katierose

//**Katharine Gergosian, Secondary English Education is a practicum student spring 2007. Below is her input on a laptop requirement as well as some of her work in practicum that she refers to in her statement.**//

"Technology integration is extremely important in creating innovative and involving experiences for students. As future educators it is crucial to realize that, as times change, so do the needs and interests of those we teach. During practicum I have been thrust into the teaching world with only my experiences to go on. I had no expectations and I was certainly not prepared in any way, shape, or form to use technology in the classroom. I had never created a //**PowerPoint**// with anything more then text. I had no idea what a **//digital story//** was. I didn't know how to use the //**UMF website server**// and I wasn't aware of the value of //**WebQuests**//. I had never heard of a wiki and I thought **//blogs//** had no place in the classroom. I was wrong, and with help, I learned and thrived. I learned to create and use these things, in addition to many other technological products and features. I couldn't have created a successful unit without technology. Without this new knowledge, my lessons wouldn't engage my students. Without it, I wouldn't be using the tried-and-proven method of differentiated instruction, nor would I be involving nearly as many multiple intelligences. My lessons would fall short and I wouldn't be able to assess my students' level of understanding of the subject matter as accurately. We are college students and now is the time to learn how to integrate technology. We are the future teachers of the world and we can teach others what we know. As an education major I can confidently say that we need technology. We need to have laptops that are up-to-date and equipped with software that will increase our ability to educate our prospective students and ourselves."

One of the assignments in the classroom management class is to interview experienced classroom teachers and ask what their successful strategies are for classroom management. Each practicum student was to create an electronic presentation of at least 20 tips and tricks that s/he had learned that would be a match for his/her personal educational philosophy and teaching style. Katie Rose used //**PowerPoint**// to present her tips and tricks. She was inspired by motivational posters that have one word or a powerful saying superimposed over a meaningful photograph.

This semester we initiated some integration between the curriculum and assessment class and the technology integration class. Students were asked to take their performance task from their unit and convert it into a //**WebQuest**// (1.). In the technology integration class, students used an html editor to create the web site for their WebQuest and then posted it on the //**UMF website server**//. Here is Katie Rose's WebQuest. Notice that the URL is on the umf.maine.edu domain: [|http://students.umf.maine.edu/~gergoskr/webquest/]

The final product that Katie Rose expects her students to create in the WebQuest is a presentation to a school board that is considering banning the book //The Catcher in the Rye//, which is the focus of Katie Rose's English unit. In the technology integration class, students learned how to make a //**digital story**// (2.), then had to pick an assignment and create it in a digital story telling format. They also had to pick one of their lessons that had the students creating a product using technology, and actually create a sample of what they would expect their students to make, thus giving this future teacher insights into what the students will actually go through as well as giving the future teacher a sample to show students of what is expected. Here is Katie Rose's [|digital story] that is an example of what she hopes her students might produce as part of the WebQuest. . . a digital story that could be presented to a school board to convince them that there is value to reading the book, //The Catcher in the Rye//.

In the Classroom Management and Technology Integration portions of EDU 221, students use a //**blog**// (3.) to share insights and lessons learned with classmates as well as the teacher. Though one typically thinks of a blog as an online journal, the technology of the Read/Write web allows teachers and students to use a blog in these new ways. [|Here is Katie Rose's class blog].

1. //**WebQuest**//: "A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March." http://webquest.sdsu.edu/overview.htm

2. //**digital story**//: "Start with the art of storytelling. Add the use of technology and storytelling goes digital! There are many forms of digital storytelling that may combine any of the following elements: text, image, sound, voice and moving images, in a coherent story. It is the interplay of these elements, each of which plays a unique role, that gives this medium its power." http://members.shaw.ca/dbrear/dst.html#anchor983821

3. //**blog**//: " A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog." http://www.conceptwebsites.com/SEO/common-terms.htm