The future awaits us

As the semester comes to an end, I see more and more students on their laptops in class. When I say on their laptops, I mean searching facebook, twitter and all other social network feeds. In the beginning of this semester I was all about how technology could be used in classroom and how it enhances classrooms. Lately I have been against technology in classroom. I think what I am starting to realize is that it works when the teacher has control over it. Students in younger grade are more likely to respect the teachers and do what they say. College students are more in the mindset that they can multitask, even though most of us can't. I used to say I was a great student, like many others. Come time for college I know say I am an okay student. Yea I do my work and hand it in on time and I go to class, but paying attention is definitely my weak point. I know I paid attention in high school because I didn't have a phone and I was thankful for that. Now I wonder if students in high school are paying attention to their teachers.
I was reading an article that was talking about making technology work and using it to your advantage but as of lately I think it works better to get students up and active. If they are active they do not have the time to dose off or get bored in and search a twitter feed or text the person in the next class over under their desks trying to be sneaky. Technology is only increasing and getting better, what will we as teachers see our students using in a year or two from now? Will we be getting them up and active or will we be trying to feed their need to be engaged on the computer and with technology. The future awaits us my fellow education majors, hope you're prepared!

Should we stop waisting trees?....

Through this semester I have seen many different way of creating assessments. I have seen my cooperating teacher sit down at the computer over and over tweaking tests for the incoming classes. She always labeled a few with an M for those students had an IEP saying that they needed modified testing. As of recently within my fieldwork I have heard of doing all standardized testing on computers. Teachers spend so much time working on their tests and creating tests that work it seems that they have finally created a standardized test online that may work. I have different opinions on standardized testing, but are all of our testing going to move towards online? I see this hard to do within a middle school and high school setting because not many of them can afford a laptop for every student at once and that is the problem they are facing at the school where I do my fieldwork. Taking a test online offers but so many problems. I can attest for the sleepiness of looking at a computer. I took my praxis at 11 in the afternoon, fully awake and able to pay attention after 8 hours of sleep. After completing a half hour of the test my eyes began slowly shutting. Working on a computer in general makes people sleepy, taking a test can’t be proven any more awakening. I see something wrong with testing on a computer. When I was younger we always were told to go play outside. We were only allowed to be on the computer for homework (which took all of 20 minutes) and all of 15 minutes other than that to play a game if we were lucky. Students now are always on the computer doing work and when they are not doing work parents let them spend time on the computer long than being outside. All in all what I am trying to say is that maybe technology is going too far. It seems like they are trying to make things easier and more convenient but rather they are just getting students addicted and dependent on technology and computers.

... College students - Professional's at using Fluff

As I sit here doing 5 billions things for finals, I stopped to think about what I am doing. Is writing a 10 page paper about my experiences during fieldwork really going to prove to anyone that I learned something? Is a paper of a child I "interviewed" really going to say that I know my audience when I go into teaching. There's a common saying among college students "College didn't teach me how to write paper but rather how to "fake" papers." We simply add a little fluff and act like we know what we are talking about. Granted we may know that material, but making us write a paper, that most teachers do not want to read seems crazy to me. This is the part where I tell you  I am the worst English major ever. I can not stand reading over my papers, I cant spell for the life of me and the first thing I do for fun is not pick up a book, crazy I know.
So again, as I sit here writing papers, I think about how I am going to make classroom fun and not just another English classroom where my students have to write papers. Technology offers so many things. As I was going the final project for this class, I found an amazing website to make madlibs. Now this may not be excited for everyone, but I can tell you that I have just as much fun filling in the blanks as I used to.
I look back on my last three years here so far, honestly, I might remember one or two papers I wrote and what I got on them. Having finished my psychology minor two semesters ago, I could not tell you one thing that I wrote in those papers that's for sure.  Simply what I am saying is that I question whether or not writing papers is the way to do it any more. We have so many resource at our hands but a lot of classrooms continue to go back to the old routine of writing papers so show that the students know the material, but do they know that material? We all know that the internet can tell students exactly what they need to know, and if they are clever enough they can reword the information to skip over the thought of plagiarism. I think that as we go into this field we should be looking at ways to make technology prevalent because that is where the world is going to continue to head and we need to prepare our students to encounter creating presentations rather than always writing paper.
I will back myself up here and agree that papers are need on occasion and for specific reasons but I think that the "write a 5 page paper" assignment is getting old, and students are getting smarter at getting around taking the time to write it and prove that they know something.

