Using Technology to Enhance Learning

Here is a great video on how one teacher used technology to enhance the learning in regard to chemistry basics!

Final Blog Posting (Reflection)

Managing this blog over the course of this semester has been very beneficial.  I have never maintained a blog before, so needless to say I learned a lot.  I really enjoyed how this forced me to search for pertinent articles that related to education, educational leadership and new trends and strategies that could improve student learning.  The Google Blogger is a very user friendly blogging platform that I will continue to use after the class is over.  I never thought embedding videos into a blog could be so easy!  Because of the experience I've had with blogs in this course, when I become an administrator, blogs will definitely be encouraged to be a part of every classroom to communicate with their students and parents important information they need to know.
At all my schools I've taught at in the past, maintaining a blog has always been encouraged, however the blogging platform has always been one that has not been very user friendly.  Because of that, I have never been very consistent at all keeping one.  Using this program has changed my opinion on blogs altogether.
 Overall, I have learned a lot from this class.  My skills in Word, PowerPoint and Excel have been strengthened.  I have also learned new things about each of the programs that will help me as an administrator.  The Virtual Team project was very beneficial in that it gave me great experience in how to set up face to face online meetings and work together corporately on the same Google document.  It's hard depending on others to meet because you're not sure if they are going to show up and that in turn effects completing the assignment for myself, and I hate being late with anything!  The Personal Learning Network was beneficial in that it opened my eyes to many new resources that I did not know was there.  I really enjoyed learning new things from Twitter, podcasts and Edublogs the most.  The others were good, but didn't click with me as well as these three did.
Because of this class I believe I will be a much more tech-savvy administrator and leader.

Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion!

It is vital for us as educators to build relationships with our students if we want to make the life-long impact we want to make in their lives.  Otherwise we are just another hoop they have to jump through to get through school.  Remember the reason you became a teacher in the first place!  Rise up teachers!
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU­‐ITEC

High School Students say Internet is BAD for Education!!

Check out this article that looks at the other side of the coin about how technology can be a hindrance to learning in the classroom!
http://sciencenordic.com/high-school-students-say-internet-bad-education
"It can be difficult to concentrate on the teaching when you have access to the internet. Students disagree whether it’s the teachers’ or their own responsibility to maintain focus during class."



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Virtual Education in Public Schools Becoming More Popular!

 

Check out this article about Florida's Virtual Academy that offers K-12 education completely online!

http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx

KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

A classroom of the future....hopefully not to far off!!!

This video shows a classroom of the future.  It is pretty amazing!  It reminds me of the technology you see in the Iron Man movies that Tony Stark has created!  Enjoy!
 KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

iPads in the Classroom

I ran across this video talking about using iPads n the classroom.  This is a great way to make learning more fun where there is little to no learning curve because students use this technology everyday!  I just wish my school had iPads like the school in the video!  Enjoy!
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

Teacher's Assistant Pro A MUST HAVE FOR CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT!!!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teachers-assistant-pro-track/id391643755?mt=8

I have been using this app for almost three years and it has been a classroom management miracle for me and now many others in my school.  This app tracks student behaviors and is very user friendly.  As a teacher, you can quickly add and take away points for good or bad behaviors.  As a high school Career Tech teacher, a large portion of their overall grade is their Employability grade.  Through this app, I have customized the actions to the exact behaviors I want to see and the ones I don’t want to see, and each of them have a point value attached to them either positive or negative.  At the beginning of the semester, I hook up my iPad to the projector and show all my students the behaviors I want to see and those that I don’t want to see, and how many points will be taken or given if they choose to exhibit those behaviors.  I’ve attached a screen shot of one of my previous students where you can see the actions that were taken with him on the left, and on the right a list of actions that I could choose to give him.  Notice how each action has a point value attached to it, so when you select the action it automatically factors the points in, and these are all completely customizable.  As you can see you can take a picture of the student that stays in the app so you can more quickly put a name with a face.  My students can earn 15 employability points a week, 3 points a day, so with one action that takes away 3 points actually equals an employability grade of zero for that day.  Also as you can see, if I notice them encouraging a classmate in a task they earn an extra 3 points, which is basically an extra 100.  Every action you input is time and date stamped, so you can go weeks without recording their grade in the grade book.  I just have my iPad on my desk and if I observe an inappropriate behavior, I just pick it up and with the push of a few buttons I’m finished, but while I do that you can hear a pin drop in the classroom because everyone is wondering if it’s them or not, and I don’t say a word and keep right on going with the class.  And when I observe positive behaviors I pick it up, them honor that student in front of the class while I award them extra points.  It’s the best $5.99 I’ve ever spent for anything in my class before.  I have turned over a dozen teachers in my school on to it and it has changed the way they approach classroom management.  This is a key element to the classroom management system that I’ve created called “The Culture of Honor.”  Please ask me any questions you have about the program, because I know it pretty well!
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

 

Classroom 2.0 PD Online Session & Podcast

I listened to an online professional development session that was given on February 21 on Classroom 2.0 Live.  The featured speaker was Mary Beth Hertz.  She is a technology teacher that has experience teaching elementary and high school students.  She seems to be a great educator with lots of great ideas.  Here are the notes I took from the session.

Her curriculum had these four pillars:  communicate, evaluate, collaborate and create.

Made a scope and sequence for each grade with these pillars in mind which include:

Online safety digital citizenship, programming , digital storytelling, office tools, research,  basic technology concepts and operations.

For digital citizenship she used Infinite Learning Lab.

Then she got net books after the mac lab and it was wonderful, it was easy to get around to all of the students, instead of them being in rows.

Teaching High School:  everything is based off of essential questions and learning goals and everyone one of her students have a notebook computer.

Students are responsible for going to the right sites and not going to the wrong sites.  Students are given a lot of freedom but expectations and responsibilities are communicated a lot.  The freedom can be a blessing and a curse with some that have very little access to tech and some have a ton so you have all different levels.

Compare/Contrast Elem & HS

Elem: more guided, less time, most tools required a teacher account, hard to integrate homeroom content into lab lessons

HS: “figure it out”, more time, students use their GAFE accounts, lessons more easily applied to other classes.

Reflection:  learned a lot from elementary in how to teach HS, especially in regard to classroom management.

Participants then asked questions to Mary Beth.

Overall, I feel like I learned a lot from being a part of this online professional development session.
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

Using cell phones in the classroom....besides being a distraction!!!

This article contains so great ideas on how to use students' smart phones to enhance learning.

http://elearningindustry.com/texting-in-the-classroom-change-distraction-engagement
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

Bringing Executive Directors into Public Schools

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Great Teaching to the Test Blog!!

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2015/01/what_do_i_have_to_do_to_pass.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw-tm
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC

My First Blog

Hello everyone,

I am really looking forward to becoming a more Tech Savvy educator and leader by all the things we will be learning in this class.  I am generally a pretty Tech Savvy guy, but I am looking forward to being stretched and learn new things to make me more effective in reaching my students.
I love what I do as an educator, but I love my family more!  And because of that, I feel like it makes me a better educator because my foundation, my family, is strong enough to build whatever I want on top of it.  I believe being a good husband and a good dad makes me a better educator and shows my students the importance of putting family first!  I love this picture.  I cry almost every time I see it.  This is my 3 year old daughter Cate, and she has my heart.  I'm looking forward to growing with you all this semester.
KSU­‐EDL7510 / KSU‐ITEC
Jeremy