PLN

First off, I’m going to have to admit I would have never participated in many of these PLN activities if they weren’t required. However, I’m very happy that I did because I’ve learned a lot and was able to create a great base network with many people. As a professional, it’s important to continue learning by involving yourself in activities that will enhance your opportunities to learn new things and share with others. Many of the sessions I attended were extremely beneficial and contributed to various activities that I have incorporated into my classroom and others that I plan to incorporate.

As a class, we presented our various different active learning strategies that we created and utilized in the classroom. Luckily, I thought the webinar ran smoothly unlike many times where I was unable to hear or participate in conversations aside from using the chat box. You can’t always depend on technology but I will admit it was nice being at home and still being an active participant. It was nice to be able to do this through a webinar because we were able to connect with many people from various locations. I wish that I better communicated with those from Oregon because I would have liked to talk to them and get contact information so I could discuss what the education is like in Oregon. I definitely wished I utilized this Webinar more effectively instead of just listening to the presentations. However, the presentations were all done very well and everyone had great ideas that I look forward to incorporating into my classroom in the future.

The blogging activities that we have participated in as a class throughout the semester have been extremely beneficial. Each blog allowed me to take time to reflect on various different topics and analyze aspects of business and teaching. The most beneficial aspect of blogging was being able to gain an insight into my peer’s opinions and thoughts on the various topics. Sharing our learning center ideas was the most helpful because when it came time to present the same type of information I had ideas on how to visually show the content. I enjoyed receiving comments back from my peers because they had great feedback and advice.

New Orleans was such an amazing experience and the conferences were very beneficial. I attended various conferences from learning how to use Premier to learning how to incorporate TV shows in an Economics classroom. The speakers were very knowledgeable in the content and had personal experiences to share. I really enjoyed the speaker that gave examples on how to incorporate shows such as, I Love Lucy into a classroom to explain various economic concepts. This method of teaching is unique and different but still drives the concepts home.

I’m still not a fan of Twitter and Tweetdeck but participating in a #hashtag conversation was mandatory. That being said, it is crazy how you can post a thought or suggestion and have instant feedback from people all around the world. I just don’t see myself being truly involved in Twitter, but never say never. I had posted one night how I needed a suggestion for an activity for one of my classes and I had instant feedback on ideas that other teachers have used in their classroom to present the same information. In that aspect, Twitter can be very beneficial.

While in New Orleans, I participating in NBEAConnectNing by starting a discussion on one of the sessions I attended. As mentioned, I was very interested in the session that was on how to incorporate TV shows in the classroom. I began a discussion on this summarizing what the event was about so others who weren’t present had an understanding. Although I didn’t respond to others postings on various different conferences, I still read them to get an understanding of what other information was presented. I found this PLN to be the most beneficial because all of the conferences had great topics to be discussed and shared amongst business education colleagues.

The last PLN that I participated in was Ms. Kieser’s BE Social Webinar from NBEA. This webinar was focused mainly around the use of Twitter and Tweetdeck. It was a great discussion amongst various people on the pros of networking sites that teachers can use in the classroom with students. As well as, furthering your professional education and staying up to date with the various technologies that can be used in the classroom.

I was able to learn a great deal from all of these PLN activities that I participated in. I’m excited to incorporate all of them in my classroom in the future. The great thing about all of the PLN activities I participated in is that the can be incorporated in all of my classes in some way. There is not any specific class that I must use them in. I chose all of the PLN activities to participate in because I thought the ones I chose would be extremely beneficial, and they were.

BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE, YOU WILL ALL MAKE AMAZING TEACHERS!! J

Learning Center II

Learning Center- Introduction to Business

I chose to make a learning center for my two sections of intro to business because we just completed the chapter on financial institutions and began discussing credit cards. I feel that finances are so important for students to understand, hopefully decreasing their chance of falling into credit card debt in their future. So many people in today's society don't understand what credit actually means and find themselves struggling immensely with their finances. The learning center was created to serve as an intro to the credit card chapter, a review of the material and an ongoing reference tool.

As a conclusion to the introductory lesson to credit cards, students created a bumper sticker based on the new material. Below you will seen an example of one of the student's bumper stickers. This was a fun an interactive way to conclude the lesson and served as a great assessment of the lesson's effectiveness.

As an introduction to the next section of the credit card chapter, the students used the bumper stickers as a review. As seen in the picture below, I set up a credit card learning center that has a section for benefits on one side and precautions on the other. I randomly distributed the bumper stickers between the two sections of intro to business classes to ensure that the student's didn't receive their own. The objective was for each student to individually place the bumper sticker distributed to them under either benefits for the use of credit cards or precautions.

The next few images show the students participating and actively involved in the learning center activity.

Below is the learning center that the student's completed.

I thought this was extremely beneficial for the students and will continue to help them and remind them of the importance of credit. I was happy to see how many bumper stickers were located under the precautions section because that represented the students understanding of how abusing the use of credit cards can have consequences. This learning center served as an informal assessment of the student's understanding of the credit card chapter. It also was interactive and fun for the students. They enjoyed the creativity behind creating the bumper stickers that they didn't even realize they were reviewing the new material. I will indefinitely use this activity again in future classes.

Online Learning

The possibilities of online learning are indefinitely present in today's society and the future. However, it's an idea that I can't wrap my fingers around whether or not it would be beneficial for ALL students. While reading the article, I created a jumble of words and thoughts about the pros and cons of online learning. Although there are many pros that I think are important and shouldn't be overlooked, I keep focusing on the 'fitting ALL students' concept. I'm going to have to say that although online learning can offer great educational benefits for our youth, I don't believe it should ever replace traditional classroom education. I base my decision on the three following reasons: 1. Interaction- There are indeed many ways of interacting in an online environment that can create discussion; however, is it the same type of interaction? I have never taken an online course so I know I lack knowledge in personal experience but from just being in a traditional classroom setting, the interaction amongst students and teachers is irreplaceable. Not only the interaction in the classroom but also the interaction amongst students in the hallways, lunchroom, etc. Online classes don't have the same spontaneity and discussion that arises in the classroom that can create higher level discussions and real world experiences from each student. The classroom allows students to interact with each other to solve problems, discuss issues, and ask questions when needed. A main concern with online learning is that students will lack the social interactions with their peers to be successful in the future. Without real face-to-face interaction how can students form social skills used in the business world? There are so many concerns I have relating to the lack of interaction associated with online learning. 2. Maturity- I believe in at the collegian level online learning is possible because of the maturity level. At this time, education has a different meaning because we are all young adults paying to receive an education that will benefit us for our future. We are at the maturity level to understand the importance of education and can handle less interaction and direction throughout the learning process. I think students K-9 would struggle immensely with the process of online learning. Grades 10-12 there is a possibility but I still think that they lack maturity needed to successfully excel in an online learning environment. 3. Motivation- This concept is key in any type of learning. I can't foresee the majority of students K-12 having the motivation to succeed in an online learning environment. It's amazing the difference in motivation between my 9th graders and 12th graders. Keeping my 9th graders motivated is an ongoing struggle and I'm constantly keeping them on task and motivating them to complete there work. My 12th graders are more motivated to do well and complete there work but even they need encouragement. If I, as a teacher, have to motivate my students constantly in a traditional classroom, I can't see students being able to motivate themselves to learn through the use of an online class. I'm not saying that online learning is not a possibility. I just feel that there are some students who can succeed and the majority will struggle. Many students don't have the drive to be in school as is, and without teachers constantly being there to push them to succeed I think online learning would create a larger number of students who drop out. I'm curious to see the development in online learning though and see the possibilities that it could potentially hold.

Should Cell Phones Be Used in Learning?

Oh, the famous question that seems to be boggling today's schools, should cell phones be used in learning? My thought, absolutly not. I personally, don't see how cell phones can possibly enhance education that much where they should be used in a classroom setting. The main three reasons that I base my strong disagreement with the use of cell phones being used in learning are; 1. Cyberbullying, 2. Distraction, 3. Misuse.

