Personal Learning Reflection

 What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?

The first thing I learned was that there are many different learners so I have to reach out to all of them.  Technology allows for me to do this by having virtual labs for the kinesthetic learner; and an article for the visual learner along with a voice read over for the auditory learner.  All this can be done in one classroom with technology.  Another item to remember is that our world is interactive and that is what technology should be about.  With web 2.0 there are so many programs that allow for students to share what they have learned and to gather feedback from people all around the world.  As teachers we have to make sure our students are using technology to gather or share information and to build their technology skills.  If this is done then technology has been integrated effectively.      

·How did integrating the Internet help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?

The wheels in my brain have been turning since I started this class.  There is so much out there that I want to integrate into my classroom but have been nervous about what it would do to my computer.   I now am constantly on youtube looking at tutorial videos to help me discover how to use the many programs offered by the internet.  I now feel more confident to bring these ideas into my classroom because of this.  I also realized there are a lot of free tools offered by the internet, most of them by google.  Trying things now is ok because it is free.  With just these two areas, I feel I am brining so much more into the classroom and I am becoming more comfortable with what I do technologically.  In an ironic way I use the internet to gain more insight into the tools that the internet offers by watching videos, reading articles and trying the free stuff. 

Which of the assignments that you turned in do you feel really exemplifies good teaching with technology and why?

The RSS page is an assignment that exemplifies good teaching with technology.  It helped me to gather information that I look for each day in a matter of minutes.  Because I can quickly find information, I can spend more time on building up my lessons.  It also brought new information to me.  A few of the pages I found, kept me updated on new discoveries in science which I then could share with my students.  This would have been a missed opportunity had I not had the RSS page.  The RSS page to me is a great resource tool because it brought to me what I was looking for without me have to constantly take the time to search.  My feeling is that if technology can limit the amount of time it takes to do something with the same efficiency then we have a tool that can make us a better teacher.       

How have you met your goals established in your Personal Growth Plan?

I have not yet met my goals because I have not made my classroom more technologically engaging.  However, I now have the building blocks that I need to start making it more interactive.  In fact, I have even invested in the new droid phone because I knew it was run through google and I wanted a phone that could easily be accessible with google docs.  Becoming more knowledgeable about how to use the numerous applications and where to find them will help me to understand which one is is best for my students.     

Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?

My goal now is to take what I have learned and integrate it into my classroom by the end of the year.  I feel with the free time I will have, I will be able to use the different tools to develop lessons and projects that are more interactive for students.  Parents and people around the world will be able to look into my classroom without every stepping into it.  My first plan is to develop a better use of my blog so that students are commenting on it on a weekly basis.  I also want to setup a website to post videos, assignments, and projects that students are working on.  The website will incorporate the students so that it is not mr. loznak’s website but mr. loznak’s classes’ website.  The steps that I plan using to reach these goals are to take a few hours a week to look at how I am going to improve on these sites.  I also will continue to look for tutorials online and I will email my professors for possible ideas or resources.  If any possible classes open up in my area then I will enroll in them.   I want to master these two areas first, and then I plan on selecting other items to bring into the classroom. 

Learning Styles

I have been asked many times what is your learning style.  This is an easy question, I am a kinesthetic learner.  I have always loved science because it allowed for me to move around and do hands on activities.  This could also explain why I am an active learner.  I love working in groups and problem solving.  Of course I need steps which leads me to think that I am also a sequential learner.  Without steps to solving math equations and the scientific methods, I would become frustrated.  I believe that if I could not move around then I would learn best by visuals, but what I struggle with is auditory.  What I could not do was listen...at least not for long period of times.    My worst courses were lectures.  I also struggle with verbal and reflective.  I need people to bounce ideas off of and I need to discuss issues with people before I share them with the entire class. 

