Week 4: NJ Technology Standards

The NJ Technology Standards provide benchmarks for what skills students should be able to demonstrate at certain grade levels.  Reflecting on the technology standard that dictates the outline for educational technology, I am going to discuss what 8th graders should be able to accomplish and provide certain learning activities in a math class that can help accomplish those goals.

The standard on educational technology provides six "sub-standards" that outline how students should use "digital tools" to research, evaluate, manage, and create information in order to solve problems and have the ability to communicate knowledge acquired by these means.  Technology operations and concepts explains how to operate and use digital tools.  By the end of eighth grade, students should be able to create documents on a word processor, create presentations on Microsoft Powerpoint, and create   and calculate data and produce graphs on spreadsheets.  A learning activity to demonstrate this ability could be spending class time in a computer lab creating graphs on spreadsheets.  Students can learn how to switch from pie charts, to bar graphs, and to line graphs without creating a new table of data.

Under the standard for creativity and innovation, eight grade students should be able to publish information about a local or global issue on a collaborative web-based service.  A great classroom activity is for the instructor to create a classroom blog and have students post graphs, charts, and videos from statistics that were created by various "classroom polls".  For example, the instructor can poll the class on future jobs they might consider when they grow up, and create data based on that.  Students will then be able to evaluate and organize that data, and post their findings on the blog. This will demonstrate their ability to upload information from spreadsheets and add links to the blog.

The communication and collaboration standard states that eight graders should be able to participate in a global online learning community to identify and understand global problems from a different perspective and work together to identify a potential solution.  Hosting a school-wide or grade- wide model UN, would be a hands on way of reaching that goal.  Based on the country given, a group of students can collaborate with students from that given country through blogs and wikis.

Digital citizenship is a very important standard, because it outlines appropriate online behavior, summarized the "fair use and Creative Commons guidelines", and explains how controversial information found online can be biased based on the author's views.  Having a 10-15 minute mini lesson on these topics before the computer lab, is a good learning activity to accomplish this at an eighth grade level.  Extra emphasis should be placed on how online bullying will not be tolerated and explain the consequences of such behavior.

Under the research and information literacy standard, eighth grade students should be able to gather and analyze data to produce a solution.  A learning activity for this would be having students create two different line graphs on a spreadsheet to show results in findings on unemployment rates in the US from 1991-2001 and 2002-present.  The students will place these two lines on the same graph, and then find the slope of each line to integrate the pre-algebra lesson on finding the slope of the line.  Students then can come to a conclusion on unemployment rates and produce an educated hypothesis of where it might be ten years into the future.

The critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making standard states that eight grade students should have the ability to use an "electronic authoring tool" to work with students around the world to evaluate and summarize perspectives of other cultures about events.  This can tie into the model UN learning activity I mentioned previously.  To give students exposure to creating books and sites through an electronic authoring tool, a learning activity could be to have students research the history of a math topic, such as the Pythagorean theorem, and create an ebook on their findings.  Two electronic authoring tools I briefly research were "iBook" and "Thinglink".  Setting up a blog or wiki with another country that is doing the same project will allow for student collaboration.


Sources:
NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards: Technology
NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards

Week 3: Teacher Webpages

When comparing Mr. Petosa's webpage from the Brielle school district to Ms. Hansen's, I noticed that both websites provide important information to students and parents, but Ms. Hansen takes hers above and beyond a typical teacher's site.  There are no extra "bells and whistles" or unnecessary items to clutter up Ms. Hansen's page.  She keeps it professional and uses the site as an extension of her classroom outside of the school.  Comparing her two pages provided, I thought that the newer one was easier to navigate.  Both provided a ton of important information, but the current one was more simple and better organized.  The homepage was less cluttered and a "for parents" link was available on the side navigation bar, which the other site lacked.  For purposes of this blog, I will be comparing Mr. Petosa's webpage from Brielle to Ms. Hansen's most current site.

