Chapters 3 and 9

Chapter 3 begins with a parent-teacher conference that occurs where the parent is a bit old-fashioned in the sense that technology of today cannot really enhance the classroom experience they remember growing up.  This chapter's purpose is to describe how improved the classroom is with all these new forms of technology.  The book uses three terms to describe the effect this has on students and teachers inside of the classroom-- unique, powerful, and transformative.  It's a different world today as computer screens are replacing papers and students are typing their answers instead of writing on a sheet of looseleaf.  I just want to add more own experience with this as a student where, I had seen this transition take place.  In high school, there was a traditional feel to the class, however, it is different now where my same exact high school has students completing homework assignments on their iPads with a stylus.  Furthermore, as a math student, anytime I would struggle, I would either use online tools to help, or refer to tutorials in order to help explain the topic at any time.  I need to bring up the fact that there or so many tools to help mathematics students, such as Wolfram alpha, where it can serve as a online calculator, along with explanations.

The chapter also mentions interactive gaming sites.  This can be a fun and enjoyable way for children to interact with real-world problems and the notes given in class.  It's funny to note that the book mentions the Natural Library of Virtual Manipulatives.  I remember actually using this site inside of class in elementary school during a math lesson.  I had always looked forward to those problems and the feedback was important as it did display to us afterwards where we were at in terms of the content.  The fact that it was instant allowed us to recall the kind of problems used.  As a future educator, I could view how my students feel in a particular area.  Also, I want to relate the three basic characteristics mentioned in the textbook to this specific site, NLVM.  First, it uses computers and laptops at any time.  Second, there are a bunch of games, such as the Spinners one, to illustrate many mathematical concepts, in this case probability.  Third, the games are fun and are well-paced, such that students want to learn more concepts.

Information and Internet literacy go hand-in-hand.  Information literacy is a capstone term that incorporates reading and comprehension displayed in a paper format or digitally.  Groupwork is mentioned and can decrease the teacher's workload.  Students collaborate together to work on one simple task using technology and remaining engaged.  They assign tasks to one another such as note taker or artist, in order to formulate a final product.  These skills could prove beneficial, if they choose the business world some day down the line.

I also want to reflect on the term service-learning, as I had done programs such as those numerous times as an undergraduate at St. John's University.  We had used three of the four areas, as I recall, when assisting a local senior center.  Those were Personal Self Reflection, Project Documentation, and Service Projects.  It can be seen that technology can help creativity, problem solving, and assisting the community.

Chapter 7 begins with how online math learning, teacher, and student all connect to one another.  Problem-Based Learning is something that I've always believed to be essential.  Students would say, "Why does this matter?" or "Why do I need to know this for the real world?" Under computational thinking an coding, I couldn't help, but recall the fact that the way I was taught coding wasn't ideal.  However, I had always known that these jobs are on the rise the more technology advances.  I do agree that it should be somewhat emphasized throughout the high school grades.  Bloom's taxonomy, which was a term that I hear over and over again.  It involves remembering an interpretation of information to analyze different points of view and theories, or lower and higher-level thinking respectively.  Skills-Based Learning software can help students with mathematical operations, along with discovery-based software to help students problem solve.

Something that I can definitely take to my own math classroom would be the I've certainly used Mircrosoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.  To the point where I've mastered them.  I can create charts, tables, and graphs on Excel as needed.  Furthermore, gamification is a term to described applying gaming aspects to non-gaming scenarios.  This intrigues me because this is a step away from the traditntal classroom look.  It could prove to be engaging for students.  As I am typing this, I do remember playing Oregon Trail in elementary school, or even something as simple as Jeopardy!, in all levels of my individual education.  What I'm trying to say is, I definitely will use PowerPoint, and the Jeopardy! game together during lessons.  Maybe hide some math word problems and divide the classroom into separate teams.  Something of note, however, is that there are split opinions on the impact gaming has on educational procedures.  Some psychologists say that they are irrelevant, while researchers believe that students develop a wide range of skills and focus.

Thinking Based Questions

1. Since a lot of these students are into the virtual-reality aspect of gaming, how can we translate to the classroom? Can it be effective/engaging?

