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Technology Interview Reflection

I chose to do my technology interview at Springville High school, where my dad teaches. He arranged the interview for me with one of the computer technology teachers. Her name was Shauna Binkered, and was very helpful and knowledgeable.

The one piece of technology that Mrs. Binkerd was very excited about that I didn't get to put into the form online was what she called a 'Mobi". These Mobi pads are electromagnetic digitizing technology which delivers high resolution, providing superior performance for fine annotations, manipulating of images/resources and handwriting recognition. Mrs. Binkerd said that they were going to receive these Mobi pads in their classrooms next year, and were attending conferences on how to use them. They seem to be a really awesome tool for teachers and for students that can greater expand the use of their current technology.

Looking at what was available to teachers in the classroom made me really reflect on what I could use in my own classroom as a teacher. Here is a list of a few things that I think would be useful for me to have as a Health, Anantomy and Biology teacher:

Projector
Laptop
Demonstration table camera, connectable to the Projector
Interactive whiteboard
Microscopes
Microscope cameras
pH measurement probes
Electronic thermometers
Electronic blood pressure cuffs
Manual blood pressure cuffs
AED
this is just a short list, but I am sure there is more that I could utilize in my classroom. Having technology such as this would be very helpful in my classroom in making what could have once been complicated demonstrations much easier. Using this technology in my classroom could also help me address many more different kind of learning intelligences within my classroom.

Reaction: Week 13

This week we watched the movie called Three Steps.
I really liked how the video said that you should make your classroom beautiful, comfortable, and student centered. I really believe that the aesthetics and comfort in the classroom are very commonly overlooked. To me, I believe that I learn best in a beautiful classroom. When I eventually become a teacher, I will do my best to make my classroom aesthetically pleasing for my students. I believe this will also assist me in being a better teacher.
Also, comfort is often overlooked. If our students are uncomfortable, they will not be able to learn very well at all. I also want to be comfortable with my students in my classroom in order to better open up the communication between student and teacher, as well as student and student.
I also liked the 3 C's that were taught in Step 2. Competition, Cooperation, and Collaboration are 3 important keys to helping our students learn well in the classroom environment. These three C's help student remain self-motivated and help them to learn to interact well with their peers.

In relation to the WebQuest assignment we are beginning this week, we are learning to use these guided internet quests in our classrooms to create a self-guided and safe internet learning experience for our students.
I really like Webquests, and I believe that as long as they aren't unnecessarily redundant with the same information, students will be motivated to guide themselves through them in order to have a self-guided learning experience. I would probably like to use them in my future classroom, although not necessarily in excess. Maybe only one or two per year.

My Beliefs

I believe that using technology in the classroom is very important to the success of students in the world today. When students encounter real life experiences post-high school, they will need to know how to utilize the technology around them. It is my duty as a teacher to help them learn how to use technology to their advantage.

As health is my primary area of study, using technology, especially the internet, is very important to keep up to date with changing health policies, regulations, and standards. Through governement websites especially, I can help my students know where they can turn for the most accurate and up to date information to assist them in their lives, even after they have left my classroom.

Lessons Learned

In our changing technological environment, it seems to me that it could seem quite overwhelming to a teacher. However, I had no idea quite how quickly the world is changing. I learned that students are expecting a lot out of their technological experiences. They all learn so quickly as new technology is introduced, and they want an environment that reaches them at the level they are learning.

I have many concerns regarding the way the world is changing without me. I have noticed that just since I have gotten out of high school, I am already out of the loop on many things, and I am only 21 years old! It will be a challenge for me to succeed in the technological arena in my classroom the older I get.

Strengths & Weaknesses

My Strengths and weaknesses discovered in this assignment were many. When taking the surveys, I surprisingly found myself to be mearely an apprentice in the majority of the areas! This was shocking to me, as I have been using a computer in every aspect of my life for the majority of my life! I earn a living using computers! To me, this really showed me how much I do not know. I have realized that even though I may feel I am better than the average computer user, I still only really can use or fix the basics. One of my weaknesses is my complete ignorance of any technology to assist special needs children in the classroom. I know that there are many things out there to assist them, but I am really quite unaware of it. One of my technological strengths, however, I feel is using correct terminology in my daily life. I use it in oral and written communication, and if people are trying to communicate something technology-related using correct terminology, I can understand them.

