Integrated Lesson PLan

This lesson will be for my mathematics class. It will use technology to further assist the students comprehension as it relates to the material. Often times classroom lessons no matter how creative become boring to some. I feel that is my responsibility to connect to those learners who may struggle in class. This gives them the opportunity to work both independently and intuitively. This mathematics lesson is extremely important.

Of course there are many digital options available,but for this lesson I think posting a blog with embedded sound bites is best. This way the student can follow the objectives along with sound for understanding the concepts.

The purpose of this lesson is to demonstrate the importance of a 30-60-90 triangle. The student should have some prior knowledge of an equilateral triangle. This will be the focal point of the lesson. Giving the students time to explore an equilateral triangle. The purpose for this is to allow the student time to reflect and note that if you split the triangle in half, there will be two triangles. They both will be a reflection of each other, with the same angles of measure. In other words they will be mirror images of themselves. Once the students realize this. We will continue to analyze the 30-60-90 triangle. Determining leg lengths and angles of measure.

The only technology that will be used is the internet and a calculator. The students should know how to use the square root function on the calculator. The calculator is important because irrational numbers will be used and it is the more efficient way to get an approximation of the number.

This will be a three day lesson an on the last day the students will be introduced to how to find the perimeter of the triangles using there knowledge of the 30-60-90 triangle.

There will be a quiz at the end of the lesson. This will be in the form of an on-line quiz. The students will be directed to a website to take it. My goal is that the students should be able to solve related problems with at least 85% accuracy.

Purposful Planning: Quagmire

There is much to be said about people who take responsibility for their actions, and not blame others for their shortcomings. Mature people understand that they have the ability to take control of their lives. A mature adult with a family has to take charge and set boundaries(rules and regulations) for their off springs. It should be understood that it is the responsibility of the parent to police their children.

Parenting is not the responsibility of the school. The school is for educating children as they develop into adulthood to become productive citizens of society. Parents can't expect the school to provide all the needs of their children. They have to instill decent moral values in their children.

The school can inform parents and students of things such as sexting and cyberbullying, however once they are made aware it is their responsibility to use prudent discretion. They should report such incidents to authorities. Parents who are aware or suspect these acts are happening, should get involved especially if their child has knowledge of or is a victim.

Why is this happening and the students understand the seriousness of these crimes. I think the answer is in the way adolescents brain function. There is proof through recent research that adolescents continue to take risk, because there is something in the brain that gives them a sensation and its gratifying to them. Its like dopamine when we laugh, it triggers the brain to want more.

Having knowledge of this research can help us understand why they continue to take part in such acts. This should not be and excuse to let them off easy, because the victims suffer irreparable damage they will be with them for life. Sometimes causing death by suicide. Although we understand what triggers adolescents to continue to partake in these nonsensical acts, it should not lessen the consequences. In fact it is my opinion that stiffer punishment be administered for anyone involved in such crimes. I think that the parents should take some responsibility especially if they have seen signs relative to these acts.

Technological advances while good have placed great demands on parents and schools. We known have to watch for cell phones, ipods, and PS2's, which takes valuable time away from teaching. I think laws need to be enacted to effectively deal with all these, 21st century technological gadgets.

Sexting

Emerging technologies if used practically and ethically can be used as tools to enhance, reinforce and support academia. However, as with anything that deals with communications people will find ways to circumvent decent morals and ethics to cause harm. It appears that the ones who are victims of such malicious acts of indecency, need some sort of support system to educate them on how to avoid this nonsense. We all have the responsibility to inform our kids, whether they are apart your family, community, school, church or civic organization, about the ethics of using emerging technologies.

I was astounded by the proliferation of "Sexting" as I watched the news videos. Just imagine if either of those kids were yours. How would you feel if someone was cyber bullying your kid. Worst what if one of those girls who committed suicide was your daughter. It is important that you explain and teach your children how to be responsible when using emerging technologies as communicative too. We have to take the initiative to police them so that they do not hurt others and worst themselves.

It is my opinion that the laws which are in place need to be revised or amended to help prevent people, especially kids from the unethical practices that pervades the internet such as cyber bullying. People have a tendency to justify the need and use of cell phones in schools because of events such as 9/11. I agree that some alternate form of communication is needed, in the event of a catastrophe.

I think concerned citizens should write to there congressman or congresswoman and demand that steps be taken to enact laws that will levy stiff punishment on people who commit unmitigated crimes of self fulfillment. It is our responsibility as a nation to help protect innocent victims who fall prey to unscrupulous acts by bullies who use emerging technologies to do harm to others.

