Inquiry...

Completing my Inquiry Project was not something I really wanted to do. I have so many assignments to complete over the next week and I kind of put it on the back burner. However, once I sat down and focused I realized that I really liked learning about my topic. Technology is definitely something I will incorporate into my future classroom. I will also, especially now after researching my inquiry topic, use it to connect with parents. The home-school connection is a integral part of a child's school career. Parental involvement is proven to be the number one predictor for success for students. That fact alone motivates me to connect the parents and children.
Finding sources was not an easy task. I had to search and search but finally found 6 that I think were very useful. The screencast was actually fairly easy to do and I thought it was really cool. Using a screencast is a great way to show the work you've completed while telling someone verbally about it.

This course was great and I cannot wait til the next one like it! Now to decide if I am specializing in technology! :)

last class...

Where has the time gone?! I feel like I was just sitting here writing about the first day of class. Over the course of this semester I have been exposed to many, many different types of technological tools. I don't even know where to begin! In the beginning of the semester, I stated that technology is an important part of our world and I still believe that to be true. I also mentioned that I wanted to see and experience how I could incorporate technology in the elementary classroom. Through chapter presentation and class assignments I have gained so much knowledge about how to include and integrate technology in the classroom. Before this class I was somewhat skeptical of how much I could actually use online tools but that skepticism is now gone. However, there is much more technology I could/would like to learn about and I am still contemplating specializing in technology during my grad school year.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for this class and for the knowledge I gained. Technology is a part of our everyday lives so we need to embrace it not hate it! :)

Scratch!

Before the Scratch project was introduced to our class, I was very nervous and scared based on what other people told me. Thankfully, I learned very quickly that I cannot always believe what I hear from other people. It may come as a surprise to some, but I truly enjoyed creating my interactive game. I decided to focus on kindergarten since that is the grade I would like to teach. After looking at the sunshine state standards I thought it would be fun and engaging to create a game where students could practice their rhyming words. Overall, I believe my final product turned out well. No it is not perfect but this is my first time using Scratch so I won't be too hard on myself :). If a game or interactive learning tool needs to be created for my class, I am glad I can create this tool myself!

almost finished...

Sam and Lauren presented on chapter 10 and provided us with information based on assessment. I am still uncertain though, about using certain aspects of technology assessment with younger children. The idea of online rubrics is very useful and I will definitely use the sources that my peers provided (when I actually do use rubrics). The girls made a good point when they said we shouldn't use "pre-made" rubrics because they will not exactly match the material we've been teaching. I hope my future school has "clickers" because I would love completing some assessments with them! Ultimately, our goal is to make sure the assessments we create are authentic.

I'm getting a bit nervous about the inquiry project, time to get moving!

Chapter 10: Assessing with technology...

Performing assessments in the classroom can sometimes be a difficult talk. There is always the question of individual or group assessment, written or verbal, etc. Throughout this semester I have learned about different tools and ways teachers can conduct assessments with technologies. Some examples are online surveys, using clickers, or having students take online quizzes.

A couple different types of assessments described in the chapter are authentic and performance based. Our evaluations should be original, and engaging to create "meaningful experiences" (p. 218). It is important to make sure tests or other forms of assessments are based on things we have taught in the class. It would be unfair/non-beneficial to assess students on things that are not taught. I have experienced this in several of my classes at the University of Florida and it is very frustrating. Performance assessments is fairly self-explanatory. Teachers have students perform tasks based on what they learned; this could be useful for things such as science experiments.

How does his tie in with technology? One huge positive reason to use technology for assessment is because a computer can store and help organize large amounts of data. It also allows teachers to view assignments and give feedback more quickly (most likely). However, one concern I have is what if your classroom only has six computers? It would be somewhat annoying to have students take tests or quizzes at different times.

The idea of electronic portfolios really interests me. As the students complete online work over the semester, they could store it in on online folder so at the end of the semester all the work is compiled. These portfolios can include things from presentations to video clips. I'm trying to think of how I could use this in a young elementary classroom (K-2). I am interested to hear my peers talk about this chapter today to see if they have any ideas and more resources!

presentation day...

Today Christin, Neil, and myself presented on chapter 9. I really liked this chapter and feel like I will use many of the tools we found in the future. Overall, I think the presentation went well. I enjoyed finding different visual tools to use in the classroom (and I included our glogster in case you are interested in viewing any of the tools)! We received great feedback from Jeff and our peers which was very encouraging. I love presenting in classes because it's great practice for my future!


Jess introduced dweeber as her cool tool. This is a social site where students can connect with their peers to talk about homework, have study sessions, etc. As Jess said, young students cannot easily meet with their friends (unless parent's take them somewhere). This website would be a good way for them to collaborate and ask questions. However, there are limitations to this site such as potential cheating or not having any friends on the site.

Another cool tool I think would be useful was GoogleLitTrips. Katie introduced this website and showed us you can map different events and historical places. She mentioned that they are not many books in the archive so teachers could create their own or older students could also create trips based on books they are reading.

Sextexting. This was Neil's contemporary issue and a topic that I think is extremely disgusting. It is sad to me that young children (and older people who should know better) are sending this inappropriate text pictures. I truly wonder why someone would want to do this but I suppose it's an issue we, as future teachers, need to be aware of. I hope that I will never have a student who decides to "sext" but if I do I need to understand how to handle the situation.

Time to finish our stop animation! :)