My Beliefs

My Beliefs

I am not going to lie, technology scares me. I found it very intimidating that students will know more about the technology that I am using than I will ever know. I find it hard to know how to teach technology when I know very little about it. I have a fear that I will get up in front of my class and present an assignment to the students with technology enriched in the lesson and a student will ask me a question and I will not know the answer. Technology in classroom can be a good thing and make things so much easier, but with all the technology come the possibility of not working. I find that whenever I want to use technology something breaks or something goes wrong and then I have to start all over, but that is just life.

I want to use technology in my class because without technology my students are not getting the full benefits of learning. I think it would be virtually impossible to teach without using technology. I just have to swallow my fear and learn as much as possible about technology as I can.

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

When this assignment was first given out I was overwhelmed with all the things that we had to do. I kept putting it off, until I had to buckle down and get it done. After starting the assignment I thought that is was amazing. I thought that there was some interesting stuff in the articles and videos that we were assigned to read. My favorite article was the New WWW (Whatever, whenever, wherever) I found this article very thought provoking. I knew that the world was changing and that technology was evolving every day, but I had no idea that it was moving towards this movement of WWW. It concerns me that my students are going to have all these resources available and I have no way of controlling what goes on in my very own classroom. I think that technology is good, but I fear the unknown.

Another article that I found interesting was Tools for Change. I think that this kind of technology is fascinating. I love the biometric recognizer. I like you can take attendance right when the students walk in the classroom, but you don’t really have to do anything, the students do it for you.

Strengths ans weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses

According to the survey I have a lot more weaknesses then strengths. My weaknesses include: demonstrating awareness of uses of computers and computing technology in business, industry, and society, I don’t know a lot about the ethics of technology, and the whole section of tools in technology. According to the Net standards I have very little knowledge about technology. First of all it was hard for me to even understand what the Net Standards were talking about, because I am not aware of the terminology that was being used, that is a big weakness on my part. I want to be able to keep up with the times and stay fresh with all the new technology come out these days, so not knowing what’s the best tool to use is a weakness that I would like to correct.

I thought that the survey was hard to take, because we are not yet teachers so I find it hard to answer each question correctly. But I found that my strengths included operating a computer, I know how to store and organize files and folders, I have trouble-shooted before, so I feel that I have strength in that way. I also know how to work the Internet to an extent, and that has been a huge advantage in planning lessons. According to the Net standards my strengths include: Evaluation, I know that I will be doing evaluations on the computer. I understand that I will be using a computer to calculate the student’s grades. I understand that there are test available on the Internet for students to take. While writing my lesson plans I include technology in most every one of them, I find it easy to implement technology, because there are so many resources that are available.

Two goals that I have established I have discussed a little bit above. I will become up to date with new technology as I discover it. I will become familiar with technology tools that I can use in my classroom to enhance learning. Two mini-workshops that are available are: there is a book that is available to buy that is called, technology tools for teachers, it is a Microsoft office tutorial. I want to buy this book so I can become familiar with these tools. At the following website http://thwt.org/workshops.html two online workshops are available to take that are about Teaching for the 21st Century Professional Development Program and Custom Technology Integration Workshops for Schools and Districts.

Tech article 2

Technology Tool #2

For the other one of my technology tools I chose to use “read-write-think” from UEN. There are so many tools on the UEN page that it was hard for me to just choose one. But the “read-write-think” was a great tool for reading, writing, and language arts, and as much as reading is emphasized I think that it would be a great asset to have a tool like this that my students could turn to for extra help.
ReadWriteThink offers a collection of online Student Materials to support literacy learning in the K-12 classroom. These interactive tools can be used to supplement a variety of lessons and provide an opportunity for students to use technology while developing their literacy skills. It also has a web resource gallery which offers links to countless useful English language arts resources on the Internet. It also provides standards for the teacher, the idea guiding these standards is that all students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life's goals and to participate fully as informed productive members of society. These standards assume that literacy growth begins before children enter school as they experience and experiment with literacy activities—reading and writing, and associating spoken words with their graphic representations. Recognizing this fact, these standards encourage the development of curriculum and instruction that make productive use of the emerging literacy abilities that children bring to school. Lessons were also provided for teacher use. This a great tool for both a teacher and a student. This tool provided lessons for a teacher, but it also provided games for students to play.

Tech article 1

Technology Tool #1

For one of my technology tools I chose to do Microsoft Publisher. Microsoft Office Publisher helps you create, personalize, and share a wide range of publications and marketing materials. New and improved capabilities guide you through the process of creating and distributing in print, Web, and e-mail.
I chose Publisher for many different reasons; first of all it is a great tool that not many people know how to use. It also lets students create professional looking documents that they are not use to making. The students have to opportunity to make advertisements, newsletters, newspaper articles, business cards, and other professional documents. Publisher is easy to use in my personal opinion. I find that it will talk you through most things step by step; you can also find tutorials on-line.
For an assignment I had to make an advertisement for a book. It was a nightmare trying to draw pictures to match the book details. In class we shared our advertisement and they were some very creative ones, but the one that was amazing, the student had gotten a picture of the book of the internet and put it in Publisher and made her advertisement that way. When I saw that I wanted to learn how to use Publisher.
I think that students would have a blast making newsletters and then putting them together at the end of the unit and having a book of the letters. Or in your class you could have a newspaper staff and you could have a monthly newsletter come out.

