TERRIFIC NEWS!

I passed the School Librarian TExES Certification Exam. I am a certified library media specialist! Woo-Hoo! :-D

My AHAs for ETEC 524

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the technological skills that I have acquired during this ETEC class. I have many AHAs that I would like to share. First, I am happy to learn how to evaluate websites. This will come in handy as a middle school librarian. For me to be able to lead students to certain websites, I need to be sure that the site contains accurate and legit information. I will be able to teach the students how to evaluate websites as well.

Next, I am delighted to have learned how to create a website using Dreamweaver. As a school librarian, I plan on creating a highly developed website for the library. This website will be uniquely designed full of educational information, useful links, colorful graphics and pictures, etc. Dreamweaver will help me accomplish this.

I have always wanted to know how to create a film on the computer. Now, I know how thanks to this class! Windows Movie Maker is so easy to use. It is easy to create and modify film and pictures. I love being able to develop slide shows using Movie Maker. I like how you can zoom in and out of pictures. I will use Movie Maker to present films and slide shows of activities that occur in the school library.

Probably the most awesome and "coolest" technological tool that I learned in this class was about virtual worlds. Second Life is unbelievable. It amazes me at how you can create your own world and use it for educational purposes. I would love to develop a virtual library. It would be fantastic! I could create lessons and activities for students to accomplish in the virtual world. The students would absolutely love it. I have already shared this with my nephew who is in the eighth grade. He thinks it is great and already knows more about it than I do.

I am so thankful for having the opportunity to take this class! The knowledge I have gained will help me to fulfill my goal of being a successful school librarian.

Educational Technology Philosophy

People need the opportunity to be enriched and enlightened by receiving an equal, fair and quality education. The knowledge gained from educational technology encourages and promotes intelligent and responsible citizens to function, contribute, and adapt in a society that is continuously changing. The opportunity that I have as an educator is significant in the development of one’s skills, attitudes, appreciations and disciplines necessary for building one’s future. As an educator, I believe that it is through dedication and commitment to help build a bright future and strong community.

I believe in the Constructivist point of view that lessons should be student-centered. Learning environments should support collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation, not competition among learners for recognition. I like to provide a learning environment in a real-world setting. As an educator, I like to serve more as a facilitator and keep my learning environment student-centered rather than teacher-centered. I always promote and encourage higher-level thinking. I realize that students have individual learning styles. I try to take into consideration what styles/methods of teaching relate best with my students. I integrate educational technology into my lessons to help accomplish this. My goal is to not only engage all my students into learning, but also to have them truly learn and remember something while enjoying the process along the way.

As an educator, I teach with one purpose in mind. This purpose is to have all my students become successful learners. I want my students to know that I truly care about them. Being a caring teacher is what makes an educator great. If a teacher cares, he/she will put forth the effort in planning quality lessons that will engage the students. In addition, he/she will listen to the students, hearing what they have to say. From the experiences that I had as a student, the teachers that cared enough to actually stop, look and listen to me made the most positive impact on my education. I want my learners to gain knowledge, respect and a love for learning. If I achieve this, I feel like I have succeeded as a teacher. It makes me happy knowing that my students like my class and that they are engaged in learning.

I am the type of person who likes to get things done correctly. If something I teach is not a success the first time, I will re-teach it another way. Using technology for educational purposes is great for accomplishing this. I try to make it fun for my students. I believe that I teach like this because I put myself in my students’ shoes. I never liked school if the lesson was dull/boring or if the teacher was mean/uncaring of his/her students. Therefore, I encourage my students, show them that I care and use educational technology to promote exciting and thorough lessons. Synonyms for “teacher” that accurately describe what I believe myself to be are caring, friendly, patient, goal oriented motivator, success driven, and educator.

The reason I choose the teaching strategies that I use is to accomplish the goal of my students remembering and comprehending the lessons. I want my students to be able to remember what we did in class more than a month ago. I want the lessons to be remembered rather than forgotten. The types of lessons that get my attention are those that fully engage the learners. I like to use educational technology in ways that allow students to participate in hands-on assignments. I like my students to know what is expected and how to carry out the assignment while enjoying it.

