Reflection #17 & Video

Webquests have shown me a whole new way to think outside of the box in regards to finding activitites to get students' engaged in the lessons. By starting your lesson out with a webquest the students will find what's important and memorable and then want to continue learning more about a topic. This is because of discovery learning and how good it feeld to find things on your own. You as a teacher now make it information more meaningful to them and help them apply it to their own lives. If there is a lot of interaction and student participation students' won't ever forget this lesson in the overall unit. This is what happened to me in a lesson about mummification where we mummified chickens and did every process, even a burial. I won't ever forget sixth grade and the things I learned during the unit on Egypt.

Schoolhouse Rock-The Preamble Video
This video wasn't able to load , so I went and found another one with the same title and watched it. It was a song about America and how we started this nation. It used cartoons to tell the story of the founding with the Declaration of Independence, and the importance of the first section the preamble. It is really creative and the music helps keep your attention. I think it would be more memorable to younger grades, but yet it might stay in older students' memories longer also. I think it is a great video.

rt new units so they get more excited .

h out their own answers which is discovery learning and make predictions on there own. Im definetly going to do web quests in my future classroom to sta

Web quests are what we have been finishing up in class and even though they take a lot of work students will get so much out of them . They have to searc

Reflection #14

This was our last week in field and we were sad to leave. I learned a lot about how a technological teacher can have an impact on his students'. We had them create presentations on rocks and all of them decide to do a power point. I was shocked by the things they knew and created they seemed way beyond my level. Also another day they create a comic strip to go with their stories they wrote for parent teacher conferences. They handle mac book laptops better then most adults and it's so cool they get to use them. During the afternoon two times they took quizzes created by there teacher, which were multiple choice. Instead of just calling out the answers they used these remote control clickers to choose the answer and whoever hadn't gone the screen showed everyone. This was a different way of testing that they seemed to like and at the same time they went over test taking strategies. It is because of the teacher that these students' are so exposed to technology and it gives them real life experiences that they will need in the future.

Reflection #13

This week in field experience I had a cool learning experience as we taught a science lesson that was technology rich. The lesson which took two days long, has an evaluation where groups do presentations on a rock of utah. One child in the class is very behind in reading, writing, and speaking since english is his second language. He always needs more accomodations and guidance ,but when it came to researching information online and putting it into a presentation he knew what he was doing. I was amazed and truly realized that technology has its own language that everyone can learn to speak, no matter your ethnicity. We can include technology into more of our future lessons as teachers, so that generations can start early to understand the world around them.

Reflection #12

Why are these tools social tools/networking skills popular with students'?

These tools are popular with students in that they get another way of learning thats outside of the classroom. They get a break from the regular daily schedule and learn by technology. In classroom the students' have clickers that they can all answer to a quiz by pushing buttons. It shows who hasn't answered and what they scores are immediately. Some may like to email back and forth a pen pal or email each other or teacher for other questions,

How will the social tools/networking skills learned help me communicate with my colleagues?

These tools of blogging, email, word documents, and so on are all important skills to help you communicate with your colleagues. When your colleagues all know these skills too you can combine ideas for a good unit coming up or a special lesson plan. You also have to communicate with the technology personnel to sign up for certain times and borrow equipment like a mobile lab. All the teachers' of the same grade level need to cooperate together to see and evaluate past learning and new techniques. By emailing back and forth, teachers' can talk more frequently since its out of school.

Reflection #11 and HP Part 10

How will the communication tools/social networking tools learned help me communicate with my students?

They'll help me see if my students need more help on a certain subject in homework. This way the teacher will know what needs to be taught more explicitly. The students can see what there teacher is like; hobbies,favorite foods, etc. through the classroom home page. The teacher can tell them compliments or improvements that they've made that day in class that they forgot too earlier. Students will be able to see their grades and see what they need to improve on.

In which ways might I employ the communication tools/social networking tools learned so far to achieve classroom objectives?

They could type essays on their mobile laptops and email them to the teacher, so that they know another way of communicating. Students can also see online rubrics that have been posted of what the requirements are in assignments. Can ask teacher questions before school the next day regarding homework or personal issues. Teachers can update the parents with news and upcoming events for the class. For example the times and days parent teacher conference will be held.

