My Beliefs

As a teacher I think that my classroom will be a lot more enjoyable, effective and well managed if I use technology within my teaching style. I have so many ideas and plans for the future that will take this technology driven generation and show them how to incorporate writing, reading and communication into their lives effectively.

Kids love their phones and trying to keep them from using their phones in class is one of the hardest parts of classroom management. Why not create assignments that let them use their phones and the apps that are on them for educational purposes. This would mean that they could learn more about apps that are educational and we can get them to get more involved in writing, reading and researching on their 3G networks. I would really love to do journal entries via text messaging once in a while. I think the kids would have fun with that.

I hope that I can find fun and educational ways to use all of the skills that I have learned in this instructional media class this semester. I truly want to take advantage of technology and do whatever I can to get my students more involved in literature, poetry, reading and writing. If I can get every kind of learning style involved by using technology, than that is something I am going to take seriously so that I can have the most effective learning environment in my classroom that I can possibly have.

Lessons Learned

Out of all the readings, tests and videos my favorite one was "Did you know?" The information and music was so intense and interesting to read. I really think that I am going to use that clip for a lesson plan to show how important technology, reading, writing and education is for my students to be successful in the future. I can not imagine all of those statistics coming true in the future. Information and technology are circulating and progressing so fast. It is our responsibility to prepare our students for these changes.

I really enjoyed taking the UNI technology competency tests. I think that it is good to know where we stand, as teachers, with our skills and the technology in our classrooms. Now that I know what I am capable of and what I need to work on, it will only sets me in the right direction to be an even better teacher who has more skills to improve my classroom learning environment.

It is really important that all teachers are familiar with and use the NET standards in their classrooms. I think that it is true that education is moving more towards classrooms that are technologically driven. With that said, teachers need to start educating themselves to be able to keep up with the fast pass speed of technology because their students will be learning these skills at a young age and we have to keep up with them so that we can harness their skills to work for them in their educational experience. I think we should use these NET standards along with our State Core Curriculum standards and objectives in my personal opinion.

Strengths and Weaknesses

After reading, testing and watching the videos for this assignment, I have realized that I have many strengths and weaknesses that I can work on when it comes to integrating technology into my lesson plans and classroom. The information that was given to me for this assignment has really opened my mind to how important it is to use technology and how this new generation of student will respond best to technology and assignments that use technology to incorporate or present the old information in a new way. My strengths are in researching information and finding credible sources, knowing the basics of computers, and communicating through technology. Like my students, I am addicted to constant communication through phone calls, text messaging, social networking and emailing. I have those skills down for sure!

I think that my goals will be to learn more computer programs thoroughly enough that I can design awesome assignments that my students can benefit from. I need to be comfortable enough with the programs that I can teacher the terminology and functions well enough for my students to turn around, take the information I have given them, and then use the software for their projects and assignments. My goal to integrate more technology in my classroom will be to create more assignments that involve using word processors, emails, text messages and blogging to turn in writing assignments. I have also been planning on using programs like powerpoint, picassa and photostory to create performance assessments for poetry units, novels and other English assignments. I think it would be awesome to have my students write in their journals one day and then text message me them on other days. That way they can text their entries to my email giving them a change up from writing these entries with paper and pencil. Just a fun idea.

I have already been looking on UEN for free credit hours I can take after I am a contract teacher. The teacher that I co-teach with right now has been looking them over with me and we are going to take a couple technology classes together. Under the Professional Development Course Catalog on the UEN website teachers can find many options to enhance their technical education. The classes I am interested in taking are: Advanced Powerpoint, Create Online Media, Create Online Video Tutorials/Screencasts, Digital Camera in the Classroom, and Digital Video Projects (UEN Classes). We have covered a lot of these techniques and information, but I think it would be cool to dig even deeper and get more ideas on how to use technology in the classroom. These free college credit classes will not only help me with my teaching but will move me towards a lane change on my salary schedule as a teacher. SCORE!!!!

