Unit VI Reflection - Technology Integration

Before taking this course, I had little to no knowledge of technology integration. I have always known that I planned to use technology in my classroom, but in the past I had no real ideas of how I would integrate this technology. I reviewed several websites for ideas for technology integration, and this website was my favorite. It includes several fun ideas for using technology in the day-to-day classroom routine, such as viewing the weather forecast online each day, using online news sources, and using the internet in the classroom to further research history.

I found this article published on the New York Times website weighing the pros and cons of technology integration in the classroom. Although technology integration does have many, many advantages, there is evidence that test scores have remained stagnant in many areas after integrating technology into the classroom. Technology may not be moving us toward higher test scores, but are standardized tests the most important measure of the effectiveness of technology integration? As is discussed in many of my education courses, teaching to the test is not always effective. If teaching to the test is ineffective, then the test is also not an appropriate measure of the effectiveness of technology.

The use of technology in the classroom is likely to continue to increase in the next several years, and perhaps only time will tell of the effectiveness of technology integration. I can only imagine that as technology becomes more effective in and of itself, the use of technology in the classroom will also become more effective.

Unit V Reflection - My Pinterest Addiction

I'm not sure where to start a conversation about Pinterest. I guess a good starting point would be to say that Pinterest is quite possibly the single greatest website ever developed. Pinterest is full of new recipes to try, home decorating tips, and tons of wardrobe ideas. That's all great, but what really got me hooked on Pinterest is the wealth of classroom ideas and resources that I have been turned on to since I started using Pinterest!

A quick search for "bulletin board ideas" or "classroom organization" and three hours later my eyes are tired and I have tons of ideas swimming around in my head. Pinterest has evolved since its inception in 2010. In the early days, Pinterest was by invitation-only. You had to know someone who knew someone who was someone's cousin, I suppose. Thankfully, I got the invite and I was in!

I do believe "Classroom" was the first pinboard I created. I feel like immediately I was bombarded by cool ideas from teachers! Most of the ideas I see on Pinterest are pinned from teachers' or homeschooling blogs. I find that more and more often my peers and I find ourselves in deep conversation about all the cool lesson and classroom ideas we have come across on Pinterest! We follow each others' boards so that we can feed off each other's ideas. I feel like Pinterest is by far one of the easiest ways to collaborate and share classroom ideas now.

I do check Pinterest quite frequently, whether I am looking for a recipe, a classroom idea, or a new cleaning technique. I do spend much more time on the site than I would like to admit. Pinterest is particularly dangerous since the development of the android and iPhone apps. Quite often I find myself looking at classroom management techniques and suddenly realizing that what I really should be doing is keeping my eyes on the road... kidding, mostly.

 

Unit IV Reflection C - Using Videos as a Lesson Presentation Medium

I'll be honest; I love the internet, I love my computer, and I love YouTube, but I have never had the desire to create a video before. I think the primary reason I have not attempted video creation in the past is that in my head, I thought that to create a video I would have to record myself, and I do not like being in front of a camera.

For this assignment, I used only animation. Using GoAnimate, I was able to create a two-minute video for free. GoAnimate was so simple and very self-explanatory. Although I did only use the free version, I can imagine that paid version has many more features and may even be worth the six dollars a month subscription fee once I begin teaching if I choose to use animated movies. In the meantime, the free version did just fine. The main problem I saw with the free edition of GoAnimate is that not only was the time capped at two minutes, the dialog was capped at ten lines. Again, this is a feature I would be willing to pay for.

Although I did enjoy GoAnimate, I still prefer PowerPoint or Prezi presentations for lesson presentation. In the future, I can imagine that if I make videos at all I would prefer to use a video camera and then edit it to my specifications instead of using a plug-and-play type application such as GoAnimate.