Christine+P.


 * __ Personal Use Project __ : Wordpress **

Hi, everyone! My name is Christine Peters and I am quickly approaching my second year of teaching. I am a Teach for America Corps Member and am in the GSE Adolescent Social Studies program at Fordham University. In my undergraduate career, I studied Ethics, History, and Public Policy from a quantitate perspective. My undergraduate degree may seem odd that I have chosen the education path, however I love working with people and utilizing information to help their needs. As a teacher, we use data all the time to better inform us of their needs and how we can improve our practices. Unfortunately, it is not always so black and white, which is why I really love this profession.
 * __ Introduction __**


 * __ My Life as a Technology User __**

Technology is the future; not only in the use of it but also in the way students think and learn. At an increasing rate, new technologies on the web are appearing and quickly emerging as mainstream knowledge among our students. Moreover, students have changed the needs of conventional education. Richardson agrees that “a linear progression of learning," does not fit in the new, technology advanced society of our students.

As a student, I feel I have had the opportunity to witness and experience this progression first-hand. I remember using the Internet for the first time. Instantly, I changed as a learner. The rudimentary web of my fourth grade, although archaic when juxtaposed to our contemporary web, opened the door to new horizons. I still vividly remember sitting in front of a green Mac desktop in the school computer lab and peering at my first web page. That morning, each student in my class was handed an assignment of several websites we had to visit and explore (and answer several questions in which answers were easily found on the sites).

The first website was about black holes. We were learning about astronomy I class and so it fit perfectly with what we were doing. Even before I ever learned about search engines, Wikipedia, or the magic of hyperlinks, I was completely awed at what I could learn from a computer. Up until that point, we would occasionally visit the computer lab to watch video, seek refuge after gym because it was air conditioned, or to draw shapes with a small turtle on Macro Worlds.

Looking back, I used my first computer in kindergarten, but never bean to appreciate its potential until 4th grade. Since 4th grade, I have increased my technology repertoire. I used the Internet progressively more in middle school and into high school, especially with the advent of social networking sites like Facebook. Also in high school, I bought my first flip phone and first generation iPod mini. In college, I attended Carnegie Mellon, a fairly 'techy' university. There, I was exposed to a variety of computer programs, including CAD and project management tools/collaborative software. Most recently, I have used my first iPad, and incorporate its usage in the occasional lesson. Additionally, I attempted to bring my collaborative software experience to the classroom, but I have found this difficult when my students are more Facebook literate than truly technologically literate (although I believe I will come to refute saying this at the conclusion of this course).

Overall, the first web page proved that computers could provide a fruitful experience. I felt like I had a purpose - I could read information and answer questions. Even better, I quickly learned that I could obtain even more information by typing in a new URL and absorbing what a new page had to offer. It was like a book, except with all information at my fingertips.

__**NETS Standards for Teachers**__

__Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity__
 * Currently, I teach at a high school that encourages teachers to capitalize on the creativity of students. We are unconventional in that we have students engage in internships twice a week as part of their learning experience. As a teacher, I help students recognize areas of learning they are interested in and then find internships that align. No doubt, learning in the setting of an internship and not a classroom environment. However, this could be greatly improved with the use of technology. Better incorporating technology into their internships will allow for greater collaboration between students to expand their learning and also provides a medium for thoughtful reflection.
 * I will create a mini lesson on how to use wordpress.com and then have students, starting the first unit, create blogs in which students share their reflections and they must comment on other students’ reflections.

__Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments__
 * Through the process of internships, I have been able to provide students with authentic learning experiences, however I still (and the school as a whole) lack ways to successfully conduct meaningful assessment. I believe this is a consequence of the diversity of internships and the inability to make a blanket assessment.
 * However, with technology, students could design their own assessments based on their blogs. Their blogs could require the creation of essential questions. Then, as a relative assessment, students could create quizlets online. At the end of the semester, students will have to present their projects and then students in class can take the relevant quizlet and see if students answered their essential questions.

