Seven Weeks of Reflecting and Learning

Before taking CEP 810 (Teaching for Understanding with Technology), my learning goal was to learn more about integrating technology in my classroom. At the end of this course, I can confidently say that I have reached my goal and much more! Every week, I learned about different aspects of learning and how technology can relate to them.

The first week, we discussed what learning is, experts versus novices, and why we should know how we learn. My understanding is that no matter what we teach, we need to understand how we learn, so students will retain important information and skills that will help them as they grow. Technology is a tool that can help with learning and it is our responsibility that we teach students how to use it in a positive and productive way. We just need to have a good mindset!

Week two had me reflect and explore more about my mindset for technology integration. I had a negative belief about technology growing up. I thought the main purpose of technology was for entertainment. Because I’ve had many teachers express their beliefs about technology, eventually I started to think the same. This is exactly why I had to change my mindset; so that my students will view technology as important tools for learning. Reading Will Richardson and Mizuko Ito’s view of our mindsets gave me even more motivation to integrate as much technology as I can. However, I cannot do it on my own.

Week three helped me see my professional learning networks that I learn from and think about how it can grow. I created a popplet that showed who and what I go to for learning. Seeing others’ popplets gave me new ideas as well. There are some sites and organizations that I have not heard of that I think would be cool to use! Limiting my network will limit my learning and it is important to continue learning as technology rapidly grows and changes.

One way to keep up with this change is by using tools to help us in our lives. David Allen discussed how we can better manage our workflow with GTD (getting things done). There are five stages that can help us with our workflow and week four gave me the opportunity to explore Edmodo to help me organize my week. I learned that we cannot predict what is going to happen, but we can be prepared. Organizing my thoughts helped me to better plan my ideas and think about what I can do to make my lessons more effective.

Week five gave me great insight to what an effective lesson is. Douglas Thomas, John Seely Brown, and Renee Hobbs provided me with a guideline to organize my lesson plan and to think of ways to deliver a 21^st century lesson. Reading their ideas helped me to create my own first-grade science lesson that was based off their ideas, which included technology. Another project that I worked on that gave me the idea to use iPads as an instructional guide in my plan, was the NLP (network learning post).

Learning to do something I was not good at, gave me more confidence to try new things. For a couple of weeks, I learned to draw Disney characters. It was tough for me to stop worrying about how my drawing looked. Once I finally let go of that worry, the task became more enjoyable. There are many great sites online that people can learn from and I will be using these sites and strategies more and will be trying new things in both my classroom and at home!

Another activity that I have never done was a cooking challenge! Before I did this challenge, I learned more about TPACK (technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge). It is important to learn more about something new or old to deliver information using technology. Kristen Kereluik, Punya Mishra, and Matthew J. Koehler supports my thought that we need to encourage creativity, problem-solving, etc., and re-purposing tools is a way to support this idea. I definitely had to be creative when I made a PB&J sandwich using a potato masher!

Throughout this course, I documented my activities on my blog. I used pictures and videos to support my thoughts. It can be a little scary putting things online, especially because of copyright infringement! I am still nervous about posting pictures or music online. Week seven gave me the tools and understanding of what copyright is exactly and what I can use to easily post things without worry, like a creative commons license. Learning about how I can avoid copyright infringement gives me more courage to become more involved online.

Throughout this course, I’ve been given so many new information about a variety of things. I reflected, faced and overcame self-doubt, and was inspired to continue my learning for both myself personally and professionally. Even though I have this new information, I need to figure out a way to implement them in my classroom. What other tools and strategies can I use? And what new technology is being made and will it be used in schools? I guess I can find out from one of my professional learning networks! 😉

Thank you so much for a great course! I am very glad that I took this class.

If you have any questions or comments about anything, please leave a comment below! 😀

References:

Cartoon Owl and Laptop. (2017). Technology Integration Matrix. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/project/cartoon-owl-and-laptop/

Copyright. (2017). Media Education Lab. Retrieved from http://mediaeducationlab.com/copyright

Daly, J. (2012). Why School? TED ebook author rethinks education when information is everywhere. TEDBlog. Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/why-school-ted-ebook-author-rethinks-education-when-information-is-everywhere/

Daum. (2013). Kakao Corp. [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://m.blog.daum.net/yunkch/1387?categoryId=7

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.

