MTT Showcase

Our first ever MTT student showcase last December 5th was a huge success! I'm actually happy that we had a chance to showcase the hard work we did during the MTT program. I am really pleased with the outcome of visitors and also commend my colleagues on the great work each one of them did.

The refreshments were good and added a special something to those who came and supported us in this endeavor. Each person did their job well and in this showcase we have proved that the MTT course is a course where you will really apply all you've learned.

After this successful showcase, we can now make this a tradition for all the other MTT students to come.

The MTT program is one of the best I have ever taken at SMU. We were able to learn practical things that applied to each of our classroom/school settings and the showcase we just had has proven that.

Poster Boards for MTT Showcase

We had our first ever MTT student showcase last December 5th and it was a huge success! I think what made our showcase special was the fact we worked together as a team and came up with the idea to create poster boards showcasing what we learned throughout the MTT program. It was created on PowerPoint and then printed large enough to display on our respective tables. As the showcase went on, I can see that people were actually stopping at each table and reading the poster boards. The boards were a real help especially when we were talking to an individual and others wanted information on the various projects and researches we did, they could just read the poster board to get the information they needed.

I think the poster boards should be a staple in the MTT showcases to come because they were a huge success.

Reflection of the Master Technology Teacher course by a Montessorian

When I took the first MTT class, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I have to admit that I thought we were going to concentrate on computer science coursework or technology that was really difficult to manipulate. After the first meeting I realized that we were going to learn how to incorporate technology into our school/classroom environment. The first class was an Introduction to teaching and learning with technology. I learned all the basics of technology and how I can use technology in my environment. My situation is different because I work in a Montessori school. In Montessori it is rare to use technology but I have come to appreciate it and use it to the advantage of my students. I also learned about Assistive Technology and will never forget how important technology is to students who need it in the classroom.

In the second class, we learned to manipulate Multimedia. At the time it seemed as if this class was hard because we had to produce a lot of Multimedia for projects but as I look back, I am grateful to have had this class. I learned to create movies, audio and a website. I discovered SoftChalk and I absolutely love it! I made a movie from Windows Movie Maker and I am happy that we use this footage during open house at our school. I also created a brochure using Microsoft Word on the importance of Pre-school and now we use this brochure to give to new parents inquiring about our Montessori school.

The third class dealt with Instructional Assessment using technology. In Montessori we are big on Portfolios but as this class continued on I understood the impact of technology on assessment. Our assessment was always written and collated. Now, I have the knowledge to use technology to create digital portfolios which is really helpful. Assessment and technology can go hand in hand brilliantly and now I am incorporating technology into creating my student’s portfolios.

I am now taking the final class, which deals with Professional development. I created a Professional Development Plan to impart my knowledge on the incorporation of technology into the Montessori environment. I am hoping my colleagues come away with the knowledge of the importance and impact of technology in Montessori. In this class we were also asked to be a mentor to someone. I have never mentored anyone in my life so I was quite nervous about this but my colleague was very patient and understanding and she let me “teach” her what I know about Microsoft Word and creating language cards on this program. I’ve also noticed that ever since my colleagues knew I was taking a course on technology that they would ask my help on things “technological” and they have been and it’s been fun sharing my ideas and knowledge on how to integrate technology with the Montessori curriculum.

Before I started the course I was a Montessori Teacher. Now I’m an MTT: Montessori Technology Teacher!

Lily's language cards done on Mircosoft Word

My colleague made these all by herself after I mentored her for 3 days. She is a fast learner and I am proud of her!

Lily's attestation for me as her mentor

Dear Diana,

I just want to let you know what a great job you did as my mentor. I certainly learned a lot from you especially on creating language cards on Microsoft Word and the importance of integrating technology into the Montessori curriculum. To be honest, at first I didn't believe technology really fit in to the Montessori curriculum but after you told me about your technology class and the neat things you are doing with computers and Montessori work, I just had to try for myself but of course I had no clue what I was to do.

