What three ideas or concepts did you find most valuable in this article and why?

First, I really like the idea of using podcasts to help deliver instructional content through recorded interviews or research and/or step by step information like the more prestigious colleges do for their incoming class men. Using ipods was a brilliant idea. They loaded the ipods with instructions for the freshman which allowed the students to have the information at a click of a button. I think that colleges are much more in tune with the technology advances than most school districts. Next, I like that the podcasts allow for more than one student to work on it. This allows the individual students to be creative, but collaborate with other students as well. Communication is a very important component in education. Collaborating allows the content to be discussed in more depth then the individual student may do independently. It amazes me how in depth podcasts can be and how thorough students are when trying to research and create their own. I really liked the way the study followed the eight students through their experience with podcasting. The research from the study as well as the interviews and study questions answered by the students gave positive support for use of podcasting. The last idea that I like in this study was the focus on learning to learn and not so much on the final products. So many students rush through assignments not recognizing that teachers are not always looking for the final product to grade. Students need to learn to work collaboratively like with podcasts to learn with more inquiry-based thinking. They need to explore and discuss what they learn and express their views as well as what they know of the topic. Podcasts are great ways for students to express topics that they are proficient. They are great teachers for there peers who may not be so proficient. Working collaboratively on an assignment such as a podcast can give some students the incentive to want to learn another topic. Working with fourth graders, they loved to be in front of the class telling the other students what they know and how they explain it in their own words. Podcasting is a great way to review skills before the PSSAs. Each student can focus on a skill and they present the podcasts to their peers as a review. This project may be a stress reliever for students who need to review a lot of the skills before the test.

Using podcast can allow the teacher to be more of a facilitator than a lecturer. The students can be more responsible for their learning and can use their peers to help collaborate with for ideas and information. Education is so much more about communicating with others than it was years back.. I remember doing very few groups projects. I remember taking a lot of tests and complete papers independently. I would have liked to collaborate with peers more in school. Students learn a lot through each other, and the teacher would be there to enrich conversations and facilitate the discussions and directions for such projects. I am sure that I will not have access to ipods for my students, however podcasts are possible. I think that you can podcast any topic from any subject area, so the ideas are endless. Students are very creative and can create amazing projects with technology, with a little training. I am going to try to complete podcasts with my class this year. Since they are only in first grade, they will be more modified.

Topics of Vodcast

1) I think the students should pick a character from their favorite book and write about how they would change the ending of the story. They need to write about two paragraphs about their ending of the story, dress up as the character, and read it on the vodcast.

2) I think the students should pick an occupation that they want to be when they are older. They need to write at least two paragraphs about why they picked that occupation and talk about the benefits of the occupation. They can also dress up and read their reasons on the vodcast.

3) I think the students should pick a famous person that has been influential to them/people. They need to talk about why the famous person is so influential and why if they could be him/her, they would.

How good of a job is your school doing at fostering and developing 21st Century skills as discussed in class?

I feel that in the last two years our school has started to make some advances towards 21st Century skills. First, we are collaborating weekly as a grade level more often with all services present(ESL, LS, Reading and Math Specialists). Secondly, we do have some team teaching in our inclusion classes to some degree. This is a new reading initiative that was started to allow the learning support students "exposure" in the regular education reading classes. As mentioned in class today, there is some lack of clarity in regards to what each teacher's role is in the classroom during that instructional time. I am hoping that roles will be more clearly defined this coming school year. Also during a faculty meeting, our teachers were ask to compile a lists of all the activities that we felt challenged students to explore more "high-order thinking" and "provide for more active engagement activities." These activities/strategies were posted in our rooms to use as a reference to refer to during lessons for more enriching discussions. Starting next year, our entire district is moving to a 5-day block schedule to allow for more time in core areas. Pull-out services will be offered at a designated time each day where such students will receive support services, but not miss their core classes. Another great addition, all students will receive technology class weekly due to our five day rotation cycle. The block schedule is also warranting the teachers a planning time as well as a team collaboration time each day. This will hopefully allow the teachers to get some planning time.

