Assignment 2

In today's presentation, I will be teaching a lesson on living and nonliving things. I will use the pens,the drag and drop tool, the poll tool. http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=e58b319b-deca-4345-933c-f9f8f2ef9706

NETS
for students:

4.	Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

c .	collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions In this lesson, students are given some data and asked to think logically and apply that data to make a rational decision as to  whether an object is living or nonliving. for teachers:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

a.	promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

In this lesson, the teacher will model the use of technology to practice and think outside the box. The teacher will use a variety of SMART functions to keep kids creative, and show them how to use different methods to draw the same conclusion. 


In a future classroom, It would be awesome to have personal screens, so that everyone could do the same activities. If that is improbable, then having personal whiteboards could help. I am a big fan of audio. A good way to engage a classroom is to play an audio clip or book on tape, the   SMART board is a great way to utilize sound, visual, and community learning techniques. 


In the presentation I added a slide onto the end which used pictures and a poll (even if I didn't us it effectively). Also, I cut out a few slides and rearranged some to a better flow. 

Week 5 Post

According to this review website, http://chad-criswell.suite101.com/promethean-activboard-review-a118287, there is a good lit of pros and cons to the Activboard. I learned that the Activboard 2+ is height adjustable for varying student and teacher heights. The main cons are the expensive price and the fact that it is not touch sensitive. ( I think this could be a pro, actually). Also, the projector, on some models can be mounted directly to the board. This could prevent shadows. How many pens does it come with? Does it have a hiliter function? How many colors can you write with?

Week 4 Post

This week,  learned that SMART boards can be a useful tool for engaging a classroom, but you have to know how to use it effectively. It can be easier just to stand at the board and push all the buttons yourself, but that is dangerous for classroom management because your poor students will just have to watch you do all the fun stuff,and they will tune you out. I am still interested to find out more about how to create my own SMART board presentation from scratch. Could this possibly be used as a tool during a stations activity? I could put a game up on the board and let students rotate and have a chance to use it.

Digital Natives Article

Smacked? Really? Smacked of Education? I wonder if that was a type-o? I would mostly agree with this article, but I don't think it's really as confusing as the author makes it out to be. The next generation of kids are ingrained with tech. The last generation had fairly little tech naturally ingrained in them. My generation, however, is the bridge. When I am a teacher, and the other members of my cohort, we will be able to work with experienced teachers and new students to evaluate what is and isn't working in the implementation of technology. For example, i love books and still believe that literature and story through writing is a vital lesson to teach. That is something I share with the experienced teachers. I also love television programs and computer games, and think that they are a new and exciting way to learn. Hopefully, when the teachers in my generation get into schools, we will have the courage and the respect to be pioneers for technological progress but temper it with good old fashioned human interaction, and interaction with other methods of learning.

Demographics Write Up

Student Class Enrollment	Males: 14                      Females: 8          Total: 22
Grade Level in your class	7th grade
Subject Taught	Science
Demographics:
School Socio-Economic Status	32.7  %  free and reduced lunch
School Location	Suburban
Describe relevant aspects of your School & Community that influence and/or impact teaching & learning.	Classroom Demographics: This class is filled with a diverse base of students. Several of them speak multiple languages (including 3 ELLS— one student speaks no English.) Because of the location of the school, a middle class downtown, there is a decent amount of parent support available. Most of the students are receiving at least some assistance/guidance from one of their parents on a weekly basis. There are a few students who receive little to no support from anyone at home whether with homework for class, or with getting breakfast in the morning.When these students arrive having had no breakfast, it is a challenge for them to engage with learning. Thankfully, two para educators are available to help  with school projects and classroom facilitation of experiments. Also, having as much technology as is available makes connecting the widely diverse students to the material a little easier. Technology stationed in the classroom includes 1 Smart board, 1 Document camera, 1 digital camera, a flip camera, and 1 Smart table. Also available upon request are a Smart response system, and up to 16 netbooks. School Demographics:  In the heart of Downtown Olympia, this school is surrounded by people from all over the socio-economic spectrum. The town has little ethnic diversity, but this district is the most diverse in the immediate area. The school's principal values reading and literacy, and so the teachers have full support for any activities that reinforce literacy skills. The PTSA is an active part of the school, helping with field trips and in class activities that require funding. Unfortunately, this is not the school in the district that gets the most funding from the government. With the entire student body resting just under 500 students,and doesn’t get funding for many improvements. Thankfully, the Science department has some good connections with hardware stores. Also, the teacher’s union is incredibly active and strict in this district which can prove to be problematic for teacher-institution relations. Community Demographics:  The school is not very connected to the community, except for the school wide campaign to ‘keep it green’ as Olympia is at the frontlines to promote environmental sustainability. Volunteers are scarce (most of them are Elementary school parents and give their time to the Elementary school).  And the few here are not proficient at the technology used or the subject material. Financial support from the school goes mostly to the literature/humanities classes , but resources are not unheard of for the Science department.
Classroom Mobility *your classroom	4.5  % of student turnover within the school year
Race/Ethnicity *your classroom	4  %   Black                                     2 % Hispanic 65  % White                                    0  % American Indian 12  %  Asian/Pacific Islander       17 % Multiracial
Spoken Languages *your classroom	80  % English as a first language 12  % Fluent in English as a second language 8  % English-language learner
Identified Special Student Needs	2 Autistic Students (specialized instruction/ focus techniques) 3 ELL students One non-English speaker 1 student with an IEP for academics One slightly hearing impaired student Puberty.
Tech Standards for 7th grade (from OSPI website)	1.       INTEGRATION: Students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate, innovate ideas, investigate and solve problems. 1.1   Innovate: Demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products and processes using technology 1.1.1          Generate ideas and create original works for personal and group expression using a variety of digital tools. 1.1.2          Use models and simulations to explore systems, identify trends and forecast possibilities. 1.2   Collaborate: Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning or others. 1.2.1          Communicate and collaborate to learn with others. 1.2.2          Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of many cultures 1.3   Investigate and Think Critically: Research, manage and evaluate information and solve problems using digital tools and resources 1.3.1          Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation and plan strategies to guide inquiry. 1.3.2          Locate and organize information from a variety of sources and media. 1.3.3           Analyze, synthesize and ethically use information to develop a solution, make informed decisions and report results. 1.3.4          Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions. 2.         DIGITAL CITEZENSHIP: 2.1   Practice Safety: Demonstrate safe, legal and ethical behavior in the use of information and technology. 2.1.1          Practice personal safety. 2.1.2          Practice ethical and respectful behavior. 2.2   Operate Systems: Understand technology systems and use hardware and networks to support learning 2.2.1          Develop skills to use technology effectively. 2.2.2          Use a variety of hardware to support learning. 2.3   Select and Use Applications: Use productivity tools and common applications effectively and constructively. 2.3.1 Select and use common applications. 2.3.2 Select and use online applications. 2.4   Adapt to Change (Technology Fluency): Transfer current knowledge to new and emerging technologies. 2.4.1          Formulate and synthesize new knowledge.

Link to Cass

CassietheDuke

NETS

My chosen goals:


NETS for the teacher : 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
NETS for the student: 1 Creativity and Innovation