Fair Use Of Copyrighted Material

Fair use of copyrighted material or intellectual property, deals primarily with the ethnics of using another persons creative works. It is unethical to use another persons creative work for your own personal gain or profit. Copyrighted material such as books, videos, images and software should only be copied or used by getting permission from the persons who owns the rights to the material

There are many legal issues relative to fair use of copyrighted material. Inappropriate use of this material without the owners permission can result in a lawsuit where the violator has to compensate the owner. For example; a teacher who copy a book to distribute to all of his students is in violation of fair use, even if the teacher does not charge the students for the books. The person who owns the copyright has to give permission to allow the teacher to do this. Of course I could give many examples of that would be a copyright violation.

The copyright law defines fair use differently for education. For instance, If for some reason I copy an article out of a book and distribute it to my class would be a legal act. However if I charged my students for the article, then I would be in violation of the fair use of copyrighted material.

Fair use is determined on a case by case basis. If you are not educated about what is and what isn't legal, then I suggest you make an attempt to do so. There are serious implications for violators.

Authentic and Meaningful Learning

The method of learning I have chosen from the Technology Integration Matrix, falls under the category of "Adaptation and Constructive". This in my opinion is leaked to the first learning category of the International Society of Technology Education(ISTE) and speaks directly to A through D.

The example I have chosen speaks to the ISTE standard of learning with technology in a meaningful way. The students are using technology and making use of tools logically. The kids are working in a group using collaborative skills to determine the effects of a weather condition. Using this real world application makes the learning experience more meaningful. The kids can understand the importance of each aspect of determining the effects of certain weather conditions.

All of the students are separated in taking on real life roles as scientist, mathematician, sociologist, and technologist. They have to determine how they can redirect a hurricane before it becomes to destructive. Their final solution will be a digital presentation using a prototype.

I found this to be the most unique of all the projects because there is an amalgamation of four important disciplines, needed to determine the most effective strategy to solve this complex problem.

Students should be directed to interact with real world applications in order to explore their creative thinking. They need to understand the importance of collaborating and working as a team. If they see their peers working to accomplish a task they will want to buy in an become competitive.

The aforementioned project supports the ISTE standard.

#1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and creativity.

a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and
inventiveness.

The problem is identified and teacher has designed the learning activity such a way that it directly speaks to a.

b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic
problems using digital tools and resources.

The teacher is involved with directing the students on how to use web-applications for both research for investigation.

c. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and
clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning,
and creative processes.

Here the teacher is encouraging students to interact with one another to share their information to promote all the above.

d. model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning
with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual
environments.

The teacher explains in his narrative how he engages in the learning process with the kids.

This learning exercise encapsulates ISTE standard 1. It is exemplary of the benefits of such an learning experience. It has also given me more ideas to promote creativity by using technology in the classroom. The class Curr518 has equipped me with sufficient hands on knowledge, which will allow me to use more web-based technological applications in the classroom.

Mathematics: Finding the Area

Last week we looked at some creative ways to find the area of various geometric figures from your textbook. For the first method, we used guess and check method and the other was a more exact measurement using a grid. I was pleased with the attention and eagerness that most of you demonstrated during this lesson. As I mentioned, the mathematics you are doing requires commitment. I was amazed to see all of you grow as you successfully completed the class assignment.

I instructed you to connect the grid squares at a minimum and try to estimate the area of the figure. All of you were quite successful at this task. Then we turned to the second method. As you discovered this method was more accurate. Here we connected more dots in the grid. Each part of the geometric figure became a part of a unit square , after which you determined the portion of the geometric figure by subtracting the portion from the unit square.

A more detailed analysis of the exact measurement would be the following:

1. Connect the grid dots creating unit squares all around and inside the
geometric figure.

2. Determine the size of the piece you are concerned with by subtracting
it from the total area of the unit square. In this case all pieces
will be fractions of 4ths. For instance if the piece occupies 1/4th or
a quarter of the unit square, there will be 3/4 that we are not
concerned with because the figure does not occupy that space. So we
have 3/4 + 1/4= 4/4=1, as you can see we have subtracted the piece of
our concern from the total area of the unit square.

3. Once you have determined the measurement of each piece within the
unit square, you add all the pieces up. Example: 1/4 + 1/4 +1 +1= 2.5


This concludes the assignment, it is my hope that this further reinforced the concept of finding the area...

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21st Century Skills: Understanding Creativity

It is imperative that we learn to teach. Education should not be poured into someones head. Teachers have to learn how to connect to the creativity of intelligent beings. Everyone has the capacity to learn something. I think contributions in education comes in various forms. As Sir Robinson stated in his lecture "Education is Dynamic". It is important for teachers to nurture creativity.

I use to be very interested in instruments, woodwinds to be specific. So, I started lessons in elementary school and I was bored by the time I reached secondary school. Everything had been so regimented up to that point and I was just tired of it. There was no room for creativity. I was not allowed to express my ideas relative to what I was doing. I was fed up and when I reached the tenth grade I gave up music.