I really liked how Ms. Hansen's contact information is the first item listed on the homepage, with a link to her email address.  It makes contacting her very easy because it eliminates the process of searching and scrolling around for this information.  Mr. Petosa has his contact information listed on the homepage, but the user will have to scroll down to the bottom to find it.  A unique feature that Ms. Hansen uses is the color coordinated school calendar on the homepage.  Using different colors, she lists the class schedule as well as Chinese holidays, which brings current events that are relevant to the information being taught into the classroom.

Both teachers have a parents link, but Ms. Hansen goes that extra step by giving the parents a brief background on what their children will be learning.  A brief history of the Chinese language is given, as well as information on how to read and write it.  The curricula by each grade level is also linked on the parent page so that parents are aware of what their children will be expected to learn by certain benchmark points.  This facilitates parent involvement at home.

Not only does Ms. Hansen list assignments that are due, but she also adds study guides and links for additional online resources to help maximize student achievement on assessments.  Also, there's a link to a Chinese dictionary and links for certain educational apps to download, which integrates cell phone and tablet usage with classroom activities. Other uniques features that caught my eye were the final exam countdown, a link to "engrade" so both the parents and students can access it, "how to study" tips, and online flash cards to aid with studying.

Both Ms. Hansen and Mr. Petosa's webpages provide useful information and tools to guide the learning process, but Ms. Hansen maximizes the technology that is available to help with her lessons.  Her website is not just for contact and informational purposes, it's an easy to navigate, essential learning tool for both the students and the parents.

Below are links to the webpages that were compared:
Mr. Petosa
Ms. Hansen's current page
Ms. Hansen's previous class page

Weeks 2: Brielle Elementary School

Brielle Elementary School is a fantastic school website!  The layout is easy to navigate and very organized, making the site very user and parent friendly.  The homepage, top panel, and side panel are the three main components that make up this website.  The homepage has a friendly vibe.  The first thing that will most likely catch the parent's eye (or whoever is accessing the site) are the important upcoming dates.  A scrolling school calendar is provided on the main screen, but a printable version is available under the parent's menu.  The current time and weather is provided as well as a picture gallery of various student activities.  That made the biggest impression on me because it gives whoever is accessing the site a sense of community within the school system and also gives the parents an opportunity to see what various activities their children partake in during the day.

The side panel is informational.  Links for directions to the school and contact information are provided.  There's also a link for the school lunch menu, which I actually wasn't expecting to see but thought it is a great addition to any school page.  The extracurricular and sports pages are very informative to both the parents and the students.  Each sport has it's own unique page, which gives information regarding tryouts, team statistics, and other various information that can help both the students and the parents get involved in some way.  For the parents, there is a link provided for various parent associations they can join to become involved in the school community.  The school's anti-bullying program is provided, which allows parents to see the schools stance on bullying and talk to their children to prevent or correct bullying.  This school also has a store that sells school supplies and various school spirit clothing, which is also linked to the school's main page.  A link to the town library is available, which is an excellent resource for students, parents, and faculty.

The top panel has drop down menus for parents and teachers.  The parents tab provides parents with a good amount of resources that are necessary, including a yearly school supply list that students will need.  The teachers' websites are organized by grade level or subject specialization.  Simply click on the teacher's name and you will be directed to that teacher's websites.  Most of the websites are themed and fun, gearing towards the appropriate age level that they teach.  A syllabus and homework tab, which are both easy enough for parents and student to follow, are on the sites which encourages parents to be involved and stay informed in their children's academic journey.  Some teachers provide the handouts the were given in class as a PDF so students still have an opportunity to complete the assignment if it got misplaced or they missed a day of class.  Important links, including the "scholastic book club" page, online textbooks, and various educational games are also provided on these websites.  The teachers websites are great because the parents can have access to any homework that is assigned and an assignment calendar for future due dates of projects.  It's such an efficient way for everybody (the teachers, parents, and students) to remain on the same page throughout the year!