Nevertheless, I'm really glad you asked to mentor me because I was going to ask you to help me anyway! And I want you to know that if I ever have trouble or am in need of anything technology-related, you’ll be the person I turn to. Thank you again for the hard work you put into teaching a “technology-challenged” person such as myself. You make a wonderful mentor. Good luck with the rest of your class and let me know how it goes.

Sincerely,
Lily

Mentoring Lily: Day 3

I was not able to meet with Lily yesterday because she had to take the day off from work. I called her yesterday evening to remind her to bring her laptop so we can finish working on her Montessori language cards.

This time we decided to meet after work at the local library. We had our laptops and I told her I would watch as she demonstrated what I taught her so far. I was pleasantly surprised to know that she had already gone and made language cards herself at home. I even jokingly said that she didn't need to be mentored in using Microsoft Word. Since she basically learned quickly how to format her cards, I asked her if she needed mentoring in anything else. She told me that she wanted to create an "online journal" and I said, "Oh, so you want to write a blog?" Then she says, "Blob? I didn't say anything about a blob?!" I've never laughed so hard in my life! "No, I said Blog!" and emphasized the g. Then she said, "Is that what it's called?" I said yes. So I directed her to the Blogger.com website and I walked her through opening an account. Once she named her blog, I showed her how to create a post and how to edit her posts as well as publish them.

Once we were through she thanked me and decided to post her first blog. Overall, I think this experience showed me (in my case) that it's easy to work with adults who have some exposure to technology. If I mentored someone who otherwise had "no clue", I suppose it would be harder. Now the final thing is to ask Lily to create an attestation for me on how I did as her mentor!

Mentoring Lily: Day 2

Today was my second mentoring day. We met at the break room with our laptops and I showed Lily how to format the words she typed. Basically, we are creating Montessori language cards so I walked her through the process of choosing clip art and formatting them to the size she wants. I was particularly happy with our session today because instead of a session where I just "show" her what she needed to do and do everything myself with her watching, she actually told me to "walk" her through it so that she won't forget how to do it in case she wants to try at home.

I scheduled another mentoring session tomorrow on what she needs to do to add text or symbols to her language cards. So until then...

Mentoring Lily: Day 1

Today was the first day I mentored my colleague, Lily on how to use Microsoft Word to develop Language lessons in Montessori. She and I brought our laptops to work and decided to devote 30 minutes of our lunch break to this mentoring program. I'm glad we were finally able to do this. Last week I asked her what kind of operating program she used. She didn't understand at first and said, "Huh?" so I explained to her that since I use a MacBook, I use an Apple OS called Leopard and I assumed she understood when I told her I have a MacBook because she said she has an HP laptop so I explained to her that she has the OS that most people use and that's Windows.

Since I found out this vital information, I decided to borrow my sister's laptop which is a Dell and uses the same OS so that we both won't get lost when I'm trying to show her where to go and what to do. Anyway, we sat side by side and had our laptops open. Then I asked her to open Microsoft Word on her laptop. Needless to say, she found it and opened it. Then she proceeded to tell me how confusing it was for her to use the new Word 2007 version. She said she didn't know how to find her saved documents and print them so I proceeded to show her the different buttons on Software and briefly explained each function. I tried to make it as simple as possible for her. After going through the basics of explaining each function of the different drop-down menus of Word I noticed our time was up and so I told her that we would continue tomorrow since we only had 30 more minutes of our 1 hour break to eat. She seemed eager and said she looked forward to our meeting again tomorrow.

Overall, I'd say our first mentor meeting was a success!

Identifying Sources of Ideas for Education and Training Programs Exercise 6.1

1. The current training program I have planned is how the Montessori teachers in my environment can incorporate technology into the curriculum.

2. One of my main sources would have to be the MTT classes I've taken. Because the courses helped me formulate my ideas for integrating technology into the Montessori curriculum.

3. Sources I used first are the hands-on materials I created in my Multimedia class. Second, is the lectures and books. I also used a Montessori Life magazine and discovered that technology is being used in some Montessori environments.

A mentor is...

