Road Blocks = Name of the game this week...

This picture is a wonderful image that captures my feelings of this past week. I have tried to complete many tasks in my academic, professional and personal life; however, I've found that I continuously come up against some type of challenge, or road block. While I have had the thought of surrendering on several occasions, I have not given up and continue to work around, over, or through each of the obstacles!

Now, as I prepare for a new week, I understand that I must set a reasonable and realistic timeline of the expectations I will accomplish. My main focus this week will be to get a strong understanding and game plan to work on my UDUTU teaching module for E-learning. In addition to this module, I will also work on creating a youtube video that will demonstrate how a teacher can use the SMARTtable that I have in my classroom. While this is not a task currently on my contract, it is my hope that the video will be a success and will ultimately become 10 points toward my overall 100 point goal in Instructional Tech for the 21st century. Currently, I think these two tasks are enough to tackle during this already stressful week! Wish me luck! =)

Side note: I recently spoke to two teachers who teach in the upper grades at my school. They were explaining to me that their standards expect them to incorporate technology into their everyday teaching and expect the students to use technology too; however, they are uncertain as to how to do this. To help them understand the endless possibilities of how tech can be used in the classroom, I provided them with this website"Technology in the Classroom"that would be a starting point for them. From here, I will spend time with them before and after school explaining various tools that they can begin to use on a daily basis!

Hurricane Sandy changed alot...

I haven't recently updated my blog because of all that's been going on with Sandy. Preparing for her was nerve racking...sitting through the howling winds and pour rain was nerve racking....and waiting on word of destruction was the worst. Although my house and my parents house were not damaged, my aunts house in East Point and her house in Sea Isle were and my cousins house in Sea Isle sustained up to 5 feet of water in the garage(luckily the living quarters were spared). All in all, Sandy was a paralyzing storm from top to bottom of our state. Even for those not directly hit, their lives were still changed in some form.

From this point on:

Now that life, for me, is beginning to get back to normal, I am excited to continue with my journey in my two MAIT courses. My next goal: Complete my interactive story with my students. I also plan on changing my contract so that I can do a standards comparison. Although I am not 100% sure which standards I will compare, I become interested in this project when I saw Shannon's. So we shall see where this idea takes me!


While Sandy was devastating in my ways, I believe that it was yet again, another reminder that you never know what lies ahead in the road of life. I have faced so many situations in the past few years that have truly reminded me to live each day to the fullest as if it's your last!

Inspired by my students!

     This week was truly an eye opening experience in my classroom. It's always a struggle for me to turn power over to my students in order to let them be accountable for their own learning; however, this week my students took control on their own in various areas and did a tremendous job! It began on Tuesday in the computer room when 3 of my students were able to walk around the room and log off the computers after their classmates were done. This may seem like a rather simple task, however, it usually takes me an extra 5 minutes to do on my own and another 10 minutes to teach students how to do it. Another example of student use of technology came when they were able to record themselves using the headset and microphone in order to help make our class interactive book! I am so impressed with their interest for technology and their ability to take charge of their experiences! 

     Sidenote: Throughout the week, while looking for ideas for classroom activities, I came across this link on Technology tools called, "Technology Tools - Tools you can use." I found many useful tools and ideas through this site that I'm excited to try and use! Hope you can use it too! 

Contract Points as of 10-22-12:

IT History Exhibit: 25 

Wimba Worksheet: 5

Interactive Online Games: 10 

Prezi Time Capsule: 10 

Prezi Toolbox: 10 
ToolTime: Littlebirdtales 6 points

Total: 60 points

Update on contract...

It's been a crazy hectic week in Kindergarten...so it's been a slow week in the IT area. I did spend alot of time working on the history project that I am collaborating on with Dawn and Kim. We are doing a great job and working very hard...can't wait to present next week!!

I have begun to update my resource toolbox (annotated bibliography). This seems like it is going to be a great tool so hopefully I can keep it up to date!

