Midterm Project

Josebe Dominguez
Midterm Project
Edu 214
Part 1

Application URL site Age/ Detailed Description

Grade
Word http://www.le 3rd Individual Student Practice
ssonplanet.co
Processing m/teachers/le Grade 5 Minutes of Keyboarding Practice
sson-plan-
thanksgiving-
acrostic- Word Processing
poems
Students will need to write a Thanksgiving letter of what

about Thanksgiving. Add shapes, clip arte, fonts and colo

3rd
http://www.le Students will complete a fun activity where they will learn how
ssonplanet.co Grade
m/teachers/le manage clipart and text boxes for illustration and annotation. S
sson-plan-
the- insert a clip art of a monkey and use text wrapping to position th
hippopotamu
s-and-a- the middle of the page. The students will them insert text boxe
monkeys-
heart Shoulder, Knees and Toes. Instruct the students to change the fo

change the font style.

Electronic http://faculty. 6TH Students will graph a function.

Spreadsheets mwsu.edu/we Grade
st/maryann.c Students need to create a spreadsheet with two columns, o
oe/coe/ss/ss.h
tm values and one for y- values.
Students will highlight the cells they want to include in th
2 Midterm Project

They will select Make Chart from Options Menu.

And pick the chart of their choice from the Gallery.

Lets Go Shopping

About 3 weeks prior to this class day, have the students bring rec

http://lessonp 5th the grocery store where their parents made purchases. Tell the stu
lans.btskinner Grade
.com/excelrec receipts must show the name of the item purchased, quantities, to
p.html
sales tax, and total amount due. Students will use the receipt to in

calculate total price, sales tax, and amount due. Compare their to

total on the actual receipt. Further, using functions formulas have

calculate MAX, MIN, AVERAGE, AND COUNT (number of ite

Presentation http://www.sc Students will create a research report using PowerPoint. They
holastic.com/ 6th
Software teachers/lesso Grade topics as famous places, an historical event, or an invention, th
n-plan
information and turn in into a PowerPoint presentation. For

students will gather the information they need by using resear

Internet and print-based materials. Remind them that they need

where they found their information.

http://www.m
athslideshow. 3rd
com Grade
PowerPoint will be used as a tool to teach math. Students will

basic addition, simple subtraction, basic shapes and the multipl

is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom and k

focused in a fun way.

Part 2
Midterm Project

Part A
Last Friday, I went to Grant Sawyer Middle School in order to complete my

Midterm assignment. When I got there, I was asked for the interview letter from my

teacher. When I gave her the interview letter, I received the visitor pass and proceed to the

principals office. When I was there I introduced myself and explained why I was there.

The first person I interviewed was Desiree Robinson, a Computer Teacher and then I

interviewed Joan Cerruti, the assistant principal, who told me that she could help with the

questions address to the administrative.

I started my interview asking Mrs. Robinson what kind of education software she is

using this year for student learning and for administrative use. She answered that there are

several different programs that are used in school for student learning and administrative

use. This year, Mrs. Robinson is using in her classroom Microsoft Office, Reader 180, and

Khan Academy. Reader 180 is designed for any student reading two or more years below

grade-level. The Khan Academy is for students to learn about math. They also use video

maker, and Adobe flash. To administrate the grades, she uses Easy Grade Pro.

When I asked the teacher which software she finds more effective in teaching and

learning processes, she answered that it depends on what you are trying to teach. She said

that Reader 180 for lower level reading is very a effective software and that Khan Academy

is very effective for Mathematics. Most of the time Mrs. Robinson learns how to use the

software products by herself. She said that the day before the class she wants to be sure

about what she is going to teach the day after. She also affirmed that a lot of teacher use

self-teaching when it comes to learn about software using. Mrs. Robinson sometimes uses

Google and YouTube to learn about the new software.

4 Midterm Project

The time spent teaching the students how to use the software products depends on

what the teachers have integrated into their lesson plans. Mrs. Robinson said that when they

use Reader 180 or Khan Academy, they do it everyday. But the average is three days a

week. For the most part, the teacher I interviewed finds the software products not difficult

to use. She said that there are many tools for teachers that are very helpful when it comes to

learn how to use software products.