Final Project - Intergrating Technology in an English Inclusion Classroom

 

 

Technology being used in classrooms but sometimes technology being used within an inclusion class makes learning for those students with disabilities, just a little bit easier. Having worked in a special education classroom all year I have seen what technology can do for these students and how much easier learning becomes. My lesson is based on parts of speech focusing on verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Each of these has a corresponding video that will be played on the smart board. Before they view the videos they will be handed a graphic organizer that helps them see the difference between verbs, adjectives, and nouns. The videos that are provided will be shown on the SmartBoard and will have the students active. Even if their disabilities prevent them from participating in the songs, I have personally seen students get more excited simply because it involves music. Music is an engaging form of technology that can be used in any classroom to the teacher’s advantage.

 VERBS
 NOUNS
ADJECTIVES

After this review of nouns, verbs, and adjective, they students will read a short story and I will ask the “who, what, where, when, how” questions and also ask them to identify when they are using nouns, adjectives, and verbs. On their individual IPad or computers the students will use a Blog to answer my questions as we go. To meet the needs of my students, voice recognition such a Dragon Naturally Speaking in order for these students to participate in the blog. These blogs can be answer with simple few word sentences, for such a young age of learning this is will be easier to have the students answering the question while learning technology at a young age.

After this section, the students will go on this website to create a madlib. This website allows the students to enter their own nouns, verbs, and adjectives and creates a funny story. This allows them to use what they learned and to create fun stories. These stories may not always make sense but as a few volunteers read them, I will ask for a better suggestion of what they could use in these stories. The students really enjoy these stories and for the fact that they will all most likely choose a different story, they will all have an individual touch to them. What is also great about these stories is that the students will not feel like it is work but rather they are learning while having fun in a student centered environment.

I will have each student print out their stories and from there, whether it be just in class or continued as homework, I will have them create an illustration of part of their story. This will give them the opportunity to see the nouns, verbs, and adjectives on paper rather than just hearing the words. On this picture I will want them to label the parts of speech that they are trying to represent.

 

This lesson can be used to any type of classroom. I think that it is a great way to enhance an inclusion classroom because it allows for so many different things to be done whether it be to use Dragon Naturally Speaking, or having everyone simply on a computer using technology to their advantage. It is a lesson that get the students involved and enjoying learning about English, or at least I would hope so. This allows for the inclusion students to right alongside of the other students.

Some of the adaptions that I would make outside of having them potentially using Dragon Naturally Speaking or giving them more time to work on their artistic element would be to give them a graphic organizer that is color coded and completely filled in with simpler terms and examples. Another adaptations that I could use is have lists of nouns, verbs, and adjective printed out for these students so that they have it readily available for them when needed.

I truly do think that the technology in this lesson plan that I created will help the students, both inclusion and regular education, to get more out of the lesson. The videos will give them a catching song for them to remember and the fill in the blank activity will make them have to think of the uses of the words and come up with their own words to use rather than me telling them what a noun, verb, and adjective is and what it can do to a story.

Spreadsheet

PowerPoint

As I was babysitting last week, and interviewing the 7th grade girl about reading and her English class for a project of mind I found out something that simply amazed me. I asked her if her teachers used PowerPoints often. She looked at me like I had three heads. She asked me what a PopwerPoint was and I responded with "You know, like slides, they put them up with notes on them for you to copy". She honestly had no idea what I was talking about and had never created a PowerPoint presentation for a class. This had me baffled so I had to find out more about the technology use in her classroom.
I continued to talk to her about her classroom and how the teacher implemented technology. She responded with, she really doesn't. Not to age discriminate, but I asked how old this teacher was and she told me that she was older, definitely one of the older teachers in the school. This made me think that there was a little bit of a technology disconnect between her and the students. Further more this made me wonder if the girl was at a disadvantage being in this school district. PowerPoints, to me at least, are a huge part of technology and presentation in college, next to papers of course. Not only do students have to create them but teachers use them to present information.
I then thought back to my classes when I was in middle school. I am absolutely positive that we worked with PowerPoints both in the aspects that teachers used them and we had to create them in order to present information. My cooperating teacher just had her students present a type of book report via a PowerPoint, so I know that it is being used in other 7th grade classrooms. To say the least, are some teachers holding students back from things that they will need to know technology wise? (not all of course) Also, is PowerPoint a lost art due to the new uses of the SmartBoard?

