Technology Integrated Unit

The technology integrated unit I worked on with Angela and Kelly was on organizing and graphing data.  Our unit reflects the TPCK model because it contains its three components: content, pedagogy, and technology.  The content was mathematics, our pedagogy was displayed by students being actively engaged throughout the lesson, and technology was incorporated by utilizing the National Library for Virtual Manipulatives website.

Our successes were that we collaborated on the unit just as teachers would do in a school setting; were each of us took an active role in the planning.  After our collaboration time, we thoroughly delivered the lesson.  On the other hand, finding time to collaborate was difficult with others involved.  Just like teachers today; who face difficulty with finding a common plan time to collaborate. 

Overall the technology integrated in our unit was age and ability level appropriate. We used the National Library for Virtual Manipulatives’ data analysis and probability grades 3-5 graph bar activity.  The website served as a great tool for students to display their understanding in a creative and innovative way.

Blog #3

In the Key Findings of the Generation M2 study, here are a few things that surprised me about the article. 

1.     Young people increased their media time from 6 hrs and 21 minutes to 7 hrs and 38 minutes during a seven day period in only five years

2.     Music usage per day was +47 minutes compared to TV usage per day was +38 minutes.

3.     Music (iPod and MP3 players) were used more than cell phones for their mobile media usages.

4.       Total media usage by race: Hispanic=13 hours, Blacks=12.59 hours, and Whites=8.36 hours.

These findings were very interesting especially number one.    I know that children are so wrapped up in media and technology, but I didn’t think it would as many hours a full time job.  It makes me wonder what they would do if they didn’t have technology.  What also really shocked me was that music was listened to more than cell phones usage.  Overall, young children responses in the study seemed to be accurate because anytime you see a young people in public they all have headphones on or a cell phone in their hands.

As an educator these findings definitely affect our teaching, and it is obvious that we do need to use technology in lessons on a daily basis.  Since music is used more than cell phones and TV, I think utilizing it in all subjects is a great tool for students to learn a new or reinforce a concept.  As a foreign language teacher I use songs in most of my classes.  With my fourth grade classes, I use songs in Spanish for the alphabet, days of the week, months of the years, and numbers.  So when they do individual work like their warm up activities or workbook pages, they can recall the words in Spanish by remembering the song.

Post #2

The Flickering Mind, NETS-S standards, and Tech Tonic chapters all have valid points on the topic of technology in education.  Oppenheimer said that technology is not going to fix our students problems, NETS-S standards are what we all strive for, and Tech Tonic's description tells us children come first.  But when it comes to reality in the classroom, all three are important. It is our job as the teacher to find a balance between all three and make it a priority for us to know our students as a whole.

As a teacher who is currently in the classroom and who uses technology, the most important thing I do is to make sure my students know the concept well before using technology with that concept.  For example,  my 7th grade students created a list of foods they wanted to know in Spanish.  After creating a list of words they looked them up in the dictionary for the Spanish meaning.  Then as a class we went over the list of words in English and Spanish throughout several activities.  Once they all had the words down, I had them then choose ten words that they wanted to illustrate.  So instead of just using paper and markers, I had them use the computer to do so.  They opened a Pages document to type the Spanish words and had to find images on the Internet to match the food item.

Overall I find that technology in the classroom is going to remain a challenge to find the balance of when, what, how, and why to use it.  We just have to make the best to enhance our students learning experience.

Post #1

    I believe the purpose of education is to enable individuals to reach their full potential as human beings and as members of society.  And educators play a major role in this process.  Their role is to ensure and assist all individuals by giving them the foundations to function socially, emotionally, and of course academically. 
     Now a days technology is a very big part of the academic content.  From calculators to laptops, from Smartboards to LCD projects, from switches to PECS, all our students need and deserve what it takes for them to understand the curriculum.  These technologies allow them to make that happen.  If one or all of my students need technology to help them understand a concept better; I use it.  For example, I had a student use PECS to communicate when he couldn’t speak for himself.   I also use technology to let the students show what they have learned outside the classroom to demonstrate what they just learned.  Just like a my 7th grade students used iMovies to present a chapter of book to the class.  The whole class enjoyed seeing their iMovie while learning about the chapter.