Final Post- Reflection on Course

 Similar to the sentiments that I shared within the "Photo Story 3" highlight slide show that I created, this course has truly opened my eyes to the benefits of effective utilization of technology within the classroom. All of us, as special education majors, regardless of the student population that we plan to work with, understand that all students within a given classroom are unique, and require alternative instructional perspectives and techniques to be able to achieve success within the classroom. This class has come to expose us to an amazingly vast amount of resources to refer to when attempting to locate technologies that meet our perspective students' needs. I loved both the autonomy and independence that this course afforded to us; we were never harnessed down to work within a specific scope of technologies, and were forced to independently apply and consider the potential uses of the technologies that we selected to investigate. Our learning within this course was dependent upon our desire to advance and develop pedagogically, and, in consideration of the work that I completed and the technological, instructional knowledge that I acquired, I believe that this course was effective in exposing me to ways in which different types of technologies (both simple and complex, independent and collective) can be used to meet the needs of a diverse group of students. My experience within this course was nothing but positive, and, although I was unsure of my ability to successfully work within an online medium, I came to recognizer the collaboration that ensued between myself and my colleagues through both our personal blogs and the class's wiki page as being one of the most beneficial components of the course. I came to learn about myself as an aspiring educator, and have gained confidence in regards to my ability to locate various, effective technologies on my own.

Alternative to "Waiting for Superman"

Hi, all! Just came across a really important post located on "The Innovative Educator's" blog. A new film, "We Are The People We Are Waiting For", sheds light upon the different facets of the current educational system in the United States, and questions whether, based upon the construct, our nation's students will be able to keep pace with the ever-changing 21st century. Look into the film, and check it out. I'm really looking forward to it!

Final Post: Review of "Highlights"

After viewing both Jessie's and Molly's videos, I was very much impressed by both of their abilities to recognize their respective class portfolios as being viable communication outlets; by designing their pages in ways in which various communicative options (email, twitter, blog, skype) are readily made avaliable to viewers, their ability to proactively network and become connected within the profession has greatly enhanced. Viewing their clips has inspired me to design a "Contact/Link" page within my own web portfolio. Additionally, it was great to hear within all three of my "housemates'" "Highlight" pieces that they all now have come to recognize the innumerable benefits that the various Google-based technologies can provide us with as professionals--I was fortunate enough to have been exposed to the use and application of Google Sites, Power Points, etc. during my time in CEP 452 last semester (Fall 2010), so, for me, this was not a novice technology. However, through this course, it was amazing to see my colleagues' utilization of these techs; by being forced to independently delve into the actual application of these tools through an online educational medium, we were forced to sift through various issues on our own, just as we will be forced to do in the future within our own classroom. It is clearly apparent (through my "housemates'" impressive "highlight" clips) that this class has been beneficial for all us--we now possess a plethora of impressive technological skills that we are able to employ as we begin our careers, all of which will assist us in being able to successfully excel within our profession and provide our students with effective modifications and accommodations that work to meet their specific, unique behavioral, academic, or social needs.  

KIPP: Can Charter and Public Schools Actually be Compared?

KIPP, the charter school program that the Obama administration has established and advocated for, should, in my opinion, be intriguing to us as soon-to-be educators; who do these schools serve? What types of resources do these schools have at their exposure? What do these schools' student populations "look like"? Keeping these questions in mind, can we say that these charter schools are better equipped to serve our nation's students than our public education system? Schools Matter, an extremely relevant blog, further analyzes these types of questions in its most recent post, "Inner Oklahoma City Teacher Considers Neighboring KIIP". The author suggests that, in many respects (especially in regards to analytical data that is annually collected), KIPP and "traditional" public schools should not (and cannot) be compared.First, when attempting to compare charter and public schools, one must take the dichotomy that exists in regards to student density into account, especially when comparing the percentage of students placed within special education and/or other alternative settings. The author, when discussing KIPP charter schools within the immediate Oklahoma City area, states, "Our KIPP does a great job, but you simply can not compare a charter which had a decade to build up to serving 285 students, with 8.5 percent being on special education IEPs, with its neighboring school". The author continues, referring to a large, public middle school located in OC, "[This] school serves 792 students, with 26% of these students in special education, a 3% retention rate, and an 11.5% "middle-of-the-year" drop out rate". In comparison, the compared KIPP school placed 26% of students into special education classes, and retained close to 21% of their students the following school year. These numbers are alarming--obviously, with over 1/4 of students being provided with explicit and personalized scaffolding, academic achievement within KIPP environments are likely bolstered. However, who are these KIPP schools serving? Certainly, as an educational society, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that our nation's charters are serving our most "at-risk" students; who's eligible for KIPPs? As the author alludes to, it would be absolutely absurd to suggest or believe that charter and public schools serve the same "types of students within the same type of building"--KIPP students are plucked out of an often hectic and standardized public school environment, and are provided with resources that are rarely found within our nation's "traditional", publicly-funded classrooms. Before we buy in to the KIPP system, as college graduates on the brink of embarking on our educational careers, as I've stated all semester, we need to do our research.

