Day 1 Reflection

Most of it was new to me, my extent of technology use in the classroom is YouTube, popplet, and power points..  Definitely going to explore the possibilities with some of the new apps that were introduced to us. I'm all about having fun in the classroom and children love technology and by using it more the dynamics in a classroom can change completely.  I will be using a language arts lesson that introduce vowels to my kindergartners for my technology infused lesson presentation.

Day 3 Reflection

Today I explored Doodle Buddy, Showme.com, and Flashcards+ by Chegg.  I found that flashcards+ on the IPad is incredibly user friendly, however online on a desktop not so much.  Showme.com and Educreation serve the same purpose and are both just as user friendly.  I will definitely be using both Educreation and Showme next school year and most definitely utilizing Doodle Buddy instead of white boards anytime that I can get class sets of the IPads.  

I used Educreations to make the video for the flipped classroom, since I used Showme for my technology infused lesson, it was incredibly easy.  I would however probably find the way to add it to YouTube to make easier for the parents to find for the students. 

Most of my lesson is at the Remember stage because this is something that kindergartners do fairly early in the school year.  But as the year progresses I am sure we will be in the apply at the very least of the Blooms Taxonomy.

Day 2 Reflection

In these two days I have heard about Sophia, YouTube, Edmodo, ITunes, Kahoot, and more.  In a kindergarten classroom we use YouTube I’m going to say a couple times a week, but if I can find additional resources in Sophia than I will definitely be exploring that.  The most important thing that I learned for my grade level is how to use the flipped classroom technique not so much for my students but for my parents.  Most times our parents, especially the parents of bilingual parents, have not finished school or gone to school here in the U.S.  so they don’t know what their students may be learning.  The fear of not being able to help their children with their school work keeps them from getting too involved.  Now if I starting including some YouTube video links perhaps in their weekly newsletter we send out with what their children will be working on for them to look at and use as a tutorial perhaps this could help relieve their fear and help them become more involved with their children’s school work.  I will be using a lesson on vocabulary very similar to the Esperanza activities we do in class for each letter but only do it on a couple letters for the example in our training, I haven’t quite decided what web tool I will be using but it will include some flashcards apps online that will enable me to demonstrate not only the name and sounds but how to write the letters as well. 

Crushing Barriers

Infusing Technology in the classroom isn't just having a couple computers and placing your students in front of them unless your end result produces positive results.  Locating and then matching the best application and tool to an assignment is vital.  I mean do we use a game on the smart board or an app on the IPad to teach linear equations or the cycle of the butterfly.  How much interaction does each require?  Which one gets the students thinking higher on the blooms scale?  So you find a great too you would love to use, learn its function and then try out different lessons with it, practice, practice, practice. The worst thing that happen is your students will probably master it and start finding new things it can be used for.  So I'm having a hard time find the time to put it to practice, the good thing is that in kindergarten we have centers almost for everything so make it a center where the students can get to play with it on their own and own it.  With so many free and easy to use Digital resources out there we only have to search and look up reviews which will also give you ideas as to how to best use them and how.  Overcoming the fear the presenting it is a whole other ballgame but if both the teacher and the students feel comfortable using those apps and resources through practice then presenting it to administrator should be a piece of cake and we should be proud to be able to do so.

Four Barriers Post

Technology in general can be overwhelming because of how fast things change, one day the popular thing to do was MySpace and then Facebook but now we have snapchat, tweeting and instagram.  It makes it hard to keep up with mastering all these different applications available when the next day the world is on to something new.  Infusing Technology into the classroom doesn't just require that we know our way around an application, website or tool but that we know exactly what is age appropriate for our grade level and that they can somehow use it outside the classroom as well.  Our district provides tons of support for the teachers and resources as well but introducing something new to the classroom requires lots and lots of practice before being able to present it in front of an administrator for review.

Barrier number one for me is finding an app that is age appropriate  for kindergartners first of all that requires thinking at the higher level of blooms.

Barrier number two is connecting that app to an assignment where it would be used at best.

Barrier number three is finding the time in class to practice it with the students to ensure that everyone understands it fully.

The last Barrier, number four, is how nerve wrecking it is both for the students and I to put it all into play in front of an administrator.

I suppose it's all a matter of taking the time to do the research prior to introducing it.