To use or not to use? That is the question! An Assessment of 8 Technology Tools

Teachers are known by people of other professions to have a set of special skills, or so I have heard. When talking to someone about my wanting to become a teacher, many are intrigued. I have heard things like: wow, it takes a lot to be able to even be around children, lesson planning takes a lot of thought how do you even plan something like that out; but mostly it's centered around the fact that kids think you're awesome enough to pay attention to!

Apparently a person who wants to be teacher knows how to (1) be around children without exploding, (2) be detailed about the plans they make, and (3) have a lot of time. I take statements like those described above as compliments. But when I step out of the shoes of being the person complimented and think about the general population of educators I see that we have managed to add another skill to the skill set: technological competence.

And I'm not talking about your ordinary PowerPoint, Spreadsheet, Word, and Excel competence but websites that promote group collaboration, creativity, and productivity. Listed below are a couple of tools with a description of their features, pros and cons, and my very own rating based off of my experiences with it.

Rating Scale (by fingers):
0 - Do not use AT ALL
1 - Really not recommended
2 - Not recommended
3 - You can if you want
4 - Somewhat recommended
5 - HIGHLY recommended

MOODLE

FEATURES:

• Online learning system
• Allows for post/view/submission of assignments
• Chatroom for those "enrolled" into the class
• Assignment View: All participants or your specific group
• Grading system with grading breakdown

PROS:

• Monitor/cellphone compatibility
• Organized setup/easy navigation
• Allows for distance learning

CONS:

• Loss of real student teacher interaction (some students learn better in the physical classroom setting) <-- speaking from personal experience!
• No access to a computer or no access to internet, no participation
• Not active if the participation of the student is absent

RATING

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CHROME

                                                   

FEATURES:

• Search bar is in the same bar as where the URL goes
• Auto-fill for website names
• Manageable tab activity
• Customizable themes
• Wide view space

PROS:

• Safety: Automatic pop-up blocker
• Security: Asks if you would like it to remember your password or never
• Allows for multiple tabs
• Tab management; open link in new tab or open link in new window
• Accidentally closed a window with several tabs? NO PROBLEM! Restore all tabs. 

CONS:

• NONE THAT I CAN COME UP WITH

RATING

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GOOGLE APPS

FEATURES:

• Blogger - blog creator for educators, teenagers, young adults, and businesses
• Google Drive - online organizer for any kind of document
• Google Docs - similar to that of Microsoft Word, create, edit, and share documents
• Gmail - similar to that of Yahoo!, compose, send and receive email with less spam

PROS:

• Blogger - ready made templates that allow for customization; you can go back and edit to update your post; continuous saving (never lose your work!); preview as you save and type; ble to link to Facebook and other social networks
• Google Drive - allows for the creation of folders to keep all like documents in one spot; separates documents you created from documents other people have shared with you
• Google Docs - GROUP COLLABORATION! Group members can be online working on one document/spreadsheet/powerpoint and changes can be seen in real time without constant saving; allows for sharing between several people
• Gmail - convenient viewing of email (separates email from people, social networks, and promotions = less clutter in your inbox); allows for the creation of folders as well to keep like emails in one spot

CONS:

• Blogger - none!
• Google Drive - none!
• Google Docs - in comparison to Microsoft Word, there is a limited amount of formatting ability
• Gmail - Needs to be signed up for; no gmail, no ability to edit documents shared with you by those who do have gmail

RATING

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LIVEBINDER

FEATURES:

• Online binder
• Live previews of websites
• Customizable layouts
• Sharing option (to Facebook, Twitter, email, Pinterest, etc)

PROS:

• Simple navigation
• Offers different styles to binder appearance
• Live preview of websites*
• Very accommodating to multimedia use
• SAVES PAPER AND PLASTIC! (no need for 3-prong 3 inch binders anymore!)

