Technology+Journal

=As part of my work for our AARD technology grant, I will keep a technology journal on my progress with implementing 21st century skills in my classroom. Click on the discussion section to track my progress!=

**Week 1-2**
Wednesday November 4, 2009 I am really excited today because I am starting a Moodle site with my students. I am going to post a topic and they are going to respond to my post, and then respond to their peers' posts! This is going to be a lot of work, but I am excited and my students are excited to do something new. Of course, I could not do this without my wonderful Technology Coach Mrs. Cole! She has been an absolute life-saver. Because of her, I know I will be much more effective in the implementation of technology and innovation in my classroom! The first thing my students have to do is write 5 sentences recommending their favorite book this year to their classmates. When all students have posted, then they are going to have an opportunity to respond to their peers' posts. I think many of my students get bogged down with the idea of writing all of the time, and this will give them a change of pace! I am excited to start this with my students.

Thursday November 5, 2009 For Quarter 2 I am starting a nonfiction unit. With this nonfiction unit we are starting a project called, "Urbana: An Unlikely Tourist Attraction." With this project the students have to attract tourists to the community. They will be creating a multimedia presentation to present to the class that highlights a business or special part of the community that would attract potential tourists and potential citizens. Attached I have the objectives and the purpose of the project. I also have the due dates, and requirements for the project. On Monday, two Urbana Chamber of Commerce representatives will talk with students about their role in the community.

Sunday November 8, 2009 Overall, this week has been a great week with using technology in the classroom. Working with my technology coach and my other Language Arts team members we have really made some huge changes in our curriculum with nonfiction and informational texts. This is an area that our students seem to struggle with each and every year, so we decided to make some major changes in the way we teach this type of text. So far, my students have been more engaged in nonfiction and informational text than I have ever seen them, and we have only been working on this new unit for half of a week.

I am a little worried with how my students will handle the so called freedom with this project. There will be days where I give students work time, and I worry that some students will not be able to handle this freedom. I am excited that we are starting this technology initiative, but I am finding that some of my students like being lazy, and are not as excited as I had hoped about using technology in the classroom. The sad thing is that they know it will be work for them to use technology, and they don't want to have to put effort into what they are doing. They do not want to think. Over the course of this project, I will be reflecting on how I will handle these students that are okay with being lazy, and do not care what they are given, they just won't do the work. This will be my greatest challenge when tackling this new project.

Week 3
Monday November 9, 2009 Ever since David Warlick presented at our first technology grant meeting, I have wanted to use the presentation software called Prezi. Today my co-teacher and I decided we needed to do something interesting to teach homonyms. We decided that the only way our students would see the importance of using homonyms correctly in their writing would be to find real-life examples of incorrect usage. So, I thought the perfect way to engage students would be with a Prezi presentation with real-life pictures of incorrect usage. After working with the presentation software I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE it! I cannot wait to use the software more and more throughout my classes. I have attached the presentation. []

Tuesday November 10, 2009 Today my students had their first full day of working on their Urbana project. I explained to them that they could create any type of presentation they wanted. I did tell them that if they wanted to create a movie for their project I would not be much help because I have never created a movie myself. Even after explaining them that, 95% of the groups decided to create a movie. My classes were fantastic today. All students were engaged in their project, and did not want to stop working. This is so exciting!

Wednesday November 11, 2009 Wow! What a day! We had a busy day at school today, and not a lot of time because our schedule was changed, so I had students type out a five sentence summary recommending their favorite book that they have read so far this year. After they have written their five sentences, they are going to type them and post them on the Moodle site. So, I started two of my classes on the Moodle site today. It went well:) They are excited to start responding to each other about the books that they are reading. It is wonderful! Tonight I noticed that a handful of students were on the Moodle site tonight responding to posts! The wonders of technology!

Sunday November 15, 2009 On Friday, I presented the Homonym Prezi to my students, and they loved it. They did a really great job with taking pictures of different homonym pairs, and cannot wait to see themselves on another presentation. What I am pleased about is the fact that they were talking and thinking about the different homonyms. Constructivism was taking place in my classroom because students were taking what they already knew about the different homonyms and were creating and learning new things. Many of them confirmed they had misconceptions of the different homonym pairs, so I am pleased to say that they were gaining new meaning with the assignment they were given.

Week 4
Saturday November 21, 2009 Wow what a week this week was! On Monday I was observed by my principal, and I followed up on what my students did with their homonym pairs on Friday. I put together another Prezi presentation that compiled all of their photos along with the homonym pairs. The students acted like they knew how to spell them all correctly, so I still have to figure out a way to get them to spell them correctly in their writing. Students enjoyed seeing their pictures, and their classmates pictures. Check it out! []

The rest of the week students worked on their Urbana Projects. Many of them are coming along! Earlier in the week my colleague and I went and took pictures and video thinking we would show the students an example of what we expected them to complete. So finally, on Wednesday I went through and edited the video, and made a movie. I included the pictures we took, and my colleague did the voice over on the movie. It turned out pretty well! I was excited because I now know how to create a movie! Throughout this project, I love seeing students excited to learn and come to class. Everyday, they come to class with enthusiasm, and a willingness to learn. There have been many times that I tell students I don't know an answer to one of their questions about making the movie, and they end up figuring it out themselves! I love seeing that in the classroom. Another aspect I love seeing is the fact that there are students being leaders that aren't normally leaders in the classroom. I have an expert in each of my classes, and those students have been wonderful with helping other students- even myself!

