Fun With Technology!

Over the course of the semester, we have had a wide variety of technological resources that we have been able to explore. A lot of these resources are great tools that can be used in the classroom, and depending on the grade that I teach, I plan to use almost every single one in the classroom! We have learned technologies from blogs, to screencasts, to adobe spark and so much more! All of these are wonderful tools that are available to us as teachers for free! It is amazing to me looking at the school that I am in now, and how much teachers aren’t using these! I feel like a lot of teachers now a days aren’t always up to speed on the latest technology, but as far as I am concerned, I hope to teach my fellow coworkers about all the wonderful technology that is available right on our computers!

One of my favorite tools that we used this semester was the digital story that we most recently worked with. I love this tool because any grade level can use it! (The younger grades might need some help, but it can surely be done!) This tool has taught me so much about integrated technology, and I love how user friendly and simple It is! One aspect I really enjoy about this tool, is that any student can upload material to the story. Even for students that are at a lower level, this is a great tool because those students don’t have to feel the pressure to write (Especially the struggling ELL learners). They can say what they think, and add in pictures to help them portray what they want to say.

One lesson that I thought would be neat, is at the beginning of the year. In my classroom right now, we have a thing called “friend of the week,” where each student gets a week to let the class know all about them. I think that this could be a great tool for any student to use to tell about their life! They can put almost anything into it, and can even have help from the teacher if they don’t have a computer at home! The part that I love about the digital story, is that the student is narrating it, and can just be played during class time, so in case you have some students that are shy, they don’t have to present their information in front of the class at the beginning of the year!

This is such a fun tool to use in the classroom, and even with kids that have specific needs, you can accommodate it to almost any student! Some examples are by either talking instead of writing, real pictures instead of drawn pictures, working on it at school if the student doesn’t have a computer, and even uploading personal work! This tool has a variety of uses in the classroom, and I am excited to use this for my future class!

Screencast

I have given you 2 EDL Resource guideline examples of some ways you can use these in your own classroom! If you have any questions feel free to comment and I can give you some links, or some better descriptions if you need! 

Fair Use in the Classroom

In some instances, copyright materials can be used without permission depending on certain educational purposes under copyright law; this is known as Fair Use. This is the right to use portions of copyrighted material (without the permission of the copyrighter ) only for educational purposes. This can also be used for purposes of commentary or parody in some cases as well. However, fair use has some rules that are very specific and as long as educators comply with the,, it can prevent unwanted lawsuits. (This is so special because this is NOT the case for some general fair use principles). As teachers, we want to give our students real examples of things that happen in the world we live in today, and since these rules are put into play, we need to be careful that we are not infringing or copying other peoples work. I will give you an example to demonstrate a use of fair use for educational purposes:

A professor copies an article from a periodical that is used for distribution to the class. This is an example of fair use because when you distribute multiple copies for classroom uses, it is fair use. However, if you were to repeat the use of a copyright framework, from term to term, has to require more scrutiny for a more accurate evaluation. So sometimes

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the framework that determines whether of not something is being used under fair use, and also identifies those specific types of uses. (These can be criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarships as well as research) These laws are set in place, especially regarding any form of copyright, so that it protects certain kinds of original work. The protection of copyright especially fair use gives the owners protection of their creation.

Some people think that fair use is an exception or a carve out of the protection that we have under the first amendment, but this is an expansion of protection for authors, teachers, ect, but it is a fundamental right that we have to use it. Thanks to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the supreme court has ruled that fair use is in fact a "First Amendment Safeguard" However, just like the first amendment, fair use is a safe, broad and flexible term that is subject to change, and it supports the purpose of copyright to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts." One fun interesting statistic, is that experts estimate that industries reliant on the fair use concept, contributed $2.4 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2008-2009 or 17 percent of the US GDP.^1

One example that can be used in the classroom would be a line from a poem written by someone else. Let's say that we took a poem from Sheil Silverstein. Since the teacher used one line of a poem, it is protected under the fair use because the teacher is not using it as their own, they are using it to inspire other students to create their own poems. However, by duplicating that poem and selling it in a school fundraiser is not fair use.

