Week 12: What was Learned from Other Presentations

I had to opportunity to view Amy's, Jenn's, and Gen's PowerPoint presentations. All of them did a great job at supporting their ideas with research. Some used direct quotes from researchers which helped support what they were saying. Amy mentioned that technology cannot replace human interactions, but it can be supplemental. I thought that this was a very good point- that hands-on manipulatives and oral conversations (and things of the sort) can not be completely replaced by technology- but through adding technology to these methods, the same objectives and standards can be not only met, but understood at a deeper level. Gen mentioned the fact that we need to be careful to watch for the implications in health that some technology may have. She suggested limiting screen time and choosing programs where the graphics are not overwhelming. This is always good to keep in mind, and something I didn't think about. Some children can spend hours in front of a computer, but too long of a period looking at a screen could be detrimental to their eyes, etc. This is a great thing to remember- to monitor the students' use of technology.

Week 12: Slideshow Presentation

Technology and ECE

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Week 10: Technology for teaching Literacy and Mathematics

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING LITERACY:
Content: Kindergarten Language Arts Standard 3, Objective 5, Indicators A: "Substitute initial sound (e.g., replace the first sound in mat to /s/, say sat)" and B: "Substitute initial sound to create new words (e.g., replace the first sound in mat with letters of the alphabet)."
Pedagogy: Through this lesson, children will be taught by explicit instruction and using their inquiry process skills. In order for children to learn to read, phonological and phonemic awareness are crucial. Being able to manipulate, substitute, delete, morph, etc. phonemes within words is a key indicator of later reading success. This lesson will focus on orally manipulating phonemes which can help children recognize (orally) that the pieces of words can be taken away and other pieces can be added and you can have a new word.
Technology: Through the internet resource "Internet4Classrooms Kindergarten Resources" and then by clicking on "Phonics" you are lead to a long list of great websites and activities to help teach phonics and phonological awareness. Then by clicking on number 24 "Phonemic Segments- Deletion and Substitution" it takes you to a website called "Lanolin's Greenhouse." Here a friendly sheep holds up a picture of a simple word (man, cat, boy, etc.) and orally asks you to take off either the first or last sound and replace it with a new sound. They have 2 plants: one with a picture of the correct answer, and another with an incorrect but slightly close answer.
This can definitely be used within a literacy lesson. As the students work up the skills to get to the point where they can understand phoneme manipulation (after phoneme identification, isolation, etc), this can be used to help them solidify their skills. After teaching the students how phonemes can be deleted and added onto existing words, this program can show them that many words sound similar but are very different in actuality. In the screen shot above, it shows a picture of a man and the program asks the students to take off the /m/ sound and replace it with a /c/ sound- they do not sound out the word they are supposed to find but they have a picture of the one they are supposed to sound out (and a picture of one close to what it sounds like). So the students are to click on the can, which sounds close to van. This program will help within a lesson of teaching phoneme manipulation because it shows that there are many words that have the same sound endings and beginnings but it is important to pay close attention to what is exactly being said. The students can also look for real life examples in the classroom and compare how they are sounded out.

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING MATHEMATICS:
Content: Second Grade Mathematics, Standard 1, Objective 2, Indicators A: "Divide geometric shapes into two, three, or four equal parts and identify the parts as halves, thirds, or fourths" and/or C: "Represent the unit fractions 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 with objects, pictures, words (e.g., ___out of ___ equal parts), and symbols."
Pedagogy: Through classifying and processing data the students will learn the symbolic relationships between fractions as a visual and as a symbol/numerator and denominator. They will describe these relationships of fractions and construct hypotheses of relationships and equivalences.
Technology: Through the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and by clicking on "Number and Operations" under the "Pre-K-2" tab and scrolling down and clicking on "Fractions-Parts of a Whole" it leads to an activity that looks like this:
This shows the the relationship between the parts of a whole unit to written description and fraction. The students can play around with the parts of the "pie" and what it looks like in a fraction and as written out. They can change how many pieces make up a whole (5 fifths, 8 eighths, etc) and see what the fractions look like for that many pieces.

The other activity can be found under the MathTools website. By searching "Math 2" and the topic "Fractions" you come up with a long list of fraction visual manipulatives. Then you can click on "Fractions- Comparing" and you see an activity like this:
This allows students to play around with fractions. They are to find the equivalences to certain fractions. They are given the red and blue already shaded in and they can increase or decrease the pieces that make up the whole. It shows that the shaded area can be 1/2 or 3/6's, etc.

Both of these activities could tie into learning about fractions. The students can refer to either activity to solidify the concepts learned. If a student is having trouble understanding how the symbol of the "pie" equals the written version, I can send them to work with the first activity and they can manipulate the "pie" and the written fraction and see how they both change and see the relation between the two when they do. If a student is having trouble with equivalences between fractions I can use the second activity to show them that 2 written fractions may have all different numbers but they still mean the exact same thing (they can see that the shaded area never changes, no matter how many pieces make up the whole).