There were other things that started to interest me such as mathematics and science. I got more support being involved in these disciplines. I felt a sense of freedom because I was quite good at it.

We have to be supportive and learn how to read various idiosyncrasies while implementing or teaching subject matter. It is important to understand intelligence, and that it has various forms. Not accepting the non-conventional can be dangerous because you may overlook brilliance and stifle creativity.

21st Century Skills: Is There Room For This?

The reading of several articles, from critics and supporters of P21(21st Century Skills)have given me much to ponder. Of course, I think most if not all educators instinctively search for ways to improve learning. It is my belief that somehow educators-especially teachers-have a compelling desire to reach their students. I use my education history as an example of what is possible.

I was nurtured with positivity, during my formative years in school. I can vividly remember how some teachers would get into your head to find out how you were thinking. They had a sincere desire to understand how to connect your learning experiences with their ways of teaching. Exposure was the key to broadening ones knowledge without the technology that is available today. I can remember to this day going to a planetarium so that we could make a connection to the universe. My mind was so occupied with the universe and the narrator that it enabled me to remember important elements about every planet.

As I look back on my early childhood education, I view it more as an interactive learning experience. Learning to research to gather information for papers and presentations. Every project I worked on was group related. The tools that were used for research were very effective. I am speaking of micro-film, publications, encyclopedias and various other materials all of which were in the local library. The only difference between then and now is the speed of retrieving this information.

I support the ideology of P21 because I think it is clear about cognitive learning and critical thinking. I do not think its a panacea that will resolve all the ills of education. Do I think there is room for P21? The answer is yes, and I don't think it has to be viewed as a major dissent from other paradigms.

It may be difficult to implement all aspects of P21 in this educational climate of major funding and budget cuts but it is not impossible.

21st Century Skills: Fad or Not?

I am a product of several pedagogues over the past few decades. It appears that nothing has really changed over the past years as it relates to the 21st century skills movement. It is my belief that in theory P21(21st Century Skills), makes sense. However, implementation of these skills is another story within itself. There has to be some organized fundamental effort of implementation. The P21 movement is perplexing to say the least. The movement is more salient than in the past and therefore will garner more support as it undergoes the scrutiny of its pros and cons.

Its like anything relative to education. Various pedagogues go through something like a metamorphosis every decade. Trying to improve and move forward to a P21 type of pedagogy is daunting to say the least. Is this something that is old and is just being reinvented with new language relative to its implementation? Well I think that is a good question. I have read a few articles that have given me a perspective of both sides of the spectrum, proponents and opponents as well.

The one article that speaks critically about the expectations of what P21 is "The Latest Doomed Pedagogical Fad: 21st-Century Skills". This article in essence is basically saying that the P21 movement is more of a political move to improve something that has been implemented. In other words a play on words to dress up old ideology. The writer of this article makes an analogy of the P21 movement with a class he took in high school. It was a course that was more hands on that dealt with a real world application of the content material. He goes on to say how he received an exceptional grade but learned little from the experience. In my view the reason for this was because he was not prepared with the fundamentals to understand the depth of what was being taught.

On the support side there is an article "The Workforce Readiness Crisis" that essentially says that America is not producing qualified individuals to compete nationally or globally. In part the author of this article clearly lays blame on lack of basic critical skills,most importantly applied skills. Well in my view this has some merit. My question to him, would be how much exposure he's had to the classroom over the last decade or so. Here again, in theory the proposed pedagogy of P21 makes sense indeed. The reality of being prepared for the workforce is extremely valid because when its all said an done this will be the practical ground for demonstrating the professionalism and knowledge for success.

In conclusion I think both sides of the spectrum has validity as it relates to the P21 movement. It is not an easy task to confront. However, there is a need for continued dialog for a common ground of implementation. Yes, for me I am supportive of any pedagogy that is going to make our students more competitive but I don't think this is a panacea that will correct all the ills faced in education today.

Using SlideCast/Extended Classroom

Back to schoolnight

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We will be incorporating several forms of technology to extend the classroom. This will be used as a tool to stay connected with every aspect of the curriculum. Its usefulness we not be limited to any one task. It will be a way to interact with me in various ways.

The slide presentations will give you and your parents insight as direction the class will take for using technology in the 21st century. It is there for the benefit of us all. It is my hope that you utilize this medium and make suggestions for further enhancements........

Back To School Night

Students have been engaging an interacting with various digital devices during the break. Most often these devices are used more for social interaction. These tools can be a powerful aid in the process of learning and information gathering.

Therefore, it is appropriate to have a "Back To School Night" to interact with both parents and students. This meeting is used mostly for informational purposes, making everyone aware of how the curriculum will be aligned with the New Jersey Department of Education Standards. Most importantly as it relates to using technology in a 21st century classroom.

