Adrien Richburg

This semester in this teaching technology lab has been a big learning experience for me. My eyes were opened to a bunch of new technology and apps for the first time. I had never even heard of screen casting or iMovie before this class and probably never would have. I knew what blogs were, but this was my first time to ever create one for myself. Learning these new skills this year is really going to benefit me in the future.

Teaching with technology is something that I definitely plan on doing in the future. Technology these days has been made so interactive and that is something I want to incorporate into my classroom. I think that students learn most effectively by doing things actively and working together. Technology brings students together to work towards a common cause and allows them to learn from each other. I plan on having my students do a lot of collaborative labs and group projects using technology to get creative with it.

I also think that using technology will really help disabled students. We had a lab assignment over researching technology that disabled students can use. I think that it is awesome that we are trying to help them become more involved in the classroom and less isolated. The more advanced our technology becomes, the more opportunities these students will have for learning as well.

In 10 years, I think that classrooms may be almost paperless. In my other education class we visited two different high schools. They are already on their way to becoming paperless; they have iPads for almost every student at both schools. They don’t have many textbooks and said that next year they will probably only have one class set. That is just in one year, so  I imagine that in ten years paper will be almost obsolete. You can do all assignments and quizzes and tests online, and they have online textbooks as well. It is insane to me that students in the future, including my own children, may never open a textbook, flip pages, or put a highlighter to work.

I think that this will affect the profession of teaching in a positive way. As we have learned, teaching is always evolving, and this is just another phase in that evolution. Email is how teachers communicate anyways, so getting rid of paper for homework, quizzes and tests will only be a step forward. It also may keep teacher’s desks from getting so messy… 🙂 I also think that this will create more organization in the classroom and also less lost student work.

All in all, technology advancement is happening and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Some teachers may complain about wanting things to stay like they were, but that is not how the world works these days. We have to work through the problems that technology may bring, and use it to improve learning. All I want to do is be an effective teacher and allow my students to be effective learners, and technology will only advance that.

The past few labs for TED 2112 have been a challenge for me. I am pretty caught up with the latest social networking sites, which fooled me into thinking that this lab wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve been in for a rude awakening…

There is so much technology these days that it amazes me. Out of the past few assignments, the ones that amaze me most are the screencasting assignment and the iMovie assignment. I never knew that I had the power to do all these voiceovers on just any computer with internet and java. I can see myself doing screencasts in my future as a teacher. I would be able to show them how to access an online assignment or website and email them the video with my instructions.

For the iMovie, it took me awhile to figure out how to navigate the app and make it do what I wanted it to. However, after the first couple of hours I got the hang of it. iMovie really brought out my creative side and inspired me on a whole bunch of uses for it. I think it would be cool to have my students make a movie as an assignment one day, or I could even use it to make a montage of pictures and videos after a class trip.

The Digital Footprint quiz was also very eye opening. It was crazy to see how many articles there were about me and how many different websites my name was on. It’s weird to know that it’s as easy as just googling somebody’s name to find out a whole bunch of information on them. It makes me want to be even more careful about not only what I post, but even about who I follow or retweet on twitter because that can say a lot about a person too. I also plan on telling my little sister about this, because she is about to go through the recruiting process for volleyball and I know that college coaches look at everything you do online as well.

Incorporating technology into my classroom is going to be a challenge, but it will be a fun challenge. I just have to be open about trying new things, because if it weren’t for this lab I probably would have never known about screencasting or iMovie. However, for our TED 2340 class we visited Midway High School a couple of weeks ago, and I was shocked that every student had their own iPad. We would walk into classrooms and every student would have their iPad out on desk open to an online textbook or some sort of notes that they were taking. There was only one classroom where I saw just one student using a textbook. Technology is getting way more advanced even just in the two years that I have been out of high school, I can’t even imagine what it will be like in another two years while I am in the education program here at Baylor.

I wanted to find a way for my future students to be able to explore and utilize the periodic table more easily. I figured that there must be an app for that (there is an app for eeeeeverything). So I went to the App Store on my iPhone and typed the words “periodic table” into the search bar. QuickElem was the first app to appear, but I wanted to explore before I just settled on that one. I looked at the others and decided that QuickElem was superior. It has different tables color-coordinated depending on different categories. You can also click on the actual element to learn more, including what the Lewis dot structure looks like. I definitely will be keeping this app on my phone to use in my future science classes and when I teach classes of my own.

The past couple of assignments that I did for my secondary teaching technology lab have been very instructional. Both things that I learned seem as if they will be very beneficial in helping me not only get a job, but teach my students well.

The first thing I learned was how to make an Interactive Powerpoint. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work correctly but I finally got the hang of it. These seem like they will be very helpful when reviewing a class before a test. It will be easy to create games such as Jeopardy to keep the class interested.

The second thing I learned about was Assistive Technology. I had no idea that there were so many tools to help assist disabled students. This will really help me if I ever have a blind, deaf, or otherwise disabled student. I now have more knowledge and experience in the technology that they may use. I learned about text enhancers, speech recorders, and other items that will assist my students.

