Digital Badge #L

After reading chapter twelve in the required textbook, I was able to gain knowledge on the importance of integrating technology in to teacher lesson plans. Also, more importantly, I was able to learn that in order for this integration to occur, we as future educators, and present teachers, must take responsibility and make changes to the ways we create our lectures and lesson plans. This is the topic I decided to elaborate more on. I believe that this is where many of today's future and present educators still struggle to understand and cope with. As seen above, through the use of Canva, a website used for brilliant poster making, I created a poster that shows the five technology integration stages. They are, the Entry stage, adoption stage, adaption stage, appropriation stage, and the invention stage. According to the textbook, specifically a study done by the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow, each teacher could be said to fall in to one of the five stages. The stages could be described as follows:

1. Entry Stage: The teacher is mediocre when integrating technology into their lesson plan. The teacher needs a substantial amount of time to figure out how computers work and how to apply it to the lesson plan.

2. Adoption Stage: The teacher is able to use technology into their lesson plan but the majority of the lesson plan has not changed and therefore technology isn't used at its maximum potential.

3. Adaption Stage: In this stage the teacher is using technology on a regular basis and makes it a priority in the lesson plans. This is where, I believe, most teachers tend to feel that integration of technology in to lesson plans is at its max.

 4. Appropriation Stage: This is where a teachers goes beyond integrating technology in the classroom and applying it to their work life outside of school. This is a type of teacher that uses technology to continue teaching even outside the classroom and thus reaches out to students in various ways.

 5. Invention Stage: This is the level of integration that involves manipulating everything else through the use of technology. Everything the teacher could easily be performed via technological tools. The teacher has immaculate knowledge of programs, tools, softwares, apps, and etc. The teacher is very "tech-savvy" so to speak.

 After reading that specific section of the chapter and analyzing the stages I was able to determine that I fall in to the Adoption Stage. Although I am able to use technology and create lesson plans around it, I honestly can say that I am not at the Adaption Stage because I tend to fall back to old ways and wanting to teach in a way where technology is not used as much. As a future educator I have to take the time and be patient with technology and acknowledge that although its going to take a lot of time to move up on the stage list, integration of technology is important to the generation of students that are growing up in a technology based society.


Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Badge #J

After reading Chapter 11 and creating the classroom Jeopardy game seen above, through flipquiz.com, I was able to have a better understanding on how teachers and students work together to use technology for  better assessment learning.  My first thought about assessments were that they only pertained to the students and that they were created just to target where they stand and how to then categorize them after reviewing the results.  But reading this chapter and learning all these key terms, I was able to enhance my idea of assessments, their roles for both teacher and students, and how engagement in the classroom and outside the classroom are really important for the student to grow academically.
In this chapter they introduced how assessments are more like an evaluation towards who we are and what we hope to be when it is all said and done; a "self-reflection" more or less.  Test assessments and performance evaluations come in many ways and forms.  This is the area of the chapter I wanted to elaborate on because it was very intriguing to learn that as the student takes these assessments and performance evaluations, the teachers are also participating in them as well.  For example, we are all comfortable saying that a teachers role is to grade the work done by their students.  In this case, the students took assessments, homework, and now the teachers do their own assessments, grading the homework, and working on how to reach out to the students who didn't do so well for the next class.  But that is not where the comparisons of constant learning ends.  Whether it be writing assignments, school participation, individual performances, open book tests, or even observing and coping with behavioral challenges, both the students and teachers are always learning and growing together.  This is why engaging everyone in your classroom  to participate in a discussion or presentation is plausible.  By thinking beyond the norms and using some technology all students could receive the same attention and education as everyone else.  Students and teachers are not that different in these democratic schools and classrooms.
One way that one can really improve their classroom and the engagement of all students is by using a technology simply known as a "Clicker."  The clicker is self explanatory and easy to use.  It is used by students to click and display their answers anonymously or as a group or individually on the board.  The book described using it to answer questions on a friendly educational competition game of  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Like the tv game show, the students will answer questions rapidly and correctly, in hope of obtaining the highest amount of money, points, as possible.  The Jeopardy game I created above is another example of that system.  By using the Classroom Jeopardy game, the students can be grouped and work towards a common goal.  The game help them work together on having a better understanding on Chapter 11 and the key terms.  Not only does it give the classroom an opportunity to do something fun and creative, but it allows all students to answer individually.  So those students who are shy or hardly participate or probably learn differently, will only have to click their button and say an answer without further explanation.
Overall, I can definitely see myself incorporating this type of technology in my future classroom.  Also, having a better understanding on the importance of engaging students in performance assessments and reflective learning can help me have a greater edge when becoming an overall effective and up to date teacher.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.