Final Reflection

    This is how I felt at the beginning of this course.  Not only was I new to the education field but fairly new to all the technology.  I'd been a stay at home for over 12yrs and boy has a lot changed in that time.  The one thing that got me worried was all the social media.  I'm not good with putting myself out there.  However, I quickly realized it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Things really didn't click with me until the course was nearly half over.  Thats ok though.  I figure I have a lot of time to poke around all the new tools.  I've even started looking at tools we didn't use in class.  I really like using Diigo, it took me a while to start utilizing all the resources available.  Now I find I'm building a library of resources. I still have a lot more to learn in Diigo.  It took me a lot of time to figure out how to use all the technology. 

     This course really shined a little on the need for teachers to not be afraid to use the technology tools and resources available to them.  I was of the opinion that technology took away from students doing meaningful work.  I admit I was totally wrong!  Going through the quest opened my eyes to all the meaningful work student could accomplish with the use of technology.  As educators the most important thing is to help prepare students for a new world.  Technology is a huge part of that new world.  Now is the time to integrate more technology into the classroom.

     A big question that i need to answer next is, How will I utilize all the things I've been exposed to in this course to enhance my students education?  Well for one, I want to show the students that I'm always learning new things as well.  I want them to see I may not always have the right answers but I will work hard to find the right answers and there may even be more than one answer.  I think the most challenging thing that I face with integrating technology is narrowing down all the resources.  There is so much out there and not everything is going to work or be engaging.  I want to teach my students that even with all the information out there we still need to be critical thinkers. 

Now I feel more like this.

Digital Story

I love using storybird!  Had so much fun with all the art and finding unique ways to express my stories. I hope you enjoy!

https://storybird.com/books/6qrjh7veeh/?token=4eq64tu28e

Maker Faire

Truly, there are no limits.  Take a few minutes to watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0POza-IDww

We as educators need to be asking how can we integrate creative freedom in our classrooms?  Not only now but in the future.

It is becoming more clear that the traditional ways of teaching are becoming less feasible.  Students want to more engaged and active in their learning.  They want the freedom to express themselves and their interest.  This can be a challenge for any classroom.  How do we incorporate this type of learning into our curriculums?  Make it relevant to the content of the class?  I believe this can be accomplished by having a student centered learning environment.  I truly believe we are heading in a direction of creative freedom.

Gaming

A game that I have found to be fun to play with my family is HayDay.  As a family we have been playing for about a year.  It really is a collaborative adventure.  We farm, sell, feed, buy, ship, fish, build and have challenges.  It is age appropriate and you can collaborate with people from all over the world.  The game is a free app, you can buy packages if you choose to do so.  I find that it teaches my kids how to save money, to purchase animals, food, resources, etc. They also have to balance their trade deals with their own need of resources.  Things also take time.  From building, farming, fishing, cooking, baking, etc.  Something that i like a lot is you have limits on how many times you can grow things, so you need help from others in the game.  Plus you have to collaborate to get rewards and help buy and sell.  The game really is its own personal world.  You design it the way you want it! Use your own imagination, creativity and management skills.  Nothing is wrong!
This type of game would be good to use in classroom setting.  Even though is takes a while to do certain things, it gives you a sense of reality.  There are rewards and consequences.  We play this game everyday and have a great time discussing what we need.

Real or Fake Challenge

Ok, I got most of them right except for the first quote I thought was real.  After looking at the results I felt silly for not researching the quote more thoroughly. In the future, I will definitely take more time to skim the articles rather than just take the first source as correct. I will check authenticity of website more closely.  Where everything is out there on the internet it behooves us to take a little extra time to analyze the sources. 

http://searchresearch1.blogspot.com/2015/11/answer-fake-or-real-how-do-you-know.html

Blended and flipped Classroom

For my future classroom I really liked the ideas of blended and flipped classrooms.  I like that both ideas give students more independence.  Students are able to learn material that is applicable to their learning style.  It also gives the teacher more freedom to help individual students or groups.  I liked that the you can design groups depending on projects and the needs of the students.  These types of classrooms really benefit students learning styles.  You are always going to have students that aren't motivated regardless of classroom setup.  In my opinion having options that are not the traditional classroom set up would lessen the lack of motivation.  Plus I believe you can find unique ways to incorporate more material and hands on in a blended or flipped classroom.  It can lead to excitement in a classroom.  For example, at Milan Village Elementary School: Station Rotation, Individual Rotation models. Once identified as needing improvement, Milan Village’s principal redesigned the school’s model into one that would enable students to progress at a flexible pace while allowing them to access content in a blended learning environment. Beginning with 2nd grade, each student has his or her own computer and alternates between online and offline learning with the guidance of teachers, who assign online or offline lessons to students based on each student’s individual progress and learning style.

 

 

 

Sugata Mitra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpcEpmNbHds&feature=youtu.be

I found Sugata Mitra to be very inspiring.  I agree that with all the standards and testing we do in our educational system, we eliminate a tremendous amount of learning.  What I mean by that is our educational system does not allow for the changes that are taking place in our students abilities. The system expects students to learn how to pass test rather than learn more in-depth material. To sit back and be a guide and let students explore, research and create in my opinion would be invaluable. Our expectations on how problems are solved now and in the future are not the same as when we were growing up.  Students find work more efficiently and differently to solve problems. I think as teachers we should find ways to embrace and guide the students into self discovery using technology rather than hinder the use of technology. I hope that I can find ways as a new teacher to incorporate Sugata Mitra's ideas into my future classroom.

Here is the link to my webpage. http://danielledav.weebly.com/