CONS:

• Only some websites are able to be viewed live in the binder; others have to be opened in a new window
• Very simple livebinder background; only solid colors

RATING

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WIX

FEATURES:

• Website creator
• Designer made templates

PROS:

• It's FREE!
• Even the free designer made templates are nice!
• Mobile phone version editor
• Very multimedia friendly
• Hyperlink and Embedded Code friendly
• Purpose flexible (a website through Wix can be created for blogging pleasure, business promotions, and presentations)

CONS:

• Only one person can edit the Wix at one time; if more than one person is editing the Wix page, the first one to save their work is good to go, the other two's work is disregarded
• A new user might have to take some time to familiarize themselves with the navigation of the editing page

RATING

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PREZI

FEATURES:

• Presentation tool

PROS:

• There is a free option!
• Group collaboration: more than one person can edit the presentation at one time
• Interesting zooming affect
• Multimedia friendly
• Sharing option
• Embedded code
• URL sharing
• Not your average powerpoint presentation thats for sure!

CONS:

• The zooming might make people dizzy <-- yes people do complain about that

RATING

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LUCIDPRESS

FEATURES:

• Presentation tool
• Magazine creator
• Free option
• Designer templates

PROS:

• Very straight forward and easy to use navigation on editing page
• Option to save and preview your work as you work on it
• VERY VERY multimedia friendly
• Various templates that offer interesting use of space and text formatting; THERE IS A SCROLL OPTION! (you can type and type and type and you will be just fine!)
• Much easier to use than Joomag; even with lots of multimedia it will not take forever for the page to load <-- speaking from experience
• Sharing and publishing options!

CONS:

• NONE that I can think of!

RATING

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WIGGIO

FEATURES:

• Online group collaboration tool
• Virtual meetings
• New feed updates w/ email notification alerts
• Calendar
• To-do list
• Document sharing

PROS:

• News feed appearance is very similar to that of Facebook
• Easy navigation
• Calendar and to-do list feature allows for groups to keep on task
• Virtual meeting option has a webcam and VoIP feature
• Virtual meeting window has a white board in which group members can upload, download, and view documents and multimedia to discuss
• Virtual meeting window offers a chatbox
• When a group member does anything to the news feed (replies, posts, schedules a meeting, etc), other group members will receive email notifications of the activity
• Face-to-Face meeting option/scheduler allows group members to agree on a time and place to meet

CONS:

• Group activity on the news feed or document sharing feature notifications can be bothersome; group members will receive email after email after email especially when documents are being edited

RATING

REFERENCES

About Google - Products. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/

Knowledge Base. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from https://wiggio.zendesk.com/home

Teaching Proper Digital Citizenship

     Times have changed and the way I see it, today's teachers have been given an extra responsibility. In the past, teachers were understood to only be responsible for teaching children things like science, math, reading, and social studies. From my past experiences as a student, the only thing I learned in computer class during my elementary school years were which were the parts of the computer and how to type as quick as you could. Today, with the rapidly evolving technology and the rate at which today's children are learning how to use them, teachers have now been given the task of teaching their students how to be safe on the internet. When students are not aware of the dangers of the internet and it's misuse, they can easily become victims to a number of pressing issues that are usually prominent in the school setting and can even carry on for the rest of their lives. These issues are cyberbullying, fair user practices/copyright issues, pharming and phishing, digital safety and privacy, and even more dangerous, textual harassment and sexting.

     As a future educator, all those issues pose as important topics to teacher my students. On the other hand and more specifically, as a future elementary school teacher, only a particular few stand out as imperative for me to teach: cyberbullying, digital safety and privacy, textual harassment, and sexting. I think copyright issues and pharming and phising are geared more towards the higher elementary school and middle school levels.

     In my technology in education class, my group was assigned to present on textual harassment and sexting. In all honesty, this topic is a very unsettling one but I accepted the fact that it was an important issue to be aware of. Here is a link to the website my group and I created; it contains definitions of textual harassment and sexting, a handful of YouTube videos that further define the two, a reference to a local bill here on Guam that discusses the consequences of textual harassment and sexting, a tab on statistics, and lastly a tab on tips and hotlines students should find useful.

Link: http://kierstinelim.wix.com/digital-safety

     If I were to teach a lesson on textual harassment to my students, I would make use of what they know and go from there; besides that is the best way to reach children nowadays! During my time looking for a new game in the iPhone App store, I came across a certain app that I thought was perfect in trying to help me create a classroom environment that was not only open and inviting, but also safe and secure.

It was called Remind.

I can begin this lesson by having my students take part in this online/handheld classroom community and inviting their parents as well. With this I can go on with what ever lesson I am conducting, be it science, reading, or math just so my students and their parents can have a feel for the app. I will have them communicate with one another on topics I discuss during class and ask for their input on it. By doing this, my students will see how easily information can be given out and shared with a large group of people and a simple tap of the finger.

