Monday, February 25, 2013
Improve my technology skill
I think I am not 100% a technology person, but I like to try new things. I remembered when iPhone first came out, I have no idea why Apple made this phone because back in that time, people are using cellphones as communicating tools with only text and phone calls. But few years later, smartphones became the popular phone that everyone needs to have one, so from that time I started to play with it. I think technology is developing too fast we can not always use the fresh tool in class but we can definitely try something is new for us. I am doing my graduation project now, so I have to try a lot of technology tools to use in the classroom. So, I did a lot of researches trying to find some good ones that can help my students to learn vocabulary. And I found out it is really difficult. I have to say that at the first time I didn't think using technology would be a difficult thing, but after I taught a few lessons, I think it is not that easy. The way I can improve my technology skills is trying to find a couple one that I think it's useful and has a great future in education setting then just practice over and over again until I feel comfortable to use it in class. Of course, when new technology comes out, I will definitely try it out!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Chapter 5- Sandholtz
Chater five talks about redefining teacher and student roles in using technology. Traditionally, teacher knows a lot of the curriculum and class management, but in today's world, teachers feel discomfort about knowing little more than their students about technology. In this chapter, the author mentions that teachers started to have some students work on different software so that they can be the experts to help other students when they have trouble. Peer turoring is another key idea in this chapter, have students to teach each other about different technology, instead of sitting there quietly, students become more active. This suddent increase the interaction between students and also, in some cases, teachers found out that if they teach one or two students how to do something on comupter, then they don't need to worry about spend a lot of time to help other students because they will just learn from their peer. Also, the author talks about the unanticipate benefits by peer tutoring. Peer tutoring makes student who is less value blossom, unpopular students gain approval...etc. At the end of this chapter, the author discusses about the new two dimensions about the role of student experts. First, student starts to share their expertise with people other than the ACOT classroom, second, teacher allows student to teach one another subject matter content in addition to technological information.
I think in this 21st century, as a teacher, we need to think about our role when we are teaching with technology. Obviously, our students sometime spend more time than us to learn new technologies. As a teacher, we have too many thing we need to deal with every day. So, it is hard for us to learn every single new technology. I think the idea about having a couple students to be the experts of different technology tools is good because they can be our assistants when we are teaching. At the same time we can still focus on the content area we are trying to teach in the classroom. It does save a lot of our time to solve some technological problem may occur during the class.
I think in this 21st century, as a teacher, we need to think about our role when we are teaching with technology. Obviously, our students sometime spend more time than us to learn new technologies. As a teacher, we have too many thing we need to deal with every day. So, it is hard for us to learn every single new technology. I think the idea about having a couple students to be the experts of different technology tools is good because they can be our assistants when we are teaching. At the same time we can still focus on the content area we are trying to teach in the classroom. It does save a lot of our time to solve some technological problem may occur during the class.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Chapter 4- Sandholtz
Chapter four starts to explain the details in three stages mentioned in chapter three. First, in the entry stage, teachers may meet those situations which will somehow put them in nervous, such student's misbehaviors by using technology. For example, students use technology for different purposes, not for learning. Problems related to physical environment such as the weather. Most important, technical problem such as computers out for repair for weeks. Those are some issues that teachers will face in this entry stage.
Second, in the adoption stage, teachers start to developed strategies to solve problems mentioned above and restrictions for using computer for both group and student. In this stage, teachers start to have their own way to figure out how to solve basic problems when technology are not avaliable.
Thrid, in Adaptation stage, teachers start to use technology to their advantage in manage the classroom. It is different from the previous stages, the teachers integrate technology to facilitate them to manage their class and solve students' misbehaviors.
I think this chapter is really interesting to read, after reading the evolution stages on chapter three, this more detail information make sense to me now. I think most teachers are still using the entry stage methods to solve problems, for example, when there is a technical problem occurred, most teacher will just stop teaching and asking for help. But I think as a teacher, even without technology, our curriculum still need to go on. I think it would be hard for teachers to get to the adaptation stage because even though we already used a lot of technologies in our curriculum, but using it to manage a classroom seem like a big challedge.
Second, in the adoption stage, teachers start to developed strategies to solve problems mentioned above and restrictions for using computer for both group and student. In this stage, teachers start to have their own way to figure out how to solve basic problems when technology are not avaliable.
Thrid, in Adaptation stage, teachers start to use technology to their advantage in manage the classroom. It is different from the previous stages, the teachers integrate technology to facilitate them to manage their class and solve students' misbehaviors.
