In order to ensure my students will receive a solid foundation related to technology, I must focus on becoming educated in technology integration (IT). My professional development will include becoming involved with organizations that help me stay abreast in technonology. ISTE is one organization I would like to get involved with; primarily the ISTE NETS Project. I would like to do this so that there will be defined standards for students, integrating technology, technology support, student assessment, as well as for the evaluation of technology use. I also plan on learning about IT by reading various journals. Some journals that may help build my technology skills are the “Journal of Information Technology,” and the “Information Technology Journal.”

To further my technology skills I plan on staying involved with workshops, classes, and research. I will also visit various websites including the ISD website of my school district. Through ISD I will be able to access network/technical assistance and consulting, help on software selection and integration, current technology projects, and a list of classes that are offered. The site also gives me access to a variety of resouces that may be beneficial while integrating technology into my classroom. Such resources include those for computer technology review and news, educational sites, as well as resources on viruses and updates.

When I visited the Ottawa Area ISD website, I found they offered a variety of Professional Development tools and learning opportunites. I found I can learn various skills through in-service workshops at an educational service building, a local school, or online. There were a variety of classes on this website that caught my attention. I’d be interested in taking such classes as Digital Camera Basics, Photoshop Elements, Pinnacle Studio Academy, Support Staff Series: Newsletters, Website Creation, Website Graphics, and Website Management. I’d be interested in taking these classes because they would assist me in the areas I feel particularly weak in right now.

Other sources I plan on utilizing for my professional development include the websites http://remc11.k12.mi.us/bcisd/classres/intideas.htm and http://www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/its/. I plan on utilizing these websites primarily for IT classsroom ideas and learning how to integrate technology in the classroom. Overall, I plan on maintaining and gaining knowledge in IT through organizations, journals, and a variety of websites to endsure that my students receive a solid foundation in technology.

I recently visited the website http://www.martinlutherking.org/ where I was presented with a thought provoking website. Although the web address and the home page seem to be an informational, unbiased site about the life of MLK, the opposite is true. The site has been hosted by Stormfront, a White Nationalist Community. If that doesn’t say enough about authoriteis of this site, perhaps their logo will tell you a little more, “White Pride World Wide.” By looking at the web address, I never would have known it was affiliated with a Nationalists party, but the .org domain does give a hint to the reader that the site may not be trustworthy. The content of this site is completely biased against the African American community and their civil rights struggles. As an adult, and educated college student, it took me a moment to grasp the fact that this was an unreliable website. It is very misleading, and I believe that many students could be tricked into believing the biased information presented by this site. For students to grasp that this information is invalid, they would have to have prior knowledge of the material. For this reason it is important to give students background knowledge on the information they are seeking. It is also important to educate them on gathering information from a variety of sources; including sources other than the internet. I would not use this website in my classroom because the information given would not relate to my curriculum; in less, of course, I was educating my students on the White Nationalist Parties and their views. This is not a website that should be used in schools to educate students on the life of MLK because it presents prejudice information.
Much to my dismay, when I searched Martin Luther King in Google, this was the second website presented on the results page. This website is most likely on the top of the list because people frequently visit it due to being mislead by it’s web address. The results page discription of this site is as follows, “The truth about Martin Luther King: Includes historical trivia, articles and pictures. A valuable resource for teachers and students alike.” Reading this discription, readers of all ages would be lead to believe this site is creditable, reputable, and that it contains valuable information about MLK. This website is a great example of why it is important to evaluate web resources.

