Craig+M.

toc

My name is Craig Muzzy. I teach Project Child Reading grades 1-3 in New Britain. I work with two other clustermates and one teaches writing, theother teachers math. We have the same students for 3 years, which makes it very easy to modify to the needs of the learners. This is my fifth year teaching and would love to expand my knowledge on technology and see how I can better use it within the classroom.

I have some experience using technology in the classroom and I am very familiar with the majority of social media applications and pages out there.This is my fourth class in the program. I have a great deal of experience using different social media sites, however the lack of technology in New Britain makes it difficult to provide the students with what they need. We did receive a grant for Ipads in the classroom. We use the Ipads to DRA test which has been great and I am able to hear the student recordings once they are finished to analyze what they need while reading and answering questions. I also use the Ipad for progress monitoring and as an intervention tool. We use a computer program in reading called Breakthrough to Literacy but because the students need headphones for the program to be successful, it is difficult because students bite the headphone wires.

My partner is //Kerri Huntley.// My **Twitter** account is @CraigMuz My **Skype** account is: MuzCraig
 * Facebook** link is here: [|Craig Muzzy]
 * LinkedIn** link is here: [|LinkedIn]

=Reflective Essay #2=

After taking Education Studies, I realize more than ever how important technology is in the classroom. I have always viewed technology as an asset to my classroom but through this class, readings, blogs, podcasts, and social media outlets, I have learned how each can best be implemented on a day-to-day basis.

Prior to the class, I thought the only research experience I had was with the Common Formative Assessment and analyzing results/teaching techniques each month. After the class discussions, I recognized that I have more experience with research then I thought. I use the iPad in the classroom as a Tier III intervention and from there, I track student progress and see if the applications work or improve student performance. In addition, I use Breakthrough to Literacy data to see how the student performance is linked to aspects of the computer program. Before taking Education Studies, when I heard the word “research” I thought it meant years of data collection used to prove a point. This class has shown me there are many different forms of research and many ways to improve research studies.

I have learned how efficient certain forms of technology and even social media, which I used to view as strictly for personal use, can be in the classroom. For example, when I first browsed through the Wikispace, I thought it was easy to navigate and just a place to post papers. I now see how much can be done with just the homepage and how it can be used as a great communication tool for students, parents, and teachers. I used to look at Twitter as a site to post random thoughts and reach out to celebrities. I now see it as a tool to reach authors or other educators in a quick and easy way. Skype is another website I viewed as a way to communicate with my friends. I now see how I can use it as a tool to communicate with authors or practice different skills in class that my students will need in the real world. From social communication with students, informing parents, blogs about various topics, virtual field trips, and social media, I see many more ways technology can be used as a tool in the classroom.

A few months ago, I would look only at the results of case studies. I would not pay attention to the study groups, process, hypothesis, or materials. I would simply look at the results and see how the study went. However, I now recognize I need to look at the entire study, not just one aspect because results can be skewed, I can use portions of a study in my own classroom, and many studies provide feedback on what could be done differently.

As an educator and technology major, I need to be more proactive within the school and district when it comes to integrating the use of technology. I can no longer fall back on the excuse that the district blocks websites. It’s simple to say, “The website is blocked,” or “the filter is up,” but this allows me to push technology to the side. Students need technology to survive. Papers are not written, tests are now on the computer, and your entire life is on a Timeline via Facebook. I believe that a great deal can be done in my school and district to better integrate technology and I look forward to using the concepts I have learned from this class to help do this.

=Facebook Privacy=

I have a lot of experience using Facebook and other forms of social media. There are times on Facebook when I am shocked at what people post or use as pictures. One prime example would be a marketing company I work for and conduct interviews/review resumes. We have interns apply and usually I will Google their name. I would say 9/10 times they appear on Facebook. Majority of times, the profiles are open to view and have underage drinking pictures, inappropriate pictures, or rude comments. I am not condoning this, but I am positive they do not know their profile is public. This blog takes you through step by step to update your privacy settings; however, the settings change so often it is hard to keep track of what was done. After reading this, I had to go back into my Facebook and ensure my settings are up to date. The blog shows how every aspect from "Education" to a simple status post can be seen by your friends only or by everyone, just with the click of a button. Each aspect of your profile can be modified for friends to view o r to make it public. Facebook settings have been coming "public" automatically. After reading this blog, it is scary to think how much information is public displayed.

