674+Discussion+Questions

=674 Discussion Questions=

__Discussion Question 1__ What do you know about using technology with students? - When reading the introduction of our book, there were two comments that the authors often hear that really caught my attention. The first was " I think the interactive games and Web sites that I find are very engaging for my students, but I'm at a loss as to how and when to use these during my teaching." The second comment was, "I see that multimedia technology engages many different types of learners, but I'm unclear as to how to best use it to improve student achievement."

Typically, I'm familiar with how to use many forms of multimedia and educational technology but often when I find something neat or new to use I'm not always sure how to best use it with my students. I love to learn about new technology and teach it to my students but making sure I do it in the best possible way, meaning most academic gain, is what I find most difficult.

What do you want to know about using technology with students? - What I want to know about educational technology is how to first start the planning process. If I find a new website or program I need ideas for how to use it. I love to use other people's idea and then tweak them for my own use. I then need to get better at coming up with clear objectives for how I want to use the technology. Too often I teach students how to use the program with minimal relation to the subject material at hand. I know students get just as excited to learn and use new technology but I must do a better job on combining their enthusiasm for the technology with academic content.

__Discussion Question 2__

Look at the Essential 21st Century Skills List - Select one skill and discuss how you already meet this skill via your current instruction. - Creativity and Intellectual Curiosity, I often meet this skill via open ended projects and assignments. I often give multiple ways for students to complete a project or assignment. Some students take their curiosity and really take off with a project, creating a very interesting and complex project. Most students choose their final presentation to the class to be something that they are comfortable with, which I found often has them producing higher quality work.

Select another Essential 21st Century Skill that you may NOT already touch upon and project how you might be able to meet that need in future instruction. - Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills, My focus, going into next year, is to set up my classroom so as to facilitate self-guided collaboration. Often I have to tell them when to work with their group or what role they will have but I intend to only guide students to make these choices. I want to put more responsibilty on the students to make choices of how and when they work in groups. A lot of modeling and guidance will be necessary but I hope by the end of the year students will have a better sense of responsibility of how and why they work in groups.

__Discussion Question 3__

Find a TeacherTube/YouTube video that you could use for instructional purposes and copy and paste the address of the video for others to view. Explain how you would use this with your students.

Math- The use of Pi @http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=132835

I will use this video when introducing the use of Pi and how a circle's diameter relates to its circumference. It's a short video but I hope it will be enough to gain students attention on a new math topic in 5th grade.

__Discussion Question 4__

To complete the KWHL- what have you learned from the readings, activities and discussions from this course about using technology with your students? The most important thing I learned from this course was the breakdown of instructional strategies that are linked directly to using technology. I often feel capable using new technology but struggle with developing fun, relevant, and curriculum driven instruction using technology. The planning questions force me to critique my current multimedia projects and assignments while guiding me in developing new lessons. The various strategies raise my awareness to all of the possibilities that a program like Microsoft word can be used for besides simple word processing. Too often I get caught up in using a program like PowerPoint for strictly presentations of information. I forget that it can also be used for providing recognition, an organizer for note taking, for cooperative learning, and for summarizing or taking notes. Another great way to use multimedia is to print out the presentation and give it to students for studying at home.

This course and book made sure that I didn't lose focus when using technology with students. We are introduced to so many different types of technology and software during this program that I sometimes feel overwhelmed when trying to use it with students. I now have a better understanding that simply introducing new technology to students isn't enough. All technology should have a purpose and our book gives me easy to use strategies and the four planning questions to help me use technology more effectively.