Digital Cameras and Picassa

What?-
This week we discussed using digital cameras and picassa for our classes. Doc Waters also introduced the scavenger hunt around campus. This scavenger hung has us using digital cameras to take specific pictures and then alter them on picassa as directed.

So What?-
I liked learning how to use picassa because I think that I will have my students use it a lot when I assign them specific visual/technology assignments for class. I am really a fan of performance assessments and I know that using digital cameras and picassa will really come in handy for my students to use for these assessment. Another cool thing about using digital cameras and picassa is that I want to do a lot of photography with my Women's basketball team and classes so that they can remember moments in class and throughout their high school experience. I honestly think that these are two skills that I really need for the classroom and skills I need to teach my students so that we can make our classroom come alive on our website and visually in the the classroom.

Now What?-
I love classrooms that have pictures that document the progress of the class throughout the year. I want to take pictures so that I can document my classes on my walls. I will even have my students take the cameras and edit the pictures so that they can get more involved and it can be a classroom effort. These skills are going to be taught to all my students because they will be used in so many of my assignments and performance assessments. I think that teaching with technology will hopefully influence other teachers in the English department to get creative with their reading and writing assignments. I already have a digital story performance assessment in the making for my student teaching because it will go perfectly with my poetry unit! Can't wait!

Internet Safety

What?-
This week we did an in class assignment on Internet safety. We discussed Internet safety that included topics such as Internet bullying, sexting and other cyber ethics. We also were briefly introduced to a future assignment that will have us produce our own cyber ethics pamphlet.

So What?-
I feel as though this was a very important subject to cover in our class because so much of education is handled and produced through the Internet and using computers. We need to set boundaries and rules for our students so that we can avoid problems and inappropriate behavior on the Internet. I feel like creating a pamphlet for our students and their parents will be very beneficial when it comes to future lab visits. If students know their boundaries and expectations while in the lab, than they cannot pull any excuses on breaking these boundaries and expectations that have been set before hand.

Now What?-
One of my biggest worries as a rookie educator is classroom management and discipline. It is hard to go from a free college classroom to a restricted high school classroom because I just naturally think that students can make good decisions because as college students we are mature and independent... I realize now, after being back in the high school scene, that high school students usually cannot make good decisions on their own. Therefore, since I will be forced to enforce strict rules and babysit my students every decision, I think that thinking through my cyber ethics and lab rules will also set standards for myself as the teacher to follow and only help me to realize how much I need to be alert. Another advantage to having set standards is that it will make our time in the computer lab more productive. If my students spend less time off track and have guidelines to keep them on track during our lab hours, it is only going to make them more effective workers. Even though I am in the classroom now co-teaching, I know that I still need to develop my own classroom rules and management techniques, this is one of the assignments I know I will continue to use and build on throughout my career and those are the assignments I value most.

Digital Stories

What?-
Dave and I dicussed and did some final adjustments to our script and plan for our digital stories. We didn't meet in class, but worked together through email and google documents.

So What?-
Learning how to put together a digital story is going to improve my teaching so much. I have all these ideas for future units and lesson plans, and now that I can create digital stories, I feel like my ideas are going to be supported so much more effectively for my visual learners. Teaching Enlgish is exciting because we get to read and discuss emotional topics. Digital stories are going to compliment these texts so well and make for an even more successful learning experience for all types of learners in my classes. I really think that I will use digital stories the most in my poetry units because imagery is such a huge element of poetry and being able to make those images come alive for my students is going to be such an awesome special effect and learning tool.

Now what?-
I am pretty set on having one fo my assessments for my classes be a digital story performance assessment. I really want to have my students create digital stories in small groups so that they can show what they got out of a novel, poetry or unit by creating a interesting digital story. This will not only help them to show their knowledge, but they will work on communication and group skills as well. I co-teach right now and students really love creating any kind of presentation in the computer lab. I feel like digital stories are so much more interactive and fun than a powerpoint or slide show so my kids will really love the assignment. Now that I have learned how to use the softwear, it will be that much easier to guide my students through a fun and creative assessment. I really just want to do my best to teach as many different kinds of discourse in my classroom, and technology is a huge tool for discourse in our present culture. Another great thing about this assignment has been bouncing ideas off of Dave. He is going to be a great teacher and we have a lot of the same interests within the English content. I hope to keep in contact with him throughout our careers because he will be such a great friend and influence in my career.