Throughout my 6 years as a Montessori teacher, there is one person I look up to as a mentor and that person was my "supervising" teacher, Suzanne. Suzanne was the one teacher who taught me everything I needed to know about being a good and efficient Montessori teacher. After I finished my Montessori training, I had to undergo one year of interning under an experienced Montessori teacher. At the time I was living in Northern Virginia with my aunt and uncle. I searched on the internet for Montessori schools near my aunt's house and I emailed Directors looking for someone to become my supervising teacher.

The school that accepted me as an intern was a prominent Montessori school that had about 4 other branches in Northern Virginia. I did not get to choose who would be my supervising teacher but I was assigned the teacher who had been there the longest, Suzanne. She had been a Montessori teacher for a long time. Looking back, I'm so glad she became my supervising teacher.

I consider Suzanne my mentor because of all the valuable information she taught me as I was going through my internship but most of all I consider her my mentor because of her patience, understanding and kindness. Never once did Suzanne criticize me for the mistakes I made as an interning teacher. She always encouraged me and lovingly showed me the "Montessori" way. I guess in a way I also consider her my "second" mother. I will always remember Suzanne because of the advice she gave me as I was about to start my first year of teaching and that was to always respect the child and allow the child to grow into his/her individual self.

Professional development and my opinion

I think it is very important, especially for educators to participate in professional development. If a class or session is being offered by your workplace, it should be taken advantage of. Professional development helps educators expand their horizons in education. It gives us valuable information in developing good educational practices and also new trends in education.

Where I'm working this year, our Director is now implementing professional development classes. For example, we are reading Montessori's books to refresh our memory about the Montessori philosophy. Every Friday we have a book club "meeting" to discuss about certain chapters we've read and then discuss how we can apply this to our current teaching practices. I am thrilled that finally the teachers in our school our getting together to participate in professional development.

Last semester, I mentioned to my Director about presenting a Professional development session on integrating technology in the Montessori classroom. I am eager to do this and this course will allow me to present what I've learned in previous MTT classes.

Multimedia Design and Development

Taking this course this semester has brought me to new horizons with technology. At first I was just an "Internet-surfer" and Facebook addict. I never really knew anything about multimedia much less creating it. Now I can be proud of myself for learning how to use Windows Movie Maker, Garageband, Audacity, Powerpoint w/audio, and SoftChalk. I also now have a blog which I never thought of doing before and have learned a lot of ways to do web-authoring and audio-video editing.

This course has also made the importance and benefits of incorporating multimedia in the classroom clear to me. I am thankful that I now have the knowledge needed to incorporate multimedia into my class. The only problem now is the funding and approval to acquire it.

Even though we had to produce a lot of projects, I learned a lot through trial and error. Overall, I really enjoyed this course. I'm looking forward to the next course this summer.

SoftChalk...one of the greatest web authoring tools ever created!

After receiving an email from Dr. Smolka about using SoftChalk to create our Multimedia component I got curious. The name itself got me thinking, what the heck is a "soft-chalk"? I guess I didn't think in terms of technology. I get it now. Anyway, this software is one of the best I've ever used this whole semester. I had fun playing around with the free trial that I'm tempted to get it even though it kinda costs an arm... and maybe a leg too but I think, since I'm a student I can get it for $99? Is that correct? Anyway, I created my multimedia component here and I think I did a great job for a first-time user. I actually attended their free Intro to SoftChalk webinar 3 Thursdays ago. It really helped me get familiar with the product.

I enjoyed using this software so much that I told some of my co-teachers about it and one of them downloaded the trial and is excited about it as well. She said she would like to help me try and talk to our director about getting it for the school! I can't wait!

Powerpoint + Audio

I thought I was going to have a hard time creating my podcast assignment. I had the idea that it was supposed to be really elaborate and had to be posted on apple itunes. Anyway, I decided to create a Powerpoint presentation of the gist of my culminating paper. After I created a slideshow, I wondered what to do to upload some audio. As I looked around on the Powerpoint tools I saw that you can insert audio. For a while I thought I can record something from there but instead it was asking me to upload an audio file. So I sat there at my computer and started thinking. Okay, I need to create an audio file to post with my PPT. I started by playing around with Garageband. I even recorded two versions and saved it. Then I tried to upload it and for some reason it didn't want to. I started getting panicky and then remembered Audacity. I had downloaded it and so I used Audacity to record another audio file. Turns out you can save it to a .wav or .mp3 file. Anyway, to make a long story short, I was able to easily add audio to my PPT and therefore created my very first podcast. It's pretty cool!

