Rough Outline for Project Tomorrow

Initial Proposal:

This outline is to inform you what story I’ve chosen, what types of digital media I’ve looked into in order to tell this story, and also what sources I have found so far.

·         This girl’s journey through middle school and high school

·         She starts out stating her need of a cell phone as a 13 year old kid

·         Theme: discovering the benefits and consequences technology use can bring both for her education and in her personal life

o    She fights so hard for her cell phone but then realizes that there can be negative aspects

·         As far as story line goes I’d start out with a brief introduction

·         Introduction: short summary of “Miss C’s” story how it’s on a blog and why mobile technology is an important topic to discuss

·         Use: there are so many reasons that she describes for needing a phone

o    Safety, communication, social life (which for a 13 year old girl is life in general)

·         Needs: social pressure of everyone else having a phone

·         Wants: being able to text

o    The data she reveals about how girls on AVERAGE text over 4000 times a year (more than 100/day)

·         Benefits-Personal: she says that with her phone she’ll never be bored again, it brought her family together by making them discuss when and how technology use should be allowed with their family

·         Benefits-Educational: describes how her friend gets to use her phone in class

·         There were also negative parts of having a phone which she outlines as overuse, distraction, cheating, inappropriate use

·         As far as multimodal literacy goes this girl is blogging, talking about getting a cell phone, Facebook, online polling options ect.

·         Towards the end of this girl’s story she states that she is unable to multitask when it comes to texting in class and listening to the lecture this is different from Jenkin’s definition of multitasking, but I feel as though this girl (being a part of as she called it generation millennium) would easily be able to scan her environment and discern the relevant information.

·         This girl definitely knows how to play with her technology I mean she started a blog just to prove to her parents that she needs a cell phone that was definitely a unique approach to problem solving.

·         Transmedia navigation: she used many different resources that came from different media modes

·         It took a while to figure out which type of digital story telling method I wanted to use to tell this young girl’s story.  I started out by thinking I wanted to do a montage of images with a voice overlay, but then I was unsure whether I wanted to record myself for this project.

·         I mainly used the cogdogroo site since there were so many digital stories already made and it was very interesting to see the same story told in so many ways

·         I liked his cartoon depictions of the story I thought those might be a good way to represent  Miss C’s story as well since it can be ‘chopped up’ into slides like that

·         I liked that with photopeach you’re able to do a slide show with background music which helps to set the mood as you tell the story in text and images

·         I really like prezi I feel like it is a modern powerpoint, but I wonder if it will be good for the type of story I’m trying to tell

·         I think my favorites were slide share and prezi.

The site of Miss C's blogg:

http://technology-use-and-abuse.wikispaces.com/3a.+A+Personal+Story

Sources:

1. Jenkins, Henry. "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century." Dr. Shutkin, 20 May 2011. Web. 31 May 2012

This source will help by comparing Jenkins' ideas of participatory culture to my own. At the same time I will display how Jenkins' definitions of the aspects of participatory culture can be seen with Miss C's actions.

2. News Release. "WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News & CommunitySpencer Student Earns Technology Recognition." Spencer Student Earns Technology Recognition. Muscogee County School District), 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.wltz.com/story/16580870/spencer-student-earns-technology-recognition>.

This site is a great advocate for technology's role in school. It will help to support Miss C's ideas behind the educational benefits of having her cell phone.

3.  Creating Our Future:  Students Speak Up about their Vision for 21st Century Learning.  Speak Up 2009.  National Findings.  K-12 Students & Parents.  March 2010.  (Retrieved: 3 June 2010).

      Web 31 May 2012.

This report has a lot of useful information on what students want out of school especially concerning technology.  It also says how teachers and parents feel about technology use in the classroom which will be a good resource when trying to depict what Miss C’s parents reasons were for not allowing her a cell phone.

