For this product assignment, I chose to do a kiosk because of our last class. I thought it would be a great way for my 5th and 6th graders to become experts in PowerPoint as well as be involved in extensive research about a self-selected topic they are excited about.Â
The preparation involved in this lesson wasn’t too time consuming. However, I did learn that in creating a template that they can copy over to their slides is very helpful. The reason for the template is because they are responsible for 6-9 slides for each team, and they are really creative with PowerPoint. I wanted it to turn out like they created it as a whole (looks alike!) and not that they created them individually and pieced them together. I think they will see the fruits of their labor when the finished product is displayed.Â
The students seem very motivated to get their projects completed and are working on their research whenever there is free time. The one thing I don’t like about my room is that I only have four computers. Two of which are my desktop and tablet. Thanks to the Wonder Project I will soon be the proud user of some more new laptops that will help me implement technology in my lessons that much more. I am excited to see the results of their hard work!
What a very interesting chapter that really compliments our last course on differentiation. I really like when ideas and information are layed out for me in a linear fashion. This chapter helped me to clarify some points that I was still thinking about from the last course. For example: the steps for compacting curriculum, and the software available for students who need alternative sources of consumable information. I like that it also plainly states that scaffolding should not be a permenant aspect of differentiation for a group of lower level students. This chapter also offered some “Add Tech!” components that were really helpful for ideas on how to differentiate for certain students.Â
The article within the site about “The Learning Enviornment” was very interesting to me. I have a number of gifted students in my class and it is always a challenge to meet all of their needs adequately. They are all on individual learning contracts and are performing well in all areas. The article was especially interesting though because I didn’t realize that within the gifted community of learners, there were sub-groups. I need to think about how I approach students within a group such as gifted, ELL’s, or any other group. I feel that I am supportive to their needs and have been able to provide them with the tools they need to be successful. The items on the lists within the article are strategies that I already use within my regular classroom community, but I do feel that I need to be a little more sensitive to my gifted students because they tend to be a little more fragile.
I have read Gardners work in many different books and have been very interested in the seperation of the different intelligences. Some people possess or are stronger in any one or more intelligence, but I like the idea that we all have some traits of each intelligence.  Some are better developed than others within us. I feel that this is representative of many of the students in my own classroom. They have many talents and some have yet to be explored by their limited educational experience so far.Â
It is amazingly true that our primary school system caters to the linguistic/mathematical intelligence. Very few programs emphasize the musical, spatial, or intrapersonal intelligences for that matter. Some of the other intelligences are present in schools, but they are presented at a much lower percentage than linguistic/mathematical.
I too, feel that teachers must put forth every effort to connect student to whatever aspect of learning peaks their interests. There is always some way to connect it in a meaningful way to what they are required to learn.�
    For this lesson I chose to use the jigsaw method. I’ve read about this in other books and writings and was very curious as to what it looked like exactly. I chose to use this with a science topic. My students were so excited and already had so much knowledge of their solar system, that I jumped right in with a demonstration about galaxies. They ate it up. There were so many questions that our KWL chart was full of questions for the “W” part.  I hadn’t even introduced the meat of the assignment and they were hooked.
     Once we finally began the research they were very excited and ready to get started.  One thing I thought as they were working is that it was beneficial for my students to be able to be researching using many sources. For this assignment I required that they use their text, either the encyclopedia, ScienceSaurus or other science book, and the internet. I didn’t want the bulk of their research to be from one place. Since I’m trying to get as many standards as possible inside this lesson without over doing it, I wanted them to be able to cite resources according to standards.
    The only hitches so far (because with technology there are usually some), I had plugged in my projector to my “old” laptop and “uh-oh” pink static?!?! I have never ran across this problem before. Two of the teachers are out of the pod and the other is deeply busy. So that’s why I rushed right into the demonstration. No matter, we’ll get the whole project finished and they will have tons of fun learning the whole way through. So far, chosing the jigsaw method hasn’t been too difficult, so I think it was a good choice for this topic.
I’ve integrated technology in several ways. First, I’ve assigned two students who are in charge of updating our classroom website daily/weekly. One student helped me create a table that they are responsible for posting weekly spelling words on a Friday afternoon (some students expressed an interest in being able to access them over the weekend so they could get a better score on Monday’s pre-test). The other student is responsible for generating the days homework inside another table on our website as I write it down for the class. Second, I’ve attached forums and I am planning to provide united streaming video to our moodle site so students can have additional access to curriculum we cover in class. Finally, I’ve had students research science, math, social studies and art related material online as well as studying for social studies, math, and science quizzes with the use of software programs and internet games. These are all ways in which Marzano states that students learn best.
 The AHA! that I had was that technology is abound, but not being properly utilized. I think a lot more people would like to use it in their classrooms, but aren’t sure how, when, or what to use it with. I’ve begun to let go of the “control” in my classroom and let students explore, research, create, and play with technology much more than any other year I’ve been in a classroom. I’ve also let students be leaders and take over on projects even when I’m unsure how to run a program perfectly. This has gone a long way because some students now stand out in my class where before they were much more passive learners. It wasn’t surprising to me to find out the statistics on technology use throughout the United States. For example, I’ve been speaking to a friend about their children in another state and their computer use in a 5th grade classroom. They say they use it about once a month. Then a former student who moved to South Carolina says she uses computers maybe once a week for less than half an hour. These aren’t even comparable to the amount of time my students are on the computer. I also don’t have set times for computer use. If we need to we’re online several times a day, during different times, and not just for one subject.
According to the topic outlined in Student Learning, “Students participating in the technology integrated school reform effort (School Design Model) demonstrated average increases of 94 points in combined SAT I performance over students who participated in the traditional independent school experience.” This is very clear evidence that technology can and does play an integral role in boosting test scores among students. The key for all of the evidence outlined in this article stemmed from the implementation of curriculum that is outlined with clear objectives. What the teacher is teaching, the technology being used, and the assessments being given are all aligned.  There were many different programs and software applications being applied with the aide of technology, and all mentioned the results were positive.Â
What an adventure the VISTAS masters program has been so far. I have learned so much about technology and know there is so much more out there waiting for me to catch up!
