Final Week

Click here to comment on this Voki.
Get a Voki now!

Week 13

This was our last week in the school. I noticed that a lot of technology was available but not being used. It was a little disappointing. The kids all loved it when the technology was used and they would be intrigued with the lesson. I think technology should be used daily and should be used well.

The students in my class were all very proficient in using technology and I think it is sad to deprive them of not being able to use it.

Week 12

We taught our technology rich lesson this week for field. We had a WebQuest all ready to give them and we were ready to go. When we got down to the computer lab we found out that google sites is blocked from their computers. We had to think fast so we went back to the classroom used a laptop and did the WebQuest as a class. It wasn't as effective as a class but it still worked. This taught us a lot. Things will not always work as you expect them to and you need to come up with an alternative plan quickly. Everything ran smoothly for us because we acted quickly and came up with a plan. It worked out fine and the students got the lesson they needed to.

Week 11

This week we were in the schools. There was almost no technology used in the time we were there until Thursday. On Thursday they had computers. A technology teacher came in and brought the lab with her. Each student was able to use their own Mac laptop! There were 35 or 36 laptops so a class would easily have enough for each student. I noticed that the students were definitely told very carefully how to take care of the laptop. Each student hugged the laptop next to them while carrying it to their desk. I wasn't super impressed with what they did on the laptop. From what I noticed it was just a test that they could have done with pencil and paper. I wish they would show the students what a laptop can really do and let them have fun lessons with them instead of just having them take a test and then be done.

There was no video posted for this week!

Week 10

I loved learning how to do a WebQuest. It will be great to use in the classroom. I always love the idea of having the students learning and figuring things out for themselves instead of just handing information over to them. They will remember the information they find for a lot longer than if I just told them the answers to everything.

This weeks video was "We Didn't Start the Fire." It is a quick overview of pop culture. I think it would be really fun to use in a classroom but it was going too fast to teach anything from it. It was cool to see all the different things that happened and what people looked like but I had a hard time keeping up.

Week 9

Get a Voki now!

It only let me use that many words.

Week 8

Well we didn't have class this week and our homework was to print off our grades. So, there is not much to blog about. I suppose I could talk about the PDP. I thought it was interesting to do. It was a whole lot easier than I anticipated. I was kind of shocked by all the things they said we should know how to do to be a teacher... It seemed kind of above and beyond what most teachers know how to do now of days.

I thought this weeks video "Did you know 3.0" was very interesting. It is crazy how advanced we are how fast that advancement will be old news. We will see more technology come out in one day than most of the people that have ever lived ever dreamed about. We live in a very amazing time where we have so many opportunities.

My Beliefs

I think my beliefs I think are pretty apparent in the “Lesson Learned” section. I love technology and think it is a great tool for the classroom and think it would be unwise to not use it at all. I also think it should be used effectively and not abused to the point where you are doing more harm in using it that you would be in not using it. I think with everything with teaching careful planning and practice is the key. If will really help and enhance the lesson then use it. If it will distract and take away then don’t simple as that.

Lessons Learned

I thought all of the videos and websites were very interesting. I loved some of the ideas they gave of how you could implement technology into the classroom. I think it would be stupid to not use all the great technology we have around us in the classroom. We have such great resources and it would be very stupid to think that there is no place for them in the classroom.

My concern would be that it would get carried away and the technology would be abused. I would hate to see a classroom where the teacher thought that videos should teach the students everything. The students would learn much more if they were hands-on and had technology to supplement their learning.

Strenghts and Weaknesses

I scored “apprentice” in most things and “novice” in the remaining. This means to me that I have used a lot of the technology that it talked about but have not yet created anything in them to be a benefit for students, or I have heard of the things talked about and not yet tried them out.

My strengths to me would be that I am able to navigate around all programs and do the basic functions to create something. My weaknesses would be that if I needed to do more than the basic I would need to get help. I am unable to really get the full effect out of the technology.
I think it would be helpful for me to go to a workshop where they give good ideas and hands –on practice of how to use technology effectively in the classroom.
I also would like to attend a workshop where I would learn how to make a cool class website. I like the one we did in class, but it would be fun to create and interactive one where the students could add things they have learned and have it be something they would want to check and look at frequently.

Week 6

We didn't have class this week so...we just worked together as a group to get our audio done. It was pretty easy to get on their and now we just need to clip it and add sound effects and we will be done.

Week 5

I think the hardest part to this project is staying on task and making decisions as a group. The actual making of the project isn't too bad. Everyone has so many good ideas and we have to narrow it down to one. We just want to make the best project we can and it is hard to just go with an idea rather than sitting for hours coming up with more ideas.

I thought the "Did You Know?" was very interesting. It was cool to see how fast things have exploded in recent years. It is also kind of scary to have computers smarter than the human race. I don't think computers should be able to take over the world. We still need the basics or reading and writing and even communication skills. It is so exciting to live in a time that has so much to offer it is also kind of scary.