HP Part 10

This article is very neat and shows the impact that HP's are making on students everywhere. Scores are going up because they are learning , but more importantly they applying their learning to tasks they need fulfilled. Their are a lot of benefits to HP's and one of them is a mobile classroom. The classroom I'm working in for field experience has this in their school. By being a lower-economic school it really helps the children see the outside world and improve skills. My partner and I are going to take advantage of this and incorporate it into our unit on rocks, minerals,weathering and erosion, and soil.

Reflection #10

What are the pro's and cons of Web Quest?

Get a Voki now!

Reflection #10

Why are Web Quests so popular with my colleagues?

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Reflection#8 and video clip

How will these communication tools/social networking tools help me communicate with my students?

                Engrade will help me communicate with my students by showing them there progress on assignments and tests. It will also help them see what they need to get caught up on,and all of this is accessible in less than three minutes. This way students' can stay on top of their grades and keep pushing forward trying to accomplish goals.

Why are these tools so popular with my students?

                These tools are popular with my students because they can get information fast and easy. They also love getting computer time and being free to handle something by themselves. They can communicate with their teachers back and forth on questions or concerns faster then it would to call or mail a teacher questions. This is a way to check grades without having to go a ask the teachers what score you got. 

Did you Know 3.0

                   This video of up to date statistics and facts about our world is so interesting and impacting. With the world changing so rapidly technology as well as, the population are growing at extreme rates. Technology grows a lot faster then people or thought processes do and that is scary. We need to teach children about technology and it good qualities and benefits, but also need to help others(students in general) learn to think on their own. With this quality students will also be able to process information. Humans need to process information to grow and progress we can't let computers do everything up to this point.

Reflection #9 and surface computing clip

How will WebQuests help me communicate with my students?
They will help me communicate with my students by enabling them to see what I think is important for them to learn. They will also get feedback and help on how to improve their work. The rubric for the wequest will communicate to students what needs to be accomplished, and how they can get full points.

How will WebQuests help me collaborate with my colleagues?
WebQuests will help me collaborate with my colleagues in order to ask them for advice. They could give me ideas and the other grade level teachers could work together to make up a WebQuest. Other grade levels could also help by showing us past WebQuests or computer projects that students liked.

In which ways might I employ WebQuests to achieve classroom objectives?
I can employ WebQuests into my classroom to achieve classroom objectives by picking one on a standard. This standard would be one that is usually hard to find a lot of material for high level thinking. By using a WebQuest the students will use reading, comprehension, logical, and technology skills. This will help them to achieve higher level thinking on this topic and give them more interest in this area. Students that like technology will like this different routine of computer time and they'll think you had their interests in mind.

Surface Computing Clip
This clip was very interesting and full of new technology that will be used in the future. With surface computing being developed, many possibilities arise for a high price. I think that it's a great idea and a faster way of sending and receiving information and pictures. It would be of great use in a classroom setting when that time comes. These surface computing systems will help in reading, art, and technology subject areas.

"My Beliefs"

                 I believe that in the century we live in technology is a part of our lies, and that everyone needs to use it to keep of with the fast paced world. Even though sometimes it might seem another thing to add to curriculum you need to add it in often. It helps students develop communication skills, technology skills, and high level thinking. It provides the classroom with diversity, current learning materials, and at the same time it's interesting. It helps teachers reach different learners and makes learning more meaningful and fun also. With having NET Standards and the UNI surveys shows that this knowledge is very important for teachers especially to know about.

                 The world having this creation of new technology readily available is effecting children of all ages k-12. The Millennial article was interesting in showing the percentage rates of those using or have used a computer at young ages. When these students were questioned they said in the future they would want to see more digital devices, more access to computers and Internet, intelligent tutor/helpers online, and ways to learn and complete school work with technology. I think that it's great that students are dreaming big, but also with everything always being a instant gratification, it isn't healthy. Although its useful and very resourceful their needs to be rules and guidelines set to age groups. They are constantly in another world on the Internet and not in the here and now. Technology needs to be seen as a privilege not a gift.

                        

                           

Lessons Learned

        My thoughts about technology and its use in curriculum are that its very important and children should know how to use it. With technology being such a part of everyday life it's crucial to have basic knowledge of its importance. My concerns about it is that technology and its speed keep becoming more available and faster to locate. With that anything can come whenever anyone wants and is accessible. I was also concerned to hear that students are having a disconnect between personal and school writing and that its a big issue. 