My students and I have started to write a book together about the joy of our bucket filling classroom to create a storybook online! We will work together to use Littlebirdtales.com to create our final copy of our story! Stay tuned.... =)

Lots to do but so many great things....very exciting!! =)

Progress on contract...

I returned to my epals account only to find several spam emails in my mailbox. I was completely disappointed because I believed this website was going to be a safe way for my kids and I to communicate with other schools globally. While I am unconfident about allowing my students to interact on their own, I am excited to use the various activies that have been created to use worldwide! I have begun my log and summaries of our journey through epals and hope to have a complete report by November 12th.

In addition to beginning my epals project, I also strated my toolbox project and my article on the challenges of BYOD. I am disappointed that I was unable to completely finish these projects, but they became more complex than I expected and I need to spend more time to complete them efficiently. I know, after this week, that I must get in gear, get moving faster and quit procrastinating, to complete these projects!!!

Still have so much to learn..

After last weeks 21st century class, I began to feel even more anxious about all the tasks I will need to accomplish during my two courses this semester. My goal for this week is to create a contract for 21st century, that will allow me to discover new programs and devices that I can use to enhance my creative thinking and teaching. The biggest thing that pops into my head, is to discover how to use my SMARTtable that I currently have in my classroom. In addition to learning to use it, I would also love to create a video tutorial that would help other teachers in my school learn how to use it as well. In addition to these tasks, I am also interested in creating a resource toolbox with all the tools I have currently used and hope to use in the future. One of the resources I plan on adding will be ProProfs. I had the chance, last week, to create a quiz, with my classmate Kim, with questions for our other classmates to answer regarding our syllabus.  It was an easy to use(once we learned how) program that I could definitely see myself using in the future. 

Once I finalize my contract,  I will be adding many links to my blog that hopefully others will find useful as well. So check back and please use whatever you find useful! =) 

Back at it!

Well it's been about 6 months since the last time I blogged. I really need to start keeping up with this blog so I can keep all my thoughts in order for this program! During this semester, I will be taking 2 courses. I will take INTC5001 Instructional Tech and 21st Century Learning on Monday nights and INTC5560 eLearning in the Workplace on Wednesday nights. While I know this is a lot to take on (in addition to teaching my 17 five-year-olds all day) I am very excited!


Goal this semester: create products, in both courses, that I can use to enhance my experiences both as a teacher and a student.

Fears this semester: Do I have time, during the school day, to utilize the programs I discover?? Are my kids going to be capable of using the programs/equipment on their own? Or will I need to spend lots of time directing them?

With these fears I began to research various sites and discovered I am not the only teacher in the world who has the same exact concerns. I was very excited to find a true testimony from Denyell Suomi, a Kindergarten teacher. Through this article, "Technology and Kindergarten: Is It Possible?," she expresses all of my same fears; however, she also celebrates all of the wonderful successes her five and six year olds experience in the school year. From this article, I gained confidence and now know that it is definitely possible to achieve my goals this year.....and so it begins!!

Continued Progress...

So this has been another week filled with progress both in this course and in my classroom. I received another response from a teacher in New Orleans from epals. I posted a thread asking for teachers to explain ways they are using technology in their classroom to get their students more involved. The response I received was from a 4th grade teacher who is getting ready to have her students read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She is interested in using skype to have her students teach my class about the stories and the activities they are doing in the class. She also suggested that maybe my students could also participate in some of the activities as well! I am very excited to see where this goes!

I was also able to make connections at the ETTC workshop last weekend, with a company who works with SMARTproducts. I currently have a SMARTboard in my classroom but our school is interested in getting SMARTtables as well. I was able to give my administrators this information and it looks pretty good for us to purchase a few of these tables. This will be another exciting, interactive way for my students to learn!

Through both the interactions on epals and in my classroom, I have a few exciting ideas for my PLT paper! So far...so good! :)

Making New Connections..