"A Vision Of Students Today" was kind of funny to me. I think it can say either of two things. They students today are lazy and don't do all their work or that teachers are giving them too much to do that really does not help them in the real life. I thought it was a good video and gives people a lot to think about.

Week 4

This week was an intro to digital storytelling. I liked watching all the educational videos that teachers made. It was really interesting working in groups to create a story board and pictures to go along with it. I think coming up with what was going to happen and when was probably the hardest part. This will be great to use in classroom to have a video say exactly what you want it to say. I could also use it to make a class video and have the students involved.

This weeks video was very effectively done. I thought they did a great job at portraying NASA. I think it would be great in a history lesson when talking about the cold war or even if you wanted to do a little lesson on NASA.

Capitals

This is a really fun game you can play to help with the states and their capitals. Once you are at the website click on "Capital 2" under the capitals section and it will open up a new window. The game is all about knowing which capital goes with which state. A capital is said and you have to click on which state it belongs to. It is a really fun game to test how well you know the capitals. I got stuck playing it for a good half hour. You can track your scores and see how well you have done. It shows you how many you got wrong and what percentage you got.

Timez Attack

This is a fun game where you have to know your multiplication facts to get through a dungeon maze. You have to outsmart the bad guys by knowing your multiplication facts to past them. This is a game you download. So, I would download the game and keep it on the classroom computer, when the students have learned the facts they can take turns playing the game instead of doing math in class. I think it is a really fun game and the students have use knowledge to concur the bad guys. I would probably use this game for the forth and fifth graders. I have noticed being in the schools that none of the students know multiplication anymore so this would be a fun way for them to want to learn them and to practice them.

Week 3

I think this week was a really good week for me as a teacher. It gave me some really good tools for my belt. I think it will be a way for me to make my classroom better and more interactive and exciting.

Interactive Websites: It will be fun to get the students involved in the subject and experiencing things they would otherwise not be able to experience. They will be able to get a firsthand account of things they need to learn. This will also help them to learn better and actually remember.

Teachertube/youtube along with Zamzar: I love implementing videos in the classroom to get the students excited or actually learning something. I have a fear with using them too much or inappropriately. I don’t think they need to be used every day for every subject. I don’t want the students to think that they need it all the time. I also think they should be used just for fun SOMETIMES, however, if you just use them all the time just because they are funny would not be appropriate. School is a place where students learn not where they watch more TV. I do love using them in the classroom I just worry about what could happen.

Week 2

How will these tools help me communicate with my students?
I think these tools will be great to help the students stay involved with the class and it could save class time with all their questions. They could submit their questions online and they could be addressed there as well. They could also use the tools to check on what is going on in the classroom at any point.

How will these tools help me communicate with my students' parents?
The parents will be able to check on what is going on the classroom. They can check on homework assignments and grades. It could keep the parents involved without having to call the teacher all the time! The parents will also be able to ask questions online.

How will these tools help me communicate with my colleagues?
This would be an awesome way to communicate with all the colleagues when not at school. You could use it to send ideas and lesson plans to them.

In which ways might I employ these tools to achieve classroom objectives?
I would use tools to get the students to research things for themselves, these would be great to get them involved in a little classroom community, and I would have so many resources for at my fingertips with information and ideas.

What are the pros and cons of the tools?
The pros would be greater communication outside the classroom, the parents could always know what was going on, the students could check on homework and you could add fun and exciting lessons to the classroom.
The cons would be you would loose the in person communication. I would be worried that the students would forget how to communicate with people.


Videos

Mr. Deuy Fractions
I think this video would be very useful to help students get excited about fractions. If you teach them how to fractions and then show the video they would have an easier time remembering how to do each time. They would be eager to learn and excited about what they have learned.

The Web 2.0 video was a huge overview of how to communicate on the internet. I thought it was a little fast but it was cool to see all the different sites that I never knew about.

My Ideal Classroom

My ideal classroom would be bright and open. There would be no desks because we would always be needing the space. If the students need to write they could use their clipboards. The students would be eager to learn and the parents would be involved to a certain extent and would be very trusting of me as their child's teacher. My colleagues would love to share ideas and always willing to help and work as a team.

I would always be changing my techniques to keep the class fun and interesting. I would never lecture. I would bring all sorts of technology (i.e. computers, cameras, PowerPoint, projectors, etc) in the classroom to make it more fun and interesting. I would teach math, science, history, health, P.E., social interactions, and English. I don't think it is as much about what you teach but more how you teach. Everyone needs to learn the normal things I would just like to make them interesting and fun to help the students realize that learning is fun and that knowledge should be cherished.

Our class goal would be to learn to love learning. We would always have a goal to learn something and have fun while doing it. We would have a goal to learn together and not leave anyone behind.