   Things I found interesting are that there is such great tools out their and I had no idea,for example The Ethics game created by the past supreme court justice. Math and reading are the two subjects that would benefit the most from learning technology. From one of the readings it said that a program called, Class Act Portal is a new way to use high speed 3g Internet to create learning that is real, rich, and relevant. In a other article it states that children stay engaged and on task longer when doing technology out of any subject.

"Strengths&Weaknesses"

My strengths in the NET Standards were the first three standards. These demonstrate a good understanding of technology operation and concepts, plan and design of effective learning environments and experiences through technology, and implementing technology into curriculum plans that include methods and strategies. My strengths in the UNI surveys were knowing how to operate a computer and use its different features, files. Also being aware of computers and computing technology in business and society and having observed devices to help special needs children. I also know that there are sources online that are information and useful, and can tell which sites are accurate.

My weaknesses in the UNI survey are the areas of troubleshooting computers, video conferencing, using databases to analyze and produce reports, use of spreadsheets and calculating information, and basic computer terminology. In the NET standards the high skill levels of assessment and evaluation, productivity and professional practice, and social, legal, and human are the areas of weakness. The two goals that I've decided as a beginning teacher are based off of my weaknesses and how I can improve: To learn basic computer terminology, so I can teach students the information and understand questions that arrive. The second goal is to learn how technology can be used to do assessments and evaluation strategies, by applying them to student subject matter. Also knowing a variety of assessment techniques for my own use.

The two online tutorials that I've found to help me improve my weaknesses are first helpwithpcs.com. This site will help further my knowledge of basic computer terminology by giving me proper definitions, and provide examples of them. This site has all the computer terminology from A-Z so it will be a good resource to refer back to. The second tutorial website is http://tie.smartlibrary.org/newinterface/segment.cfm?segment-2277, which is a website that tells you why technology is used to assess and why it is useful. They gives you all the background information and examples you could need. This will help me get a better view of technology uses for assessment for the classroom and students. This will be a great resource for my weakness in this area.

Reflection #6 and movie clip

How'll digital stories help me communicate with my students' parents?
Digital stories will help me communicate with my students' parents by showing them the videos covering the material that will be used that week in class. I'll post this on our class website so that they can review them. This way when students tell there parents about class and how they watch a video they won't wonder what they watched.

In which ways might I employ Digital stories to acheive classroom objectives?
I could have my students work on making a digital story using computer skills that I taught them. You could fulfill the technology standards this way also. I could find past stories on art and its influence on Roman history showing live footage from the sistine chapel. As a teacher, with my colleagues we could make a story on a subject area that doesn't have as much project materials and information to engage the students in. It could help you make the beginning of the unit seem exciting to the students.

Millenial Generation clip
This movie clip was interesting and brought up some really good questions for students to think about. It was good to hear a number of students opinions and remarks for each question. It helps get you thinking of what the future will bring as far as technology and it's exciting. It would be a good clip to show to older students I way think for them to see why its important to have lessons and do work on computers. In the dicussion you could do a similarties and differences of the time now compared to the time their teachers were in middle school.

Reflection #5 and Video clips

In which ways might I employ digital story skills to achieve classroom objectives?

         I could use digital story to achieve objectives by finding videos on the indians and then incorporating them into your unit. This will help the students get a real life example of the time and what happened. Also they will feel of the emotions and strength and the topic will become more important and they'll want to learn more. You could also make one for your class as a instructional video to teach them about a certain process like the parts of a flower or the water cycle and help them connect it to a visual.

How will these digital story skills help me collaborate with my colleagues?

          These skills will help me with my colleagues in that we can be more computer illiterate as a whole. We can finds clips and digital stories and see they have a message we want to be heard. A message that portrays help, completion,  and confidence.

Did you know? movie clip

         It is a awesome video that really gets you thinking about how fast our world grows. Showing and relating technology to babies being born and how their world will be different was a good strategy. The strategy that pulls you in and commands your attention with graphics, stats, and music. I t really makes me want to be fully computer illiterate and teach my students computer skills. So that they can get up to the knowledge to technology in the 21st century. I think it would be a great idea to show the first half of the video to students to show them the world they live in and how the need more technology smarts is great.

A Vision of students today, movie clip

         At first I thought this was a really weird video and a different approach to view college life, but its a cool way to capture it. We have so much technology at our feet and opportunities, but we don't always take advantage of them. Why spend money for class and never go? It's crazy to think we complain about having homework and slow computers when half of the world won't earn as much as a laptop costs in a entire year. It is a good video for older students to see and to realize how lucky and special we are even though it seems hard and crappy. It's to complicated for elementary students to comprehend and they wouldn't get much of it to help them.

