The struggles in my life, my own life experiences, are my strengths. They make me who I am. I know the perspective of a single parent. I am a military spouse. I have been an enlisted wife and I have been an officer’s wife. I have a child with a chronic illness. I have teenagers and I have elementary students. We move every two to three years and have lived on both coasts and many places in between. I grew up in a small family but married into a big one. My parents were divorced. My family was poor. These life experiences are my strengths. I bring with me insight that a younger teacher may not have yet.
Balance will be my biggest hurdle. I know that being the caliber teacher I intend to become, may take away from my family. I foresee myself, and always have, struggling with balancing the needs of my students and classroom with the needs of my family and home.
Currently, my initial goal is to graduate with my degree in hand and family by my side. My oldest daughter will be a freshman at Kansas State when I graduate. My husband may have already moved to our next duty station by then, so I may be moving shortly thereafter. We could be stationed anywhere, even overseas. Depending on his position, I may or may not begin teaching right away. Often a military spouse takes on a “volunteer” position that is vital to her husband’s unit. Substitute teaching may be a way to keep my feet wet. However, if I can teach, I hope to teach in a general education classroom. Ideally, I would get to teach grades 2-4.
Eventually, I would like to continue my education and pursue a graduate degree. Positions that interest me include Reading Specialist, Behavioral Therapy, and School Counselor. Graduate programs that I can see in my future include Family Studies and Behavioral Therapy.
In my opinion, technology can impact student learning by providing a new motivation and tool, opening their minds to the world around them. Technology can provide support for students with special needs (word to speech, typing instead of writing, etc.). Technology can assist ELLs with translation. Technology can create differentiation. For me, technology has created many new avenues to explore when creating my lesson plans.
In a new school, I will continually share my lessons with others and showcase my students work. I will be open to sharing what I know and continue to seek new knowledge. Technology tools that I have become familiar with can be seen and are showcased on my website at www.robinwhitten.info .
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My WOW moment!!!
Much of what I have been fighting (technology in my house) is what will prepare my own children for in their future. Realizing that, coupled with how easily I could integrate technology in my classroom created my WOW moment. I think the challenge is getting the financial resources to provide technology in the classrooms and open-minded administrators to allow the applications and websites necessary to really make 21st Century skills authentic.
Podcast Favorites
I listened to different podcasts each week but my favorite one was Tech Chicks .
I found their podcast, and subsequent pocasts that I later listened to (but did not blog about) to be simple and straightforward. I liked that they put their information out, was excited about it, and got everything said in a short time. The other podcasts were insightful and informational, but often had technical difficulties and excess discussion unrelated to the topic. All of The Tech Chick show notes are also posted as blog entries on their site which makes them easy to look up. Love it!
I found their podcast, and subsequent pocasts that I later listened to (but did not blog about) to be simple and straightforward. I liked that they put their information out, was excited about it, and got everything said in a short time. The other podcasts were insightful and informational, but often had technical difficulties and excess discussion unrelated to the topic. All of The Tech Chick show notes are also posted as blog entries on their site which makes them easy to look up. Love it!
Semester Favorites
Kan-ed Portal Site
The Kan-Ed Portal has been a huge resource for me in my struggle to find standard based and aligned lesson plans. For as long as I have wanted to be a teacher, I never knew it would be so difficult to make a lesson plan! The sites on Kan-Ed make great stepping stones for me as I plan my own lessons.
The Kansas Education Resource Center contains tools for teachers to use in aligning classroom instruction and assessment to Kansas’ academic standards.
Thinkfinity also provides standard aligned lesson plans.
Some of my favorite classroom tools that perhaps could be the easiest to teach would be Animoto and Glogster. I showed my nine-year old how to use the Animoto and she create a few immediately.
The Kan-Ed Portal has been a huge resource for me in my struggle to find standard based and aligned lesson plans. For as long as I have wanted to be a teacher, I never knew it would be so difficult to make a lesson plan! The sites on Kan-Ed make great stepping stones for me as I plan my own lessons.
The Kansas Education Resource Center contains tools for teachers to use in aligning classroom instruction and assessment to Kansas’ academic standards.
Thinkfinity also provides standard aligned lesson plans.
Some of my favorite classroom tools that perhaps could be the easiest to teach would be Animoto and Glogster. I showed my nine-year old how to use the Animoto and she create a few immediately.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Podcast Reflection #12 Teaching Technology to Kindergarteners
Teaching Technology to Kindergarteners
"Brad Flickinger has been an elementary, middle, and high school teacher, as well as the director of technology which gives him a perspective of teaching all ages of students and what it is like at both the classroom and district levels. He focuses his experiences on designing technology curriculum for students from kindergarten to 5th grade." (Brad's website)
In this podcast, Brad discussed what he teaches his kindergartners in technology class. He feels that although some schools do not allow younger elementary students in the computer lab, the younger the better to get the students learning 21st century skills. Brad begins the school year by teaching the rules of the computer - turning it on and off, naming parts of the computer (mouse, monitor, etc). Once that is taken care of, students practice keyboarding (Typing Tots) . One struggle Brad finds is gtting the students used to the idea of using the computer as a tool and not as a game to play on. Another application he uses in the lab is a drawing application called Pixie.
