EDLD5364


 * Purpose**: The purpose of wiki updates is to record the new knowledge I gain each week
 * Goal**: I will update my wiki each week after completing the assignments, discussions, and reading.

**Week #1** The article on the Constructivism Theory by Sprague and Dede was influential to my thinking because it eased some concerns I had about some recent technology projects. Earlier this semester, we created an iMovie presentation about the historical aspects of The Crucible. The kids were working in small groups, and the classroom was very noisy as they discussed ways to solve problems with the content and tricks to using the new technology. I was constantly worried that my new principal would walk by and think that I had either lost my mind or lost control of the classroom. Classroom management and discipline has always been a top priority, but I have to just let go of that control sometimes if I want my students to actively participate in the lesson. Active participation does not mean that each kid raises his hand, and each child speaks one at a time; it does mean that all students are 100% engaged, and the environment is learner-centered. With this type of classroom, all of my "work" should be done before class starts as I plan, learn, and create problems to be solved, so that the kids are able to take control of their own learning.

I was also fascinated by the Cyborg theory lecture on YouTube. I had no idea that anyone had implanted a chip that could connect to the nervous system. I thought I was in the middle of reading one of my dad's sci-fi books. I am sure that a lot more research and experiments need to be done, but Dr. Warwirk was correct that if this happened, it would completely change education. Students would simply download the information they needed to know. Another concern, though, is just because a person knows a fact does not mean he can perform a skill. I could read all day about analyzing literature, but unless I practice, I won't ever be able to do it. Even if I had memorized the steps needed to accomplish something (for example, changing a tire), I would not be successful unless I practiced this skill. Therefore, in a future cyborg world, I imagine that the facts would all be easily downloaded as Dr. Warwirk mentioned, but school would be all about practicing the application of those facts in real life situations. School would, therefore, constantly need to provide students with higher level tasks.

**Week #2** This week I was most interested in the idea of being able to raise a child's self esteem through the use of technology in the classroom. Students begin to believe that they can succeed, and that leads to a desire to try harder. With technology, students sometimes experience true success for the first time when they are allowed to solve problems and make their own connections. In Page's research article, he maintains that students with low socio-economic status experience a greater "sense of worth" and "higher student confidence," and that increase in self-esteem can translate into greater success in the classroom. It makes sense that students with low socio-economic status don't have as much access to technology as students in the middle and higher economic classes, so by incorporating technology in the classroom, we can begin to close that learning gap that sometimes exists between the different groups of students.

Some of the positive outcomes of using technology in the classroom include "general motivational effects [such as] student satisfaction with the immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and power gained in working with technology" ("Effects of technology on classrooms"). Other benefits include student-centered activities, students taking responsibility for their own learning, students taking on more complex tasks, and more peer collaboration. Most jobs in the real world require these same skills, especially team collaboration, and if we don't offer opportunities for students to refine their skills and techniques in the classroom, they won't be prepared for the challenge of life after high school.

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html#increased

This week we focused on the Universal Design for Learning at the CAST website. I learned the importance of differentiating instruction for my students. In the past, I had heard about scaffolding instruction and offering a variety of choices for everything from writing to reading to projects, but my use of different strategies was somewhat limited because when a teacher has two or three preps, it is difficult to find the time necessary to make learning individualized. With technology, however, I know this process will be much easier. On the UDL website, I found model lessons with goals and activities for a traditional and UDL lesson. These model lessons made it very easy to see the limitless possibilities for reaching the three types of learning networks. For example, instead of instructing all students to write a short story with pen and paper, I might allow certain students to speak their essay in a speech to text program or word process their ideas with a laptop. Furthermore, my severely dyslexic students could use pictures to substitute for words if they have trouble communicating their ideas in writing.
 * Week #3 **

This website has some neat tools related to text to speech: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_resources.cfm?tk_id=41

This website lists more information and helpful suggestions for implementing differentiated instruction: http://www.ualberta.ca/~jpdasddc/incl/difinst.htm

This website has some great ideas about classroom management strategies which is always a challenge in this type of classroom: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/enriched/giftedprograms/instructionalstrategy.shtm

This week we focused on cooperative learning groups. I commonly use cooperative learning groups in my advanced classes, but I've often noticed that my regular students work better on their own and do not seem to like working in groups. My experience is that group work in those classes is not cooperative; in fact, they could best be described as "individualistic effort with talking" (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Some techniques that David and Roger Johnson recommend to improve group collaboration include positive interdependence, accountability, and small group skills. I think trust is another issue, especially in my diverse classroom. In my fourth period class, for example, I have about 10 students who are very outgoing and good friends. I also have about 10 students who do not speak English very well and are afraid to speak up because they don't want the louder students to laugh at them. Any time that I group the students and mix these types of students, the louder kids dominate the discussion, and the others are too scared to participate. We need to have some discussions about encouraging everyone to participate and allowing each group member to take on a specific responsibility to keep them on task and accountable for the product. http://www.co-operation.org/pages/cl.html#work
 * Week #4 **

I was most impressed this week by James Paul Gee's video called "Big Thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games" (2009). I immediately thought about how using games in the classroom could provide many opportunities for frequent feedback and meaningful assessment. I did a little research and found a website called Tower of English Games (http://towerofenglish.com/games.html). I liked the game called Grammar Gorillas which provides practice for parts of speech, which is otherwise a very boring lesson to teach. Most of the games on that website involved memory and knowledge based questions. I did some further research and found a website published by Houghton Mifflin called http://www.gamequarium.com/languagearts.htm. Some of those games are probably still better suited to elementary or middle aged children, but a significant part of the Exit ELA TAKS test is dedicated to grammar skills which could easily be reinforced with games such as Power Proofreading or the sentence building games. Even juniors in high school have trouble recognizing a run-on sentence, and they often forget where to put commas. Like Gee mentioned in the video, students (and adults) like games because they provide immediate feedback and just-in-time information required for mastery of a skill. Since the games I found might not always be appropriate or challenging enough for high school kids, why not let them design their own game? I found this article (http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=1715) about Atmosphir, a tool that allows the user to develop a video game. I will have to try it out over the break to see the possibilities for application in the classroom. = =
 * Week #5 **