Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience


During this past seminar, we were presented with a couple different technological resources that we will be able to use in the classroom. The main one presented to us was a resource that a teacher at my PDS (Clay Batelle) uses in her classroom. This interactive site is called Edmodo, and it’s a place that students and teachers can log on and post assignments, discussions, and questions about the class. It’s essentially a social network site for the classroom.

Application

Although my concentration is Social Studies, my mentor teacher is a special education teacher who works in collaborative classrooms, and has one English class with her special education students. One lesson I could do in the English class is have the students write an autobiography. They are learning about auto biographies right now, and writing their own would be extremely beneficial in mastering the content. Using Edmodo, I would post a questionnaire to the students and have them answer all of the questions (about their lives) in list format by a certain date. Then, I would have them post their autobiography to the site for everyone to see. Lastly, I would have them give feedback to each other’s papers before handing them in to me.




The learning outcomes would be beneficial to the students because they would teach these special education students the importance of handing assignments in on time and it would also help them get an early start to their paper. Handing pieces in before the whole assignment is due is helpful to students who are learning the writing process. Students would also learn from their peers comments. Peer editing is always helpful in the writing process. The teacher would oversee all of the discussion, peer comments, and editing.

Reflection

Pedagogy-Content: 

I would convey the content to them by modeling the way. I would post my own answers to the questionnaire and I would post my own autobiography. Teaching them what an autobiography is by showing them an example is the best way to convey the content.




Technology:
Using Edmodo makes the students interact with each other and use each other’s work as an example. They are able to interact, learn about each other, and learn about the writing process. Peer editing is a concept that would be used in this assignment, but the students would be doing this all online, and not on paper.

Technology-Pedagogy:
The students would use computers or iPads to complete this assignment. They would be learning not only about the writing process, but they would be learning about computers/iPads, social networking, and peer editing. This technology makes all of this possible. They would be learning by experience, by diving in and figuring out the technology and using it to construct a vibrant autobiography.



Technology-Content:
This assignment uses technology (Edmodo) in a hands on way to learn the content (writing an autobiography). By using Edmodo, students are exploring the process of writing an autobiography and they would be interacting with other students online to further understand it.