WEEK 13

When and how do teachers act as designers?

Teachers in my opinon become designers when they are creating lesson plans for their students. Lesson plans fall under curriculums, and that is basically the scope that they design. Now within the frame of lesson plans they must create ways to attract their students attention. They must also find  or design ways to get the students to retain the info being taught from the lesson as best as possible.

Select one of the followings and explain what it is and how it can be used in classroom:

I chose the IStopmotion, it is basically a product that deals with animation, you need a mac to use it, you can stop and start and filter out all types of different animations. I feel that this can be used in a classroom through it being very easy to use and very fun and appealing for the students. Now it can be used in a few ways to help them learn which is most important, it teaches structural thinking, teamwork, and really can be used in the science curriculum as far as making certain proceses in science more understandable to students by slowing them down.

 Explain "Digital Storytelling by Kate Kemker:

Digital Storytelling is basically about students being creative as far as their storytelling abilities, they have to create a story that goes along with the story that the camera is telling. They will have to use a computer to edit everything, it seems pretty fun and easy to use. I am also sure that it is appealing to the students.
 the editing is most important as it really depends on the students imagination.

What do you think it would work in your classroom?

 

I honestly do, due to the fact that students especially younger ones are exposed to a lot of stories. As a kid I would have loved to use one of these. This really makes the students more imaginative and better at creative thinking, we all know grammar, arithematics, and science are important, but creative thinking and imagination get over looked at times. This is the perfect thing to bring it out.

 

Mathematics is one of the most abstract subject-matter domains. Helping students to visualize mathematical concepts is very useful in helping students make math real. What other methods suggested in the textbook will also help make math more real to students?

Math is very abstract and speaking from personal it can be very confusing, the book has suggested a few ways in that it can be more beneficial to the student in terms of making them understand better. I feel the math lab helped me the most so thats what i would go with, when dealing with computers it always makes things difficult seem easier to deal with, especially when they breakdown the steps to difficult problems.

Is it possible to learn from TV alone?--that is, learn how to do something merely from watching TV instruction? 

This depends on what type of learner you are, me personally i am a hands on/visual learner so it might work. They have yotutbe tutorials that I have learned from so I dont see how tv could be any different. Some people might even earn more from watching tv just becasue it captures your attention more than the regular teacher talking.






Crismond, D., Howland, J., Jonassens, D., Marra, R. M. (2008).  Meaningful learning with technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall

WEEK 12 VOICE THREAD

About Voicethread?
Voicethread is a site where you can share diffrent multimedia info with other people across the wolrd at one time with no extra software needed. I found it very interesting on how innovative it was in my opinion. It can be used to do many things, a lot of its capababilities dont really have anything to do with school or lesson plans, although you can use it for that.

What I use Voice thread for a Lesson Plan?
I have mixed feelings about using this, as it is very complex and might be confusing and I am not the most technology sound person at all. Im sure soemone who is more computer savvy could really be more beneficial to using this in his or her lesson plan than I. As I said it is an amazing website and there are many things it can be capable of doing. I dont need it in my lesson plan, Im all about CPUs in the classroom but this is a bit much.

Would I use it in the Classroom?
Again great features, amazing website, and all. But i do not see the need to involve all of this in my classroom. I am an advocate of technology in the classroom, but this is crazy too me. I want my students being focused on the task at hand in my opion this could bring distractions and thats the last thing I need in my classroom. As long as technology is straight to the point and not too crazy Im all for it.

Conclusion:
Great site amazing features, didnt know anything about this website. It seems pretty cool. I dont believe that it is suitable for the classroom in my opinion. With all the MP3 stuff and etc students wont be able to focus on the lesson and the task at hand in my opinion. At the end of the day great site but not classroom worthy, at least not in mines.






REFERENCE: http://voicethread.com/

WEEK 11 POSTING

Gee's Principles

Out of all of these principles of learning, I chose three principles that I thought will be very effective in the development of the students learning process. The first principle is called the Discovery Principle, this is basically the most important one in my opinion. I feel this way because when you are able to find out how something works and why it does what it does, it helps you understand how things are the way they are. Someone just telling you the end result isnt helpful because if you dont fully understand why it is, you wont people to remember the result in my opinion.

The next principle is the Practice Principle. This strongly relates to the discovery principle, in that you have to have repitition in learning. I feel that with proper repitition the student will be able to properly grasp the concept. The old saying practice makes perfect is very true, especially when it comes to learning. Whenever I was able to find something out on my own, and then practice the process, I was more successful in the long run. I really feel it will be beneficial to the students.

The last principle I chose was the Identity Principle Learning which includes taking on and playing with identities in a specific way that the learner is given real choices in developing the virtual identity and an opportunity to meditate on the relationship between new identities and old ones. This learning principle in my opinion deals with real life situations and I feel it will be very helpful to the students.

Simulation:

I would have my students in a setting where they would have to discover new info, and then they would have to practice what they learned, and then they what have to actually apply it to something. This would cover all of the 3 principles that I have chosen to write about Discovery, Practice, and Identity.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Gee has many helpful principles for teachers to obide by or use for their students. The three that I picked I strongly feel were the most important in my opinion. the discovery principle was very key in my life and Im sure others will greatly benefit from actually finding out why something is, instead of just hearing it is what iit is. The practice principle is also very important because of the preparing and repitition being installed in the students mind, and last was the identity principle basically having students apply what they discovered, learned, and practiced, and now putting it to actual use.


Jonassen. D Howland, J. Marra  R. M., Grismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning With Technology. Columbus: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall.