Blog Extra #4- Technology in the classroom- Gabrielle Ambrose

In this current day and age, it is extremely common to see students at all grade levels with some type of technology at home and especially in the classroom. I am in my senior year at the University of Tennessee as a special education major and have had the pleasure of teaching and observing students in two different school settings. I have worked with students in the general education and special education settings; thus, I have seen many different types of technology in both types of classrooms.

In every classroom I have visited this past semester, I have noticed that there have been  at least 5 or 6 computers somewhere in each room. This is shocking to me, because when I was in grade school, it was a rarity to find computers anywhere but the library of the school. I have also seen loads of technology in many of the Special education settings as well. The technology in the special education classrooms I have seen have included: ipads, promethean boards, text to speech and speech to text devices, etc. Therefore, much technology is now available for teachers in the special education and general education settings. This proves very significant for teachers, because they can find different ways to teach different academic content, which I think is very beneficial for students. This technology is allowing students to become more active in the classroom and, therefore, allows teachers to delve deeply into the academic content they are teaching.

I have many thoughts on the 1:1 computing. My first initial reaction to 1:1 computing is that students will be more inclined to cheat on academic assignments and also to be distracted by the device they are using. However, on the other hand, 1:1 computing would prove significant for students who have troubles writing and are easily bored with the lecture/listening type of lesson that all teachers are guilty of. 1:1 computing could be a great asset in the classroom because students will be able to explore academic content in ways that have never been thought of until now. My ultimate hopes for the availability of technology in my future classroom is as follows: technology should be supplied to students on a daily basis. However, this technology should prove to benefit the student and teacher by helping students to better understand the content and to allow teachers to better teach the content. Technology should not distract students and make cheating more of daily occurrence. Thus, some type of program should be on every computer that prohibits students from cheating in any way on academic assignments.

Wiki Reflection- Gabrielle Ambrose

I researched a wiki named: Resources for history teachers. I found this wiki through searching through some of the best education wikis on the internet. This wiki actually received second place for "Best educational wiki of the year" in 2011; thus, I was interested to see this wiki and to explore it for myself. When navigating to this particular wiki, I was astonished at the organization and attractiveness of the wiki. This wiki was extremely easy to read and contained much useful information for history teachers.

This wiki included information that is taught in grades 1 through 7 and also included extra topics such as: influential men and women of U.S. History, world history, United States history and economics. Every individual page also listed the Common Core standards for the subjects being presented, which I found to be very helpful as a future educator. Every page also had some type of visual to associate with the topics being presented; therefore, students could develop a mental picture of the specific history topic being presented.

This wiki was indeed fascinating and, in my opinion, deserved the award of one of the best educational wikis on the internet.

Final Post- Gabrielle Ambrose

I found my first section of TPTE to be a challenging yet useful class for my future teaching career. TPTE taught me many useful technology skills that I feel every educator should have in their pocket when teaching. I believe the following projects completed in TPTE will prove to be the most useful when teaching in my future special education classroom: making a website, publishing a blog, making a digital story and, lastly, making a digital diagram using Inspiration.

Making a classroom website will help the parents of my students feel involved in their children's classroom and, therefore, is very useful. Publishing a blog proved to be educational to me as a future educator because this is how I will inform parents on my website of happenings in my classroom. Making a digital story proved to be extremely useful to me as a special educator because social stories are used daily in special education classrooms for behavioral issues. Digital stories could be used to make social stories for many behavioral issues in the classroom. Lastly, making a digital diagram is important when teaching students with disabilities because they, more than most students, need a visual when learning new information. Thus, digital diagrams will be helpful when teaching my future students new information in all academic subjects. All in all, TPTE will prove to be very useful when I begin my teaching career because of the many skills I learned while taking this class.

Website- Gabrielle Ambrose

My Google website is not finished as of yet, however, most of my website is finished at this point. I thoroughly enjoyed making a website for my future classroom. Having a class website available for students and parents is extremely important. Parents should always be aware of the happenings in their child's classroom. Because this is their child's daily learning environment, parents need to feel that my classroom is a valuable and safe environment. Also, my class website is a great way for parents to feel connected with me. Parents will be able to view my contact information and use it for their benefit. Also, since we live in a technologically savvy world, parents are more inclined to view their child's classroom website to view the happenings of their child's classroom and school.

Making my Google classroom website was rather complicated, however, the time spent making the website helped me to learn the ins and outs of making my own future classroom website. Because of this experience, I will be well prepared to make my classroom website for my future Special Education classroom.

Digital Storytelling- Gabrielle Ambrose

Although unexpected, my digital storytelling experience was very successful. I made a digital story on appropriate greetings. I decided to complete a digital story on this subject because many students with disabilities struggle to appropriately greet their friends in the school setting. First of all, it was very easy to make a digital story. I first completed a storyboard for my digital story, which I found to be a very helpful way to organize my thoughts and information.

Overall,  I found this experience useful because I could use digital storytelling to provide social stories to students with disabilities who have behavioral issues in the classroom. Also, I could use digital storytelling in my future classroom to teach or introduce a lesson with new information. Overall, I found this to be a rewarding and extremely useful experience that could prove to be significant for my future classroom and students. 

Inspiration to create Diagrams, Maps, and Webs for use in the classroom- Gabrielle Ambrose

I made a mathematics web map this week during TPTE using the program: Inspiration. This was a really neat experience! When making this diagram on Inspiration, I realized how simple it was to make a web, map or diagram. Webs, maps and diagrams are very easy to manipulate using the Inspiration program and, thus, in my future special education classroom, it would be very easy to supply the accommodations and modifications needed for students with different types of disabilities. Therefore, I felt very confident making my multiplication diagram. This also makes me feel very excited and prepared for making webs, maps and diagrams for my future classroom.

Being able to give students a map, web or diagram to view or fill out is very helpful when attempting to have students think critically about the content being taught. Having said this,  I strongly believe creating different types of webs, maps and diagrams for many subjects will help the students I will work with in the future- those with disabilities- to achieve their academic and personal goals. These tools will also help my future students better comprehend and retain information presented. 

All in all, webs, maps and diagrams are easy to use and to make, a very useful tool for any grade level, subject and ability level.

Chapter 1 O'Bannon Reflection

Interactive white boards are becoming very popular in the world of education: especially in grades K-12. Interactive white boards allow for teachers and students to be engaged in the lesson. However, many are unsure of their influence and impact on the knowledge of students.

Interactive white boards actually offer many effective teaching elements such as highlighting, magnifying important information, collaboration, discussion, etc. Interactive white boards also help teachers with classroom management and flexibility in lessons.

The relationship between interactive white boards and instruction and achievement are still on the fence, however. Some studies show positive relationships between interactive white boards and instruction and achievement, while some studies show negative relationships between the two.

However, in one study, conducted by Marzano and Haystead, students showed positive gains using three specific features of the interactive white board: student response systems, graphics and videos and reinforcer properties. Some studies have concluded no significant gains and average gains amongst students using interactive white boards. However, one thing is clear, engagement during class time is definitely a positive element of interactive white boards.

Teachers must be properly trained to use interactive white boards. Through the use of adequate training, teachers will be able to easily make lessons flow using the interactive white board and will be able to get their students more engaged. Overall, interactive white boards are very effective in the classroom and should be used whenever possible to promote student participation, understanding and engagement in the classroom.

Mid-semester Status- TPTE- Gabrielle Ambrose

I am doing much better in the course than I had planned. My grades for all of my classes are actually better than I ever expected and I am getting closer and closer to my ultimate goal: becoming the best special education teacher that I can. All of my classes relate to each other in many ways and I can easily weave the content from all of my classes together. I also have been very pro active in studying and getting all of my assignments done as well as actively participating in class and providing the best education possible for the students in my practicum classes.
I really have a deep appreciation for technology in the classroom and try to use it in my practicum as much as possible. Implementing technology in the classroom has been much easier than I expected and I am much more comfortable with incorporating technology in my classroom now than I was before.
My goals for the second half of this semester include: studying more for the final so that I can make a perfect score on the final for TPTE, achieving A's in all of my classes, giving a good reading lesson to my students in my second practicum placement and incorporating technology in this lesson and setting higher goals for myself overall.

Blog Post- Digital Images/Picasa Web Albums- Gabrielle Ambrose- TPTE

Well... It happened, I reached the point of frustration with technology. When I went to complete my Picasa web album I had the hardest time uploading, resizing and organizing pictures. I had the worst problem with this because my photos were in weird places on my computer. Now I know to save them on my desk top so that I can find them easily. However, I have recovered and am a better person for the short lived frustration.
On a positive note, the Picasa Web albums from Google are such a wonderful tool for teachers and for students. When students need to create slideshows for presentations or just need to organize pictures for projects completed during school, this is such an easy way for them to quickly save and organize their pictures. All in all, this is a very useful tool for students and teachers.

IBA Activity- Gabrielle Ambrose- TPTE

I truly enjoyed doing the IBA project. I first had to choose my grade level for the activity. I chose to do a lesson on 4th grade reading because it is something I am currently teaching in my practicum. I also chose to do a lesson on finding out the author's purpose because this is something students struggle with. After doing this, I found state standards in Reading Street, the text I was using, that aligned perfectly with my lesson.
Having a text to refer to was very helpful when completing the IBA project. It showed me just how much teacher's manuals combined with the teaching techniques I am currently learning in SPED can be very effective.
For my lesson, I had students click on links to find pictures of the location of the passage they are reading to get a mental picture of the setting of the passage. I would love to use links and activities like this in my future classroom because it helps students develop a deeper understanding of the content.
Overall, the IBA project has shown me that integrating technology into the curriculum is easy and can be done effortlessly.


