Chapter 7 Reading Reflection

1. I chose learning objective 2- Explain how email, discussion boards, and list servers are similar and yet different. Email, Discussion boards and list servers are all similar because they all use the internet to communicate with the world. Emailing lets you create a message and send it to just one or as many people as you want. When you post something on a discussion board it is there for numerous people to read and its not as personal. Listserv is similar to discussion boards but a little more private. Messages that are sent cannot be read by everyone, just the specific people on the mailing list.

2. Is listserv still used?

3. For a class project I could encorporate a discussion board. As a class we could post some thoughts and see how others respond.

Chapter 10 Reading Reflection

I chose reading objective 4- Differentiate blogs from diaries and traditional journals and ways they can be used to guide student learning. Blogs are a relatively new technology compared to journals. Blogs give you the chance to put something out on the internet instead of on paper for people to read. With blogs you can get a response a lot faster than on paper. Blogs give students a chance to be creative and it makes it easier for them to say what they want to because its on a computer instead of a in front of a class.

If you were to do a classroom blog how would you keep things appropriate? It is easy for students to say inappropriate things when they are behind a computer screen instead of in front of people.

I think that blogs are a great thing to use to guide student learning. This is the first class that I have used a blog for assignments and I enjoy it. If my students are old enough and it is appropriate I will have them blog.

Chapter 11 Reading Reflection

I chose learning objective 2. One positive thing about the direct instruction model is that the teacher can explain everything at one time instead of individually to each student. It gives the teacher confidence that they explained the basic instruction to everyone. The structured practice phase of direct instruction gives the students a chance to practice themselves. This phase would be good for "hands on" learners. I believe that a constraint on the direct instruction model is that it doesn't give students a chance to be creative. It doesn't give them a chance to figure out how something works because the teacher is telling and showing them how it works.

Question: Under the direct instruction model the students are presented of how a concept or skill works. How would a teacher catch a student up that missed the lesson without going through the whole presentation again?

Before reading this chapter I never knew that there were this many ways to give instructions. I can use this different ways in my classroom for different lessons. Each one has its own purposes and having a choice of which one to use will only make me a better teacher.

Chapter 3 Reading Reflection

I chose learning objective 1- Discuss the Information Age of the twenty-first century and identify what knowledge is worth knowing. The way we learn has changed immensely over the last 100 years. What students learn now is more challenging and better prepares them for their future. The information age changed what people were required to know because of technology. Technology gets more complex there for learning has to be expanded. “The knowledge worth knowing in the twenty-first century, a century marked by easy access to information, includes critical thinking, problem solving and decision making”. (p.40) These are some key points that are focus on currently due to our change in technology.

This chapter focuses on a lot of things that teachers can skip over and things that don’t need to be taught anymore. I believe that a lot of the basic things that were taught many years ago are still taught today correct?

I need to be open and continually learning new things as a teacher. In the book it talked about how teachers are required to know far more to teach than they needed to know a century ago. I am nervous about being a teacher because there is so much to learn in our world. I’m afraid to be confronted with a question from a student that I do not know the answer to.

Chapter 8 Reading Reflection

I chose learning objective number 3. The preproduction phase gives students a chance to brainstorm key ideas. Making a story board in the preproduction phase is a good idea. Students can put together their ideas, practice using equipment and obtain props ect. During the production phase students collect footage while video taping with the thought in mind that they can go back and edit. Once finished editing students should put final touches together and publish the production. At last there is the postproduction phase. Students will assess their production, practice the presentation and consider if they need to distribute their work further.

How do you do a media based project in a classroom if your school doesn't have the money to afford more than one computer per classroom? It would be a long project if everyone had to take turns.

All of these phases of planning will be so helpful in a classroom situation. I didn't realize how much a preproduction phase can help children until I read about it. It will give my students a chance to think outside of the box and ask questions instead of jumping right into a project with confusion.

Chapter 13 Reading Reflection

The chapter objective I chose is # 6.

Chapter 13 explains the importance of assessing your students learning. Portfolios are useful in collecting achievement targets because they are typically developed over a period of time. Portfolios can collect evidence of learning. They can collect essays, journals, interviews, drawings and so much more. Portfolios give students a chance to show what they learned in numerous amounts of ways because they show what the student has learned and gained from start to end.

My question is... Not all students will do exceptionally well on a project when I assess them... Do I need to completely re-do my teaching instruction or focus on helping those particular students?

I didn't realize how important assessment is until I read this chapter. This will be an important thing for me to do as a teacher so that I can either re-evaluate my instruction or help certain students.

Chapter 12 Reading Reflection

I chose objective #4. Which is to describe some guidelines for teachers when engaged in teaching a lesson with technology. One major guideline is that a teacher needs to plan and research. As a teacher you need to be able to know what your talking about. Also know how to use the technology your working with and decide which technology will provide the greatest gain to your students. There are also many other things a teacher must be organized, enthusiastic and be able to give good directions. After a lesson is over teachers should review. Did the students gain anything? If I have to teach this lesson again how can I revise it to make it better?

My question is... In this chapter there was a lot about preparation. What if a teacher doesn't have time to prepare for a lesson and has to do it on the spot?

My connection to teaching is that lesson planning will be a huge part of my job. As an elementary teacher you cannot walk into school and plan to work with technology without planning ahead. I need to test technology and research what I am going to teach.