Reflection #1-6

#1 In a Education class the Professor did not know how to switch from VHS to DVD on a VHS/DVD player. I was amazed that someone who works in the Education field didn't even know how to do this very basic technological function. I hope that I will never have to ask a student how to do a basic technological function in my classroom. I hope that I will at least know as much if not more than they do with any technology in the classroom.

#2 In a class today I was asked to get on the computer and use Google to search for some disorders we might encounter as educators. The Professor was making the point that if we are presented with a student with an unfamiliar disorder we should Google it or use Wikipedia to get quick information on how to handle the situation. I thought this was note worthy for a few reasons. Firstly, the Professor asked me to demonstrate this since he cannot use Google very quickly or efficiently. Secondly, I thought it was important to know that although the information on Wikipedia or Google might not be the most trust worthy it is extremely useful if you need to know basic information about something quickly. At the moment I feel like I am fairly efficient at using search engines quickly to find basic information. I hope that I will become more efficient so that I will not be able to just find information quickly but that I will be able to find the best information quickly.

#3 One of my teachers took notes during class using Discovery. I thought this was such a simple good idea. The Professor wrote what was being discussed by students and herself right into Discovery so not only could we visibly see what we should also be taking notes on but then it was instantly posted to the web so we could look at it later if we wanted. I love how simple this is and how much it benefited the students and saved the Professor a lot of time so she didn't have to post all the information later. Any teacher could do the same thing using a class blog. He/She can instantly record the discussion on a post as it is happening so they do not have to do it later and the students will be able to see it later for reference. Yet another reason why I think I will use a class blog when I am teaching.

#4 I used the Smart Board in a presentation for another education class. I figure if I have to do presentations/teach I might as well use the opportunity to continue to become efficient teaching with the Smart Board. I created slides on the Smart Board, used the shade tool, and used the pens to write on the presentation. I did notice that using the Smart Board made it difficult to keep good eye contact with my audience. I kept having to turn completely to the board to look at where to touch or to write. My instructor noted this on my presentation. She said watch turning back on class so much. She also suggested having a student volunteer to come up to the board to write for me so I could keep looking at audience. Tomorrow I have another presentation in that class, and I am using the Smart Board again. This time I am going to focus on keeping myself turned to the audience. I know that until I become efficient at using the board I will probably have to turn to look at the screen more than I want to, but I will continue to use it as much as possible for presentations in order to get better at using it while teaching.

#5 The New York Times did an article today called New Jersey Middle School, Charting Their Course to College and Beyond in which they discussed how 16 middle schools are incorporating personalized education plans that are similar to special needs student's IEPs. These education plans contain electronic portfolios for each sixth grade student that contains learning styles, interests, skills, carrer goals, and extracurricular activities. The students take an online quiz called matchmaker to determine possible careers, and the students fill out online learning plans once a month at school and can also log in at home as often as they want. These plans are intended to follow the students from sixth grade through graduation to help students decide and prepare for their careers and majors in college. This is very interesting. It is a great idea to personalize students learning to better suit them but it is great that they are using technology to do this. Here is another way technology is being used to enhance learning and in this case it is being used to keep track of students lives in order to adapt learning around their interests and goals. I think they could even lure more students into being excited about these online profiles if they made them accessible to the other students in the school turning it into a school wide myspace or facebook. If I ever become an administrator I would seriously try to incorporate student profiles into my school. For one thing it gives students a safe and school monitored way to communicate with classmates and teachers but it also allows the schools to better understand their student's needs and adapt learning accordingly.

#6 In a class, I just had, my Professor was teaching us how to write a Villanell which is a complicated poetry form. To demonstrate the pattern she had a Villanell projected on the screen so we could read the poem, at the same time she had a reading of the poem by the author playing through the computer, and she had the form labeled on the side of the poem on the screen. I thought this was a great use of technology to enhance teaching. Personally it helped greatly to see the poem with the form while I heard it read. It was also nice to hear it read by the author because then you get a complete idea of what the poem should sound like since he wrote it. It was such a simple thing to play this reading while showing a slide with the poem and form yet it struck me because it was a great way to incorporate technology in a way that enhances learning. I have already begun incorporating this sort of multimedia teaching into presentations in my classes but I want to make sure that I keep doing so when I become a teacher. When I teach poetry some day I am sure my students will better understand form and meaning if I can teach them by showing them the poem, using pictures, playing a reading of the poem, etc.