Friday, May 7, 2010
Final Reflection Blog
From this course, I have realized that when integrating technology in the classroom, to be effective the technology needs to accomplish set goals and be aligned with the curriculum. Too many times people think "hey if I just use technology with my kids somehow, I'm being innovative." Well, no. Students need to effectively be able to use and understand the technology, there must be a set goal one wants to accomplish with the technology, and of course it has to be aligned with curriculum standards and benchmarks. There is so much out there related to web based 2.0 technology. The one thing I'm really going to try to do next year is create podcasts on math instruction done in the classroom to post on my classroom blog. I was scared at first to even try to do a podcast and when I did it for this class I had a million problems. I feel confident now and will do it for sure next year. I feel I've met my personal goals for this class. My main goal is to keep learning new things/information that I can incorporate into my classroom and use to improve my teacher instruction and effectiveness. My new goal for the future is to use this new found knowledge to increase student achievement, performance, and motivation.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Project Evaluation Blog
How would you approach another project like this type differently?
Obviously, if I were to do another project of this type, I would like to implement it at the beginning of the school year. For this project, I considered the class as a whole, and as a whole, the class struggled with reading informational text. Next year, I would like to find individual student needs and find a way using technology to address them. I also, from the beginning, would keep a Raz-Kids folder to track individual student progress throughout the entire year to keep in their portfolios. The progress would count school usage as well as home usage.
Lessons learned?
Technology is not always dependable. We had major issues with our laptop carts this year. Also, even though some may think websites like Raz-Kids are basically student operated and they can be let go independently, they still need to be closely monitored. I had some students who liked to "fake read" and pick any answers they wanted on the quizzes. I also for next year, need to post and recognize high scorers, high achievers, and students who accessed the website at home often because everyone deserves praise and needs motivation!
What ways will you endeavor to do the same project again? What will you change?
I will for sure utilize Raz-Kids in my classroom for all students. They need all the help they can when it comes to reading comprehension and one way to improve on that is reading books at their level. As I mentioned before, I want to focus on individual student needs with some aspect of technology rather than just lumping the class together as a whole, keep progress folders in their portfolios, and publicly recognize individual student successes and achievement.
Obviously, if I were to do another project of this type, I would like to implement it at the beginning of the school year. For this project, I considered the class as a whole, and as a whole, the class struggled with reading informational text. Next year, I would like to find individual student needs and find a way using technology to address them. I also, from the beginning, would keep a Raz-Kids folder to track individual student progress throughout the entire year to keep in their portfolios. The progress would count school usage as well as home usage.
Lessons learned?
Technology is not always dependable. We had major issues with our laptop carts this year. Also, even though some may think websites like Raz-Kids are basically student operated and they can be let go independently, they still need to be closely monitored. I had some students who liked to "fake read" and pick any answers they wanted on the quizzes. I also for next year, need to post and recognize high scorers, high achievers, and students who accessed the website at home often because everyone deserves praise and needs motivation!
What ways will you endeavor to do the same project again? What will you change?
I will for sure utilize Raz-Kids in my classroom for all students. They need all the help they can when it comes to reading comprehension and one way to improve on that is reading books at their level. As I mentioned before, I want to focus on individual student needs with some aspect of technology rather than just lumping the class together as a whole, keep progress folders in their portfolios, and publicly recognize individual student successes and achievement.
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