Classroom of the Future

My vision for the classroom of the future, especially in the Montessori environment involves a lot of technology integration. It is a well-known fact that computers are shaping the face of modern classrooms today. It is amazing to see classrooms incorporating the use of technology into the curriculum. Teachers are becoming more “technologically-savvy” and are discovering new ways to use multimedia to help their students learn. Computers are only a part of what the future of classrooms will look like. Smart boards are becoming popular now in classrooms where their districts can afford to purchase one. In the near future, I can see each classroom having a Smart board as a requirement and not because a district can afford it.
Each student will have their own “school” laptop at each desk as to be able to store work, projects, files and assignments. Their classroom will have their own website and social networking page. Teachers will be able to send assignments through email and in my opinion this will cut down on using a lot of paper copies which will help save the environment. Audio and video conferencing will be available in the future as well so students can interact with other students from around the country or even the world.
Podcasts will be popular especially if a student was absent because of a sickness. Because the lesson was recorded, the student will be able to view a podcast so he/she can catch up with the lesson. This is also great for teachers so that they can review their lesson and see what needs to be modified.
Also, the classroom of the future will be well suited for students with disabilities and because of all the technology integrated into the classroom already, teachers will have no problem modifying lessons for these students.
Some schools already have some form of technology incorporated into their classrooms and we are already seeing a lot of new multimedia being implemented but in the future, there may be no more use for a chalkboard or whiteboard at all.

Cyber Ethics for Kids

Nowadays there are more and more children learning to use the computer every day. Although young children may not realize it, they may be conducting in illegal computer activities. One way to help give young students information about proper computer use is by teaching them “cyber ethics”. Cyber ethics are “rules” children will learn and follow about the proper use of the Internet.
Since computers are widely being used in school, I believe it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach their students about cyber ethics and the do’s and don’ts of proper computer and Internet use. Teachers must be role models in showing the children how to use the Internet without violating the Acceptable Use Policy of the school and Cyberspace rules in general. Teachers can also create a “buddy system” when using the computer and make each pair accountable for one another in the proper and acceptable use of the computer and Internet.
When using the Internet, teachers can show their students’ safe websites to visit and also what to do if they “accidentally” visit a site they’re not supposed to. Students, especially the young ones, must be equipped with the knowledge to know what is acceptable and what isn’t. A good way to teach Cyber Ethics to children is to create scenarios, like the ones on the cybercrime.gov website and have them choose which is the right way to handle the situation. Cyber ethics is the most important rule to teach before children start using the computer in school. Enforcing the rules at the beginning of the school year will help them know what is expected of them when it comes to proper Internet use. Also, revisiting the school’s acceptable use policy as well as cyber ethics regularly will help the students remember the ethical way to use the computer and Internet.
Another way to help teach students good cyber ethics is to involve and inform parents to enforce proper computer use at home. If possible, parents should monitor the sites their children visit and any activities their child wishes to engage in such as downloading, etc. Giving parents information on proper Internet use is also a good way for them to know whether their child is using the Internet properly. When parents are informed about cyber ethics they can reinforce this at home while their children are using the computer at home.
In conclusion, teaching young students about cyber ethics will help reduce cyber crime and help children become aware of acceptable Internet use.

Learning to be more video savvy! (Video Content Essay)

I really enjoy working on our video assignments. Ever since I started using Windows Movie Maker I have become more confident in creating movies and videos. I have so many ideas I would like to use for the school and my classroom. It's funny though that I'm more comfortable using Windows Movie Maker than iMovie, even though I am a Mac (some are PC's) *chuckle*. Well, I guess one reason is because I never really played around with iMovie. I think I'll try and create a video from that software and maybe I can compare and see which is more user-friendly.

