Are tests the only objective assessments of student learning?

Sometimes I wish I could sit down with the creators of standardized tests and ask them how many years they spent as an educator.  State and National Standards are trying to rate teachers on their students performance from standardized testing.  As an educator, I believe that some value can be found from standardized testing, but at the same time I believe that some of the research has to be bogus.  Since when did education become a business, and why is funding being cut from our future leaders?  Without the proper resources, our students are being set up to fail.  Should we teach our students the knowledge they need to be successful and insightful human beings, or should we continue to teach them how to properly take a test?  I wonder how much money businesses that say they understand education are making from our funding to create exams that do not measure the many different learning styles of our children.  I wish I had up to date resources, but instead money is constantly being wasted trying to meet the beliefs of those that have not set foot in a classroom since their own graduation.  If I had enough money, I could open a school named ex public school teacher charter school, and many would want to attend because charter is in the name of my school.  Current public schools are being closed and funding is being put into alternate schools. It is only a matter of time before all of our current public school students are forced to go to these schools and then everything will start over.

When are we going to start looking forward?  The fact is that our children are unique and each and every one of them learn in different ways.  A quality teacher is constantly assessing their students, both formally, and informally.  As students work with their peers, the teacher is asking the student questions, and in turn assessing what they have learned.  Discussions, projects, participation, collaboration,  and classwork are only some ways teachers are constantly assessing student achievement.  As teachers, we understand the needs of our children and will do whatever we can to make sure their performance levels increase.  I believe in each and every one of my students.  When I step foot I my classroom, I am ready to prepare my students for the future.  When I am in my car driving home from school, or when I am at home, I am constantly thinking about my class and what I can do to help my students achieve.  I am even often wide awake in the middle of the night, or waking up to an idea that can help me help the future of our country.  As I work on furthering my education, I only hope I can utilize the many new ideas that I have received within my graduate program.  With a technology background, I can teach and assess my students with the materials that they crave.  I can assess and monitor the success of my students with a vast amount of resources.  Technology will continue to evolve, and the same thing must happen with the views of education.  We have a wall in front of us as teachers and sometimes we may seem stranded.  I will work as hard as I possibly can with the resources I have to meet the many needs of my students.  I will at least paint a mural on that wall to show that we are creative.  We will come up with ideas of how to get over the wall in small groups.  We will create a presentation of what we have come up with and share it with the world.  Toss us a rope and we will do whatever it takes to get over that wall.

Technology Infused Classrooms

As technology continues to make its way into our classrooms, It is important that teachers know how to properly use that technology to ensure their students are receiving all the benefits that it provides.  A technology infused classroom is different from what many teachers consider the traditional classroom environment.  Within a technology infused classroom the teacher switches from a lecturer to a facilitator that pushes learning in the right direction.  The use of technology within the classroom allows for the teacher to teach many different subjects in ways that students enjoy and understand.  Teachers using technology within their classrooms should make sure they are adequately prepared to use the different types of technology they plan to use to enhance student learning.  There are many different types of technological resources that teachers can take advantage of that can create a classroom environment that allows the children to collaborate and create using their own creative abilities.  The role of the teacher in this case is to be sure that their students are completely aware of how to use different types of technology effectively and appropriately.  Student's can use technology to create, share, reflect, research, and for many different types of academic development.  The teacher should give the student's the tools they need to work with technology and then the children can use their own creative minds to create different types of work based on how they see the final product.  Teacher's should be sure to scaffold students in the right direction as they use technology and do their best to prepare their student's for the future and the real world.

Within my current classroom, student's are using technology to create and learn in many different ways.   The children within my classroom are constantly using the Internet to research different subjects and to gather more information about different topics.  It is my role as the teacher to make sure that my student's are responsible digital learners, and that they are only using resources that are reliable and appropriate.  As I teach my student's how to effectively use technology, they will have a whole new world of learning opened up to them.  My student's use technology to create presentations using many different types of resources, such as PowerPoint, Google Presentations, and Voice Thread.  These resources give my students the opportunity to be creative and to use the Internet to enhance their projects.  Productivity software plays a major role within my classroom and help teach my students how to create professional looking types of work.  As my students learn how to write professionally, I can include new types of digital learning resources to them.  Discussion boards, class websites, and Blogs can give my students the opportunity to collaborate and express themselves in their own creative ways. Technology is important to student learning.  Technology will forever be a major part of our lives and effective use needs to be taught.  Our children have a lot of prior knowledge of how to use many different types of technology and it is my responsibility as an educator to push their technological learning in the right direction. 

Visual Literacy and Its Impact On Learning

Aristotle once stated that, "without image, thinking is impossible".  Everything humans understand started as an image.  As we first learned to read, letters started as images.  These images then came together and helped us understand words as a whole.  The process continues as we learn new works because in order to understand a new word, we must be able to create images to help us understand the meaning of the word.  It is amazing how our brains work.  Words then become images and in reality we picture the final outcome of the work without completely sounding out each letter.  A study held by Cambrige University proved this point. 

