Energy Conservation Project Presentation

Here is the link to my Powerpoint presentation.

My feeling after watching the video of myself presenting is that I did pretty well. My presentation was 8 minutes long and there was no filler, it was short and to the point. I like the fact that I was concise, but I also feel that in this kind of presentation it is good to have some extra ideas so you can diverge off of the PowerPoint presentation a little bit. I never really like PowerPoint presentations because people just read off of the screen. I would rather have them just give me the text to read to myself. The worst is when you get a handout of the PowerPoint slides, and you can read through the whole thing in the first 5 seconds of someone's presentation.

I liked my presentation and I think that I was pretty articulate throughout. One problem that I noticed is that I say "aaah" a lot. I don't say um, I just say "aaah" when I am pausing between two thoughts. I never noticed before that I do that. It is weird to hear my recorded voice because to myself when I am talking I sound different.

-PRESENTATION: I have a really clear and loud speaking voice. That was good. I said "aaaaah" too much. At one point in the presentation I was doing something funny with my hands... I realized that I shouldn't fidget in front of people. During my presentation I was also kind of wringing my hands behind my back at one point. You couldn't see it on the movie but I had to consciously stop doing it. So fidgeting is one thing I need to not do when I am speaking. I know I am supposed to be facing the audience more than facing the screen. In this presentation I was reading off the screen so I did not face the audience enough. I think I was pretty good about turning toward the audience often, but in the future if I am in front of a big group of people, I will practice the presentation more so that I can face the audience more than the screen. Maybe I will print out the slides so the material is in front of me and I am not always looking to my side at the screen.

-VISUALS: I don't have much experience doing PowerPoint so I saw some visual things in the other presentations that I could incorporate more into my own. The biggest thing, to me, was that the background of all my slides was just white. I had some cool pictures, one that made people laugh, but I should have come up with cool background colors and designs for the slides. I will do that in future presentations. I still had a lot of pictures illustrating the ideas that I was talking about. I think they went well with the material. I could have spent more time on finding pictures for my PowerPoint.

-ORGANIZATION: I think my presentation was very organized and it had a good flow. It was not rocket science to get from the essential question to my conclusion, but the information that resulted was very fascinating.

-CONTENT: I think the content of my presentation made everyone in that room think about how they need to recycle. I remember some people in class talking about how they don't recycle, so I wanted the presentation to make them think again. I think I was successful in that. I wasn't trying to pick on anyone because I think all of us have been guilty of not recycling at points in our lives. I liked my presentation because everyone knows that they should recycle, but a lot of people choose not to. We don't realize what the exact difference is between recycle and don't recycle. I think my presentation made it clear what a huge impact a simple process like establishing a real school-recycling program has. During my research I read that in some areas of the country they are reducing the waste added to their landfills by nearly 30 percent because of recycling. At first I had a simple idea. I was amazed at the conclusion I got after just a little bit of math.

Despite the fact that I was sick and I haven't had much experience doing PowerPoint, I think that I still gave a meaningful presentation. It is funny to watch yourself present. I always get the feeling, "Is that really me?" This project has inspired me to go back to my original idea of implementing recycling in my classroom if there is not a school wide program. It might be a drag to collect all that crap and drive out of your way to go turn it in somewhere, but as one teacher I can personally prevent one ton of material a year from going into the landfill instead of being recycled. That's pretty amazing.

Article Response 2

Response to Will Richardson's "The Educators Guide to the Read/Write Web"

This article is all about the influence that new technologies are having on education. Tools like blogs, wikis, and podcasts are revolutionizing the ways in which we can communicate. This past summer I read an article about a new theory of education called "Connectivism". Connectivism is a theory that states that education is being more and more driven by aspects of communication and chaos. I didn't really understand the chaos part of the article, but the communication part really hit me. In this day and age we have so many resources at our disposal because of technology. Students can use the internet to connect the knowledge of the class and the teacher to different groups of knowledge around the world. These days we have great networks. Students can pen pal with other students across the globe. Students can write questions to a network of other people and receive answers. A lot of academic research can take place online. A group in Alaska can pose a problem or question on a forum that other groups around the world can then analyze and respond to. In education we need to make a shift from individual based learning and learning outcomes, to a networked system where students are allowed to learn as a community.

