TPK vs. TPACK

For me, it was a little hard to distinguish my technological pedagogical knowledge from that knowledge as it is content-specific because I am an elementary education teacher who will be teaching every subject each day. The difference to me is that with a general store of TPK, I will be able to develop a wide range of learning activities for my students that involve technology throughout the school year. I think that both categories of knowledge are particularly important for me, however, because not only will I need to know how children can learn using technology, but I also need to know several of the methods and tools I can use for each subject.

For example, a classroom I recently worked in had a computer projector mounted on the ceiling, which I used often to present online educational videos, demonstrate classwork, and involve the class in interactive science and math games found on the internet. It was useful for many subject areas because of the availability of internet connection in the school. To me, this was an example of general TPK. On the other hand, I also know that the school where I worked had a small collection of AlphaSmart typing machines that teachers could check out to help students write, edit, and save their compositions. The files could then be transferred by USB to a computer connected to a printer or print via a wireless connection. These AlphaSmarts were very useful tools for literacy and writing because some of the children who had poor spelling or handwriting were able to stay caught up with their projects. I also noticed that when my students were able to visit the school computer lab to explore online math manipulatives to help them work and solve problems, they remembered the concepts much better than if I had just told them. These were examples of TPACK because I knew how to use the machines and tools to help teach a specific subject.

Video Chatting Experience

Here's the asynchronous video chatting via Tokbox. This one was fine to use, but I think I liked the synchronous chat better because I don't really like leaving people messages and having to wait for them to respond later. Though I can understand why it would be useful in the classroom if we had class penpals or if I wanted my students to leave me video posts about their learning experiences that I could check later.


And here is my Jing video using Google chat with my father-in-law (Ok, not a class member, but it was the best I could do). I really liked using this tool and I think it would be very useful in the classroom when I am making a video presentation of my own or teaching the students how to use something on the computer. It was really fun!

Fun Technology Tools

I learned so much about web tools this last week! The most exciting one I found, though it may or may not prove to be the most useful, was the Jing application. I have always wondered how people make video tutorials with the live screenshots, and now I can see how simple that process will be when I want to teach my students how to do something on the computer. I also loved using Picnik.com to edit pictures for free and save them on my hard drive. I know for sure that I will use Google maps, maybe when I teach social studies units where I want my students to have the experience of making virtual tours or finding directions, etc. I don't think I will use video chat very much with my students because I'm not really big on chat programs anyway, but it is a very useful thing to know. I really liked learning about how to create a class website with all the fun little doo-dads, but I admit to feeling in over my head, so it will take some practice.

The most difficult thing to learn, for me, was the PB works website. I had a hard time figuring out the navigation in order to get back to the pages I created, rather than the default ones they give you to start with. I think I will just have to get used to posting things online and embedding pictures, movies, graphs, etc. so that I can become more comfortable with the process.

RSS Feed Experience

I actually learned a lot about using the RSS feed. Basically, all I knew before was that there was some way to keep up with changes on other sites, and that a lot of site had funny little orange sound icons posted on them.  I had no idea that the two were linked. :)  It's exciting to me because I know of several good educational sites that are regularly updated, but I often miss out on important articles or topics because I don't know when to check.  So learning how to use the RSS feed was really helpful to me.  I subscribed to Scholastic Book and About.Education on my blog so that I would be able to use the new resources or articles to aid in my teaching.

One way I might use the RSS feeds is with educational journals, for my own benefit, or (as with Scholastic Book) to update my class on a new book series they might enjoy.  I could also use it to give me ideas for book talks or read-alouds in the class.

Digital Storytelling Project

The Giant and the Englishman

I tried 6 times uploading it to TeacherTube.com, but when it was all done uploading, it said "Sorry! Errors found!" and wouldn't let me continue.  I made sure my file was small enough, but it still wouldn't work.  Oh well, here it is anyway. (7:49 pm)    --P.S. It's 68 MB in size.

update: 8:08 pm-- still hasn't finished uploading to blog

8:10 pm-- "  "

8:13 pm-- "  "

8:16 pm-- website timed out and stopped uploading.

8:27 pm-- attempt #4 to upload

8:31 pm-- upload complete, now processing...

8:40 pm-- still processing...

8:46 pm--upload finally finished! Yay! :P

Storyboards for Digital Storytelling

Here are my two storyboards for the multimedia project. It's kinda hard to read, but it's a fractured fairytale about the giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk".



My idea for this project is to retell a story based on a small part of Patricia C. Wrede's Searching for Dragons. In her book, she introduces a giant named Dobbilan who plunders and marauds towns not because he enjoys it, but because he believes that's what giants do. He always complains about young men named Jack coming up to his castle to steal his golden eggs. Cimorene, a clever princess and the main character of Wrede's books, then convinces Dobbilan to go into a consulting business for other giants who want to earn a living by pillaging towns. My project is a spin-off of this tale from the view of the giant.

Utah Core Curriculum

Utah 5th Grade Literacy Core Curriculum

Standard 8: Writing
Objective 3: Recognize and use features of narrative an informational text.
b. Compare and contrast elements of different genres: fairy tales, poems, realistic fiction, fantasy, fables, folk tales, tall tales, biographies, historical fiction, science fiction).

Technology Experience

I am generally fairly comfortable with computers and technology. I have been using the internet to chat and check e-mail since I was about 12 years old, and before that I often played games on the computer. I took a typing class in 8th grade which not only taught me to type well, but also taught me basic skills in Microsoft Word and Excel. I felt confident about using these programs to make projects or write papers. I don't remember where I learned how to create PowerPoint presentations, but I do remember being taught explicitly, and then practicing on my own. I have had several friends who were really techy and good with technology and I learned most of what I know about multimedia and computer hardware from them. I know how to install extra RAM and basis hardware components like external hard drives and wireless adapters. As far as other technology, I have a fundamental knowledge of how speakers, audio/video jacks, cameras, and media players work. I consider myself comfortable with most technology but only proficient with a limited amount.