Technology Resources

Over the course of the semester, I used many resources that I have never used before. I have used tools as simple as Pinterest all the way to things such as tools to make a screen-cast. Much of it was new to me, much I thought was helpful and useful, however, there were plenty of resources I didn't enjoy. For example, one of the tools I disliked most was Prezi. I thought it was over complicated for what it was meant for and not nearly as efficient as other tools such as google slides or better yet, PowerPoint. Prezi seemed to elongate a process that should have been simple because arranging everything in the presentation was so tedious.

Other tools I thought would be great for classroom use would be creating a screen-cast and creating a digital story. Both tools could be used for a number of things, however they were both simple and to the point. For instance, I could use a screen-cast for many uses. The first being if a student is sick, I could create and send the lesson I was working on in class to him using a screen-cast. The second is I could create screen-casts beforehand and simply show them to the class. This way I could prepare everything before and really rehearse my teaching. As far as digital stories go. I could do much of the same thing. I could create a video of me teaching a lesson and walking through the information for a student, or I could teach a lesson in class using my digital story. Both tools go hand-in-hand.

One tool I really enjoyed however is the pixton website. I used it in my TILP that I created. This tool is so awesome and so easy to use. Educators and students can use this tool with easy. Many students are really into comics and they are almost like an introductory for students to reading. I think they ca be used the same way in writing. In fact, they can be used multiple ways in writing. I found that this tool is a great way to put students thoughts into actions. They can write a story with pictures with ease.

The basic concept is that they create a story using comic frames, They can create characters, backgrounds and other things in each frame. They can add words and create a story rather quickly. This tool is awesome for those who aren't the best artists and are quick to want to dive into the story. It teaches students first person as well. It makes them think about what characters might say in the story. Also, by creating each frame, students pay attention to what needs to go in the background and what types of descriptors might be needed to use to describe a scene. I personally think that it is great to start with a comic and make it into a different form of writing. So much can be added to the students writing by having pictures to go along with it.

UDL

Fair Use

The Fair Use idea is considered to be a way for teachers and non-profit organizations to use copyrighted media as long as it has an educational purpose and is intended for classroom use rather than a public audience.  However, this does not mean that educators can choose anything and make it their own; it simply means that if an educator builds a strong enough case, the courts will most likely rule in their favor saying that the educator is not trying to gain anything out of the exchange other than education. Determining if something can be considered Fair Use includes works such as criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. So basically anything that will not help a person profit or generate any monetary gain, can use copyrighted media. However, most cases are looking for a modification to the original piece. This means the courts want to see how and why the information is being used, and what is being added to it. The law is in place because a lot of media has more value to it than entertainment. If someone can turn it into an educational tool or something to promote a good cause, the government is allowing for this to be exploited rather than having the owner of the original material being the sole prosperer of the media. Basically the law is making it so educators who want to use the idea of the media to promote learning, don't have to pay for it. However, the Fair Use policy does not mean everyone is untouchable. Their are still cases where people have tried to make profit off of someone else's work and therefore have been sued. The main goal of Fair Use is to protect those who are using the material in such a way to help educate.

Do Certain Students Learn Better Certain Ways?

There use to be only one type of way to learn. The teacher would write something on the board, the students would copy it down, study it, and then see if they remembered it or not. Now of days there are many theories on how and why we should teach students in different ways. One of the most common being, getting the students to actively engage in some kind of activity for them to learn. In my opinion, tailoring our lessons to meet students with their needs, is crucial.

According to the VARK model, students learn in four different ways. Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic. In this case, each method pertains to a different style of teaching. As in auditory learner will learn best from reciting information back to the teacher versus a kineshetic learner that would prefer to engage in a interactive activity. 

In order for a student to learn, we must provide the proper environment in for them to do so. According to the NDT Resource center, there are 5 different learning styles. They are very similar to the VARK model, however, they include Tactile, Visual, Auditory, Sociological and Structure of Lessons. Like VARK, all these models kind of fall into the same categories, with tactile being similar to kineshetic and structure of lesson kind of covering all of the VARK models. This is basically just making sure that students learn every lesson in a sequential order in similar fashion. 

However, their are skeptics, one being Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at University of Virginia. He states that there is no evidence of learning styles. He states instead that teachers need to teach certain things in a certain way because that is how students will get the most out of it. For example when teaching a science class, lecturing about something may not be appropriate and instead students should study through experiment. 

Establishing a classroom environment that promotes different types of learning, I believe, is best practice. According to Steve Grubaugh and Richard Houston, engaging environments and healthy interaction between students is the key to quality behavior and learner growth. They go on to state that tailoring lessons to the needs of the students is the best way to teach. So regardless of the content, each student can learn.

In my opinion, the best way to help students learn and to answer the question Do Certain Students Learn Better Certain Ways? is to say that the most important thing is that you keep the students engaged. So that might mean we attend the VARK model, or it might mean that we only stick to lecture for example. 

To answer the question as best as I can is to say that students do learn better certain ways, however that does not mean they can only learn one way. Also they should not only learn one way. I believe the engagement is the most important part.

VARK Learn Limited. Introduction to VARK. N.p., 2016. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://vark-learn.com/introduction-to-vark/>

Understanding Different Learning Styles. NDT Resource Center, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <https://www.nde-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Learning_Styles.htm>.