NETS for Teachers - Interactivity 5

• Net Standards Spreadsheet
  
  I was luck enough to Interview my cooperating teacher who is a 7th grade Language Arts Literacy teacher in the West Orange school district. She is a woman that has been teaching for about forty years and enjoy every second of it. She tries very hard to keep up with the new advances in teaching but as she had to admit, it doesn't always work.
  The teacher that I interviewed know about the standards but is not necessarily familiar with the standards themselves. She seemed to know what they were when I asked her but did not know much more. The have been brought up in conversation she told me but they where never something that was a requirement of the school itself.
  She informed me that there was talk about the standards but they are not obligated to include them on lesson plans etc as of yet. She said that she understand the need for technology and she is working her best to keep up with it but adding more standards just adds another aspect for teachers to include on their lesson plans and search the standards when they already accomplish them in their classroom one way or another. This particular school has recently put a brand new SmartBoard in each classroom therefore urging the teachers to integrate that technology into their classroom. The teacher I interviewed loves her SmartBoard and uses it now in all of her lessons. She did tell me that it was up to her how to learn to use it though. She had to teach herself and see if classes were offered in order to learn more than the basics of a SmartBoard.
  I was not really surprised by her responses because I have been in the school district and have heard very little about these standards. She keeps very up to date with the technology that she uses and keep me very in the loop when talking about anything lesson plan and standard related. I see her implementing most of theses standards without having to be told to do so.
  As a future teacher I believe it is important to know about technology and how to use it, but these standards are what new teachers are going to be implementing on a regular basis without actually looking at the standards. I think that these standards are good, but will become irrelevant because they will become common practice.

Communication and Technology

Technology allows for a lot of communication whether it be between teachers and parents, teachers and other faculty, or teachers and their higher ups, communication is key, but is email always the way to do it?  I have been able to watch a lot of technology based communication go on at my fieldwork site and sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. When my teacher has a concern with a child, she either emails the parent or will call them.  There are both good and bad things about both of these.
With email there is a record that the teacher did try. Unfortunately, not every parent checks their email as much as all teachers would life. Some messages are not read until days after the concern and then either the punishment has no effect, or the issue was already taken care of without the parent knowing. Emails show that the teacher has tried, but if they parents does not read that email and respond, the teacher is obligated to try harder and contact the parent in another way.
When talking to a parent on the phone is used, there is less of a documentation that is seen. Yes, a call log can be used as proof, but the conversation that happened between the parent and the teacher is not recorded and therefore can backfire. No one knows what is said during that conversation and if the parents was properly informed of what the issue was with the students.
Email allows for a quick conversation that can be done any time that the teacher has an extra minute. A phone call is usually only made when the teacher has a free period and in the same token the parent may not be able to be reached. I hope that we can all be great teachers and be able to communicate with our students parents as needed but must make sure that technology and communication is used properly and intelligently.

Novels and Technology - English Lesson Plan - Interactivity 4

Choosing a lesson plan was slightly difficult. When I saw this lesson plan, I chose it because I have taken a Holocaust class before and I have also read the novel Night, which the lesson incorporated. This made is easier for me to understand the lesson and what the teacher was looking for in the project. I think that the teacher was able to implement technology successfully and within the standards. I believe that she could have expanded the project a little more than she did and would have definitely gotten the students to understand more aspects of technology such as blogging. Symbols and finding images that represent the symbols is a good project for a 7th grade class which was the grade that I focused on. If this was an 8th grade class lesson, I would implement more technology and the idea of blogging and interacting with each other while using professional language in order to get students ready for high school. I believe that this teacher was trying to allow the students to have fun while exploring the internet and making it more student centered rather than her lecturing to them for the class period. I do believe that this project was important to the curriculum for the students to understand symbolism. This project and technology could have been done in many different ways. I believe that it was successfully executed but not necessarily life long impacting for the students to experience technology wise. Finding pictures online does not call for an extreme amount of authenticity of the website like a research project would, especially when using cartoon like images. I like this project for a way to show symbolism through pictures. The lesson would have been more student centered but the group discussions will definitely help the students analyze their symbols.



