TeacherWeb Reflection

Using the TeacherWeb in the classroom is a great way to keep students informed of classroom announcements, homework assignments, and grades. Parents can check their student's progress at any time and so are always aware of missing assignments or low grades. They are also able to email the teacher at any time through the quick link on the website. Beyond these obvious positives in using TeacherWeb, the technology keeps teachers, students, parents, and administrators in close communication. Students who have missed class can access the site to get the homework assignment, thereby eliminating the need to gather around the teacher's desk to ask what is due. Quick links to classroom materials, WebQuests, and electronic copies of materials are also useful in the TeacherWeb environment.

As with all technologies, the TeacherWeb can also encounter problems. If the teacher becomes too reliant on the site for classroom instruction and a crash occurs, that could really have a detrimental effect on the classroom. No one source, technology, etc. should be the main focus of any classroom. Diversity is important in teaching materials so that the most effective learning is being completed through each learning style. It can also be time consuming to keep up with updates and the site is very structured, which does not leave a lot of room for creativity. The most significant negative with the TeacherWeb is that some students will not have home Internet access and so will be cut off from this valuable resource, which is unfair to those students who may fall behind.

As aforementioned, TeacherWeb is a great way to communicate with parents. Grades and assignments can be posted to the site so that parents are able to review complete grades and progress reports through the site. In this manner, they are in constant communication with the teacher and are also able to email the teacher at any time through the link on the website. As students enter into the secondary classroom, parents become less and less involved in their student's education, which the TeacherWeb thwarts by keeping parents informed and involved. Online activities could be assigned to be done with family or parents could complete their own versions of posted assignments, especially those that deal with family histories.

Engaging students in the TeacherWeb site can be accomplished through appropriate links to material that will be beneficial to the student in the classroom and with activities and assignments. The visual students will benefit from the graphics that can be added to the site and through clear and concise explanations, the teacher will be able to communicate with the student in the most effective way. Providing handouts that can be downloaded and printed is also important so that students can have a hard copy if they would like one. If the students have blogs, providing links to everyone's on TeacherWeb will allow students better access to their peers' thoughts and assignment so that students can post (appropriate) comments.

Comparing the TeacherWeb to the blog sites is like comparing grapes and bananas. The blog sites are useful in the amount of information they can contain and the archived materials that can be used in that space. However, the TeacherWeb is more visually stimulating and fun for students of all ages. As I get ready to begin teaching in a junior high school setting, I think TeacherWeb is a better site for keeping students involved. It is much more interesting to click on a colorful link that contains a concise amount of information as opposed to a blog site that is mainly writing and is less easily read. I think that using both is important in the classroom so that students are able to post assignments and reflections. Blog sites provide a way for teachers to assess the feelings of students toward assignments and activities, but using the TeacherWeb is more important for keeping students informed.

Emerging Technologies Project

http://www.apple.com/education/k12/
This website has some great information about new and emerging technologies focusing on the Apple computer operating system. The Apple Mobile Learning Labs provide convenient ways for students to have ready access to a fully mobile lab. This technology opens the space that would otherwise be occupied by a computer lab and is also a cost-effective way to share technologies between classrooms. Imagine being able to rent out a mobile computer lab in your classroom. This technology eliminates the need to send students down to a computer lab, thereby taking away from valuable class time. It also keeps students in the classroom environment that they are used to, which prevents management problems that can occur when students feel the freedom of the computer lab.

Another emerging technology with Apple computers centers on the use of podcasts in the classroom. Podcasting is a powerful tool that allows for communication and distribution of educational content that can be accessed on the go, perfect for the busy nature of the classroom. Podcasting is also an inexpensive way for schools and higher education institutions to share information. Many educators and institutions are already integrating podcasting successfully into their curricula with great results. Podcasting enables educators to use music and recorded audio to enhance learning. The addition of photos and video to podcasting allows educators to add a wide range of visual content to their teaching and address even more learning styles.

http://www.virtualclassroom.org/
The virtual classroom website provides a global community for learners. With the increase in multicultural education, this technology provides students with a great way to interact with their peers from different nations and cultures. This interaction makes learning more real and relevant to students. The Clubhouse in the virtual classroom is a multi-national online cooperation activity for students from 7 to 18 years of age. Using Internet technologies to communicate, participating schools can do something as simple as exchanging electronic postcards or as complex as building a website or other projects online together. Individual teachers choose a partner school from the website’s online listing and together design their own club activities and schedule. Teams can even choose what language they want to use. For a foreign language classroom, students would be able to converse with their peers in the language they are learning, which has been proven to be the most effective way to learn and retain a new language.