When I think about visual literacy, I think about one of those crazy infomercials that are on in the middle of the night that although may be boring, you can't change the channel.  This infomercial showed babies reading even before they could speak.  the main concept of the program had children relating words to images.  For example: As you show the baby a picture of a cat, you also introduce them to the text.  After continually introducing the child to the word in different forms, they can relate them with one another.  Images continue to help our children grow and progress with their literacy skills because they allow our children to relate these words with images that they are used to in their everyday lives.

After children learn to read they can use what they have learned to help them become better classroom learners.  Visual literacy is used within the classroom in many ways.  Many times teachers use models to help give the students an idea of what is expected of them.  These models usually relate with directions that are given in text form.  As students are given a visual model, they can then picture their own final product within their minds.  Posters and other classroom visuals can be constant reminders to students of how to complete certain math problems, writings, and more.  Within the district I teach, teachers are required to cover all visuals during state testing.  I constantly remind my students to envision what is behind the cover if they ever get stuck on a problem within the test.  Within my classroom, I like to show my students visuals constantly, because many times visuals relate to everyday life.  Students must be able to relate text and images so they will not have a misguided interpretation of what they are learning.  Many times if I am teaching a particular subject I like to relate what we have read by watching short video clips, or by taking a virtual field trip.  These visuals can relate to what we have read, and give the students a new perspective on what we have learned.  Visual literacy can help students to learn how to be better students and help their study skills within the future.  I can remember when I first took the test to receive my learners permit.  I studied the book many times and memorized the text.  The main problem was that the last question on the test had a picture of a Do Not Enter sign.  As we all know, these signs do not have text.  In order to get this question correct, I had to relate the text that I memorized to the images that were provided.  Images without text can many times be a major part of our lives.  Children must be able to take what they have learned within the classroom to help them relate images to text and vice versa.  

As I continue to use the Internet with the students within my classroom, I can only hope they retain the valuable information and use what they have learned in the future.  Within my classroom, my students use the Internet to research, create, and collaborate.  I expect my students to use the Internet responsibly and constantly remind them of the do's and dont's of web surfing.  As my career goes on and I continue to become more technologically advanced, I want the Internet to be a major part of my curriculum.  The  Internet has an endless amount of valuable resources that can give my students a new perspective on what they have learned.  

Instructional Strategies and the Value They Add to Education in the 21st Century

As students are introduced to new varieties of technology, and more technology is being introduced into their classrooms, they must learn how to use these resources correctly and responsibly.  Children within the 21st century are not oblivious to technology, and many of them have a large variety of technological resources right at their fingertips.  It is amazing to see how fast technology advances.  New improvements to technology come at full force and there is no stopping it.  As an educator, I believe that it is only a matter of time before every class is loaded with many different types of technology.  Textbooks, pens, pencils, notebooks, chalkboards, etc. will all be replaced by technology.  People learn in many different ways, and it is important that the express what they have learned in the most creative way possible.  Technology is lending a major hand by allowing teachers to use many instructional strategies using technological resources.  New and amazing technology such as the SMART table are entering the classroom, which is bringing collaboration to a new level.  The constructivist can present their students with a problem and the students can immediately use the resources they have been provided to solve a problem.

Behaviorists can use technology to track and monitor student's behavior and progress at the click of a button.  It seems that children relate better to technology.  With that said, a piece of paper or token economy that once tracked behavior can now be transformed into a computerized program.  Students can immediately view comments posted by their teacher, and in turn reflect on their individual behaviors and/or progress in class.  

Cognivists now have the opportunity to use technological programs to enhance the ways students learn and organize their work.  There are many programs that collect and organize audio, video, text, and more that can be organized, edited, and saved for future reference.  Many programs such as Inspiration, or Kidspiration are available for classroom use.  Students now have the opportunity to organize their work technologically with graphics, and in their own way.

The Social Psychological perspective allows teachers to use a community as a whole to monitor the way a classroom performs.  As students within a class behave positively or negatively, they in turn will have rewards or consequences.  Technology offers many opportunities for teachers monitor their classroom community while expressing the behaviors that they think are appropriate.  Their are apps or programs such as Class Dojo that allow students to technologically be monitored, at at the same time be able to see the behaviors that give their classmates positive or negative scores.  

As I continue to become more advanced with technology in the 21st century, I am excited to introduce my students to new technological resources that will enhance the ways they learn.  Technology will provide my student's with excellent opportunities to express themselves in many different ways.  Technology will also give me as an educator new and exciting ways to monitor my student's progress.  I personally see myself as a constructivist that wants to give my children the tools that will help them solve any problem they may face throughout their academic careers and also in their adult lives.  

Tec-538 Blog

I am excited to start my first blog.  This blog is a requirement for my Technology class at Grand Canyon University.