Lesson Plan Spreadsheet

It Is Not Always "Every Man For Themselves"

Working as a group is inevitable. It is not something I like to do within my classes but it is something that I have learned to do. I am not about taking leadership and keeping it but rather taking leadership and sharing it. I created the document and shared it with the rest of my group partners. I enjoyed this group work because it was helpful to see other technologies that my group members came up with. As English majors some of us clung to the technologies that we can use in order to define and look for synonyms, those options that are available to us to help assist in our teaching. Others of us focused on the technologies that allow the students to become creative within the classroom rather than the standard projects. This group work gave me good insight to new ideas that I will be able to use within my classroom and change the way that teaching is done. I was very impressed with how little overlap of technologies we had. Even though overlap was acceptable on this assignment I think that our group did an amazing job on finding as many different technologies as we would. When we did repeat them, we all had different reasons for them. I absolutely believe that this is a document that I will hold onto and use in the future, and as a teach player, share it with other teachers that I would be in contact with.

Technology and Book Reports

Having grown up with the boring book report, five paragraphs, 5-7 sentences each, include the author, title, and summary, I have always wondered how we could make this more interesting, more engaging. Not all children like to read as is, and having them then complete a report that bores them is not helping the situation. In my fieldwork class I was lucky enough to see two different ways to create a book report that got the students involved as well as accomplishing the same thing. Not only were they able to read their book, like it, and understand it, but they had a fun time creating an assignment that was going to be worth a large grade.
These students had to create a PowerPoint in which they told the class the name of the boo, the author, the summary, themes, their favorite parts, and feelings that were seen throughout the book. At the end of their PowerPoint they were given creative liberty. Presenting these PowerPoint's on the SmartBoard gave them more liberty than they would have with simply projecting the information on a screen. One create idea that I saw in a few classes was the idea of connecting vocabulary. The students put one column of words and another column of definitions. They students in the audience were picked to come up to the SmartBoard, use the SmartBoard pen and draw a line between the word and the definition that they thought matched. If the pairing was incorrect the presenter was then able to erase the line and let another student try. This taught the students vocabulary, during a presentation, that incorporated technology. Thinking about it from a pedagogical stand point and out push to live up to the technology we have, I was intrigued and through it was a successful project. What impressed me even more was that the students were coming up with their creative idea's thinking about how they could use the SmartBoard to their advantage. 
I was able to see the same teacher, with another class, do a book report but in an entirely different way. This project was called "Book in a Box". The students were to collect items that had to deal with the book and present them to the class explaining their significance. The students loved this because it involved very little writing, they were able to be creative and they enjoyed showing the other students what they had found.
This simply proved one thing to me. There are always two ways to do things. Teachers are able to incorporate technology in amazing ways. Teachers are also able to have students go back in time without technology and find things in the physical world rather than the digital world. They could also turn to the technology of pen and paper and have students write papers. These two projects were not only fun for the students but it made grading fun and easy for the teacher. Technology in classrooms and with students is such a great tool if executed properly and with regards to the students that you, as a teacher, have within your classroom.

Technology in the 1900's to Today

Technology is something that is progressive over time. We did not miraculously have smart boards in classrooms because someone snapped their fingers but because people worked to figure out this technology for years and years. Technologies advancements are unbelievable but in order to understand them we have to look back to the 1900's.
In the world of English we are lucky enough not to bother so much with technology. We love our books, both hard and soft covered and we enjoy writing with pen and paper. Looking back at the YouTube video I realize that English classes can be compared to the 1900's and the idea that pen and paper were their means of writing and communication. Throughout the video I saw a lot of children with pens and paper on their desk ready to write notes and understand material. This was one of the greatest influences throughout history of a form of technology.  The one thing that I noticed and was intrigued by was the television with the words on the screen in order to teach vocabulary. This allowed the students to hear the words but it also took away the need for a teacher. I am not sure that these videos taught much nor entirely caught the children's attention. Also the idea of the teaching machine, I am sure that it was great for English and seeing words and knowing how to spell them but again it takes away the need for a teacher.
In my world of English, I 100% think that the greatest piece of technology and will always stand as the greatest is the use of pen and paper. It allows for expression of oneself and also allows for the teacher to be needed and to have a purpose.I would rather have my students using books and paper and pens rather than looking up the spark-notes in today's world of technology. Students need to learn the material and understand it before they go searching for alternative ways to get around learning the material.