Some goals I have for my classroom as a future educator include being able to relate techologically to my students and going beyond the basics of technology. I would like to learn how to better use technology as an aid for my students who have special learning needs. This may be anything from a unique learning style or anything as severe as a deaf or blind student. I know that the technology exists out there, and I want to be able to be a resource for kids to learn about this type of technology if they need it.

A couple of seminars that I could attend to assist me in learning more about technology for special needs children are listed below. They would help me achieve my goal of assisting special needs children with technology in my classroom by better learning what is available to me as an educator to better improve their educational experience.
1. The 2009 Accessible Technology On-line Seminar Series
More information may be found here:
http://www.ada-audio.org/Webinar/AccessibleTechnology/Schedule/

2. The Introduction To Assistive Technologies - Webinar Series from "Ability Net"
More information may be found here:
http://www.emagister.co.uk/introduction_to_assistive_technologies_webinar_series_courses-ec170000930.htm

Reflection Week #10

I am writing my reflection on the video posted for us to watch this week. It was titled "The Connected Classroom". This video made me really think about what challenges face us at teachers in our future classrooms. It really highlighted how rapidly our world is actually changing. In one portion of the video, it read "we are preparing our students for job that do not yet exist". That seems like a very overwhelming challenge, unless you look at it from an adapting attitude.

What I mean by an "adapting" attitude is that we need to have a mold-able teaching style and attitude. We need to be flexible to be able to alter the way we approach our classes so that we can change with the times our students are facing. We also need to be teachable so that we can learn more about the world in which our students live, and will eventually work.

Staying updated about the current world (especially new technology) can be intimidating as a teacher. We are in a classroom all day, not out and about experiencing new technology in the world around us. It needs to be part of our responsibility to make ourselves encounter new technology so that we can better understand the technological changes in the world around us.

As a future educator, I feel I am pretty tech-savvy, but I know that much of what I do know now will become very outdated within the first few years of my teaching. So, as an educator, I know that I can enroll in continuing education classes in order to better understand the world me and keep updated on what is going on in technology today.

Video Reaction: Week #6

This week's video was called "Top Ten Things You Do Not Learn About Teaching in College".
This video was entertaining, but at the same time, some of the things I didn't get. I guess that is because I haven't ever taught school before! ...Maybe in a year or so, I will better understand why some of these things are funny.
I believe that the majority of this video is directed towards an elementary school teacher, rather than a secondary education teacher. This is because many of the things mentioned are associated with elementary school age students.
I thought that the teachers that made this film were quite clever. It is good to see teachers with a good sense of humor about the, perhaps more irritating, aspects of their jobs.
I hope that I can be able to look at the funny side of some of the difficult situations that I eventually find myself in while teaching. These teachers are a good example of finding the bright side of a bad situation.

Technology Article #2

I intend to use the Health Check tools found on Medline Plus. It is a government supported site, and so I know that it is a trusted resource. The URL for their Health Check Tools is:

w.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/interactivetools/index.html

The Health Check tools found on this site are very informative and useful in a Health Education setting. For example, the Alcohol-Use Quiz found in the Health Check tools can give students a realistic perspective on the costs of drinking really are - both health and monetary.
These Health Check tools cover an extremely broad range of subjects, making it a wonderful resource for students to become familiar with. If they become comfortable and familiar with this resource, it is one they can continue to use throughout their maturation process and into adulthood.
Many adolescents have questions about their own bodies that they may be embarrassed to ask a parent, adult or physician. This website gives them a place to investigate their concerns further, while knowing that they are going to be receiving accurate and trusted information.
Because these tools are interactive, they are extremely user friendly. They are easily listed under the part of the body affected, and then sub-listed by their symptoms so that students can easily locate on the site their area of concern or study.
I find this tool to be extremely useful, and I look forward to implementing its use in my classroom in the future.

