Digital Blog Post #C Chapter 3

Since every student who walks in the doors of my future classroom are going to learn differently, I must know the best way to reach my students. I need to realize that some of my students are going to be constructionism learners and will want to create things using their own knowledge and not just my own. Some of my students will have constructivism learning style where they will want to create and change the things around them. Other students will hold the cognitivism learning method and will want to learn and share their learning with others, where I am there as an encourager, not a dictator telling them what to do and how to do it. Finally some of my students will adapt a behavioristic learning style and they will want to memorize what I post on the board. They will want to do examples of it, and then will want to do it themselves. It is my job as a future teacher to realize every student is different, and understand which child adapts better to a certain learning style. For example, if I see a student who wants to create a toy car out of Legos instead of the Styrofoam I am using to make get my point across, I need to let go and understand that child’s brain is thinking much differently than mine in that moment. I then need to encourage the student to go ahead and create using those Legos. I have no problem with my future students wanting to learn and be able to figure out how to do it on their own, but I still wonder if I will be able to see that in my classroom. I wonder if I will be able to pinpoint a learning style in the students and teach them that way. I guess it would get easier as time goes on in that school year, but its still a challenge to figure out how each one of my students learns differently than the other.

As I continue to observe students inside and outside the classroom, I notice how some of them can sit still for quite some time, and then there are those who just simply can’t. I know that some of my future students will be active learners and will need hands-on teaching lessons such as daily writing, doing experiments and making models, and having the time in the classroom to get up and move around. I want to make my classroom a comfortable place where if a student has the need to move around in my class, they have to ability to do so, as long as I know they are still focused on my lesson. If during one of my science lessons I could find a way to incorporate a walk outside around the school, to show them in 3D what their book shows them in 2D, then I will find a way to do it. If a math lesson has to deal with counting numbers, I want to bring out things that they can touch and use to help them understand the concept. I don’t want my students just sitting in a chair for eight hours a day while I drone on and on about something they may not remember by the end of the day.

The main thing I want to teach my students is creativity. I want them to know that they have an imagination and that everyone’s works different, but yet each one is amazing. I want them to be as creative as can be. I don’t want them to create something all the same for me to post around the room. If during a writing lesson the students are creating a story, I want them to come up with different ideas on how to bring their story that they have created from their imaginations to life. I would want one student to just write a story, while another draws a few pictures for their story. I want a student to put them story in a picture book, while the next student uses the technology around them and puts it into a presentation. I want my students to be as creative as they can be, with the technology and resources they have around them. If I see a student struggling to come up with something, maybe I’ll go help them out, or have another student help get them started. I want my students to know that they can come to me for help, but they can also work together and go to their fellow peers for help. I don’t want them to think that they are limited because they think it is too hard. I want them to find new exciting ways to express themselves throughout the year.

All in all, I want my future students to just be themselves, inside and outside my classroom. I want them to understand that everyone learns a different way, and the way they learn is acceptable. I want them to understand everyone has vast amount of creativity, and sometimes it takes different methods to tap into it. I want my students to feel comfortable in my classroom  where they know if they need certain resources to help reinforce a concept, that they can do that and not be put down for it. I want my students to want to learn when they step inside of my classroom and the minute they walk out my door at the end of the day, because learning doesn't only happen in the classroom; learning stretches far beyond that. 

Resources:

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Digital Blog Post #B Chapter 2

As I was reading chapter two, there were concepts that popped out at me. So instead of just typing them out, I put them into a simple Prezi that is down below.

I grew up with technology all around me and I have seen the major impact it has in this world. I have seen in being incorporated into the classroom, as well as not. It was interesting to see which of my teachers used the technology they had available and which ones did not. Growing up I did not fully understand why every teacher I had did not use it. After reading chapter two I understand that know.

When I become a teacher, I want to be in tune with my students and teach them they way that they learn best. I want them to understand that there are many different ways to do one thing, as long as the end result comes out the same. I understand that every student that will come into my classroom will be different. Every teacher is going to be different. One will like to teach this way, and another will want to teach the exact opposite. I put in this photo below to show us that everything looks, thinks, speaks, and acts differently. That is okay because it is what makes us, us!

Resources:

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

(2015, September 1). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from https://eilisheats.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/be-different.jpg 

Digital Blog Post #A Chapter 1

Concept 1: I was shocked as I started reading the statistics in our textbook. When I was little, I grew up with my older brother outdoors. By growing up outdoors, I mean we were always outside playing because that is all we knew. There was no game consoles, wireless Internet, or smartphones. The technology I had when I was a kid was dial-up Internet, where a phone call couldn’t come through to our landline unless someone was off the computer. When I was little I remember having a corn landline telephone, a dinosaur of a computer that had dial up Internet, and a Nintendo 64 gaming console. I remember using the computer for the two applications that were installed on the computer called “Paint” and “Pinball”. The other thing I used the computer was for a learning program called “Reader Rabbit”. Even then I was allowed only a half hour a day on the programs. It is amazing to see how much technology has changed the past fifteen years. I find it hard to wrap my head around.

Concept 2: The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge was a new thing to me. I had never heard of it until now. It is interesting to know that there are different forms of knowledge in the classroom. While I was reading I concluded that it is best if the three forms, content, pedagogical and technological are used together, as referenced by Maloy, et al (2013, pp. 10-11). If a teacher knows how to incorporate these into their teaching, then every student will be captured and become motivated to learn. Knowing that content knowledge is the academic subject matter, pedagogical knowledge is all of the information, and technological knowledge is knowing how to use the different types of technology, will progress the students learning from their teacher.

Concept 3: Everyone in this world has an identity. Everyone’s identity is different as well as his or her digital identity.  What I mean by this is, one person could use some technology aids during their teachings, while another teacher could use the opposite of those technology aids from the first teacher. It is best if a teacher picks some to incorporate into their teachings and stick to those technological aids. This will help not only the teacher but the student as well. If the teacher and the student are on the same page, then the information that the teacher wants to convey to the student will be absorbed much better then those teachers who don’t understand how all their students learn differently. The students as well as the teachers will be in a comfortable environment to learn and teach, and they will want to learn and teach.

Conclusion: Technology has come a long way from when it was first introduced. Teachers are using resources that help them reach their students. Through the ever-growing technology aids, teachers had adapted different ways of teaching that work with their classroom. It is amazing to think that the statistics of those students who use technology everyday has only increased and it will continue to increase as time continues.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O' Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.