Changes

So it's been almost 2 years since I've posted and I have decided I need to start blogging again.  This time I'm going to get a little more personal in my posts because life has brought a lot of changes in that time.  I am currently working for a radio station and I am now preparing to have surgery this summer.  I have spent most of my life as an overweight female and up until about a year ago it never really phased me.  When I started trying to get my dream job teaching high school history I started hitting a wall that I couldn't seem to break thru.  I never had considered that employers may see my weight as a problem until in an interview I was asked if I had chronic illnesses.  Now believe it or not for most of my adult life I have managed not to get sick a whole lot.  When I was asked that question it stunned me and made me realize that might be something that was being judged but not asked.  A year ago last month was when some things started to sink in.  We lost my cousin who was only 10 years older than me to a heart attack.  Needless to say that makes you start examining things.  So in February of this year I took the first steps toward Bariatric surgery because I want to be here for my family for good long while and because I'm ready to be healthy.  On Feb 13th I had my orientation appointment.  At that time I weighed 391 lbs and to beat it all that's not my highest weight.  As of today I weigh 375 lbs which for me is a big deal because I hadn't been able to get below 380 lbs until now.  I have 2 more doctors appointments and 10 more pounds to lose before I will hopefully get to see the surgeon.  So while I go thru this journey I am going to blog and maybe some of you will find encouragement from it.

Current Research Literature

Based on the research one of the key trends I see is that with the growth of online or distance learning has come the use of instructional design models such as ADDIE and Universal design for Learning.  Several of the articles seem to point to the need for the teacher to be comfortable with technology.  They also seem to focus mostly on college classes even though we have seen a growth in blended courses or even fully online courses for high school and even lower grade levels.  I would recommend that we encourage all of our teachers to realize that technology is part of our lives now and give them steps to help them adapt.  I would also recommend that researchers look into how high school courses or even K-12 online programs do, could, and should implement some of these techniques.  I would also suggest to every new teacher that you start off trying to do more than just use technology as a replacement mechanism.  I found it interesting that creativity was not focused on.  We have so many employers now who are looking for people who can bring new ideas to the table and yet we don't seem to take that into account when we design our instruction.  That was one of the most frustrating components in my student teaching for me.  My students were so used to being told exactly what to do that they had a really hard time being creative.  We have got to bring some creativity and self-control back into our instructional design if we want to create productive citizens.  I also find it interesting that only a few of the articles took into account any type of disability.  This could represent two different possibilities: one we have become so conscious of individualizing that it's not an issue or we have ignored all those who didn't get it right off the bat.  The first one is a good step forward because with online education some things are more individualized than we think at first.  I do find the one article that focuses on the application of Universal Design very interesting and accurate.  Having taken many online classes I have always preferred short assignments and I have found that assignments that include audio is very helpful.  Audio not only takes into account disabilities but also learning styles.  If you have working students they may not be able to read major articles and stay awake so the audio may be helpful for them.  All of these points means there is more that we have to take into consideration when we're designing our instruction.  We are now serving a wide range of students so we need to think about every possible issues our students could be dealing with or face in the future.

Instructional Design Model Mashup

Of the four instructional design models I looked at last week I felt that these two went together the best.

Universal Design For Learning

I decided to give the information in a video.  I can address what could have been better in video form quicker than I could typing it.  Please give me any feedback you may have.

Building, Sustaining, and Cultivating

I created a circle in google that has my school connections.  I honestly don't know how likely my circle is to grow because I don't know that many people.  I am definitely more of a brick and mortar connection person than online.  Building those relationships are easier for me because you get to know people face to face.  I'm not extremely trusting so this is beneficial because I'm decent at reading people when I'm in a face to face setting.  We have a tech team that is very active in making sure we know the new technology and use it.  Along with that I am a technology person to an extent so I will be paying attention when new things are released.

Final Reflection

Looking back over this semester I think TPCK and SAMR are the two items that I have been impacted by the most.  I truly believe that if I can look at each lesson during the planning stage and make sure I hit the R in SAMR I will be serving my students well.  Some of the items or tools we covered were confusing to me and I couldn't seem to get it to work.  If I can incorpate technology in more than just a substitution way then I will be making a decent attempt of intergrating technology.  Intergrating technology is important to me because we are living in an age where just about every student has used some type of technology on a semi regular basis.  With that being the case some students may be more involved in class if the technology is intergrated into it.  It even increases the chances of some type of class discussion with the addition of some type of discussion board.
Example: spaaze.com
 
I want my students to interact and participate so I believe that the understanding from this class will help me include technology in a helpful and useful way.

Digital Toolbox

Given the framework that we developed in my technologies class there were a few things that I focused in on.  I wanted to be sure that it was user friendly, interactive, age appropriate, and free. All of these are important for my students.  When I was looking at the tools for my digital toolbox I was looking more at how I could use those tools in a live classroom so I depending on TPCK a lot.  I wanted to make sure that whatever tools I chose served as more than a substitution.  I did my best to make sure that techonology was not just an extra little thing but was intertwined in everything.  I realized the further I got into it that the tools I found were more for me than for my students.  However I do believe that if my students are willing to experiment then they will be able to use most if not all of these tools.  I'm not sure how my toolbox will be expanded because I have to keep in mind the area of the state I will be working in and what my students will have access to.  I believe my toolbox will be relevant and easily usable in my history class.  It allows for a decent amount of student involvement and it also gives me a format to work with when having to lecture.  Unfortunately lecture will be a large part of my student teaching.  If you wish to see my toolbox click here.