Final thought

This class opened my mind to learn and know that there were different learning technology tools could be used in classroom. These tools as Pransky (2009)mentions help to enhance the teacher classroom and make students more motivate to learn. From my experience as students first and teacher, classroom become more intersting to students if it has the variety of teaching styles.

Chapter 10 – Assessment in the Partnering Pedagogy: and Conclusion in Prensky book

Chapter 4 - How to Assess Digital Products in Johnson book

This week reading opened my mind about something I think it is so importance. Maybe some educators thought different about it, but to me it is good point to start teaching students in this century. I really agree with Prensky (2009) points about evaluate students depending to the tools that they are usually use even if that would not be involve in their standardized test. Students now are more likely to be involved in these kinds of tools because their feeling of learning enjoyment.

As educator and future teacher, I would enhance this in my classroom and be able to evaluate the students’ depending in their knowledge of using these tools. From my experience as mom for a 4^th grade daughter, I see how important to her have internet access in the house and the ability to use different tools. However, she shows me the enjoyment of using these tools to do her homework assignment.

Finally, it was a wonderful experience as educator to be involved at the learning process of this class because this class give me the opportunity to gather different information and expect about enhance and use technology in classroom.    

Google Form, Google Earth, Word Cloud, and Mind Mapping

This week I learn in class four new tools:

The first one was Google Form. It was easy tool to use and wonderful for me as a teacher to make quizzes and survey related to classroom. The most things I like about this tool that I can see all students answers after they submit it in kind of table format, which is cool to read and grad. I really like the different kinds of background format that I could use. As I said before, it is good tool for creating quizzes, especially the choices of choosing the answer box, which includes text, text paragraph, or multiple choices.

Then, Google Earth is a good to use it, in classroom because it gives 3D pictures that helps students to explore places they could not go before. I really think to use this tool with students to enhance their writing skills by make them travel around the world and choose place to take about it after they take the pictures.

After that, Mind Mapping which is a tool helps to organized ideas or thought. Teacher could use this tool in classroom to organize her lesson plan or with the students. To me, I will use this tool to help the students to make their essay brain storm. Also, I will use to organize my classroom activities schedule.  

Lastly, Word Clouds which is a program could be used in education. This tool helps to create cloud-shaped based to the words that I used. I think I will use this tool in my class to help the students enhance their vocabulary words. I mean every week, students have to find synonyms words and presented in the classroom or in blog.  

google form
in the google form i made a kind of review of books by asking students to chosse one of the two books and answers the questions about it.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AxGusNE0vqsoTYQFpD2VSGZY5iKm_xJoILs7cth21gI/viewform

Ch. 8 Let your students create

Ch. 9 Continuous improvement through practice and sharing

This week, I learned numerous of things to present…. starting with encouraged students to be creative “as part of their formal learning” (Prensky, 2010, p.149). So as a partnering teacher, I should to enhance their creativity to give them the opportunity to show their knowledge. Also, teacher should be understood to their students’ ways of thinking and their expected of having class with more variety of teaching style, Prensky mentions that teachers should “understand that what today’s students want to create, and can create, is not the stuff of the past” (p. 150).  

Also, I learned about “Slackers” students and what I should do to understand their needs because they are really smart but some of them feel boredom of the teacher teaching style. Prensky said “slackers always have a reason for their behavior” (p.156) and teacher job is to know their reason and find their passion to enhance it.

Moreover, I learned the importance of learning a new tools and technique to use in my classroom. Using variety of teaching methods in class would enhance my partnering teaching. This learning could come from sharing your knowledge with colleagues and learn from their experiences.

Furthermore, I learn the importance of continuing improve my partnering teaching through practicing. These days I practice action research to enhance the reading motivation in the students learning skills. This helps me a lot to enhance my teaching methods by observing my teaching technique and work to improve it.

  Norah Alsana

it is wonderful experience to use story bird tool.. i work with my daughters to create our fun story.. they choose the pictures, and write it with me .... i think this tools really useful to students to enhance their creativity to make their own story and choose their own sitting and characters..
this my Story ..... enjoy
http://storybird.com/books/the-happy-family-136/

Visual Learning Tools

This week me and my group work in three web tools includes ( Animoto, Digital Story Telling, Image Editing & Enhancement). It was fun to work with students in all the tools and show them how that works. I really enjoy using Animoto and Digital Story Telling before, but editing & enhancement is a new tool to use and I like the idea of do not have to make your own account. I think I can use these tools in classroom with my students to enhance using technology. However, it is useful tools to present your lesson plan in front of your kids or use it in history class so you can make your students choose their topic and find their pictures and download it with music. it is wonderful idea to enhance students to research their interested topic and fund the information after that they can create their video and show it to their peers.   

Norah Alsana

i like this link. it showa the Civics Final Animoto Project, it made by Animoto tool it is good tool to present your class topic, so i want to share it with you, enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbLuXNtsXvA

Ch. # 5 Planning: Content to questions, Questions to Skills

Ch. # 6 Using technology in Partnering

It was wonderful experiences to me working this week with my group to create the questions and share it with the class. However, the most amazing is reading the students work and send them comment and feedback about their answers. I really enjoy reading my classmates answers and their suggestions about using technology in classroom.

I learned from these two chapters how to make your guiding questions that related to your topic and give the students the opportunity to research and find the information about that. This kind of strategy helps to enhance the students to learn. I really agree with many of my classmate when they show us different example to their lesson plan and how they include or assume using technology as a part of the class lesson.

I want to thanks all my classmates about their answers and their feedback to us as a group after we response to them and especially to Roberta. Because she gives me a wonderful example of how assume of having technology in your classroom and this is the link: http://learni.st/learnings/58457-notes-from-mcteach-learning-to-blog-using-paper?board_id=6736

summer

this is example of my Animoto summer

3         ways to use social network in classroom:

·         I would use twitter, reminding students about their homework assignment, educational blogs that maybe interested and related to their learning subject, or learning hashtags that would be useful in their learning process.   

·         I would use Facebook but it not allowed using it in my country school districts. However, if there is any chance to use it I will apply some educational games to enhance the students’ motivation of learning.

·         I would enhance the students curiosity  to find ways or their ways  to use social network in class lesson  and will making sure that would be access from their school district to work on it.       

Thinking people and passions rather than classes and content

&

Always be real not just relevant

From these two unites I learned different things:

First: know the passions and the interest of your students to learn and apply it in your lesson plan. As show to me many students like to use technology and try to show their knowledge in class in front of their peers, so it would be good idea to Guide them in their topic and enhance their technology knowledge to search and find their information. I read article about teacher who work to enhance his students’ lack of writing academic skills by knowing their passion. He asked students to find their interest topic and write their questions about the topic after that writing their research. It is wonderful idea because he knows that student would apply all his/her know to improve the work.

In addition, the iteration, many instructors/teachers made their lesson plans with the same movement. I mean maybe he started with presenting the class after that answers student questions which is bored to students. It is good idea to know your key of iteration and enhance it and apply many things could make the class more interested to students.    

Moreover, as partnering try to living out the teacher roles by coach, guide, or instructional expert. All this difference selects should be choosing depending to your ability and goals as a teacher and your students’ passion and interested.

 Lastly, as a teacher try to make your subjects related to the reality of the student life. For instance, try to make a group of students have the same topic interest work to gather so they can use their knowledge and connect it with their lives.     

Prezi and Google Docs
Prezi and Google Docs are beneficial tools for teachers to use in their classroom because the enjoyable and motivation that students could have in their learning class. As an educator, last semester I was amazed for some students presentation because they used Prezi and it was a wonderful, so I just copy the name in Google and read about to make my first presentation by using it. my first work was good for starting but my curiosity take me forward to learn more about and how is it a helpful tool in the classroom. It is really good tools more than Power point because you do not have to concern about the background, and the movement of your presentation.
This week in class, I learned something new about Prezi which is the opportunity to share my work with a group and they can add what they want in the same time I worked in. Likewise, the Google Docs that I can use with group by shearing the link and add them to shear with me the work. I will use these tools in my future classroom as a teacher because I know that students will enjoy and be amazed like me when I use it in first time. Also, I would use these tools in a group work in class to enhance the cooperative work between students. it would be good idea to review the class lesson by using these tools and make the students add what they think would be good to study from for their class.  

 Moving to the partnering Pedagogy

This chapter of Prensky book (2010) was enjoyment to read because it shows how could you as a teacher move to be partnering. Also, it shows us as teachers how can weassessed ourself according to students feeling during the class and our answers to some questions.    

I learned that, moving to partnering helps teacher to concentrate in students’ needs and give much more time to create different instruction, all these because the transformative to be “more of tutor and coach for your students” (p, 31).Moreover, as a successful partnering teacher should see students “in the learning process with different but equal skill sets than their own” (p.32). Furthermore, as a teacher want to enhance partnering in teaching you should treat students with “respect and truest” (p.32) because that would help them to belief in their abilities to learn and share it with class. Also, it would enhance the students to work independently with creation.  

In addition, I enjoy reading the setting up for the classroom to facilitate partnering and my classmates’ answers about this question, it is giving me more things to learn and understand. I believe that setting up the class should be according to the lesson needs. In other words, it should be depending to the activities that will be present in the classroom.

Lastly, the choosimg as a teacher for the partnering level, was importants to me because I did not have any knowledge about that before and the author shows that with good explanation to learn from. Sometimes as a teacher you do not know about all your teaching skills until you read about it.

Verbs and Nouns:   

I learned also that “the skills that students need to learn, practice, and master” (p.45) are the Verbs. On the other hand, the Nouns are “the tools students use to learn to do, or practice the verb” (p.46). This explanation of verbs and nouns is show the using the technology in partnering.   

    Reference

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching Digital natives. Partnering for Real Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA; Corwin

Podcast and Vodcast
This week was so interested with some complicated issues about the new tools. I really enjoy using these tools and attracted to apply it in my teaching career. From the reading I learned that podcasting “refers to the idea of using an MP3 player, iPod, or even a microphone attached to a computer to record audio” (Johnson, 2o11, p.68). Also, to start using this tool there are difference programs to sing up by using your email account. In the class discussion, I learned that using these tools not including entertainments just, but also, in education, and communication with other people. Also, it is useful to include these tools in educational class, especially for second language students and disability students. I faced some issues to record my sound, so I waited until go back to my home and do it from there. I think that what anyone needs to record “quiet”.
In addition, in class we discuss the idea of how can we as teachers use these tools and I like my classmate suggestions such as sending a weekly lesson plan recorded to students, or record the vocabulary lesson or the weekly poems so students could prepare from the home it that. I also, like using vodcast tools with disability students to record to them a video about the class lesson. However, it is also useful with distance or home classes.
About using these techniques in education, in my country Saudi Arabia teachers used podcast to record all the year poems and handle, or send it to students during the first week of the school, so students could use it to enhance their abilities to present the poems in class. however, I would use it with blogs as teachers, so students can record their sound about class discussion or questions and answers.

Partnering: A pedagogy for the new Educational Landscape

Presently, many teachers like the idea of presenting the class lesson and keeping the students listening and taking notes which is to me, belong to the old school of teaching and known as “direct instruction” (Prensky, 2010, p.10).  This strategy makes students as a banker memorized all the information but forgets it after the exam. However, make the students more engaging in a classroom help their knowledge and critical thinking to improve.

I learn that, partnering is a mutual work among teachers and students with shared respect. According to Prensky(2010), partnering is “ letting students focus on the part of the learning process that they can do best, and letting teachers focus on the part of the learning process that they can do best” (p.13). In fact, I like my classmate Pauline, experiences about practicing partnering in her class for 11 years and I am looking for word to read her blog to learn from her experiences.it is a good teaching strategy to be partnering to your students because this shows them the confident to work and present their thought with respect. When teacher treated her    student as adult and responsible about all his/her works that give them the trust in their abilities.  

In addition, I learn something importing about technology in partnering that needs to “be combined with a new type of pedagogy” (Prensky, 2010, p.17). In the past, I looked to many articles that show how technology failed in classroom, but maybe the reason is the old type of pedagogy as Prensky said or because the lack of use the technology by teachers.     

Unfortunately, in my country we did not use this method often because they still use the “direct instruction”. However, my future goals is using the “partnering” in my teaching style and get the truest from the school and the students to practice that. Also, I learned from my classmates that I can use technology during the class lesson without feeling of replace with it. Thus, thanks for all who I learn from this week

Norah Alsana

Reference

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching Digital natives. Partnering for Real Learning. Thousand Oaks,        CA; Corwin

            

Blog

Currently, many educators attempt to use Digital tools in their teaching experiences because their interest to involve more students in their class discussion, also to make the class more collaboration to learn. These kinds of tools help students to learn and improve their knowledge of using technology. In other words, using this technology in professional academic learning is more beneficial than only use it in entertainment way. The most common Digital tools for teaching is Blog, which is according to Johnson (2011) “online journal for one’s thoughts, feelings, and ideas” (p.42). This tool helps teachers to insert their thought or comment about their class. Also, it helps them to include explanation or links related to their lesson. To create your own educational blog you just need email account to access and sign up for blog account.  

 In other word, according to my observation and interviewing to some teachers in US, I found that this tool is a good digital tool to adopt in learning environment because students now are more interested to have a variety of technology tools including blogs in their class lesson. I would use blog in my teaching lesson, so I will insert some explanation, links and also questions to help students learn from each other thought. In my country Saudi Arabia, it stills this tool unpopular in the education field, but I will encourage my students by applying this tool in the teaching lesson. I think this tool is useful for the student who did not attend the class, so s/he will find what they miss. Also, if any students have questions or comment, I and the students can help him with a good answer. Moreover, this technology tool is helping the students to reflect their opinion, though, and idea about the class and any suggestion about the future lessons.

  

about me

My name is Norah Alana. I'm from Saudi Arabia. I have been married for ten years to my best friend and husband Abdallah and I have three beautiful girls. My dream has always been to pursue my higher education in the USA, which is the reason I came here with my family. I went to college in Saudi Arabia for four years majoring in library science & information. I got my bachelor’s degree in 2008/2009. My personal interests include hobbies like shopping, reading, and walking. I like to socialize and meet people from other cultures to enrich my experience and improve my relationships.
i am Master student in C&I and i will apply to my Doctoral soon.