__Model Digital Age Work and Learning__
 * As a teacher in an increasingly fast-paced technology age, we must keep up with society if we want to successfully prepare our students for it. I have utilized a variety of technological resources to improve the workings of my classroom. For instance, I created a website through Google to establish sustained communication with families and utilized engrade.com so students could have instantaneous access to their grades.
 * As a concrete goal, I want to better utilize technology in the classroom. For instance, I have a website that is fully functional, but in reality students do not use it. Rather than just have technology for technology’s sake, my goal is to create a site that is more interactive. I plan to recreate my site using wordpress.com.

__Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility__
 * Unfortunately, technology makes cheating easier. Many, including myself, would argue that technology farther removes the individual from the act. It seems a lot less harmless to ‘copy and paste’ information from a website as opposed to doing it by hand. This type of cheating is extremely problematic in my classroom and, consequently, dilutes the research and essays they produced.
 * First, I will create a mini lesson on how to use websites like bibme.org to create citations and bibliography references to cut down on cheating. It will also be a nice way to additionally weave in the differences between the type of source (primary vs. secondary, etc.) and the quality of the source. I will additionally instruct students on how to make citations using footnotes in a Word.doc.

__Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership__
 * Currently, one of my fondest attributes about working at my high school is the collaborative environment that exists within the teacher community. Teachers constantly meet and share successful project and lesson ideas. However, the impact of sharing resources is quite limited and less efficient. I am quietly of contributing to these inefficiencies of copying papers for other teachers to share information. Sharing resources electronically, however, means that teachers can share their ideas with the entire faculty and attached PowerPoint, etc. that support the lessons.
 * I will create a dropbox account for my school in which teachers can share, steal, and adapt resources to fit the needs of their student.

[|Copyright Clarity Website]

Statement on Digital Literacy

Our role as educators has expanded in the 21st century. It is not merely enough to unilaterally push content as before. Rather, we must extend our influence into the digital world to reflect the environment of ‘digital natives.’ The term digital natives describe our students who have been immersed in technology throughout their lives. Consequently, they “think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Prensky, 1). Accordingly, our instruction must move forward and match the needs of this new, digitally literate generation. Digital literacy, similar to conventional literacy, concerns the approach for students to learn and challenge their thinking. Today, “teachers have to learn to communicate in the language” of digital natives and embrace the approach of digital literacy (Prensky, 4). Therefore, we must strive to engage students using more fast-paced means at delivering content to our students. For instance, an educational game that models the environment of a popular first-person shooter game places students in a familiar environment. We can use this game environment as a vehicle to deliver important skills and content.

In addition to embracing digital literacy in teaching methodology, it is also essential that we bolster students’ digital skills. Although most educators agree students are ‘digital natives’, immersion in technology does not necessarily suggest that our students hold competencies in this skills. Therefore, within digital literacy, it is most important that our students learn about the power of the internet. Arguably, many of our students hold a superficial understanding of the internet. Their knowledge ends with the major social media sites, YouTube, and online gaming sites. Therefore, we must harness students’ interests in these interactive sites towards other more educational and interactive online experiences.

Furthermore, according to Jenkins, an emerging participatory culture in the digital generation has “shift[ed] the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement” (Jenkins 7). Embracing what Jenkins describes and the power of the internet, we can (and arguably, should) require students to blog in replacement of a journal using wordpress.com. This encourages reflective writing, but also allows students to ‘showcase their work’ such that other students may read and respond to their peers’ reflections. It also encourages more successful and thoughtful writing because students will have an audience for their journals. Other similar examples include the creation of a Wiki page or a Google site.

Additionally, students can incorporate the use of RSS feeds on these websites and blogs. RSS feeds support the new literacy defined by the NCTE for students of the twenty-first century. That is, "twenty-first century readers and writers need to manage, analyze, and synthesis multiple streams of simultaneous information" (Richardson, 72). Students utilize these digital literacy skills when they use RSS feeds and evaluate information. Moreover, embracing the power of the internet, we can require students to utilize online programs to create presentations or to create study tools. Prezi, for instance, allows students to design interesting and interactive presentations as an alternative to PowerPoint. Quizlet, for example, provides a way for students to create flash cards online. Overall, we must be intentional in teaching digital skills. It is our obligation to embrace digital literacy. Digital literacy ensures our students’ successful preparation for the world beyond high school and membership in a more participatory society.