Journal #4

"National Technology Standards for Students" by tuchodi is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

    Ever since my late middle school years, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. At first, I didn't really care what grade level I taught as long as I was in a classroom, but as the years passed, I made the decision that my dream grade level is kindergarten. That's why I choose this grade level when looking at the ELA Technology Standards. I assumed that since the children are still so young, there are not as many ways to incorporate technology as there would be in a classroom for older students, and I was correct. The one standard that is listed has the students exploring through a variety of different technological tools for writing purposes in combination with their fellow students, with the help of adults. This just means to foster and create a writing skill using technology that can be built upon as they continue through the school system. I feel as though in this moment of time I would be able to implement this skill in a classroom, but not very effectively. I know of different programs, and I am proficient in the technologies that were listed in the matrix, but I am unsure on how I would actually break down an instructional period to teach it to a room of kindergarteners.  

    Using the CPALMS Educator Toolkit, I found multiple resources that focus on a kindergarten grade level approach to social studies, the subject of my choice. Many of them are lesson plans. The resource that I chose was a lesson plan titled 'Purpose and Particulars: Presidents' which focuses largely on research skills and writing. This plan has the students read through grade appropriate texts to find the similarities and differences and then work both independently and as a class to create a Venn diagram of what they found. Then as a class, they come up with ideas about what they learned in class in order to do an independent writing activity.  I would incorporate this lesson plan in my own classroom as part of a social studies lesson about the presidents, probably in accordance with President's Day, the national holiday. This would focus more on what a president does, and what past presidents did. This seems like a good way to incorporate a real-life event or celebration into an educational setting, with would hopefully add an interest in the students to participate.  

    Being a proficient internet searcher is a powerful tool for any educator. Being able to search efficiently and effectively allows for teachers to find solutions to problems in the classroom, stay up to date with new standards and technology, and find new areas to expand their PLN too.  Personally, out of all the new skills that were introduced this week, I think that the advanced search is the most useful tool, especially for an educator. This is because it allows for a much more specific search, in terms of finding answers that come from more trustworthy sources, as well as being able to filter out answers that are not necessarily associated with the topic one is looking for. Moving forward, I will most likely be using this the most, especially during my college career for papers and other research assignments. Seeing as how many of the skills that were introduced this week are very new to me, I don't really have any Internet searching skills to bring up. Most of my searching comprises of me entering a full question into the search bar and hoping for the best. I will definitely be utilizing these new techniques moving forward!