Journal 9

Campbell, L. O. (2012). If you give a kid a video camera. Learning and Leading Through Technology 39(5), 30-33. http://www.learningandleading-digital.com

This article talks about what happens when you give a kid a video camera as well as what are somethings that they need to prepare before using the camera. Their are many things that one can use a video camera, one of them is creating a message for someone. The article states how some students may want to us a video camera to send a message to someone that is far away, like a pen pal. This expands their ability to use technology for the fact that they are creating and recording a video, making sure that they edit the video, and making a copy to mail out. Some teachers are using video to help their students to learn math. What was done was they used a video camera to conduct a story problem that involves math. What this does is motivate the student to want to solve the problem and they learn at the same time. Technology has helped students learn in different methods that works for them and now teachers are stepping out of their comfort zone and exploring the different teaching methods that can be done through technology.

Q. How will this teach students?
A. It will teach students how to use different devices like the camera, video camera and other devices that they may not know how to use. Also they are learning how to use these devices and also using it to communicate with others from the other side of the world. This will also get them started with actually becoming brave enough to talk to people and record them. Later in life they may need to interview someone for a class and by having this experience, they will be able to master that assignment as well as teach those that do not know how to do the assignment. As always, this will teach students how to use devices and technology on which will always benefit them in the future.

Q. How will this benefit me and my classroom?
A. This will benefit me and my classroom by having my students exploring the technical world and the devices that they now have to offer. They will see the video camera as a way to communicate, capture a message, and or trying to create a store about an issue that is happening in the world. This will benefit my class in a way that I will have student that will think outside the box and want to go above and beyond their assignments by using technology. This will prepare them for other professors that will probably be using technology as well as it will help them be prepared for the world that is advancing around us each day. 

Journal 6

Pape, L., eehan, T. & Worrell, C. (2012, March/April). How to Do More Lessons From Online Learning, 39(6), 18-22. http://www.learningandleading-digital.com

This article is very interesting for the fact that it is giving ideas to teachers on how to do less using technology. The different things that are being used are blogs in which shows students how to interact with one another and also see the different assignment post that each student created. Another online tool that was mentioned was bookmarking, this will show students how to save websites that they may later want to view. I great software that they can use is Diigo in which we recently discovered about and can save our searches that are interesting to us. Their are many ways to create a virtual learning environment for all students in which they will be learning all the different software and devices that can be used to help them expand their learning. Something else that was talked about in the article was about brainstorming in which students can use scrumblr, which is a software that is provided to the students. Digital games have come a long way in which benefit students now with their learning. These games that are used towards the students help them learn math, spelling, and or reading. their are many free websites that provide free learning for students that are used towards their virtual learning.


Q. How would games help students learn in my classroom?
A. This would help students learn in my classroom becasue it helps them pay attention. Not only are they learning their ABC's or 123's but they are also having fun. This is a creative way to address technology in the learning of each student. This is preparing them for the future of technology and is just the begining of them learning more about computers, internet, softwares, and devices.

Q. What will the students gain from using these types of technology?
A. They will learn to use different softwares that are provided on line or on some computers. They will also be prepared for the future in which they will find it easier and easier to pick up on the new technology that they are learning later on in life. They are being prepared for the technical future as well as they are learning they standards that they need to learn and more.

Journal 8

Communication

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) as defined is an umbrella term that is used for communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with disabilities in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language disabilities. AAC can be a permanent addition to a person's communication or a temporary aid.

Low Technology Communication 

The low tech that I found for special education was low tech eye gaze communicators. This is a low cost, self made devise that helps those that cannot communicate actually communicate with people that know how to use this device. It is designed for children and adults to speak with their eyes. This device can be created by either plexi-glass or cardboard box just as long as one can see what the other is looking at from the other side. These can be created differently by either pictures, words, or letters in which helps them communicate. The way that it is used is by following the eyes of the person and saying the letters out loud so that one can try and figure out what is trying to be said. This also helps the person with their letters and spelling in which will help them become better communicators.

High Technology Communication

The high tech device that I found useful for special education is an Apple products. The product that I found mostly interesting was the IPad in which has several apps and programs that can be installed for each student with special needs. Some of the functions that these devices have to offer are literacy and learning in which it helps them stay organized and improves their reading. It also is helpful for vision for those students that have low vision or blind students. It also provides hearing options in which helps those of hard hearing and lastly they have options for physical and motor skills in which students are able to change the settings to their likings and comfort so that they can use the device without having to receive help. This device is very useful for students that have a disability especially becasue it is touch screen. They can do things on their own and learn as they go. The device also provides text to speech for those students that suffer from cognitive disabilities.

Assessibility

Input Devices are devices or information that is put into a computer depending if it is hardware or a software. These devices include printers, scanners, a mouse, and mics or software programs.  This is something that comes in handy for those with disabilities for because of the different devices that can be connected into their computer so that they can maneuver things better.

