Technology Discussion Post #1

Technology Reflection Assignment

 

Description/Experience

We discussed how to use Edmodo and Prezi. I really liked both of these sites because they are ways that I can make my classroom more fun for my students. Regular slideshows get boring but with Prezi, I can make the presentations really fun! Edmodo is really neat too because it’s a fun way outside of class to get to interact with the students. My only concern with that was if the students didn’t have a computer at home. I would have to work that out with my students of course but it definitely was a concern.

Application

Prezi could be used while giving a short lesson at the beginning of an activity. My class is always working on their alphabet since they are in Kindergarten. I could make a presentation where they would have to identify the letter that pops up on the screen and then the next item the path would go to would be a word that starts with that letter. By doing this, the children will get practice identifying letters of the alphabet in a random order. This will help when they start reading. As I mentioned above, this would be for Kindergarten. I would have to work to make it simpler than I would for an older age group. I would measure this by taking the students aside in groups later in the day. Here, I would hold up flash cards and test to see if they are beginning to recognize these letters. If they are, then I would keep using this method.

1.      Have the class come sit on the carpet in front of the projector.

2.      Give instructions. Tell them what they will do when the letter comes up on the screen.

3.      I would start flipping through the slides while they tell me which letter appears. When we get to slides with words, we would sound out the words as a class so they can hear what sound the letter makes.

4.      Repeat step 3 until all the letters have been recognized.

5.      Later in the day while they are working on an assignment, I would pull them out in small groups.

6.      I would hold up a flash card to the group and have one student answer at a time so I could see if the Prezi show is helping them learn.

 

Reflection

Pedagogy-Content:

• I would make the presentation very simple and make sure that the font was a kind that they could easily read and understand. If they can’t understand what the lesson is about, then there is no point to try to have the lesson at all.
• Not every child comes from a good supportive home that is going to help them start learning their alphabet before they come to kindergarten. Because of this, I would have to make lessons that cater to those who don’t know the alphabet while making sure that I’m not going too slow for those who are more developed in this area

Technology:

• A major function of this technology is that it helps make lessons more entertaining than a boring lecture by itself. It also keeps them focused on what is going on up front.
• I have found that it is very accessible and it automatically saves online so it doesn’t take up space in your hard drive.

Technology-Pedagogy:

• I would use it to make the lessons more fun and it would be good to start getting the students familiar with the technology they will be using the rest of their lives.
• I would have the activity up on the screen rather than just using the same note cards over and over again. I can also change the path on Prezi, so the order of the letters wouldn’t have to be the same
• I would have to make sure that the students were focused on the lesson. Prezi may make it more interesting, but I would have to limit myself to so many graphics so they don’t start acting up because they think it’s cool.

Technology-Content:

• I could give even more examples than I had before because it’s all based off the internet where I have an unlimited amount of resources.
• I don’t think it would really change the content they are learning. It just gets the lesson up off paper and on the screen where they can learn as a group.

Technology-Pedagogy-Content:

• There would be a happy medium between what is don’t with and without the technology. You can’t rely completely on the technology. They must do something on their own to practice these things or they won’t really learn. Prezi is just a decorative way of teaching.
• It would help me see what works and what doesn’t work. If they learn more by working in this manner, then I would associate more of it into the lessons. If I see that it isn’t helping, then I would try to only use it on occasion just so they still get the technology exposure.
• I would make sure that the technology used would be necessary for the lesson. If I automatically know that it isn’t going to benefit them in any way, then I won’t even take the time to make it. However, if I think that it could help, then I will make the presentation and test it out on the students to see if it does help.