CCIA, Fair Use in the US Economy, http://www.ccianet.org/wp content/uploads/ library/CCIA-FairUseintheUSEconomy-2011.pdf 

Visual or Verbal Learner?

We have all heard the theory that some students are visual learners, and some are auditory learners. You go through school telling yourself you are visual or auditory, and that is what you stick with because that is what comes easiest to you. You tend to tell yourself that you are one or the other, and refuse to acknowledge the other. You spend your whole time through school focusing just on that one specific need, and everything else is tailored around that. But is this really true? Are we just one or the other?

By now we all sure know the answer to this one, or for the most part know which one has worked for us in the past. However, are we really one or the other? The answer is no. Experts say that there are little to no evidence, to support that someone is a visual or verbal learner. When you look at evidence for different types of learning styles, most to that which would be convincing would tell you that "people of one preferred learning style learned better when taught material in their favored way, whereas a different group with a different preference learned the same material better when taught in their favorite fashion." However when we look at this, we often see that both groups perform better when they are taught by one style. Even though each and every one of us is unique, the most effective way that we can learn is not by our individual preferences, but by the nature of the material that we are being taught. (Christian Jarrett)

For example: A 2012 survey of teachers in the UK and the Netherlands revealed that the learning styles meshing hypothesis was the #1 neuromyth, believed by 93 percent and 96 percent. (L&D Neuromyth) When you look at a questions such as this one, it is so hard to put people into one group or the other. Most of the time ironically you wouldn't even know if you were learning visually or verbally. David J.M. Kraemer is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and has made a valid point regarding this myth.


"An important feature of processing in a specific cognitive style is that when one encounters a stimulus that is presented in a non-preferred modality, one mentally converts that information into his or her preferred modality."

We tend to think that we are one or the other, when in reality our brains can just process the information the same way, no matter what learning style you prefer! Isn't that awesome?  So everything that we perceive we can take in one way or the other.

Since our whole industry has been sprouted based on learning styles, there are different products, that are targeted to tailor to different learning styles. However, time and time again, researchers are still finding NO evidence, that backs up the idea. "We have not found evidence from a randomized control trial supporting any of these, and until such evidence exists, we don't recommend that they be used." (Willingham)

When teaching, it is important to tailor to your students needs in the classroom. You know them the best! But when you are looking at comparing the visual to auditory myth, don't consider it into any of your teaching strategies. Willingham suggests it might be more useful for teachers to figure out similarities in our our brains learn, rather than differences. There is more common ground there, and by mixing things up in the classroom is something that is scientifically supported that boosts attention.

Sources: 

http://www.edutopia.org/article/learning-styles-real-and-useful-todd-finley

https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Science-of-Learning-Blog/2015/07/LD-Neuromyth-Learning-Styles

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/08/29/139973743/think-youre-an-auditory-or-visual-learner-scientists-say-its-unlikely

https://www.wired.com/2015/01/need-know-learning-styles-myth-two-minutes/ (Christian Jarrett)

Blogs in the Classroom

Since I will most likely be teaching in lower elementary, having the students blog themselves might not be the best idea. However, in my classroom that I am teacher assisting in, my CT does something similar to a blog that I might use in my classroom. My CT has a Facebook page, however you could also use a blog as well, but in this case, Facebook is the easiest. After each day, she posts pictures of the kids, and the activities and work that we have done during that day. It is something that is nice for parents especially because they can see what their kids were doing during the school day. It is a private account, where only my CT can add or accept the parent's friend requests. I think that its a good way for parents to communicate with one another as well as enable them to see the pictures of their kids during the school day. Other than doing just picture posts, blogs can also be replaced for emails. This could be a place where parents and teachers can communicate effectively, and post weekly assignments and information about the upcoming week, versus printing it out and having the students lose it.

