Inquiry Project outline

1)      RSS/Blog Aggregators- google

2)      Flickr

3)      Wiki

4)      Voice thread

5)      Prezi

6)      Google docs

Demonstration:

I will create a photo journal for my family regarding our new son and the addition on our home.  (Oct.12)

RSS/Blog Aggregators (Oct 15)

Create a prezi on John A. McDonald (Oct 25)

Create a voice thread on (Nov 1)

Create a Wiki on (Nov 15)

Google docs (end of November)

I now realize that I am crazy!  I knew that having a second child I would be busy but somehow it seems to be worse then I imagined.   Normally, I am a high school teacher, who teaches social studies class, but I have had 1 block as a teacher-librarian. My comfort level with technology is quite weak and I have very little experience with technology.  I have always had little time and patience to learn but I realize that to be a better teacher I have to learn new technology and be able to pass the knowledge on to my students.

One of my goals is for personal reasons and my goal is to learn a photo-sharing program due to the fact that I just had a baby and I am completely renovating my house.   A great deal of my family lives in Ontario and it would be fantastic to share photos quickly, rather then send photo to everyone individually. If successful I would like to have my family learn the program as well and we will be a more connected family.

Another goal is to learn new technology that my students can use not only in the   classroom but eventually use outside of high school.  I have been reading a book which discusses the universal design for learning (UDL). According to Gargiulo and Metcalf in their book, Teaching in Today’s Inclusive Classrooms: A Universal Design for Learning Approach, the UDL is extremely powerful in helping not only the students that are on individual learning plans (IEP) but also students that feel more comfortable with different types of expressing themselves.  I would like to be able to offer my students a variety of opportunities and help them achieve the best that they possibly can.

I would also like the students (and myself) to use technology that they can work on simultaneously and not have to email the assignment back and forth; such as prezi, voice thread or wiki.  I believe that co-operative learning will always be in the education system and will be in the work place, therefore partner or group assignment are important in the educational system.  It is difficult for students to arrange time to get together, especially when attending post secondary school and for that reason it is important to have the tools to be able to time manage.  Having a document that everyone can work on would not be as time consuming because you would not have to email the assignment back and forth.

Long term, I would like to have the ability to share the technology knowledge that I gain with my colleagues.  As William Kist points out in his book, The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age, times are changing.  “Schools are going to have to move past whatever barriers exist… there can be no doubt that communicating in this new century is going to be different than communicating in the old century.” (Kist, 2010)  I would like to be one of the teachers that embraces new technology instead of ignoring the change.  I would like to come to a point of comfort with certain programs and than share the comprehension with both colleagues and students.

Reference List

Gargiulo, R. & Metclaf, D.  (2010). Teaching in today's inclusive classrooms: a universal design for learning approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Kist, W. (2010).  The socially networked classroom: teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oak, CA: Corwin.