Final EMDT Reflection

Week 4-Wimba

I was truly sorry to have missed the last Wimba session with my group. I’ve felt disconnected with Wimba sessions due to scheduling conflicts with my children’s activities. It has been almost impossible to attend any of them at all during the course of this program. I’ve traveled back into time and visited the archives, and was so impressed by the presentations by my classmates. Specifically, Russ Gaspard, and Erik Holvig’s AR projects. I agree with Eric on the troubling issues of poor writing in the classroom. In our high school in the Bronx, our students are very low in writing. This is due to various socio/economic reasons as well as large portion of our school speaks English as a second language. Our principal has adopted a writing- across the curriculum program to try to help remedy the problem. Every subject must include at least two essays. It is a struggle for them, as it is for teachers like me (I’m a studio art teacher, not an English teacher!) However, practice is what really counts for our students.

As for my Final Presentation, my critical friends are still reviewing my work, and will hopefully get my final presentation reviewed soon.

Week 4 DB#2 What stands in the way of your dream job?

What stands in front of my dream position is time and money. I’m pressed for both. I think with more time, I could write away for grants. I’m hoping with more funding, I can get more equipment and materials for my art program. My dream is to have 10 desktop computers in my classroom. This would enable students the opportunity to upload their artwork to online portfolios as well as introduce various web 2.0 applications, digital arts, and video. Hopefully, I will have more time upon the completion of this program to write away for funding.

week 4-Comment To Laurie Merril

Laurie's Original Post

WK4 PUBLISHING LEADERSHIP PROJECT

I teach in Fillmore, California, which is part of the Ventura County Office of Education. I would like to be a part of a local Computer Using Educators (CUE) chapter to find other local teachers who are integrating technology into their curricula. Once I complete my master’s at Full Sail University I will need to find other teachers who can help me with technical support, policy issues, and implementation of new Web 2.0 tools. My contribution will be a presentation in September of 2011. It will be great to be a part of a team of educators who want to integrate tech tools into the curriculum.

I hope to prepare a presentation that members of CUE statewide will find useful and present it at the state conference in Palm Springs in October of 2011. That will give me this school year to test out more cell phone and other media projects with my current students and add to my current data. It will also give me an opportunity to implement my LMS and see how that works out. Having all the blogs in a private classroom in one place is an essential component to the success of the LMS. It will also give me the summer to improve my presentation.

My Comment to Laurie:

It's great to see you actively trying to implement change into the system. How wonderful to put your AR into "Action". I'm impressed by your bravery and dedication to educating the educators whom are mostly "digital immigrants".

week 4- Publishing Leadership Project

http://files.me.com/aimenjade/a1cgcj

I have finally finished my Publishing Leadership Project and feel proud of my accomplishments. It has been nice to reflect and put together a cohesive paper to document my journey through my AR process and project. However, are several things I wish I had done differently in my AR, especially how I collected data.

I will focus on submitting to International Journal of Education & The Arts as I’ve been an art teacher for 4 years in the NYC public schools, and 1 Year in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. I’m excited by the prospect of having my research and findings published with the possibly inspiring other educators.

The second journal is called Educational Technology and Society. I felt this to be a great journal for getting the latest trends in technology and how it pertains to education.