Copyright Response

What?

This week we learned about copyright laws and options. This assignment was a group assignment and we all studied a certain topic about copyright and then shared the information.

So What?

This is a very important lesson for future teachers because we will be dealing with a lot of information when we are teaching in our classes, and we need to know how to properly and rightfully present the information we use. Copyright and plagiarism is a very serious situation when it comes to presenting and using information that is not ours. As teachers we need to show our students how to give credit to the source and present information without breaking laws. Knowing correct copyright laws is crucial to presenting efficiently and safely in our classrooms.

Now What?

I know that learning all of this copyright information is going to change my teaching dramatically because I will have to be more efficient in citing my sources and information when presenting it, as well as making sure that I have credible sources. Making sure that I cite things correctly and do not break any laws will take a lot more time than just throwing slides and information together without working about copyright. This will be a pain in the ass, but in the end it will be a lot more beneficial and safe for my classroom. Teaching by example is one of the best ways to teach, and if my students can see me citing and presenting information correctly hopefully it will carry over for them.

Vidcast Response

Dave and I decided to name our vidcast Grammarville Animated Grammar Lesson Series One: Comma Rules. We named it this because our series will be covering grammar rules for our future English classes. Our series will continue on to cover all of our grammar rules throughout the school year by using creative characters and dialogue to intrigue our students in our classrooms. The state core curriculum that our vidcast will fall under is:

Objective 3
(Revision and Editing): Revise and edit to strengthen ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.

• Correct use of commas to set off appositives.

We chose to do our vidcast with the theme/topic of grammar because students tend to find grammar boring and lose focus and motivation while learning it. We hope that this will be a new and entertaining way to learn grammar rules and concepts by creating silly characters and dialogue to view in our classes. We really focused on making it entertaining, but yet very beneficial to our students. Hopefully students will pay attention and it will simplify grammar for them throughout the school year.

This vidcast would fit into the INSTASC Standards: 1. Discipline Knowledge, 2. Developmental Knowledge, 3. Instructional Adaptability, 4. Instructional Variety, and 7. Instructional Planning. All of these INSTASC Standards cover being knowledgeable about your content and curriculum; while finding creative and a variety of ways to present and teach them. Our vidcast shows variety and our knowledge on the subject of grammar and comma usage. This assignment also covers all of the NET standards, which are: NETS S:The skills and knowledge students need to learn effectively and live productively in a digital world., NETS T:The skills and knowledge educators need to change the way they teach, the way they work, and the way they learn in an increasingly connected global and digital society., and NETS A:The skills and knowledge school administrators and leaders need to lead and sustain a culture that supports digital-age learning, builds a vision for technology infusion, and transforms the instructional landscape. Our vidcast uses all these NET standards and teaches students in a digital environment. This assignment really challenged us as future teachers, because it forced us to use the digital world to teach a grammar lesson. This makes us even more marketable and valuable as teachers because students today are so involved and active in digital environments.

I really plan on using this series in my future classroom. I truly believe that it will be an effective and fun way for students to interact with grammar and hopefully it will keep them focused and entertained as well. The only problem I see with using the series is the time it will take to create more grammar lessons. Making this vidcast was incredibly time consuming and difficult; I can only hope it gets easier with time. If I can make creating these vidcasts a quicker process now that I have one made, I truly think that it would be a huge asset to my teaching and classroom.

WEEK 6: Vidcasts

What?-

This week in class we were instructed on how to create a vidcast of for our classes. Dave and I got to brainstorm during class time and create our plan of attack to complete this assignment. Our cooperating teacher wants us to create a grammar vidcast dealing with coma rules. We are going to create the most bad ass vidcast and of course it will be funny.

