Portfolio is Finished.....YAY!!!

I'm very excited to say that my portfolio is finished before Thanksgiving and is getting turned in today!!!  Yay!  My goal was to have it finished before Thanksgiving so I could enjoy my time with my family and not have it hanging over my head.  I appreciate Scott organizing our brainstorming session on Sunday.  This helped me to get more ideas and it reassured me that I'm on the right track! 

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving!  I'm thankful to be in the Samford Cohort program and for the opportunity to learn with all my fellow classmates!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

BYOD and Mobile Learning

Since I'm an elementary teacher, I had not heard much about BYOD until this summer in Dr. Minskey's class.  At the time that I heard about it, I thought that it was a great idea.  Several of my students have iPods and Nintendo D.S.'s and I thought that I could come up with a way for them to bring them in for a technology lesson.  However, since students are unable to connect to the Internet, this poses a problem for me.  At the elementary level, I'm thinking that students could bring in their own device as a show and tell project and share with the class how they use their device at home.  I would love to integrate them into a lesson somehow, but it would be hard at the elementary level where not all kids have access to a device.  Also, many parents are unwilling to trust their kids to bring technology in the school because of the risk that they might lose it.

I do believe a BYOD day would be great at the high school level.  Today, most all high schoolers have cell phones and many are "Smart" cell phones.  So much can be done with these such as voting or answering questions via texting.  I'm anxious to see what the future has in store for BYOD and mobile learning!!!

Texas A&M Loss.....A Heartbreaker

Well….it sure was fun while it lasted.  Alabama, the defending National Champions, were defeated during a heartbreaking loss Saturday evening.  The last game we had lost was last season against LSU in the regular season.  My hope was that Alabama could play for the National Championship again, but those hopes have were diminished after Saturday’s loss.  Although Alabama didn’t play their best and probably didn’t deserve to win, I still had hope throughout the game that the number 1 team would prevail and win!  Oh well, hopefully we will play for and win the SEC championship game and possibly play Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.  Roll Tide…No Matter What!!

Digital Citizenship

I believe it is important to teach students about digital citizenship and safety as well as practice digital citizenship ourselves.  Students need to understand that they don’t need to put any personal information on the Internet in order to keep them safe.  Students also need to be taught what is appropriate and inappropriate to post on social media sites.  Many conflicts at school occur because of comments that students have posted on social media sites.  Therefore, it is our job as teachers to educate them about digital citizenship.  We should also teach them to think before they post comments that could adversely affect them in their personal lives and at school.  Many schools conduct a “Cyber Safety Week” in order to bring awareness to students about digital citizenship and safety.  I believe this is a worthy program that every school should consider especially as technology becomes even more a part of students’ lives.

As a future school administrator, I believe it is important to set expectations for school staff regarding things that may be posted on the Internet.  Many teachers are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social media networks and they need to be careful about what is posted on the Internet and how it may be perceived by parents or students.  For example, a teacher at my school posted something on Facebook that she thought was harmless but was taken in a negative way by other teachers and parents.  My principal asked her to remove it from Facebook and she did.  I don’t believe that teachers should be restricted from social media sites or for posting comments on the sites.  However, I do believe that they should be cautioned to review their comments before posting them.  My principal always tells our staff that if you are in doubt about something you probably shouldn’t do it.  The same could be applied to posting comments on social media sites.

iPads and their Role in Special Education

My sister has the privilege of being a nurse for this sweet little girl pictured above.  Reagan has a rare disease called osteogenesis (brittle bone disease).  She has a tracheotomy which requires her to have 24 hour care.  My sister gets to go to school with her everyday and be her personal nurse.  Reagan is a very smart girl, but due to being in a wheelchair she cannot participate in all the same activities as her peers.  Reagan uses an iPad to help her with assignments in class.  She also uses it during recess and p.e. time to play games.  The iPad has been a very helpful tool for Reagan in school and at home.

I believe iPads have provided a needed change in education for students with special needs.  The iPad is easy to operate and it helps students who have a variety of disabilities perform tasks in school and throughout life.  This past summer I even learned of an app that can help students with autism communicate with others.  I'm sure that more and more apps will be created to make tasks easier for all students and I think this is very exciting!

iPad Mini

The iPad Mini.....I wonder if it will revolutionize our schools?????

I'm excited about the iPad Mini which is one of Apple's newest products.  The fact that it is cheaper than the original iPad makes it more affordable for schools to purchase them for student use.  Our school currently has an iPad lab in the library.  We can sign up for time to allow students to do research, play games, etc... using the iPad.  Our principal and assistant principal's goal is to buy iPads for every student in the whole school.  It will be interesting to see if they will purchase the regular iPad or the iPad mini.  I'm looking forward to what the future holds!!!!

The Flipped Classroom

In order to write an educated blog post on the flipped classroom, I had to do a little research.  I had heard about the flipped classroom, but never really knew all the details about it.  I read a blog post on edutopia.org that helped explain the flipped classroom.  Basically the flipped classroom is a way for teachers to incorporate technology in the classroom by providing class assignments and homework assignments via video.  Students can view the videos on the computer or DVDs can be burned for students to view on a DVD player.  The author of this article discussed the pros and cons of a flipped classroom which were very interesting.  In fact, I can understand both views of the flipped classroom.

In my opinion, there is no substitute for one-on-one interaction with a teacher especially in the elementary grades.  However, if a student is out of class a lot and needs to be caught up on assignments, it could be helpful to both the student and the teacher.  I feel like it could be a help to students in high school, but I still believe that teachers should not use it as a crutch to keep them from interacting with students.  One of the concerns of the flipped classroom is that teachers will only teach to one level of students instead of differentiating instruction to meet students' needs.  As technology continues to change, I fear that teachers will become obsolete.  Even though computers can help students in their learning, I believe there is no substitute for a great teacher. 

Red Ribbon Week.....Door Contest

During the week of October 22nd, our school participated in Red Ribbon Week in order to promote students being drug free.  We had activities each day in which students could dress up or bring something into school to raise awareness of drug free behaviors.  Each teacher had to decorate their door with a drug free theme.  I incorporated technology into my door decoration by making an iPad.  I took pictures of students and made them the apps.  Here is a picture of my door.  Oh...and I won first place!  YAY!!!!

Barriers to Technology in Education

Many barriers exist in education regarding technology access.  First, money is a key factor.  Technology is not cheap and schools don't have the resources it takes to purchase needed technology.  Many schools do the 10 for technology in which parents are encouraged to send in at least $10 in order to help the school purchase technology.  This initiative has helped many schools purchase technology.  Another barrier could be access to technology.  Most schools do not have a one-to-one initiative for technology access.  Therefore, students have to share technology.  This can be a barrier in that students may not have access to technology when they need it.  Instead, they have to wait for a scheduled time to use it.  My school has an iPad lab in the library.  Teachers have to sign up to use the iPads throughout the week.  I wish I had a class set that I could keep in my classroom because I believe my students could benefit from having access to the iPads at all times.  Finally, I believe that lack of training is a barrier to technology in education.  Many schools have great technology for teachers to use in the classroom.  However, if teachers don't know how to effectively use the technology it may not get used in the classroom.  My school has Promethean boards in every classroom.  The ActiveInspire software program has so many great tools for teachers to create flipcharts, however; most of us don't know how to access them.  I believe more professional development needs to be explored in order for technology to be effectively used in the classroom.