I think this chapter is really interesting to read, after reading the evolution stages on chapter three, this more detail information make sense to me now. I think most teachers are still using the entry stage methods to solve problems, for example, when there is a technical problem occurred, most teacher will just stop teaching and asking for help. But I think as a teacher, even without technology, our curriculum still need to go on. I think it would be hard for teachers to get to the adaptation stage because even though we already used a lot of technologies in our curriculum, but using it to manage a classroom seem like a big challedge.
Chapter 3- Sandholtz
Chapter three talks about the evolution of teaching instruction which is integrating technology into curruculum. Technology has been use in science, business and industry for many years. Also, researches has proved the effectiveness of using technology on those areas. When it comes to education, things are different. There is not enough evidence to prove that using technology in education setting can be more effective. Also, using technology in education adds another layer of complexity. There are several reasons mentioned in this chaper, the most important factor is personal belief. Beliefs govern behavior, so the process replacing the old one with new one becomes critical. Meanwhile, replacing old teaching with new teaching takes time. In this chapter, the author discusses about the stages of instructional evolution: entry, adoption, adaptation, appreciation and invention. Each stage has been well explained in this chapter.
I think right now is 21st century, most of teachers somehow already knew how to use technology into their curriculum, the differences will be how much they actually use. I know that this book is not really new, so some infomation in it may be not true for today. I do believe that personal belief can change our behavior, if I believe I can use this new technology in my class, then I will try to learn this one before I use in my class. Even though it is 21 st century now, a lot of schools still have older teachers. Those teachers should be our priority to help them to learn those new technologies. In order to make our teaching more effective, I think integrating technology into curriculum is a must do.
I think right now is 21st century, most of teachers somehow already knew how to use technology into their curriculum, the differences will be how much they actually use. I know that this book is not really new, so some infomation in it may be not true for today. I do believe that personal belief can change our behavior, if I believe I can use this new technology in my class, then I will try to learn this one before I use in my class. Even though it is 21 st century now, a lot of schools still have older teachers. Those teachers should be our priority to help them to learn those new technologies. In order to make our teaching more effective, I think integrating technology into curriculum is a must do.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Video Project
I think I am going to use iMovie to finish my video project. I think I am pretty much figure out how to use iMovie, so I believe I can do a good job.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 simply talks about the top ten rules that govern school authority over student cyber expressions. The authors lay out the ten rules, and give information for each rule. What should school have to do, what should school not to do.
I think these rules gave me ideas that what should do when we govern student cyber expressions, kind of like how to prevent cyberbullying happen. Only this chapter actually laid out some rules that we can have more clear idea. Overall, I think this chapter is interesting to read.
I think these rules gave me ideas that what should do when we govern student cyber expressions, kind of like how to prevent cyberbullying happen. Only this chapter actually laid out some rules that we can have more clear idea. Overall, I think this chapter is interesting to read.
Chapter 10
Chapter ten talks about cyber bullying, as we all know, bullying happens in school all the time, sometimes it is big, sometimes it is not. On the other hand, cyberbullying is different from the bullying we know. It happens throughout the Internet, it can happen in anytime, any minute. So, in this chapter the authors talk about how to actually prevent cyberbullying happen in school. First of all, the most common question we ask is "How can cyberbullying be prevented?" The traditional way to prevent this happen is to forbid kids to go online. In the authors' point of view, that is the least appropriate course of action. The authors state "It is critical to provide them with a clear road map and framework for staying safe and being responsible online and to check in on them regularly to make sure they are following through." They also talk about parents, teachers, children etc, they all have role to play in preventing cyberbullying. So, for the rest of this chapter, the authors discuss the roles that teachers, parents and students should play when we talk about cyberbullying.
I think cyberbullying is actually a big concept when we allow students to use technology in school. Because it is hard to imagine how fast that cyberbullying will happen. I think it can happen in any minute in class because some students actually will have smartphone in their hand, so they can simply just move their finger and send messages through texts, and that may cause cyberbullying. So, I think it is important for teachers to learn how to prevent this happen in school. There is no way we can say "Please stop using your phone" or "Don't use internet at school" Even though you do ask this kind of questions, I am sure your students will not obey your rules because we were used to be students too, and we like to break the rules and challenge our teachers. So, in order to prevent this happen, we need to think outside of the box. Simply just let them know what is cyberbullying, what will happen if someone got bullied, what we should do to prevent this happen, etc. I think this will help students understand why we want to prevent cyberbullying happen in school. Also, talk to the parents and let them facilitate to prevent this happen is another solution to prevent cyberbullying happen.
