Integrating Technology

Throughout my time spent at High Point University, I have learned the importance of integrating technology in the classroom. I have had the opportunity to learn, discover, and create projects that demonstrate creative thinking. I have learned that technology is an excellent way to engaged my students and involve them in the lesson taught. Throughout my unit, I created several projects that supported my lessons on the different forms of transportation. In one of my lessons, I developed a flip chart using ActivInspire to allow my students to practice the meanings of the colors in a stoplight.  It was important for me to make sure the lessons were centered around integrating 21st century skills. I noticed while developing my unit that I would save the technology portion for last. I had difficulty at first developing appropriate activities that integrated technology due to the lack of technology in schools.  Constructing this unit has allowed me to prepare for my future as a teacher and better understand the process of developing complete integration lessons. I look forward to my future as a teacher and the development of technology that will continue to progress over the years.  The future of classroom education is focuses on the importance of integration.

Before integrating technology into each lesson, I focused on developing a strong activity to connect with the social studies and language arts objectives. Once I was able to develop an overall outline for the lesson, I wanted the students to interact and create examples that support the lesson using technology. My students are very fascinated by the different types of technology that can be involved in a lesson. Technology plays a tremendous role on engagement in the classroom. Technology gives students the opportunity to be in charge and be the creator.The advancement of technology is growing by the day. It is important for teachers to continue to be knowledgeable of the latest technology and understand how to apply it in the classroom. Students are becoming more experienced with technology outside of the classroom, therefore why not teach students the importance of technology in the classroom and how it can boost students learning. 

The technology I incorporated into my unit was a  virtual field, pixton, a recording station, online puzzle and many others. After three technology courses, I have not only learned the different ways to incorporate technology into the lives of my students but have also become confident using it in my classroom and encouraging my students to create and develop ideas using technology. Throughout this process, i have learned how integrating technology into lessons effects the overall learning of the students but also demonstrates the creativity and capability of the teacher. I look forward to using the technology i have learned and demonstrated at my time spent at High Point University. Technology is continuing to develop more and more each day, therefore shouldn't we give that same opportunity to out students. The opportunity to inspire, believe and achieve.

PBS Teachers

Over the years, teacher accessibility to resources has become more easy and convenient. PBS Teachers helps provide teacher with information on their grade level on professional development, teacher discussions and lesson plans. The website is well organized with specific grades at the top of the page. There are resources on new and current topics coming up throughout the year that are excellent for the classroom. This could be a resource for your curriculum because it gives ways to study information based on holidays and events that are occurring at that time or within the next few weeks. Teachers are the inspiration to create high-quality media content and services as education for PBS Teachers.      

The lesson plans are organized into topics of interest. These include:

            * The Arts

            * Health & Fitness

            * Math Reading & Language Arts

* Science & Tech

* Social Studies

In The language arts section, there are ninety-seven pages of detailed lesson plans, teacher blogs about the lesson plans and activities to review the lesson. The teachers are able to filter through each subject and narrow down what they want and what will work best for their students. Teachers are able to filter the lessons and discussion by types, media type and PBS program. There are offline activities provided as well as interactive materials. In Kindergarten, the tool PBS Kids in the Classroom is an excellent resource. There are other resources aligned along the right side of the page to help assist teachers. It provides information and educational learning goals using episodes for PBS kid shows. 

PBS Kids is another excellent resource  for teachers. It provides topics of interest for the students. It is a great website to find examples of well known characters, and activities. There is a reading contest listed at the bottom of the page. this is a wonderful tool to use for the promotion and motivation for the students to read outside of class and do activities that strengthen their language arts.

It is important when teaching to also direct attention towards the parents of the students. PBS Parents is a website that provides parents the opportunity to continue their child's learning at home. This is a fun, interactive resource that both parent and child can both be involved in. It provides activities for students with disabilities, advice for parents on raising their children, supporting classroom teaching by providing subject practice at home. the website also has a large supply of games that teach children about healthy eating, exploring science and math along with language arts. This is an excellent website to allow the students to never stop learning and growing. 

PBS Teachers provides teacher with free, useful lesson plans that are easy for children to connect with. The website is safe and free from inappropriate advertisements and links. Overall it gives teachers the confidence and resources to teach to the best of their ability. Lastly is integrates multimedia activities and technology to bring the activities to life and intrigue the students.

