Reflections

Changes in Personal Learning Theory:
I don't think my theory about learning has changed very much. What has changed is how well I understand the theories that are out there. The more I read and learned about the different learning theories the more the information reinforced what I have already learned from my experiences with students. I would still say that I could best be described as a cognitive-constructionist, but that I understand more about what that means.

Adjustments and New Tools:
The immediate adjustment that I think I have to make is simply to make it a priority to get my students access to computers and technology. At my school it is a hassle (and sometimes impossible) to get access to the computer lab, but if I am going to effectively integrate technology into my teaching I'm going to have to go the extra mile to get in there.

The first new technology I'd like to make use of is wikis. I think this would really enhance the students' learning experience by putting them in charge of a website and making them responsible for the content of that site. Having them create their own resource to find information about what they are studying would be a great way to put them in control of their own learning. The second technology I'd like to have them use is a podcast. I think a podcast could be a good alternative to having the students do an oral report in front of the class. It would allow students that really don't like to talk in front of people an option they might be more comfortable with as well as teach them valuable technology skills.

Technology Goals:
~My first goal is to get my students into the computer lab twice a month.
My strategy for achieving this goal is pretty simple. I need to make it a priority and work with the other teachers that have school sanctioned computer time to get my students access to the lab. Right now I am probably only in the computer lab a bout 5 days a year and that is mostly doing research. Getting the students in there twice a month using various different tools would add spice to my class and increase the students abilities with technology.

~My second technology goal is to make sure the students are using the technology to learn and its not only being used to teach.
My strategy to implement this goal is to make sure that at least one in three uses of technology of any kind asks the students to use the technology to create or discover something, not to simply look up information. I will periodically look back at my lesson plans and see if this goal is being met.

Voice Thread

One issue facing teachers today is the importance of standardized testing. Teachers, in general, feel there is too much importance placed on testing to the detriment of certain areas of education (the arts, critical thought, etc.). My voice thread deals with that.

http://voicethread.com/share/530818/

Facebook Learning

The idea behind social learning is that the students construct meaning not only from the information they are getting, but who they are getting the information from and how they receive the information. So in this week's resources there were several ideas presented on how to reach students this way.

Kids love playing on MySpace and Facebook type sites and do much of their communication with each other outside of school with these type of social networking sites. To take advantage of that fact the idea is to use similar technologies (like web quests or multiplayer simulation games) to teach them. These teaching strategies go right along with the priniples of social learing because the students are learning from their peers in a social setting, not simply absorbing information being presented by the teacher.