As I Progress

I’m now in my second year at York college and what a first year it was. I had joined the leadership society last spring semester but I’m only now getting more involved in it. By the start of the fall semester I got a new girl and my GPA dropped. Spanish was the culprit. I was also working 40 hrs and taking 17 credits. It’s now spring semester again and I’m working 16 hours, taking 15 credits, on a scholarship for Math and Science Teachers and I am the student representative on the Teacher Education Curriculum Committee.

Self Reflection

This course has taught me a lot about how to use technology to effectively deliver a lesson.  I’ve learnt how to create simulations and interactive lessons; I’ve learnt the benefits of teaching a lesson with a video and incorporating games into my lesson. I learnt how to use a smart board and to prepare lessons that the students can use on a smart board to make them more involved in the lesson. I gained a better understanding of image files and how to create new images in various file formats. I especially enjoyed using softchalk and doing the concept map.  After doing this course I have gained more confidence in my abilities of using technological resources. I always considered myself to be tech-savvy but this course has helped me to understand that there are so much more out there to learn about using technology. I enjoyed the links to the various educational sites.  I believe that as a teacher I can use technology to inspire student and creativity. I can teach students how to use technology and that applied with critical thinking, I believe can inspire students to do more and be creative. I learned that technology can be very useful in improving education. One of my highlights of this course is the creation and development of my blogsite. I see myself developing as a teacher with technology to give myself professional growth and help me to be an effective leader.


 

The Concept of Earth Science using a concept Map

The study of Earth Science showing the branches of Geology and Geography.

A simple example of how a concept map can be put to use.

Visual learning strategies is a useful tool to help students to retain what they  learned from different sources. Various visual learning strategies such as graphic organizers, diagrams and more are used to help students to understand information better and retain more of what they learned. Once these strategies are properly incorporated into the lesson they can help students to better manage their learnig objectives and achieve academic success. The brain has the ability to easily comprehend images, for most persons, so the visual learning strategies works well with the brain’s natural ability to retain and incorporate new knowledge with what they already learned to improve their writing skills and critical thinking. According to theorists such as Bowman et al, 1998; Berkowitz, 1986; Troyer   1994 and others, graphic organizers help students to improve students’ reading comprehension at all levels, in content areas such as science and social studies (Alvermann & Boothby, 1986); and students with learning disabilities, according to Gardill and Jitandra 1999. Theorists also believe that aside from critical thinking and developing writing skills, graphic organizers also help students to solve mathematical problems. Graphic organizers have also been seen as effective outlining tools for students Some of the skills that are developed due to graphic organizers are: brainstorming ideas, developing organizing and and communicating ideas. Students also develop vocabulary  highligh important ideas and facilitate recall and retention. In general graphi organizers are effective visual learning strategies that are used in the classroom.

Geological visuals in Manhattan

This photo was taken in Trayon Park, Fort Washinton in Manhattan. It is a picture of a a dyke cutting across the plane of the rocks on the cliff side. The dyke is a feature that can be associated with volcanoes and is often found inside volcanoes.  This may have been formed as a result of outcropping and denudation (various forms of erosion and  weather)

The photo was taken with a regular 12.1 mp Sony Cyber-shot camera. The picture was copied to my computer and then modified to enhance color in windows picture manager. Then it was opened in GIMP2 and was further enhanced, resized and the text was added. I then created a new post on my blog site and uploaded the image and text.

Can you see it?

This photo was modified with bucket fill and blend tool

The beauty of a pond

 

The image depicts the ambiance of the having a building near the pond.

Things to Know about using the internet for Education and it’s user policy

The DOE NYC acquired internet acces for their employees,departmental members, studnts and guests, including access to emails. The access is mostly limited to educational purposes.

The kd’s online privacy issue is sort of an agreement between website operators, teachers and parents. Operators must have parents’ consent when collecting or using a child’s personal information. The teacher can act as a go-in-between for the parent, that is, they can give consent in place of the parent by the parent’s authority. Website operators must allow the parents to access their children’s information, teachers must ask to see such information. Teachers should view whether sites require students to give personal inforamtion and how much, before letting the child use them. Parents do not have the right to opt students out of use of the internet. According to the DOEs acceptable use policy AUP, the Department reserves the right to govern accss and usage of the internet but all parties involved,  namely students, teachers, departmental employees and guests.  The department also reserves the right to terminate usage of the internet and email for any reason. To control how the internet is used by various parties the department installed internet filtering software. As far as student usage goes the system has default filtering levels form kinderdergarten to 12th Grade, with variations at 5 grade and 8 grade. The filtering is according to the students internet usage needs and educational requirements. It is modified to age consistency and educational goals.

It is very important for teachers to understand the issue of the Acceptable Use Policy and Online Privacy, because they need to protect the welfare of the child when they are away from their parents. The teacher has responsibility for the child during school and for the things that the child can access or put on the internet, in terms of personal information. Teachers also need to understand this policy so that they can stay on top of what the children are doing, they should learn more about the filtering to see what level of accessibility their students should have.

How to

I learned sometime ago that many people can’t tie a Tie so I decided to create this video to teach people how to look good in that shirt and tie.

Plate Tectonics Powerpoint

Plate tectonics

This powerpoint document is designed to teach 9th grade students about the movement of tectonic plates. It depicts how plates move on the earth’s surface and the results of those movements. It provides an understanding into the formation of the continents and the various oceans. At the end of the presentation students should be able to identify the various tectonic plates and the features created by their movements.

Exploring the joys of teaching through the incorporating of technology in the learning process

Why do we teach? This is a question that many teachers ask themselves. The answer to this question can be presented in many forms; to prepare learners for the ever changing world ahead, to obtain a salary, to have a meaningful profession, and sometimes for the more obvious reason, simply because we love to teach. Take your pick, but whatever the reason, the main idea is to ensure that the learners receive and understand the content. Rhizomatic learning is a way of thinking about learning based on structured ideas. Rhizomatic is a concept that is self-replicating with multiple and interconnected ideas. It, like the learning process is continuous, it has no beginning or end. According to Dave Cormier’s study on the topic, as he looks at why we teach, he points out that he wants the learners to know more than him at the end of the course. He teaches to try and organize their learning journeys. Learning should aways be continous and before we can effectively deliver a lesson we must look at the various needs and learning abilities of the learners. Only then can we prepare a lesson that will meet their needs, but how it is delivered is another factor for successful learning. The world is becoming more technologically advanced, so our techniques should be developed to meet those advancements. This is the stage for 21st Century learning. Many children born in this generation in a house with even the smallest bit of technology, learn to use it by the age of 3. I once heard a professor say that his son was doing more on the computer at 3 yrs old than he knew. I know of an autistic child who can take a simple smart phone and in a few minutes figure out how to change the wallpaper, play the music and set the ringtone. Guess its true what they say, autism speaks. We as educators need to harness these childrens abilities and nuture it so they can develop on what they know and do more with technology than we can imagine. I sit on the subway or in other public places, that children frequent and most times they are carrying some electronic device. We look at this as them keeping themselves entertained, but maybe if we look closer we may see that it could be a need for help. This can be seen in the video “A vision of K-12 students today”.  Many of those learners may have learning disabilities but yet they are able to use technology. As educators we need to learn how we can use that technology to create successful learners. This may require us to become 21st Century learners as well, reiterating the concept of Rhizomatic learning. Learning is continuous.

A vision of K-12 students today