Final+Reflection

Final Reflection

. This year I chose to take the Digital Educator Academy for my Professional Development Unit. This class focused on the 21st century learning skills and how we can begin to adapt them into the classroom using different types of technology. We met as a whole group twice. Once was the introduction and once was for the final reflection. The rest of the time was spent communicating online. We were also required to take 4 classes on the different types of technology that we were most interested in. There was a wide variety offered. I took the class on Basic Excel in the Classroom, the Podcasting class, the class on Educational Uses of Cell Phones, and the class on RTI communications. Taking this course was important to me because it was focused on the direction that the district is moving. 21st century skills will be a part of the 21st century standards. The country and the district are realizing that basic paper and pencil learning, while valid, it not enough anymore. For students to become better prepared for the future we must start in the classroom. This is also a need for all subject areas, not just a basic technology class. We must all realize that our teaching must combine the old with the new. There is a vast amount of technology and advancements available to us to enhance our teaching. The Basic Excel class, while interesting was not as useful to my subject area as I had hoped. Excel lends itself best to math and science classrooms/lessons. However, it could be very useful in data collection and comparison. There was one issue we found and were not able to solve. The data input into the worksheet had to be numbers. Therefore we had to translate the grading of advanced, proficient, partially proficient, and unsatisfactory to a 4,3,2,1 scale. This was my least favorite class. I did however learn some new skills and abilities with excel to make it worth my time I just did not find use of it in my current curriculum. The RTI communications class was also hard to relate to my subject area. It mostly focused on a way to communicate for those directly involved in the RTI process. However, I feel that those same ways of communication could be used for any groups with a common need. I thought that the arts teachers could communicate in the same way to stay in touch and share ideas. It seems better than mass e-mails. The ways of communication that they covered included wiki’s, blogs, ning and fliker. Of the ways of communications that were presented to us the one I found most useful was wiki. The wiki pages are a great way to present facts for classroom use or even between teachers. It would be a very useful tool to display art and basic information regarding the artist. Secondly I would say the blogs allowed teachers or students a forum to brainstorm new ideas and come up with creative solutions. This would allow team work without the need for all the team members to be present in one classroom. The class on the Educational Uses of Cell Phones was, by contrast, very very interesting. Their slogan was “If you can’t beat ‘em….”. This holds true to almost all classrooms today. More often we find ourselves fighting with students over the use of their cell phones. Yet there are many ways to teach the students to use their phones in educational ways. Also you can model the ethical use of cell phones. Cell phones are here to stay so it is best to work with them and teach students responsible and proper use of them. My favorite educational use was to take polls. The students can text their answer to a question to a poll and it displays it online. QR codes are another interesting use of cell phones with a camera or reader. These are becoming popular in the community as well as in school. Other educational uses include teaching students to use twitter or edmodo to talk about educational topics. Music classes can use garage band to create their own ring tones. Also due to increased quality of cell phone cameras and the overall popularity of them cell phones could be used in a lot of photography applications. This class was very insightful on how we can compete with pop culture. Finally, the Podcasting class was my favorite. This class focused on enhanced podcasts that use visuals combined with voice to create really interesting pieces. This class was great because it also can be used across the board by all subject areas. From P.E. to Art to Math to Language Arts all can use podcasting as a way to engage students. I found out podcasting can be a very useful tool for intercultural learning and long distance learning. Podcasts can be filmed anywhere in the world and brought to your classroom. You can use podcasting as a way to teach and engage the students but also teach students to create podcasts based on your subject area. This can also be used with all grade levels. Kindergarteners can learn to use things like Vocaroo and Animoto; while more advance classes can film their own footage or create their own pictures for the podcasts. Enhanced podcasting can be described as a “PowerPoint on steroids”. This experience as impacted me because I realize this is the direction that not only our district is moving in, but the country as well. I need to be prepared to teach to students these new expectations and standards of learning. In order for our students to be prepared for the future, we need to be prepared to teach them utilizing current technology. It isn’t just our students who need to learn. We need to learn along with them. I wanted to start my learning now and begin to use it in the classroom. I will embrace changes that are on the horizon and will not resist change. This learning will impact my students by teaching them the skills they will need for the future. Studies are showing that students not only need to be good readers, writers, and mathematicians, but also good at multi-tasking, communicating, and collaborating. The uses of these programs will encourage all of these and can be adapted to any subject area and grade level. The basics are still important and teaching them cannot be avoided. We will need to supplement our existing teaching with the latest breakthrough and technologies. We need to use what the students use in their daily lives to our advantage. In the future I plan on using more of these technologies available to not only teach, but involve the students in their own learning. I would like to teach the classics art techniques in a modern way. I also want to encourage the use of technology in art. There are many programs that are creative outlets and can be used in an art curriculum. Photoshop is one of the primary programs that can be used and then applied to other programs like enhanced podcasts. This class has supported my School Improvement Plan in our focus to improve our writing scores on CSAP. This is a course that has taught me how to better incorporate writing skills into my art curriculum through programs like enhance podcasting. The students can be creative and create an art piece based on a topic they research and write about. In conclusion, I feel this class was very beneficial to my professional development. I have learned some really interesting technology programs and projects. I plan to implement them as best I can into my future teaching. It will be a step in the right direction for both me and my students to be best prepared for the future.

Lesson Plan

Arts/Technology Integration Lesson Research Artist Mini Projects || Medium/ Tools || Techniques/Standards || Objective || 1. Choosing artists || 1. books, paper, pencils, access to computers with internet ||  || 1. look at books and websites to find an artist you are interested in. || 2. Research || 2. paper, pencil, computers ||  || 2. Write an essay based on the artists life and events  || 3. art project in style of artist || 3. various materials based on artist chosen ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3. To use the same style as the artist researched and become familiar with that style/medium || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. tech integration using digital storytelling programs || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. computers, previous research and project || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. To create a digital story about the artist researched and including the art project they did. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. Reflection || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5.paper, pencils, computers || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. To reflect on research, art project, and tech. project || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Reading/Writing Activities || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Vocabulary || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Duration || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Other || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1. Note taking || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Style, medium || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1. 1-2 days || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">2. rough draft/final draft || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Font || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">2. 3-4 days || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3. artist statement || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3. 5-7 days || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. scripts || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Tech related || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. 3-4 days || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. self-evaluation/reflection || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. 1 day || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ||