EDT 619 Final Post

I was thrust into a situation where I had a classroom of brand new computers and a software program that I had only seen on infomercials. I was really lost about how to teach certain computer concepts and also very disappointed in the skills that the majority of my students did not have. I had all of these great ideas but I had so many issues with keeping the kids from destroying the equipment I kept it a simple as possible.  I think the class was really helpful for putting some things in perspective.  I wanted to do more projects but my kids did not have the skills and resources to successfully complete an online assignment. The one webquest I did was not successful; they insisted on putting the questions in Google and not read the information at the links they were given.  The most recent assignment about researching a country was a lot more successful, after reminding them a couple of times what I learned with the search lab they finished a lot quicker.   I am still not a fan of twitter; I just don’t like the constant updates so this may not fit into my classes in the future. I plan on going to more PD for technology integration so I can get more comfortable with the SMART board and the software on my work computer.

I think the question of the amount of technology used in the class and successful integration is something I need help with. I am excited about doing the webquest this upcoming school year with my students; I also put in a request for a 2.0 program for my lab. I want to explore some other 2.0 services to use in the future. I like the idea of tracksar and I was thinking about a webquest like assignment with that site. Just like most classes, I’m left with this gun hoe attitude and all of these ideas. I have recently been given the responsibility and the opportunity to write the K-8 curriculum for the charter school that I work for. I was thinking about including the technology standards into the curriculum because the plan is to keep the technology. I think having those technology standards will help reinforce skills that students are supposed to know at the different grade levels.  This class has left me with a lot to think about and activities to do.

Curriculum Project Idea

For my curriculum integration project I tried to look at the standards, I had all of these ideas but I didn’t think that I could get a good unit out of and hit a significant amount of METS-S standards. 

I am looking at doing a unit that involves technology operations and concepts, communication and collaboration and include digital citizenship. I wanted to find a website like yahoo kids but they only offer it in Korean and Japanese.  So I have to do more research before I include that into the lesson. But students will be given the opportunity to explore websites in the target language and are responsible for writing down what they find.  I am not sure if I want it to be a webquest format because I don't have a task for the lesson.  Students will also be responsible for using an online dictionary. I was thinking of creating a lesson for online translators to show how unreliable they can be.

I still have some figuring out to do but I'm close to finalizing what I want  to do with time to change anything that does not work out.