Hi, I'm Dale Uhalik and I'm a sophmore at Edinboro University. I'm majoring in Middle Level Education-Social Studies. To give you a background on why I want to be an educator and what I believe in, I have made a video for you to watch. This video entitled "This I Believe" will explain some of my influencial teachers, my love for the subject I will teach, and some experiences I've had in the education department.
My future plans as an educator are first off to move south or west to begin my teacher career. I 've been looking at places in Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and North Dakota. Florida and Arizona are in demand based on population increases and North Dakota is having an oil boom which is also bumping up population in the northern tier of the state. As much as I would love to stay in Pennsylvania its almost impossible in today's economy for that happen right away after graduation. My ideal grade level is between Sixth and Eighth. I find that to be the most influential time in a child's education. It's the time in my life that I began to think of my interests and what I might want to do with my life. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my dad and a couple of uncles. They talked how they to this day remember their sixth grade teachers and how influential they had been on their lives. I can say that my sixth grade teacher is the biggest influential in my life, as he is the reason I wanted to get into teaching. I want to be that influential teacher that students remember and had geared them to a direction in life whether it be a career or improving in school.
My Classroom
The school I'm working in is Richland Junior-Senior High School and I teach 7th grade Social Studies. Richland is located in Colfax, North Dakota which is outside of the city of Fargo. My classroom is comprised of 14 students. Of those 14 students, 10 are White, 3 are Hispanic, and 1 is African-American. Also out of my 14 students, 4 are considered to come from economically disadvantaged families. Based on testing scores the students in my class on average are above the state average of 74% in both math and reading. In my classroom I have 2 students that have special needs. To distribute my time effectively I have the help of a techer's aide when I'm addressing the questions of my other students. During quiet activities, such as writing assignments, I take that time to sit down with my special needs students to help them understand the content and to answer questions that they have on the content.
I designed my classroom after the subject that I will be teaching. History is being made everyday and that I modeled the classroom on the thought of the world is a stage. Each region, each country, each person is the setting and envionment on that stage. By creating this arrangement I'm placing the student in an atmosphere where they can be engaged in the subject and share ideas with others by being able to look at others. One thing with my classroom is that its designed for students to have access to technology. The students can get up and use the smartboard in the front of the room or go back to the computers placed in the back of the classroom. The layout enables the students to move around and converse ideas on questions I pose in class. The layout is also tailored toward individual and group projects, in that each person can see the presentation in front of them. It also encourages students when presenting to command the floor and use eye contact across the room instead of focusing of one area. My classroom addresses the needs of every student by giving them an equal opportunity to participate and have their voices heard in discussion. The setting enables me to balance my time with all my students.
The piece of technology in my classroom that connects myself with my students inside the classroom is SmartBoard. The SmartBoard is good for doing demonstrations on the board geared toward reading historical documents and illsutrating maps. The students can use the board to interact in class by drawing on maps or highlighting documents. Its a good tool to keep the students moving and involved in the discussions in class. Each student will interpret material different, so it enables them to come up and justify their points of view.
The piece of technology in my classroom that will support publishing between my students and I is Blogger. Blogger is a great way to post lessons for distance learning over a break or three day weekend. It enables students to make posts on a topic I assign, whether it be introducing a topic or a conclusion to a topic. It will show me how well my students have grasped the material presented in class. The thing with history is there are many interpretations of why something happens or why something does soemthing. This forum will enable my students to express their own opinions and ideas on events in history. By using the blog feature regularly it will help students improve their reading and writing skills. Also it enables students to view other people's viewpoints, which will enable them to learn from each other and expand their own views.
The piece of technology in my classroom i can use to connect with my students outside the classroom is flipped learning through youtube. By putting a lesson up online using youtube I will give my students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. This enables each student to prepare for class in their own way. By having an introduction to a topic done it will save me time in the classroom by having me focus on the substance of the topic during the class period. With the background knowledge completed it will lead to a more indepth discussion in class and the whys and hows of the topic.
The piece of technology I can use to connect my students with experts around the world is the Teaching Channel. The Teaching Channel has videos that connect to content areas that students can use to learn more about a topic or to get ideas to formulate a project. This source is great because it has content across the board on any topic or content area. This also enables students to see what others are doing in their classrooms.
The piece of technology I can use to allow my students to collaborate and share information is Google Drive. Drive allows students to talk through chat and send information to each other through it. Drive has many features including draw, presentation, and documents. The presentation element can be effective in a group of students working on a PowerPoint presentation. This enables each student to do an equal share of the work.
Assistive Technology
Jay is a student in my Seventh Grade Social Studies class. Jay like Social Studies and I develop activities so he can participate and share his thoughts with the class. Jay has come a long way since he younger years in school. Jay is a special needs student in my classroom and he has autism.
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Self-Reflection
I learned a lot from this class on how to incorporate technology into my classroom. As a learner I have gained valuable information on how to use and teach using these various forms of technology. As a future teacher these technologies will be increasingly valuable in the classroom. I be using them on a regular basis and will have my students experiement with them on projects throughout the school year. When I began the class I had used a lot of technology, but a lot of the stuff in this class was new. With that new technology brought on a learning curve as the semester rolled along. At first my blog posts were light and had little information to share. As the semester progressed my blogs became longer and had more detail and substance.
As a learner I took risks in taking the time to experiment with many of the technologies beyond the class period. This enabled me to master the technology for the class.
What I gained from this class was how engrained and important technology is in the classroom. I gained valuable experience working with various technologies and becoming familiar with how they work. I gained an appreciation for these technologies while working with them. As I used these technologies I began to think how I would imcorporate them in my classroom.
I've grown as a learner and a future teacher by thinking outside of the box and take risks in trying new technologies. This will enable me to create fun and unique assignments in my classroom using these technologies. I can use a smartboard for students to use interactive maps and prezi for more interactive presentations and lectures. The knowledge from this class will go along way in helping me with the technology that will be in my classroom.
Annotated Bibliography
"5 Reasons Teachers Should Use Blogs In The Classroom ." TechWench. TechWench, 02 2012. Web. 11 Dec 2012. http://www.techwench.com/5-reasons-teachers-should-use-blogs-in-the-classroom/.
Brown, Jane. "What are the pros and cons of a flipped classroom?." Thinkfinity. Verizon Foundation, 19 2012. Web. 11 Dec 2012. http://www.thinkfinity.org/thread/7780.
Google Drive. 2012. Video. GoogleWeb. 11 Dec 2012. https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/drive/start/index.html?authuser=0.
Reading Like a Historian: Philosophical Chairs . 2012. Video. The Teaching ChannelWeb. 11 Dec 2012. <https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-taking-positions>.
"Using Electronic Whiteboards in Your Classroom: Benefits." Waukesha Schools. Waukesha Schools, n.d. Web. 11 Dec 2012. http://www.waukeshaschools.com/WIT/SmartBoard/benefits.htm.
"Walcott, ND." Neighboorhood Scout. Neighboor Scout, n.d. Web. 11 Dec 2012. http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nd/walcott/
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