So What?-

This vidcast training is going to be an awesome addition to my teaching style. I am excited to create our vidcast and mess around with all of the technical dynamics of it so that I can create more vidcasts in the future. Grammar is pretty lame to learn and even teach sometimes, so I think that making entertaining vidcasts will really help my classes and I get through some of the technical parts or writing. I also think that my colleagues can benefit from my vidcasts because I can share them with them or visa versa if they create great lesson plans and grammar exercises too. Sharing lesson plans and ideas is something that I am excited to do as a new teacher. I find it so interesting to see how other teachers teach certain parts of the curriculum because I can gather or build off of their ideas. I also think vidcasts will be something that makes me valuable as a new teacher because it will be able to tap into so many different kinds of students and learning styles.

Now What?-

I know that students these days are very big on technology and media in their personal and learning lives. They will love vidcasts in my classroom, I know it! I am truly so excited to get in the classroom and I feel that learning all of this technology that I can use in my classroom makes me that much more confident that I will be a great teacher. I observe a lot of teachers at the school I work at, and I always find it so interesting to see how much more involved in learning the students are in the classrooms that have technology used in them in some way, shape or form. Students love youtube.com and teachers that use their students interest in youtube.com as an advantage in their classroom really get a great reception from their students. I hope to help teachers in my English department at my future school use more technology in their lesson plans because I think that students will love our style and we will have more students getting involved in reading and writing. I really am just pumped to finally get to work and teach!

WEEK 5: Podcasts

WHAT?-

This week Dave and I got to make a podcast for our future classes. We chose to do it on smoking and smokeless tobacco to inform our students of the dangers and risks of these products.

SO WHAT?-

I think that learning to make a podcast is going to be a fun and effective tool for me to use in the future; especially on the webpage I am making for my classes. Dave and I had so much fun writing the script and recording it for our pages. In English classes our kids do so much reading, I think that any kind of language, written or verbal, is effective. Podcasts are very popular with this new generation of learners and I am excited to know how to create and manage my own podcasts. Technology is very receptive with high school students and if I can make my podcasts entertaining and informative, I think that they will be a big hit in the future for me as a teacher.

NOW WHAT?-

I think that I will give homework assignments using podcasts. This way my students will have my voice recorded and they can listen to the assignment and instructions over and over again if they need it repeated. I think that writing an assignment down is one way to instruct the curriculum, but even giving it verbally can be an effective learning and teaching strategy as well. I also think that I will have students do mini lessons and record them so that after they present they can be on my classroom website to be replayed and reviewed by all the students. I really think that podcasts can be an great and entertaining way to share and record information. I am excited about using podcasts in my future as a teacher.

Week 4: UEN

After exploring and using the UEN website, I think adding its options to my classroom google site will really benefit me as a teacher. I have realized that the UEN website has a lot to offer my future classroom and students. I love that the core curriculum is right at my students, their parents and my fingertips. Following the core curriculum is a very important asset to my teaching methods and I know that I will refer to it a lot on my web page. UEN has so many options for research as well, and I love that. Since research and information is such an essential part of my core curriculum, I know that we will be using UEN a lot so my students can find reliable sources.

Another great thing about the UEN website is that they have lesson plans I can refer to for ideas and use for teaching. Sometimes it is nice to compare ideas or build from other teachers lesson plans and teaching methods. I usually look over lesson plans and don't like them completely, but I can find a few great ideas to apply to my personal lesson plans. This is a really good resource, especially for a new teacher like me. The lesson plans are really useful too because they apply to utah state core curriculum.

I absolutely love the interactives because they have grammar, vocabulary and spelling games that my students can play. A lot of high school students need these kind of visual games to use because grammar is such a hated trade for students. I hope to use a lot of online grammar, vocabulary and spelling quizzes for my classes because the visual and technology helps a little with making it a little more of an enjoyable activity. Kids seriously hate this part of my core and I will be honest, when the kids hate it isn't the most fun to teach. Hopefully the interatives from the UEN site can make it a little more bearable.