1. Cyberbullying
Bullying has been an issue facing schools for years and now with technology, cyberbullying makes bullying easier for students to do and get away with. I see the problems with cyberbullying first hand currently at my placement for student teaching. The school allows students to have cell phones out during the school day, but it's up to the teacher whether they are aloud to use them in class or not. I can't even count the number of occasions that students entered my classroom crying or upset due to a text message they recieved from fellow peers. Students are sending hatred text messages to each other throughout the school day. The school environment is not meant to be a social scene where students need to be constantly texting one another but rather a place where actual education takes place. There are suicides happening to our youth because of bullying and the use of cell phones is only increasing this statistic. There is an article in PSEA Voice from February 2011 called 'The Changing Face of Bullying' that is worth reading.

2. Distraction
As many of us may have this issue, I find that being in a classroom setting where students are in front of computers the entire period can be a big enough distraction as is without adding cell phones into this equation. While giving instruction and conducting activities where students are to use a computer, depending on the setup of the classroom it can be difficult to ensure that students aren't playing games or surfing the net instead of what they should be doing. Now, if students are aloud to have cell phones then they will also be texting during this instruction time. Even though in my classroom students aren't permitted to use their cell phones during class it's difficult to constantly concentrate on students' every move. The students find ways to text under their desk or when i'm helping another student. This is taking away from their education and it shouldn't even be an issue.

3. Misuse
The technical staff at schools work hard to block inappropriate cites on the Internet so that students can't access them from school computers. However, with cell phones, students are able to access the Internet with no way of blocking certain cites. Students can now access Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and various other social networking cites during school hours. Inappropriate pictures, videos, and other content can be viewed and distributed through the use of cell phones. This misuse can't even have consequences because it's not like I or any other facutly can search through phones to see what a student is doing.

On a final note, I've read various articles and been in classes where teachers tried to use cell phones as an example of how they could be used to enhance learning but I still don't see how they were actually beneficial. Taking polls through cell phones is an unnecessary "enhancement" of education and can easily be conducted through other programs on the Internet. I am intrigued and welcoming for anyone to play the devils advocate so to speak, against my views and attempt to sway my opinion on this issue.

References:
PSEA Voice
http://teachingtoday.glenco.com/howtoarticles/cell-phones-in-the-classroom

Peer Reviews

I thought completeing the peer review was very valuable. This student teaching experience is so fast pace that it's difficult at times to stop and reflect. It was beneficial watching another peers video because they had strengths in areas that I need to work on and it was interesting to see how they went about the task. Observing a peers teaching methods holds differnet values then observing my cooperating teacher. That being said, I found it difficult to provide beneficial feedback to a peer. I'm not sure if it was difficult because of being a peer or my lack of experience with the domain assessment rubric.

The domain assessment rubric is hard to fill out because I don't have a lot of experience as is in the areas so it's difficult to critique someone else on it. More experience with comleteing the rubric may have been beneficial. Either way I thought that the peer reviews were a good idea. I feel that I benefited more from simply watching a peers video andlearn from their teaching methods.

Learning Center--Career Preparation

Learning Center—Career Preparation

I decided to create a learning center for my Career Preparation class because the information being taught throughout the course can not only be beneficial for them but also for all of my students taking other courses. I wanted to create a learning center that could actively engage the Career Preparation course, while educating other students in the importance of their future.

Going across the top of the learning center I wrote a quote written by the wise Dr. Seuss. It says, "You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go." That is the beginning of Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. I just thought it added a touch of inspiration for the student's to read.

When deciding what to incorporate in the learning center, I thought it was important to have a place where students could access all of the material that we would be using throughout the course. I first had the students complete interest inventories to discover careers that would fit their personality. For the remainder of the semester, we will be discussing business letters, cover letters, resumes, job applications, and interview tips. I decided to pin folders to the bulletin board that would have examples of each of those topics so that students could access them at any time. On the front of each folder is a brief synopsis of what the folder entails. I will continue to make copies when needed so the folders will always have information for students to keep. This also allows students for my Career Preparation course to access the lessons material if they were absent or would like to have another copy.