Side note: I absolutely love the quickness and effectiveness of wikis. I want to use this in my future classroom because they are so easy to use. Wikis also can help me feel connected to the parents of my students and the students in my classroom.

Webquest- History Webquest- Gabrielle Ambrose

Since I absolutely love history, I decided to search the numerous history webquests online. I finally found a webquest that was credible and extremely creative. When I clicked on the webquest, "Journey Back in Time to Colonial Days" I was very impressed. Colonial music started playing when the webquest was fully loaded, which I thought was a very nice touch. The webquest also included beautiful colors and graphics/pictures that caught your eye. The webquest also gave valuable information such as the grade level the webquest is intended for and the email address of the creator of the webquest.
In the introduction, the author says that her class is going to travel back to colonial days to see what living in that time period was like. Each student will possess a certain role such as: slave, baker, cabinetmaker, apprentice, manor lady, miller, etc. and will assume that role during class time and for the assignments to be completed for this unit.
The students will use internet resources to gather information about their role. The roles are then listed on the webquest and are actually links to websites the students can use to gather this information. The teacher then tells the students they will be creating a tri-fold brochure, which is similar to a travel brochure. The rest of the assignments are given and other web sources (links) are listed to assist students in gather information for their assignments for this project.
Overall, the webquest was very well put together. The expectations for the assignments were very clear and plenty of resources were available for students to successfully complete the assignments. The webquest was also very appealing and is sure to peak students' interest when picking a role to assume for the project. I actually would not mind playing off of the webquest when gaining my own classroom in the future.

Below is the link for the webquest: Journey Back in Time to Colonial Days
http://www.bristolvaschools.org/mwarren/JourneytoColonialTimes.htm

Websites- Google Sites

Websites sometimes get a bad reputation in the world of education, but there are many advantages for teachers and also for students through the use of websites. For instance, Google sites are perfect for teachers and students. First of all, teachers can use Google sites to create a classroom website that can get students more involved in their classroom and also with technology. Teachers can also use the classroom website to communicate the lessons he or she will be teaching and what content the students are learning. Lastly, a class website is very insightful to parents because it tells everything the parents need to know about the classroom and the teacher. This is a great way to start a healthy relationship between the teacher and the parents. Teachers can also put their email address' on the class website so that parents can contact their child's teacher and do not want to call the school to talk to their child's teacher.
Google sites is one of the best places to start a class website. First of all, Google sites is very secure and Google sites is always coming up with new ways to keep the information on the sites private and secure. Many things that could be included on the websites, such as emails, documents, calendars can be accessed anywhere and anytime on many devices.
Google Sites also has an app that allows students to study on the computer in real time and across distance. This could be helpful if the teacher is sick or if a student is sick and needs to catch up on learning information present in the class that they missed. In Google Docs, students can work together to complete assignments and can get them done quickly.
Lastly, Google sites is a great way for students, teachers, parents and school staff to stay connected and build relationships.

Gabrielle Ambrose- Reflection on Website Evaluaiton

The website evaluation was such a great activity! I have never evaluated a website before, therefore, I was really interested to see if the website I picked was considered a reliable or unreliable site. I never knew that websites could be so helpful for teachers when planning their lessons and also for students to practice the content they have learned. There are so many websites available for teachers to gather templates, lesson plans with state and national standards and activities for their classrooms. However, teachers need to be sure that the websites they use are reliable and full of valuable and trusted sources and information.
After evaluating the website, I browsed through some of the websites that were listed to evaluate. After knowing the characteristics of a reliable and unreliable website, it became easier to see which websites were reliable and unreliable because of the advertisements that popped up on the website, or the fact that many advertisements were present on the website.
Overall, the website evaluation has taught me that I need to be wary of the websites I use for planning my lessons and for using in my classroom for activities and games. Not knowing what makes a website unreliable would be a huge downfall for me in my future classroom(s) having not completed and has practice with a website evaluation. This activity was interesting and fun, all it taught me a lot about the internet and websites in general.

Course Expectations

Expectations for TPTE and for the general fall semester at UTK. 
 1. Try to get all A's (preferably, without fainting, freaking out, or having a heart attack because of the work load)

2. Attempt to work out more so that my brain can process the information from all of my different courses this semester.

3.  Ensure that I do my personal best in all of my classes (despite the fact that I will be running on low energy, low sleep, and little to no money)

4. Learn as much as I can this semester, because I want to be the kind of teacher that inspires many different types of students to become something great (like teachers =))