I do not feel that we are anywhere near where we should be though with 21st Century skills, but we are improving. I feel that all teachers should collaborate with their team regularly, but I do not feel that a meeting should be held everyday. I feel that most meetings are repetitive. I feel that time can be used to create more enriching and creative lessons for the children, which I feel at times is not always considered. I feel that teachers should be more willing to team teach and collaborate more than they do at times. I know that some teachers whom have been teaching for awhile tend to struggle changing their teaching methods or styles. In order to provide children with the skills that they need to succeed in this ever-changing world, teachers HAVE to be more willing and flexible. I feel that with all the initiatives and tests that children are asked to complete that it makes it hard to be as creative and exploratory as we would like to be, but as teachers we have to plan appropriately. As time goes on, I hope that teachers will continue to educate themselves and learn more skills to educate our students for their future.

How Interactive is Your Whiteboard?

What three key concepts or ideas did you learn?
One idea that I learned from the article was the various questions that I should be asking myself regarding my students' interactions in the classroom. I do a couple of these already. I do allow my student's to elaborate on discussions even though they may not necessary be on the more focused track. I also ask students to summarize what they learned from the lesson that day. The students generally explain it very well and it allows their peers to hear it in their peers' words instead of mine. I do also ask questions that are complex for the whole class. Some students contribute and we go from there. I might have to ask additional probing questions to help out the discussion.

The next idea that I learned was about the nature of the interaction. I knew obviously that lecture and various levels of scaffolding existed, but I did not know the degree to which they were broken down. It makes a lot of sense. It starts as controlled by the teacher and as the concept is learned, ideally the students should take more if not all of the control.

The last idea that I learned from this article was that the research found by Tanner and Jones was that the amount or the depth of questioning was decreased by the use of the IWB as well as the classroom is more teacher centered. I have not had experience using the IWB, but I thought that it would make the curriculum more interactive for the students an the curriculum would be covered more in depth and not superficially focused. That was interesting to me, but I guess, in a way it is true because during our own class, Gambill has been more in control since this is new material for a lot of the students. Likewise it would be like that in a elementary
classroom.

Do interactive communication tools lead to interactive learning?

I think that communication tools can lead to interactive learning if they are used correctly. After reading the article about the IWB, it makes sense. The IWB is another tool that can be used to interactively engage a whole class, however the teacher needs to realize that it is not going to run the show itself. A lot of preparation and thinking needs to take place by the teacher in order to design the lesson on the IWB correctly. As discussed in the article, the teacher may start with a lecture, but in order for the lesson to be trully interactive for the students, they need to be in control and need to be communicating and reflecting on the content being focused on. If the teacher is merely using the IWB as a screen to just project text or pictures with no other ideas in mind to interact the whole class, than the IWB would not be being used correctly as an effective communication tool. I am sure that it takes a lot of practice by the teacher to use the IWB effectively. I am thinking for a young elementary class like first grade. The teacher needs to be sure that the lesson is not just hitting the "surface ideas", but finding an even balance that they are learning the new material but that they are contributing to the lesson and most importantly interacting with each other. I do not have access to a Smart Board, but teaching first grade this year I think that it would be very interesting. I know that I have a friend that teaches first grade and has a smart board in her room and she says, "That it is amazing to see the students learn with it help." The other thing that she said is that the students by the end of the year can help to explain how to use the board and can help substitute teachers use the board. Crazy, huh?

How can educators be sure to use interactive communication tools to the best potential?

I did talk about this a little in the answer to the above question, but I will discuss a little further. I think that it is important that the teacher does not use the communication tools as just as a superficial tool. Teachers need to plan a thoughtful and question provoking lesson for the students, so that the tool aids in their learning process. The second thing that should be taken in to account is that the students should be in control as much as possible. They should be asking questions to one another and debating or answering each others' questions. I questioned this process for "brand new material", but there is appropriate means of scaffolding that the teacher can use to help with students' understanding. The last thing that should be done to use interactive communication tools most effective is that other interactive programs should be used along with the tool to engage the students and encourage communication and reflection by the students. Such programs could include: Inspiration, a website, a web quest, and an interactive power point presentation.