There will be presentations that focus specifically on how technology will be used for the 2011 school year.

Creating Technological Pedagogy For The 21st Century Classroom

The classroom of the 21st century is evolving such that the pedagogy has to be more technologically creative. Technological devices are a way of life for today's learners. They are constantly faced with the challenge of technological competitiveness. It is imperative for the teacher to understand the students environment i.e, keeping up with the technology that they are using outside of the classroom. This is not difficult, the only tool needed is dialogue between both you and the learner. It is my opinion that using a democratic approach can foster a more homogeneous learning environment.

Traditional monotone pedagogy is ineffective and will keep today's learners in a state of boredom. It is my belief that being a recent graduate of education has prepared me to align my pedagogy with the NJ Core Curriculum Standards as it relates to content area technology. More appropriately, it is incumbent upon me to align myself with my colleagues and the administration to promote dialogue relative to best practices for using technology in the 21st century classroom.

As a mathematics teacher for both secondary and middle-school, it is my plan to use the core standards as a guide. The strand 8.1c "Communication and Collaboration" in the NJ Core Curriculum content area technology standards is poignantly aligned with my philosophical pedagogical belief. Communication and collaboration are critical elements for effective learning.

The use of digital tools to communicate and collaborate to develop an on-line learning community is essential for the 21st century classroom. This can benefit the parent as well as the student, bringing everyone to a forum in a common place. Imagine a student who is absent from school but is able to go to an on-line community and dialogue with his/her peers about subject content matter and homework assignments. There are a plethora of technological applications that can foster an on-line learning community. One of such would be the development of a Wiki, or Ning such as what I have been exposed to in Curr518. Students can and should be able to model and design documents, create databases, analyze and retrieve research data intelligently. The student should not be limited to using digital tools only used in the classroom.

It is my plan to use various digital tools to engage students in learning mathematics. My goal is to engage students in real world applications as it relates to the content and effectively use themes to build a curriculum.

Efficaciousness Of School Districts Websites/BLOG 2

After perusing several school districts websites I decided to do a comparative content assessment. All of these sites were relatively good. I weighted my assessment on presentation and layout. I noticed that some were more esthetically pleasing than others but came up short on content. I will proceed with elaborating on the first website that had the most relevant content and the last one having the least. All of these schools were listed by US Census from the lowest DFG(District Factor Group) A, the highest being J. I decided to use the middle, which would be CD and FG.

The first of the districts websites was Hamiliton Township Schools. The content of this website wasn't the most aesthetic, however the ease of finding relevant information was commendable. This site in my opinion was the best of them all. The tabs were boldly labeled and I was able to find all the information that would be important to the students as well as the parents. The most noticeable subcategories under the "Parental Information" are the following; Important Policies and School to Parent Initiative.What was there not to like about this site. I found it rather awkward that they had a category for teacher evaluations. It only detailed standards by which teachers and staff were evaluated.

The second district website was Bayonne Board of Education. This DFG was also in the CD category. This site had a tab labeled "Parental Resources" and it had relevant information from the schools breakfast and lunch menu, national math standards to parent notification. I think they should have included information about school policies. What not to like about this site? This site was planned well and relevant information was strategically placed, however in my opinion wasn't able to navigate with as much ease as Hamilton Townships site.

The third of the district website was Somerville School. This DFG was in the FG category. In my opinion there was nothing special about this site at all. It appears that this may have been a recently constructed site that may have used a generic template. This could be the reason for the lack of relevant content. This site had a tab called "Parental Portal" where the parent had to login to an application called "Power School". Authorization is needed to log in. It is my hope that parents are only able to access information about their child only because this application is used by teachers for all student grades and attendance.

I was able to find one district with teachers websites. There wasn't even enough information to evaluate. I clicked through at least 15.

This exercise was very insightful. Ideally, it will be most beneficial if I am designated or asked to help design a site for the school where I will be teaching.

Week 1

I have been involved with technology for 15yrs. It may appear that I am biased with regards to using technology in the classroom. It is my opinion that technology when used properly, can complement the learning process. I have a undergraduate degree in both computer science and mathematics. I have had the opportunity to witness applications for various purposes evolve over the years. I vehemently believe that technology integrated in the classroom is essential for most if not all learning environments.

The most recent advances in technology have made it more palatable and simple to use. Technology plays an integral role in classrooms today. Smart boards, projectors, computers, and calculators are useful tools. Most textbook companies now incorporate material for use with technology. One example, is how some mathematics textbooks illustrate the use of calculators and applications. They also include on-line textbook material, such as additional exercises for supplementing the content as well as computer aided practice test.

It is my goal to familiarize myself with understanding the intricacies of using technology as it continues to evolve. I think technology is essential for any educational environment today.