Learning Log

Today in class we worked on our Web-Quest. We are doing sight words and we were feeling pretty good about it. Then we were discussing it with the teacher and she said that are Web-Quest had no point to it. So we had to switch it up a little bit. Hillary had a great idea to have the students hear the word and then they have to write it instead of showing them the word and having them draw it. We are finally coming together and getting everything the way we want it. We were having problems with getting the sound to work with our clip art, but we got that taken care so know we just have to write every thing out and record it. I realized today that there is so many different tools out there to use and my students will probably know more about them than I will. Web-Quest will be fun to incorporate in my future class, and get the students excited about learning.

Learniong Log

Today in class we discussed Web-Quest. I am excited in a way to create a Web-Quest. Its not what I expected it to be. I thought it was a big old thing that would take forever to create and I had to know all this stuff in order to do it. But actually you can do a Web-Quest with anything. My group choice to do one for Kindergarten and we are going to be doing it with sight words and illustrating them. I am really excited to work with my group I have never worked with some of them and they seem to have good ideas. I could use Web-Quest in my class in so many different ways. I am actually excited to create Web-Quest for my students to do. I think that it will be a good way to keep them engaged in the material. It is also a fun and creative way to get students excited about learning.

Reflection on Technology Interview

What did I learn?
I learned that technology is not used as much as it should be used. The computer teacher didn't even know anything about computers, she was just a regular education major. which means that if I wanted to I could go and be the computer teacher at a school, which to me is very scary, because I know nothing about technology. The teacher taught three things in the whole year. She taught typing, Internet safety, and a web-quest on a science topic. Technology in the classroom is not used as much as it should be. Our cooperating teacher thought that using a microphone was technology enriched.
How will the experience affect me as a teacher?
This experience has opened my eyes. I need to incorporate technology in my class, because the computer teacher could have just as much experience as I have.
How did this change your opinion on technology?
I think that it is very hard to incorporate technology if you do not know that much about it. I will have to try really hard to incorporate technology in my classroom, but I think that it is needed.

Learning Log

This was our last week in the classroom. On Tuesday we did our technology interview and I found the results very interesting. The computer teaching has no special training whatsoever. She has a degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in math. I found that completely astonishing I didn't know that a school would hire someone like that to be their computer teacher. She was also their IT technician. She was a very nice person, but I felt like she really didn't know what she was talking about. I would ask a question and she would be like "I don't really know" or "I think so". I feel like schools are not using technology as much as they could. First of all i computers they only learn three things a year. They learn typing, Internet safety, and have a web quest on a science topic. The teacher whose classroom I was in thinks that integrating technology is using a microphone while giving instructions. I just think that technology is being overlooked way too much.

Learning Log

Today Morgan taught our technology lesson. I think that it went rather well. It was really fun, because she did a PowerPoint and projected it onto the smart board and it was really cause she just had to touch the board and it would switch slides for her it was rather convenient. She also did an activity called freeze frame and it was cool. She had the students act out one aspect of Jamestown or Plymouth then they had to freeze and she took a picture with her digital camera. She is going to get them developed and put them on a poster for everyone to see. I thought it was an awesome idea and the students really enjoyed the activity.

Learning log

Today was my third day of my field work. It is going really good. Technology is used a lot in the classroom that I am located at. She uses a Smart board almost everyday. It was really cool, the other say she was talking about the election and writing on the smart board and it was amazing all the cool things that she could do with it. She also projects pictures or websites up on the smart board all the time. Today in class we watched a movie on the smart board. I wish that when I was in elementary school we had a smart board. She also uses a microphone when she is giving instructions. I like this a lot, because I think it helps for all students to hear but it also helps the teacher so she does not have to yell over everyone. Me and Morgan asked our teacher if she ever takes her class to the computer lab and she said that is just to much of a hassle and the students get frustrated with the equipment. I thought that it was interesting that she would say that. I feel like her students are missing out on a lot of opportunities to make their work more enhanced.

Learning Log

Today in class we mostly got time to catch up on things and go over what is due over the next few weeks. We also were introduced to a new assignment. The way that is was presented was awesome. I love that everything that was expected of us is on the website, so now we can go look at it and refer back to it if we have questions. In order for students to do well in my classroom they need to know what is expected of them. I learned in my Curriculum class that you should have a rubric for everything that you do. By having a rubric the student knows what is expected of them at all times. Having the rubric should eliminate lots of question, if not then the rubric needs to be rewritten or clarified.