Educational technology plays a huge role in my goal of being a successful teacher-librarian. I will utilize educational technology in ways to positively influence and empower students, teachers, administrators and members of the community. The possibilities of gaining knowledge are endless. Educational technology allows me as a teacher-librarian, to help all those find, locate and evaluate all types of information.

I realize that there are so many educational technology tools that I have not yet used. Technological resources are continuously being created and updated. I understand and value the importance of educational technology and what it can provide me and to my learners. Providing a meaningful and quality education is what is important for our future, our community and all of us. Therefore, through continuous education, I strive to gain knowledge and better myself as an educator and learner through discovering new empowering ways to integrate educational technology.

Technology-Enhanced Curriculum

As I was reading Romano's ideas on the implementation of a Technology-Enhanced Curriculum (TEC), I thought to myself, "Will this be possible?" I like all his ideas and implementation strategies. I think it would be a very difficult and long process. I think that it may be achievable, but will take many years.

The costs are enormous. I think that it would be a great idea for each school district to develop their own TEC implementation plans, then find grants and other ways to help pay for the program. For a school district to have TEC, they must have the technological equipment/software, to have the equipment/software, they need to have money to pay for it.

While reading the text, I thought about the Forney School District. I taught 7th grade technology in Forney, last year. Students from a particular elementary school were more technologically advanced than my other students in class. I found out that one elementary school was chosen as a test to see how successful students/teachers would be by each having their own lap-top computers. Teachers were to implement lesson plans with the use of the lap-tops. These students in my class were already able to use most of the technology applications as well understand how to use them with assignments. The elementary students have used the computer lap-tops for the last 3 years. I just found out recently that since it has been a success, the school district has now accumulated funds to provide every student/teacher a lap-top at the middle school level, beginning next year. The district plans on providing lap-tops for all elementary and high school students in the very near future. The teachers at the middle school have already received their lap-tops to begin planning assignments for next year. I think that this is a smart idea. Testing to see how the students respond to the use of technology and working out problems that arise from the test. I am sure that the middle school faculty expect and will experience many problems next year. This is to be expected with any new implementation. In the long run, I think that it will be so beneficial in preparing students to succeed in a technological world.

Online Learning

Online learning goes right along with my constructivist view of the experiences being student centered. I had the opportunity to teach computer classes last year to seventh graders. I integrated computer applications with online learning activities and WebQuests. Not only did the students get to hear the online lessons (with headphones) they got to visually see the pictures, videos, demonstrations, examples, etc. This helped students to have a more well rounded understanding of the concepts being taught. There are many students who are shy and are intimidated to answer questions out loud because of the possibility of being scolded or made fun of by others if they are wrong. Online learning helps to prevent some of this from happening. I had all the students set up blogs. Students were to post to the blogs. Only I knew their code names. The blog postings by those students who usually never spoke were really good. Their posts were pretty much open and honest. I heard from teachers, that some of the students that were fully engaged in my online activities did not participate much in their traditional classroom settings.

Those students who have Internet access at home could continue their online learning activities at home. This allows the families to get involved with their child's learning. Again, this reflects a student centered environment, but now allows for family involvement. Being a mother, I would love to be involved with my son's online assignments. This is why I have created a website for my students and their family members to know and see what we are doing in the classroom. I think that it is so important for the family to know what is going on in their child's classroom.

In November's book, "Empowering Students," he mentions how online learning can also lend itself to activities away from the classroom. He is absolutely correct! I believe that all subjects learned online can lead to other activities. Just as I am learning all kinds of valuable information about technology and being a librarian from my home computer. When I go to the school library, I put into action what I have read and learned online. Just like the students who participated in an assignment for an online science class, taking notes to classify trees and flowers (page 78).

I think that the Second Life virtual world is amazing! As soon as I saw it being demonstrated, my wheels in my mind began turning. You could use this environment to conduct any lesson. I can see, in my minds eye, students being fully engaged and actually very excited about completing assignments. I believe that it will take some time learning how to create and change the environments as well as teach students how to use it, but will all be well worth it. Since I am becoming a librarian, I also thought about creating a virtual library. This would probably take a very long time to develop, but just imagine the possibilities if it were created!