Week 9: Reading / One Laptop Per Child / Digital Cameras

READING:
I read the article(s) on the website "Early Connections: Technology in Early Childhood Education". I really liked how they tied technology with many other developmental aspects, such as: language skills, social development, and cognition. There really is a strong connection between all these things and technology. I also liked how they gave health tips on using technology (such as what to do when you are sitting at a computer for too long). They also gave a small list of informative sites that can help a teacher find the right software for her class. This is great to have because there are so many computer games that claim to help children and these sites help you find the ones that actually do.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD:
I really enjoyed learning about these amazing machines. It was neat to see a laptop that a child can completely run on their own. For a child to use just a regular computer, they usually need help starting it up, opening certain programs, or fixing errors or problems. This laptop looked and seem so simple that the child could operate it all by themselves and I find that amazing. At this price, I really think I could afford to have a few in my classroom. In the video they mentioned that introducing these impoverished children to laptops can help them to later gain jobs that they might not have because of the skills taught through using a laptop. I found this to be very true and important- to stand out from the rest of your community, you can have computer skills which can make you that much more marketable.
DIGITAL CAMERAS:
For my intended activity using digital cameras, I would draw from the 2nd grade curriculum, Content Core, Standard 3, Objective 3, Indicator B, which states, "Sort rocks based upon color, hardness, texture, layering, and particle size". I would separate the class into small groups of 3 or 4 and allow each group to have one digital camera. We would then go outside and they would take pictures of all the different types of rocks they see. They would be encouraged to get a wide variety and to try and not take pictures of the same 2 types of rocks. This would be all previous to the explicit rock instruction. They would then come inside and I would print off their pictures (around 15-20 of them). I would then give instruction on the different classifications of rocks and all their different uses. After this instruction I would give them their pictures that their group took and a poster board and it would be their task to separate them by color, hardness, texture and/or uses. This will allow for inquiry based thinking and independent learning because there is no exact right or wrong answer- they can classify them how they wish. They would glue all their pictures down and label their classification groups and present it to the class.

Week 9- Technology Inventory Interview

I had the opportunity to interview Sherry Parham of Wilsonville, Oregon who owns and operates a preschool located in a community church building. She has been a part of this Frog Pond Preschool for just over 5 years. She has a younger preschool aged class every Tuesday and Thursday for 3 1/2 hours and she has an older preschool aged class every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for 4 hours. She is busy all day everyday either planning lessons and activities or teaching in the class. It is a private preschool where the parent needs to apply for their child every year they wish to attend.

There are not as many technological devices as Sherry wishes to have in her classroom. She does have one computer, donated by a parent, which rarely ever works. When it does work, her students play educational computer games that are interactive. They wear headphones while on the computer if the program produces noise. This computer is very old and freezes frequently while the students are playing their games. She also allows the students to use the Paint program and draw pictures there. There is a digital camera in her classroom but it is teacher-use only. She uses this camera to take pictures every single day and at the end of the school year she compiles a small binder/notebook showing what the students did all throughout the year. She also gives a CD out along with these notebooks that includes all the pictures of that particular child. So each parent receives a CD with all the pictures of their child on it that are not included in the class notebook/binder. In her preschool there are also a lot of electronic toys. There is a large toy with all the alphabet letters, colored shapes and numbers that announces what you are pressing. There is a function where the toy announces the sound of the letter they are pressing so that the students can make the words for themselves. In Frog Pond preschool there are many interactive electronic toys donated by the parents (such as a fire truck that makes a variety of related sounds, and a tea part set which also makes related sounds). Another neat piece of technology that Mrs. Parham has is a large commercial copier. This was donated by a local company. She uses this to copy some of the students work and she also allows the students to press the buttons at times.

When I asked her what technologies she wished she had had, she told me she would have liked to have had a few newer computers along with some more interactive software games. The children seemed to love the computer games and she wishes she had the money to provide games that are more intellectually stimulating but still fun. She also told be she would love to have a video camera. She has seen how many children love to see themselves on TV or be recorded and watch it later. She has a few lesson plan ideas in relation to this; she just needs a tape recorder! She said that would be the only way she would incorporate a TV into her classroom instruction because she feels that there are better ways to teach her curriculum than watching a movie.

Sherry told me that she uses technology to plan her lessons almost every time. She does have curriculum books and a bunch of lesson plans, but when she needs other ideas or supplemental activities she browses through the internet. She is always typing up a newsletter for each month for each of the families. She creates CD mixes by purchasing fun children's songs that they can dance to. She plays these CD's while the children are doing many of their activities. She is always printing pictures, words, letters, etc. for her lesson plans. She has a list of great internet sites that she refers to every week for some great activity ideas for her students.

I asked Mrs. Parham if it would make her nervous to incorporate newer technology- I was curious about how she felt about letting the students use digital cameras, or newer computers- would they be able to understand them?, would they be able to be careful or gentle? She told me that she has discovered how natural technology seems to come to young students. Most of her students have technology at home and have their own computers. She feels that she only needs to remind them a few times that they need to be careful, but otherwise, the students seem naturally in-tune with how to work technology.

Wk 8

Here is an updated link with a recorded tour for the Oregon Trail. I'm unsure if this recorded tour was required...
http://sites.google.com/site/theoregontrailsite/my-files-of-oregon-trail

Week 8: My Google Earth Tour

The link below contains my Google Earth tour of the Oregon trail within my filing cabinet on google sites as a .kmz file.

http://sites.google.com/site/theoregontrailsite/my-files-of-oregon-trail

or try:

http://sites.google.com/site/theoregontrailsite/
and then click on My Files of Oregon Trail and then on The Oregon Trail2.kmz