EDLD 5366, Week 5 Reflection

As I reflect back to the beginning of this technology course, all the feelings of being inadequate with technology were present. I am quite a bit older than a lot of the other classmates and while I have had a lot of teaching experience, I did not grow up with the technology training or experiences as most of my younger peers. I had the feeling that I was coming upon a hurdle that may be too tall to clear. During the discussion posts, as I reflected upon the readings of each week, I gained strength and knowledge with reading my classmates reflections and reading their responses to my own reflections. I began to look at technology in a different way. I also learned that I wasn’t lacking that far behind my classmates with my technology skills. I needed to remember the words of Costa and Kallick (2000) “in reflective schools, there is no such thing as failure—only the production of personal insights from one's experiences.” I would need to remember this. No student should fail, and no educator should fail, as we all have to learn at our own pace and in our own way. The reflections helped me understand my fears and gain confidence at the same time. During all of this mental turmoil, I realized that the purpose of this course was to help me grow and gain new information that would help me grow as a person.

This technology course would teach me that I am learning as a learner, but in my own way. According to Gerstein (2014), she believes some of the “other skills and attributes” of the 21st century learning are “grit, resilience, effective oral and written communication, vision, critical thinking and problem solving, self-regulation, and empathy and global stewardship.” I can now say that I agree whole heartedly. It took grit and resilience in not letting the skills of the computer leave me behind. As part of the course assignment, a group of students had to make a collaborative webpage. I used Facebook and a Google document for my written communication with my team. I was fortunate enough to have a group of educators that wanted and had high expectations for our efforts into our project of creating the website. We tossed out ideas, our imagination, and our vision into what we felt our website should be. I learned to be accepting of others, even if my ideas were still lurking in the background of my mind. I gained new learning of how to embed resources into our site, as well as learn how to use some new technology tools. I created my own logo using my imagination and problem solving skills. I put my faith and hope into my classmates and valued their opinions of my own thinking. Their validation of my efforts helped me gain confidence in my technology efforts. I realized that I had faced technology as a huge monster and that wasn’t the case at all. I was learning, having fun, and succeeding. I wasn’t as technology challenged as I had previously thought. I now feel very confident in knowing how to create my own website and how to embed all the various resources into my website as well.

The knowledge that we can gain with technology is never ending. I know that I have gained skills and new thinking of myself that will be useful to me throughout my life. With the help of my classmates, course readings, the discussion forum, my professor, the web conferences, and other avenues and resources, I have learned that by intertwining hard work, critical thinking and problem solving skills with my own perseverance and quest for knowledge, I can learn anything. It is this drive that I must instill in those I lead and educate, regardless of the age. As a lifelong learner I must challenge those educators that I will lead someday to reach out and not be afraid. There will be those surrounding them that can help, collaborate, teach and lead them into new learning, just as I have been in this educational journey. There will be new strategies, new technologies and new ideas that will be worthy of our investigations, and we must do so with “grit, resilience, effective oral and written communication, vision, critical thinking and problem solving, self-regulation, and empathy and global stewardship” (Gerstein, 2014). This process of learning will be reflected upon and new learning can emerge. According to Gerstein (2011), “the only way that educators can teach and promote reflective practice by their students (of all ages) in their own classrooms is to engage in, embrace, and fully understand this process themselves.”

Implementing the use of web 2.0 tools into a PK-12 classroom is essential for today’s students. There are numerous websites within the reach of teachers that can be used in everyday teachings from the pre-kindergarten level to grade twelve. I believe that we must first make sure that all teachers are comfortable with using various web 2.0 tools, so that they will implement them into their lesson plans and classrooms on a daily basis. This would be done through professional development and leadership on the administration. Schools need to have detailed expectations for teachers regarding the use of web 2.0 tools. Students are already using them and just need to be challenged with their use of the web 2.0 tools. That challenge must come from teachers. Students need the teacher’s guidance to do more than just play with the tools. Schools need to implement the guidelines for when, why, and how we should be using the web 2.0 tools. If we address the use of web 2.0 tools with the teachers, then the use of these tools within the classroom will be used every day! It is up to the teachers and schools to make this change.

References

Costa, A. & Kallick, B. (2000). Getting into the habit of reflection. Educational leadership; sustaining change. 57. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr00/vol57/num07/Getting-into-the-Habit-of-Reflection.aspx

Gerstein, J. (2011, August). Where is reflection in the learning process? Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/

Gerstein, J. (2014, February). The other 21st century skills: why teach them. Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/the-other-21st-century-skills-why-teach-them/

EDLD 5366, Week 4, Web Site Collaboration

During week four of EDLD Digital Graphics and Web Design, we had to work in collaborative groups to create an educational website. My group participants were phenomenal! We worked great together and accomplished a very useful website. Check it out!

