about their teaching and technology?

CH. 7

For this week I decided to write about chapter seven, objective five which states: Illustrate the ethical and social considerations that are important in using online communications tools in k-12 classrooms. The internet can extend students work and allow them to conduct research. This creates an opportunity for them to be more productive as well. Also, the internet offers new and interesting communication techniques.

A lot of effort has been placed forward to protect the children from predators and inappropriate web-based resources. A major danger is online chat rooms. Children must be taught to take care of themselves while they are online just as if they are in public places. However, in this care you cant see who you are communicating with, such as chat rooms! There is no way to know who the person is, or why they have entered that chat room. Chat rooms can help students express themselves in writing but, we need to help students understand the dangers of online chatting.

Teachers, as well as parents need to teach their students some simple rules for chatting online. One acronym that is easy to remember is C.H.A.T. which stands for; C-be cautious, H-be willing to ask for help, A-always be alert, T-tell someone if youre unsure about what is happening. It is important to check out chat rooms before allowing students to enter the rooms. There is some important criteria to evaluate such as: Does the chat room have a moderator? Are users' rights to privacy protected? Are the topics open for discussion clearly posted and enforced? Does the chat room promote commercial interests?

CH. 11

For this weeks chapter, I decided to respond to objective #4--Clarify key strategies in an effective demonstration that guides student learning with and about technology in various subject matter areas. Demonstrations are useful strategies when guiding student learning and technology. These demonstrations are usually teacher-centered and the teacher is the one who demonstrates while students assume roles of observers. Teachers can ask their students to follow their verbal instructions; this gives students hands-on work. With this type of strategy students are engaged in thinking about the demonstration and the questions that are posed throughout the demo. The four key steps in effective demonstration are the following: prepare, motivate, demo, and closure.

With these four key steps I know that step 1 requires is very critical and requires lots of effort by educators. There is a lot of preparation. In step 2, the teacher needs to physically and mentally stimulate the students. Step 3 requires observations by students and they must respond to questions that are challenging. In step 4, teachers must explain, extend and evaluate their ideas they explored during class. I know that as a teacher I will need to follow these steps and be able to successfully show smooth transitions. Another important factor with the strategies steps is to always be stimulating their thinking.

For effective demonstration, the biggest constraint is that students disengage easily and questions are very critical to reengage students. Also, this method does not provide a good strategy for introducing technology. However, teachers are told that they need to direct questions toward certain students who will support progression rather than those who have not been paying attention. To me, this seems backwards. How do you engage the students who are NOT paying attention if you are supposed to only ask questions to the ones who ARE paying attention?!

WEEK 8

For this week's chapter I decided to respond to objective #2--Describe teacher's thinking processes as they consider emerging technologies for educational use. Educators must go through a five step process and make a final decision in whether to accept or reject specific technology. Those steps are the following: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation,, and confirmation. The teacher needs to to become aware of the technology and how it works. Then, they will from an attitude towards the innovation. Next, they will engage in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject the innovation. Then, the teacher puts the innovation into use. Finally, a person evaluates the results.

Educators, such as myself, need to make judgments from a professional position that involves investigation of new technologies. There also needs to be ongoing evaluation and reflection about the tool. As a teacher, I understand that when implementing technology into my classroom I will need to question the advancements in at least 6 important areas: cirricular needs in your subject area in the twenty first century, instructional needs in your subject area, student learning, unique capabilities of the new tool, student knowledge, access and management concerns, and finally assessment and evaluation with the new tools.

I know that I will always need to be asking questions such as: can technology be used as a productivity or research tool? Can the technology support learner-centered strategies? Can the technology engage students in important experiences that support learning? What are the tools capabilities? Are there student access issues? What preparation must be provided? How will assessment of students' learning of the subject matter be affected by the incorporation of the new technology?

WEEK 7

For this weeks blog I decided to respond to objective 5, which states; Explain constructivism and how it affects teaching and learning today. Constructivism is a view of learning that encourages an active role of the learner to make sense of information being given to them. This perspective of learning is one of the most popular views of how students learn. Constructivists believe that learners will bring their own experiences and understandings to each new event, which in turn makes them the primary agents in developing their own knowledge. All the learners prior understandings influence how they operate in each new situation. Rather than students receiving information from just the teacher, they use cognitive processes to construct the understandings of new ideas.

As a teacher, I realize that I will be a "guide" rather than a "translator". My classroom needs to be student-centered rather than teacher-centered for appropriate learning to take affect. I also need to create 'new' learning environments that allows students to create their own understandings by discussions, active inquiry-based learning, and critical thinking. According to the text, Edcuators such as myself need to:
Support multiple perspectives
Encourage ownership in learning
Provide social negotiation
Embed learning in complex, realistic environments...
I see my role as scaffolding student's learning experiences using collaborative work and multiple paths to explore all ideas.

After reading this chapter, I was able to reflect on myself as a teacher. I have a couple ideas to use in my classroom that allows the constructivist views of learning, such as the K-W-L charts. However, I want to know what other ways we can assess the students before a unit that allows us to understand the students knowledge of the subject matter and ways that we can base our curriculum around 30 students needs?! How can I, as a teacher, scaffold my lesson plans around the students knowledge when they all may be at such different places?

WEEK 6

For this week's blog I decided to write about objective 5: Identifying social, ethical, and human issues that are important with respect to multimedia. With the ease of illegally copying in todays society it, has increased the need for teachers to teach the students the legal concerns of copying. Teachers must show their students the ethical perspective toward the creators of multimedia. It is extremely to teach our students how to be a literate citizen! We all can practice the legal and social uses of media.

As a teacher, I must be considerate in the needs of diverse learners, their backgrounds, abilities, and their individual characteristics. We must be able to accomodate all the students! We now know that not all children learn the same way, so we must be able to provide a multicultural education that provides opportunities for all students. While using a variety of media and teaching styles we can accomodate all children. The media we teachers are able to use will help the students to be exposed to different cultures.

This chapter seemed to be written very well, full of useful information. However, I still wonder about the cons of using technology while trying to create a more diverse cirriculum. I wonder just HOW big of a role media plays in supporting diversity. Also, how can we as teachers possible keep up with all the new technology? How can a district afford all the best technology with the tight budget they are on? Finally, wht stereotypes does media bring to the surface with students?

Week 5

After studying chapter 13, I decided to blog about objective 5: Outline how performanced based assessments provide accurate evidence of student technology-mediated learning. We now know that performance based assessment are activities where the student's performances of skills meet specidied quality standards. This allows direct observation of what the students know and what they are able to do. This specific type of assessment allows for open ended responses. So, instead of just assessing the product, the teacher's assessment of the students is the process AND product. Observing the process provides the accurate evidence of student technology-mediated learning.

As a teacher, I am able to let my students work as a group on a certain unit while integrating technology an dI can observe my students learning while using technology. The summative evidence with this type of assessment allows me to assess both the process and the product. I really like this type of assessment as a teacher because it allows me to let the students focus on demonstrating their knowlede and skills with the technology (powerpoint) and the subject matter, rather than just answering specific questions. As a teacher this type of assessment means I must have a clear purpose, and observable criteria and of course the appropriate setting.

This assessment really seems to be in the students best interest. Especially for those who dont do well with taking tests. It lets students learn how to work as a team as well. However, I was really interested in how much you grade on the process vs the product and visa versa. Or what if you have a group of kids and one takes complete control while the others just sit there? Do you grade individually or as a group? Is there any keys a teacher should be looking for besides the knowledge, product and perfromance skills? Are we positive a student wont fail at the performance part but knows the product part of the subject matter very well? The book doesnt seem to cover any problems that may occur with this assessment.