Pioneer library is a pretty cool option that UEN offers teachers. It actually found some interesting things while exploring this part of the assignment. I am totally going to SIRS over Google for research for my students when we research. I love how it targets their learning level for the information they are searching for. It is true that a lot of information on the Google is beyond their learning level and they have a good chance of using a website or information that is not as reliable of a source as the the sources they can find in the Pioneer Library. Even thought I wasn't pumped about UEN because of comments I have heard about it; I am extremely surprise with how much of it I will apply to my teaching and classrooms. I am overall pleased with the part of UEN this assignment covered.

Week 2

What?

This week we learned how to use different options that google has to offer. I really think that google docs and google sites will be a huge tool in my classroom in the future. One of our first big assignments was introduced and this week we are creating our rough draft of the letter we will send to a faculty member at a local school. In this letter Dave and I will be asking them if we can create a podcast for their classroom.

So what?

Learning about all these google options is going to give me so many awesome tools as a teacher. A lot of students are technology driven and having them use computers and google programs will hopefully catch an interest. Being able to run these programs as a teacher will make it easier for students to learn digitally and I think it will really improve the motivation in any modern classroom.

Also, I really liked the idea of having them use google docs to collaborate online with their classmates. High school kids would really eat that assignment up, being that they are always texting and using instant messengers on their free time anyway. Why not include these hobbies in our education and have kids enjoy online working environments? I am already thinking of fun activities and assignments I can create to take advantage of what I am learning in instructional media.

Now what?

I honestly think that using google docs, sites and even the calendar will make me a more efficient and responsible teacher. If I can keep my calendar up to date it will be easier to not only direct my students with an agenda, but also help my colleagues and I track what I have been doing in my classroom throughout the year. These programs will minimize the amount of paper and supplies I will have to use in my classroom, while also making grading and assignment management easier. Organization can be one of the hardest and most time consuming responsibilities as a teacher; I am hoping that learning how to use these programs properly and thoroughly will help to cut this time down and leave me more time for lesson plans and individual work with students.

Learning all these new strategies for teaching has really opened my eyes to new ideas and options as a teacher. I honestly cannot wait to exercise these new tools in my classroom and hopefully they will catch my students interest in my English class by using modern technology and digital learning to motivate them to read and write. English is a subject that a lot of kids do not enjoy because it is challenging and considered boring, I will take advantage of any skill or strategy to spice up my subject and classroom!

Week 1- Introduction

I find one of the most interesting things to observe about a teacher is how they choose to create their learing environment with aesthetics in their classroom. As a student myself, the classrooms and teachers I remember the most are the teachers who had the most intriguing and aestheic classroom environments. I have a photographic and visual personality, so aesthetics play a huge role in my teaching and learning style. Being that I will be a language arts teacher a.k.a. a English teacher, I will not only cover language arts, but also other types of art. Every era of writing is accompanied by an era of art. Art and literature have always played very well together and I plan on touching base on a lot of artists that play a huge role in history with the writers we will be studying in my classroom. I have already started collecting posters of classical, modern, renaissance, and contemporary artists. I want my room to say something through all creative influences, whether that be art, quotes, lyrics, poetry or even my wall for student graffiti. High school students can have trouble getting into reading and writing, but if I can find a way to bring the classic into the present, hopefully I can intrigue the modern day high school student to find interest in where our present lyrics, literature and art has come from.

Another huge part of my teaching style is discussion and debate. Literature and writing is always up for debate and translation, and my students will practice and use the theory of reader-response daily. In order to create this learning enviornment with my classroom layout; I will have to set my desks up in an arrangement to influence this type of learning. My plans for this are, if possible, to create a circle of desks or have two sections face one another. For example, if I cannot have circlular seating than I will have one half of the room faceing the other half and vice-a-versa. There will be a aisle for me to walk down between the two sections as well, this aisle will be available so that I can walk up and down it during discussion and observation. My goal is to have the students see one another and learn from not only me, but their classmates.