674+Discussion+Questions

**__Discussion Question 1 - completed during Weekend One __**
What do you know about using technology with students? What do you want to know about using technology with students?

I think I know the basics. Because I teach Chemistry, I am comfortable using a lot of different probes and small hand held data collection devises like lab pro's. I use the computer lab very rarely with my students simply because it next to impossible to reserve lab space. In the past, I have had students do online research and create power points. Lately my classroom computer use has been limited to graphical analysis.

I would like to learn some techniques to use technology to do new things, not just the same things with technology. What I mean is, I know how to do a power point but that is just a glorified lecture. I would love to learn something that allows me to teach or explain something better. I don't want to use technology just to use it or because I should. I want to be able to use technology in order to create meaningful lessons and increase student learning.

**__Discussion Question 2 - completed during Weekend One__ **
Look at the Essential 21st Century Skills List - Select one skill and discuss how you already meet this skill via your current instruction. Select another Essential 21st Century Skill that you may NOT already touch upon and project how you might be able to meet that need in future instruction.

I think I do a really good job with accountability in my chemistry class. I Use homework for practice and only check it for completion. Because it is practice my students are responsible to make sure they are checking and completing their work. Students need to be responsible for getting the correct answers from my answer keys or listening when I go over things in class. I rate homework on a 3,2,1 scale where a three is completely done, a two is complete but late, and a one is if the work is partially done. What really throws students for a loop is that if only one question is not done, it counts as a 1 just as if they missed three or four problems. If they take the time to complete homework that was not done during a check they can earn one more point to get a 2. It is very hard for student to understand that even if one question is missing it is only worth one point because in their other classes it counts as complete. The idea is that complete work is more important than almost done things even if they can't meet the deadline. Too often students are nonverbally given the idea that half way done is good enough. In my eyes I want them to finish what was expected of them.

One area that I would like to improve on is self direction. I really think that students are so used to being told what to do they really struggle when the reigns come off. What I would like to do is have more flexibility in my classroom where students have a list of things that they need to complete by the end of a unit and they are on their own as to how they go about doing it. What I am most afraid of is that if it doesn’t work they will have lost out on a entire unit and I will not be able to make that time back up. I find that during student directed work time that they don't use time wisely and tend to talk instead of working. In my experience I have found that students will adapt. What I mean is that if I tell them this is what I expect, they generally will rise to the occasion. There will always be some students that will lag behind but for those students I could give them a detailed schedule. If I implement a lesson like this I am most afraid of the reaction by parents and administration more than my students.

==** __Discussion Question 3 - to be completed one week after the Weekend One__ ** ==

This is a video that I would like to use to compliment our reactions unit. We discuss and show the five different types of chemical reactions but this video would allow visual learners a little different view of what is actually happening.

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Since I was playing around looking for videos I found a second video that I would like to incorporate into my nuclear chemistry unit. Mostly I just love the this guy’s hair J

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==**__Discussion Question 4 - to be completed Saturday/Weekend Two__ ** ==

To complete the KWHL- what have you learned from the readings, activities and discussions from this course about using technology with your students?

I have learned through this class and the book that the incorporation of technology in the classroom doesn’t have to be earth shattering. Technology should be used to enhance what teachers are already doing in the classroom. In many of the other articles I have read, for some of the other classes, the authors make it seem that teachers are doing it all wrong and that technology usage should be the standard of learning. Through this class I see how technology can be used to enhance the classroom instruction not change it altogether. In some cases technology can bring about new opportunities for students but mostly it can provide a different more interactive environment for students where they can receive more immediate feedback in an environment that they are comfortable with.

The last thing that I have learned about using technology in the classroom is that technology changes very, very fast. From the time the book we used for this class was published to the time of this class the book is mostly out of date and a lot of the links provided no longer work. From that perspective, effective technology usage seems a little overwhelming where teachers must continuously monitor and update how they use technology. I still have yet to see a way of using technology that would work really great in my classroom. I am looking forward to trying to use a wiki and somehow incorporating the claymation video. In the end I have a lot of ideas and a lot to think about, which is what I wanted. I'm always looking for a new way to teach and a new way to keep kids engaged in what we are doing in class.