Technology Article #1

One tool that I will use in my classroom is a body fat measurement hand-held device. This tool is an easy tool that students may use, if they wish, to measure their body fat percentage. This is a valuable tool for students to use because it gives an accurate look at personal health.
Many people firmly believe in using the Body Mass Index chart (BMI). It has been around for a very long time. I personally believe that Body Mass Index calculations do not always properly reflect health because of certain extremes in height or muscle mass. An individual may be above average in height and muscle mass, but be extremely active and athletic. This individual could appear to be in the overweight, or even obese categories on the Body Mass Index chart.
Using a body fat measurement tool along side a BMI chart can show a comparison between the two. Doing this will show if the BMI is accurate. It allows the student to accurately see if they are considered in a healthy range of body fat versus muscle mass, even if the BMI chart says they are overweight or unhealthy.
I believe using this tool will give students a realistic look at where they are with their health. It is very important to provide students with accurate information, especially when it comes to their own bodies. Adolescent kids already have such discomfort with their own bodies, and making them unnecessarily anxious when it isn't accurate can cause damage.
I look forward to providing my students with the most accurate information possible, using whatever tools I can realistically provide for them.

Reflection: Using the Internet in Education

The internet can be a very useful tool if we use it correctly. There are many wonderful resources that can be found online, and I believe we should utilize them. It is an important part of our job as educators in this day and age, that we be able to demonstrate to our students how to safely navigate the internet. Teaching our students to fear or avoid the internet is hindering them in their future success. To me, it is like telling a woodworker not to use a saw because he could cut himself. A saw is a useful tool, and if used correctly is safe. The internet is the same way. It is possible to teach students good judgment about internet safety.
As teachers, it is very important to evaluate the sites that we refer our students to for information. We must evaluate them in order to protect them from not only dangerous information, but also incorrect information. If we do not first evaluate them and make sure they are coming from a reputable source, our students could be misinformed. We also must first evaluate websites in order for the parents of our students to trust us and the information we provide. If we refer students to information that is dangerous to them, their parents will not be happy about it.

I would ask myself the following questions when evaluating a website:

1.Is this information appropriate for my students?
2.Is this information relevant to what my students are learning?
3.Does this website contain current and valid information?
4.Is this website published on a trusted and reputable domain?
5.Is this page the best source of information, or is there something better?
6.Does this website provide the author's contact information or biography?

Some ways to keep students safe while surfing is to use a content blocker. Schools are (or should be) equipped with content blockers to block inappropriate content. However, we must always preview any website we direct our students to visit in order to make sure they are getting the highest quality information. Teaching our students to also surf wisely and keep away from anything that appears to be inappropriate content will help them build their own net safety skills.

UEN Reflection

I found the UEN network to be a very useful tool for my future classroom.
The Pioneer Library was a great place to find information. I would have my future students use it to look up information for projects in my health, biology and anatomy classes. It is a good, relevant source of information that students can turn to without having to sort through non-scholarly articles on sites like Google.com.
The interactives are really cool. I would especially like to use it for my biology students, because it provides somewhat of a 'lab' experience with a little more flexibility. Students are able to see results from their experiments more rapidly than with regular experiments. It also allows them to do an experiment under ideal conditions, without such a large margin of error.
The lesson plan tools were FANTASTIC. I definitely plan on using them. Their nutrition unit that I looked up for my health students was really great. It gave a lot of creative ideas that I might not have thought of on my own. I definitely want to use them in my future teaching experiences.
The core curriculum was also useful. It outlined exactly what the state expects you to teach in your courses, in an easy accessible place to find it. I really enjoyed looking through the core curriculum for all of my classes I eventually will teach.
Another thing that I really liked were the inner components of Pioneer Library. The world articles were great to learn about other countries. In my biology classes I might be able to eventually integrate that if we are studying different environments for organisms around the world.
This was a time consuming, but very informative project. I felt that it was such a great resource that is probably under-utilized. I do plan on using it in my classroom and teaching experiences.

Reflection #3

This week we learned how to build a Google Site.
Currently the class website is down, so I am going to try to remember what I am supposed to reflect on...

I thought that building a google site for your class is an excellent idea! I will definitely implement it in my future classroom. It is a great way to keep your students and parents up to speed on what is going on in the class. One thing, though, that might be difficult as a teacher to keep this updated. Knowing myself, it might be hard to remember to keep it up to date. However, if the students were actually actively using it as a resource, it would be easier to remember to update it, knowing that they were counting in accurate information there.
Parents could more easily be involved in their child's education as well. They could know what their homework their children should be working on.

