Tool of Choice

What? So this week we started on our final exam. We were asked to make a flyer, brochure, and a newsletter for our "Water's Elementary class." The flyer will be announcement of some kind to be given to our students and their parents. The brochure is also announcement or a advertisement, if you will, of an up coming activity. Finally the newspaper can be a monthly, weekly letter sent to the parents so that they will not what is going on in your classroom.

So What? This something we will have to do as teachers. We will need to keep our student's parents informed, while keeping our classroom upbeat and exciting. I think this is a great idea to practice this now and use all the of the tools technology has given us. I can also use these skills in other aspects of my life such as, making a flyer for a cause I want to support. If we use the tools to create items such as these we will be able to make our students and their parents more involved and altogether make our school environment better.

Now What? Now that I have started this assignment I have found so many great tools to make it look great! I am so excited to have these technologies at my disposal. Not only will it benefit me but it will make my students more aware and excited to be involved at school and in my classroom. I want to be so organized that I can make up a newsletter to show my student's parents how professional I am and how serious I am taking their child's education. I can also uses these tools to have my students get involved in a cause. They can make flyers and pass them out and learn to be passionate about something important. As a department, newsletters can keep everyone aware of what is going on and as teachers we can collaborate our efforts to make our school the best. I want to keep making things exciting for my students. I want them to like school and like learning. I know how important a good start in education can give you. If you teach your students to like learning and that school is important they will succeed all throughout their schooling and lives.

Video Reflection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2iLAI0gUW0
This is a classic School House Rock video. I loved these as an early student. They teach you all about the English language. I think this was because the songs were catching and fun to watch and then it unwittingly helped you remember something. These songs have stuck with me even now. It would be great to create something like this so that my students could understand and really remember something. I know that these tools and technology can help me to achieve this goal.

Reflection

What? Alright so this week we had thanksgiving break. Of course this time of year gets you to thinking about what you are thankful for. This year I can say for certain I am thankful for the effect technology can have on the classroom. I am thankful for this class and the knowledge it has given me so that when I become a teacher I can make a difference.

So what? As a teacher I want to be someone my students will learn and grow from. I want to be someone my colleagues will look to. I want to be someone the parents of my students admire. I am going to pull all my resources together and do everything I can to make my students understand. Technology is something that students can now relate to because they are growing up in a technologically friendly world. They say that a student learns best when they can see, hear, and interact with the subject given. I know I can use the technologies I have learned in class to do that.

Now what? So for example, when I teach my future students about washing their hands I can show them how step to step through a vidcast. Or what better to learn something than to teach something. So I can have a group of students teach the class to understand something by making a PowerPoint. When my colleagues see how technologically advanced my class is they can take points and find a better way to teach their students. I want to change lives and make my students want to better themselves and be someone incredible when they grow up. I know I can only do this if I use all the resources available to me.

Video Reflection: http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=24266&title=Mr_Duey___Fractions_Official_Video

I think this video is great because it show us teacher how we can really get our students to understand fractions. You can apply this to any subject and just make a video using a vidcast. I can tell that this teacher really cares about his students because he is going above and beyond to make sure his students understand about fractions.

Web 2.0 Technologies

What? alright so this week we did not have class so it's time to take a breather and reflect. We were asked to talk about Web 2.0 Technologies. So what are Web 2.0 Technologies you might ask? Well those are just the tools we have been learning about all semester. For example google docs, PowerPoint, podcasts and vidcasts, Picassa, and many more technologies we use in the classroom today.

So What? well as a student I like that I am learning how to use the tools to expand my knowledge. As a teacher I am just glad that I have many more methods at hand to explain a point so that everyone can understand. I think we are learning these tools so that we can be prepared for the future. I know that now that I have the knowledge of these tools I use them all the time in my classes today. Technology means that we have a simpler, more accessible way to find the answers we seek.

