nursery-podcast2.mp3This week’s virtual class took place on Wimba.  This was the first time for many of us to use this tool.  Next semester is our first on-line class and I feel we got a helpful jump start on understanding Wimba.  One option I really enjoyed was the web cam.  Rhonda and I had the chance to take advantage of this option.  It will be interesting to see how many more of us try the web cam.

Pam presented Jigzone to the class via Wimba.  She uploaded her presentation as a PowerPoint.  This seems to be the easiest and most compatible way to present material.  Jigzone was presented very well and seems to have a lot of use in the classroom.  Pam pointed out that Jigzone could be helpful to some of the younger children.  Since I teach first grade I might use this software in the beginning of the year when many of my students are still kindergartners.

Next semester will be a first for me.  I’ve never experienced an online class.  It will be interesting to compare an online class to a live classroom.  I think I will enjoy it, but I’m more privy to live classrooms.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Below is a link to my Podcast of nursery rhymes.  Enjoy!  I sound a little ’stuffed’ because of my allergies.

 Nursery Rhyme Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tabernacle Field Trip!

This week Nadine and I presented Movie Maker to the class as out tool-time presentation.  Nadine was very knowledgeable about the inner workings  of the software.  I learned a lot of the features in Movie Maker.  My favorite was inserting the audio tracks and matching it up to the video.  It was very challenging to have the audio start and begin where you want.  Now I have some understanding of Movie Maker under my  belt, but have a long way to go!

Rhonda’s tool time presentation on the Smart Board was fantastic.  Rhonda has a lot of background knowledge on its functions and software.  She demonstrated many of the Smart Board’s features such as  how to record your teaching session and how to play it back.  This would be a helpful feature for low-achieving or absent children.

I enjoy taking our ‘field trips’ and getting out of the BCIT environment.  It definitley defines the term hands-on learning.  I find it makes the learning process more interesting and fresh for me.

Who knew?  I’ve downloaded podcasts via iTunes, but I am ecstatic about learning how to produce a podcast after Frank and Chris Thatcher’s informative presentation on Audacity and Lame.  The following link is a display of the iTune’s store main page.  I have identified the podcast section on the iTunes store main page podcast1.doc.

I thought the process of podcasting was simply recording an .mp3 file and having it available.  I now understand the mechanics that goes into the process of developing a podcast.  I am now grasping the complexity that goes into the production of a podcast.  You are akin to a small production TV station.  Quality of information and the production value are essential to creating a quality podcast.

As I continue through the MAIT program, I can’t wait to amaze myself in my personal development and enrichment.

Check out my YouTube video.  This was created during the Thatcher’s presentation.   (It includes podcasting, Audacity, Lame and Movie Maker.

Chomp Chomp

Rhonda and I were quite interested to see what Dr. Ackerman had instore for us at Brigantine’s elementary school.  Rhonda and I had our thoughts on eating at the Pier in Atlantic City more than anything else.  I had the feeling a lot of us had the same feeling curiousity, but ended up being completely impressed.

RuthAnn was very entergetic and motavting for me to watch.  She is a graduate of the MAIT program and doing wonderful things with the students in her school.  RuthAnn’s classroom is technology oriented.  She has an easy to follow television studio schedule posted for her students, many computers, digitial cameras, costumes and iPods the students can use and checkout for projects.

RuthAnn brought us into her T.V. studio.  She explained she went on a sebatical and paid local high school students to teach her how to run a studio.  I found her determination  and quick learning amazing.  She has taught the students to run a T.V. program in front and behind the camera.  Her students have made music vidoes to giving weather reports.  We got a chance to ‘play around’ in front of the green screen.  I enjoyed pretending to eat Frank’s head.

I found the podcasting part of the tour extremely intersting.  I find it amazing how she has her students and her own children use iPods for entertainment and learning purposes.  Frank and Chris’ s presentation on podcasting will be a important follow up to RuthAnn’s brief introduction.

All in all, I enjoyed the field trip.  Although I was extremely tired when I got home.  I enjoyed meeting the other teachers and listening to how they incorporate technology in their lessons.  They were all very nice and had a great time sharing dinner with them.

We’ve switched from WebCt to Blackboard.  I’m not sure how I feel about it, but everything takes some getting use to.  Blackboard has a lot of helpful features that WebCT did not offer.  I espically like the option of seeing who’s online.
This week’s class was a first-time collaboration we worked on as a whole.  We looked at ISTE and NJCCCS technology section 8.1.  We discussed the different age brackets such as: Boomers, Tweeners to teen, Generation X, XY Cusp, Generation Y/Millenial, and digital natives.  We discussed each age group’s characteristics, the challenges of teaching them and strategies that would enhance each age bracket’s learning.  I found this task challenging because I am still somewhat confused as to our class expectations.  But, in the end things tend to work themselves out.

Our main focus for this class is to look at how the digital natives use technology for learning. One topic I interesting was  how they use search engines such as Google to research information.  I find that I tend to follow this route when researching, but now have used EBSCO’s database after last semester’s class has proved to me there are more effective ways to research.