As a future teacher, I plan on promoting constructivism through my teaching patterns. I strongly believe that by moving away from the traditional forms of teaching, that my students will be better prepared for the “real world.” I want to empower my students, teaching them how to learn with the cultural tools thay have already been given, as well as with the technological tools that our culture is embracing. In doing so, I will encourage students to construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through their experiences and reflection on those experiences.
The goal of constructivism is to teach the learner how to learn. The instructor doesn’t tell the students what to believe, rather, encourages them to construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world. Students do this through experience, and then reflecting on those experiences. This way, the individual constructs their own meaning; rather than just memorizing the answers given to them or regurgitating someone else’s meaning. In a classroom that implements constructivism, you are likely to find instructors promoting extensive dialogue in thier class, asking dominantly open-ended questions, facilitating social interaction, as well as emphasizing hands-on problem solving. By encouraging the students to develop their own meaning through their experience with the subject, we are promoting a higher level of thinking.
Students are likely to experience the subject matter through play and experiementation. When playing, they are naturally combining ideas and imagining new situations or events. In play, students create new ideas and experience them; they then reflect on the experiences, and work out their own understanding. Individuals develop their own meaning through experiementation as well. In this case, students actually test their ideas, and they receive direct feedback about their accuracy. Play and exploration are self-structured and self-motivated processes of learning (http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/construct.html).
Some argue that constructivism doesn’t benefit the student in the long run. I argue, however, that it does. If one looks at life after secondary schooling, they’ll find a world where lives are self-directed. This self-direction requires individualized problem solving. In the real world adults are not handed factual information, like children are in school. Rather, they have new experiences everyday, of which stimulate and challenge their thinking process. They are forced to take new information in, compare it to what they already know, and then either adjust their old way of thinking and absorb the information, or disregard the new information as a whole. Most adults are not handed information with ready made “correct” conclusions; rather, they make their own inferences as whether information is correct or not. Our youth are likly to be subjected to this way of thinking in daily life. Thus, it is important to teach them to learn how to learn in the school system.
At the website, http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/constructivisim.html, you will find the arument that if students are allowed to question historical decisions and analyze the actions of historical figures, they “might not come away from their studies with the proper patriotic understandings of our past. The sticking point here is that constructivism seeks to have students “construct” understandings that make sense to them instead of having information delivered to students in a packaged pre-digested way with ready made and “correct” conclusions.” Well, I agree. When students make their own decisions on what they find as truth, they may come away with an idea that differs from what our society as a whole believes. However, is this bad? Heaven forbid these children actually think for themselves! Our government feeds us with the information they want us to have. They don’t supply the public with all of the information needed to make an educated conclusion, thus most of us think in a bias, and sometimes false, manner. I think that as instructors, we need to promote individualized construction to encourage objectivity, creativity, and higher level thinking.
My argument is not that factual information is not beneficial to a student’s learning. I think factual information, which is delivered by the instructor, does benefit the student. However, I believe that both factual information and constructivism should be implemented in the classroom. A collaboration of learning styles helps the children build a knowledge base and encourages critical thinking.
Children’s “learning by doing” can be assisted through technology. I am not saying the old sources of information and the tools used are obsolete. What I am saying is that the old sources, in collaboration with new technology, can greatly benefit the experience of learning for the student. Collaboration of these sources of information is similar to the group work that is beneficial in this style of learning. Information builds on one another, and this challenges the student to find new ways to think through the information. It enforces ciritical thinking; forcing the student to reject or accept the claims made. According to the website,
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/construct.html, “the key to success lies in finding the appropriate points for integrating techonolgy into a new pedagogical practice, so that it supports the deeper, more reflective self-directed activity chilfren must use if they are to be competenet adults in the future.”
I strongly believe that constructivism should be impletemented into the classroom. American education needs to embrace the future rather than holding on to the traditional forms of instruction. As a soceity, we need to empower our children. We need to teach them how to learn with the cultural tools thay have already been given, as well as with the technological tools that our culture is embracing. In doing so we will encourage students to construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through their experiences and reflection on those experiences.

