Labrador's Farewell Reflection 12

     It was great having you all as classmates, sharing ideas and commenting on our accolades.  Most especially, I am grateful to have Dr. Rivera as my professor for this course.  You've heard it many times from me, but this will my final "Thank You, for everything!"  I hope someday, I get to see you all in real-life. I am so comfortable socializing in person than on computer. Before my final departure, I would just like to wish everyone a good luck and make your goals come to life! Happy New Year everyone! Take care!

Final Self Reflection

The final requirements for ED638 “Teaching with the Internet”

Francis Noel P. Labrador

Dr. Matilda Rivera

January 18, 2014

Introduction

                ED638 has been a tremendously arduous course. It has been a long while that I have to manage my time as an educator, student, and caretaker.  I also neglected the fact that Intercession courses are more difficult, considering shortened class sessions crammed with daily assignments and projects.  Yet, I managed to survive and offer my best work to the professor.  Her perpetual support only deserves the highest quality of work from me.  In this reflection, I will describe how the course made an impact on me in three ways; personal development, professional development, and technological development. 

Personal Development

                During the course, I developed a skill that I often times failed to utilize, which is time management.  I am not very good at time management because I would often acquire new tasks without finishing the first one.  I still cannot shake off my overachieving habits and would always put so much time in one project without thinking that the other one has a shorter deadline.  However, this year I was able to focus on which priorities to do and which deadlines to meet.  However, it was short-lived after an unexpected situation at home rendering myself to emotional upheaval.

 Despite a sense of hopelessness, I began to type out my frustrations in the class blog, which in one case I apologized for the over-share. I also started informing my professor of my situation after missing my first assignment in January.  When I felt like giving up, a small ray of light shined at the corners of my eyes.  Dr. Rivera accepted my apologies and situation and allowed me to continue working on what is required for the course.  The modest spark of kindness from my professor signaled my mind, that someone has faith in my potential and is willing to give me a second opportunity to do better.  Although I am a couple assignments behind, I spent the last days and countless hours completing the final requirements of the course--this reflection is one of them. At this point I need to digress, as my last few reflections did not necessarily describe how I improved on my time management skills.  But, in any case, I am more aware of deadlines and have been frequently using a calendar, as well as an app planner on my phone for the first time.   This habit is definitely what I need to improve my time management skills and this course has introduced it to me. 

Professional Development

                The course has shared a multitude of websites and internet tools that educators can use in their lessons.  In fact, I began utilizing some of them in my classroom.   These resources have allowed me to develop more creative lesson plans for students.  Holding the responsibility as a department chairperson for John F. Kennedy High School, I also decided to share all these wonderful resources to my Fine and Practical Arts Department.  I figured that they would need all the assistance they can get, especially when attempting to implement literacy projects and common core standards into their lesson plans.   After reviewing several websites, I managed to find resources I could use in the classroom.  I have truly grown as a professional educator during the break. 

Technological Development

                I never thought that a “tech-savvy” individual, such as myself, would acquire new skills and knowledge involving the internet.  I was just fortunate that my prior experiences kept me from getting lost or confused when navigating through CMS and other online resource tools.   This is, perhaps, the most valuable experience I ever had in the course; the opportunity to experiment with various internet tools.  Although I am very proficient in graphic editing and other media software, I seldom have time to explore resources online. In the course, I am given a list of tools to explore which makes it easier for me to look for ways to improve my teaching.   Even if the course had ended, I would continue to exploring this list and hopefully, I could be able to use any of them in the near future. 

Conclusion

                Well, what can I say? It has been an enlightening experience being in this course.  I was just simply walking through a garden of mango trees and was fortunate to discover the most fruitful one filled with delicious wonders.   All I could do is just pluck away on all the delicious mangoes and enjoy every moment of it under a cool, refreshing shade.  And maybe, after eating so many mangoes, I would try it in different ways. Maybe pickled or juiced? Frozen or cooked?  Whichever method I use, I know it will be a mouth-watering experience.  I hope my metaphor was on point. I am not used to writing in this manner, but wouldn’t hurt to try it out once in a while.  Thank you, Dr. Matilda Rivera for everything!