The overal feel of this website is that Brielle elementary school is a fun and comfortable atmosphere to learn and that the teachers and administrators are approachable.  When browsing, this school district's website was the one that most caught my eye because it has any information a parent and a student would need to access and is very effective with communication.

Week 1: Technology Integration

Technology isn't just about the newest gadget or "App" that has been revealed, it has become a part of our everyday culture.  Technology has been creating a new way of live, a new means to live.  At first, I was very technologically resistant.  Being somewhat stubborn, I wasn't committed to learning about how computers worked and would get frustrated when I tried.  Why type a paper when I could easily handwrite it the way I was used to?  That all changed when schools were requiring homework to be typed and my family bought our first computer back when I was in the fifth grade.  It was a slow process adapting to the use of computers, but once I climbed over that learning hump, everything from there forward was nothing but obtaining the newest trend in technology.  Looking over 15 years back,  I would not believe that I would one day own a phone that does more than make phone calls, video chat instantly with friends and family overseas, complete tax returns as quickly as a half hour, and online bank wherever and whenever I wanted.  Now, I could not even imagine a life without this luxury of growing technology.  A professor from the video "Learning to Change- Changing to Learn" sums up my feeling on technology the best with this quote: "Much more learning is taking place outside the classroom.  Information can now be retrieved on demand wherever, whenever".  That is such a wonderful way to expand our knowledge and grow.

I grew up in the generation right before the technological boom of the internet.  Today, generations are being born into this culture where iPods are the new boom boxes and iPads are the new books.  Technology integration in the classroom is a must for successful learning to take place.  But in order to the most effective, this integration must be the most up to date and follow the most recent trends.  To define technology integration would be implementing the way that students use and interact with all aspects of technology into the lesson plan.  Facebook is one example of the many resources that today's students use at least once a day, if not more.  Setting up a classroom online network similar to how students use Facebook, by means of posts and allowing for comments, is an example of technology integration.  Not to sound cliche, but the way that we are blogging in this class is a great example of that.  

To quote the video "Learning to Change- Changing to Learn", the key to successful technology integration is to "turn the classroom system into a community system".  Using Skype, GChat, and various email services are another way to implement technology into lessons.  Without these various services, global connections that were made in the article "Friends and Flags: A Multicultural Learning Project"  would not be possible.  Not only are students today reading about various global topics, but they are able to connect to them and learn about them first hand.  The article "Using Digitized Documents in the Classroom" explains how students can now access almost any piece of information that they desire and can customize it in a way that makes it the most comfortable for them to learn.  Technology integration helps bring lessons to life and makes learning meaningful and, therefore, the most effective.

Technology is changing the way that we learn, and it's only getting better.  Things that were at one time inaccessible are available, at most times, on demand.  We as teachers or future teachers need to embrace this wave of new technology and implement it into everyday classroom activities.  I'm going to end with a quote from the video "Learning to Change- Changing to Learn" that made the biggest impression on me.  "It's the death of education and the dawn of learning".  Traditional methods of teaching in the education system are being replaced by a new and most effective approach thanks to the ever changing technology.

Sources:

video: "Learning to Change-Changing to Learn"

"Using Digitized Documents in the Classroom"- Susan M. Allen and Karen M. Dutt-Doner

"Friends and Flags: A Multicultural Learning Project"- Karen Eini

About Me

Hi Everyone! :)

My name is Georgiana Lubrano and this is my second semester here at Montclair University as a grad student.

I'm an accountant by day at a private firm located in Bergen County, and pursuing a Master's of Teaching degree in math by night.  I received a bachelor's degree in accounting from William Paterson University in 2010, but knew accounting wasn't for me my senior year.  Now, I'm following my ultimate dream of becoming a math teacher, and so far it's been an extremely busy but very fun ride.

When I'm not crunching numbers, doing taxes, and working on school work, some of my favorite things to do include hanging out and exploring New York City, venturing to new restaurants, & going to concerts.  

I look forward to working with everyone in this class and learning about different aspects of technology  that will one day be useful to us down the road in our teaching careers!

Cheers!

-Georgiana