Mrs. Robinson thinks that there is a digital divide in the school system. She also

said that technology is sometimes very intimidating and a time consuming for teachers who

try to incorporate technology to their classes. Computers sometimes are old, and sometimes

do not have speed that they need. Finally Mrs. Robinson said that as soon as students

understand other academic classes, the technology gap would decrease. She said that

students spend too much time playing in the computer instead of being learning something

new or using educative software.

I added three more questions to my interview with the teacher. I asked her if

teachers have any criteria to use for software selection. She said that the first thing to take

into account is the Operating System because as educators we use many different systems

and we need to be sure that programs will run on the computers systems that we will be

using with the students. She continued saying that as teachers we have to be familiar with

the vocabulary of each program first. She said that if the teacher can identify the basic parts

of the application, the chances for success are much greater.

My second question to Mrs. Robinson was: Do teacher have any training to learn

how to use technology? Her answer was YES. She also said that there are many trainings

offered by the school district for teachers. My last question was: As a teacher what
Midterm Project

teaching style or methodology do you like better? She said that there is no one best method

for learning; she said that it all depends on the situation and circumstance.

Part B

Joan Cerruti, the assistant principal of the Grant Sawyer Middle School said in the

interview that the school does have a technology plan. On the technology plan are teachers,

administrators, and support staff. She said that they look at the school goals, and they see

what technology is going to need to meet those goals. The items included in the technology

plan are: money, resources.

Mrs. Cerruti said that the decisions made as to which technology should be

purchased and where they should be placed is a team decision. They sometimes do surveys

to see what teachers need or what teachers want because sometimes they have technology

that they are not really using. The school is requesting more Ipads and more computers labs

to the Clark County If a teacher wants technology in their classroom, they have to apply for

it separately. The administrative said that in Grant Sawyer Middle School they have a

person who takes care of all the technology, but that person is also a teacher; it a person that

knows curriculum. The problem is resolved depending on the importance of the problem.

Mrs. Cerruti affirmed that the school district offers a lot of trainings for teachers in

order to learn how to use technology. At the school they have workshops only for the

teachers of that school. She said that last year they had two trainings to learn how to use

Smart-Boards, and they are going to have one more this year on Smart-Boards too. They
6 Midterm Project

are requesting IPads for specific teachers to use, and those teachers are going to have

trainings offered by the district for that.

At the Grant Sawyer Middle School, they have a committee active in the school.

They make suggestions that the school takes into account. When I asked Mrs. Cerruti if

they had any activity that involve the community with the schools technology, she said,

Yes. Parents can access to the website and see what programs their children are using at

school. Parent Link is the best way the school communicates with the parents.

According to Joan Cerruti, the best feature related to technology teaching at Grant

Sawyer Middle School is that the school is open to technology. She said that she has been

in a lot of school where teachers do not feel confortable using technology. She said they are

very good at using technology and are willing to learn new things. There is going to be a

new way of testing that is going to start next year in which students have to feel confortable

being on the computers and teachers have to know strategies to achieve that.

She thinks that there is a digital divide among schools in the school district. She

believes that the Grant Sawyer Middle School has more technology than some of the other

schools because they are a Title I school, so they get extra money that can use for

technology.

To ensure that all the students have an equal opportunity to learn how to use

technology while enrolled at school she said that teachers know how to do that. She also

said that teachers in their lesson plans have to incorporate and ensure use of the technology

for all the students.

Lastly I incorporated 3 more questions to my interview with Joan Cerruti. My first

question was: You said that the school is requesting more Ipads to the district; how many

Ipads do you have right now? She said that they are using right now 44 Ipads. Secondly I
Midterm Project

asked her; how many computer labs they have? She said that right now they have three

computer labs, but they are trying to have one more. My last question to Mrs. Cerruti was;

what do you think education is trying to do by incorporating technology in the classroom?

She answered that by incorporating technology in the classroom they are trying to increase

the learning. But that it is only effective if students use the right software products.

After doing the two interviews, with the teacher and the assistant principal, I could

realize that educative software products can be effective if they are used in the right way.

Technology has the power to make our learning experience unique. Unfortunately,

sometimes students do not know how to take advantage of it. Technology is taking the

control of our world. It has changed everything around us, even our education methods.