Week of October, 22nd.

I had my presentation for technology tool and the literature review in succession. I am glad this is all behind me now. On Wednesday 24th I had completed a review of both handouts and visuals and sent all to Dr. Hammond for posting on the class blog. I worked on my technology in classroom project and sent a first draft to the classroom teacher who also promptly returned the same with many positive feedback and suggestions. I have since been working on fine -tunning the draft to make it look much like the teacher wants the design to be. I also completed the quiz on Extra-curricular patterns of use, reviewed Dr. Hammond’s quiz review for HTML, ZPD, and scafolding. The same was returned with my comments. I was trying to get a professional evaluation copy of the textbook that I would like to reference for my technology in classroom but a referee was required prompting me to place a call to TCH. Well, this is my tit-bits.

Demet’s Podcast

I listened to and commented on Demet’s podcast#2. A good example to follow. Meanwhile, I was also able to listen to the Digital Campus “Wikipedia: Friends or Foe.” I had to break it down listening to separate sections of it and pausing in between. I had to do that because the discussion is very interesting and conversational, I think was able to listen to the entire podcast after three breaks pausing in between. I wondered if they had practice session leading to the recording. No doubt a model to emulate.

General update on Tech. Project

My technology in the classroom project in focused on designing for grade 9-12 at Bangor High School. The objective is to teach beginning and intermediate skills in Office 2003-Word using hands-on instructional projects. The goal is to allow students work within the Microsoft Word Application by using it to complete a series of projects leading them to master the application program immediately. They will learn problem solving techniques while working through projects that provide practical and real life situations students can relate to. Learn by doing has proven to be an effective way of teaching technology skills based on my personal experience.

While it had been difficult to find time to actually be in the classroom, plan technology implementation to improve teaching and learning, I thought it may be a good idea to visit my targeted school and students sometime during this project design. I feel that this may completely change or influence the project design.

Instructional Plan: The teacher will demonstrate the application program to the students on the first day of class with a set of hand holding which is then followed by a series of sample work that the students can follow from their computer station. Subsequent classroom sessions will be project based, students will be handed printed project-based activities. The activities will require students to learn by doing and working through the projects. Completed works should be printed out in the specified format and turned in for grading. The teacher will be available as a facilitator and guide for any student during class meetings.

So far, I know exactly what to focus on throughout the project and with an OK from the classroom teacher details will be provided as they become available. I would highlight some of these areas in my podcast #2. It would be interesting to see what the end product of several weeks of creativity will look like.

Oct. 2nd-8th

Here I am trying to refocus my attention on the business at hand (school work and secular work), it has not been very easy to refocus on these things. I have not been hospitalised ever since I’ve known myself, so last week was a rude shock to me and many that knew me. Get Well cards came from friends and there was no lack of visitation at my bedside.

A wake up call came from TCH about my podcast (where can I find your podcast)? I had little or no motivation to get my works done. I finally posted my podcast, managed to send email to my classroom teacher for the k-12 classroom access. I’m sure she must be wondering what is going on since my last email said I will be sending a summary of my technology project for her class shortly. Shortly has been a little over a week, now I am getting there and the pacing break was very timely for me.

Finally, you may now view my podcast here. Thank you for your patience.

Activities for week of 25th-Oct. 1st

I was full of enthusiasm and pacing myself with the course work. Friday night, I did not sleep well at all and as I endured through the night I got no sleep forcing me to go to hospital emergency room for immediate attention. It was a strange pain radiating through my chest and shoulder blades. I ended up spending the weekend on admission in the hospital. No it was not a heart attack and definitely not an alarming condition. I was on IV and no food or drinks for three day as the doctors try to diagnose the cause of my pain. It turned out to be Gastritis. I thought I will be out of the hospital in a few hours, but it was not to be.

I watched as the clock ticked away on October 1st imagining what was going on in the technology in school setting class. I had my podcast completed earlier in the week and was supposed to upload the files the same weekend I was hospitalised. Right now I am still trying to catch up with class work and other life necessities. It was a shame that I was completely removed from technology in the environment I found myself even with my laptop, there was no wireless signal within reach. This was indeed a shock because I assumed wireless signal is everywhere you turn to nowadays. I was proved wrong.