A: When I was in elementary school, I remember the shift from using the overhead projector to using the "ELMO," a camera that projected a clear, colorized picture onto the board. The change was huge as teachers no longer needed special clear, plastic pages to write on while teaching, and could instead display our exact worksheet. In high school, we shifted from using Macbooks to Chromebooks as the school utilized Google Drive and Google Classroom. This meant that everything we worked on (besides paper worksheets and books) could be accessed through one point, as opposed to keeping track of different websites like Turnitin.com.

Q: How were technology-related skills taught to you as a student? What kinds of skills were emphasized?

A: The main skill emphasized in elementary and middle school was learning to properly type on a computer. There was dedicated class time in the library which taught us things like proper hand placement on the keyboard. This increased the time it took to type essays and eventually stuck with me for life.

Q: What skills and knowledge do you already possess to help you meet the challenges of effectively integrating technology into instruction? How did you learn those skills?

A: I believe that I have the basic knowledge of how to navigate technology used for presenting information based on my experience with both Google and Microsoft applications like PowerPoint. These skills were learned while in school but also at my job where I had to use Microsoft platforms such as Excel to log and analyze data.

Q: Discuss your experiences with your peers. Do you have similar experiences? Differences?

A: My peers and I seem to have similar experiences because we were raised in the age of technology and the boom of the Google and Microsoft platforms. The earlier one gains an understanding of this technology, the easier it is to adapt to different platforms (hence the reason why so many older people struggle with new technology).

• https://www.classvr.com/blog/use-of-technology-in-education-a-complete-guide/

• http://sttechnology.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/67600625/Courts_(2012)_Using%20Technology%20to%20Create%20a%20Dynamic%20Classroom%20Experience.pdf

Article 1:

• This article could be described as using general data from sources such as Gallup to gather the overall status of students' engagement today. This type of article uses general data to support the need for teachers to remain

  current with technology.

• The article is credible as it cites peer-reviewed articles showing the level of student engagement in a tech-based classroom with a tech-educated teacher compared to those who continue with the traditional route. Students benefited from technology that transformed or enhanced their learning process, specifically adding visual elements to accompany reading/written lessons.

• The findings of the article apply to me in the classroom because it specifically encourages the use of virtual reality in the classroom (which may not be far from being accessed in schools) to teach immersive lessons. This is a new and exciting method of teaching that improves the long-term memory of important lesson information.

Article 2:

• This article is a research report that gathers peer-reviewed data to emphasize the importance of multimedia or multiple forms of media when teaching lessons. There is an emphasis that media alone will not improve their learning, but using it with specific meaning in lessons will.

• The article's credibility is undoubted as it cites 35 points of data from published research that proves the effectiveness of multimedia teaching. The credibility of this research impacts my opinion by confirming my belief that it is important to evolve with technology to maintain the attention of students.

• These findings are entirely applicable to me in the classroom because the article gives a history of resources to use for audio and video utilization and creation. There are recommendations for platforms as simple as audiobooks and immersive news websites.

• As far as readings and analysis of readings, the best technology is one that can be customized or has the features to adjust to, the needs of every student. I think what would make the program even stronger was if there were direct links to videos or resources that define specific references in reading such as archaic forms of speech.

A: One principle that a previous teacher I had used was integration. We had mock job interviews in a class that covered real-world information, like learning taxes and renting. The teacher prepared us by having us search for jobs that we were qualified for at the time (retail, service, etc.) and picking them out. Afterward, we learned the dos and don'ts of job interviews. Finally, we had to combine all of our knowledge and notes into fake interviews done by the teacher.

Q: Choose a specific principle from Table 4-1 and outline how you might implement that within your classroom.

A: "Learning is promoted when new knowledge is applied by the reader" In the classroom, this principle could be implemented by creating a Jeopardy game customized to a unit in history class.

A:

Revoicing - (Student says "The white dress she wears is emphasized a lot") The white dress is emphasized a lot in the reading? Do you think it could be symbolic?

(Student says "Huck Finn's speech is spelled wrong in the book, but everyone else's dialogue is correct") So you're saying that Huck's speech stands out because of his spelling errors? Why do you think Twain chose to do this?

Redirecting - Students become distracted by a curse word included in the book and I ask them "What paragraph number are we supposed to be on?"

Surfacing - Students participate in a class debate and the conversation reaches a lull, "You've just established you disagree with a curfew time, but what about the crime statistics we reviewed earlier?"

Extending - A student notes the date on a racist political cartoon that was made after the Civil War, "Yes, this cartoon was created more than thirty years after the Civil War, making this evidence of the continuation of racism in American society.

Q: Choose a specific topic that might be discussed in your classroom. Try to envision the potential arguments/points students might make. Then take it one step further and outline some specific responses you could make to students' comments/arguments, using the 4 facilitation strategies in Table 5-2.

A: "Should we ban social media for all minors?" Students may argue that social media provides connection and contact with other groups of teens who may share things in common. A response I could have using the revoicing method would be: "There are groups of teens that are able to connect online? Do you think they would be unable to connect with others in their own school? Why/why not?

Using the redirecting style, if a student makes a comment about the previous argument that puts down "unpopular" students, I could say "How does this relate to banning/not banning social media for minors?"

Using the Surfacing style I could pose the perspective of teachers and parents "How does teen usage of social media impact the adults in your life?"

Using the Extending style, if a student states that their self-image has been impacted by social media usage, I could respond "Teen self-esteem and self-image is a major factor in the argument against social media"

A: I believe that web filtering is important for preventing children's access to inappropriate websites with explicit content. I do not support the blocking of websites like YouTube because can be useful to students and seems to be overstepping in terms of control over students.

Q: Search the web to locate descriptions of filtering software. Examine a few sites and determine what type of content is filtered software.

A: Broadcom web filtering blocks websites based on their ending (.com, .org, .gov) and also filter emails based on the sender's email. They use tech that tracks the geolocation of the websites and determines if they are trustworthy.

Q: Does the information you found influence your beliefs about the use of filtering software?

A: Yes, I do think I support its use because it prevents more than just inappropriate web searching. Students have a right to safely search and communicate on their laptops and this software helps prevent them from getting a virus or having their information exposed.