=Podcast Assignment=

I chose to listen to the TeacherCast Podcast with Jeffrey Bradbury. I have listened to him before and enjoy his sense of humor. He is not cut and dry and engages his guests/discussions. The Podcast is set up like a roundtable discussion. In this particular episode, teachers were calling in and discussing their growing pains with technology in the classroom. One teacher from Vermont were using the iPads in the classroom. He said they felt like they were in a "fishbowl" because they were using the iPads. This discussion also focused on the advantages of having AppleTV in the classroom. I enjoyed the discussion because these were actual educators in the classroom. I also liked how Jeffrey played devils advocate and asked about the wireless network and students using the network or using the remote on the AppleTV to disrupt the classroom environment. I did learn AppleTV has many advantages for the classroom and for personal use. The cords are limited, the load times are reduced, the screen/television is clear, and applications run smooth with the transition. The applications on the AppleTV and iPads help students one-to-one and change long term plans. A few educators using iPads and AppleTV are discussing how they may not need SMART Boards because of these two. I really liked how they discussed concerns and did not just plug how great the iPads or AppleTV is.

=Skype Discussion=

1. The assignment took the environment and culture into account. The students did not have the money to travel and were only interviewing their close friends or relatives. The use of Skype allowed students to learn through technology, use the Internet in a safe environment, gain experience, and save money. It is much easier for a business,school, official, or administrator to take a chance on a Skype interview over one in person. It's much more convenient for both people involved.

2. I figured the results would prove that student interviews improved through the use of Skype. I feel overall, it was a great study and can used as a need for funding for more technology.

3. I would find someone unkown to the students to come in face to face and conduct an interview prior to Skype and after Skype. Not all interviews will be conducted through the use of Skype so the face to face interaction is important as well. If students really grasped the concept and learned through Skype, they would be able to carry over what they have learned though another interview.

4. Having students believe in themselves, obtain interviews, gain experience, and see success helps build their self-efficacy. This gives students the confidence to go on any interview and believe they can do well. Also without this confidence or belief, students would be scared, nervous, and shy on interviews.

5. Skype is great because it is free. Students can create videos on the computer without having access to the internet, play back in front of the class and analyze. YouTube is a great video site and also free, but can be distracting because it can be easy to go off track. Webcams are now coming on computers, depending how new the computer is. Even some of the older webcamsare inexpensive because they are considered outdated if they are not built in. Even without Skype, students can interview each other. It's hard to interview a peer and they would see the interview from both perspectives. =YouTube Research=

media type="custom" key="19379922"

I found this video interesting. I am researching tablets and this video discusses why iPads should not be used in the classroom. I enjoy looking at the other perspective and what can be considered negative aspects of having iPads in the room. It brings up some valid points such as some websites not being accessible, lack of storage, unable to hook up drives, and others.

media type="custom" key="19379960"

This video shows how the use of iPads are enhancing the learning in a South African classroom. I would have liked to see more solid statistics on how exactly student performance was being affected, however it gave a nice overview of the use and displayed student engagement.

media type="custom" key="19379984"

This video gave the ten reasons why technology should be used in the classroom. Most of the reasons I already knew and agreed with. You can reach different students using technology, keep them engaged, eliminate discipline problems, makes life easier for teachers, save money (in some cases), and professional development. See this from Bill Gates' perspective.

My only issue with Youtube, is that anyone can make a Youtube video. I spent a lot of time clicking on a video and having it be blank or ads.

=**Reflective Essay #1**=
 * June 7, 2012**

My thoughts about research have changed greatly over the course of my life, but I can classify them into two distinct sections. First was my point of view on research as a young student and, later on, came my point of view as an adult and educator.

