Effective Bridging of Technology and Instruction Reflection

At the start of my teaching career, I was a basic lecture-type instructor. Each year I would try to improve on my teaching applying my own learning to my classroom. I would find cooperative learning activities to include in the lessons. Each course I have taken, I have learned something to try to apply in my classroom. Before this course, I had just started learning about the Promethean board and complimenting iMac. I would try to find appropriate video shorts from Discovery Education to have visual demonstrations.

The technology that I have been exposed to has dramatically increased. I have learned about concept maps which I am having my students create in my statistics class. This has turned into a project that both myself and my students are learning from. I have also have had my students explore Comic Life to create a comic strip about their understanding of categorical data. In my Algebra 2 classes, we are currently preparing for the PSSAs and are using a web-based program Study Island as a remediation and practice program. I have also tried the behaviorist approach of tracking proper behaviors within the classroom.

In the future I would like our school to have access to VoiceThreads and utilize it to comment either on graphics or student projects. Students take pride in their work especially if they know their classmates will be commenting on their work. I would like to continue exploring concept maps. I am hoping that the students will see the benefit of organizing their notes and thoughts. I want to further investigate the tracker sheet and have students keep track of their own progress by keeping their scores in an Excel spreadsheet. I feel that students will continue to improve if they can see what progress they have made.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social learning is learning that occurs within a social context. We learn from one another through observations, imitations or modeling. An instructional strategy that enables students to interact with each other is cooperative learning. Students work in small groups to enhance their learning.

As mentioned in the text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction, technology can play a big role in cooperative learning. Some examples of cooperative learning activities using technology include WebQuests, creating web sites, blogs and wikispaces. There are several communication resources such as blogs, wikispaces, and skype. There are also share sites such as Google docs that allow students to collaborate on a project.

Voice Thread

I created a voice thread. I do not sound the greatest. My son was irritating me as I was trying to record my comments.

VOICETHREAD