Technology/TPACK Lesson

Application
Describe an instructional activity (e.g. part of a lesson plan) where you can incorporate this technology. Consider an activity that can be conducted in 5-10 minutes.
First, provide some details regarding:

• Learners: The learners will be for 1st grade English.
• Learning outcomes: At the end of this activity students will gain a better understanding of the meaning of nouns. They will be able to identify nouns by either person, place, or a thing.
• Assessment: Students will be informally assessed by their identification of nouns on the game. We will play the game together as a class but each student will be asked to identify the noun in the sentence. This will help me check for understanding of each child's knowledge over Nouns.

Second, break down your activity into a timeline of planned events and procedures. Here you should describe what students and the teacher will be doing chronologically during the activity. Below is one of the good examples from previous reflections:

• As the teacher I will introduce nouns by having the students watch a short video on YouTube called the "Noun Song". https://youtu.be/8p5UhEKmA7g
• The students will watch the 3 minute video. Once the video is over we will discuss what nouns are.
• I will have the students share an example of a noun.
• After each student has given an example of a noun. I will pull up a noun game on http://www.abcya.com/nouns_and_verbs.htm to play as a class.
• Each student will be called on to identify the Noun in the sentence of our game.

Reflection

Considering your learning activity described above, write two paragraphs or three for each section below addressing the questions. It may be helpful to keep in mind the followings when reflecting:

1. Technology was a big support for my lesson and teaching strategies used. It helped keep all of my students engaged by giving them examples of what a noun was. The video used at the beginning of the lesson helped introduce students to what nouns are as well as give them a better description of them. This method allowed the students to visually see the examples as well as hear them. Then at the end incorporating incorporating the game to assess the students on what they had learned from the video helped students kinesthetically be involved in their learning. It let them practice what they learned in a fun way.

2. The use of the Smart board in this lesson helped students be more engaged with the lesson. Students were able to come up to the Smart board to help them as well as their peers practice finding noun. If I was to teach this lesson again, I would try to go more in depth about nouns and how they are not only found in the beginning of the sentence. I think this caused some confusion in my students when they played the game and had to choose other nouns found in the sentence. I liked having the students come up to the front of the classroom it allows the students to practice feeling comfortable around others. In addition, it helps provide a safe environment classroom where they will know it’s okay for them to make mistakes and ask for help from their peers.  Overall I believe the use of technology help incorporate and engage students more to be motivated to understand the material better

3D Printing in the classroom

3D printing in a classroom can open up so many possibilities on learning for students. It’s a new way of integrating students into a new way of learning. Technological advancements allows for new ways of using 3d printing.  I really enjoyed looking through the Thingiverse website. It shares so many ideas on how to be able to incorporate 3D printing into your own classroom. It was very easy to navigate as well as all the ideas given opened up the great possibilities for its use. Tinkercad is another website very beneficial for 3D printing in the classroom. Tinkercad would be a website that allows students to get creative. It allows them to come up with their own ideas of what they may want to create then print. This can create a greater desire for students to want to learn subjects. It sets the classroom environment into a place where learning can be fun.

Reflection 2

I was assigned to read “Technology’s Role in the Field Experiences for Preservice Teacher Training” and “Teachers Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Learning”. Both of these articles cover different aspects of integrating technology into a classroom as well as the benefits and conflicts that can come with it. Technology is becoming very common in classrooms today but it can be something that can be complicated for those teachers who are less “tech savvy”.

In the article “Technology’s Role in Field Experiences” goes over the benefits that have come along with having field experiences in teacher preparation programs. These field experiences play an important role for students because it can help a student decide whether if teaching is the right career option for them. As well as giving students opportunity to practice skills prior to actually going out and student teaching. It allows students to put themselves in the spot of actually feeling like a teacher and improving their attitude towards teaching. Sometimes, student teachers can view field experiences as an off campus activity instead of viewing as a learning activity or future job training. Student teachers can view the experience as a “learn the skill” approach and don’t put much thought about how the experience can relate to their own education.

It is stated that technology can be implemented into a student’s field experience in 3 different ways. These are set up in 3 different tiers: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 technology enhanced field experiences. Type 1 experiences involve student teachers being placed in a real classroom where they teach and/or observe real students. This provides the traditional field experience approach. I feel like this approach has more benefits for students. It allows you as a future to teacher to actually interact with the students and learn ways to work on classroom management. It also gives you the opportunity to communicate with the teacher you are observing. They can provide you with instant feedback and advice on how to better succeed in the classroom. This experience allows for student teacher to pick and choose the grade where they want to be placed.  