Ito, M., Gutierrez, K., Livingstone, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., Schor, J., Sefton-Green, J., & Watkins, S.C. (2013). Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design. pp.7-9. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. Retrieved from https://d2l.msu.edu/content/US17/CEP/810/US17-CEP-810-733-97HTG6-EL-14-204/Week%202 /Connected_Learning_report.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=azc3xBMJDcsDYFjs0B5teOkdi&ou=472029

Kereluik, K., Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2011). On learning to subvert signs: Literacy, technology and the TPACK framework. The California Reader, 44(2), 12-18.

TEDx Talks. (2012). The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: David Allen at TEDxClaremontColleges. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHxhjDPKfbY&feature=youtu.be

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

 

PB, J, and a Potato Masher

Normally, people would make a PB&J sandwich using a knife, but today, I made it with a potato masher…Before I get into that, let’s talk about TPACK and how that led me to the masher.

TPACK is a theoretical framework that describes the intersection of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. To deliver quality education to our students, educators should have some sort of knowledge, so that we can integrate technology in our lessons. The online journal, On Learning to Subvert Signs: Literacy, Technology and the TPACK Framework, describes one aspect of TPACK, which is the idea of re-purposing “existing technical tools for pedagogical purposes” (Kereluik, Koehler, & Mishra, 2011, p. 1). Re-purposing tools allow our brains to work on creativity, exploring new technology, and developing our pedagogy of teaching in a 21^st century way. This is exactly what I practiced this week.

After I learned more about TPACK, I completed a cooking challenge. I asked my mom to get me three items from the kitchen: a plate, bowl, and utensil (and of course she kept asking me questions about how big, small, what utensil, etc.). I asked her to just get me whatever, so she got me this plate, bowl, and potato masher…

Then, I labeled some post-it notes from 1-5. I folded the paper up and picked one: #4! Which was a PB&J sandwich.

Finally, I used my tools to make the PB&J sandwich. See video below:

 

It was way more challenging to use a potato masher to make a sandwich than a knife would have been, but I think that is the purpose of the activity. We should try and explore different tools and technology to gain knowledge, so that we know how to strengthen our teaching and pedagogy to include technology. Even though some tools may work better than others, we will not know if we don’t try.

References:

Kereluik, K., Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2011). On learning to subvert signs: Literacy, technology and the TPACK framework. The California Reader, 44(2), 12-18.

My Drawing Journey: Disney Edition

For the past couple of weeks, I have been learning how to draw a variety of Disney characters: Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Pluto, Goofy, and Belle. My challenge was to use only help forums and YouTube videos. The sources that I used are below:

Mickey Mouse (This website has instructions for a variety of different cartoon characters. It has simple instructions!): http://www.drawinghowtodraw.com/stepbystepdrawinglessons/2010/11/how-to-draw-mickey-mouse-with-easy-step-by-step-drawing-tutorial-for-kids/

Donald Duck (This website shows people how to draw website designs, graphic designs, cartoon art, and flash animation. They also have instructions on how to use colors, drawing other famous characters, etc.): http://www.malanenewman.com/tutorial_donald_duck_fullbody.html

Daisy Duck (Drawing Tutorials is a website that has step by step instructions on how to draw a variety of characters, food, flowers, and animals): https://www.drawingtutorials101.com/how-to-draw-a-daisy-duck

Goofy (I used “Easy Drawing Tutorials” on YouTube to help me draw Goofy. This YouTube page/website usually speed draws, but it is easy to follow. The instructions are simple): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUG3BchM_5Bgx4ezU0NEPgA

Pluto (I used a YouTube video to help me draw Pluto. I also followed the website “Easy Drawing Tutorials to help me change some of Pluto’s features):  http://www.easydrawingtutorials.com/index.php/disney/147-draw-pluto

Belle (Again, I used Drawing Tutorials to learn how to draw Belle. I found that this site was a lot easier than the others to follow): https://www.drawingtutorials101.com/how-to-draw-belle-from-beauty-and-the-beast

I found that drawing takes a lot of concentration and patience. There are strategies that helped me to draw the pictures nicely like the construction lines I mentioned in my previous blog. However, I didn’t realize that there were different types of construction lines for different features. For example, Minnie has two intersecting lines, which forms a “t.” Belle had the same lines plus two horizontal lines below. It also mattered where the lines intersected because it depended on where the features were.