I think cyberbullying is actually a big concept when we allow students to use technology in school. Because it is hard to imagine how fast that cyberbullying will happen. I think it can happen in any minute in class because some students actually will have smartphone in their hand, so they can simply just move their finger and send messages through texts, and that may cause cyberbullying. So, I think it is important for teachers to learn how to prevent this happen in school. There is no way we can say "Please stop using your phone" or "Don't use internet at school" Even though you do ask this kind of questions, I am sure your students will not obey your rules because we were used to be students too, and we like to break the rules and challenge our teachers. So, in order to prevent this happen, we need to think outside of the box. Simply just let them know what is cyberbullying, what will happen if someone got bullied, what we should do to prevent this happen, etc. I think this will help students understand why we want to prevent cyberbullying happen in school. Also, talk to the parents and let them facilitate to prevent this happen is another solution to prevent cyberbullying happen.
Chapter 9
Chapter nine talks about contract and policy which I think it's the most important thing when you utilize technology in schools. First, the author introduces what is contract, in fact, school policies may be the most widely used contract. Contracts can be customized which will fit the audience's need. So, different contracts may not be apply for the same group. Also, how can school let parents and students know if they have a new policy, they simply just publish and distribute the policy and put parents and students on notice. AUPs (Acceptable Use Policies) have been well addressed in this chapter as well. Later on this chapter, the author talks about the role of the schools when it comes to AUPs, the author states "School leaders need to identify all the foreseeable risks to students, teachers, and staff and take reasonable precautions to minimize those risks." On page 155, the author provides five-step plan for drafting school policy and also on page 156, the author provides a sample for us to see. From page 159 to 166, the author provides example of AUP for us to see.
I think policies are the important part of schooling, schools rely on policies so that they can utilize everything they need. In this chapter, I realized that it is hard to make a school policy because you have to consider a lot of thing before you actually publish the policy. Especially for technology, in school, technology is just a tool to facilitate students' learning, so as a school leader, we need to think about all the consequences when we allow technology using in school. I think sometimes this is a hard part to decide because we don't really know what we should allow students to access technology what we should not. I think the good part of this chapter is that the author gives me a view of how to make policy for different purposes. Even though I am not a school leader, I think it is still useful for me to know this information because in classroom, I am actually a leader, so somehow I need to make classroom policy to fit my students' need, and this chapter will help me to make this easier.
I think policies are the important part of schooling, schools rely on policies so that they can utilize everything they need. In this chapter, I realized that it is hard to make a school policy because you have to consider a lot of thing before you actually publish the policy. Especially for technology, in school, technology is just a tool to facilitate students' learning, so as a school leader, we need to think about all the consequences when we allow technology using in school. I think sometimes this is a hard part to decide because we don't really know what we should allow students to access technology what we should not. I think the good part of this chapter is that the author gives me a view of how to make policy for different purposes. Even though I am not a school leader, I think it is still useful for me to know this information because in classroom, I am actually a leader, so somehow I need to make classroom policy to fit my students' need, and this chapter will help me to make this easier.
Chapter 8
Chapter eight talks about the assessment in partnership pedagogy. The author starts with thinking about what assessement is for. He states "That is, tests allow us to ranl individuals, schools, and even countries by who is ahead and who is behind." Here is the question he asked in this chapter "Does any of this really help individual students?" In his judgement, it does not. From page 140 to 143, he provides different useful assessments that can help us to exam the partnership pedagogy. Such as Ipsative Assessment, Peer Assessment, Real-world Assessment, and Self-Assessment. Each assessment has been well discussed in this chapter. Also, later in this chapter, the author talks about assessing not just students' progress, but teachers, administors, parents, schools and even nations and the world's progress. Of course, to assess different groups' progress, the author provides guidelines for us to see how we can actually assess those progresses.
I think assessment is always a way for teachers to assess students' progress in every subject. Or we can say that, every subject need to be assessed so that we can see if our students are learned or not. I think this chapter is interesting because it is not talking about how to assess a subject, instead it talks about how to assess partnership pedagogy. It is a little bit different than I think about assessment. I have been doing reading assessment for one of my classes, and all I do is just follow what the book says, but I think this pedagogy assessment gives me another view about assessment.
I think assessment is always a way for teachers to assess students' progress in every subject. Or we can say that, every subject need to be assessed so that we can see if our students are learned or not. I think this chapter is interesting because it is not talking about how to assess a subject, instead it talks about how to assess partnership pedagogy. It is a little bit different than I think about assessment. I have been doing reading assessment for one of my classes, and all I do is just follow what the book says, but I think this pedagogy assessment gives me another view about assessment.