The Career Preparation class entails a lot of individualized work. I try and teach a new concept each day but students have the remainder of the period to research and complete their assignments based on their career choice. From day one, I had student's share resources with each other that they found were helpful in completing their assignments. I originally had them written on the board, but I thought it would be more beneficial if they were located on the bulletin board so other students could see them as well.

A student in my Career Preparation course inspired the next portion of the learning center. I subcontiously kept stressing to the students the importance of college and making sure that therewould still be demand for their careers once they finished their schooling. The one student mentioned how he only needed to complete a short training session before he would be certified for his career. So I decided to have a short explanation of the differnt types of degrees that you can earn. As seen below, there is a dotted line on each paper. We haven't gotten to it yet, but this week I plan on having the students look at all 6 careers that they have researched in depth, and have them correctly place each one on the sheet that coresponds with the degree they need to achieve. This way visually they can see what they need to do and it also allows students from other classes to understand that they don't necessarily need to attend a 4-year college and so on to earn a degree.

Although I don't plan on assessing the student's with the information that is shown on the learning center, I still believe it enhances the content of the course. It is an ongoing process that by the end, the students will feel a sense of accomplishment knowing they completed all the steps necessary to prepare them for the future. The assessment will be seen throughout, making sure students are using the resources and adding their input. I'm not sure if the learning center is going to stay exactly like this throughout the course because if the students have input on something they would like to add I would be more than happy to change it.

Educational Blogs

Well, who would have thought I would sit at my computer for this long reading blogs and completely forget that I actually had this assignment to complete. First off, I've never really liked blogs because although many of them include great information I usually don't like sitting at my computer reading about people complain or ask pointless questions. But there really were a lot of interesting blogs on this site. I decided to go look under the 'Teaching' section where I ended up on the 'Cool Cat Teacher Blog' because well, that's what I think I am. Ha.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ Then I went under the Top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education by David Kapuler. http://techlearning.com/Blogs/35720

I'm always interested in finding new and exciting ways to teach students through Web 2.0 tools. Especially because I have the luxury of practically making my own curriculum for my Computer Applications II class. In Computer Applications I they go over the basics of Microsoft. Now I am finishing up Excel and plan to teach Access, Publisher, Prezi and possibly Garage Band and IMovie. I wanted to do Prezi because students said they wanted to learn PowerPoint better but there were many students who were not interested. Prezi as we know from Ms. Kieser is a neat way to present information just like PowerPoint but it's different and more exciting for the students because it isn't the same old blah blah PowerPoint. So, that's the reason why I found this blog interesting and wanted to follow it more.

Before I go into which one was my favorite, here is the list of the top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education if you wanted to know...

1. Google/Gaggle
2. Edmodo
3. Glogster
4. Voice Thread
5. Myths & Legends
6. Animoto
7. Mixbook
8. Prezi ***WOOOO
9. Aviary Education
10. Diigo
11. Weebly
12. ToonDoo Spaces
13. Kidblog
14. Primary Access
15. Zoho Wiki
16. Kerproof
17. Zimmertwins
18. SymbalooEdu
19. Pixton
20. Zunal
21. Alice Storytelling
22. Story Jumper
23. Storybirg
24. Magic Studio
25. Museum Box

And my favorite was.....drumroll...................Pixton

This program allows students to create comics through various tools available. I think this would be extremely fun for a Computer Applications class and there is more learning to it then just messing around and creating comics. It also teaches students how to tell a story in logical sequence, collaborate with others, and much more. They can be printed, downloaded, or shared on the web for others to see. And the best part about it is you don't have to worry about students posting inappropriate comics becasue the whole program is moderated by the teacher. This was just one of many that I found interesting. There are also many other postings under 'Cool Cat Teacher Blog' that are worth looking at!