CEP 811 Reflections

This has been another WOW class! Not only am I amazed at all the things we covered, but how valuable each project was for my own growth as a teacher. I am very pleased with the outcome of my projects. Knowing that I could use them in my classroom, really made me want to get it perfect for my audience. That is something I am pleased about in this program at MSU. Projects completed during a course don't go untouched in your computer forever and ever. Because there is so much choice in how you do each project, each one is ready to implement into the classroom upon its completion. 


Although it has always been important for teachers to have the desire to learn teaching strategies that result in significant gains in student achievement and then find ways to implement those strategies into each lesson, it is important now, more than ever for teachers to take a look at how effective their teaching practices are. The nation is moving towards holding teachers, schools, and districts more accountable for student achievement and they are pushing to eliminate ineffective teachers, no matter how much seniority they have. We are seeing this at my school right now. Because we don't have a union, our teachers never have tenure and they can find themselves without a job if they are not being an effective educator. The biggest lesson I gained from this class about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology, was to remember to mix in as many strategies as possible throughout the lesson to ensure that the needs of as many different types of learners are addressed. It is also important to design a lesson with a purpose and goal in mind. Backwards lesson designing was not new to me but I did realize that it was something I had fallen away from as I scurried to find material to teach with. My lessons were focused more on covering material that was required by the Michigan GLCE's without a whole lot of other direction. This topic was a great eye opener!


There are so many different types of Web 2.0 applications now, it was overwhelming to me to try to figure out which ones were worth my energy to learn. I also had no idea how I would implement them into my classroom, even if I did have the technology available to me, which I don't. The Michigan Guide to Online Learning was helpful in helping me to focus on a smaller portion of applications and how I could use them in the classroom. The other readings went over things to look for with various applications. 


As far as finding ways to integrate the numerous technologies on the market, I think I've come to the conclusion that I should experiment with only a few at a time that I am most comfortable in and see how effective they are. If they work well, share them with the rest of my staff members. I am actually more comfortable in finding new ways in which we can utilize the things we've had the longest, like PowerPoint. I like how our StAIR projects could be used individually by students or in a large group setting if a digital projector and one computer was the only technology you had. Many times I think it is more difficult to think of ways to utilize technology effectively when you don't have much over those who have so much available they're always trying something new. It has been helpful to have a number of class members, along with the instructor, who are in schools like mine having very little technology. In CEP 810 it seemed like everyone had technology fully implemented in their schools and were always sharing how to do lots of new things. I could not relate as I didn't have any of their favorite tools available to me.


Nothing in this class required the teacher to have anything more than a computer, Internet hook-up, and a few common programs. With those few things, I am finding many different ways to use basic technology tools within my classroom. Great job MSU for putting together such a great program!


As far as new goals, I will continue on with CEP 812 and learn more information on technology and it's use in the classroom. With each new class, I am getting more and more confident in my abilities and how to find solutions to technical problems if they develop. This is of course my primary goal. It really doesn't help to learn new applications if you aren't confident enough to use what you learned or to try some new idea someone shared with you. I am excited with what I've learned through CEP 810 and  811 and am hoping to share some of the easier things I've learned with my colleagues by perhaps leading a professional development workshop.

Online Teaching Experiences

As I read through the Online Experience Guideline-Companion Document I was really amazed at the number of options that would qualify toward a student's 20 hours of experience. Because the document was focused on providing online experience to middle school and high school grade levels, the sites provided in the document were geared toward older students and too advanced for my second and third grade students. However, I did browse through the sites provided to see if there were other age appropriate material and became very engrossed in the material and what I could use with my students. No wonder it takes me so long to finish an assignment! 


I selected the virtual and online field trips as something I could implement with my grade level of students. Because there is a wide variety of field trips available, I felt they could be used in any content area I wanted to use them with. I like the idea of online/virtual field trips because they can expose the children to places and experiences we wouldn't normally be able to take them on. For instance, what second grader wouldn't want to see the inside of a volcano or journey to the bottom of the ocean? The use of these types of field trips is a great way to spark student interest in many different things and help motivate them to learn in specific content areas. I also like how virtual field trips expose students to new types of technology and challenge them to work independently or in a small group setting, depending on the format the teacher provides. The down side for my low level readers, is that there is a lot of reading involved. However, I think there are various ways to overcome this challenge in the classroom with a little forethought from the teacher. On the positive side, because there is so much reading involved, virtual field trips could even boost reading comprehension skills in students. I did find a variety of different level field trips available on the Internet thus giving me even more opportunity to find something just right for each student. 


Often times, when I have a gifted student in my classroom, I am looking for something that would spark their interest and challenge them as well. I think virtual field trips could help in my search for differentiated material I could use with my students. Another point in my choice to utilize online field trips is that they provide experiential learning experiences to the classroom. This allows children the freedom to experiment with ideas and develop their problem-solving skills without the risks of embarrassment or failure.


Most of the technology options the before mentioned document contained would, at least at this point, be difficult for my students to use. Mostly because we don't have that much technology to offer them yet. Next school year we are getting a few new things that will help expose our students to more technology but they will be available on a limited basis because of the need to share them throughout the school as opposed to having one in every classroom or a computer lab you could take students to. I think the age level of my students would also make some of the resources more difficult to implement as well. 


I found the Michigan Merit Curriculum Guidelines - Online Experience and it's companion document to be very interesting to read and develop a better understanding of what's coming in the way of technology that we must provide for our students in order to prepare them for a future in which they will need to develop the skills for.

WIKIS

For the first part of the assignment, I went to Wikipedia and was able to find my school listed. One of my fellow teachers had taken this class and first started the page on Ann Arbor Learning Community. I added our mission statement along with a sentence on open enrollment and no tuition fees as we are a public charter school.  My biggest problem in adding information was knowing how to site the material being added, especially if it was knowledge I had as a staff member. I informed my dean that we had a wiki page on Wikipedia so we could add to it as a school for marketing purposes. We have dubbed our school as "Ann Arbor's best kept secret" and are on a mission to do more marketing of our school. This is another great way to do that. 


For the second part of the assignment, I created a wiki to keep people informed about our gardens at AALC. As part of our charter, we have a garden curriculum and are in the process of developing a variety of gardens which will be used as outdoor classrooms. Communicating our needs for donations and summer maintenance has been a problem in the past and I thought this would be a way to help solve the problem. Since we run on donations and fund raisers, money for doing our garden projects is often tight. My hope is that people and businesses from the community may view our wiki and take an interest in what we are doing at the school. I have included several different pages (About Us, Photo Gallery, Projects, Discussion, etc.) which are currently under construction. I wanted a discussion page so we could get ideas from our families and allow them to post their comments or concerns about the gardens. I am excited to develop this wiki further over the summer with the intention of utilizing it next school year. 


Here is the link to my wiki: 
https://aalcgardens.wikispaces.com/ 


Here is the link to our school page on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Arbor_Learning_Community

I hope you'll find the information about our school interesting!