Chapter One: Question Three
The number of technology tools available to teachers is already daunting, and more are emerging every day. Given the value of these tools to enliven and support 21st century learning, what will you do to keep yourself informed about the options available to you? How will you manage your discoveries and work toward integrating them into your classroom?
I believe that the best possible thing that you can do as a teacher is to educate yourself. It sounds too easy, but many times, teachers remain stagnant throughout their years of teaching. Nowadays, there are so many technology tools that are available to teachers to assist them in their classrooms. With me, I have learned about a lot of technology programs through the instructional technology courses for my Master’s Degree. It may not be as easy for some teachers to gain access to knowledge of technology tools that they could use. However, learning is your friend when you’re a teacher. That means that other than research, you can go to workshops, talk to other teachers, or take college courses. Any way that you look at it, technology is not going anywhere. It is just going to become more prominent and more advanced. As a teacher, you have to use these advances to your benefit, rather than letting these advances deter you from doing your job to the best of your ability. I believe that when you do discover technology that could alter the way that your students learn, you have to dive in wholeheartedly and use the technology as long as it is working with your students. I think that it is important to take into consideration when you implement technology into your classroom is the fact that technology is always changing (I can’t say this enough). An application that worked extremely well for one group of students may not work as well for the group of students that you will have two years from now. You have to evaluate your students, do your research, and find the technology that is best for you and the students.
Chapter Two: Question Two
Different students have different learning styles and their learning styles influence their learning. As a teacher, you should understand your students learning styles when preparing for classes. Discuss your understanding on different learning styles and its influence on learning.
I think that it is extremely important for teachers to understand the all of his or her students are going to learn differently, both individually and as a group. A method that worked really well one year may not work as well the next. A method that works for one student may not work for another. Students can be visual learners, hands-on learners, auditory learners, so on. For example, I am an auditory learner. While I was getting my undergraduate degree, I could not concentrate on the notes on the board and the professor speaking. I found it hard to keep up. After a little while, I tried a tape recorder and I would listen to the tapes of the classes in the car or at home. I started getting A’s on all of my tests, because I discovered that I was a different type of learner than other students were. As a teacher now, I can relate to students who learn differently. We are all different people and have different ways of learner. The best thing that you can do as an educator is to embrace this and get to know your students. Know whether a struggling student is an auditory learner or a visual learner. Know whether soft music helps of distracts your students. Whether or not you, as an instructor, accepts the challenge of getting to know just how your students learn can truly be the difference between a passing or failing group of students.
Chapter Three: Question One
Instructional planning is a skill every educator at every grade level must master. To integrate technology into instruction, a logical, sequential approach is needed to help teachers to clarify which technologies are most useful and at what points they should be included in the process. Discuss Design-Plan-Act (DPA) system - what it is, how the three distinct planning components of DFA differ, and why it is helpful to use a system approach to integrate technology?
The DPA and other system approaches are prove to increase success when integrating technology into a classroom. The three distinct planning components of DPA differ from one another in a specific way. In the “design” component, the educator will ultimately design the instructional unit. In the “plan” component, the educator will decide upon specific daily lesson plans within the instructional unit. In the “act” component, the educator will develop the instructional action plan for every day of the student’s instruction. For the “design” component, instructors may use the Dynamic Instructional Design model. In this model, they must first know the learners. They must then state their objective. Next, the instructor has to establish the learning environment. After this, the instructor must identify the teaching and learning strategies that they will use. They will then identify and select the technologies that they will use in their classroom. Last, the instructor will complete a summative evaluation and revise their plan accordingly. For the “plan” component, instructors will use lesson planning. In the instructor’s lesson plan, they must ready the learners, which means they have to review student characteristics and evaluate the lesson entry skills. Next, the instructor will target specific objectives, which means that they will identify performance objectives in the lesson and selecting specific target objectives. Next, the instructor will prepare the lesson. When they prepare the lesson, instructors will prepare the learning environment, outline the lesson steps, and list the material and technology needed to complete the lesson. Lastly, the instructor will check for student success by performing some sort of evaluation. During the “act” component, the instructor will complete action planning. For this, instructors must identify student preparation activities. They also must ready their classroom and list their learning and teaching activities. During this phase, instructors must create prompts, and list support technologies and feedback instruments. Last, the instructor must detail follow-up activities.