This blog is designed to show what I have and am learning while continuing my education at Grand Canyon University, Phoenix Arizona. This is the wonderful Christian university in which I have chosen to continue my education and seek my master's degree. And this is where I will share and show some of my previously held, newly acquired, and recently researched knowledge.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Technology Infused Classroom
A technology infused classroom is place where the teacher
and students have immediate access to lots of different types of current
technology. Students are actively using
different forms of technology daily and teachers are guiding students in their
learning. Students are working collaboratively
with the technology and they are using their creativity to show what they know
and continue to learn.
There might be an interactive white board in use where students
or teachers are modeling or explaining, it could even be used for a small group
lesson or center rotation. Digital cameras
and printers could be used to take images of concepts in real life, such as a
pencil, a cylinder for math; grass outside, a producer for science; or even a
picture of a child eating to write a descriptive paragraph for writing. The technology infused classroom would have
computers that students would use word processing applications to publish their
work, practice skills using website of software programs. The Flip camera or camcorder could capture
presentations, experiments or even students teaching others. Students would have assigned iPads for daily
use to practice, explain, view concepts, and produce work. The use of other
technologies used by children would be the center of a technology infused
classroom. Students actively using different
technology daily to learn and show what they have learned, this is the vision I
have for my technology infused classroom.
This week’s topic focused on connecting technology with
learning. I was given the following
questions to answer:
How can visual
literacy and the use of Internet impact the teaching and learning process in
the classroom?
What are some visual-thinking strategies you would like to
use in your classroom?
What role do you want the Internet play in your classroom?
Below you can read my response.
Visual
literacy can impact teaching by allowing students to verbalize what they think
about an artwork without being right or wrong.
This will cause students to verbalize what they are thinking and help
them to generate ideas. Teachers will be
able to hear students tell them just what they are thinking. Students will be more willing to verbalize
their thoughts because they will know there is not right or wrong answer. So the fear they feel of saying something
incorrect will be eliminated. When the
fear is removed they will have greater self confidence and allow others to see
their thinking and discuss their ideas and other students’ ideas.
Studies
have shown that using VTS students increase many other skills. Carlemuseum.org (the Eric Carle Museum of
Picture Book Art) , states that “VTS measurably increases observation skills,
evidential reasoning, speculative abilities, and the ability to find multiple
solutions to complex problems across the curriculum.” The article can be found at http://www.carlemuseum.org/downloads/VTS%20Final.pdf
I
found an interesting article about the VTS program.
The article can be found at
gives
a description, overview, background, explanation of how the program works and
other useful information. This
information will help you to understand more about VTS developed by Abigail
Housen and Philip Yenawine. It is founded on the principals of Rudolf Arnheim, Jerome
Bruner and Lev Vygotsky.
The
use of the internet will allow teacher sot locate images to use in the classroom
to generate thought and self confidence.
The thought comes from seeing the image and relating it to the
content. There are excessive amounts of
images on the internet and having students to view related images and justify
what they see and think based on the image there is not a wrong answer. Students then will be more confident in their
answers and learning ability. This in
turn can increase their willingness and comprehension of the material.
Instructional Technology for Media and
Learning
by Sharon E. Smaldino, Deborah L.
Lowther, and James D. Russell state the following
Today
we use the term visual literacy to refer to the learned ability to
interpret
visual messages accurately and to create such messages. Visual literacy can be
developed through two major approaches:
•
Input strategies. Helping learners to decode, or read,” visuals proficiently by
practicing visual analysis skills (e.g., through picture analysis and
discussion of multimedia and video programs).
•
Output strategies. Helping learners to encode, or write,” visuals to express themselves
and communicate with others (e.g., through planning and producing visual
presentations).
One
teaching strategy would be to use visual thinking strategy would be in a
writing lesson. Provide each student
with an attention-grabbing image. Have
them to write sentences, questions and words about the image to garner
thoughts. Then have students to use those thoughts to
begin to write about the image. They can
create the answers to the questions, use the details they wrote and then use
the sentences to describe what is happening.
This will allow them to describe in detail what they see in the picture
to you using their own words.Gemma
De Vita, a teacher from Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia says This allows the students to have a picture
book with their own notes to remind them of what they are learning and
thinking.”This idea is one that I would like to adapt for my students use. The link for this idea can be found at http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/13279/. There are also other ideas and links for VTS
that can be of use at this link.
Using
visualization in math to teach shapes is another visual thinking strategy I
would enjoy using. A sample Lesson using
visualization to teach math lesson on shapes can be found at http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/teaching-shapes-using-read-797.html?tab=1#tabs. In this lesson students are challenged, encouraged,
and taught to use a visualization
strategy to synthesize information. Students then use illustrations to
interpret texts visually
What
role do I want the internet to play in my classroom? The answer to that question can be summed up
in one word. TOOL. I want the Internet to be used as a tool for
individualizing and differientiating instruction. Students can move at their own pace to
further their learning on topics of interest.
I can give them assignments or partners that can aid them in
understanding the basics of a concept.
They can use the Internet to get immediate answers to questions, and even
learn skills. They will be able to learn
the difference between fact and opinion, real and imaginary, bias and unbiased,
reliable and unreliable. These ideas can be taught to students where they each
can use the internet to discover, understand, and practice for long term
learning. I read --- and hope that one
day I can make the same comments about my class. The article talked about the difference adding
internet made in classrooms where students actively used the internet for their
learning, not the teacher modeling, at least once a week. Click the link below to see the article.
