electronic portfolio and best wishes

I wasn't sure if we absolutely needed to post our portfolio page but here it is........
http://vbomberger.weebly.com
Good luck to everyone in their quest to teach. Thanks for the support, guidance and good information.
Best Wishes!

Blog/Final Night/12/16/09

I learned so many things in this class that will make me a more effective teacher. First, I don’t feel quite so awkward around educational technology and I am better versed in some of the vocabulary. Since I am in the school system already, I hear some of the terminology and now I understand most of the conversation regarding technology. I only wish that I would be invited to the technology meetings that the teachers get to attend. The teachers have computers to work on and if I did attend I had to watch. This did not give me much hands-on experience. I am chomping at the bit now.

I believe being exposed to all of the things that we learned (i.e., Excel Spreadsheets, Social Bookmarking, Blogging, Smartboard, Interactive PowerPoint, PSA project, etc.) will make me a more effective teacher.

I definitely will make a conscious effort to integrate technology in my classroom because I do feel it is important. I also feel it brings a different feel to the classroom for these NET Geners. I feel it makes the classroom come alive. I love that it levels the playing field for all learners. I am definitely all for that. I can’t wait to integrate Smartboards into lessons and tests. I also did not know about teacher tube and I thought that was pretty cool.

            The two most challenging projects for me were the PSA project and the electronic portfolio. Who am I kidding…not being a NET GENER it was all pretty challenging but I made it and actually liked it! 

Interactive Whiteboards/Smartboards

Interactive whiteboards/Smartboards are absolutely an asset in the today’s classrooms, in my opinion. I am presently working in a middle school classroom with 7^th and 8^th grade part-time learning support students. We will be moving into our “New” school right around the holiday break or the Christmas break as some call it. Our new and improved school will have more state of the art technology than our old school. As I hear our district is on the cutting edge regarding technology. Yes, some of our middle school classrooms have Smartboards now but only a handful. Our elementary schools and high school have them in their classrooms and soon we will too. Presently, we are NOT one of the “lucky” classrooms that have a Smartboard in the classroom. I see many advantages of having an interactive whiteboard/Smartboard in the classroom. There are many different ways to expand the traditional textbook lesson by using the Smartboard. Being able to access the Internet capabilities is just one way to expand a lesson. By using the Smartboard, teachers can insert videos (United Streaming), music, link to other educational websites, and show podcasts to their students. Student interaction can take place immediately since students can write directly on (over) the Smartboard. Camera shots can be taken of the page to preserve information for future use. Again, normal everyday lessons (math, science, language arts, health, social studies, consumer economics, etc.) can come alive or be given a new dimension just by sprucing the lesson up by using some Smartboard tools or items from the gallery. I believe all students would be more engaged if the interactive whiteboards/Smartboards were used for teaching and learning.Tests and quizzes can be taken on the Smartboard. Review games can be played and learning can be fun. I like the interactive whiteboard because many different learning styles are tapped into. Visual, tactile, and auditory learners all benefit. Students with learning differences and those who don’t have learning differences can all learn and learn differently using the Smartboard. Technology can even out the playing field or classroom for learners. I can’t wait to practice, learn, and experiment with lessons on our new Smartboards. This will help me for student teaching and future employment, I hope.

psa project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=Ap4iKrOHQPg
Are they going too far?

PSA Video Blog

Our project topic was child abuse and reality TV. We wanted to raise awareness of a new form of child abuse, parents using their children to promote their own fame on reality TV. The news has covered three “well known families” regarding this topic as of late. The three families that I am referring to are the balloon boy, Octo-mom, and John and Kate plus eight. All three of these families sought fame by using their children to do so. We do not feel that is appropriate. The children do not ask for this life style.