Collegues could use this as a valuable resource as well, especially in a collaboratives setting. Teachers could look at each other's websites to see what their students are doing in their other classes. Overloading students could also be avoided by coordinating assignments between classes.

The video that we were supposed to watch this week made me really think about how tech-savvy our students are going to be. They are exposed to so much technology daily, and it is important that we incorporate that into our classrooms. I think that integrating as much technology into the classroom as is appropriate will help our students connect to the subject matter in a way that they can really relate.

Reflection #2

Videos:
My impression of the videos we watched for this week were that they were both engaging. I thought that they would be a good tool to use with students because they would grab the students' attention. Even though students (especially high school students) might think videos like these are silly, they help them remember the things they teach better. Also, using videos like this can be beneficial for students who have different learning styles. It also varies the way information is presented, so it may stay in their memory better.

The tools we learned to use this week would be beneficial for students in collaborative projects. Google docs, which I hadn't used before, is a great tool for collaborative projects. Teaching students to work well together using technology would benefit them in improving their technological skills, as well as their interaction skills.

The cons of using google docs too much in collaboration of students could be that it would eliminate the need for face to face cooperation and collaboration. Students who are still learning the skill of cooperation might be harmed rather than helped by the over-use of google doc collaboration.

Also, google docs would be a great tool for teacher colleagues to collaborate as well. Lesson plans could be exchanged, or compiled together without the inconvenience of finding a time to meet together.

The use of Google Calendar would be very beneficial to students and to parents as well. If a classroom schedule were updated and posted weekly, parents would know what their students were supposed to be working on, and students would be able to answer their own questions about the schedule by just going online from home.

The use of these tools would help me achieve my classroom goals by helping my teach my students to be well-rounded and technologically fluent people. I believe that knowing how to use technology to the fullest is essential for success in the world today.

My Ideal Classroom (Reflection #1)

Physical Description:
In my ideal classroom, there would be lots of windows. I think that people were meant to be exposed to natural light. I know I feel better in natural light, and so I would hope it would also be good for my students.
I would also love it to be in an older building with high ceilings and big wooden doors with windows in the door and a big wooden desk at the front of the room. I would also like to have some bird cages with some birds, and a fish tank filled with fish. Along the big windows, I would like to have a variety of potted plants. These things may sound silly, but I would use them in my teaching (Biology being one of my areas of emphasis.)
Along the wall opposite the windows would be big book shelves filled with lots of awesome science and health books, as well as models of the human body, and specimens in jars.

Students, Parents, Colleagues:
In my ideal classroom, my students would be attentive, respectful, and excited about learning. They would be actively involved in classroom discussion and ask intelligent and insightful questions. They would produce high-quality work, and ask for feedback about how they are doing. No one would ever feel uncomfortable or afraid to ask questions.
Parents of the students would be supportive, involved, and available if needed. I would hope they would be actively interested in their child's education, and would be a good resource for their children when they have questions. As my primary emphasis is Health, I would want my students to feel comfortable going to either their parents or myself for any questions they may have about the subject, beyond what is covered in class.
My colleagues ideally would be easy to get along with and collaborate with. They would be intelligent and care about their students as much as I do. I would want there to be an open environment of knowledge-sharing throughout all of the faculty. I would also want them to be friendly and nice, so that we would be able to genuinely enjoy being together.

Content & Techniques:
The content areas that I hope to teach (in order of preference) would be Health, Anatomy, & Biology. The techniques that I hope to implement would be cooperative learning, so that the kids learn to talk to each other about topics that they may think are embarrassing (but that are very important!) relating to health. I also wish to implement technology by having my students utilize the useful resources found on the internet to write papers or to use as a resource. I want to teach them to be able to answer their own questions by turning to technology, rather than relying on my too much as a teacher. I also want to teach them what resources can be considered valid, so they know that the information they are getting is trustworthy.
My class goal would by 'Information is Power." In my eyes, the more you know (including knowing where to go to get more information), the farther you will be able go, and the healthier you will be able to stay.