Chapter 3
Chapter three talks about strategies that can help teachers/leaders to adopt new technologies. Also, expend school leader's understanding about how innovations spread and how to support innvations. In this chapter, the authors discuss how to adopt innovation, started from understanding the process. They state that "It is important, of course, to support individuals moving forward as they are ready, and not to punish or threaten those who are unable to adopt the innovation, whatever it may be." This explains that even though people cannot adopt new technology within a certain period, we should not blame or punish them because they need more time to adopt it. Also, on page 45 Figure 3.1 explain how the process work for people to adopt innovation. A school leader must be able to recognize a well-designed, technology-rich lesson. Later in this chapter, the authors talk about steps that can change the culture, start with professional development continuum and professional learning community. It is unfortune that a great deal of professinal development which has been focused on technology has been ineffective. The authors use DuFour's statement (2004) suggest that to create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively. Later in this chapter, the authors discuss about a technology-rich lesson, and provide us guidelines that if we see it and we will know it on page 54 and 55.
I think in this chapter I learned a lot about how to promote teachers to adopt new technologies, I know that it is really hard for teacher to adopt new things once a while, especially for older teachers, most of them are not willing to change at all. It is important for school leader to think about how to help those teachers to adopt new technologies. Like Dr. Cullen said in class, there is one day, your principal bought a new stuff for you to play, and you have no idea what is that but been asked to create a lesson to teach the rest of the teachers in school. I think that certainly will freaks me out. And I agree that, when teachers are learning new technologies, the key point is learning, not teaching, how to create an effective learning lesson for teachers to adopt new technologies is the most important part. I believe if school leader can develop this kind of lesson for teachers such as workshops, I think it will benefit both teachers and students at the same time.
I think in this chapter I learned a lot about how to promote teachers to adopt new technologies, I know that it is really hard for teacher to adopt new things once a while, especially for older teachers, most of them are not willing to change at all. It is important for school leader to think about how to help those teachers to adopt new technologies. Like Dr. Cullen said in class, there is one day, your principal bought a new stuff for you to play, and you have no idea what is that but been asked to create a lesson to teach the rest of the teachers in school. I think that certainly will freaks me out. And I agree that, when teachers are learning new technologies, the key point is learning, not teaching, how to create an effective learning lesson for teachers to adopt new technologies is the most important part. I believe if school leader can develop this kind of lesson for teachers such as workshops, I think it will benefit both teachers and students at the same time.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
My thought about common core
For me, common core is a new phrase that I never heard of before I started my graduate school. Maybe there is some similiar standards back in my country, but honestly, I don't really know. The first day I started my gradute class, I kept hearing my classmates talk about common core, but I have no idea what were they trying to say, so I was just sat there and listened. Unitl last semester I took a class with Dr. Ruan, and she asked us to bought this book "Pathways to the Common Core" by Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman (2012). I think this book really helped me to understand more about Common Core..
In this book, the authors introduce all the infomation about Common Core head to toe, when I was reading it, I was overwhelmed because there are so many infomation that I need to know and try to understand. This book provides me all the standards of reading, writing, speaking and listening in Common Core. I know that Common Core was developed by a group of people, no one really know who they are, the only thing we know is that they somehow developed those standards for teachers to follow so that teachers can teach students with it.
I heard from some of my friends who is teaching in elementary school, they said that only elementary school teachers should worry about adopting Common Core in their class curriculum, they said they middle school and high school teachers somehow already adopting Common Core in their curriculum. I don't really know what that means, but I think because middle school and high school are upper level education, so maybe that's why they don't need to worry about Common Core? My study is always focusing on elementary education, so for me, I am really scare to adopt Common Core when I am teaching. With limited knowledge, it is hard for me to use those standards to teach my students. I think there must be a lot of workshops for teachers to understand better about Common Core, and I think that is where I can get a lot of useful information from.
In this book, the authors introduce all the infomation about Common Core head to toe, when I was reading it, I was overwhelmed because there are so many infomation that I need to know and try to understand. This book provides me all the standards of reading, writing, speaking and listening in Common Core. I know that Common Core was developed by a group of people, no one really know who they are, the only thing we know is that they somehow developed those standards for teachers to follow so that teachers can teach students with it.
I heard from some of my friends who is teaching in elementary school, they said that only elementary school teachers should worry about adopting Common Core in their class curriculum, they said they middle school and high school teachers somehow already adopting Common Core in their curriculum. I don't really know what that means, but I think because middle school and high school are upper level education, so maybe that's why they don't need to worry about Common Core? My study is always focusing on elementary education, so for me, I am really scare to adopt Common Core when I am teaching. With limited knowledge, it is hard for me to use those standards to teach my students. I think there must be a lot of workshops for teachers to understand better about Common Core, and I think that is where I can get a lot of useful information from.
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