Digital Badge L

I really liked the title of Chapter 12; Integrating Technology and Creating Change as Teacher Leaders. That just shows that we as teachers are the ones who have to push the technology for change to happen, which I think is really cool. Chapter 12 made me realize that teachers have an important decision to make: to infuse of include technology in their teaching. Inclusion of technology would mean that technology is present, but not central to a students learning. An example of this would be students using the computer lab for an hour every other day. They are using it and practicing skills with technology, but it is not a main part of their day. Infusion, however, is complete use of technology for learning. Games, word processors, and research are all examples of this. When a teacher uses a computer and interactive white board to teach for most of the day, that is infusion of technology. I personally feel like more teachers are infusing technology into their teaching styles rather than including, and I would do the same. For example, in high schools teachers put up notes on the computer and interactive white board, they play videos and movies and research solutions to problems right there in front of the class. Infusion is definitely the way to go in my opinion.

Concerning digital inequalities I think I may be naive, but I believe that every child has had computer access before starting school. In this day and age, it's impossible to not have an email. Bills, receipts, Facebook, and numerous other things communicate through email. So I would think that a student would have access to a computer if their parents do, whether at home or at a public library. A lot of college libraries even have public access. So I would not let the thought that a family does not have computer access stop me from using technology in my teaching.

The book then went on to discuss one to one laptop computing. I personally have had experience with this program, as my high school took part in this. It did make learning very different and more technology oriented. Each student used their computers as textbooks, quiz and test centers, a place to turn in homework assignments, and a place to take notes during class. It was awesome, I barely picked up a pencil all year. However, I also beat the computer game Plants Vs. Zombies that first year of high school. My friends and I were also able to video chat funny faces to each other while in different classes. So really, the idea of having personal computers for each students in class is great in theory but as a student I know that I didn't always use it for the right reasons. Maybe having the computer to take home would be beneficial, but having them in class throughout the day can become a major distraction.






Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Badge J

With all of the technology available at our fingertips, it's a mystery to me how anything can get lost forever. The thought of a digital teacher portfolio excited me! I kept my binder from my first teaching class, however my second one was online and I don't have anything from that class. It makes me think, how can I really review what I learned if I can't go back and look at my work? This also applies for when I will start teaching. Keeping track of things I did my first year, materials I used and projects I wish we had time to do, may make the next year easier since I can just flip through all of the different things and pick out what I would like to do or maybe not do. It would also be a good thing to look back on and see how I improved as a teacher and show to future employers.

Teacher portfolios aren't the only type of portfolios that are beneficial though. Digital student portfolios excited me even more. Imagine a teacher having access to each students portfolio and adding projects and assignments to it throughout the year, and then the next year it gets passed on to the next teacher and they continue to add things to it throughout the year. Eventually in middle and high school the students themselves will have access to it and can add essays they've written, art they've created, math they've conquered, and experiments they've observed throughout their schooling. It would be so cool to look back at the end of senior year through each grade level of work and see how far they have come. High school essays and research papers may even come in handy later and would make good references if doing a similar thing in a college course. I wish I had done this, because I did a lot of cool projects in graphic design courses in high school that I don't have any more because of lost flash drives, crashed computers, and other technology failures. Having a drive of all of my work like in Google Drive would have been great at that time.

I read about the topic of democratic schools and classrooms in this chapter and was surprised by what critics said about it. I think it would be really cool for students to have a choice of what goes on with their learning. This way, they're happier about what they're doing because they chose it, and they're also learning about the democratic system daily. Critics of this say that students would choose no homework, lots of socializing, and easy problems. However, no true teacher would say "Okay so lets vote: Who wants homework tonight? Okay good who doesn't want homework tonight?" That just doesn't happen. The democratic process wouldn't happen like that, but more like "Do we want to turn in the whole chapter of homework in at once, or one assignment a night so that I can go over it and help you understand it better?" I would really like to incorporate the democratic process into my classroom, even if it is barely noticeable at first. Asking the kids if they would like to go to the bathroom before special or after special, if they want to do snack with centers or with reading. Simple things like that which allow them to feel like they are taking control of parts of their learning. It will work if the students are given two good choices to choose between rather than one good choice and one bad choice.