In this setting students would also be teaching their foreign peers. This encourages scaffolding, another way to ensure the retention of knowledge. This is literally a virtual classroom in which students are able to interact and learn with other students from all over the world. This technology presents a truly powerful selling point for those students who are often unmotivated to learn, as they will be working with students as far away as China, Russia, England, and Africa.

http://www.innovativeteachers.com/flash/default.html
This website is based in the UK, but provides and accesses resources for and from innovative teachers around the world. Once a member of the network, teachers will gain access to a wealth of information, discussions, learning tools, and resources from innovative teachers in the UK and around the world. This is a wonderful source for new teachers, as this particular emerging technology has ideas from experienced teachers that are tried and true in the classroom. This network of teachers includes a list of lesson plans that work as stand-alone activities, have a small number of learning objectives, and work for a classroom session of 1 hour. Teachers often use online resources for designing a lesson plan without being sure that the ideas they are “borrowing” actually work. On the Innovative Teachers website, we are guaranteed that the lessons have been used and have worked in the classroom.

Beyond the lesson plans and the amazing community of helpful teachers, this site also has a section called “Quick Ideas” that focuses on quick “fixes” in the classroom. There are tips, suggestions, and mini lessons that can be implemented or delivered quickly to impact student learning. As a teacher’s time is often limited, quick ideas for improving the classroom environment can be more than helpful; the teacher’s sanity could easily be saved and classroom management issues could be resolved. Again, for the new teacher, quick tips are essential to surviving the first few years of teaching.

Emerging technologies in the classroom are improving student learning in all settings. Different learning styles are addressed more completely with these new technologies and the retention of knowledge is better through the use of technology in the classroom. The more the teacher is comfortable with the software and technologies that will be infiltrating the classroom, the more successful the teacher will be in motivating students. Today's students need to have an extensive working knowledge of different technologies to ensure success in many careers. Incorporating technology in the classroom does have drawbacks, but overall it provides a more cohesive and instructional learning environment.

Distance Education Response

5 Pros of Virtual Schools:

1. Schools focus directly on the individual, which is even more important in the virtual environment. This focus allows teachers to structure their curriculum more tightly and succinctly around the individual’s learning needs. Instruction is less general and more specific.
2. Programs such as Washington’s Virtual School gives full-time students easy-to-follow materials, an up-to-date laptop and printer, and an Internet stipend; academic support from certified instructors; and opportunities to make social connections. The program, called Insight, is tuition-free for residents of Washington State.
3. Parents have more opportunities to be involved. Students work and grades are all posted online so that parents are able to keep track of their student’s progress at all times and can provide help and support when needed. As everything is recorded electronically, parents and teachers remain informed of the student’s needs throughout the school year.
4. Online independent study encourages students to be independent. Multiple learning styles are addressed and the student is better able to participate in meaningful interactions with the teacher. The independence that the student can gain in the online classroom is essential to the process of becoming an adult, which is the exact goal many teachers should have for their students.
5. As there is no tangible classroom environment, the teacher does not have to take time out to deal with issues of classroom management. In eliminating this distraction that is usually very prevalent in a classroom, the teacher has more time to focus on the needs of his or her learners. Relationships between teacher and student are better and much stronger.


5 Cons of Virtual Schools:

1. Obviously, problems with the technology can be a real detriment to learning. Power outages, surges, Internet connection problems, and general technology issues could halt learning for unspecified amounts of time.
2. The Washington Insight program has an age requirement of 14 to 20 years old. Younger students and students past the age of 20 are not able to participate in the program.
3. Many schools charge tuition for online or distance learning. These fees can rival those of private institutions, which eliminate the use of the online school for lower socioeconomic status families. Also, schools such as the Oregon online school charge out-of-state tuition
4. Issues of socialization are difficult to address. The student is in charge of this aspect of his or her education, which can have detrimental effects on the well-roundedness of the student.
5. Many programs do not offer summer courses, which some students will need. Also, school dances and graduation ceremonies are often not held within the online community of schools. Students miss out on these traditional high school experiences.