I showed my recently completed video content movie to the Director of our school and she loved it! I am so happy because she said, and I quote, "This is very creative and informative, Diana! You've really captured how the Montessori environment is like in our school. I can't wait for our new parents to see this video." Her comment really made my day *smiles*.

We are going to be celebrating an "International Day" at our school next month and my Director assigned me as the "official videographer". I get to videotape the parade and our international dinner as well as the different cultural presentations. I'm really excited to do this as it is the first time we'll have this event documented. I also get to edit and use Movie Maker to create the final "cut".

Anyway, I'm so glad I decided to choose the MTT program as my specialization. I am learning so much "teachnology-wise" and I am able to apply what I'm learning in my school environment.

Video Content

To be quite honest, I thought my video content was lame...at first. When we had the discussion last Saturday about what our content was going to be it surprised me how many of us decided to do a piece for an open house. When I got home, I decided I wanted to do something totally different. I tried to think of some other topics but I just kept coming back to doing a video content for our open house which is coming up. Anyway, I decided to interview one of our lead teachers, Ms. Lily and a couple girls from her class. When I got the video I needed I decided to work on it when I got home that evening.

When I got home I thought to myself, it's a good thing I'm kind of familiar with Windows Movie Maker. When I started editing the video it started looking good. Anyway, I'm really pleased with the outcome of my video content and I'm sure new parents inquiring about the school will appreciate it too!

Animation+Audio= Totally COOL!

I had fun playing around with PowerPoint the other day. I created my Animation assignment on there and I was surprised to know that PowerPoint has a lot of neat stuff you can do to jazz up your slide show. I guess I also had experience working with Animation when I created the movie on Windows Movie Maker for our presentation. I was surprised at how easy it was to use. How user-friendly is dragging and dropping your files onto the storyboard and adding transitions, effects, text, audio and narration? It was all relatively simple and I don't have much experience with multimedia but if someone as "technology-challenged" as I am is able to make a decent quality movie, then anyone can do it! Although I couldn't make up my mind on the different transitions and effects to insert to my movie and my narration was recorded and re-recorded about fifty million times, I was proud of my accomplishment and the fact that I did it all by myself!

Playing around with audio is really simple to do as well. The Audacity program is a great tool to use to record anything you want (except for copyrighted stuff, right?) I also got to playing around with audio when I narrated the timeline on my Movie Maker video.

I like the fact that these programs can be used in the classroom and can be used by the students to create their own multimedia. I'm eager to teach my students how to create their own animations and audio. I bet they'll be super excited because they will able to create their own projects using multimedia.

Montessori at heart

Today we had a meeting with our school director about the Montessori philosophy and the preparation of the teacher. We reflected on our school and classrooms and realized that we were falling out of touch with what Montessori expects from her "guides". We then decided to create a "book club" where we'll read a chapter or two from books about the Montessori method and reflect upon this then meet up once a month to discuss what we've taken away from the chapter.

One thing we forget to do in our every day experiences in our classroom is to stop and focus on the child. Dr. Montessori has always been a follower of the child and always allowed the child to grow to his or her full potential academically and internally. Nowadays teachers are so caught up in altering the child and forcing them to behave or follow rules or learn this and study that. Yes that is a very important concept to learn but coercing the child to do things based on what we as teachers want is not the way Montessori wanted for the children. Letting them explore and learn on their own pace is the way Montessori always wanted for the children.

In my experience I have always tried to follow the philosophy the best way I know how and one of my goals in the future is to be able to find a balance between the Montessori philosophy and what I'm learning in grad school. I believe that being able to incorporate some, if not all, technology in the Montessori environment will benefit the children academically. I hope one day to be able to do this, if not where I'm teaching now, in another Montessori school in the future.

A First!

This is my first post. It's pretty cool that you can now use the web to post a journal or diary entry. Of course before the web people wrote in notebooks and diaries. I have a friend who writes in her diary every single day. I believe we were 13 at the time when she started writing and I can imagine how many diaries and journals she went through! Although her memories and experiences are recorded for all time, that's a lot of writing...and a lot of trees! Anyway, these online journals are neat!