Full understanding from reading a book or
summarized understanding via a screen?

The online article "A Social History of Media, Technology and Schooling" by Vanessa Domine opens up the idea of whether students got anything out of the educational videos. In today's world I wonder if students get anything out of looking at a computer screen. The article worries about the amount of information the students were getting from the educational videos and if they were truly learning anything. As a student, I found it much easier to memorize and learn when I had to write things with pen and paper. The action of writing has been proven to make a difference in retention of information.
The problems lies here, in Chapter two of "Rethinking Technology in Schools". On page 32 of the text it states "The fact that textbooks are generally costly to produce has created a chronic need among school teachers for more affordable means of instruction". Real books and the money for such resources are lacking therefore some teachers these days are going to more video based and online instruction. Within the text it also discusses the "information superhighway" that students and teachers alike must prepare for in the world of the 21st century. As we progress with technology it becomes more difficult and this is why I hold onto the pen, paper, and book idea because it is something that can never change.
My argument unfortunately goes back and forth. Back in the 1900's paper and pencil was used and used successfully as it is today. Both in the 1900's and today books were used when they were available to the teacher. Instructional video still has its skeptics on whether it is effective or not but was used for some time in the 1900's and with the invention of YouTube it has become a very common thing to see within  classrooms of today.

Being Literate Now Including Technological Literacy

"Back in the day", as colloquial as that can sound, there was simply the idea of being literate, being able to read and write. Pen and paper was all that was needed. Today, reading and writing are still a huge part of literacy but it encompasses so many different medias. Not only do we have to learn how to read and write with books, paper, and pencils within a classroom but students today are also expected to know all the details of typing and researching properly. This allows for so many discrepancies in students learning. In my fieldwork classroom I have already witnessed three accounts of plagiarism for a book report assignment. The internet access that they students are capable of using allows for temptations of "copy and paste".  The world that kids are growing up in now is giving them the tools to not have to know much. Students can look up definitions on the internet rather than learning how to use a dictionary and they are able to research summaries of novels rather than actually reading them.

The problem here lies in whether the students understands the material or not. Comprehension is a lacking ability in today's students. The technology that helps students with comprehension is their eyes and a piece of paper and a pencil. Their brains must be worked and push to understand material rather than being pushed to read something off of a screen. As an English teacher, in order for students to understand material, we have to bring it back to the old school way of technology, pen and paper. Students must have the ability to read and comprehend before they have the ability to use a computer and the technology of the day. New technology allows for advancement in teaching and creativity but it is important for teachers to rely on what has worked from the beginning on occasion. 

Technology, Is Our Generation Already Behind?

I remember growing up, having a huge computer, that I was only allowed to use for 45 minutes after my homework was finished, unless of course I had to look up information on the computer. Now children have their own computers and seemingly use it for everything and anything. No longer do kids turn on the radio to listen to music, rather they turn on the computer to listen to Pandora or their itunes, or better yet have it on their phones.
Every time I walk into my Fieldwork class I have a Smartboard glaring at me with a new lesson and a new way of teaching. Is our generation already behind the curve of what we should know going into teaching. The students know more about how to work the Smartboard then the teacher does and she takes time day in and day out in order to adapt her lessons to the new Smartboard technology. The Smartboard was a technology that was introduced to me when I was a 7th grader and is now a "norm" in classrooms. How long will this Smartboard phase last before there is something bigger and better that we have to adapt to?

Not only is it just Smartboard but Mac's and new Apps. I know I am a little behind the curve not having a Mac, Ipad, or Iphone, but lets be honest, kids know more about technology than we do (or at least that is what I have observed). Younger students are so attached but also knowledgeable about the technology that they have. Although it may not always be used for education they are very intelligent and apt to figure things out when it comes to technology. It's as simple as this, are we prepared to teach in a world based on technology, and are we stuck in a forever changing world that we are constantly adapting to?