Learning Log

Today we did something really cool. We designed websites for our future classrooms or made-up classes. I really enjoyed this because it gave me an opportunity to explore all the tools that google provides for their websites. I liked that you could make a calendar on google and put it on your website. I also liked the assignment and the criteria for it, because it gave me ideas of what I would put on my website that I would have never thought about. I could use this in my future classroom by designing a website for my class and sending out a notice letting the parents know that it is available for them to keep updated on the events that are happening in the class. I also think that it would cut down on confusion and questions, because they can see exactly what we are doing in class everyday and what homework needs to be done.

Learning Log

Today in class we just worked on our digital stories. We were also introduced to photo story. I am getting really excited about my groups digital story, it is coming together really nice and we are exploring new things. I always like to learn something new in technology, it makes me feel like I am keeping up with the rest of the world, even though I am not even close. But anyways we learned the basics of photo story and I really liked the fact that is did the transitions for me. I could use photo story in my own classroom, I think that it would be fun to do a narrative of some sort with the students. They could write a story and then find pictures to go with the story and then narrate the digital story.

Learning Log

Today in class me and my partner got together and we discussed our Digital Story. We were going along the lines of the geographic and cultural differences of the New England colonies, but that topic was feeling a little dry. So we decided to go with the Salem Witch Trials. We decided to go with this topic because it gave us some emotion to put into our digital story. We also explored a little with a program used to record sound. A way that I could use this in my own classroom, is that I could have the students introduce one another through this program. So they could gather some information and then record themselves introducing another person. This would get the students out of their comfort zones ans liven things up a bit.

Learning Log

Today in class we did something a little bit different then what we usually do. We went through some power points on some aspects of digital stories. Some of the things that we talked about were story boarding and some unique ways to keep organized while creating a digital story. The one that i have chose to use is the one with post it notes. Some ways I could use this in my classroom is using different strategies to teach things, because all students learn differently so giving them options would help them to find the one that works for them best. I would also use the idea of story boarding in my classroom. Not only when creating a digital story, but I could use it when they are creating power points or when they are making a book. Anything that includes putting words with pictures. Doing a digital story would be really fun in my classroom because its a fun way to get a point across. If I taught older grades then I could even have them create their own digital stories.

Learning Log

Today in class we talked about Digital Stories. I am still a little fuzzy of what they are, but I think that I have the just of it. A digital story is pictures that tell a story and then the author puts words to go with the picture. You can tell a story about anything that you want to. Today we decided what we are going to do our digital study on, this was actually harder than I thought it would be, because I wanted to pick something that I could use when I did my field work. I chose to do my digital story on the difference in geography and culture between New England, middle colonies, and Southern colonies. I chose this because I figured that I might be able to use it because it is in the social studies fifth grade core. I am doing my field work in a fifth grade class. We also talked about scripting, scripting is figuring out what words you want to say that will go with your pictures. I will be able to use digital stories in my classroom by having the students create their digital stories, or I could make one as the teacher to introduce a topic. I think that I could have a lot of fun with digital stories.

Learning Log

Today we learned about Google site. We created our own web page through Google. It was a really fun activity. We wrote about ourselves and our dreams. It was so fun to create my own web page. I could use Google sites in my own classroom in many ways, but one way that I thought would be cool is for them to create their own web page and do a similar activity about them. I would love to go and read about my students and it would help me to get to know them better. This would also give me the chance to determine how much they know about technology.

Learning Logs (September 9)

Today in class we learned how to utilize google tools. We chose groups and were assigned to do research on a ceratin topic. We then began to use WIKI. At first I was sceptical about what was going on. I was so confused at who was typing what and what we were talking about, but then someone suggested to do google chat as well. When we started doing google chat it was so much better. It was easier to communicate through google chat because first of all it already had our name on it and second of all it was way faster. So we finally got the hang of the google documents. I really liked the google chat because I could be talking to someone and researching something else at the same time.
I beleive that using WIKI in my classroom would be a great tool for my students to learn to utilize. They could do projects together through WIKI. Also I think that google chat would be good to use if they were on the computer at the same time that way they could discuss things without really talking out loud. Now that could either way they could be talking about things that pertain to class and then they could be talking about things that don't pertain to class. I can't wait to use WIKI with my classmates and do projects. I think that it will be a great tool to use in my education and in my classroom.

Learning Log

Today in class we learned a lot about different tools we can use on the Internet. We learned about blogging, voki, and Gmail. I would love to start a blog when I have my own class and do weekly postings of what we are doing in class, that way the parents can access it and know what we are learning. I personally loved the Gmail introduction, I was so excited about all the cool features it has. My students can use the Gmail accounts to work in study groups or chat with each other or even me.