Reflection #4 & Video Clip

How will these skills help my students create?  They'll help them create a document of what they've learned and how they grew because of it. They can decide on how they want the outline to be like, the types of music, and who will narrate the story. They can all work together and use their imaginations and see what can come when each student creates together. The end product can be used by other teachers or even by the students in the future.

How will these skills help me collaborate with my colleagues?  They can be tools to help another class out in a need to discipline and instruct them better. The whole grade can use the same stories while studying a unit. It will promote more meetings for the teachers of what the students need to accomplish and how they can improve their instruction. 

Why are these tools so popular with my colleagues?  It changes up the monotony of lecturing, but most importantly because they teach a topic in a new way. The stories instantly connect with feelings, happy or sad, and experiences that they have seen other people or themselves go through. Students get the whole experience of a topic in audio, visual, and emotions then the would from just reading a text and answering questions.

In which ways might I employ these skills to achieve classroom objectives?  I can employ these skills in a many ways in relating to objectives. First each topic could include a digital story about a person, experience, or issue happening during the time period of the topic being studied in class. A digital story could be about violence and how it has hurt the person talking and this could possibly help the bullies in class see what they really are doing. It could also be on a certain objective, say the water cycle, and the story could help them remember the correct steps it goes in.

What are the pros and cons of Digital Stories? The pros are that the stories are unique, diverse, and connect students to real life experiences. They change up daily class routine and teach learning through three of the senses. I t connects to children much better then having them read quietly in a book. The cons are it takes to much time to make your own digital story in order to use it in class. If sometime you wanted to randomly pick a video the site could be down or the story could not play. 

Nasa Digital Story

This clip was unable to download on my computer I tried it twice, but it wouldn't convert over. I tried looking it up on google and thought I found it on the nasa site but I wasn't sure how to tell. Also I looked it up on teacher tube but the videos had nothing to go about darwin. I bet it was a neat story that would get students interested in what space is and what happens there. Boys for sure love space and the vibe it gives off of exploration and finding new information over time.

Tech #2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ksa.bitesize/ is a technology site for all ages of students. It has English, math, science, reading, writing, and spelling activities. You can choose to just do the activity for each subsection or you can also take a quiz on it. For first grade I know they learn about keeping our bodies clean, and on this site they have an activity about our teeth under the science: living things tab. It is a child friendly site with a picture for each topic and so many options. The activity games are fun and different, as well as, the colors  incorporated on the site. Students might need assistance finding the site and the correct tab their activity is under, but teachers can explain whenever they have technology time. Students can have fun on here even if it is for an assignment or not.

 I can see this site being of use in the classroom for many reasons. When the class is assigned computer time each student could access this site. You could instruct them to pick an activity the class has learned about and then take a quiz on it. Students could receive points for finishing class goals or being on task when a substitute came. The points start to add up and when they reach a certain amount they get extra recess time. This recess time will take place in your class and the computer is incorporated into this time. This site is one of the few they can get on to use and practice subjects. Also for each activity if it correlates with what they learned in class the teacher can post it on her website or blog. That way when they get home their parents can help them get on and do the activity. It is a fun way to learn and test knowledge of different skills. I think the children will really enjoy it.

Tech # 1

A plus math is a tool that I found that will help students improve their math skills at home or at school. It has various links to choose form depending on their skill level. They also have games that put these skills to work as well as worksheets to practice. Students will like this site right when they see it, because they will see games that can be played and the bright colors on the site. This site can be found at www.aplusmath.com.

 I think this site would be a great tool to use in my classroom, because students if they feel the need to practice can jump right on the computer when they have assigned time. You can also have your lower math students do activities on this site, at a certain time each day when the class is split for math. That way they won’t feel looked down upon for not being as knowledgeable in math then the others. At home, students might not get parental help on homework or might come to questions they don’t get that they were given in class. This site can help them with its homework helper to guide them in the right direction. They can also print off and create their own set of flash cards to study with when they have free time. Also they can use the flashcards to help build confidence and study for the upcoming tests.

Reflection #3

How will these tools help me communicate with my students?

