Frustrations with Technology

At first when I started to think about my frustrations with technology I could not think of any specific instance, mainly because technology seems to fail me almost once a month!

However, I got a rude awakening this morning. I encountered a problem by attempting to create business cards with the Microsoft template, for the first time. Everything was going as planned, until I moved one of them and some how deleted everything off my clipboard, forcing me to create the whole template over again! Now, on my second try I thought I was going to be successful and converted the file to PDF to upload online through a file conversion website. However, to my surprise I get the converted file back with an extra page in the middle full of the old business card template that I thought I had deleted! So, I decided to try to delete this information, forgetting that it is now in a PDF, making me unable to edit my work. Therefore, back to the conversion website I went for a second time around! After the process completed and I upload the new file it has the same exact mistake, making me feel completely defeated. Again, I went through the files I wanted to convert and tried to change anything that was causing this problem, sent it through the conversion again a third time, to only feel completely defeated when the new file still had the same mistake! Finally, the fourth time was a charm, only after I deleted the whole template and started all over again!

Despite the frustration that technology gliches create, overall I would go through the set-backs to get to the final product. This is because at least in my case, it is normally the users fault, and not the machine! Also, nothing can top that great feeling when the technology runs smootly and you feel like it is practically working for you! Therefoe, even though we will all encounter problems all the time with technology this should not be a deterrent for our usage of it, because of the great rewards we get when we are successful.

WebQuests.....

First of all, I am extremely intrigued and smitten with this idea of Webquests. These seem like a great tool, that can reach many different learners in your classroom, especially in History, my discipline. By using the Internet for this activity and the interactive applications that you can choose to insert into your Webquest, seems ideal for differentiated instruction. For example, you can play to Visual-Spatial learners strengths by choosing website that are full of graphics and videos of the topic. Also, you can arrange the answers in a way that allows students an option to draw a map of their WebQuest journey. Moving on to logical-mathematical, of course websites with interactive math problems would be great, but for other disciplines pick websites that integrate puzzles and choose questions that promote logical reasoning for the students. For a verbal-linguistic learner, the reading of chosen primary documents online and the writing of their answers to the questions, will play to their strengths. Next, intrapersonal and interpersonal learners will love the idea of a Webquests, especially with the choice to work alone or in partners to accomplish the task. Students with a heavy emphasis in musical learning can also be utilized using Webquests, for example many websites use songs or raps to relay the historical information of certain eras or events. Lastly, Bodily-Kinesthetic learners, possibly the hardest learning style to accommodate when using computers, because of their need for activity. Therefore, teachers must keep this in mind and use stations when making the Webquest. For example, have the designated sites pulled up on separate computers and the students must switch in order to use all the sites.
Because, differentiated instruction poses large challenges for teachers, I think that using Webquests and other Internet tools are great for facilitating the gap in the difference of learners.

Why Technology?

When I think about technology in the classroom so many thoughts and ideas pop into my head, however the overwhelming feeling towards this topic is how “cool” is technology to students. When you get to the root of implementing technology in your classroom the first and foremost thing to consider is, “Will this new application allow student to learn and engage in the content or thinking skill that we as teachers want them to acquire,” and if this is a yes then how, “cool” is this application in a twenty-first century students’ eyes.
As I learn more about technology to use in the classroom my eyes continue to be opened and excited with new programs for instruction. For example the “Wiffiti,” we used in class last week, which allows students to use their cell phones and text answers to a digitalized graffiti screen blew my mind. For myself, wanting to go into high school teaching, I know that I must be on the cutting edge of technology news and events because I know that my students will be. Thanks, to the PLN which I have started building I have been able to begin building a repertoire of interactive materials to engage students in subjects and topics that on the surface may not be that thrilling.
In my opinion, learning how to use technology in the classroom is one of the most important skills for a teacher to have. One of these reasons behind this mindset is the ability to reach all kinds of different learning styles with different types of technology. AS teachers one of the hardest challenges is breaking down how a student learns and then teaching to that individual style. However, with different uses of technology we can easily facilitate more audio exercises for audio learners, more visual aides for visual learners, and many more examples.
Therefore, in this year that I have now before I enter my internship I want to take all the opportunities I can to learn more about technology to implement when I am in a classroom, instead of trying to learn everything at once!

My Introduction to a PLN...

After the first day of my integrating technology class this semester, I left with the feeling overwhelmed by excitement to learn new tools and programs with technology in education. Prior to entering my class, I have had no background classes or tutorials with technology integrated into a classroom.
A key topic that we covered in our technology class was establishing our PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter. With first mention of this application use I did have some hesitations. My hesitations stemmed from my lack of familiarity with online applications and networks (this is coming from a person who finally began to actually use her Facebook this year which I created three years ago). Thus, my idea of Twitter consisted of celebrities and news hosts "tweeting" about their lives for everyone in the world to follow.
By the time my first class concluded and I now understood what an asset Twitter is to my PLN, I was embarrassed at my first thoughts about the program. After establishing my Twitter name I began to search for the main people in my future field of education. Thankfully our instructor already had listed some very accomplished individuals to follow on Twitter. I was completely amazed by the amount of people and the tweets that are posted in one day that could help teachers in all fields! One example of a tweet that grabbed my attention was by NMHS_Principal concerning a great tool for history teachers! This link took me to an excellent website that was an archive of countless history topics equipped with lesson plans, handouts, primary documents, videos, and many more multimedia tools for every lesson. After finding this treasure of a website I looked at some other posts by NMHS_Principal and really admired how much time it seems he devotes to finding novel ways of integrating technology in all disciplines through his high school. After perusing around the Twitter network for more people in my field I started following MisterHistory.
After reading his short bio about, “breaking the spell of textbook teaching,” I was hooked! I really appreciated what MisterHistory posts on his Twitter feed. Being a young teacher when I enter the field I think it is really important to not teach history straight from the textbook. Of course, the textbook has a great source of content and knowledge for a solid reference, but reading in a book day in and out will not constantly engage students, which is my ultimate goal. MisterHistory had a great tweet for another teacher to try out this History lesson by a rap song. After following that link I was amazed at how this website had raps for different events in history, which would be a great tool in a classroom!
Overall, my eyes were open after only two hours in my first technology class to how establishing a PLN with Twitter through the internet is extremely helpful and rewarding for both students I will be teaching and myself. Before, my idea of technology was only PowerPoint and normal online tools, but no I am excited to learn more Web 2.0 classroom tools and techniques to add to my repertoire, in hopes to soon use these in a high school classroom.