Now What? so it obvious that our world is technologically advanced meaning that we have got to start teaching our student how to move in our world. I think that if we want to find the best way to teach our students we have got to start pulling together all our resources and all our knowledge we have available to us, like technology. As a teacher I can use all of these tools to get my students involved and understanding the assignments. I hope that these tools can make me a better teacher and if nothing else at least I will have an easier, less complicated life.

Video Reflection: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAMLOnSNwzA

PowerPoint

What? Okay so this week we learning all about PowerPoint. We have this book from class that is called 50 PowerPoint Activities, I think the name is pretty self explanatory. The book is really great for giving you ideas on how to teach a certain subject through the use of PowerPoint. So this week we had to make two PowerPoints from the list of activities in the book. We worked as partners and the first one we worked on was a PowerPoint on smoking and the second was on Earth vs Mars.

So What? I think this assignment was mainly to get a feel for PowerPoint because it is great tool to use when teaching. As a student I like PowerPoint because I think I understand what the teacher is trying to explain better because I can see what they are talking about and see the words he is using to explain which is proven to stay in your memory longer when you can actually see the words instead of just hearing them. As a teacher I can keep myself on track using the PowerPoint as a guide. I can explain something to colleague by using charts this tool has to offer.

Now What? I think this tool will be extremely useful for my future students. I have had some my own teachers try to explain something through a PowerPoint and I feel like it was helpful. Although I think some of the teachers would just go off the PowerPoint and not really do any teaching by themselves; it was like they were reading off of a script. I think it would be good to have my own students make a PowerPoint to explain a subject we a learning in class and then teach the class about it. That way they are learning more about it by teaching. I think that if my colleagues are not aware of this excellent tool they will probably see me using it in class and then they can benefit their own students. I really want my students to understand what I am teaching so that I can be a better teacher and if I have to use this tool to achieve that then I will.

Video Reflection: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=2443&title=The_Future_of_Computers

So I really liked this video because it shows you how much the world of technology is changing. I think that as a teacher my students would be really excited to see this video so they can see what the future holds for them. What they will have to use in class, when they research a project, make a PowerPoint, and use other tools. They computers will probably always be apart of our lives but how they work and how we use them will probably always be changing and surprising us.

Podcasts & Vidcasts

What? So this week we learned about Podcasts and Vidcasts. A Podcast is a tool that allows you to hear something through a computer, ipod, etc. A Vidcast is another tool that allows you to see something through a computer, camera, etc. So to show we know how to use these tools we must teach something through the use of a Podcast or a Vidcast.

So What? In class we talked about why a Vidcast or a Podcast might be useful as teachers. We came up with a lot of ideas. Really you could probably use either to teach something but using one on a certain topic might be better than the other. For example, say I want to teach the proper way to crack an egg. It would be easier for a student to see it than listen to it. Another example might be teaching a language might be easier through a Podcast. I know I use podcasts in my language class. I think this technology is extremely useful. If I want to see how something is done I can look it up on youtube.

Now What? As a teacher I can use these tools to better myself and make these easier on my students. For example, say I need to take a sick day but I still want my students to get an assignment done. I can simply make a Podcast which would be faster and easier for me and let my students know what they need to be doing. My students can also use these tools. They can use a vidcast to show me and the class that they understand the concept by creating a video. I never thought about using these simply tools that I use daily to incorporate them into my class. I think by my example my colleagues can see what that is better to teach a students something several different ways so that they can understand it because everybody learns differently. I really want to be the best teacher I can be. I know that I feel I didn't get a good foundation in a lot of subjects like math because they teachers were explaining it in a way I didn't understand. This way I know I get the concept out because they can see it, hear it, do it.