2. Are there any web-based tools that you use inside of your classroom?

3. How can we measure the effectiveness of our lessons as teachers with all of the resources available to each student online?

Chaps 1 and 2

After reading the text, it was interesting to see how technology had evolved the traditional classroom.  I thought that it would change my thoughts on how technology works with students.  Chapter 1 was about the teacher what advances technology can create for a class.  Chapter 2 discussed technology and the reasons towards why teachers need technology to get as much as they can from the student, along with the cons that it can have.

What stood out to me in Chapter 1 was TPACK and the 21st century Skills Diagram.  Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge can be best described as the way content can be taught through the paradigm of the world today.  There are three types of knowledge, which reminded me of my experiences back in school.  This can relate to the the Diagram of 21st Century Skills teachers use to "represent the knowledge and understandings that students will need to succeed in our highly technological, information-based-society, including the ability to think critically, make informed judgments, solve complex problems, think creatively, communicate and collaborate with others, use information in innovative ways, and take responsibility for one's personal and civic life (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards & Park Woolf (2016), p. 16)." The teacher acts as the sole catalyst that blends the technology, content, textbooks, and the individualism of the students all in one, during the class day.

This can connect with Chapter 2 of the reading with student-centered teaching.  It's geared more towards students learning at their own pace.  This is "constructivist, progressive, project or problem-based teaching (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards & Park Woolf (2016), p. 40)."  It can engage students, while they think critically and process the new information being presented.  It mentions mathematics, where I can definitely see myself using technology with the way the textbook describes, even though it uses an elementary school of students as an example.  A system like 4MALITY would be useful with Visual Vicuna to reinforce new equations and formulas with graphs and animations to depict new word problem examples to work on. 

After reading this, if you all could discuss:

1. Which software is most useful for your classroom with regards to your subject?

2. What are the benefits to having a Flipped Classroom? What are the negatives, if any?

3. How can we as teachers, ensure that students in low-income homes don't lag behind the rest of the class when using technology that isn't readily accessible outside of the classroom?

What is Technology?

Technology is...

• a tool that makes every day life more convenient.
• Ever-changing
• A component that defines an entire generation of children

My takeaway from today's lesson in technology is that it can connect so many people and students from all over.  It evolves with the times that reflect how society is progressing currently.  Teachers need to utilize these over time to engage their students.

Goals- Modern Day Teacher

This is my second semester in pursuit of my MSEd at St. John's.  I was a mathematics undergrad here at the University.  I have met great peers along the way.  I had always been way into numbers and I had always preferred taking exams that contained few words as possible; substituted by numbers of course.

One of my earliest memories had taken place during the fourth grade in elementary school.  After being taught with notebooks and chalkboards for a bit now, my class had been selected for a Promethean ActivBoard trial.  Which, they had taken a week to install, so the class was relocated to the conference room.  I do recall being amazed with a remote tablet, an innovative pen, the slideshow presentations, and more importantly, the ActivVotes.  Basically, our teacher created multiple-choice questions pertaining to the subject, in which we'd answer in a poll-style format.  It was very fun and I do remember looking forward to those every day.

It is important that a teacher keeps up with the technological advances of the world.  They should not lag behind.  Different generations of students will come through to a single classroom.  In turn, they are more accustomed to the new innovations in the world.  Consequently, they could only successfully learn through the gadgets that they are accustomed to using every single day.  A 21st century teacher should incorporate modern technology with tools and resources available that can engage students in their lessons.  They can also help students outside of the classroom as well.

What I can work on is my willingness to adapt to any type of change, which should not be an issue, but you never know.  Also, I do remember when ActivBoards were installed in my elementary school, my teacher had to be approved and had sat down for training sessions prior.  The students require as much as the teacher requires from the students.  Meaning, if a teacher has worked with the technology available inside of the classroom, then how could it be expected of the students to study and complete homework every day.

My First Post

I have used blogger a bunch of times in class.  I have a sixth grade one still I believe. I want to view my older posts from when I was just eleven years old.  Also, I have some from my senior year in high school.