Knowing this and knowing my students, I try to accommodate all learners.  I prepare my lessons by having some type of visual that I explain for the first part of class.  This allows for me to reach my auditory and visual learners.  From there, I try to do an experiment for my kinesthetic learners.  This of course is not always the case, so what I try to do is incorporate as many styles as a can.  For instance, I have students reflect on the answer by themselves.  Then they turn around and share with their group members.  Right there I a have Incorporated active and reflective learners into my lesson.  Group work also helps my sensing and intuitive learners.  Having tiered questions allows for my sensing learners to recite the facts and my intuitive learners to explain how this concept applies to other lessons.  The great thing about technology is that it allows all learners to express themselves.  For instance, a project about severe weather can be done in multiple ways.  Visual learners usually make a PowerPoint presentation, while auditory learners give lectures and Kinesthetic learners make a video.  What is important about all this is that we reach out to as many learners as we can.  We set up stations around the rooms focused on different learners, allow for students read, listen, or participate in a lesson, and we choose assessments to accommodate everyone.  Most importantly, teachers need to make sure their learning biases do not get in the way.   

Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55068777@N05/

If you go to this website, you can see a picture of St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. 

Image from Picasso Web Album and Creative Commons

I retrieved this photo from Taca on Picasso Web Albums on Google.  This is a picture of a funnel cloud that is about to touch down and form a tornado.  In my lesson, I would use this photo to discuss the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado.  I would also discuss the spinning motion which  this pictures demonstrates.  Plus, this picture is a great attention getter because it does not look like a normal tornado. 

The picture down below is pretty amazing.  This picture is great to show the students because one, it shows what Dallas looked like many years ago and two, it demonstrates a how the tornado is touching down.  I would use this picture to start a discussion on how we need to have buildings that can withstand the high powered winds of a tornado.  This would lead to the students learning about lateral forces and upward forces.  




Photo Attribution:
 Original Image:  Dallas Times Herald Photo- Oak Cliff getting walloped by a tornado in 1957
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fatguyinalittlecoat/3413276620/
By Austrini

Attribution-ShareAlike 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Special Interest Group - Interactive White Board

A proposal was create with the focus of interactive white boards, the link is below.  An actual blog will be created in the future with more information. 

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1s3hvZEiQqsDgOKEmH5OOp7D0GkXmOdN7XP0VqtJs_nM

RSS Feeds

Here is the my reader page on google reader.  I use this to quickly find information about better teaching and science.  If you would like to see some of the articles I have read, check out what I am reading icon on the side. 

One of the post I read was about showing students how to show respect.  I found the article quite interesting since I was working on something similar last year.  I replied to this lady's blog that I to had tried to show students how to be respectful. I added that I also felt it was great that she was demonstrating these behaviors to the students and furtherr explained how we need to set a culture in our schools so students understand that different places have expections.

When tracking these RSS feeds, I found some to have very little information from time to time and others too much information.  The NPR feed was just too much for me.  Everytime I went to look at this, it had about 80 to 100 new articles.  I found it to be too much to sort through.  The one RSS I really like was latest science news because it had great heading that allowed for me to quickly look for articles I could use in the classroom.  I also enjoyed the blog I was following but it was somewhat inconsistant with how frequently it was updated. 
What I found ironic about the contents I followed was that I found an article on blogging for teachers.  It covered a few different tips for what you should and should not do.  There was an article on bullying which caught my eye and then there was a blog that discussed respect.  The blog on showing respect could help with the many bullyings that are happening across the nation.  Another article was whether or not we would make it to space and if this was an advantage or a setback.  Finally, I found an article on how bateria is walking...interesting but somewhat disturbing. 

I found the google reader to be quite interesting.  It was nice to be able to quickly view new information for science.  I sometimes feel as though it takes hours to look at new discoveries that are happening in the science world but with reader, I was able to scan numerous articles in a matter of minutes.  I could not find articlest that were appropiate for the students, however I did find information that related to class that I coudl share with them.  I plan to continue to use this rss feed to find quick information about new science discoveries and new teaching strategies I can use in  my classroom.  I also plan on adding a few sports pages to keep up with what is happening in the sports world. 