Video Reflection
It was on why should we let our students blog. The video suggested to teach communication, literacy, ownership, sharing, collaboration, discussion, empowerment, interaction, motivation, participation, engagement, excitement, conversation, creativity, reflection, to extend the walls of the classroom, to give students a 'voice' and a 'audience', to students a learning environment that is open 24/7, to give them skills useful for their digital futures. Basically it if we think our students can write to learn, they can blog to learn. To see this video go to: http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=838&title=Why_Let_our_Students_Blog_

Technolgy Articles

Tool #1
Okay so I decided that it would be fun to teach my students about astronomy. I took an astronomy class in college and we used a tool were you could look at the stars even in the day. I found a similar tool on the Hayden Planetarium website. There you can download a tool where it gives you lessons to teach in class depending on what age group. This way your students can explore the digital universe. You can see the positions of the stars anytime of the day, anywhere in the world.
My students can explore the nearby stars, star clusters, nebulae, extrasolar planets, nearby galaxy clusters, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and much more. They can see the night sky as it appears across the spectrum, from radio and infrared, to visible, and even in Gamma rays. This gives the students something they could never see by just going outside at night.
I think is an excellent tool to use in class because it will help my students and your children to fully understand what they are looking at when they look up at the stars at night. The universe can tell us a lot about the world. It teaches us about gravity, position of the world, the seasons of the year, the phases of the moon, and much more. I know that this program is very advanced and it might be too much and too hard to understand. This program is more appropriate for a higher age group but I think even the younger grades can find more understanding with this program.
I think this tool can be used to teach many different subjects like, math, science, even history. We can learn about different ancient cultures like the Greeks and how the stars meant to them. I can teach about mythology and how the Greeks labeled the stars. I think that a lot can be learned by the universe and I hope by the use of this tool my students will learn more as well. I think it is great that technology has given us the tools to teach our students something we would have never been able to do before at least not in this dept.Check out this tool at http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/universe/

Tool #2
This next tool might be a bit controversial, one would say that it was more of a game. I think it is a great way to teach students disguised as a game. It's called the CivWorld. This is a game where you can pick which century you would like to play in. It teaches it's players advanced terminology, knowledge of geography, or even principles of history.
While playing this game it takes students back in time. It plays scenarios in the history depending on which time period you pick. For example say you pick the Dawn of Civilization 4000 B.C-1 A.D. In this scenario you will see and create a stable civilization for them. You will learn about geographic map of this time period, certain civilizations like the Babylonians, Egyptians, Hittites, Medes, Phoenicians, Sumerians, and most importantly how they survived in that time period. How they hunted and farmed.
The greatest part of this game is you are not just watch how something came to be like a movie you are experiencing and what is more you are learning while you do it. There are many more time periods to experience as well. You can play this game with multiple players and you can play it in the comfort of your own home as well as school. Parents can watch their kids play at home and even join in with them to see that their child is learning.
There are a lot of cons to this tool too though. It is very time consuming, to complete a civilization takes 2 hours. It takes up a lot of space on your computer. Although you can try some time periods for free, some do cost money. I haven't been able to tell how factual the game is. It requires no teaching from me, the teacher although you could expound on what was played and make sure they learn actual facts. Another factor is difficulty. This game is probably only suited for an older age group.
I think that a lot could be gained by using this tool every once in a while even it is just to get the students excited about learning history. I know as a kid I learned things a lot better when I could experience things first hand and this gives my students a way to do that. You can fine this tool at http://civworld.gameslearningsociety.org/index.php

Video Reflection
This weeks video was introducing web 2.0, the digit sandbox. What that it does is allow users to collaborate tools together. As a teacher this will be extreme useful because we need as many technological tools as we can so that the student can understand the concept fully. This video goes through several of this tools like blogging and google. They believe that because technology is what is today that more difficult and powerful questions are being asked so we need to collaborate our efforts to answer them. See this video at http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11669

Videos

What? This week we viewed you tube, a website where you can see videos made from anyone or were copied from it's original destination. We were then told to find an education video and place it on our blog. How might you ask does one do that exactly? Well there is a great website called zamzar. This website allows you to take videos from places like you tube and convert them to another file so that you might be able to place them anywhere you would like, like your blog for example.

