TPACK Reporting

Here's the link to my google docs presentation:

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dccjv4sv_27gw9j2mp8

TPCK Reporting Presentation

Week 12

My practicum experience was in a first grade classroom and my mentor teacher did not use technology. I think there are several reasons for this. First, there are twenty-two six and seven year olds and one teacher. Using technology becomes difficult because it is hard to manage that many kids while either the teacher or the students are using technology. Management becomes a problem. Second, the volume of questions using technology would bring would limit the amount of time students were actually working with technology and it would waste valuable class time. Having been in first grade for almost a month now I have realized that first graders ask a lot of questions. They are almost all hypothetical and rarely important, but nonetheless they ask questions. If technology was used the number of questions would only increase. Not all students are on the same level and I see very little technology that would not present a problem. Third, there is not very much technology available at my school. There’s a computer lab, some projectors, and a video camera. With the student’s short attention spans, using a computer projector takes more time than it’s worth. The one thing I wish I could have seen my mentor teacher do would be to take the students to the computer lab. I was given a very brief knowledge of what programs there are available for student use and I would have appreciated getting to see them in action. Another tool that I think my mentor teacher could have implemented and it would have gone fairly well is using a Powerpoint presentation. Though it’s a very basic form of technology I think it would work very well with first graders. Rather than writing things on the board or using magnets to hold up pictures or words, a Powerpoint presentation could have been created. It would have been new and interesting to the students so they probably would have enjoyed it very much and paid close attention. It also would have been possible to implement a Google Earth tour. The teacher should probably be in charge of showing the students the tour, not giving each individual student a computer; first graders tend to be kind of destructive. But using Google Earth would have allowed students to see real-life pictures and be introduced to a new form of technology.

Week 11 cont.

Social Studies Lesson: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dccjv4sv_24cf57rgfj

Language Arts Lesson: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dccjv4sv_26gcvdwdd3

Science Lesson Plan: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dccjv4sv_25ftxsrshr

Week 11

I watched Bookends of War and Inside Kapunahala.

http://etec.hawaii.edu/etecvideos/videos/kap/?page=ft_medium

http://etec.hawaii.edu/etecvideos/videos/bow/?page=ft_medium

I learned that using technology really helps push children outside their comfort zone and helps them develop as students. I thought it was interesting that a couple students said that public speaking and oral presentation skills had increased because of being on camera. These children might never have found another way to help broaden their skills but technology expanded their horizon. I also learned that using technology makes learning more fun for older students. Technology might not be that helpful with younger students but children in fourth and fifth grade can certainly benefit from technology. I liked that a student said using technology helped show what they had learned rather than just having someone hear about it. Using technology gave the students in the videos another medium in which they could express themselves. The possibilities for assessment also increased. The teacher no longer has to rely on tests to see what students have learned. Another point that I thought was interesting was that one teacher said she could explain a concept to one student and have that student teach it to the rest of their group. Though this principle could be implemented without using technology, I think using technology provides a very new and different concept for students to learn. Having one student teach others gives students a greater sense of responsibility and allows them to feel more involved in the classroom. It also frees up the teacher’s time and allows he or she to be more involved in watching how the students are learning. I thought it was important to note that one teacher said you need to know how to thoroughly use the technology before you try to teach it. It’s important for us as teachers to remember that on some things, including technology, we may need to be the ultimate source of knowledge in the classroom.