Works Consulted:

http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/constructivisim.html

http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm

http://mathforum.org/mathed/constructivism.html

http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/construct.html

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html

http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/constructivisim.html

Thus far, I think I like the traditional class style more than online learning. I like how I can work on my assignments online when it is convienent for me; however, that usually means I work on them after I get all of my other homework done, and then I often find myself running out of time to do assignments for this class. I do well under pressure, so having an actual class period helps me to get my homework done by that deadline; versus knowing I have all week to work on a project. I really like the discussions we have in the online forum. I think they get more in depth because everyone has to participate in them. In traditional classes, it is usually the same students answering questions and adding to the discussions. This online style allows everyone to participate and we get a lot more out of the discussions that way. I miss having the real student-to-student interaction that you get in an in-class setting. In this online course, I have failed to get to know anyone in the course with me. This is unfortunate. Although their pictures are placed next to their online posts, I don’t feel like I actually know any of them. I do think it helps to have “The Lounge,” but when I log onto my discussion board, I’m usually just trying to get done with my homework, and I don’t have the time to chit-chat online. However, if I were in-class I would automatically talk with my classmates as we waited for class to start. Overall, the online course that has been developed for ED 205 has done a great job of simulating a traditional classroom, but there are just some things that arn’t the same through computer networking.
My other classes are of traditional nature, but a few of them to do use an online discussion board. Their method hasn’t proven to be as affective as the method we use in ED 205. This is because each student is only required to post one statement. As a result, the rest of the students don’t read their classmates’ responses, and therefore, don’t think much beyond their own statements. My other classes could deffinitely improve their online discussion boards if they simply made each student make two statements. This way they would have to read other’s thoughts, and think outside of the box.
I have never taken an online course previously to this one. I’ve enjoyed my experience, but I don’t think I would choose to take another online course over a traditional one if I had the option. I feel I’ve learned just as much information through the online course, but I just do a better job of studying and doing homework when I have a teacher to confront in a classroom. I miss the student-to-student interaction as well. The online class has a lot to offer, but I think it benefits those who like learning and working more individually.

Five specific applications I believe every student should learn include:

1. Word Processing:
This application is commonly used during and after the school years. Many jobs recuire that their employees know how to work a basic word program. It provides a neat, organized, and professional appearance to one’s document. It saves time and it also promotes sharing. This application should be introduced, but not relied upon, in the 4th grade. I should not be used as a replacement for paper work, but it should act as a supplemental tool to encourage writing and the use of technology.

2. Data Bases:
Data base applications are important because they offer a new way to gather information. It saves time because students are able to narrow down their search criteria to find exactly what they are looking for. It reduces data redundancy and is easily accessable through the internet. This application is used heavily in college so students should be introduced to it before graduation; perferably in the 9th grade when students begin to complete research projects and have had previous exposure to the internet.

3. Presentation Software
Presentation Software is often used throughout and after schooling. It assists in presentation preperation, reports and projects. It provides a neat appearance and saves time. This application should be introduced in 8th grade, when students take responsibility for presenting material to their class.

4. Multimedia Authoring Software
This program should be introduced in the 8th grade. It can be used in replace of written reports or to present projects. This application is important because it assists in student presentations and technology integration.

5. Graphical Organizers
This application is important because it helps students to visually organize information, outline material, and plan projects. This can be introduced at a younger age, perhaps in the 3rd grade. It can assist in helping the students to organize material and subject content.

Not only as teachers, but as adults and members of society, it is our responsiblity to help children with the many issues they face. Children face trauma, adversity, and hardships just like adults do; unfortunatly, they have not yet developed the understanding or ability to comprehend them without assistance. Adults play a large role in assisting children in their responses to these situations.

Everyday tragedy, as well as events such as 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina, should be discussed in the school system; and it is the teachers’ role to lead the discussion. In order to approach situations appropriatly, teachers should research the topic before hand. Resources such as the news, publications, documentaries, and associations such as NASP are all means of gaining more information on the topic at hand. When breaking down the material and knowledge gathered, teachers should take age and grade into consideration, as well as the extent to which the children have been exposed to a particular event. Children of all ages are able, or unable, to comprehend certain information. The teacher may need to include or leave out various information for the sake of the students understanding.

Children, like adults, learn from their experiences; even if the experience is traumatic. The traumatic event can be beneficial to the students as they learn coping skills, problem solving, and emotion management. I believe it is the teachers’ role to assist in this learning experience.

Well, this is my first blog. I don’t know how I feel about an online diary. I always thought diaries were suppose to be private. Well, it is what it is.