So What? You tube is a great way to teach your students. Kids can watch video from a familiar, interesting source, therefore being more interested in what they are watching. Teachers can also make their own videos and even use their students in them. Parents can then watch the same videos on my class website. Students can create mashups, a combination of several videos, to demonstrate a point. I now feel comfortable that I could make a video and use it for another one of my classes today.

Now What? This piece of technology will be great for my future students. I like this class because it shows me all the new ways that I can influence my students through technology. Lets face this is the new age of technology and if you want to get through to your students you have to use means they are interested. Before this assignment I never thought about using you tube in the classroom but this way my student can not only hear and read about a subject they can watch about it. It is just using more ways to get through to my students. I could set up an assignment where the students need to make a mashup for a certain subject. This way I will know that they are truly learning about the subject. I think using this source of technology will make me a better teacher because I am using a fun and unique way to teach them and get them involved. I also think my colleagues will be able to see what I am doing to teach my students and they will get ideas from me. I really want to be the best teacher I can be and if that means learning to find a way to connect with my students I will do it. I definitely think that using you tube is the way to do that.

Picasa!

What? This week we worked with a program called Picasa. It allows you to put imagines in album from your digital camera. You can then enhance these imagines however you like, from cropping them to changing the colors to black and white. No worries about losing your original photo, Picasa keeps all of them in case you make a mistake. You then can take these imagines and send them straight to your blog or get the url and send them somewhere, like my uen website.
So What? I think this program would be very useful as a teacher. You can use this program as a tool when using the many ideas we learned of last week when were learning how to use a digital camera in the classroom. This is another great way to allow the kids to show their creativity. As a teacher I could use this program to include some pictures in a powerpoint I am using to explain an idea.



Now What? I can definitely see myself using this program in the future. I think it is important for students to learn how to work with photography because not only do they learn how to express their creativity but it also marks down their own history. I hope to be the kind of teacher that will teach my students things they can use in the future. One assignment I could assign to my students is have them take a picture of themselves and then have them enhance the photo by erasing everything but their head and then having them create a body of the person they want to be when they grow up. For example it could be a body of a person in scrubs who is a doctor. This way the students can express themselves and think about what they would like to be in the future. I also think if I learn more about these applications and become more computer savvy I will become a better colleague.
I know that I can become a better teacher if I can make them understand by using something familiar to them. We are living in a technological world as this is something my students can relate and understand and therefore better understand the concept I am trying to teach.

Digital Cameras

This week we learned all about the great uses digital cameras have in the classroom. When kids are aloud to use digital cameras in class they get to express their creativity. It also helps them to remember lessons that they took part in. It's an easy way to document experiences they have in class. They can also show learning experiences they learn outside of class. As teachers we can also use digital cameras to teach a lesson. For example, this week we made power point slide shows. We took several pictures to show and teach about the food pyramid.

I never really thought about using a camera in the classroom but this assignment got me thinking about all the get uses. This gives a personal touch to teaching. It also gives the kids a way to teach themselves. They can take pictures of things that interest them and that they, personally want to learn about.

Once kids learn how to take advantages of using digital cameras they can see how learning can apply in the real world. Now I can teach my students for example, about the food pyramid, then ask them to go home and take one picture of food from each group in the food pyramid. That they I can see and know that the children understand what they are learning about. They can also keep this knowledge for years to come so they never forget it. They can learn how they can record their own history.

This weeks video blog was a mashup, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tprMEs-zfQA.
What a mashup is, is a combination of several video clips, songs, etc. This idea is a great one for the use of our classroom. You have the kids make a mashup explaining an idea. That way they will see several examples of this idea and they will learn how to work with technology. In this day and age it is important that kids learn how to work and include technology in their lives.