     I also came across this website that can be used in the classroom. It is a chatroom; it is called Backchannel Chat.

 I think this is a great tool to use within the classroom because of it's features. It allows the teacher to post in what seems like a feed familiar to that of FaceBook and allows the students to chat with either each other or with the teacher. In this chat community, the teacher is the main administrator that oversees the behavior of the students. As it is pictured, the chat community is also controlled by the computer; there is a profanity filer. These days, it is unfortunate to hear young children picking up on the use of profanity. That is NOT going to be allowed in my classroom; this chat community does a great job at ensuring my students will not be using that even ONLINE.

     Because each students receives notifications on changes and replies on their chat community, I will make use of the computer lab and have them all together and have them see what textual harassment feels like. As the main administrator, I will send out multiple messages that all of them will receive in one time. I will ask them if they thought it was funny and if they say no, hopefully they say no, I will explain to them that that behavior is actually a no-no in the digital world.

     Students need to know how to be responsible for one another and themselves while they are online. I want my future students to know that, just because it's on a cellphone or in the computer, does not mean it or they are safe. There are ways to be safe online and I know that it is my responsibility as an educator to show them the right way to be a digital citizen.

REFERENCES
Remind: Safe Classroom Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app.remind-safe-classroom-communication/id522829277?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

Backchannel Chat Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://backchannelchat.com/Benefits

Orthopedically Impaired in the Classroom

     At some point in the career of a teacher, he or she will more than likely be assigned a student with special needs in their classroom. In some schools, students with special needs are placed in classrooms separate from that of the general student population. This separation is often because the tools they need and the help they need do not exist in the regular population. Today however, teachers are learning more ways to accommodate these students within their classrooms. With modern day technology, learning beside their general education classmates, has become possible for students with special needs. Assistive technology is working wonders for students with special needs and is allowing them to be included in the regular classrooms.

     In the school year 2003-2004, the U.S. Department of Education reported that of the 5,971,495 students receiving special education services, 1.1% (or 68,188 students) received special education services based on a classification of orthopedic impairments. According to IDEA or, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the category of orthopedic impairments covers a wide variety of disorders; the most prevalent is cerebral palsy (Project IDEAL).
 
    With that said, teachers who do end up with a student with an orthopedic impairment, need to look at their lesson plans and think of ways that their lessons can be modified to ensure that that student is included in the educational experience. The teacher has to take into account, (1) the things that the student can do, (2) their limits, (3) if they have any medication that must be ready at all times and what time they should be taken, (4) how their assistive technologies work, and last but most importantly (5) any provisions made by their IEP, Individualized Educational Plan.

     Without getting into all the technicalities of the laws of Special Education and the specifications of an IEP, there are simple accommodations teachers can make during their lessons (504 Resources).

1. provide extra time to get to class
2. provide a bathroom assistance/bathroom buddy
3. ensure that their desk and any part of the classroom that is being used for activities has enough space for their mobility as many students with an orthopedic impairment use a wheelchair

     With observations I have done for one of my special education classes I have experienced one class in which there was a student that was orthopedically impaired. The student participated in the teacher's question and answer portion of class and the dancing activity. When it came to the dancing activity, fellow students knew that they had to understand and include him; they took turns offering to push his wheelchair to the designated area on the floor. The teacher told the student that he can still dance by simply doing the hand movements while a student volunteer moved the wheelchair side to side. 

     Personally, I do not have any friends or family members with an orthopedic impairment. My mother however, has Asthma. She has mild intermittent asthma and always has to have her inhaler with her. When our family has any events we make sure that family members who smoke are not near her and that we do not have her do any rigorous tasks because those things can trigger her Asthma, or worse, trigger an Asthma attack. 

     As a future educator, I will make it a point not to be ignorant about the existence of students with special needs and think to myself that I will never end up with one. As a future educator, I want to continue to educate myself as to how I can best communicate what I am teaching to my special needs students and learn about new ways I can incorporate them into my lesson activities. I do believe that these students can learn. I do believe that and when I become a teacher, they will. 