The next time that I have a classroom of my own, I plan to create a Myspace page for MR. ASPER. I disagree with the principle of restricting kids from technology at school. Rather than telling students they can't use myspace we could have a myspace page for every class that facilitates for communication. Teachers could post assignments and materials, and students could use the technology to stay current with the class (even if they went on a family trip and missed two weeks!).

Teachers who incorporate technology into their curriculum are ahead of the curve. Those who are resisting are behind... it's that simple. We are moving into a new era of education.

Today we were asked to come up with a technology mantra. We also were asked to write about the essential question below.

MANTRA:

Technology is like a river...
It never stays the same. Technology is a constantly evolving entity. Like a river it moves and evolves over time, like a river it shapes the world around it. Some aspects of technology are easy to use and very shallow; others are complicated and very deep. Rivers support life systems, technology supports a lot of social systems every day.

MANTRA: Students learn to relate technology to different academic areas. Teachers incorporate technology into their curriculum.

Essential Question: Given we are immersed in technology, how do we "see" it in order to evaluate its utility and impacts.

I feel like educators are too leery of technology. Instead of using firewalls to shut tools like blogs and myspace down, teachers should be encouraging their students to use them as tools of communication. I think the way to really see the change technology is making in education you have to compare past methods of teaching with those that are used today. Technology has already revolutionized education. It is changing the way teachers present material to students, and it is changing the way that students present their work to their teachers. At this point I think all teachers should be evaluated on the effectiveness of their use of technology. There should be certain technological requirements for students before they are allowed to begin school. Among these requirements should be that students word process assignments and carry a data storage device such as a USB drive at all times. I think the way that we see technology is in comparing what we have to what we had in the past. This is a tedious process because it involves always looking backward instead of doing the appropriate thing for educators to do which would be to stay current and look forward.

Today we were given an essential question to write about:

Question: What impact will the increasingly interactive and diminished size of computers, communicators, and handhelds have on education in secondary schools?

The day will soon come when education will have to embrace technology. Technology such as handhelds and smartboards should be implemented in classrooms everyday. The problem that is happening right now is that teachers are fighting it. Instead of "NO CELL PHONES" we should be distributing some kind of device to each student. These materials could be used in class to enhance the learning experience. My vision is that soon students will be able to sit at their desk and individually follow along with classroom instruction. Instead of a lecture format of teaching, there will be a projector screen or a flat screen monitor at the front of each classroom. Each student will be able to read the projected material at the front of the class and at their own desks. Students will also be able to project their own work sample to the front of the classroom for group comments. These tools will also help students plan their workloads.

Out with the hard copy gradebooks and in with networked technology!
Out with the 10 days of data input before grades come out and in with networked schools!

Students should have handhelds that function as their student ids, planners, and a place where teachers can send them a list of their missing assignments, or emails.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

My thoughts about using new technologies in schools

The value of new literacies like "Garage Band" is that there are many new ways of learning that are coming into being. We always talk about different learning styles and different types of learners. We always allude to the fact that teachers need to incorporate differentiated instruction to reach all of their students. Programs like this make me realize that the differentiated instruction is there. Technology gives us great ways to reach kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners.

I find it personally humorous that we are always told to differentiate our teaching while we are sat down and lectured to or given a power point presentation. It's like people know what they are supposed to teach us but don't always practice what they preach. Then if you go in our mentor teachers classrooms it is a whole other ballgame with a lot of people "grandfathered" into the system who don't even need to pass Praxis.

To me, this kind of program is the differentiation of the future. Teachers will have to become able to utilize technology in order to differentiate their teaching approach. Programs like "garage band" provide valuable cross-curricular material that teachers can utilize. I am so excited for the day when school systems decide to provide these resources for teachers and train them to use it.