Internet Safety

6 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Time You Visit a Website

Who wrote the page? Are the an expert in the field?
What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
When was the site created and when was it last updated?
Where does the information come from?
Why is the information useful for my purpose?
Is there a sponsoring organization? If so, is there a link to their page?
Is the information given opinion or factual?
Can you contact the author for more information?

Reflection

The internet can be a useful tool for us as educators to get and give information to our students. We can explain a question in a way that the students can understand visually, hands on, and listening all at once. The internet can give us real time data. We can learn current weather conditions, geographic awareness, and learn about the earth in a tangible way they can see and understand. We can gather information that might not be available to us otherwise. We can get original sources, journals that everyone can see. There is the simulation the internet can give us. We could go up in space in a virtual tour. We could see stars even when it is daylight and see what the constellations looked like anywhere in the world, thousands of years before hand. If I can not answer a student's question I could use the internet to collaborate teacher's efforts or ask an expert. They could make a friend across the global and learn information about how life is like for them. There are teacher's resources like making quizzes or activities to use in class. As you can see the possibilities are endless when it comes to the internet.

Now you are probably thinking, "Wow, the internet can do no wrong!" Well because the internet is so publicly used and an a easy access to everyone there are many sites that are inappropriate for children and students. Children unaware of the dangers of the internet can give out personal information and meet some unsavory people and websites. So what should we do, put an age-limit on internet? No, we just need to make sure children armed with internet safety before logging on.

Not only do people need to use internet safety while surfing the web, they also have to be aware that the internet is not always accurate. Anyone can post something on the internet so how can you be sure you are getting the right information you need? So when researching a website you need to evaluate and ask certain questions on whether this website in a reliable source. Those questions are listed above.

I hope that we can use the internet often but I want to be able to keep my student safe too. So before we use the interent we are going to spend a day on interent safety. We are going to play my activity, maybe try a few online. I will keep asking my students questions about what is or is not appropriate while using the internet. I will also watch their progress and encourage their parents to keep the computer centrally located in the house so that they can keep and eye on them while at home.

Video reflection:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oui0IcNpvmQ

I liked this video because not only does it show the very real dangers of the internet but it also shows you the appropriate way to handle yourself on the internet. I think it would be even better if it showed that a parent was monitoring the computer. I also think it would be better if the child told the parent their concerns of instant messaging online.

UEN

Isn't great in this day and age that we can rely on technology to help us in the classroom? Teachers now have a great resource they can always turn to, Utah Education Network (UEN). At http://www.uen.org/ you can make a webpage for your students and their parents to see. UEN can also help you as teacher with your class. It gives you the core curriculum and lesson plans for any subject and for any grade.

Setting up a UEN webpage will be very helpful as a teacher. It gives me, my students and their parents access to Pioneer Library, which gives you sources that help you with research, like SIRS. You can also participate in any interactives that will let you and your students go through virtual tours, play learning games, and much more.

Another great feature is I can put upcoming announcements up to keep everyone updated. I can show assignments or lesson plans, so that the parents can see what their child is learning in class. I can list help hints in helping their children with their studies. This website can help me as a teacher give the students and parents and much help and information as possible so that they always feel involved in their child's education.

So I am very excited to use this website as a teacher. I think it will be very helpful in the future. One complaint is that this website is very confusing and it would probably be best to hold a meeting with the parents to show them how to work the website. I still feel like I have a lot to learn as well and I also have lots more work to do to get my webpage up and working. In the end though I feel this website will be a great asset to my career.

Video Reflection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
This video shocked me and it made me realize that we are not preparing our student for the change in technology that literally happens over night. I think this video do a very good job of making people aware of the demands technology plays on us.

More of Everything Google!!

This week was definitely interesting. We were shown more possibilities that gmail has to offer. In google docs they have a presentation feature. In this feature you can make a power point. This is an awesome feature because no matter where you go as long as you can get on the Internet you can find your power point presentation, therefore making it easy access to present in class. This week in class we were assigned to collaborate our efforts to create a presentation regarding 5 rules you would use in your classroom.

