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.