EDLD+5306+Fundamentals+of+Educational+Technology

Week 1 Hello,

I used the Professors About Me as a model for my Bio (so it seems a bit wordy now). I guess you can tell this is my first class on my road to my Master's Degree.

Matthew Garrett is a fourth grade teacher at Paul W. Ott Elementary in Northside ISD. I have my certificate to teach Early Childhood to Fourth Grade. He has four years of experience all in fourth grade and at Ott.

Matthew Garrett is starting his first year as team leader. He also has headed Hospitality for two years. Matthew Garrett has taught PowerPoint basics and Photo Story for those staff members that were interested. He did a school wide training for Writer’s Notebooks.

 Matthew Garrett received his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Learning and Development from the University of Texas at Austin. While in school there he was trained on Apple programs such as: iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and AppleWorks. In the article Literacy in the New Information Landscape by David Warlick I found a quote that said, "It means students must know how to use appropriate tools to find information, decode it, evaluate the information to determine its value, organize the information to add meaning, process, analyze, synthesize, manipulate, mix and remix the information, and then express their findings in compelling ways using appropriate modes of communication."

 The reason this quote spoke to me is because so many of my past projects just scratched the surface of being truly infused with technology. My fourth grade students come from a wide range of backgrounds and computer knowledge. I need to model finding good sites and picking out bad sites. I need to make sure the the webquest I make are open ended and not just students filling in the blanks with answers I want. The products that students create should go beyond the current PowerPoint and Photo Story projects. Yes, these should still be options but my thinking of what is possible has definitely been expanded after the suggestions I read this week.

Week 2 "In contrast, ATRL professional development focused not on proficiency but rather on comfort, embedding technology within the curriculum activity and stressing the cultivation of a minimum set of technology skill- just enough to create a product." I have been to many technology professional developments. I have seen some teachers getting lost or worse frustrated within minutes because they weren't able to keep up with the training. I could tell that teacher(s) would never let the students on this program because the teacher felt uncomfortable with it.

 The ATRL program gave them some basic skills. More importantly it gave a whole team to help, wonder, worry, and explore the program together. This allowed those with a variety of learning styles a chance to learn in their own way. It also provides a sounding board for ideas that can be taken into the classroom. From Compliance to Commitment: Technology as a Catalyst for Communities of Learning ― Mary Burns Burns, M. (2002). From compliance to commitment: Technology as a catalyst for communities of learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(4), 295-303.

Week 3 In Listen to the Natives, Prensky says "Our schools should be teaching kids how to program, filter knowledge, and maximize the features and connectivity of their tools." I agree with what he says that this generation is growing up with cell phones and ipods why shouldn't they get the most from them? You wouldn't keep an engineer away from a calculator (or laptop these days). As educators it is becoming our job to show them how to use these tools and when. Does a child need a cell phone for multiplication facts, no. If you show them that their brain is faster than their tools you gain buy in. As a teacher it is our new role to guide them and teach them to access quality information.

Week 4 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">My quote this week comes from Cyberbullies, Online Predators, and What to Do About Them by J.A. Hitchcock. It stated that "58 percent admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online." I wouldn't have thought that the problem was this pervasive if I had had a case of it at my elementary school last year. One of my previous students had a new student start to bully him. When the school stopped the problem he made a youtube video making fun of the other student. The next day he passed out the link to classmates and told them all to check it out that night. At least 2 videos were made before the student being bully came forward to his dad. I'm glad to admit this fell in a zero tolerance policy at our school. The counselors had already done lesson on it with the students and explained the consequences of it. The cyberbully got ISS (In School Suspension).

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"> I have forwarded this article to our counselors because I do believe it is very informative. Also it can help them when they do their lesson this year. I know it will give me a good starting point to begin my talk with the class.

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Week 5 <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">In the article "Bridge the Digital Divide for Educational Equity", Mason and Dodds (2005), it states " Unfortunately not every student has the same access to it, and the inability to keep pace has created a digital divide that continues to widen." I chose this quote because I see this divide in my classroom. My school is at the edge of developed San Antonio. Some of my students are from the neighborhoods springing up, some come from the rural farm land, and some from the mobile home communities that dot the area. Many of my students are experienced and need hardly any instruction to go and complete a task. Others need help turning on the laptops and finding the applications. Most students with the knowledge are happy to share with those having trouble, but I do hear those judging remarks such as: "You still don't know how to turn it on." When an assignment is done using technology those lucky enough to have access to technology excel and those without are struggling to keep up. I believe this may make a new type of citizen those Digital Natives that have never learned the language. That is why I believe so strongly in using technology in my teaching to give a technology base for these students that haven't gotten it from their lives outside of school.