ED 205

I personally as a teacher will more than likely not be using a whole lot of technology in my classrooms. Mainly due to the fact that I will be teaching Physical Education and Health. However I do still feel that it is definately in my best interest to stay on top of new technological advances and the ways in which technology can benefit me as a student and as a teacher. Such as all the microsoft software and also grading and attendance software/ideas and more photography and video experience.
In my future PE classes I would like to use aerobic or workout videos as guidelines for some of my students activites and as a way in which they can work on becoming physically fit for life. Something else I would like to use for my athletes as a potential coach or students is still photography and video. Showing athletes photos or video of themselves in action can clearly show what the athlete may be doing correctly or incorrectly and what they may need to change in order to become more efficient. On the same note you can compare video and still images to one another to emphasis the correct way or incorrect way of the performance of many different individuals or teams, etc. This way students who learn better through visualizing instead repetition of doing can benefit more as well.
Some organizations I may use to help me stay on top of my education with technology include using online education organizations as a source of involvment i.e. ( www.educational-software-directory.net/ organizations.html), and subscribing to journals such as Journal of Technology Education, Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, and/or The Journal Online - Technological Horizons in Education. I would most definately consider going to workshops or conferences about technology and technology use in education or multimedia technology in education. I found a website www.ataacademy.org that has a highly regarded professional development program for educators in Michigan none the less. The site talks about summer workshops held in Michigan and their focuse on technology-curriculum integration. I feel that experiences such as these would really influence my future with technology in the long and short of things. The only downfall would be cost however the site also claims to provide some scholarships to cover the cost. I also found this site http://www.resa.net/techresources/ which holds conferences in Wayne Co. MI and they are currently exploring a Video Streaming Project to help teachers integrate video into their educational curriculm. This is exactly what I am talking about for my future classroom. I would be very interested to go and learn more about this type of technology advancement.
On the ISD page I see an educational service in Newaygo County which is where I grew up and wouldn’t mind teaching. On the website they do not seem to offer and classes about technology training however I know on some occasions during the summer they do offer this. My mother is a teacher in Newaygo County and has attended many mandatory workshops at this facility, a few regarding technology in education. Hopefully if I find myself teaching in this area the workshops will be beneficial to me as well and show me new ideas and ways of using education if not refreshing me with ideas I once encountered.

I feel that the group that made this site has some bias about the topic. The site does not present much information about MLK other than the negatives. The negatives however that I did not know. Therefore, this site was useful to me. I am not sure how I feel about the site being used by a school. The information was at times pretty deragatory. Even on the main page the quotes about his last night before his death while he was in the hotel are vulgar and most definately inappropriate for someone who I feel is younger than 16 or 17 years old. If you use this site in a school you can’t guaratee that students who shouldn’t be seeing this site won’t be seeing it. Kids can learn to be less trusting of this site or sites like these because it is presented and run by a person or group not a credentialed organization; Although they do credit others when using their information.
I used the search engine msn.com to look for this site and it appeared 21st on the list. Mind you that is 21st out of 308,375. Pretty good if you ask me. I feel that it has become so high on the list becasue it is a controversial website. It shares things about the history of MLK that many other websites don’t present, for whatever reason. Becasue this site is controversial it draws the attention of people on a larger scale.
The domain name is .org therefore making it a less trustworthy and personal created and run site. This site contains a link to stormfront.org and this statement just happens to be as displayed at the top of the website -”Stormfront White Nationalist Community.” This most definately sheds light upon and around the bias of the website. This site could be viewed as a public service if the content can be verified as truthful. They do list the books in which some of their information presented on the website came from. This would not relate to my curriculum, I would not use it as a resource in my class however I might look into the books in which they say they found some of the information on the site. It is an appropriate site for possible HS juniors or seniors and college students but not any younger than that. The links for the most part add value to what they are trying to share but then again all the information on the site is negative and not positive. The site appears to be up to date and reads for mature ages easily. The site design I must say in my opinion is put together well and loads fast. The graphics appear to have been taken out of historical text and many have captions about the locations of the pictures and if they were taken from a book or document, etc which one. The links all worked for me but one. It was one of the downloadable PDF’s. Overall easily navigatible as well.
To sum it up this site is bias and would not be the best choice for teaching a class…as I stated earlier I feel I might use some of the other resources listed on the page to help my class learn about MLK!

I feel that constructivism in my classrooms will be extremely useful and even neccesary. In teaching physical education it is very important for students to participate in all classroom activities to get the complete concept of sport/s and physical activity. Especially in order to benefit the particpant. You can’t learn to effectively play a sport by memorizing the positions and the “job/s” of each player in that position. The rules may also be somewhat confusing and oblivious to the learner if he or she doesn’t understand the appropriate context in which to use them. The learner needs to be active and go kick a soccer ball, throw a football, shoot a basketball, hit a softball or baseball, pass a volleyball, etc. You just can’t expect someone to read about the correct way to perform an activity and then send them out to play and expect them to score points and understand how the game functions when all players and teams are there and competeing. It is so much more involved than that.

Also, in this theory students are frequently placed in groups or teams, this will create a bond and a trust amongst the students in my classroom or on a sports team. It will undoubtedly effect the way in which the students/learners interact and it will encourage them to learn from one another as well and not just the textbook or the teacher. By participating in the activities it will also teach the learner that although the information they are given from the book or teacher may say for example that a foul is this or that that fouls aren’t always seen or called even if you feel one may have been committed, and there really isn’t anything one can do or say to change that. Fairness can be explained and written in a text but doesn’t neccesarily mean it will be feasible on the court or field.
I also feel that classrooms where science and/or math is involved should be extremely hands on. A lot of the things you learn from these two subjects contain tons of information and memorization. It will simply be easier and less stressful for the learner and the teacher if experiments are done and participation and asking questions are frequent. To sit and listen in a passive state sends the information in one ear and out the other, there is little retention.
I feel this issue really should not be controversial because where it is being used it is helpful. If it isn’t being used then it definately isn’t doing any harm and very little harm can be done by experimenting with using it in your classroom. Nearly any subject can certainly be suited for this type of learning.
I think constructivism and technology integration are so closely interwoven because technology is something fairly new to many individuals and it is growing at an astounding rate. Soon, much of the world is going to function with technology which will require learning about in order to operate. But once we learn to operate then it will provide an amazing array of information for us to feed on. So you pay a little price to gain much more than you will ever need or use in a lifetime.
I feel that Constructivism is going to go a long way in our society and I back it up and support it fully.