PC Maintenance and Security

1.  Which tutorial did you choose?

I chose to look at Organizing Your Computer because I feel as much as everything else in my life is organized, my computer is not.  I also looked at Clean Up and Speed Up Your Computer and Helpful Website Resources.

2.  What was one thing you learned that you will definitely be sharing with others?

One of the problems with my computer is that it is cluttered with all different programs used with the many aspects of my life.  The one thing that I really like with this editorial is the section on quicklaunch.  This is a great tool because it allows for you to customize all the programs you use into one area.  This prevents searching through the task bar or the many folders and using up valuable time.  For me there are programs that I use every once in a while but they are crucial for me to have.  If I use something like the quickluanch bar then I know where to quickly locate them.  Others, I am sure have this very same problem and this is why they will enjoy the quicklaunch bar just as much as I will.  One other thing that I have already shared with members of my household is msconfig because there is so many programs that open up when we start our computer. 
 
3.  Was there any information that surprised you?

I was very surprised by the links bar.  I never knew I could have a list of links at the top of my computer that I could just click on.  This seems a lot easier to use then the favorites, which I feels becomes quite cluttered after a while.  Because there are about 5 - 8 websites I visit everyday for numerous reason, I plan setting up this link bar to make it quick and efficient.  I also plan on loading up roboform, which I found extremely helpful and it makes me feel a little more at ease when someone else uses my computer.  I also was quite impressed with PC Pit Stop.  It is a very helpful website for someone who knows the basics of a computer. 

Getting Things Done

This week was a great week to start getting things done.  I had have all my grades updated by Friday because interims were due.  On top of this, I need have to have all my teacher observations done by next Friday and along with all that, I need to keep up on my school work.  The firs thing I did was list everything on a piece of paper.  Next, I started to organize everything and decide which category it would have to go in.  My observations were put in my outlook calendar so I would have a date and time to observe.  I put all my students work in the category of next action because I knew this needed to get done right away.  This was put in my task app on my phone.  Grad work?  Well, I knew that it was something that I could do when I had a free moment so I placed this under projects.  I knew this would become a next action step when all my interims were done.

It really made me feel at ease to organize my to do list like this.  I felt as though I could concentrate on one thing without having to worry about the others.  As I look back, I can see how much I accomplished this week and it was with less stress than usual.

This year I have taken on a lot of new responsibilities and I believe that by using this process I will be able to accomplish my task with full efficiency.  To organize my time with the task  that I have, allows for me to sit down and focus on one thing and one thing only.  As a wise man once told me, multitasking is doing two things without a full commitment to either one.   

I will continue to use this process because I feel that it gives priority to each task.  It also helps to organize my task by placing them in the different organizational tools that are available to me. 

Social Networking

 Social networking is a way for people to gain information from people they may or may not know.  This information can be about people or just from them.  For me, social networking is use more for a personal use.  I use it to keep in contact with friend and family back home by sharing comments, pictures and updates.  I rarely use it for work purposes.  This is because I did not know a trust worthy network.  For me the risk was bigger than the reward.   I believe my students are very much like me.  They get on social networks for the social part, not to share information.  With the learning of all the social networks designated for education, I feel this will change.     

Why a Blog?

Some of you maybe wondering why do this blog?  First, I hope to use this blog as an interactive discussion page to inform people about what is happening in the classroom.  This means that parents and students will not only be able to see and hear, but they will be able to comment on things that they like and ask questions for items they may not understand.  A traditional website will only allow for me to post information to read and look at.  We all know that one way communication can become frustrating and somewhat uninteresting.  I hope to change that with this blog.  Enjoy

Just Getting Started

I have created this page for a class I am taking at Michigan State University, but my hope is that this becomes a way for parents to follow their child's school day.  I hope to have comments, pictures and data for our upcoming hydroponic project posted soon.  Take care and keep looking for updates.