Technology in the Lives of Students

As a teacher, Olivia’s situation may be alarming at first. Teaching in a school with students that have a lack of technological resources may begin to make teaching these students difficult and definitely changes the curricula that you must enforce. The fact that she is intrigued and  knowledgeable about technology does help me as a teacher to influence her career path and knowing what she is capable of. The students in the second video are taking technology to a new level. They make us realize how important technology is to those who are growing up today. It is not just a necessity but a lifestyle. They are able to use to it to make things better and more extreme but also use it for the social networking and social convenience.

Technology has always been part of my life whether it was for work, school, or simply just for fun. Growing up now is an entirely different world than it used to be, technology is a key to survival in this up and coming world. When using the computer, the most important thing to me on it would be Microsoft programs and research for school. My computer is very education based rather than being used for fun or social media like most in these videos and as students in general. Microsoft Word is my best friend as an English major for every single paper or journal I compose. Microsoft Excel has been a savior when it comes to technology for my work place. Whether it is creating schedules or time sheets Excel is a knight in shining armor when needing to create formulas and easy tables. I have also recently been using it to create class lists for attendance and grade book sheets.

With Excel and Word I am always looking for new ways to create worksheets and games that I can use within my classroom. I also am always looking for new ways to make life a little easier for me when I am in a classroom. As I enter classroom I realize that technology and students’ abilities to work with technology are increasing. While going to school, I am not keeping up with all the new technology that I should be.

The next piece of technology that I see as a survival piece in my life is my iPod. Not only do I love my iPod but the computer is needed to listen to music and also create CD’s. Music is a type of media that helps me get through the day. Music helps me concentrate, helps me work out, and helps me clear my head. Searching YouTube for new music is fascinating to me and always being able to share my music is something that having in my life is important. In this way I am similar to the students in the videos rather than different from them.

My love for music always has me searching for new sites to listen to music and using old sties that no one uses anymore. In teaching music is a great tool to have the students understand concepts along with getting them to be interactive and up and about.

My third piece of technology that means a lot to me is my phone. I was not allowed to have a phone until I graduated high school. For this reason I don’t take my phone for granted and I use it for things that it needs to be used for. My phone is mostly used to contacting people about school and work along with having my email on my phone. This makes me different yet again similar to those in the videos. Not having a phone growing up makes me different than most children I grew up with and those who are growing up now.

I differ from a lot of these students because I am not addicted to my phone. I thoroughly enjoyed not having my phone until I graduated high school, but I do love the convenience of being able to contact people when needed now. My phone keeps me in the loop during school with emails about classes and events. Not only does it keep my updated but it allows for me to make emails in my down time rather than having to do them all on a computer when I have time to sit down. I am like these students because it is important for me to keep in contact with my friends and family via text message. 

All About Me ! - Danielle Marie Knoeppel

My name is Danielle Knoeppel and I am a Junior here at MSU. My home town of West Long Branch is a 3 minute drive from the thing I love most, the beach. I am majoring in English Education and I am minoring in Psychology. I have loved the idea of teaching since I was young and always played school in my basement with my friends. I am a part of a community service group on campus and through this program I am teaching two classes, one educating Newark 6th graders about financial literacy and how to manage money, and another that is helping 18-21 year old disabled students transition into a college setting. After graduating from Montclair State University I plan to go to graduate school to get a Masters in Special Education. I look forward to teaching little kids the most. Growing up babysitting kids that were younger than me has made me accustomed to how younger kids learn. My favorite grade was 1st so I would really love to end up teaching 1st grade, but with teaching opportunities being slim I would be happy teaching any grade.

Technology and I tend to get along pretty well. I will not say I know everything and anything but I do have the ability to play around with computer programs and figure out how to use them, "practice makes perfect" right? Within this class I really look forward to learning how to incorporate technology more efficiently within a classroom. As I grew up, the technology progressed in classrooms and teachers seemed to have difficulty adapting and working with new technology. Learning easier ways to help students and use the internet etc. would make my classroom have a more inviting environment without confusion over technology. Granted if there is confusing, I want to know how to help the students with the technology that they do not understand. Integrating technology with kids with disabilities is difficult but rewarding when done correctly and I would love to learn how to make it work not only for them but also throughout a teaching career.