Hardware Option

One hardware device that I found to be very helpful for those with disabilities is a adaptive keyboard in which different keyboards are created for individuals with different needs. They create small key keyboards and large key keyboards depending on the size of their fingers and or needs. Another thing that they create is the position of the keys in which they are created differently for each student becasue of the positions of their wrist and how they are able to position themselves in order to use the keys. This has helped many students in being able to use a computer without having to stuggle with its position. They have constructed these keys so that they no longer have to work with the keyboard becasue it is made for them and their needs.  

Software Option

The software device that I found interesting was the word prediction software in which helps them have to select less keys in order to type out a work. How it works is the student begins by typing the first letter of the word that they want to say. Then what pops up is a suggestion box in which predicts the word that is trying to be created. All they have to do is find the word from the list and select the number that is in front of that word to select it into their sentence. This helps those with disabilities in many ways, many cannot use keyboards that easily and find it to be very time consuming to try and use a computer to type up something. With this software it is easier for them to type faster and doesnt take up most of their day.

Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network (PLN)

A PLN or personal learning network, is designed to have educators and future educators all come together on the web to share ideas and to collect information so that they may use in their classroom. As a future teacher, I have expanded my resources in which I may receive information from teachers all over the world. This will benefit me by being able to see teachers experience in the field. I will have several questions as well in which will need to be answered and many of these teachers will give me information that will help me understand what is expected from teachers.

I have created a Twitter account in which has opened an opportunity to follow several educational Tweeters. Some of them that I am following are Mark Brumely (Educational technology leader), Education Nation, US Dept of Education, Discovery Education, and Education Week. The reason i picked these people and organizations is because they have posted interesting websites in which address the issues in education. I feel that this will help me be connected with education more and I will always be informed with the latest news. Having a network and following it actually educates you and continues to keep you educated about what is going on around you. This will help me become a better teacher because I will be able to understand and avoid issues that are affecting teachers, schools, and students.

I participated in a chat called #kinderchat in which was held at 6pm (9pm EST) on April 2, 2012. The topic was homework hassles in which many believed that homework for a kinder class was a waste of time. Many of the teachers agreed that homework should not be issued because they need the time to go out and play. Parents made comments that homework takes away from their family time and consumes children and they later on get tired of reading and writing. My main concern was that I didn't see on teacher or parent address how it might benefit them. I feel that homework should be issued as practice for the students so that they can learn faster and or get that extra attention that they may need at home from their parents. I don't see how they are losing family time when they can actually sit down and help their child with homework. Teachers teach at school and parents also have to participate in their child's education and make sure that they able to do the work that is expected of them. If the parents have time for family time then they also have time to care about their children's education and their needs for learning. I felt that this chat had more opinions rather than facts and the reason for homework was being missed. This chat really upset me for the fact that I believe in giving students material to continue to learn at home and so that their parents can participate in their child's life by using these materials and showing them how important it is to be educated.

In using Diigo, a bookmarking tool that stores your bookmarking from any computer, I am able to follow different people that interest me and can contribute towards my learning as I become a teacher. I am also able to bookmark different articles that i am interested in and i am able to share them with those that are following me. I have found it very useful in which i am storing many websites that are about education. Something new that i just learned was that I can follow people on Diigo. the people that I am following is a librarian a couple of teachers including my professor and a classmate. The reason that I choice these people is because they are educators and are bookmarking information that I may be able to use the information in which will keep me informed about teaching. I find this tool to be very useful for the fact that I am able to store websites and access them any time any where if I need to. Some of those websites that I bookmarked were "put out or get out" in which was a blog that was posted by  a former PLN member. The topic is about teachers needing to show that they are willing to actually keep up with technology so that they can teach their students. The next blog that I bookmarked is another blog called "the Professional Failure" in which shows a meeting of staff and teaching talking about how to make improvements and how they were half asleep and others were not even engaged or showed interest in issues that were being addressed. The last website that i bookmarked was the actual Educator's PLN for the fact that it has several blogs that can be read and are written by other teachers. In joining the PLN I am able to once again find resources that will benefit me in the future. I really enjoy this website and love watching and reading the different blogs that teachers post.

In joining The Educator's PLN I have found interesting articles and blogs that teachers post for others to read. On this website I am able to find articles that talk about teaching and methods to improve my teaching skills. It also gives us a way to interact with others that are out of state and I am creating a bigger network for myself.  One of the blogs that I spoke about earlier was "The professional failure" By Anne Beck in which she shares a video of a staff meeting they had with they principle. It was interesting for me to see this because I have been in staff meetings before in which those teachers were actually involved and had questions about how to better the school. This video showed teachers doing other work that was not about the meeting. Others were half asleep and the rest really didn't show any sort of interest. It really amazed me to see this because of the fact that I will be a teacher and have to sit at these meetings, i can only hope that the teachers are not like this during our meetings because it shows how much they really do care about the students. I actually bookmarked two of her blogs because of the fact that she addresses very important facts about what is happening now with teachers. She also speaks the truth when she says  that we have to update our style and learn what is now all around us so that we can prepare our students for the future. These teachers really failed to show how professional they truely are and how much they actually care.