Finally, at the end of class, the one and only website the students are allowed to visit is PBS Kids . This is a great educational site for kids.
"Brad Flickinger has been an elementary, middle, and high school teacher, as well as the director of technology which gives him a perspective of teaching all ages of students and what it is like at both the classroom and district levels. He focuses his experiences on designing technology curriculum for students from kindergarten to 5th grade." (Brad's website)
In this podcast, Brad discussed what he teaches his kindergartners in technology class. He feels that although some schools do not allow younger elementary students in the computer lab, the younger the better to get the students learning 21st century skills. Brad begins the school year by teaching the rules of the computer - turning it on and off, naming parts of the computer (mouse, monitor, etc). Once that is taken care of, students practice keyboarding (Typing Tots) . One struggle Brad finds is gtting the students used to the idea of using the computer as a tool and not as a game to play on. Another application he uses in the lab is a drawing application called Pixie.
Finally, at the end of class, the one and only website the students are allowed to visit is PBS Kids . This is a great educational site for kids.
Challenge Based Learning Reflection
Challenge Based Learning
CBL in a video
As a class we did Challenge Based Learning project but I do not feel it represented what would happen in a real classroom. Our groups were fellow students that we did not know previously and we only had one week to prepare. In the end, I think our presentation was mediocre. I think if I could have presented a project to the class from those I created during this semester, this would have been my last choice.
That being said, Challenge Based Learning can integrate several learning goals in one ongoing lesson by solving a real life problem involving students of all learning levels. This strategy is beneficial for teachers struggling to meet the multitude of standards while keeping her class meaningful.
CBL in a video
As a class we did Challenge Based Learning project but I do not feel it represented what would happen in a real classroom. Our groups were fellow students that we did not know previously and we only had one week to prepare. In the end, I think our presentation was mediocre. I think if I could have presented a project to the class from those I created during this semester, this would have been my last choice.
That being said, Challenge Based Learning can integrate several learning goals in one ongoing lesson by solving a real life problem involving students of all learning levels. This strategy is beneficial for teachers struggling to meet the multitude of standards while keeping her class meaningful.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Podcast Reflection #11 Classroom 2.0 Moodle Mayhem
Moodle Mayhem
Show Hosts: Kim Caise and Peggy George with Lorna Costantini
Special Guests: Miguel Guhlin and Diana Benner
Participants around the world in this Live discussion were polled if they they had ever participated in a Moodle course. 51% had. 50% had created a Moodle course before. 45% of the participant's schools used Moodle as their Learning Management System.
Diana Benner is a co-founder for the Moodle Mayhem website. Miguel Guhlin defines "What is Moodle and 'Moodle Mayhem" as a way for people to connect during campus meetings online so people would not have to drive across town. It is a way to create a virtual classroom online that can facilitate professional learning online in an engaging way. Moodle Mayhem is a sharing community for all things Moodle.
Some extras thoughts on Moodle -
If you want to do a Moodle get district support and work closely with technical support or have a Moodle Partner
Can be used for a variety of settings - businesses (staff development)
Can be small with one teacher and a few students or much bigger than that
This Podcast is pretty long and detailed. Miguel and Diana share Planning Stages and Guidelines for creating a Moodle. If you don't have the time to listen to the podcast, there are several links suggested on the Classroom 2.0 site about Moodle.
Show Hosts: Kim Caise and Peggy George with Lorna Costantini
Special Guests: Miguel Guhlin and Diana Benner
Participants around the world in this Live discussion were polled if they they had ever participated in a Moodle course. 51% had. 50% had created a Moodle course before. 45% of the participant's schools used Moodle as their Learning Management System.
Diana Benner is a co-founder for the Moodle Mayhem website. Miguel Guhlin defines "What is Moodle and 'Moodle Mayhem" as a way for people to connect during campus meetings online so people would not have to drive across town. It is a way to create a virtual classroom online that can facilitate professional learning online in an engaging way. Moodle Mayhem is a sharing community for all things Moodle.
Some extras thoughts on Moodle -
If you want to do a Moodle get district support and work closely with technical support or have a Moodle Partner
Can be used for a variety of settings - businesses (staff development)
Can be small with one teacher and a few students or much bigger than that
This Podcast is pretty long and detailed. Miguel and Diana share Planning Stages and Guidelines for creating a Moodle. If you don't have the time to listen to the podcast, there are several links suggested on the Classroom 2.0 site about Moodle.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)