I am so happy to be a part of the education program at Baylor. I learn something new and helpful in every class.

So far this semester I have learned about two new things that I can implement into my future classrooms, and brushed up on my efolio skills.

The first thing I learned about was blogs and wikis. I have heard about these before and even used a blog in a previous class. The wiki part was interesting, because now I know how they really work. When you create a wiki, you can allow others to edit them in order to get more information or to compile as much information as possible. This would be beneficial if my class were preparing for a science experiment or class party. I could make a list of what we needed and what we had, and once a student got the item they could edit the document and put it on the side of what we have. The blogs weren’t new to me, I had used them in my MIS class my freshman year and knew how to work them already. Those would also be cool to use for class science experiments. I could make blog posts each day about the experiment, and for homework have my students comment on it. I could also have them create their own blog site for their own science experiment  require them to explore and comment on their classmate’s blog sites.

The second thing I learned about was Google Drive. The survey that I created was so simple to make! I can definitely see my students doing surveys with these in order to make inferences or collect data for class projects. Google Drive can be implemented in endless ways.

The last thing I did was looked over my efolio and also added some evidence to one of my benchmarks. The efolio is pretty difficult to get started, but once you have it down it’s a breeze. I added evidence to benchmark 2 on how to create a safe classroom environment. I created a diagram on powerpoint to represent the setup of a future classroom of mine, and it came out pretty good. I though I could also use that as a way to set up seating charts. On my efolio I also added my teaching philosophy to make my home page look more professional. I love the way it looks so far and can’t wait to see the finished product in a couple of years. This review of how to upload things to my efolio was definitely needed. It will help me for the rest of the semester in my other class, because I will be completing 8 other benchmarks. A way that I could use an efolio in the future is by creating a class website for students and parents to look at while at home. I could include the syllabus and class schedule, along with office hours and contact info (almost like Blackboard!).

I think these will come in handy big time in my future. My mother is a high school counselor, and while I was at home I taught her how to use the snipping tool that we learned in our Teaching Lab last semester. She was so amazed and has been using it since. Now I’ll be able to introduce her to even more technology, not to mention use it for my own classroom needs!

My name is Adrien Richburg and I am a student athlete at Baylor University. My major is Education with a concentration in Secondary Life Sciences, and I am a member of the volleyball team. My journey to Baylor was a short one. Once I started getting recruited my sophomore year of high school, the first visit I went on was to Baylor University… little did I know it would also be my last! While touring the campus, I couldn’t find a single bad quality about it. It was close to home, but not too close. It was known for providing a great education to its students. Its a relatively small campus for being such a notable school. The athletic facilities were awesome. But most important to me, the Christian atmosphere was one of a kind! I had previously played on a Christian club volleyball team where I really began my walk with Christ. Finding a school that would help me continue on the path that I was on was something that I was not expecting. I knew that coming here I would be surrounded by people that followed Jesus and had the same morals and ambitions that I did. Being that it was my first visit, I was shocked to be offered a scholarship the same day! As much as I wanted to scream “YES YES YES WHERE DO I SIGN”, I knew that I needed to go home and think about it and explore other options. However, three days later after non-stop thoughts about everything green and gold, I called our recruiting coordinator Coach Mark Pryor and committed to Baylor Univeristy.

Two years later, it was time to actually apply and choose a major. I had always wanted to be a high school counselor, following in my mother’s footsteps. My dad is also a teacher and football coach. Instead of following my gut, I decided I didn’t want to be the same thing that my parents were. The major I chose was Exercise Physiology. I knew that I loved to help people accomplish things that they never have, and was excited to become a future cardiac rehabilitator (preventing people that have had heart attacks from having another one by assisting them in their fitness and eating habits). I spent my freshman year and the summer going into my sophomore year with education in the back of my mind. After talking with my parents about it, and most importantly God, I decided to change majors. Switching to Education was one of the best things I have ever done. This past semester we spent time at Cesar Chavez Middle School tutoring seventh graders, and I knew I was where I was meant to be.

Something I am passionate about is getting through to people. I love helping others realize a new concept or idea, and seeing the “Aha!” look on their face is priceless. I have coached many different ages at volleyball camps and clinics and had a job as a swim instructor, teaching children from the ages of 18 months to 12 years how to swim. Teaching is something that is so rewarding to me, even if its just sharing a mnemonic with a friend on how to remember the cranial nerves. After graduation I plan to go back home to the Dallas area and find a high school science teaching job. Hopefully after a few years of teaching I will be able to go back to grad school and get my masters in counseling, fulfilling my career goals (which I am sure will be never ending)!

So far Baylor has taught me so much as a Jesus lover, a student, a teammate, and a friend. I have learned that loving people is what Jesus calls us to do, even when you don’t want to. I am so thankful that God led me Baylor four years ago and allowed me to experience so many amazing things, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me for the next two and a half years!