Blog 6 - One minute Guru

This blog is a place for you to share your ideas for tools you come across during exploration and research for your projects. In this blog post, you will have a ‘on stop shop’ list of tools, tips and tricks that you can access when you are brainstorming for lesson plans in the future. Post at least 5 tips, tricks, or tools that you and others can use later. 


Useful Teaching Tools:
1.)  National Center on Universal Design for Learning: UDL Guidelines - Version 2.0

The National Center on Universal Design for Learning website, http://www.udlcenter.org/, provides a list of helpful guidelines that allow teachers to make their lessons more accessible to students with different learning styles and needs.  If teachers get stuck, they will find lots of useful examples under "Implementation."

2.) School Improvement in Maryland: Standards: PK-8

When designing a lesson it is important to take standards into account to make sure that students are learning material that is challenging, yet age-appropriate.  These standards are specific to each state, but Maryland teachers will find the School Improvement in Maryland website a great resource for PK-8 standards.

3.) School Improvement in Maryland: Technology Standards: PK-8

In addition to providing information about standards in content area, the School Improvement in Maryland website provides standards that will help teachers incorporate technology into their classrooms. The website covers all Maryland technology standards for grades PK-8.

4.) Pam's Lessons: JPTAAR Format

JPTAAR format is useful for providing a lesson with structure and direction, and consists of six main divisions: Judges prior learning, Plans instruction, Teaches, Assesses, Analyzes, and Reflects on lesson and data gathered.  Pam's Lessons provides a link to download a JPTAAR template, as well as sample lesson plans.

5.) Towson University: Center for Professional Practice - INTASC Principles

Towson's INTASC (Interstate New Teachers Assessment and Support Consortium) Principles are a very basic set of principles that will help a teacher to design a thoughtful and meaningful lesson.  These ten principles include useful advice on learning styles, instructional strategies, and communication.

Blog 5 - Digital game based learning

Reflect on your experience of using digital games and game building, what have you learned? What are the most important issues we need to consider when adapting game based learning?  What are the challenges you’ve experienced? 

After my experiences designing games for the "Name Game" project and the Game-based Learning project, and after designing a board game, I've discovered that while games may seem simple to play, they can be a lot trickier to design.  I've learned that the most important aspect to be considered when designing a game is user-friendliness.  It's extremely important for the directions of the game and the game interface to be well thought-out so that players can easily grasp the concept of the game, because otherwise they will quickly become frustrated and will not be able to access all of the learning benefits that the game-designer intends.

I found this aspect of game design especially challenging when designing a board game because of the time constraints that our groups were faced with.  We had to design, create, and test a board game in the space of one or two hours that was easy to use and enjoyable for the player.  To meet these requirements, my group designed a board game based on Disney's The Lion King, which was a "Candy Land" style game in which players were in a race to the finish and were guided on their path by drawing cards that directed them in their journey.  Through testing this game, our group came to realize that while we found our directions to be clear and the rules of the game to be self-evident, when we viewed others playing our game, there were several places in which we could've made the directions more detailed.  Thus, the most important step in game design is having someone else test the game and make sure that both the directions and the interface are user-friendly.

Blog 4-Internet Safety

In this blog, you will discuss the topic of internet safety. You need to include basic background information on the topic and strategies for integrating the concept into k-12 teaching. Following are the topics you can choose from: cyberbullying, file sharing and pirating, identity theft, malware/viruses/worms/Trojans, internet addiction, net banging, phishing, spam, tracking cookies, sexting.

Cyber bullying is a serious internet safety issue that affects internet users all over the world.  Cyber bullying means that a student is repeatedly being exposed to "negative actions on the part of one or more students" that are intentional.  These negative actions take place through the use of many different kinds of informational and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phones, and personal websites.  Cyber bullying is becoming more and more common with students' increasing access to technology, and the impersonal aspect of cyber bullying has allowed it to become more prevalent because there is less risk for the bully.

