Post 5: An Influential Teacher

This may not be completely related to educational technology but it has to be with education and eventually involves technology...
My high school choir director, Mr. Cloud, passed away at the beginning of this month after a long battle with cancer. Though most of his students, including myself, had not seem him in 4-5 years, news of his death spread like wildfire thanks to Facebook's News Feed. Soon enough a group of over 140 of his former students in his 7 years directing at my high school was created and plans for a reunion performance at his memorial service was scheduled (thanks to http://doodle.com).
Though Mr. Cloud had made significant impact in my life, I did not know how great his influence was on all the members of his former choirs until I saw the messages flooding in after his death. Mr. Cloud has touched the hearts of countless people, including myself and the rest of the Rowland Organization of Choirs students. Not only did he teach us about music and performance, but he also taught us to be ourselves. To be comfortable in our own shoes. To be confident in our own unique talents... He made us who we are today and we are grateful to have had such an amazing teacher, mentor, and friend.
 I was lucky to have had Mr. Cloud as my teacher and mentor from freshman to junior year in high school. He was a goofy teacher that was always very inviting. His classroom was always open during lunch and was bustling with students. He led a groups of misfits to find confidence in themselves and their talents. Our choir groups always had an encouraging family-like dynamic within them as well.
As I met with a group of his former students for practice, we were discussing how it seemed to be Mr. Cloud's last gift to us. Because if it weren't for Mr. Cloud, most of us probably would have gone on with not meeting up together. Though we are all greatly saddened over his passing, we are also grateful for having known him. (And 'yay' for technology, making way for all of us who had lost contact with eachother, reunite)

Post 4: SMART Board integrated curriculum

On my final day of fieldwork with my class at Davis Magnet School, my teacher suggested something that I found to be quite interesting. As I was interviewing her regarding the use of technology in her classroom, she mentioned how great it would be to have a SMART Board integrated/utilizing curriculum. She found that while the SMART Board was a great tool to keep students more engaged, but there wasn't enough materials for her to use the smart board for. We were thinking... wouldn't it be great if there was a curriculum that was filled with activities and tools to use with the SMART Board to teach the state-required materials? Because currently, she is having to dig around for stuff online to find things that are only somewhat relevant to what her class is covering. While not every school has the privilege of having SMART Boards in every class, for those that do, I believe that it would be of great help to the teachers for there to be SMART Board integrated curriculum. I'm sure SOMEBODY is already working on compiling resources and tools for such a curriculum. Maybe we'll be seeing them being used in schools in the future.

Post 3: Computers for 1st Graders

I started my fieldwork at Davis Magnet Elementary School last week and it started with a surprise. I'm sure much of it has to do with the fact that it is a magnet school but there were 4 computers available to students in a 1st grade classroom. On my first day, I arrived several minutes before school started and I saw one of the students playing Lego games on the internet while he was waiting for class to start. On my second fieldwork day, I was able to observe as the 1st graders went to the computer lab for math-related activities. The program they were using allowed students to work at their own pace and gradually got more difficult as they progressed through the program. Honestly, some of the higher level activities were a bit difficult, even for me. I didn't catch the name of the program, but I liked how the program allowed students to practice different math/science concepts in a variety of methods, ensuring their understanding. I will be returning to the school for one last day tomorrow and I hope to get a better understanding of how the math/science programs accompany the usual classroom teaching.

Post 2: Learning to Type

During Tuesday's lecture, we looked into various educational software. I was reminded of how my elementary school provided a short typing workshop for students in the 4th grade. I don't remember much about it but I do remember that that was the first time I was taught and required to type in the correct way. If I had been taught how to type in 4th grade, prior to much exposure to the internet, I wonder when students today begin to learn to type. I serve as a bible study teacher in my church's elementary department and we have many 1st and 2nd graders who have Facebook accounts and know how to search for videos on Youtube and other such websites. My friend's daughter learned how to look at pictures and videos on her mom's iPhone before she was 2 years old. With children's exposure to technology and the internet starting at such an early age, when would it be appropriate to teach students how to type? If the educational system is running on the same schedule as when I was in grade school, students will be learning how to type properly years after they have familiarized themselves with the keyboard. This may make it difficult for students to fix their old two-finger typing habits.

I wonder... when would be a good time to teach computer related activities to children? Is it more beneficial or detrimental for children to be exposed to so much open information (internet/Google search) at such a young age? Cause let me tell you, when you Google search "Easter", you not only get cute bunnies and religious images but you also get half naked girls dressed as the Easter bunny. I'm sure most will agree when I say that children should NOT be exposed to such things, especially when all they were looking for are images regarding the Easter holiday.

Post 1: Introduction

Hello, my name is Jane and I'm a 5th year student at the University of California, Irvine. My major is business economics and I'm minoring in Education. After graduation I plan to teach English in Korea for a year before returning to attend grad school to obtain my MA in Teaching and my single subject credentials for Mathematics. I'm currently taking a course in educational technology. In our first assignment, we were asked to reflect on our experiences with educational technology and I came to realize (thanks to Christopher James' comment) that my parents played a crucial role in my familiarity with technology in general.

I've had access to a computer at home since I was in elementary school. My first memories using the black and green screen computer was a math program in which each successful round resulted in a spaceship piece and a simple word processor-like program in which I used to log diary entries that I somehow password protected. My family started using AOL when I was in 4/5th grade and that marked the time when I got my first email address. Though my account was "child-locked", I was introduced to the wonders of email and chatting. Because my father was an accountant at the time, he was user of programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel and he taught me how to use them. That was when I started to "fidget" with the programs and experimented trying different things on the computer.

While students today have much different experiences with technology (seeing that my 1st grade student at church has a Facebook account), in general, I believe that my proficiency with technology was all thanks to my parents. They provided me with the resources and also taught me the basics. Sadly, many families today can't afford a computer for their children, let alone be there for their children as they are growing up (since money is tight and both parents need to work). I don't really know where I'm going with this but I'll leave it at that.
Until next time, BYE!~