As my technology coach's time with me comes to a close, I feel disappointed. I feel that I did not use her like I could have. I wish we could have gotten into using podcasts, and our iPods in the classroom, but we didn't get that far. I still want to incorporate much more technology in my classroom in what I do everyday, not just limited to a project. That is something that I would like to work on in the future.

When it comes to constructivism in the classroom, I am familiar with the concept. When I was in college my professors drilled constructivism into my brain, so you would think I was an expert, when actually I am far from it. I am frustrated with myself many times because I feel that I am not doing what I know is best for my students. One thing that I really want to work on is 'Ownership in Learning.' That is one area that I really want to develop in my classroom. Through differentiation and constructivism, this will be possible.

Week 5
Thursday December 3, 2009 The two days before Thanksgiving break students presented their iMovie projects. Overall, they were a huge success. Each student had a rubric for each group. I was very impressed with how students graded each other, they were conscientious, and put thought into what score they were going to give. They even asked questions! It was great. When all groups were finished, each student had to reflect on the project. This was their opportunity to tell me what they liked the most and the least, what was the most difficult, and this was also their opportunity to evaluate their other group member. Each student received an individual grade, but I did want to know feedback on how well the students thought they worked together. Overall, I was impressed with their thoughtfulness, and pleased because I did not have one student not do the project! It was amazing, and many students were asking what the next iMovie project would be! I love it:)

This week (after Thanksgiving) has been a rough week. I have been out of my classroom for two out of four days this week, and I am out again tomorrow. When this happens, I do not feel comfortable leaving technology lessons with a sub. Therefore, this week is not the best week for technology incorporation in my classroom.

On Tuesday, I went to a Middle School conference and Rick Wormeli. He is a wonderful speaker, and has great strategies for in the classroom. I decided to use something new in the classroom on Wednesday that was based on what I learned from the conference on Tuesday. Next week, I will start a new unit on poetry. In order to find out what my students know, I used wordle.net and had my students complete a word sort. On the wordle site there were five words. The students had to draw a picture or write a phrase telling me what they know about each word. In an attempt to motivate them even further, I said that when students were finished they could fly their paper in the airplane hangar. They loved it! But, most importantly, all students did a great job on the word sort. They tried hard, and did their best. It was funny because students were teaching their peers how to make paper airplanes. Some teachers may cringe at this whole concept, but I loved the fact that students were teaching each other.

One article this week that really stuck out to me is the article on cell phones. Cell phones are thought to be evil in schools! Many teachers freak out when they see a cell phone, and many students are suspended when they have their cell phones out. I can see the many benefits to allowing my students to use their cell phones in class. Many of my students used their cell phones to send me pictures for their movies. I let them get their cell phones out in class and send me the pictures. When they were finished they put them away, and I didn't see them the rest of the day. I think that if we give our students an opportunity to use them in our classrooms for educational purposes, students would be excited to learn.

I am working on adding the movie that I created to this site! Let's see if this works! media type="file" key="Marie's Candies.mov" width="300" height="300"

Week 6
Sunday December 13, 2009 Wow what a crazy week! I started teaching poetry this week. At the beginning of the poetry unit we discussed as a class what they should have mastered by the end of the unit. We created "I Can" statements the highlight what they will be able to do at the end of the unit. We also analyzed a rubric that we will use for their performance assessment at the end of the poetry unit. Together we made the rubric fit what they have to accomplish by the end of the unit. This was a great way to get students thinking about their responsibilities as a learner to master the concepts of poetry. After we discussed the "I Can" statements and the performance rubric we moved on to vocabulary. One way to make vocabulary fun for my students is to play a game. We practiced poetry using Vo-Back-Ulary. This is a game where a student at the front of the room has one of the vocabulary words on his/her back. The class has to give that student clues to help him/her guess the correct word. I like doing this game because it gives students an opportunity to create clues that will help the student guess the word correctly. The students love this, and do a great job with it. With my next unit, I would like to do some type of inquiry learning to teach the vocabulary.

In our readings for the week we read about project-based learning. This is something that I really would like to start doing in my classroom, but I feel overwhelmed right now because I want to change a lot of things in my classroom, and I don't have enough time to plan everything out, so I can implement the concepts well. I really like this website: [] because it is a project-based learning activity on project-based learning. It will be a great tool for me when I am deciding what type of project-based learning to use in my classroom.