Journal 5

LaMaster, Jen. & Stager, Gary S., (2012, February). Point/counterpoint: Should students use their own devices in the classroom?. 39(5), 6-7. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Should_Students_Use_Their_Own_Devices_in_the_Classroom.aspx

In this article we have Jen and Gary who are both not seeing eye to eye in the situation of students bringing their own devices to school. Jen argues that many times there are not enough devices for students at the school and if student brought their own device it would give the chance for all students to get a device when the entire class needs to use them. This is a good idea for the fact that many schools do not have enough funds to get the entire school updated with devices and the technology that our world offers us today. They can only provide with few and so if students brought in theres from home then they would be able to participate in class and follow along with the instructor and class. Gary argues that bringing in their own devices is not a good idea for the fact that it would create an issue in inequality for many students. Many times these devices can not be provided at home in which creates and issue at schools within the students. This could create an issue in which students are viewed as different from one another in which should be provented at all schools.
Q. What are the pros?
A. the pros of the students bringing the devices is that they are providing themselves with meeting the needs that is expected of them to use in school. It is not their fault that the school cannot provide them with all of the proper things that they need so that they can learn. They are expected to share but at times it is hard to share and if they were able to bring in their own devices then it would be a plus for many students.
Q. What are the Cons?
A. The reason why there are cons is because many students family cant afford these devices that they are expected to learn how to work on. It would create issues in which many will be viewed as different and possible bullying could eventually happen. This could damage many students and this should be provented becasue all students need to be treated the same. I also feel that this would create a distraction in which their devices would not have restrictions like other devices that the schools provide.

Journal 3

Brown, don. (2012, March/April). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Rural_Districts_Bolster_Choices_with_Online_Learning.aspx

In this article it talks about children taking online classes and how it can benefit many students in learning and also by helping them retake classes that they have failed. This is taking place in Oregon in 14 Lane County school districts. This has given the opportunity for many students to take classes online for the fact that many classes are over full with students and their are little teachers to teach them all. They started working with Creswell School District with 1300 students in which they had years of experience with working with online classes. They saw a better outcome in every student that took online classes and their grades began to improve over all. The classes are not all online, the ones that are offered are those classes that are not offered at the school and the students pay 10 percent of the cost. They also provide them with a class period in which they are able to work on this class during school hours. What this will do is keep them on track and actually help them not neglect the class and actually work on it in which helps students improve in their school work. All districts agreed that this would help their students and benefit them with their learning and gives them the chance to take classes that the school cannot offer because of shortage of the staff.
Q. How would this benefit me?
A. This would benefit me by learning about technology and how it is created to teach students that are still in high school. This would also give the school a chance to give more to the students rather than limit them on what is only offered in a classroom setting. This would benefit my learning skills on understanding how students learn better and what works best for them. It will also teach me to be a better teacher each year by learning from my prior experiences as well as learn more from technology and how to improve it each year for the benefit of the students.
Q. How would this benefit the student?
A. this would benefit the students by actually giving them an opportunity to explore how they learn best so that they are prepared for college and can pick classes that they are able to understand and learn the material better at their pace and understanding. This will also help students with retaking classes that they have failed and will give them the ability to choose what they feel would be their best learning experience. The students are learning more rather and they have a choice. With technology they have the ability to learn more than books in the library can offer in which gives them variety and doesn't limit their learning.

Journal 2: The Flock

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock!. Learning and Leading with Technology, 12-15. Retrieved from www.iste.org/Libraries/ ...and.../June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

In this article, it was created to develop your skills with twitter and create a community on this account with others that are joining the flock. Hadley is the creator of the program in which she shows us how to set up an account and create a bio of 140 words and shows us how to add a picture so that everyone can see us and read some information about us so that they can get a little understand of who we are. She also shows us how to follow others on Twitter and read there thoughts and post. This is the beginning of our new community online with Twitter. This is a great opportunity to get to know people and actually have connections with others that are teachers as well and this is a nation wide community.

How will this community benefit me?
It would benefit me because it will help me as a teacher to get an outside opinion on how to improve my ways of being a better teacher. Not only will i be able to communicate with others that are in my state or other states, but i also get to communicate with others around the world. This would be extremely beneficial for me because i get to understand teaching around the world. This is something that couldn't have been done several years ago and now it is here and all should experience it at least once.

Second Article

Clintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning and Leading in Technology, 14-17. Retrieved from \http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx
This article expresses how to enhance your twitter experience by using you PLN which is your personal learning network that you have started to create. The article explains how much it has benefited them as well as their classroom in using technology in seventh grade. It goes on to explain how great twitter can be and teaches you how to use twitter to expand conversations rather than ending with a re tweet. this would give many an opportunity to explore the web and develop a better understanding of technology. Many will find it difficult but with patients and a complete set of instructions it can be done.

How will this benefit in my classroom?
Many times in different communities there are times when you have students that have never touched or seen technology that will benefit them with learning. Something that i would do is have technology in my classroom so that it can expand the learning of each student and let them know what is out there in the web. I will also address what is safe and not, so that they get an understanding of safe surfing on the web. This will benefit my class by not limiting the students and their learning. It will also benefit me because i am able to teach my students more and more as technology grows.