EDLD 5366, Week 3 Assignment, Animation

This week we had to create an animation with at least 10 or more steps. I created mine using the open source animation software called Stykz. It was a lot of fun, but frustrating at times because it was the first time I had ever made an animation. Although it is a very short animation, I still hope you gain some enjoyment from viewing it.

EDLD 5366, Week 2 Assignment, A Logo Designed by Me!

This is a personal logo that I designed with an educational twist! This was made as a requirement for a technology class I have to have as part of my master's program. I plan on using it on my educational website!

EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics, Animation, and Web Design: A Post for Week 1 - Assignment 1.2

The manuscript that I selected was Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. My first impression of this manuscript was that it was beautifully written. The entire manuscript appeared to be bound in a leather cover with the title printed in gold. This could imply that it was held in high regards. All the print was uniformly written and the spacing was consistent throughout. It is one that I would love to add to my personal library!

I found all four principles of design represented within the works. An example of contrast could be found in the use of the printed page. The print looked like it was in calligraphy with black ink. The letters of the body text were uniform in size and color except for the titles of the chapters. The first letter in the word “chapter” and the number of the chapter were written in large, crimson red calligraphy print. The chapter titles were about ten times as big as the body text. An example of repetition could be seen in the uniform size of letters and they were written very straight horizontally as if a straightedge had been used. Another example of repetition was that a beautiful leaf vine was separating the chapter titles from the body text throughout the entire manuscript. Repetition was also shown in the pictures. They were all sketched in great detail. An alignment example would be that there was even spacing all around the page between the page edge and the print as well as the pictures. All of the smaller pictures were inside a square space along the edges of the page. There were no lines around the drawing, but it was as if someone had measured a square off to the side and the sketch was inside the square fitting perfectly. The print aligned perfectly up to the drawing for the length of the drawing until it could again go across the full width of the page. The example of proximity could be found with these sketches as well. The sketches were aligned to the right or left of the print that mentioned the happenings in the sketches. This gave the reader an ease of looking slightly right or left of the print to focus on the sketch. Another example of proximity was the use of the sketches that covered a whole page. Again, there was perfect alignment with the drawing being in the middle of the page with the exact same space between the drawing and the edge of the page. Except this time, the drawing had an outline in the shape of a rectangle. The sketch took up the entire space within the rectangle outline as if to bring closure to the sketch.

Sharing My Research Findings

At this point in my action research plan, I hope to share my action research plan with my interning principal, assistant principal and the teachers in my school. Sharing the findings of my action research with the teachers is something that I will need to confirm with my administrators on my building. Since this is my first action research project, and I feel very green with the process. My goal is to not only search and process the data that can answer my leading question of whether interactive science notebooks are effective with students’ learning, but to walk away from this experience with new knowledge of how the action research actually works and learning its’ process. This new knowledge is what I want to share with my administrators and teachers. If I can prove my research question with the supporting data that can answer the leading question of my research, then I can share that result with a sense of confidence that I have increased my knowledge and their knowledge as well, which will increase the success of the student. This is one of the most prevalent reasons educators should be conducting research; to help increase student success. On the other hand, if my research falls short of being able to answer the leading research question, then all of the processes and data gathered hopefully will bring about new questions and learning regarding my research. Either way, I am learning and growing as an educator. These shared new learnings might be just enough to intrigue the teachers to think about how and why they are using the interactive science notebooks, which will increase their knowledge and thus, lead to an increase in student success.

Another Action Research Update

I have reviewed the four critical tasks that I used in sharing my action research project, and I want to briefly explain why these tasks will be covered. According to Dana (2009), the first of the four critical tasks is “providing background information” (p.163). It will be important for me to share the background information so that I can tell others why I am intrigued by the topic I chose. I am curious how others feel about my action research topic and what I hope to gain from their insights. The second critical task is “sharing the design of the inquiry (procedures, data collection, and data analysis)” (p. 163). So that I don’t just reflect on what I did, I will include the systematic way of how I performed my action research, and why I chose the particular methods of what I did including the data collection and the analysis of that collection. The third critical task is dealing with “stating the learning and supporting the statements with data” (pg. 163). This is where I will prove my case or build my argument. I will need to support the findings by providing the evidence from my data. I will use as much data as possible so that I have a running record of evidence to support my statements from my learning. The more sources I have, the stronger my case becomes. The fourth and last critical task from Dana (2009) is “providing concluding thoughts” (p. 168). I will need to remember that after I complete my action plan, I may or may not have the answers to the initial questions or leading question of my research. All of my work will not be done in vain, as I will have answers to my questions, or now I will have additional questions and new areas for inquiry towards my research.

References

Dana, Nancy F. (2009). The travelogue: Sharing your work with others. Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher (pp. 135-170). Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.