If I ever decided to teach in an upper elementary classroom, blogs are also a great way for kids to publish their work, almost as a portfolio. Students could then comment on their work, and can work together to make improvements. Just like we are doing in this class, we are able to comment on our classmates work, as well as build a portfolio that could help them as they move along in their education. The kids could also look at blogs beyond their classmates, almost like looking up an article online, it can be used as a safer alternative where they could look up what interests them. Blogs can also be a good way to explain to them and talk to them about plagiarism. It is a good tool to teach them about using their own work, and to not copy the work of others.

However, there are some constraints and problems with using blogs as well. Some students and parents not might be that familiar with using a blog, and could cause some confusion if asked to post something outside of the classroom. Sometimes too you could have families that cannot afford to use a computer or might not have any access to a computer at home, which would enable the child not to participate. Especially with students that are older, you could run into issues as plagiarism, if the students didn't have any time to make their own posts. Although there are some ups and downs to using a blog, I could see myself using it as a future teacher, and educating my students and parents about the importance of using a blog.

Character Analysis

The character I chose to analyze is DJ Tanner from the television show Full House. During the show, she attended Fraiser Street Elementary, and as the show went on, she attended Van Atta Junior High school, and then later Bayview high school. During her times at school, she was always a good student. She would always do her homework, and do her best to get the best possible grades that she could get. She had a close group of friends that lived around her, and also hung around at school. During her years during the show, she was very close wither family, as were her friends. They lived in San Diego in a 3 story house.


During school, DJ would do her best to get all her work done, as well as keep her friends on the right track as well. She was a very bright girl, and during the show she was always taught a lesson by her father one way or another. She handles tough situations with ease, and generally got mad at her father a lot of the time, but was very forgiving towards him at the end, because she then realized the lessons he was trying to teach her. She is quick to apologize, and was a good friend to everyone that came in her path.


If DJ was a student in my class, personally she would be a friend that I could go to for advice, as well as a tutor. She was very bright, and eventually after high school got accepted to U.C. Berkley. She was a great role model to everyone around her, and was a personal role model to myself as I watched this show. I watched Full House when I was in middle school and high school, and I loved how relatable the show was. There were real life situations always ending up in a lesson which is what I loved. The way DJ was able to handle those situations, made it relatable and someone I wanted myself to be.


As far as technology goes, I know that sometimes DJ had to study a lot, and helped a lot of her friends study. There are many tools now a days that gives you online flashcards, as well as games on my favorite website Quizlet that would have been very useful to her during this time.


DJ's Wikipedia website!
This is also another website, that tells you a lot about DJ Tanner from Full House!

This is a video of Dj at school. In this scene from episode 2 of Season 3, Back to School Blues, DJ Tanner is in junior high, and she learns the hard way that girls can be so mean to each other sometimes when she is teased in the lunchroom by Colleen and her gang, a clique of mean girls. (I felt bad for her when I saw this scene for the first time.)

About Me

My name is Faith Bart, and my planned certification once I graduate from Grand Valley is an elementary certificate with a group social studies major and a history emphasis. All my life I have been a swimmer, and that is something that I love. I take pride in the fact that I was on the Grand Valley's Varsity swim team for 4 years, and was named captain my senior year in 2015-2016. I love to be outside, and I have been a lifeguard for 7 years, and a swim coach for the same amount of time.

I haven't had much experience using technology and planning in a classroom setting, but I am very familiar with technology as a whole. My mother is a parapro at East Kentwood middle school, and I have a lot of teachers in my family, so I am familiar with some programs that are used on ipads, and computers as well. The only other experience I have with technology and students are just mainly from my observations that I have done over my years of watching students use them.

In this video includes a video of my swim team at Grand Valley. This team has shaped the person I am today, as well as given me the abilities to work in a team setting. This is just a short video of what our team does on our training trip every year in Orlando, Florida during winter break! It is along video, but if anyone has some time you can watch how our team truly bonds together! Enjoy!

This was a picture that was taken of me a few days ago in my placement. I love this because this was my first time where my CT let me take over a day of teaching the alphabet.