As far as the project goes, I always enjoy doing projects where creativity is key. The filming and the project topic was the easiest part for our group. The hard part for our group was pretty much the rest of the project. We spent many hours working on editing clips, finding music, etc. We had fun and laughed a lot but we also experienced some frustration too. Some of our frustration came when the computer froze in the library or we couldn’t log in because the computer would not take our passwords. We also became frustrated when we edited clips and thought we lost footage. Saving is definitely a blessing because it would be totally devastating if we lost our video after putting in all of that time and hard work. A positive was that our group was able to meet and work in Lititz. We were thankful that we didn’t have to meet in Reading since we don’t live near by. New projects and experiences definitely enlighten you and help you grow. Boy, did we stretch and grow! I think this is like learning a second language. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. I guess I will need to do this again soon.

Using Video

Video is definitely a powerful tool in the classroom. I think back to the classes I have already taken at Albright for my certification and think about how much better my lessons and units could have been if I had implemented more video and technology. I think of the unit that I just finished in social studies on the Holocaust. My Holocaust unit was geared toward 5^th grade. I know I would have needed to research videos, etc. to be sure the material was appropriate for that age but it would have been worth the research time. I do think my unit would have been greatly enhanced by accessing video clips on (before) World War II, (during) the Holocaust and (after) the individual survivor stories. In my elementary science class, I taught a science lab on erosion and a video clip would have been helpful to introduce or reinforce the concept of erosion. In my elementary mathematics class, I taught a lesson on estimation. Students could have done a class project videoing themselves or each other demonstrating real life situations where you need to use estimation. For example, students could have gone to a grocery store or a party store where they could plan for a birthday party. I needed to incorporate song into some of my lessons and when I had to do this I used U-tube videos to demonstrate how the song was sung. P. S.  U-tube videos helped take the sting out of the fact that I had to sing by myself in front of my peers. It also gave me some instrumental help.

In my own classroom, I would create podcasts with the students and use them in social studies and language arts classes. In social studies, students could research and create podcasts on pioneers or explorers that they were learning about. In language arts, they could create their own books and put them in a podcast or PowerPoint. I would use video to take students on virtual fieldtrips every chance I could in order to enrich the material in the textbooks. Students could also make their own fieldtrips using video. Allowing students to see different locations in the world is very meaningful and powerful. It seems as though when schools want to cut budgets, fieldtrips are one area they seem to cut fairly easily so virtual fieldtrips are an excellent tool to use as a supplement to budgetary problems. Teacher or student created PowerPoints can enhance any class or any lesson too especially if they are interactive. I would make review games

One of the cool things about technology is that any age or class (special education included) can use it and have fun with it. 

Chapter 8/class 5 blog

I think it will take continuous hard work on the part of all teachers and educators to close the gaps in engagement and learning. One reason is that there are always new pieces of information/technology being presented to the public but it takes awhile for it to be integrated into schools at whatever level (k-12 and collegiate level). There is so much information and technology currently available to the public and it seems to be SLOWLY making its way into the school system. Is it no wonder the students lose interest and are not engaged in their learning? Is it taking too long to get into the schools? I think one way I can be successful with the Net generation is to actually use the technology once it is in the classroom. I really like the learning systems (WeBWorK) that allow students do their homework/classwork and get immediate feedback in order to build conceptual understanding. The classroom that I currently work in does not have a Smartboard but we will have one the second half of the year when our new building is finished. I think once the technology is in classroom it is up to teachers to continually educate themselves and be willing to bring it into the classroom.  If I stay current, then and only then will I make a better connection with students thus motivating them to learn. As noted earlier, we need to make the connections between what is relevant to student experiences and how they can apply it long term (later in life). This will constantly need to be evaluated “What is relevant to students?” It will be interesting how it all fits into the job market of years to come. I am not from the Net generation and quite frankly there are days I am bored in the classroom with traditional methods of teaching. I look forward to seeing the technology come into the classroom. I do believe we need to incorporate some traditional learning methods with technology and keep students accountable by having them reflect through interactive journal writing. The teaching methods that have been in place have proven to be successful. We just need to use technology to make the learning experience even richer thus keeping students engaged. I was really appalled to see that we are losing so many high school students. That should not be. I do believe that we must never forget the human element that is necessary in the interaction between people and tools/concepts/contexts. Majority of students still need the human connection coupled with technology.