Final Reflection: "I'd Hate to Leave the Party"

When I was a young student, I did not get the opportunity to learn using the internet.  On lucky days, I went to the computer lab where I practiced typing and played literacy games such as "Kiki's Adventures" or "Oregon Trail."  Most of my learning was through printed text and audio-visual media.  Students nowadays, have an opportunity to learn through digital media sources, or web-based learning.  Since the internet has a lot of influence over the young generations, the internet is an engaging and effective tool to use in the classroom.  In the near future, I hope to implement these strategies I learned in the course by developing professional growth plans that includes the use of internet sources.  In addition, I will encourage other teachers to use these tools and strategies as well by holding training and workshops that promote online literacy.  I strongly believe that the use of the internet will be effective in teaching essential content and technology skills students will need in their future.  I also think that it will encourage them to become critical thinkers, communicators, problem solvers, and inquires—all skills needed to become a life-long learner.

I am glad to have the opportunity to build my technologically-based literacy skills to become an effective teacher.  I plan to continue to grow professionally by applying what I learned and share it with my colleagues. In addition, I learned so much through all of you.  Your blogs, reflections, and comments really helped me to reflect on what you learned in relation to what I learned.  We all gained the same skills, but received a different experience.  Because of these different experiences, I gained even more by by taking your ideas and using to build my own.  Thank you everyone, and thank you Dr. Rivera, for creating such an exciting and engaging course.  This experience had a great impact on me, and I do not think that I will leave this course the same teacher as I was when I entered. Farewell to all, and I wish you the best in your endeavors.  Good luck in becoming the "new" tech-savvy teacher.

Geo-Narrative Reflection

The Geo-Narrative was a stressful experience for me.  I did not really know how I could use the Geo-Narrative lesson.  After much contemplation, I decided to use Google Earth to teach my unit on "The Diary of Anne Frank."  It is a drama my students read every year, but they don't have a lot of background knowledge about Anne Frank, WWII, or the Holocaust.  I thought that the Geo-Narrative is a great way to build that background knowledge.  I'm really excited to implement this lesson.  I think it will engage my students and help them visualize the story.  I also think that by seeing the Geo-Narrative, students will become more empathetic towards the characters in the story.

I placed four placemarks on my map.  One is on Astumbo Middle School so that my students can see their relation to Anne Frank.  The next placemark is on Anne's childhood home (Frankfurt, Germany).  The third placemark is on the secret annex in which Anne and her family hid from the Nazis (Amsterdam).  The last is on the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial, where Anne died (Germany).  In each placemark, a picture of Anne is there along with the directions for students. In my lesson, the students are to create their own Geo-Narrative, providing a biography, objective summary about the events that surrounded Anne's life, and pictures.  They are to present these facts to the class using their Geo-Narrative as a visual. I thought this would be a great way to introduce Anne, and students can get a better picture of who she is before reading the script.

Celebrations and Farewells

These past four weeks have been very valuable to me.  I learned so much in such a short amount of time.  I was able to explore numerous literacy websites, create a course management system on Engrade (which was a completely new tool for me to use), create a geo-narrative lesson for the first time, and blog.

I enjoyed reading your reviews and posts on the forums and class blog.  You, my classmates, have been such an inspiration to me.  Not only did you inspire me to try out new resources, but you pushed me to challenge myself in terms of going beyond what is required.

To Dr. Rivera, thank you for all your support and assistance.  It was truly a pleasure having you as a professor and I look forward to working with you in the future.

Bill Gates has said, "Technology is just a tool.  In terms of getting kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important."

Indeed, we truly are the driving force of student motivation in the classroom.  We must motivate our students to learn, and then we must teach them to motivate themselves.  In order to do this, we must first motivate ourselves to improve as teachers.