Between all crowding around a computer and our busy lives, using google doc's presentation feature was great. It allowed us to all use our own computers. We could also get on anytime to work on or edit the presentation and we could all do it all at once. When we were finished it was a simple matter of sending it to our teacher without all the fuss.

I think this feature will be very useful in the future. When I am a teacher and I need to present something to class I can show it on a power point. I can work on it from home and not worry about it not working the next day in class. I can just open my email and there it is!

Reflection- Everything Google!

This week in class was very eye opening! We worked with gmail documents, calendars, and igoogle. I never knew there was so much to gmail. I usually use my gmail as a basic email. I never explored all the possibilities gmail has to offer. You can use gmail document to write a paper and share it with your friends. Everything is there at your disposal while writing a document so it makes it a lot easier to send than using word processor. We also explored gmail's calendar application. I was very eager to try this because I am not very organized but now my whole life is scheduled out before me. I also set up a igoogle page that we put together in class. Using google has definitely simplified a lot of things for me. I am excited to get my igoogle to the way I want it. I have all the current websites I haunt listed for me. I have my google calendar in sight so I can check on my schedule.

So why is google so important for me to learn, you might ask. It is simply a tool I can use to keep things simple and keep technology in the classroom. I can use the google docs to have my students write papers and send them to me for easy access. I can use google calendar to keep my schedule for my classroom on task. I can also set my calendar so my students or their parents can see what is coming up in the future.

In class we got to watch video on using technology in the classroom today. It was truly astonishing all the uses for technology in the classroom. Most teacher today get frustrated by the use of cell phones in the classroom. The video suggested using the cell phone for pop quizzes. It just seemed to me that what the video was trying to get across is today it is so hard to get your students engaged in what is being taught. So a way to change that is to speak their language, so to speak. Kids today are all about technology (twitter, facebook, myspace, utube, etc.) so why not channel their excitement about technology into a better use? This video really changed my point of view on using technology in the classroom and ideas came to me that I had never thought about. I think it will be harder for me to include all technology has to offer in my classroom just because I hope to be teaching a younger age group but I will definitely try to think of all the ways I can engage my students through technology.

Ideal Classroom Reflection

If I were to dream up the perfect classroom it would start with a school close to home. Once I get to school it will be a beautiful, comfortable school. I would like to teach the second grade. My classroom would be large. You would walk in the room and there would be a reading center to your left. It would have a theme, like the reading hut. It would be a private place where students could use their rewarded free time reading. There would be book shelf full of books. There would be comfortable couches, chairs, or even bean bags and pillows. There could be big fake palm trees that books could hang from. It would be like picking fruit right from the tree. The scenery would be Hawaiian, with a sun and ocean back drop, like you are at an exotic paradise escape, relaxing reading a book. In the center of the room are the desks and they fit in the room nicely, not too crowded. I would like them place in tables of four so that the students can work together. In the front of the room will be a white board and just to the right of that my desk and work place. All along the walls will be examples of students work or bulletin boards of the latest topics we are working on.

My students would be angels of course! I would like to have a specialty like Spanish second language or house some special needs students. They would all be a pleasure to teach. Their parents would be caring but give their children some space. My colleagues would be helpful and nice. All the second grade teachers could work together and maybe just for certain centers or have combined activities. Everyday we would start out with a welcome, get the schedules understood. Then we would move from topic to topic using mostly a hands on technique. My classroom would be very technology friendly. We would have a couple computers for the children's use for free time or research. I would use a projector where you could see what I was doing if I was on the Internet or using a slide or video. I would try to teach basic curriculum with a twist. I would like to use a theme each year and base lessons on the theme. For example everything could be based on a historic event so they could be learning two things at once. I would also like to set up goals with the children at the beginning of the school year and we could all work toward them together. My ultimate goal is to teach the children respect and to have aspirations to be thriving society members because in the end isn't that what we are working towards?