To determine the readiness of students for online or distance learning, the student must be tested for proficiency in the subjects and ability to use the technology necessary for the virtual classroom. These students usually also need to be a little more mature, as they are going to be in charge of their own education, which increases the possibility for procrastination. Basically, the students need proficiency tests and an evaluation of readiness and maturity.

For me to be able to teach a distance course, I would need to be proficient in the use of the appropriate technology for the virtual classroom. There would be a need for training the teacher to interact with students in the online environment, as this is a much different form of communication necessary for this classroom. The teacher would need to be extremely good at this form of communication, as the online classroom requires the teacher to have a close relationship with the students through technology communication so that the curriculum can be designed for the needs of each individual student.

Blogs in Education

The field of education is an ever-changing medium for learning. Keeping students up to date in the technologies associated with teaching should be a goal for all teachers, as the ability to use and be comfortable with technology is important for students in their future careers and endeavors. The use of blogs in the classroom can be a beneficial and useful way to acclimate students to using the computer to complete assignments, thus helping them become more comfortable in typing their assignments. There is also an unlimited number of ways to use blogs in education. These ways are creative and work for many of the different types of learning styles.

Blogs are a great resource for communication. Students can reach teachers for more concerns and questions, parents and teachers can have better access to information, parents can see their student’s progress, and absent students can receive instruction on the activities they missed during class. Getting parents involved through blogging keeps them informed of the classroom activities without them coming to the classroom to observe. In another form of communication, teachers can invite guest “speakers” to add to the blog to contribute to the learning environment. This is a much more convenient way to get outside information as opposed to setting up a date a nd taking away from classroom time. Also, with a guest blogger, students can think of better and more in-depth questions to add to the post for the guest to answer.

Organizing information is important in the classroom setting, as the more organized a teacher is, the smoother the class is run. Blogs can be used as online classroom portals, discussion sites, filing cabinets for handouts and syllabi, collaboration spaces, and personal portfolios. The personal portfolios are a perfect assignment for an English class. Online portfolios are an archived record of effort and learning that students are able to visually contemplate. Their progress is visible to them, to the teacher, and to the parents. This is one of the reasons that portfolios are so useful in the classroom. Students are more motivated to learn when they can actually see their own progress.

Blogs also work as homepages for teachers. This resource can be used as an online filing cabinet. The class can post homework assignments, links, discussion questions, etc. The teacher can post links to useful websites and information about homework assignments or research projects. If I was asking students to complete a long-term research project, I would be constantly posting ideas and examples for them to peruse in their free time on such components as: citation information, topic ideas, paragraph structures, conclusion zingers, grammar and spelling corrections, etc. Throughout this time period, students woul d also be learning about these topics in class, but posting extra information would help to solidify these ideas with the students. Blogs open a new world of communication between teachers and students, so as long as students have a home computer and Internet access, a classroom blog is a versatile and useful tool for any classroom.

Integration of Software Application

The site LessonPlansPage contains a very basic lesson called "Reporters at Large" (http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAReportersAtLargeBrief-NewsStoryWritingInterviewIdea79.htm). This lesson plan asks students to write a newspaper editorial about a fire based on the stories of three witnesses: the fire chief, a fire victim, and an eyewitness. In this lesson, the teacher takes on all three roles and the students interview her by asking questions based on the role she takes. This can be done as a whole class or in small groups. In my opinion, this would be a good beginning lesson for a newspaper unit plan. I also think that allowing three students to take on the three different roles might also be a good way to get more participation from the entire class.

Once the students have completed their three interviews, they must write a story about the incident based only on what was told to them by the witnesses at the scene. For a group of junior high school students (for which this lesson plan is designed) at the beginning of a thematic unit, this may be a daunting task. I do not know where this lesson falls in the creating teacher's unit, so I do not know what background information the students may have in the task of writing a newspaper editorial. Assuming that students have no or limited background information or teachings, integrating a software application to help students organize their ideas and information would be an extremely useful tool for the lesson.

The first application that I thought of involved the Inspiration software. The concept maps that are created with the Inspiration software are wonderful for helping students organize their ideas, thoughts, and information. A lot of information is given in the junior high school classroom. These students can easily be overwhelmed so designing a classroom with a program that helps students organize this information is very valuable to the learning environment. Specifically for this lesson plan, the students could create a news story headline for the center bubble, with three main bubbles for each of the witnesses coming off the headline. From each of these bubbles, other sections could be connected, such as location (where the witness was at the time of the fire), what was seen, and the aftermath.