Good luck in all your future endeavors!

Best wishes,
Katrina Baza

Image Source: https://24.media.tumblr.com/3a08baaebe1d415b07d49b564812cf73/tumblr_mzf5x8gQJ31rbgo35o1_500.gif

Effective Literacy Website: The National Council of Teachers of English

Image Source: http://students.ou.edu/P/Nancy.A.Pollock-1/Pics/NCTElogo.jpg

The National Council of Teachers of English website (http://www.ncte.org/positions

/statements/onreading) gives an overview of the importance of literacy.  The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is a professional association of educators in English studies, literacy, and language arts.  To summarize the information on the website, it is stated that there is an ongoing debate about what reading is.  Many people have different opinions as to what reading is, how it is learned, and how it can be taught effectively.  On this website, the Commission on Reading of the National Council of Teachers of English put together an overview of what teachers know about reading.  It provides the visitors of the website to read evidential research about different views on reading.  It also outlines policies that promote reading.

            The main section of the homepage of this website is an article.  The article is broken down into subtopics: “Reading and the Reading Process,” “Learning to Read,” “Effective Reading Instruction,” and “Policies That Promote Learning to Read.”  “Reading and the Reading Process” basically states that reading is a complex process that is sociocultural, cognitive, and linguistic.  Individuals use their knowledge of a spoken or written language, their knowledge of the topic, and knowledge of their culture to understand and comprehend texts.  It also states that reading has different purposes for different learners.  In “Learning to Read,” reading is considered a life-long process.  The website article states what skills students should learn.  What I found to be the most informative was the section “Effective Reading Instruction.” It lists strategies to try with students such as carefully observing each student’s reading in multiple contexts in order to provide appropriate instruction and to monitor progress.  It really opened my eyes and reminded me that I needed to be consciously aware of what I do when I teach reading to my students.  In “Policies That Promote Learning to Read”, the website gives information on how schools, school districts, and governmental and non-governmental agencies promote reading achievement.

            The sidebar panel of the homepage of the website has a list of position statements regarding educational aspects such as language, diversity, classroom size, assessment, standards, and teaching quality (just to name a few).  For example, if you were to click on position statements regarding language, it will link you to articles about English Language Learners.  This article lists statistics based on research, policy history concerning English Language Learners, common myths about ESL students, and research-based recommendations for effective ELL instruction.  This website has many articles about different topics in education, most especially in language and literacy.

            This website also provides individuals with resources such as books, lesson plans, journals, policy research, and newsletters regarding reading.  There is also a section for professional development.  The website provides groups affiliated with NCTE.

            This website seems to be appropriate for students of higher education seeking to understand the deeper concepts behind the theories of what reading is.  The text on the website is of academic writing.

            The mission of NCTE is to “promote the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public works and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language” (2014). I believe this is an effective literacy website because its mission is to promote and develop literacy.  It is definitely worth exploring.

Source

2014. NCTE Guidelines. Retrieved January 2014 from the NCTE website:

http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/onreading

Final Reflection

            “He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”- Confucius. ED 638 is an excellent example of how to put that quote into good use. I learned and explored so many new and exciting tools that I am excited to bring back to my class. As a teacher, we have to constantly remember that learning never ceases. Learning is constant, it is in every minute of every day.

           

            As an owner of an IPad, IPhone, IPod, Laptop ect. there really is no excuse to not be a knowledgeable scholar of technology tools. I am thankful for this class as I was able to take the time to “brush up” on websites and tools. Of the tools that I have used in this class, Prezi which is a fun way to change “death by PowerPoint” into a fun presentation. I also enjoyed making and exploring a Google Earth based lesson plan. I am constantly trying to incorporate technology into my lessons at school and I had such an amazing narrow minded concept of Google Earth as just a tool I use for my military career. I am thankful to bring my knowledge of Google Earth into my classroom, especially to show my students the Seven Ancient and Modern Wonders of the World.