Week 7
Sunday December 20, 2009 This was yet another crazy week. I continued the poetry unit, and this week I wanted to do a poetry slam through my moodle site. Students were to write a poem, and then respond to two of their peers. One of the responses had to be in the form of a poem, and the other response just had to be positive response. I have an example of a student's response, and the responses to that poem. The students loved this assignment, and couldn't wait to get on the computers to complete it! Because this was the week before Christmas break, we had many assemblies and I lost a lot of time with my classes. Therefore, the rest of the week was filled with students writing poetry and presenting poetry. At the end of the unit students have to present one of their poems, so I have made a point to get students in front of the class to share their poems.

This week, I went on a site visit. I went and visited a school north of Cincinnati, and observed classrooms implementing reading workshop. This is something I have wanted to implement in my reading classroom for quite some time, and haven't had the materials to do it. So, not only am I trying to change my teaching to be more project-based and inquiry learning, I am also changing the entire set-up of my classroom. This is a big task, but I am taking small steps! I am excited because at the end of our poetry unit students will be completing a performance assessment where they will have free reign to do whatever is necessary to show that they have learned and internalized their "I Can" statements.

Week 8
Monday January 11, 2010 This week was finally a week that was more stable than the previous couple! This week we worked a lot with poetry, and students took tests. Students had a couple of days to create a poetry project. They were to choose the best poem that they had written throughout the course of the unit, and then they had to present that poem using technology. Most students decided that they would use powerpoint, and then record their voices saying the poem. Overall students did a really great job! They loved doing it, and it was amazing yet again, how many students helped each other out. I love that when we get out computers they are talking and discussing and are helping each other. The whole atmosphere changes, it is amazing!

I have found that even this year my students have grown with their knowledge of technology. I am excited because it seems that other teachers are using technology more, and it is like a fever in the building! With using technology everyday comes other issues though. This is something that happened this week. Our students were scheduled to take a benchmark test on Study Island, and we also were trying to do the poetry project. It is hard because there are only so many computers, and it seems to never be enough. Overall, I think that not having enough computers is a good thing because it means that the many computers we do have are getting used!

At the end of the week we were fortunate to have training on our iPod touch. Sean from SOITA came and gave us some ideas on how we could use the iPod in our classrooms to engage our students. We were very fortunate because our entire building received iPods and Sean stayed to train the staff as well. It was great to see that our staff was excited to integrate technology in the classrooms! It would be wonderful to have a class set of the iPods!

This week was all about differentiation. The poetry project was in and of itself differentiation because students could choose their best poem and present it in any manner, as long as they used technology. Our next unit is going to be full of differentiation because we are starting a literature circle unit. I am excited because we are changing many things around, and we are using stations (2 of which students will listen to the story on an iPod)! I think that this will be a great way for us to integrate technology each and everyday in our classrooms. I have a link that is a great link with differentiation and using anchor activities to start off a class. As part of this unit, we will start doing this! __http://www.pps.k12.or.us/depts/tag/instruction/diff_intro.pdf__

Week 9
January 19 I was really excited to start this week because I started to use an accurate model of reading workshop. My students were excited about reading, and they learned about metacognition. It was fantastic! In using metacognition, students are more aware of their thinking. This is my goal because so many of my students will read their books, but are not able to tell me about their books because they aren't thinking when they are reading. I wanted to make students aware that when they read, they have to be thinking. Also, through this process, I wanted to develop thinkers out of my students. It is sad, but most of my students do not think. This has been a problem because of the teaching that goes on, and I've decided things need to change! If I want my students to be model citizens in society, I have to produce thinkers!!

This week was also the start of our literature circles. With this students were to do background activities on the books that they were to read. Two of the groups were to watch videos on different dialects because their books involved dialects. Then they were to use a dialect of their choice to recite a quotation from the book that they were going to start reading. To incorporate technology, students had to use a powerpoint slide to type their quotation, and then record their voices saying their quotation. It was my hope in doing this, that they would not get frustrated when reading the novels because of the different dialects. I wanted to make the language fun, and lighthearted! I think I succeeded!

We also started reading the novels, and each group, except one, was able to listen to the first chapter on an iPod. The students love using the iPods, and can't wait until they get to use them again. Also, as an introduction to literature circles, five other teachers and myself were videotaped. We had Mrs. Heckman videotape us in a literature circle meeting! Each of us had a different job, just as the students have to do, and we modeled what a literature circle meeting looked like! I created the movie, and then showed the students as an example. The students loved it, and the best part is that they all know what they have to do for their job! It was great:)

Overall, the entire week revolved around TPACK. When thinking about TPACK, it is true that it is messy! The pedagogy in each classroom is different, and the content knowledge is different as well. But, different does not mean bad. I am trying to seamlessly integrate technology into my classroom so that it is a part of my students' educational day. It is my hope that all of us teachers can use the TPACK model as a means to educate our students in the 21st century! We need to see that there is a need for students to use technology in their classes because their future is going to be completely technology-based. That is why, we need to use our pedagogy, and content to immerse ourselves and our students in as much technology as possible! I have attached a link that focuses on the importance of technology in our classrooms. []