For my own lesson plan, the concept map is the perfect tool for organizing the five W's and an H (who, what, where, when, why, and how). The main bubble could again be the headline for the story, while six bubbles could be attached to the main one containing each of the six pieces of information the story should cover. In grading this assignment, using the rubric and the concept map that students would turn in with their story, I would be able to make connections between student's thoughts and their writing. In this way, I can help students revise and edit their papers if they receive an I (In progress) as opposed to an E (Exceptional) or an S (Solid).

Integration of Web Resources

The website http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/02/lp258-04.shtml contains a lesson plan titled "Heads Up for Headlines!" from the Education World site. The lesson is basic and designed for multiple grade levels with many modifications. The basic task for students is to create headlines for news stories that have had the headline removed. For older students, critiques of their peers' headlines could be integrated into the lesson as well.

Upon reading the entire lesson plan, a list of web resources was provided. These sources included Education World's News for KIDS, CNN Student News, New York Times Learning Network, PBS Online NewsHour Extra: News for Students, Scholastic News Zone, StudentNewsNet, TIME for Kids, and Weekly Reader Galaxy. Each of these sites contains news stories that pertain to students and younger children. While these are good resources for the producing headlines lesson plan, simplifying world news is not always the best way to teach a lesson. Bringing the real world into the classroom is a good way to help students become aware of the activities that are occurring around them at all times. However, the teacher must be screening the material that students are reading.

To screen the materials that students are reading for this lesson plan or for my own lesson plan, posting news stories onto a teacher website helps to determine what students are reading. Also, if they are being directed to a newspaper, certain sections should be pre-selected by the teacher to be grade appropriate.

For my own lesson plan, the integration of the aforementioned websites could be beneficial, but I would add a few others to the cache for students. For example, www.nieonline.com is a great resource to connect students to their local newspapers. This site is called Newspaper in Education. It supplies teachers with newspapers for free as instructional materials and also provides online lesson plans for teacher use. The site has numerous links that could be used during other lesson plans in this unit, including a site containing comics for the classroom.

Other resources would be the local and international newspapers that are posted online. For example, www.tribnet.com sends students to the Tacoma News Tribune website. On this site, along with many other online newspapers, there is a search option that would allow students to look for specific articles that follow guidelines for an assignment like the headlines assignment or the 5 W's and an H assignment. This search could also be on a topic about which the student is interested. Limiting the student in their topic could be detrimental to their excitement and interest in working with a newspaper; a resource that is often seen as boring and limited to the world of grown-ups. Searching newspaper sites for interesting topics could be a great way to get students excited about working with and creating newspapers.

Top 5 Video Conferencing Practices

My top five Video Conferencing practices are, in no particular order:

1. Marratech-A top video conferencing provider that we use in our classroom. Desktop Video Conferencing uses a small camera and software to connect students from a variety of different locations to open the classroom to an almost unlimited number of students and therefore an almost unlimited number of ideas and opinions, which could be very useful in the research-based atmosphere of the college classroom. "Ease of use and cross-platform capabilities are making Marratech the web conferencing provider first choice in the Virtual Learning Environment enabling students of all levels and ages to benefit from distance learning projects such as the Chignecto Virtual High School, where the regional school board has used it to take specialist subjects to remote students in communities up to 300 kms apart." Marratech is easy to use, as anyone with a workable knowledge of the Internet could use the program. It is also cost effective, as students will have free access to the rooms through an Intranet or a web site.

2. Centra Live for Virtual Classes-Replicates the classroom environment for interactive learning through video, audio, graphics, etc. to meet the needs of a greater number of the 500 simultaneous learners that can interact with the program at one time. Students can be anywhere, they only need a browser to attend the virtual class, which can also be recorded and replayed for any students who may have missed class or for those who need extra help on difficult concepts. The structure of the classroom can be custom-designed based on the activities, meaning that classroom management is more easily adaptable in the Centra Live Virtual Class. There are non-verbal feedback options so that less outgoing students can participate in a more active fashion without the fear of verbal feedback. Students can also take the floor in the classroom, through presentations or in the open floor environment of the dynamic learning environment created by Centra Live.

3. Dissolving Boundaries-Dissolving Boundaries is "using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to facilitate cross-cultural educational links between schools in the North and South of Ireland." This may not seem like an applicable idea, but the issues between people in the North and South of Ireland are old and very deeply rooted. Overcoming these boundaries is the perfect idea for the educational structure. The goal is for students to work together on educational projects, build mutual understanding and friendships that help to work toward good citizenship, and to help students develop ICT skills through valuable educational activities. Students are linked through asynchronous computer conferencing and through videoconferencing. The need for the project teachers to collaborate on projects is essential, so that teachers across content areas and locations are jointly planning and coordinating lessons.

4. AT&T Education, Video Conferencing for Learning-This site points out the need for practice and planning in using Video Conferencing methods of instruction. Conferencing is an interactive medium, but because most people only have practice in watching video, teachers must make extended efforts to engage learners in interacting with the technology. The site looks at 6 different concerns related to Video Conferencing and teaching in general: motivating learners, setting expectations, engaging students with variety and interaction, reducing distractions during learning activities, encouraging dialog, and providing supporting materials. Under providing supporting materials, one of the suggestions is for teachers to develop an agenda so all participants in the activities will know what to expect. The program example is Professional Development Workshops from Liberty Science Center. Other examples include: distribute a student guide with clear learning objectives (MysteryQuest), allow space for note taking, include graphics, sequence all materials in the order presented during class, know the names of your learners so that you can call on any one of them at any time, and display a slate with simple bulleted instructions (Videoconference Presentation Tips).

5. Macromedia Breeze-This program "delivers rich web experiences for e-learning, professional development, and live online collaboration." The Breeze program contains many a wide variety of tools and resources including: Adobe Creative Suite 2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, Macromedia Breeze district and school editions, Adobe Acrobat, and Macromedia Captivate. These products are in the categories of creative tools, e-learning and communication, digital media, web design and development, digital video and audio, multimedia development, and other publishing products. The benefits of this variety of products include a greater range of motivation for all learners, more interest for all types of learners, and different levels of technology to fit the needs of the different levels of understanding that students will inevitably have. "Macromedia Breeze is a rich web communication system that enables your school or district to deliver powerful online communications that everyone can access instantly. The Breeze system is comprised of the core Breeze Communication Server and applications for real-time and on-demand communication."

PowerPoint Kiosk Reflection

Developing different methods for teaching students of various learning styles can often be difficult. There are so many different programs and usages that teachers can access to create new lesson plans and materials for their classes. One of the most important goals of any teacher is to establish a student-centered classroom as opposed to a classroom that is teacher-centered. In this way, teachers are limiting the amount of lecture time they will complete in teaching their classes. Less knowledge is retained during lecture than during almost any other activity that can occur in a classroom. However, the problem with limiting lecture is that less information is getting to the students. One of the ways to counter this is to create a PowerPoint presentation.

The PowerPoint presentation is a wonderful way to give students information in an interactive way so that students are able to see pictures and words that correspond to the information that is being given to them. Beyond standard PowerPoint, the PowerPoint Kiosk is even more interactive, both as a presentational tool and in student use. The Kiosk can be used to present information and it can also be used for student use in their own presentations. This program is relatable to many different types of learners and is more interactive as a source of information about any topic. Teaching novels can be overwhelming, as there is often a massive amount of information that must come from the text, along with background facts and histories. Using the Kiosk can help an English teacher organize and present the novel or literary work to the class in a meaningful manner.

PowerPoint, just like any other mode of technology, has its drawbacks. Relying solely on technology is dangerous, as there could be any number of reasons the program may not work. Some students may find the Kiosk to be confusing and it may contain too much information. A large part of teaching is about refining techniques and lessons, as a teacher would have to do with the PowerPoint Kiosk. Teaching students to use the program would also be a lot of work that may not necessarily be focused on the content of the class, but more on the technology of the Kiosk program.

In spite of the possible drawbacks the Kiosk program is a useful tool for the classroom. It is easy to design to work directly for your learners and it is changeable so that students can go at their own pace in covering the material. Through the Kiosk program, a number of projects could be completed. Teaching a novel, vocabulary, grammar, student presentations, poetry, the history of an author, or any other presentations or information could be presented using the PowerPoint Kiosk software. The possibilities are endless, and used in conjunction with other methods, the Kiosk format would be extremely useful in the English classroom.