Technology Autobiography Update

Since taking this class my technological knowledge has probably doubled. I have learned and used many different applications that I will be able to employ in my teaching. Movie Maker is something that I had no idea existed, but now I have seen how easy the program is to use. I can imagine a many future learning experiences with this program. I also learned how to create true web searches and web inquiries. This can be directed by me by using trailfire and other programs. I was also introduced into the world of podcasting which opened the door to endless possibilities. My students will be able to create/publish oral histories and radio broadcasts so that their parents and community members can see what they are learning. All in all as a techno weary person I have started to feel comfortable with using technology so much so that I plan to implement it with my students.

Trailfire

Dear Mr. Administrator,

I would like to take a few minutes of your time and tell you about a new piece of technology that I learned about in my graduate class on technology. This program is called Trailfire and is a web based tool designed to help guide students on the study of a simple question or concept.

Trailfire is a very unique tool because once the teacher decides on the concept to be studied then the teacher can surf the web and find important websites before assigning the project to the students. The teacher can then put notes on the website so that students may quickly identify important content that resides in the webpage. The student can then access a link to the next website that the teacher wants the students to review.

This tool would be very useful in our schools because it allows students to interact with the world wide web, but at the same time be guided by a teacher so that students may stay focused on their assignment. This also makes learning more efficient because students do not have to sift through unimportant information, because the note authored by the teacher directs them to the relevant material on the website.

This is a nice tool to use because it is student centered and teacher controlled. Students are able to interact on their own, but the teacher establishes the parameters of the research that the students are carrying out.

Here,http://trailfire.com/aberry/trailview/39357), is an example of a Trailfire project over cheetahs that I worked with in my graduate class. I hope you will be able to review this and meet with me regarding any questions you may have about this tool.

Thanks,

Michael Turner

Digital Story Telling

I was so intimidated by digital storytelling before I completed mine. But now I am a huge fan of the technology. I think this is more effective than having kids create a poster or a visual. Instead they can sharpen their knowledge of computers and technology. I do have some reservations regarding using this. In order to do this the class would need extensive time in the computer lab, which can be difficult to acquire in some schools. Also, underprivileged children could be put at a disadvantage in completing a digital story because they may or may not have twenty four hour access to a computer. So the challenge as a teacher is to find a way to incorporate this technology while being fair to all of the students.

Chapter 4 (Richardson)

As a Social Studies teacher reading this chapter I of course have to start off by attacking Wikipedia as a valuable source for information. Despite what Steve Jobs says, there is no academic accountability regarding information on Wikipedia. Using Wikipedia as a source is not real research. This does not require you, as a researcher, to utilize primary sources. Wikipedia serves primarily as a text book that can be written by people with little to no knowledge on the subject.

I will have to say that I can envision Wikis being useful in a Social Studies classroom. I have wanted to have student write a research paper collaboratively as a class. This paper can have multiple parts so that each student has a role. A wiki would be a good format to complete that task as all students can participate.

Synching up with the iKid

"A recent survey by CDW Corporation shows that teachers are more likely to use technology to ease the administrative requirements of K-12 education than to utilize it in instructional applications. More than 85 percent of respondents in CDW's Teachers Talk Tech survey say that while they are adequately trained on Internet, word processing, and email software, 27 percent have little or no training with integrating computers into lessons." This is one of the main problems that I recall as a student in school. The teachers used the classroom computers just to enter grades and e-mail. Part of this problem is that classrooms only have one computer and there is so much confidential information on that one computer that it could be a risk to let students work on it. As a student teacher I worried about this problem frequently, but still tried to allow time for students to utilize the in class computer. Also, I was intimidated to incorporate technology, because my knowledge of what was out there and what was possible is quite limited.

Flickr Collaboration Project

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8836442@N03

Kentucky Core Content Standard:

SC-HS-3.4.7
Students will:
· classify organisms into groups based on similarities;
· infer relationships based on internal and external structures and chemical processes.
Biological classifications are based on how organisms are related. Organisms are classified into a hierarchy of groups and subgroups based on similarities that reflect their relationships. Species is the most fundamental unit of classification. Different species are classified by the comparison and analysis of their internal and external structures and the similarity of their chemical processes.

Chapter 7 (Richardson)

While I was reading this chapter I immediately thought of Parent/Teacher night. When ever they come around teachers always want to show parents what has been going on in the classroom, but it is very difficult to prepare a presentation and often times parents only see the work that student have been working on that day or week before the conference. However, FLICKR would allow me to collect pictures from an entire semester and show parents what the students have been working on in that way. It would give me a chance to show off my activities that I carry on a day to day basis, and show student interaction.

Using FLICKR can also help me in creating student-centered assignments. For example If I were teaching a lesson on state capitals. I could have students find photos of all the state capitals and display and annotate them using FLICKR. This would help many different students because it would utilize many different intelligences such as spatial and linguistic.