EME2040

EME2040  Reflective Essay

  

Heart of a Teacher  

 Intro to Technology for educators is a class I can never forget! Because of having class once a week, it was a bit challenging for me at times to take in so much information. That was the thing for me, getting so much information in so little time but I tried my best to grasp as much as I could. In EME 2040 class I was able to discover the many different aspects of the teacher's world and how important it is for a teacher to keep themselves open and receptive to the different learning and teaching styles in order to create and maintain an "effective" classroom.    

  Many people and I would agree that students learn better when they are taught visually and interactively  instead of just the regular basic speaking lecture. With images and videos from the computer being projected on a large screen it is more comfortable for students to view together as an audience it also grabs their attention a lot better. With technology integrated lessons we can tell stories, write lesson plans, do researches, share images, communicate, tour the world,share videos, and so much more! If it brings captures the attention of students why not use it?   

  In class I enjoyed learning about the different tools out there to help a teachers grade such as rubrics. I learned what a rubric was and how to create one by setting it up the way I would a yummy to not so great pizza! I learned the 5 key elements to evaluating a website to determine whether the site is credible or not.  Anyone can create a boring lesson but when you start using images from Flickr or videos on Youtube, the possibilities are endless as to how you can improve your lessons using all this great technology. When given the opportunity to work in groups such as for the collaborative lesson plan and instructional wiki project it was exciting to see all the ideas that everyone was coming up with for just one assignment,working with group members all online without speaking to each other was a challenge for me!   

 I also was taught how to create a Web-Quest and a Pecha Kucha which is and upscale version of PowerPoint using mostly pictures. The project that I loved the most was creating  my own teacher web page portfolio. It was cool to see all the work I did for the class and made me realize how much Professor Coleman helped us by providing us with tools, tricks, and ideas to set a firm foundation. By seeing everything all together really showed me the big picture.

 Leaving this class I will be able to take many things with me to establish in a classroom of my own. As a teacher I will definitely create teacher websites/blogs that I can update weekly to keep my students and parents engaged. Professor Coleman showed me many websites to get me started such as Blogger, Wix, Weebly and more.






Maloy, R.W.(2011). Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources. In Transforming 

Learning with new Technologies (pp.153-4). Boston, MA: Pearson

"Heart of Teacher." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

Journal 11

CHAPTER 11 
ENGAGING TEACHERS and STUDENTS in LEARNING and SELF-REFLECTION

Focus Question 1: What is performance-based assessment for teachers and for students?

• Teachers can use norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests, standards-based assessments to evaluate their students. Supervisors can use these same assessments to evaluate their students.
• Performance evaluation bases assessment on work completed rather than tests taken, including such performances areas as student writing, individual presentations and performances.
• Performance evaluation has a dual focus for teachers-they are continually evaluating them.

In the act of learning, people obtain content knowledge, acquire skills, and develop work habits—and practice the application of all three to “real world” situations. Performance-based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students.


Tech Tool: CPS Pulse Clicker from http://www.einstruction.com/cps-overview

 

(photo credit einstuction.com/cpsoverview)

• Offers color-coded and easy-to-press buttons that make it intuitive for students to answer questions and participate in lessons.
• CPS Spark™ supports multiple-choice, true-false and yes-no questions.
• Seamlessly and automatically integrate with ExamView^® to ensure you won’t lose images, answers, test banks, or data during assessment and grading.

Summary&Connection 

Chapter 11 looks at how teachers and students can participate in evaluating and assessing their own growth using technology. Teachers can use student participation systems to effectively assess by allowing each student in the class to answer a particular question.They “offer interactive learning options for teachers and students” (Maloy, et al., 2012, p. 318). These tools have numerous advantages: active learning, student involvement, real-time feedback, question-driven instruction. I used clickers before in high school as part of an exam tool. I liked it very much because I felt more engaged in what I was doing and it kind of made me excited about taking the test! Assessment tools like these are really cool to have for students it gets them open to different styles of taking tests and also comfortable.

 

Refrences

"CPS™ Student Response Systems." Welcome to EInstruction. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

Maloy, R.W., Verock-O’Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2012). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson Education, Inc.