References

504 Resources. (n.d.). South Lane School District. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from http://www.slane.k12.or.us/departments/special-services/504-resources

Jamaica Gleaner. (2014, May 18). Johnathan Francis, quite the exception [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtLmYMHTPhE 

Orthopedic Impairments - Project IDEAL. (n.d.). Project IDEAL. Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/orthopedic-impairments/

The Importance of Letter Recognition

     Learning to read is a very crucial part to a person’s education, trickling towards successes later on in their life. The ability to read springs forth early on in a child’s kindergarten years. At age 3-5 students are brought to school and are taught a series of concepts beginning with letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and simple sentence building.

     Focusing however, on letter/alphabet recognition, teachers are tasked with young students who are eager to learn how to read. Today’s teachers have to keep up with the trends that are aesthetically pleasing to young children and trends that simply make them fall asleep. At such an early age, attention is a do-or-die type of thing. From all of the experiences I have had with teaching practicums in elementary schools I have come to realize that if the subject is not amusing from the get-go, students are going to let information go through one ear and out the other.

     Technological incorporation to the curriculum is the best way to take advantage of a young student’s attention (or curiosity), maintain it, and teach it. In this age of iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, and other electronic products that children are beginning to learn how to use and stay hooked on, teachers and parents are given an opportunity to use those things as educational tools. In the classroom teachers can use these technological devices as reinforcement to their lesson plans. The internet provides websites that contain games that are children friendly.

     As a project, a few colleagues and I had to search online for an educational game appropriate to the grade level we planned to teach as future educators. A game was to be played and assessed with young children in mind. The game my group discovered was called “Alpha Pig’s Alpha Bricks.” In this game there is an indirect reference to the children’s story of the “Three Little Pigs.” The game had a little pig pleading with the player to help him find the right alphabet brick to patch up the hole in his home’s wall before the big bad wolf comes. The game offered three levels of play: easy, medium and hard. In the easy level, the little pig asks “Can you find the letter a, g, i, etc.” When the letters have all been found the alphabet is displayed in the correct order on the wall. When the player chooses the medium level, the little pig asks for capitalized letters. When the player chooses the hard level, the little pig asks for a combination of lower and uppercase letters.

     This game serves as a tool to reinforce the learning of the alphabet and the recognition of its letters. Suited for it’s targeted age of 3-5, this game not only provided an aesthetically pleasing experience for children but also a curriculum aligned topic for teachers. When evaluating the game, however, the group found certain ways that it could have been tailored to be better in the educational setting.

     Researching on the standards of Guam and the Common Core we found that yes, the needs prescribed by the Common Core were successfully achieved but not that of Guam’s. In the Guam standards for the Kindergarten and 1^st grade, students need to have already some idea of the letters of the alphabet and should have the preparation to learning how to sound words out and read simple sentences for simple stories.

     This ability to read, as previously stated, is crucial to a person’s education and future successes. When a child reads frequently their reading skills are more strongly developed. “Having kids read a lot is one of the crucial components of becoming a good reader. Young readers need to become practiced at recognizing letters and sounds. The only way to get good at it is to practice (Gutlloff, 1999).” Further research shows that, if a child does not learn how to read by the 3^rd grade, he or she is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 (Sparks, 2011). In addition to that same research referenced to the studies of the American Educational Research Association, that same student at 3^rd grade, if poverty was added to the mix, he or she is 13 times less likely to graduate on time in comparison to his wealthier peer. The blog goes on to emphasize the importance by a very clear warning,

“3^rd grade is a kind of pivot point… we teach reading for the first three grades and then after that children are not so much learning to read but using their reading skills to learn other topics. In that sense, if you haven’t succeeded by 3^rd grade it is more difficult to remediate (et al.).”

As serious as these claims seem to be, they are very important circumstances to think about. If educational online games are not enough to get through to teaching what young children need to know by a certain age, a teacher should not give up. There are many other online resources that can be used like YouTube, animation generators, online books, etc. The pre-Kindergarten and the early elementary school years are very important years in a child’s life and if there is any subject that should be given attention to, it’s reading. Reading spans an individuals lifespan. Like any other habit, a good habit like this one must be started early and nurtured throughout time.

References

Gutloff, Karen. (1999). Reading research ready to go. Washington, DC: National Education Association. 

Sparks, Sarah D. (2011, April 08). Study: Third grade reading predicts later high school graduation [web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/04/the_disquieting_side_effect_of.html

What You Love

You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. You are what you love, not who loves you. And my school.