I’m looking forward to next week’s class in Brigantine,  meeeting the other cohort students and venturing to the Rod and Reel Tavern.

 Rod and Reel Tavern

Wow!  If only all classes could be that much fun.  I found this class very helpful and ontrack as to why we are all in this program.  I liked the fact that our different interests in technology will be our focus of study this semester.

Everyone met at Izzie’s on a warm Thursday night for dinner.  Most of us enjoyed their delicious food at their new location.  I found it much more roomier than their other spot. 

The class met and brainstormed what types of software/hardware we were interested in learning.  We had about 22 total items on our interest-survey.doc.  I feel that our list is wide and expansive.  It if very ambitious, butI also believe that we should focus only on a few items because we can go into more depth with a few than skimming through a lot.

Next week we will meet at BCIT.  I am intersted as to where we’re headed.  Hve a great week everyone!

Spring break has finally arrived!

I’ve finished one project and now working on another. Kathy and I worked hard to get everything in place for our presentation on Bruner and Vygotsky. I know her life as been turned upside recently and I commend her for working so hard. I feel our presentation was a success and our theories came across through our hand chimes lesson. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did teaching it.

I want to wish everyone the best of luck on our second challenging assignment, Our Personal Theory. I’m finding it difficult to synthesize all of the information. Between the fore mentioned and the short amount of time I have left is leaving me very stressed out and worried.

I wish I didn’t have so much to do during my break. That would of been the perfect time to get a large chunk of this assignment completed.

Click on this link for the complete presentation. partner_project_final-1.doc

This weeks class was a breath of fresh air. Our arts and crafts ‘activity’ and the change of scenery was well-needed. This week’s class compares to the performance phase in the Three-Phase Cycle of Self-Regulation. Some of us thought about what is motivating us to continue in the program and we were given a task to produce a project that made us reflect on ourselves.  It’s evident that our projects happily made us think about the academic goals we might have forgotten when starting the MAIT program.

Panera is always a good choice and can accommodate a lot of different food personalities. I really enjoyed my soup and sandwich. Many times when I’ve been in a class I don’t really get to know my classmates, but I am in a unique situation.  I have never actually shared a meal with my whole class.  Virginia Woolf sums it up in this quote of hers: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”  If food doesn’t motivate a person then what’s left?

It is imperative as a teacher to motivate your students.  In last semester’s class I learned the importance of the ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) model.  Chapter 9 revisits its importance and also the importance of setting goals and self-efficacy.  The book explains that difference of goal setting and self-efficacy.  For example, learning how to kick a soccer ball would be goal setting and our soccer team will win this season is an example of a performance goal.  Dr. Ackerman’s  two-fold arts and craft activity at Panera paralleled with Chapter 9.  First, I set the goal to finish my physical project.  Secondly, I set a performance goal, to not let stress get in the way of my academics.  As a teacher, I need to allow my students to set their own goals to promote self-motivation. All in all, students need the confidence and understanding of learning.

Can you distinguish the difference between the goals of these students and their performance goals  Click on the picture to find out.

Jean Piaget

(click on his name to watch video)

Applause to Sandy, Pam and Nadine for another job well done. The hands-on lesson constructed by the group demonstrated Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology. Sandy, Pam and Nadine asked each of the 3 groups to produce a demo lesson for a group of visiting teachers. What’s more each group at 35 minutes to write up, demonstrate and present to the visiting teachers. Clearly, each group experienced disequilibrium when figuring out what lesson to construct from the eclectic items in our boxes.

First, Frank and Rhonda’s lesson on patterns demonstrated the Preoperational stage of 2-7 year olds. The pattern cord emphasized mastery of symbols and mental representation. Next, Chris and I were assigned Piaget’s Concrete Operational stage of 7-11 year olds. The first fifteen minutes was complete disequilibrium, after exchanging idea after idea we stumbled upon a lesson about categorizing and reverse operations. Finally, Pam and Kathy were assigned Piaget’s Formal Operational stage of 11-years and onward . All in all, the hands-on lessons were imperative for each group to experience the idea of disequilibrium and equilibration.

Click on this link to view my reflection on Piaget piaget-reflection.doc

This week I feel my work for this class is slowly coming together.  I have viewed many articles through Stockton’s Library databases and have read many helpful articles for my personal theory. 

  The annotated bibliography is taking longer than I expected.  Unknowingly, I thought an annotated bibliography was a readers’ synoposis for an article.  In turn, the reader has to comment on the usefulness of the information and the authority of the authors among other issues that can be factored in.  It will be a long, but interesting process.

Way to go Frank and Chris on yoour presentation on Situated Cognition!  Your demonstration lesson simulating a multiplication was right on.  Your lesson demonstrated a community based situation with the appropriate support for the learners.

 Click here to view my Situated Cognition reflection.  

Watch Situated Learning in a Ubiquitous Computing Classroom.

   Click on the moving image to read more about this third grade project.

 My reflection on Situtated Cognition-situated-cognition-reflection.doc