As a young student I remember using research for reports and book projects. I never knew why I had to look up facts about people I never met, but I did it to achieve a good grade. As I progressed into high school, I continued to feel the same way when I received assignments that required research Some teachers made research more fun then others For example, in my 10th grade History class I had to research a famous person in history and what he wore during that time period and then got to dress up like him.

Now that I am an educator, my outlook on research is much different I use research in the classroom to expand my knowledge and meet the needs of my learners In my mind, research is using facts or data and applying it to a study, which generates results.For example, I look at the DRA2 scores (which tells me a student’s background knowledge in Reading) and use this information to modify my instruction. I also just completed an action research project. I worked with a team and we analyzed the Common Formative Assessments to focus on summarizing and connections. From there, we looked to see growth in the individual students' DRA test.

By the end of Education Studies, I want to know what works and what does not work in the classroom I want to take what others have done and done well and apply it to my classroom in the future Obviously, it will have to be modified depending on the study, age, and learning level, however I want to expand my knowledge of what will help my students learn and what will not.

I also want to see how I can integrate more technology in the classroom with limited resources. We have one SMART Board and my math partner has an additional one in her classroom. I would like to see how I can use this because students need to be introduced to technology. I have used my teacher computer and YouTube to show my students additional videos on the Titanic. We read a few books on the Titanic and they were more engaged once I showed them the few videos. The problem is that most websites are blocked because of the internet policy.

=**Facebook/LinkedIn Research**=

On LinkedIn, we focused our attention to SMART Boards and using manipulatives on the SMART Boards to teach. How will this affect the students? Will it help students become more engaged? We found a blog from Dana DeFever out of Lake Fenton, Michigan, who wrote about a school with 16 classrooms and 16 SMART Boards. She wrote that the classrooms were using these in "innovative" ways. We found her on LinkedIn and asked her to share more in depth how they were using them. On Facebook, we researched use of the SMART Board in the classroom, hoping to find a group to join of educators sharing SMART Board tips, but managed to find "I love it when the teacher cannot figure out the SMART Board." We did manage to find the following link to great tips and articles on SMART Board use and can be found here: [|SMART Board] We "liked" Smart Technologies on Facebook. This is a group linking us with the company from the website. Also there are over 18,000 "likes" to the page connecting us with those users as well. There are surprisingly a lot of different groups on Facebook aimed at the SMART Board making fun of teachers not being able to use it, some people wishing they had SMART Boards in the class, etc. The link we found from Facebook took us to a great SMART Board site with different activities and lessons for teachers to use. The only problem is getting a SMART Board in the classroom. We also had some success on Facebook linking up to Pinterest. There were many different ideas on the site for using the SMART Board in the classroom.

We were also able to find links from Facebook or names of blogs through different groups on Facebook and find these individuals on LinkedIn. James Hollis has a blog entitled "Teachers Love SMART Boards." In his blog, he gives different games to play with students using the SMART Board, tips on how to use them, tutorials on the SMART Board, and reviews. It was interesting and on his blog was his Facebook and LinkedIn information. We reached out to him and have yet to hear back from him. His last blog post was June 5th, 2012. We found it interesting to be able to reach out to these individuals on LinkedIn and connect with them. LinkedIn is more difficult than Facebook to connect with individuals you do not know because many people put a privacy block on their name. Also, there are no groups to join or comments to make on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is much more professional and used to connect with business professionals.

= = to do it ||= Haven't done it ||
 * <  ||= Have done it, can do it ||= Learned it but need help
 * < Engaged in educational research. ||= x ||=  ||=   ||
 * < Used an interactive whiteboard. ||= x ||=  ||=   ||
 * < Disabled Java in a browser. ||=  ||= x ||=   ||
 * < Emptied a browser cache. ||=  ||= x ||=   ||
 * < Recorded audio on a computer and edited it. ||=  ||= x ||=   ||