Webquest

          I chose to review the middle school webquests.   

The webquest that I thought was the best was “The Problem with Landfills”.  This site was age-appropriate for middle-schoolers from the type face used to the activity’s steps. The images weren’t awkward or too clip-arty either. I think it can be hard to walk the thin line of age-appropriateness when dealing with students between middle school and elementary and the webquest toed the line fairly well.  The language used on this site was well-designed for the age group.  I feel like students would not only be comfortable with the expectations, but they would be challenged just enough. The webquest not only covered geography standards, but it also incorporated being a responsible global citizen.  Having dual-standards met is always good in lessons, given the time crunch that most teachers face every day.

The worst webquest that I viewed was the “Creative Encounters”.  The “Creative Encounters” text was too colorful and cluttered; I found it very distracting.  I could not concentrate on what the premise of the lesson because of how the site was set up and organized.  I still don’t know what I can gain by using the webquest.  The idea of creating a numbering system seems great, but I do not think the way that “Creative Encounters” was set up was effective.  The premise of numeration value is age-appropriate for middle school students.  If the theme had been less cutesy and more age-appropriate, I think the site could be used more effectively.

Software Choices

      Finding the five most important software features was not easy for me.  I thought that every choice was incredibly important and they all have their own merit.  The five that stood out the most to me, though, were standards, cost, site license, active learning, and grade level.

Throughout education, standards have to stay the main idea.  It can be hard to keep to these standards with all of the other things that teachers have to endure and deal with in a typical school day.  If all of the software in use met educational standards, teachers would have a little less pressure on them to introduce and familiarize students with educational topics.  I don’t think that the software should replace a teacher, but a touch of assistive software can be helpful. 

Cost was an obvious choice for me.  School systems have a lot of needs and not a lot of financial support, so the more that can be purchased for less is better for a school.

A site license is a great thing for companies, but in order to utilize a site effectively, a limited site license isn’t always the best thing to have.  Without a limited license, it could be possible for students to continue their learning off of campus, at their homes, for instance.

Active learning is essential for students.  I personally wouldn’t want to learn from afar.  The more interactive that software is, the more that students will take away from it, in my opinion.

Grade level is incredibly important in software.  If the material is too advanced, then students are not going to learn anything.  Material should be age-appropriate so that students can gain the most out of it.

For my mind map, I chose problem-solving, weakness targeting, and illustration software as the most important to have in a classroom.  I think that problem-solving software can be helpful in providing problem-solving skills; students need these skills to be an effective member of society.  Weakness targeting software is a hugely useful tool for helping students to overcome any difficulties they might be having in school, so that teachers know what to concentrate on.  I think that illustrations can make lesson a lot more interesting and incorporating illustrations can promote more involved learning.

Digital Tools

I don't think that with the way that classrooms are changing, only five pieces of assistive technology would be enough. Classrooms are constantly evolving, and technology is too. New technology is always on the verge of becoming obsolete by something newer, faster, and more efficient. Just five years ago, Smart Boards were almost unheard of. Today, it seems as though it is unheard of NOT to have a Smart Board. If I had to select only five technologies to assist me in my classroom, though, I would have to choose a webcam, a digital camera, an overhead projector, an interactive whiteboard, and clickers.
I think that when students can see themselves and their classmates learning on a webcam, it makes them more excited about the educational topic. It would be interesting to use webcams to alter the way students feel about the core subjects when there is a digital twist. If a student was having trouble with pronunciation, for instance, they could study their image through a webcam to detect what part of their mouth wasn’t making the right movement.
I’m a huge fan of taking photos of students while they are on trips or learning something. Having photographs can, in my opinion, be a way of helping students to correlate a learning experience to a memory, which could help cement the information a little more. If you have a photograph of a student portraying a famous person from history, every time they look at that picture they’re going to tie it back to something they know from that time.
Overhead projectors have been a huge part of my education and personally, I think they’re effective at giving out information to the whole classroom at once. If every student is looking at the exact same thing, it becomes easier to produce group learning.
Interactive whiteboards, like projectors, produce a group learning effect. If a teacher had to change up his or her lesson momentarily to accommodate the learning taking place, an interactive whiteboard would be a great tool to have.
Clickers are probably the thing that I would desire most for my own class. With each student submitting answers using their clicker, I would be able to determine which students were struggling or excelling.

Personal Theorectical Foundations

          I believe that each student learns differently, so I can’t just say that all students are behavior learners.  I think that the only successful way to ensure that each and every student absorbs what is being taught is to incorporate as many of learning styles as possible throughout a learning style.  I always preferred changing tactics during a lesson when I was in school.  These changes can be very subtle, if done well.

         I am not a fan of standard testing by any means.  However, it remains the only effective way of testing the majority of learners.  I would love to live in a world where each student could be tested individually and based off of a test that works best for them, but it just isn’t feasible in overcrowded, public schools.   Standard tests have their obvious flaws, but they do moderately well with assessing learning characteristics. 

          After taking a teaching inventory test, I was named as a facilitator type of educator.  This is a pretty accurate assessment, in my opinion.  When I teach, I don’t like to be the only speaking or doing the activity.  I prefer to see my students learn together and to learn through doing.  It gets awfully boring if students aren’t interacting or learning.  I am very willing to adapt my style to individual needs.  A holistic view of teaching is important for me to have so that can work flexibly.

         Throughout this class, I am learning that is a lot more important than I thought to incorporate technology into a classroom.  While completing the NETS standards assignment, I also discovered how many beneficial and educational sites are available.  I think that I need to do more research to fit technology into my students’ learning style. 

         My multiple intelligences strengths and weaknesses were: linguistics and intrapersonal skills.  My weakness was special relationships.

Digital Generations

   I believe that I am part of the Digital Generation. Throughout my lifetime, I have witnessed a lot of technological changes and advances. The earliest memory that I have of using a computer is when I was around four years old and I would blow up balloons on a video game. I am sure that the graphics would be considered terrible today, but I loved that game! The way that I view computers and technology is not with unease, but with ready willingness.

   I think that most of the portraits onYouth Origins are similar to the six to twelfth graders that I know personally. My eleven year old brother is a computer whiz. He loves working with genealogy programs and making his own webcam videos, complete with special effects. I know of fifth graders that have their own websites; I wouldn't even know how to begin to design my own website! I can’t say the same about kids under fifth grade, though. Most of the students that I have encountered that are eleven and younger are not technically savvy. These students use computers for gaming, rather than making movies and spreadsheets, like most of the portrait students. I definitely think that I am less qualified than the students in the video, but perhaps more qualified than someone who hasn’t been around computers and other technology all of their life.

   Always planning on incorporating technology into my classroom, my perspective on the Digital Generation has not changed. There are a lot of educational games on the web, which go over very well in schools and other educational programs. I have worked with Lexia and Success Maker, personally, and those games not only assist in the learning process, but students enjoy playing.