Anderson, Jenny. "You May Think You Learn Better In a Certain Way. You Actually Don't." QZ. N.p., 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2016. <http://qz.com/568617/you-may-think-you-learn-better-in-a-certain-way-you-actually-dont/>.

 Steve Grubaugh and Richard Houston, “Establishing a Classroom Environment That Promotes Interaction and Improved Student Behavior,” The Clearing House , Vol. 63, No. 8 (Apr., 1990), pp. 375-378. Accessed November 6, 2013.

Blogging In The Classroom

I think blogging can be very useful in the classroom. For example, as a teacher, I could start by posting about something we might be covering in class and give a general introduction to it. With a blog, students can comment back with connections they have, questions, or more information they might already know. As far as students using a blog, they also can receive immediate feedback from peers as well as the teacher. The interactions that occur with blogs are the most valuable thing that comes from blog posts, at least in my opinion. I feel blogs are a lot less pressure than papers and written documents. They are more relaxed and less formal. This is not to say the language isn't as good, it just means it's more free flowing. I think there is a lot more opinion in blog posts and it can be useful to really dig into what a student thinks and feels. In order for blogging to work in a future class, I think it needs to be done in class rather than for homework. In order to avoid problems, blogging for homework might not be the best choice. Computer access might be hard for some students outside of the classroom. Therefore to avoid any trouble at all, time in class to review each others blogs and write posts would be the most efficient. With that being said, however, if a student does have access to a computer, at any time, they can log on and view everyone's post. Maybe they could refer to them when they are stuck on homework or just couldn't remember a fact or two. That's what makes blogs the most useful, they are accessible with a click of a button.

Timmy Turner

I am going to do a student analysis on Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents.

As many of you may know, Timmy go through some stressors as a student. His teacher picks on him and the other students. The teacher puts a lot of pressure on the students and assumes they will fail. Timmy is under a lot of pressure and does not feel very positive about his achievement in school. Mr. Crocker, the teacher, especially picks on Timmy more than any other student and anticipates he will fail. Timmy is seen as the worst student in the class and receives the most negative attention from the teacher compared to all the other children. It doesn't help that Timmy doesn't study at home and his grades reflect such, he is constantly reminded by one of his best friends that he doesn't get as good of grades.

It seems that Timmy has an attention problem as well, so it would be important in sitting him close to the teacher to ensure that he receives plenty of attention. He tries very hard, just seems to get distracted easily and is often discouraged to do well. It would be important to reward good work ethic and make sure that he stays focused.Timmy needs to be more hands on and needs to move around. Creating an environment that gets up and moves once in awhile would be really vital to his success. Instead of lecturing, learning through different means, such as investigation and exploring might be more useful for Timmy.

Timmy's parents, however, are very supportive.They are both employed yet have plenty of time to spend with Timmy. They encourage Timmy to do well and also are around to give advice They care about his health and are interested in his schooling. Timmy comes from a good area, or at least it seems. His parents seem to make decent money and provide cleanly living. They mean well with all of their intentions.

Outside of school, Timmy has many interests including video games and comics. He also likes to engage in other activities with his friends doing various sorts of things including sports and watching TV. He likes to hang out at the mall and with his fairy god parents. They are mentors for him and provide him with insight and a solid safe zone. He can tell them anything.

This student is not college ready. Although being so young is a large factor, he needs to learn to focus in class and get his priorities straight. He is often distracted by girls, friends, and or TV/Videogames. In order to get him engaged in school, it might be useful to suggest fun learning games for him to play online or on a tablet. Apps that are interactive and attention grabbing would be very useful for this student. I think adding just computer based activities would drastically increase Timmy's engagement in the classroom.

About Me

Hey everyone, for those do you do not yet know me, my name is Anthony Gerbs and I am planning on getting certified in elementary education with a mathematics emphasis. I have been placed in Grand Haven for my student assisting and have had wonderful experiences so far. I am currently a busy be, but that's how my life always is. I am coaching youth soccer, working with toddlers at the YMCA and reffing soccer as well. I love sports in general and my favorite two seasons are coming up, hockey and football. I am originally from the east side of the state and grew up just outside of Detroit in a city called Farmington. I love being outdoors and traveling. I intend to spend most of my summers off exploring the world around us.

I have used technology in classes I have taken at Grand Valley, however, I have little experience using it in tutoring or other lessons I have done with elementary aged students. In my classes at GVSU, I have used videos in a flipped classroom. The teacher would send us home with videos to watch and we would come back with questions to work on in the classroom. That seemed to work pretty well except for the fact that you had to make sure you thoroughly watched each video and had the discipline to do it every single time.

I have also created blog posts for a class; it was actually my math capstone. I actually thought this was really enjoying.  We would have a number of blog posts to complete by the end of the semester and it was almost like a vent session. You could post about history, the problem solving behind your own math, how to implement different techniques, and even just your personal opinion about something. I though the blogs were useful because you could express yourself in just about anyway and receive feedback from anyone in the class.

Obviously doc cams and other visual sources have been useful, however they have had some downfalls with being tough to work or something wasn't quite right that day. I think overall though google docs and other online sites have positively affected my learning experience.

So in my  experiences, I think technology is rather useful. I think it would be interesting to design lessons for elementary aged children with blogs incorporated. As far as technology goes, I have had issues but it seems that it is more useful than troublesome. I think it has and will continue to revolutionize the classroom.