Using only help forums and videos was honestly all I needed to learn how to draw the characters. If I had used only help forums, that would have been difficult for me. I mentioned in my previous blog that the help forums shows the outcome from one step to the next, whereas videos show every detail. This thought gave me the motivation to draw at least one character with no videos. I was very tempted to get on YouTube, but I didn’t! And I am very proud of myself! See the video below:

I will continue to learn in this “networked” way. Many people have great ideas and I think it’s awesome to learn from each other. Sometimes, it may not work too well, but that is what learning is. We make mistakes, but we can learn from them so that it will work for us. I think students should use this approach for their learning, but they should know how to determine what is credible and what isn’t.

Thank you for coming on this drawing journey with me! I feel more confident and motivated to continue my learning!

 

References:

DrawingTutorials101.com. How to Draw a Daisy Duck with Pencils [Time Lapse]. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zA9z5Ef3s

EasyDrawingTutorials. (2011). How to Draw Goofy. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U99Z07nqGk

How to Draw a Daisy Duck. (2017). Drawing Tutorials. Retrieved from https://www.drawingtutorials101.com/how-to-draw-a-daisy-duck

How to Draw Belle from Beauty and the Beast. (2017). Drawing Tutorials. Retrieved from https://www.drawingtutorials101.com/how-to-draw-belle-from-beauty-and-the-beast

How to Draw Goofy. (2017). Easy Drawing Tutorials. Retrieved from http://www.easydrawingtutorials.com/index.php/disney/74-draw-goofy

How to Draw Pluto. (2017). Easy Drawing Tutorials. Retrieved from http://www.easydrawingtutorials.com/index.php/disney/147-draw-pluto

ItsyArtist. (2014). How to Draw Pluto From Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Episode. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2pPdv_wkjU

Mickey Mouse. (2010). How to Draw Mickey Mouse with Easy Step by Step Drawing Tutorial for Kids. Retrieved from http://www.drawinghowtodraw.com/stepbystepdrawinglessons/2010/11/how-to-draw-mickey-mouse-with-easy-step-by-step-drawing-tutorial-for-kids/

Newman, M. (2011). How to Draw Donald Duck: Full Body. Malanenewman.com. Retrieved from http://www.malanenewman.com/tutorial_donald_duck_fullbody.html

 

Fun With Matter! (Lesson Plan)

Do you remember what lessons stood out to you in school? Did you do fun activities or do you remember sitting and reading all day? When I was in school, I remember doing one more than the other. Therefore, I try my best to create lesson plans that engage my students in critical thinking skills, activities, and conversations.

Reading Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown’s 21^st century approach to learning gave me new insight to keep in mind while creating enriching plans. They mentioned that “students must (a) focus more on knowing where to find information than on knowing what, (b) learn to generate content that represents their learning, (c) understand how what they’re making is dependent on the context of creation itself, and (d) learn that play is how people generate new understanding” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.91-99).

Thinking about this approach helped me to create a science lesson on matter. Click here for the entire lesson plan.

My main activity in this plan is for students to make ice cream and discuss the states of matter and why they think the ingredients make the substance change. The students are to use YouTube as a resource when creating the ice cream. This strategy focuses on students finding information. The variety of activities gives students the understanding that matter is interrelated to everything around us and that exploring different activities and creating, gives students a new understanding.

Another approach that I kept in mind while creating my lesson plan is Renee Hobbs’ five core competencies: access, analyze, create, reflect, and act. In my lesson, the students are accessing new information using YouTube on an iPad. Using a variety of resources (books, internet, games, music) makes learning engaging and it shows students that there are multiple ways to get information. Creating the ice cream and discussing questions about matter and why it can change, gives students the opportunity to analyze information. Pairing up the students to make the ice cream and having class discussions allows students to practice their communication skills and reflection skills as they ponder questions and work together. And lastly, giving the students to make the ice cream on their own, just using the video and each other, will test their patience, problem-solving skills, and communication skills.

I am very excited to teach this lesson when I start school. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

References:

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

[Untitled 5 Minute Icecream]. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_Zt1EuIEhvw/maxresdefault.jpg