Photo Story 3- Digital Story

Hey, guys! So, here's my digital story.. just sort of a synopsis of my experience thus far in this course, as well as a bit of rationale behind the lesson plans that I've designed and the information that I've acquired thus far. I used Photo Story 3 to create this, which is really easy to download and use (there are a few tutorials found within my second "integrated lesson plan", and I definitely suggest that you check those out!). If you're having difficulty viewing the video, let me know; it's been off and on, as in sometimes it plays, while other times it says that "an error has occurred". I'm going to email Sara and see what I can do to make sure that everyone can view it.

The use of wikis when compared to blogs, tweets, and other social media trends

What I love about working with wikis (and creating my own this week) is that, when compared to blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and the like, wikis allow for effective, efficient, and immediate communication between peers, colleagues, and students--blogging is extremely beneficial, yes, but, in my opinion, at times, the use of a blogs to disperse and consider alternative views and perspectives on issues can become overwhelming, cluttered, and disorganized. Wikis provide users with a single, central location to communicate their ideas, share products, and work through issues together as a united front. Take, for example, this class--we are all required to create and sustain an individualized, online identity through the generation of a blog; our blogs contain each of our unique thoughts and perspectives, and, in order to consider the views of peers, we are forced to sift through hundreds of posts, all of which were created using different systems and devices (i.e., we need passwords, identification codes, etc. to share ideas). Wikis eliminate this need to "sift"; the "math as a social activity" wiki page that I created for this week (the link is above) provides my house members with the opportunity to respond back to, comment on, and deeply consider the questions, thoughts, and ideas that I posed on a central page focused on a specific topic. In my opinion, when considering the capabilities of blogging, the use of wikis would be a far more viable option to use in the classroom--organizational capabilities are greatly enhanced, allowing the students' comments, thoughts, and ideas to be emphasized (rather than the technical components of "how" the technology should be used). Weekly, monthly, and/or annual wiki pages (as well as wikis focusing upon specific content units) will definitely be at the core of my classroom instruction, as I believe that this technology provides students with a useful communicative medium through which their ideas can be shared.

Google Docs, Other Google Technology in the Classroom

Created Google Slide Show

Almost all of the avaliable Google technologies, in my opinion, would be amazing tools to implement into one's classroom instruction--based upon my experience, the most beneficial component of these technologies (docs, slide-show, etc.) is the ease at which individuals are able to collaborate with one another through the use of an online forum. These types of tools, which allow for students to contribute to a group-created product easily, efficiently, and simultaneously either inside or outside of the classroom, would be extremely effective when attempting to constantly hold students accountable for their work; as instructors, through the use of Google docs in the literacy classroom, we will be able to consistently monitor the progress of each of our students, and actively partake in the editing and revising process with them even when outside of the classroom. We stress in college of education the concept of being ongoing, prolonged learners--Google docs, and the ease at which students are able to disperse their ideas, critique the thoughts of others, and edit/contribute to a collaborative group effort, provide literacy learners with the ability to hone their writing skills while acquiring the abilities needed to collaborate constructively with others, a skill that they must begin to develop as young adults in a growing society.