Video Assignment

Bookends of War

Overview:
This is an example of technology integration in a 5th grade classroom setting. The video begins with the teacher giving a little background to how and why she uses technology in her classroom. Her comments were very insightful. She not only stresses the need for technology integration, but discusses the various training sessions she attending to help her integrate technology in her classroom. This is an important lesson for teachers to learn. The teachers must have an understanding of the technology that is superior or equal to that of the student’s understanding for true integration to occur.

The teacher then discussed the benefits of having the internet in her classroom. This was a little disconcerting because the benefits are obvious, but sometimes the finances are a little harder to come by. The video then gives an overview of this teacher’s current project. For this project the students will be completing a class website that will put into a competition. Competition is a highly motivating factor. The students are then broken up into groups and assigned different aspects of the website. These aspects range from students pictures, to Pearl Harbor research, to a virtual tour. The students appear to be enjoying the experience immensely.

Technology Integration:
For this project the students used a variety of technology. Among those shown in the video are: computers, the internet, creating a website, digital cameras, digital video cameras, animation, and virtual reality tours.

What I liked:
Above all, I liked that the children were enjoying the learning process. The children were able to be creative with their projects, which helps stimulate learning. This project also used a variety of technologies. This form of integration also encouraged collaboration among the students.

What I did not like:
The children were put into groups with one person in the group being taught the necessary technology skills to complete the project. I understand the viewpoint of the teacher, but if only one student learns the skill, will the other students in the group be motivated to also learn the skill, or will they rely on the one student?


Graphing

Overview:
This video is a 3rd grade math class studying different graphs and their uses.
The teacher uses an overhead to make a graph and teach the students about line graphs. The students then make a graph and collaborate with a partner.
3rd grade students studying graphs. Uses an overhead to teach line graphing.

Used m&ms and then made a spread sheet. Work with partner.


Technology Integration:
The teacher uses and overhead and then after the students have made their graph they use a spreadsheet program to plot their data. Using a spreadsheet is an invaluable tool which the students with find useful later in life. This also allows the student to play around with the figures of the graph and test data.


What I liked:
I liked the use of the spreadsheet, but especially the use of m&ms. This keeps the students interested. The students will want to work laboriously until the precious time that they may eat the m&ms. Of course using m&ms might not work with all students, especially those with certain health problems, and some over zealous students may start eating their m&ms too soon. But, if I had been taught the principles of graphing using m&ms, I still might remember how to do it.

What I didn’t like:
This wasn’t really a great example of technology integration in the classroom. The spreadsheet was used but that was about it. I don’t mean to criticize the teacher, who was good, but there was a serious lack of technology and the integration thereof.