Information on this topic could easily be integrated into any k-12 classroom that utilizes computers.  Cyber bullying should be introduced very early on in the year, so that students are informed and prepared to deal with the risks.  Students should be informed and given examples of the various types of cyber bullying, including flaming, online harassment, cyberstalking, and denigration, masquerade, outing, and exclusion.  This will allow students to identify the problem and recognize that they are the recipient of the negative actions of cyber bullying.  Students must also be provided with resources, such as hotlines and knowledge of who to contact in case of cyber bullying.

Blog 3-Web 2.0

Prompt: Web 2.0 is changing the way we work, live, study, and play. Scholars claim that this change of technology is causing an emergent of a participatory culture and consequently challenging our school systems and ways we teach and learn.  Are we, as teachers, prepared to teach in this new context?  After completing the readings, discuss your thoughts about this issue, focusing on practical strategies of how we can use web 2.0 tools to enhance students’ learning. 

I think teachers are prepared to teach in the new context of participatory culture because of the groundwork and foundation laid down by educational tools such as those provided by Web 2.0. After completing the readings, I can see a variety of ways that teachers can implement Web 2.0 tools into their lessons to allow student to create their own media content.  By incorporating podcasting, blogging, and social networking, teachers can provide their students with open avenues for communication and tailor their lessons to various different learning styles.  For example, making a podcast of the lesson could be helpful for ESL students because they are not native English speakers and may need more time and repetition in order to process the material.  Therefore, I think Web 2.0 can add a lot to a classroom or a lesson because it contributes to "media literacy" and can fulfill the needs of students with different learning styles.

Blog 2-UDL

At the core of UDL is the premise that often the curriculum is disabled (and disabling!). It is not flexible; it often poses barriers, and consequently prevents rather than supports optimal learning experiences. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why or why not?

I agree with the premise of the Universal Design for Learning because I think the curriculum often is limiting for students and acts as a handicap that prevents students with disabilities from getting as much out of a class or topic.  

What are the benefits of analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the student’s strengths and weaknesses?

It is beneficial to analyze the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the student's strengths and weaknesses because it is the job of the teacher to make it possible for any time of learner to gain knowledge and experience, no matter what their learning requirements are.  

What are the challenges of this approach?

The challenges of UDL are that a teacher much be creative and take different styles of learning into account.

Blog 1-Learning Theory

Gagne: Cognitive-Behavioral Theory
1. How is learning defined in this theory?
Gagne divided learning into five categories or outcomes: intellectual skills, attitude, motor skills, cognitive strategy, and verbal information.

2. What is the role of teachers in this theory?
The teacher's role in Gagne's Cognitive-Behavioral theory is to gain the attention of the students, to inform the students of the objective of the topic they're learning, to help students apply prior learning, provide guidance and feedback, and enhance student retention and future application of the material.

3. What is the role of students in this theory?
The role of students in Gagne's theory is to be receptive to new knowledge, retrieve prior knowledge, perceive selectively, and to reinforce their prior knowledge with new knowledge.


4. What role can technology play in this theory?
Technology would focus on visual stimulation and help to expand a student's current knowledge or prior learning.

5. What do you think about this theory? Is it closely aligned with your idea of teaching and learning?
I agree with some aspects of this theory, such as the helpfulness of visual stimulation in retaining information, but I think that students could benefit more from a more hands-on approach to learning that involves more practice and trial and error. 

6. What would it look like in classrooms?
The classroom setting that would be best suited to the application of cognitive behavioral theory would be standard and with few distractions.  The teacher could give the students the lessons in the form of lectures and repeat information often to make it easy to retain.  The subjects that would benefit the most from the application of Cognitive-Behavior theory are subjects which require a lot of memorization and analysis, such as math and history.  

First Post

Hi, I'm Emily.  Today is my first day of ISTC 301.  This class we introduced ourselves and went over the syllabus.