Final Remarks

I've reviewed  and submitted what I understood to be missing assignments. I suspect that some of my formats were not correct. However, I've described the course is like learning to sink or swim when thrown into deep water. I didn't sink, I learned to tread water, and will continue to learn how to swim.

This is the last day for submissions. and this is my last statement.

Arrivederci! Ciao! See you later! Goodnight and God speed!

mario

for Dr. Smirnova

As I once shared with you, I loved receiving all the links but like a child at Christmas, I became frustrated and slightly overwhelmed in the rush to open all the goodies. In the haste some gifts were probably lost. However, I learned a lot.

Thank you.

Website entries

Since my new PWS personal website would not let me add this information I am posting it her in my blog postings, which I have finally figured out how to do new posts.

Here is my stuff.

About me: 

I am a second career itinerant teacher in training with the dream of starting a new innovation-based charter/magnet/motessori/cipollone school for pre-K to 5^th grade that will provide children with the academic foundation to enter middle school and beyond.

My Resume

 RESUME  JANUARY 2011.doc

My Philosophical Educational Statement regarding teaching with technology

I firmly believe in combining the best from traditional education methods with intelligently applied web 2.0 technologies. Young people, student, are still developing emotionally and psychologically and need mature, emotionally intelligent, and wise mentoirs and guides, which is the job of the teacher.

Course Assignments/Artifacts

The links were valuable for teaching which sites were user friendly and which were. I looked for themones that were easy to use. The others that were not were annoying because they insisted that they WERE easy to use.

Web Educational Resources

These were fine but the videos were not always easy to follow and were boring. Some of the teachers in the videos made clear why the current system will not be able to keep up with the pace of web 2.0 technology.

Reflection on blogging with others

Unfortunately, I was not able to blog with colleagues as much as I would have liked and accept the consequences. I did, however, communicate with my group extensively and also participated vigorously in webex classes. I can only say that my ignorance is exceeded by my enthusiasm.

Mind Map

Mind Maps

http://mind42.com/mindmaps

1. Discuss the idea that you chose for this project.

1)      Why did you choose this idea?  I chose this idea because I used the idea before but in different formats and wanted to experience the idea in this format. Using existing material simplified the process for me.

2)      What is the learning outcome or expected goal of your mind-mapping? I expect students to increase their knowledge of the subject matter and, more importantly, to think critically about the connections and relationships between a substance that heals when used properly or kills when used improperly. I expect students to recognize the living environment around them and how naturally occurring materials greatly impact humanity.

3)      What type of assessment does this tool fit in? I would use this in guided inquiry instructing and the formative assessment would be a verbal and digital presentation of the topic/mind map according to a mind map assignment rubric that scores 10 questions based on each image/link. In other words the question would ask the student to share thoughts on the image to gauge comprehension..

4)      In what way will this mind-map tool improve your students’ learning of the concept or the topic? It will require students to click on the links and ponder the images in preparation for their presentation. Auditory learners will be required to produce a presentation with sound and kinesthetic learners will be required to produce a presentation that includes movement such as role playing.

2) What did you think was the most important lesson you learned from this activity? I learned how to use this fairly easy to use tool and add it to my toolkit. I also learned that the Inspiration and Webspiration sites as less user friendly.

3) What did you like or dislike about the software or web-based online mind-mapping tool you used? I liked Mindmap42 because it was easy to understand and use. I did not like Inspiration and Webspiration because they were not.

4) What would you do differently next time you do mind-mapping and/or use this tool or you assign it to your students? I would practice and learn more about how to use it. For example, attaching pictures is not as easy as attaching URL links and should be.

picasion project

picasion_1_.com_e733e636f34a2e480fc595f3c0b53335.gif

This is my picasion slide show. It tells a short story of who I believe I am; in part. I've always followed the beat of a different drummer as Thoreau said and that trek intensified when I left Italy to come to America at the age of five. Completing the slide show, I was brought back to many of the feelings I associated with leaving Italy where I enjoyed a wonderful childhood. Yet the memories are still bittersweet because I had top leave many people behind, which taught me that such is the case in life and the reason we should enjoy each moment oif each and every day.

collaboration tools

I found these three sites to be most interesting. The first because of the sharing of accumulated knowledge. The second is the first place I will use when I ma ready to start my new school. The third is great because of both synchronous AND asynchronous trainings and workshops, which I will use to build capacity and asa a resource library for staff development.