In the past two weeks, I've been able to make two successful connections with teachers through epals.  The first teacher teaches Kindergarten in Kenya and would like to have our classes communicate through snail mail. The second teacher is also a Kindergarten teacher but in Canada. In addition to having our students communicate, the teacher in Canada is also interested in sharing ways that she uses technology in her classroom and I will do the same. It will be very interesting if both of these opportunities work out, so my students have the chance to see how they can communicate with others through real mail and also through virtual communication as well! 

In addition to making global connections, I am also very excited to have made connections with teachers right in my own school! I have been able to teach a few of the teachers in my school about different types of technology they can use in their classroom. It was a relief to receive the willingness and excitement they shared when I explained these tools. Some of the tools included using cameras and webcams to record fluency and other reading patterns, edmodo & epals to communicate with other teachers, and various websites that had different activities they could use on their SMARTboard or MIMIO boards. 

I am excited to see where all of these new connections take us.... :)  STAY TUNED!  

reference

Success!

This past week was a very successful one for me which is exciting! I was able to work collaboratively with my two group members, Danyl and Darlene, to create and present a very powerful presentation. It seemed to include ideas, concepts, and visuals that really helped everyone clearly understand the Humanism and ARCS theories. I was especially excited to hear every one's positive reactions to a project that is important to my students and me - Filling Buckets! I strongly believe that the ideas and concepts taught through the book "Have You Filled A Bucket Today" by Carol McCloud is a very exciting book with a clear message. I would and do strongly suggest that anyone with small kids, or kids at any age, read this story to them and reinforce the great messages!

In addition to my group presentation, I have also been able to get a clear idea of what I'd like to do for my Personal Learning Theory project. I am very excited to begin implementing different programs and forms of technology in my classroom to help increase student interest in literacy, especially reading! While my head has been swimming with various ideas for this project, I began to use a few programs today and my students are already excited and show great enthusiasm!

With all of this said, I close with this question...Have you filled a bucket today?? :)

To learn more about "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?", plesae visit Bucket Fillers Website!

On. My. Way...

This week started out very productive both for my group and myself personally. I was able to meet with my group members Darlene and Danyl through Wimba to do a "walk through" of our presentation. While we ran into some speed bumps, I feel like the time we spent together was very valuable. We have worked very well together and it helps having patient people surrounding me especially since this is my first experience with presenting in Wimba! 


I was also able to speak to Sue and Amy regarding my outline for my PLT paper. Although I have a very good idea of the direction I want to go, it was very helpful to hear their take on ideas. I'm so excited to have the chance, through this paper, to research learning tools that I can use not only in my classroom but also to help other teachers in my school as well. 


And at this point...I am on my way..to great things! =) 

Clearing things up a little...

After last week's class I would say I was a bit overwhelmed! However, after tonight I would say things are becoming a little clearer. I feel like there are so many aspects of this class to keep track of that it can sometimes be difficult to follow; but tonight I was able to speak with many people who were able to guide my eyes to the various "important" places that I will be using on a weekly basis. With all of this help, I am much more aware of the things expected of me!

In addition to locating important areas, I was also able to meet with my two other group members so we could continue our plan for our Learning Theory project. Although we have been in contact for the past week, it was nice to get a chance to really plan the lesson plan part of our theory. We are working very well together and I believe we will be able to present and interesting presentation! =)

Overall, I think this was a very productive week!

The beginning...

Hello! Thanks for visiting my new blog! I am very excited to share my new experiences while starting my masters degree. Last weeks first class was a bit overwhelming because it was the first class I've taken since I graduated from Rowan in 2008. In addition to this, my grandfather passed away and so I had to leave early to be with my family during his viewing. Although the pass two weeks have been a difficult time for my family and I, I have to say that I've been using my job as a teacher and this course as a type of stress reliever. With this being said, I am definitely excited to continue on this journey toward my masters degree in Instructional Tech and I am thrilled to share it with anyone who wishes to follow! Enjoy!