Type 2 experiences, allow students to gain experiences by observing teachers and students in real classrooms via video conferencing or pre-recorded video cases available on CD’s or the internet. This type of experience can have benefits to being implemented into a college classroom. I believe this experience could be used for when students in the education program barely start observing. This could be set up as a class in general and have the whole class observe the teacher with the students. It would be more cost efficient for students and less time consuming. They can get the virtual view of a field experience. As well as it can broaden the area’s of where students can observe. For example, we live in a very small town so teaching in our area is different from a city. Video conferencing can be set up to where students can observe teachers in other areas such as Chicago. This would allow students to see how teaching in our area may be different to that of another.  Video experiences can be irrelevant and can cause conflict o how this applies to their educational context. Other difficulties can arise when using technology in these settings. The quality of the video or audio can arise.

Type 3 experiences are set up to be a simulated classroom environment. It is more of a virtual practice class. This experience gives student teachers an artificial reality of what a classroom with a teacher and students would be like. I believe this type of experience is the least beneficial because it can have technical difficulties when trying to do the simulation. In addition, I think this experience could in some form help prepare students and allow them feel what a classroom may look/feel like before being placed into the real thing. I personally wouldn’t enjoy this type of experience for the reason that I would rather see the actual teaching going on. This experience could be seen as not real enough so it may not be taken as serious by students.

In the article “Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical” it discusses the use of TPACK. TPACK is a method of integrating technology in practice in classrooms. This approach emphasizes the importance of assisting teachers to develop, integrate, and understand technology. TPACK is broken down into Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Technological Knowledge(TK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPK),  and Technological Content Knowledge (TCK). Content Knowledge is what you know about the material that is either learned or to be taught. Pedagogical Knowledge is how much knowledge is known about the processes, practices of teaching, the goals, values, strategies,etc… This requires for a great understanding of the cognitive, social, and developmental theories of learning as well as how to apply them into a classroom. While TPACK is a framework, it requires flexibility and fluency in other words, each influences the other in extensive ways that it can be used to accommodate each teacher’s teaching style. Technology creates many opportunities within the classroom. It can enhance existing learning types but it also can create new ones. This allows for teachers to meet different student needs.

Khan Academy is source of technology that can be used into classrooms. It provides a wide variety of videos over different topics. I watched the video over multiplying by 10’s. This video can be very beneficial for students who may have a hard time understanding how to multiply using 10’s. Khan Academy goes slow enough to where you can keep up with the problem they are working out. It is very informative as it explains the steps as they are working out the problems. I liked how they had  variety of videos covering different subjects. It can be implemented into different grade levels.

Technology can be implemented into classrooms very easily. In the college level, I can see how Khan Academy can benefit students. It provides a source to help learn material you may not fully comprehend. It can also be used in lower education such as elementary depending on what material may need to be covered. The technology methods stated in the articles. I can see how using technology in field experiences can be used. The idea of having video conferencing to set up an observation is very modern. Today people are easily able to facetime with friends and family. Incorporating what is already being used into a classroom setting definitely opens up more doors for students to experience.

Reflection 1

Technology is definitely something that is used everyday in our lives. It is used in schools, at home, and at work. Technology is constantly being changed and upgraded to satisfy humans needs. 

One example of this was in the article "Teaching robots right from wrong", it talks about how in 2015 a robot carer was created strong enough to lift frail patients from their bed. As well as some of these robots being deployed for Army use to assist in the battlefield without human involvement. The question that comes to mind is how do you teach these robots right from wrong? It raises an ethical issue on whether they can learn emotions such as humans have. 

In the article " Summon the comfy chairs" it talks about the Walt Disney Movie of Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins with a snap of her finger the house cleans itself. It shows how items similar to the movie are starting to become a thing of the present. Household robots are items actually starting to show up in stores for people to buy. An example of this is the iRobot by Roomba, which vacuums up on its own. It's not surprising if other household items have technology involved making everyday cleaning easier. 

Technology in classrooms now is something that is very common. Teachers have things such as smart boards in which they use to provide students a way to interact and learn in a more modern way. Now a days in classrooms, students have access to iPads and other consoles to help with their education. What does this mean for teachers? It means teachers will have to stay up to date on how to use this technology and have training on how to properly incorporate it into their classrooms. Which puts pressure on keeping up to date software to use in the classroom. In other words it can be something that not all schools have enough funding for. In other words it may be a disadvantage for these areas.

Technology has its good and its bad but it has definitely come a long way since its creation. It provides us with ways to easily access the world around us at only one click either from our laptops or phones.