You can use these tools to communicate with students the purpose or meaning of a current standard in their lives. You can't communicate by really having a conversation or email, but you can use it communicate ideas, feelings, or images you feel they should see and know about. The videos that are inspirational will speak in some way to each student and they'll will connect why it matters to be learning about the current unit. National geographic helps them see that exploring our world is important to learning and animals are all around us. Also it tells them that nature is an important part of our world.

How will these tools help me communicate with my colleagues?

Teacher tube can help you communicate with your colleagues if you were to post a video on it and send them a link to it. Maybe it is about a neat experience your class went through while covering community helpers and it can be of help to her class, by relate that experience into their lesson when they learn about community helpers too.

How will tools help me communicate with students parents?

It will communicate to them by showing them what we are actually doing in class is making them grow. They will see if videos are done what knowledge their students have gained on lets say the water cycle first hand. It communicates that hard work and learning are really happening from your teaching techniques.

Reflection#2 and video clips

#1 These tools like the google calendar and google sites will be very useful for students and communicating to them. The google calendar can help them be updated with events in our class and school. They can also get on our class website and see what homework assignment is due and what announcements there may be. Also as a class you can make changes on the class calendar to help the students get familiar with the sites.

#2 The igoogle, google calendar, and google sites tools are helpful for keeping in contact with the parents of the students. Igoogle will help you to send direct emails back and forth addressing problems, concerns. and news. Google calendar can help parents plan for upcoming field trips, picture day, immunizations,and eye testing. Google sites will help the parents view in class events and what homework their child should be working on. They can also view if their children is the student of the week.

#3 Igoogle and google docs are the only tools I can think about that would help me communicate with my colleagues. We could email each other with questions, ideas for the next unit, references, aids,and tag them educational videos. With google docs you can send your lesson plan or letter to the other 1st grade teacher and they can add to it, fix it, and send it back. 

#4 I can employ the tools by doing weekly or monthly technology classes. Using them to communicate when school is not in session. Have the students make a site about a historical place or their favorite sport, and that way they are doing social studies and technology in one.

#5 The pros of tools are communication, response time, organization, and you are more updated with world news and technology. Also they help teachers talk with family, colleagues,and parents, and at the same time make a new section on the class website.

The cons aren't being able to access a computer, the web might be down, computer is having problems, and children might accidentally get into trouble looking on the computer to find the class website. This could cause issues with the parents and they might have to be with parental supervision when getting on following times.

Video Clips

Mr. Duey- At first I thought this video was so cheesy, but as it went on I started changing my mind. Kids learning fractions would get this song stuck in their heads and it would help them to remember the steps when needed. Also they can relate to the rap music that the video is made to, since rap is something they've hear on the radio. They could possibly start to think of math as a cool subject and not a nerdy one by seeing this video.

Web 2.0- This site was unique with the way the music was used and the type of music catches your attention and brings you in. The information seemed like it was important by the way the video was presented and it kept you interested. It's a great source for teachers to get themselves updated with the new technology for this time period.

Ideal classroom

If I could have my ideal classroom, it would be in a Title 1 school, where their are a range of diverse students. The size of my classroom would be of medium size and be a place where children can feel safe and trust me. The walls of this classroom would be brightly decorated with artwork from the class and with posters to help them remember their colors,animals, word chunks, and letters. The class would be orderly and have many resources,such as, books that they can use and borrow. I'd prefer that my classroom be first grade, with children who want to explore learning and find out their potentials. 

The personality of my students are all different and some will take me awhile to figure out. The parents of the students are helpful in supporting the school and being there for their students. They communicate with me and express their concerns.We work together to try and help the students learn the best the can. Some of the parents aren't really involved with the school or their child's success. The colleagues at my school are very helpful and share ideas of teaching techniques that work. They also give advice of things you could do to make your classroom better and help you get a feel for the school. 

The teaching techniques I'll use in my classroom will be starting with what the students know, being positive and complementary, tell them how they are progressing, make the material meaningful and apply it to life experiences, and reward them for achieving goals.

The technology that I'll incorporate in my classroom lessons  will be using laptops to do reading and listening exercises. Also doing little computer lessons to help them get familiar with technology and  see how it's important in this world.

The content I'll teach will be the core curriculum standards for each academic topic and the concepts will be learned through activities, homework, and field trips.

The class goals that I'll embrace will be respect, hard work, caring, being respectful of all different cultures, and high reading levels.

What I hope to teach the classroom is that each person is of importance, life skills, work ethic, respect, and love of learning and self.