Week+09+Reflection

Week 9

__Reading__: [|Literacy is Not Enough] -Information must connect to what the learner already knows and be meaningful. -Learning is personal and reflects what the student already knows and has experienced -The material must be repeated in a variety of different ways so that it is understood and retained by all students. -Teachers must provide feedback to their students. -**Quality Reinforcement**: gives students positive feedback and tells them how they can improve. -Edgar Dale's learning cone demonstrates that students should be "doing" and learning actively and that fewer activities should concern passive learning. The best forms of learning involve saying and doing (for example, teaching the concept to somebody else) - this is how you achieve **velcro learning** - having the information "stick". -**21st Century Skills**: social networking, communicating online... -Teachers must make the students fluent in 21st century skills so that they may becoming functioning citizens. **The 20th century skills are no longer enough**! -The **fluencies** that should be targeted include: Solution, Information, Creativity, Media, and Collaboration, so that they become internalized skills. -The **Collaboration fluency** is very interesting and makes me wonder how often teachers actually assign projects that require students to collaborate with a partner that they have never met, from another country? I see the possibility of this, but doubt its frequency as this requires teachers to have contacts across the world with classes that speak the same language. -I think that it is very important for students to learn appropriate online conversation behaviors because this is often not something that their parents can teach them.

media type="youtube" key="L6zuvdLc2Pw" height="188" width="224" align="left" In this movie, the first skill brought up that students of the 21st century need to learn way: **Collaboration**. This is definitely true at a local level as students need to collaborate together online to do projects with their peers, but, as stated above, it is possible to do on an international scale. Even though this video was made in 2008, I find the content already a little **outdated**. It's surprising how fast technology advances!

__In-Class Discussion__: -Screen cast - excellent for when substitutes are in class, for students who were absent, or for students who want to work ahead. They explain, using images and voice, what steps the students must follow. -Students will want to come up to the board to use it (I noticed this personally in my own experience with SMART boards - students LOVE to write on them!) -There are tools that can go with a SMART board, such as a mouse that does not need to be on a flat surface and can be used in the air, and a wireless keyboard that they students can use to type their answers onto the board. -Having already used a SMART board in class, I know that they are excellent tools for teachers. Students who are visual learners benefit from being able to see all the information. -Taking up homework takes less time because the answers have already been prepared, all the teacher must do is reveal them. -Presenting new concepts is also easier. When I taught French grammar I was able to draw arrows and move the words around. This helped the students understand the order. -I have also been to presentations where they show some of the applications on the software. Some can generate numbers, which would be useful in a math class, others place students into groups randomly, which eliminates the task of having to put students in different groups.
 * Smartboards**

-Photoshop Elements can be a little challenging to learn at first, but it is very rewarding and interesting to explore. -Students could explore media through Photoshop and create posters that try to sell a product for English class, or make well designed handouts for presentations in other classes. -With Photoshop students could spend hours editing a photo. They can even create animated videos (I had this assignment in high school).
 * Multimedia in the Classroom**







-Use images with spoken text to make a story -Helps develop the writing process for students (manage and organize their thoughts) -Important that they plan prior to using the software (tool - not be all end all) -Literacy for using different tools -Digital Story Telling - helps students with IEPs to express themselves (some students might not be good at writing) -French curriculum requires students to retell story using their own words, PhotoStory can be used to meet this expectation. -Good supply teaching tool (along with BitStrips/ComicLife) since it engages students -Science teachers can use it to demonstrate labs
 * PhotoStory**media type="file" key="PhotoStory1.wmv" width="218" height="218" align="right"