I'm not into teleconferencing as much yet and the other sites emphasize that. I am also taking it slow with 'social' websites like Ning because I am not convinced they have sufficient data protection, which is an ongoing issue with web-based commnunication.

GoogleGroups for Educators
SupercoolSchool
IT4ALL

Internet Safety

Here is my Internet Safety NL to parents
Click here to view the newsletter.

What do digital footprints mean to you and why it is important to be considerate of what you leave behind in the digital space?

Communication via digital space requires the same level of awareness and professionalism as when writing a business letter. Web 2.0 emphasizes social networking and sharing of information, which is often contradicted by the public's concern for privacy and identity theft. I suppose that like old fashioned regular mail there will be web based scams and junk mail but that does not mean that protocol and ecorum needs to be thrown out the window.

what should we learn?

When all is said and done, we should learn to how to learn so each individual can access the resources necessary to the answers her or she seeks whether in the classroom or in life. How do we learn how to learn? We must think about the questions critically by scanning the environment and considering various scenarios and aspects of each issue.

9 rules for good technology

The rule that struck me the most was that technology should be simple to use. The next was that it should be available. These two characteristics, in my opinion, keep web 2.0 from widespread adoption and implementation. The third characteristics is that it should be standardized. To that I say, "Good Luck!"

ISTE/NET Standards

One of the best things about having accrued years is the treasure trove of experience I can draw on to engage, motivate, challenge, and prompt my students. The standards call for a higher level of teacher-student interaction and newly minted older teachers have experienced more living and thus have a well of life resources and understanding to draw from that younger teachers do not and cannot have. Thus, the less life-experienced teacher is compelled to approach the standards from a more theoretical and training-based perspective. To this, the more life-experienced teacher brings an additional set of tools to work with.

Education 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&feature=player_embedded

Historically, technology has always outpaced mankind's ability to make the best use of the technology. Take Einstein's theory of relativity and the nuclear bomb. The awesome power of nuclear energy was not used for generating energy to benefit mankind but to destroy mankind. Human nature will never be able to keep pace with the rapidity of technological progress because there are a multiplicity of innovations but only one human race. The key is management of technology rather than technology managing us. As the PPT video said, the PPT is the assistant to the presenter. Yet the presenter must have the wisdom and skill to ensure that the PPT remains the assistant and not the presenter.

After all we wouldn't want to have the unintended consequences of technological innovation blow up in our face; would we?

Storytelling with FREE Bookpublishing

I think creating one's own book is a very useful teaching technique to draw students out of his ir her shell. The published 'book' is a sign if the person's existence and worth.

Google Tools

I tried the book and finance tools and liked them both. I would use this resource again once I have more time to explore the tools.

Course learning gainings and personal and professional growth.

I enjoyed learning of the multiplicity of web 2.0 links because I love to gain new knowledge. This new digital knowledge has expanded my thinking in that I have numerous new resources that I can use to enhance my ability to communicate across a broad cross section of students and people. The new knowledge also provides me with valuable new resources that I can use in my professional career as a communicator and educator of various market segments and interest groups in order to effect positive systems changes.
The course could probably span two semester because of the volume of information presented. That volume of new information raised the pressure to accomplish assignments and potentially negatively impacted grade performance. I prefer that voluminous information is presented at an appropriate pace almost always. I found that voluminous information was presented at an appropriate pace sometimes.
Peace to all.

schoolology

The schoolology site says I need an access code given by the teacher in order to sign up. I did not see an access code in the link for schoolology so I could not sign up, try it, and reflect in my blog. I am reflecting on trying it and the site not working.

Engrade assignment

a. I like all the features and would immediately use this resource for classroom management. The site could always be improved with more consumer friendly features including easy-to-read font styles and sizes. A number of the feature pages have a lot of white space that could be used to enhance the page.

b. Enhancements should include student differentiated instruction profiles and needs. Accommodations for special needs students could be included. Reminders of future events and correlations between pages would be helpful to build a comprehensive picture of the class environment.

c. Engrade would be very useful for classroom teachers because it provides ready-made templates and tools for individualized and differentiated assessment, instruction, and evaluation of students.

d. I think parents would love this software because it resembles the traditional report card but much more enhanced. This product can provide parents with assessment, instruction, and evaluation data that will allow the parents to follow their child’s progress very closely. This access to information will allow the parent to participate in the child’s progress more practically.

mario