Blog Post #7

1.) Instruction in schools has changed dramatically since I attended grade school. Technology is being applied in everyway possible and the kids are having no trouble at all keeping up with it. It appears that by incorporating technology into the classroom, kids are learning better and more effectively than ever before. Teachers are discovering new ways to implement technology into their lessons, or more so their lessons into technology, and the kids are eating it up. Project Based Learning is a whole new system of learning that I am still getting used to, but after taking this class I know for a fact that I will be more prepared for applying it in my classroom in the future. I can say right now that my strengths and weaknesses are more or less balanced for the moment. Some of my strengths for implementing PBL in the classroom is my creativity, ability to learn new skills quickly, and my enthusiasm for group work. I love being able to make the learning process a creative one. It just makes it more enjoyable for both me and the students. I love for people to work on problems together and I believe that's a big part of PBL. Some of my weaknesses include not being so tech-savvy(not yet anyways!), this idea being new to me (this wasn't how I was taught), and that most of my preintended lesson planning methods do not include PBL (yet!). So, there is hope that I will be very successful in using PBL in my classroom.
2.) I learned a lot from these videos. For the most part, I learned that children enjoy using technology in their lessons and that it is easy for them to do so. I learned that children use tablets more than I ever have. In How to Make an Audio QR,and in Ipad in the Reading Center, I learned that by children making their own recordings or by listening to their teacher read to them, they are more likely to be interested in listening to these books and to become engaged in them. I remember being in Elementary school and listening to books on tape in class and I would get so excited just for that time of the day. I can only imagine how excited children get to hear not only their teacher's but their own voices reading the story to them. Plus, by them recording and listening to it played back, they have the opportunity to listen to where they may have made a mistake in their reading. This is a wonderful technique for reading!
In Using Poplet and in How to Use and Build a Board, I learned just how PBL can be used in the classroom with technology. By using these different apps for reading in the classroom the children are actually doing a kind of "mini" project each time they read a book and put the information in these apps. They use what they have read and seen in the book and organize into "web" like structures within the app. This let's them see the information in a different way and by doing this they will better retain the information they have learned.
In We All Become Learners, these two librarians just emphasized more on what this class has already been teaching me. That as teachers we have to adjust to a changing world of education and that technology is now the key to learning. Apps like Padlet and the ones in the previous videos are taking learning to a whole new level. Technology is making learning fun, accessible, convenient, and it is displaying information in a whole new way making it easier to comprehend and apply. As teachers, we need to be up to date in all things new in the education world. It is our responsibility to be able to relay information in the best way to our students. I also learned that as an educator I myself will constantly be learning. I will be learning how to use new technology and how to utilize in my classroom to be help my students' learning processes.