Pixton

Pixton is a free program that allows people of all ages to create fin and interactive comic strips. This program brings the comic to life with character, animals, sound effects and pictures. Pixton is an excellent tool to be used in the school system because it allows students to design their own comic based off of information covered in the curriculum. It is also an excellent way of evaluating and assessing students with a fun activity. This program is also available for business'. I enjoy the fact that it is open to everyone to use and create their own comic. This was an easy program to use and I was very engaged in the tool. There is a lot of creativity that can come from Pixton because it is your own creation.
    I would like to use this program in my future program to help evaluate students on their overall understanding of topics in the curriculum. This can help students bring froth creativity to the project and really make it their own. The Pixton I created was to help Kindergarteners learn ways to be a friend. this teaches them how to spread their kindness and help to their friends. It also helps them think about how they would want to be treated. In Kindergarten, students are learning about themselves, and families around the world. Therefore, I thought it was necessary for them to learn how people need to be treated and how to be a friend to others. one of the hardest things for young learners is sharing and making friends. In the comic I told the story of how a family became lost in the Arctic and were welcomed in with open arms by strangers. I then gave the students three comic slides with different situations. they will have to identify how the characters can be good friends to one another in each situation. I would also like for the students to come up with three situations that they could be a good friend to someone. Overall, i really enjoyed working with this program and am excited to have the knowledge about it and be able to use it in my future classroom. 

Directions for the Pixton:
Each student will be given the opportunity to read the comic strip Arctic Adventure. They will then be given three situations in the second comic. Each student will be given a print out of the second comic, How to be a friend. They will then decide what the characters in each situation should do to be a good friend. Lastly, the students will come up with one solution of the own of how they can be a good friend to others or their classmates. 


Rubric: 1-developing, 2-profecient, 3-accomplished
1- Student is unable to develop a solution for the situations. Student is not able to identify a way to be a good friend.

2-Student is able to develop a solution for two of the three situations. Student is able to provide an example of a way to be a good friend with little difficulty.

3-Student is able to come up with a solution to each of the three situation. Student is able to give an example of how they can be a good friend to others with no difficulty.


Comic 1: http://Pixton.com/ic:g8cizkqc

Comic 2: http://Pixton.com/ic:qmj7lszc

Formative Assessment in Kindergarten

Assessments come in all shapes and sizes. Kindergarten is the beginning of a student’s evaluation process. Several things go into evaluating a student. Setting clear and achievable targets is the starting point for creating assessments. In other words, you need to determine what exactly your students should know or be able to do. Teachers are facing more and more pressure to start students off on the right level. Assessments in Kindergarten are becoming more advanced to guarantee every students starts their education process on task.

 There are many areas and types of achievement that are targeted in schools, including knowledge, reasoning, performance, product development, and attitudes. Ways to assess knowledge can be quizzes, essays and questioning. Essays and observations, the student’s ability to explain their solutions and thoughts, assess ‘reasoning. Performance is commonly assessed by rubrics and observation, whether or not a student meets certain standards. Product development is assessed by rubrics, following the guidelines and expectations. The last type of achievement is attitude. An attitude, negative or positive is assessed through observations or surveys. These achievements are easier to assess during formal assessment because of is consistent administration in the classroom. Formative assessments are on-going assessments, reviews, and observations in the classroom. Teachers use formative assessments to improve instructional methods and student feedback throughout the teaching and learning process.

 Summative Assessments are less common and are used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs. These assessments are typically done at the end of the academic year or at a predetermined time. The summative assessments evaluate students on their level of success and if they have met their academic standards. There are so many resources for teachers to help with evaluating their students throughout the year. Assessments for early learners are very intimidating. Even for the older learners it is unfamiliar to them and can bring stress into their lives. It is the teachers job to reassure students of what they are doing and to simply try their best. It is also important for the teacher to make the students comfortable. Assessments have been an active process through the education system and will continue to be used to evaluate students. It is important that teachers are continuously evaluating their students using the types of achievements.

Types of achievement:

             * knowledge
             * reasoning
             * performance
             * product development
             * attitudes


   *** Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we were never able to do.' ***Peter Senge