  

Weblog 4 Integrating Technology into the Classroom

I think the four most important ways to incorporate Web 2.0 apps into the classroom/websites would be through communication, planning ahead, making learning fun, and of course grades.  These can all be accomplished by using four specific Web 2.0 applications: Tangler, Google Calendar, Quizlet, Scribblar, and Engrade. Tangler is a discussion board/forum app which I will use for allowing parents to pose questions or comments to myself as well as all the other parents in the course. This open communication is essential both for my teaching and for the students to learn so that their parents will be able to help them succeed. Google Calendar will make it extremely easy for me to change the course calendar without having to change my website  since it is a part of my gmail account; the calendar will also allow students/parents/principal to see where the class is going and plan accordingly.  Since the calendar will be embeded it will be easy for the students as well to just go to the website and check to see if anything has changed.  Quizlet and Scribblar are fun ways to actively learn with the student or have the student enter the sites on their own to study.  Quizlet is an app that allows the user to make flashcards which for chemistry is great since there are a lot of new terms to understand. Scribblar is an online whiteboard which would allow students not in the classroom to see exactly how I would work out problems if they're having trouble.  I've decided to embed the codes to both quizlet and scribblar so that the students wouldn't need a user name and password for these sites. Finally, I will use Engrade for my online gradebook.  This is a wonderful app that when the student has a user name and password, they are allowed to view their scores on past assignments as well as see what other assignments are left for the year.


Tangler: http://tangler.com
Google Calendar: http://gmail.com
Scribblar: www.scribblar.com
Quizlet: http://quizlet.com/
Engrade: www.engrade.com

Weblog 3

   Out of all the chemistry classes I’ve taken, I have always done better in courses where the teacher had an updated and useful website.  Especially those with helpful links to sites with extra practice problems if for no other reason than I didn’t understand the way that the book or even my teacher was presenting the problem.  That is why as a pre-service teacher I already know that my website will have a lot of resources.  The website should have a ‘homepage’ with my contact information, general information about the course as well as any announcements.  Then there should be tabs for resources available to the students of various helpful websites. There should also be a tab for a calendar; a tab for notes whether that is handouts or power points would also be needed.  Another option for tabs could be for the more serious chemistry students about lab technician opportunities for high school students as well as various chemistry programs at universities.

     As far as parents of my students are concerned, I believe that their ability to get in touch with me is very important.  There should be on my website a tab just for parents that can have all my contact info repeated as well as FAQ concerning grades, extra credit opportunities, tutoring options/contacts, and ways to help their child succeed in chemistry (a subject which most parents are unable to help).

     I think the most useful Web 2.0 applications for a high school chemistry class website would be a calendar, a digital drop box for homework, a white board so that I could work through problems online with the students, and a flashcard site for all the new terms/concepts introduced throughout the year.  I would also have a forum/discussion based application so that communication about upcoming tests and projects with parents and students would be very easy. The parents would also be able to use this medium to check in with me if they had any concerns about their child’s progress in the course.

Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Educators: Thoughts/Questions

     I never thought of teaching as an 'ill structured' position before reading this chapter, but compared to physics or mathematics which both have a set way to answer a problem teaching is very difficult to narrow down a 'correct way of doing things'. The main concept I grasped from the first section of the chapter was that due to this lack of structure it is very difficult to say what is the best way to integrate technology. Every teacher is different with a specific style all their own so they can each be unique in their approach to technology integration. Often, teachers even hold themselves back from fully utilizing a technology due to their own 'bias and predilections' on technology. Change is often very difficult for people.

     One important thing I learned about technology was that with all of its benefits there can be certain drawbacks; one great example of this is with email which can be a very effective form of communication, but sometimes email is unable to show the tone, mood or intent of what is being sent which can lead to problems.  These difficulties include: the instability of technology, the opaqueness, and the fact that it is very protean. The fact that technology is opaque means that it can be difficult to understand how it works which makes people fearful of using it.  With all of these difficulties there is only one solution: that each attempt at integration should be custom designed for that particular subject matter and teaching style. This will be especially true for myself being a science teacher who has to deal with labs as well as discussion based learning.

WebLog 1: Introductory Video Survey

Noah Cover of "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO