Technology in the classroom...

Technology is very important to incorporate into your classroom, because it’s the new thing. Every child pretty much knows how to use computers, iPods, cell phones and other technological devices before then can even talk, okay but I might be pushing it, but I am pretty close. Technology is not just using computers, it can be so much more, including video camera, GPS, blogs, and smartboards. Students today do not want to learn the old fashion way, they want to learn through what they know best, and that is technology. Using technology in the classroom is a benefit. First of all, a teacher would grab the student’s attention right away. Also, who wants to learn through writing and lectures? Students want to learn through hands on experience and with the use of technology in the classroom this objective can be accomplished.
The benefit to a teacher is that technology can reach a variety of learners. Teachers can lecture with the smartboard, while also incorporating hands on activity into their lesson. Teachers can have students come up to the smartboard and perform tasks using the interactive board. Students can keep blogs on the computers on what they are learning in school, this way both teacher and parents can be involved with the student’s learning. Students can create online portfolios to showcase the different assignments they have been working on in class; these portfolios can also be used year to year. This way upcoming teachers can look at each student’s portfolio and the teacher can figure out the students strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can use programs such as excel to keep track of all of their students and their students grades. This program makes it easy to compare student’s progress and look and students grades over the year. Some of the challenges is that technology has its own mind. It can choose when it wants to work and when it does not. Also, it can be a challenge to figure out how some of the latest technology works and also some of the equipment can be expensive.
This class has taught me a lot about technology and different programs that I did not know. First, I had no idea about all the copyrighting laws and now I know the procedures I have to take and all the things I have to do when using someone’s work that I did not know before. Social bookmarking was also I great website I learned all about. Now I can save my favorite websites to the web and not just on my computer. Therefore, if I am somewhere without my computer I can always find the websites I need. I learned window’s movie maker. I always had this program on my computer and never wanted to use it because I did not know what I was getting myself into. After I used it in this class, It is a great tool and a great program to incorporate into my classroom. Children will have a great time creating short clips on what they have learned in class. Smartboard is a great tool to get the student’s attention. It provides great learning activities for the classroom, that will surely get your students attention. Overall the best thing I learned about this class is not be afraid of technology. Technology is your friend and is a great tool to use in the classroom .

Copyrighting...

Copyright is a very touchy and serious topic. There are many rules that the average joe or jane is unaware of. The two days that copyrighting wad discussed in class and after reading about copyrighting I have learned only a small portion of the rules and regulations of copyrighting. Once a person writes a paper it is considered theirs, I always thought there were papers that needed be filled out and legal processes that a person needed to go through to copyright a piece of work. People can copyright their own personal works for a fee of $35 if they fell, someone might take their work. This is not necessary, but just an extra precaution. I was surprised that the fee was so high, but I guess that’s the price you have to pay when you want to protect your work. I was shocked when I learned that works from the public domain, and short sayings cannot be copyrighted. After thinking about it for a little bit, this makes sense because Paris Hilton wanted to copyright the phase “That’s hot” and she was unable to do so.
I have had some occurrences in which teachers have violated copyright laws. A couple of teachers have recorded a TV show to show the class, and this show was not only shown once, but from year to year. Also, I have had one teacher who copied numerous pages out of a textbook and disturbed them to the class; they did this because they did not want to have to buy the textbook for only a few pages. Teachers have also used pictures in their powerpoints without giving credit to where they got it.
I believe it is my responsibility as a teacher to teach students about copyright laws. This needs to be taught, so children do not get in major trouble and get fined lots of money. Students should understand and know the information all throughout their educational years. This way, they will know what is right to do and what is wrong to do from the beginning. Copying textbook materials, songs, books ect and not paying for it is illegal. The person who created the information is not getting rewarded for their work and that is not fair. Students are not allowed to copy another person’s work in a paper, why should they be allowed to copy and distribute whole textbooks? As a teacher I will follow the copyrighting laws. I do not need to be brought up on changes by the government and pay lot and lots of money. Teachers need to practice and do what they are telling their students to do. Teachers should not have additional rules; they should follow the rules like everyone else. I will make sure to show my students that I have followed all the copyrighting rules, to let them know that everyone has to follow the rules.

Interactive Whiteboard...

Interactive whiteboard are a great item to have in each and every classroom. I would definitely recommend it to all teachers. It is both enjoyable for the students as well as the teachers, because it makes teaching and learning fun and hands on. When I look at my elementary school days the things I remember most were the hands on activities and the ones that had all the students involved. Many different activities can be used with interactive whiteboard, such as PowerPoint presentations, showing educational clips internet sites can be projected on the screen for all the students to see. Teachers can stand in front of the classroom and walk around to help students who are having problems; they do not have to worry about sitting at the desk to click the mouse to move to the next slide, because they can just click on the smart board. Smart, the program that is used for the smart boards have many different pre-made activities that classes can work on together, such as tool where the class can have a picture of a map and drag a state over to its position where it belongs. This is one of the activities that gets every child involved and excited to participate. Teacher can also use the clip art and drawing tools that are provided to create their own screen to use with their class. These tips are a great way to grab each and every student’s attention, and also it’s a way to get the students away from reading page after page in their textbooks.
When I first used the smart program I did not know where to begin. There is a lot of information that comes with the program. It is definitely hard to learn at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a great program to use. Also, a teacher who does not know better might not know they have to align the projector with the screen, so when you hit the screen you are hitting what you want. Also, some of the premade activities do not come with directions with how to work them, so most of the time you are on your own to figure out how they work. Once I figured out all the kinks of the program I loved it.
The pros of having a smart board installed in the classroom is that it a new items for the class. Everyone loves to get new and fun things and the interactive whiteboard is definitely fun and exciting. Smart boards open up a lot of possibilities for the classroom, there are endless amounts of activities and lessons with the interactive whiteboard. I had so much fun just playing around with all the applications that I think the students would too. It a great way to show important information to the students, or use a review for a big test that is coming up. These boards can be used in every subject. In science I might show my students the process of the water cycle, or in math how to figure out how to get the area of a square. The possibilities are endless. The only con I have is that students might write on the interactive whiteboard with a permanent marker, because they think it is a regular whiteboard.
The other day I taught a math lesson on time and I incorporated the interactive whiteboard with my lesson. My classmates really enjoyed the presentation I came up with. I used the premade clocks and had different members of my class come to the board to record times that I dictated to them to help them review the concept they just learned. It was a great way to get everyone involved, moving around and interested in my lesson.

Video Project...

Video projects are a great way to get children exciting learning. This project will allow students to get out of the classroom and interact with classmates to create a wonderful masterpiece that they can show to their classmates and families. Although a lot of preparation goes into these types of projects, the end results are well worth the time spent preparing.

Title: Light, Camera, Action
Age Level: 6th-8th grade
Content Area: English
Materials: Novel, Video Camera, Computers with Window’s Movie Maker, and Story board worksheets.
Project Description: Students will be placed in groups of four and will take the novel that they are reading in class and make a short commercial which is based on the book. The ideas for this project are endless, the children make a trailer for an upcoming movie, an infomercial trying to sell an important object that were used in the book or maybe even a dating commercial for one of the main characters. These are just some ideas that can get the children thinking. Students will create a story board, which will plan out all the situations that is going to happen in their production. Students will learn how to operate a camera and how to edit their movies in window’s movie maker. Then students will film their idea during class time. The final project should be on longer than 5 minutes. The students will present their final projects on the last day of the unit to the class.
Preparations: I would have to make sure there are video camera on the school grounds that the children can use, if not I have to see if the children’s parents have ones that they will be willing to let them use for the project. I would have to make sure the weather is nice, because the filming will be taking place outside to limit distractions to other classrooms and spread out the children so they are not interrupting each other filming.. I have to set aside time to show the students how to use a video camera and how to use window’s movie maker, so they can learn how to edit their movies. I would also make my own youtube. account, because I would not want children uploading videos to their own account, for their own safety. I would also send home content forms to the parents to make sure it was alright that I was uploading the children’s final projects to the internet, because I know some parents can have problems about that and I do not want to make anyone unhappy. If it was not alright I would just have the children convert their final projects to a DVD, so they can still showcase their final project.
Timeline:
Day 1-6: Read novel in class and out of class and complete activities relating to the book.
Day 7: Split students in to groups and have then start thinking of an idea. Clear idea with the teacher.
Day 8: Make storyboard, assign parts (cameraperson, main actress/actor)
Day 9: Teach how to use video camera. Let students begin filming.
Day 10: Filming Day.
Day 11: Teach students how to use window movie maker and how to use sound clips.
Day 12: Edit Day.
Day 13: Edit Day.
Day 14: Show presentations.
Day 15: Show presentations.

Software Lab...

I always thought I knew everything about Word, but I was definitely wrong. I never knew all those neat tricks existed. Those are things I wish I knew all throughout high school and even during the first two years of college. I know I would not have spent endless hours trying to figure out how to make columns in my documents. I think it was beneficial to take the time out to learn the different programs that I could use when I am a teacher, because it will help make my classroom interesting.
When I was in elementary school, teachers would send home plain and boring newsletters to my parents, now when I am a teacher I will be able to use what I learned in class to spice my newsletters up. It was happy to find out that I didn’t have to create my own templates; I could just use the premade ones. The newsletter I would help me as a teacher, I would like to send newsletters home on a weekly basis. I can communicate with parents, by letting them know what the children are doing in class, and present them with important information that they should know. This would be an easy way to stay connected with the parents during the school year.
When I was asked to make a concept map in other classes, I always used paper and pencil. I never knew inspiration existed, and I am happy that it does because I believe this will be the most beneficial to me when I begin to teach. I can use this program to outline lessons I will teach in my classroom and to organize important information from English lessons to Science lessons. This program will help outline the important information in a chapter for my students. The pictures also allow me to make the maps kid friendly. I will probably even use it in my current classes to outline notes.
It was nice to learn about the tables in word. Now I don’t have to use the tab key all the time to type where I want. Tables help make the page more organized. Tables also are a good tool to use when making quizzes and tests. Word also made making lesson plans easier. I never knew what the developer tool was and never knew all the neat things you could do with it. It will definitely make my life easier in the future when I can just fill in the information I need in the blank spots. The flyer is something I can use to put around my classroom to present vital information to the students. It is also something I can post around the school to get people’s attention on important school events. I can send the flyer home to parents to inform them on specials events that are happening in my classroom.

Web Resources...

My favorite web resource that we used in class was illuminations. It has many activities that a teacher can incorporate into the classroom. This website contains games that children can go to, in order to refresh on skills that they learned in class. The games are very educational, so I do not need to worry about my students playing games that are inappropriate. Many kids do not enjoy math and this site might make math more enjoyable for them. The website is organized by grade levels and standards; this makes it very easy to find the information that I might need very fast. As a teacher I could visit this website to find lesson plans that I can use in class for all grade levels and math content areas. Sometimes it is very difficult to come up with fun and exciting lesson plans. These lessons incorporate many different instructional tools, such as computers, manipulative and everyday objects to help teach the lessons.
When I am a teacher I believe I will use the either 4teacher.org or illuminations. As stated above illumination has many fun activities to make math fun and enjoyable for both the teacher and the student. It provides teachers with many ideas of how to shift away from the boring lessons of the math textbook and allow the children to experiment with other avenues. I would also use 4teachers.org. I think the rubistar tool on this page is excellent. It can help evaluate and grade the students during the many projects they will complete throughout the year. Also, if I have a student who does not speak English I can use casa notes application to print out certificates and field trip permission slips in their native language, this will help me communicate with the students parents. The classroom architecture program can let me do layouts of my room and do setting charts for my classroom. These two websites are going to be used frequently in my classroom.

Inspiration...

If you would have asked me if I would have invested in inspiration three days ago I would have said no. I never really understood how it worked and it seemed very complicated. After receiving instructions on how it actually works it would definitely be something I would use on a daily basis in my classroom so I would definitely invest in it. Inspiration is very cheap and something both the students and teachers can benefit from.
Children can use to help make outlines for stories they would write or even just to organize notes from class instruction. It would be something fun for the children to experiment with and it provides room for error. If they child forgot to write something or want to add something later they can always add it in. Students can add colors and pictures to make their outlines creative and easy to read.
This is also something I would also use to help plan out my lessons and organize my activities for the day. I would use it in all the subjects throughout the day. In language arts, students could create webs for stories that outline the beginning, middle, end and also explain the characters. This could be something they could refer back to when they actually sit down and write their story. Also, if the class is reading a book this could be a place where they can keep track of all the characters, settings and the plot of the story. In history it can help the children keep track of events by placing them in chorological order and having them write important descriptions about each event. In math you can create maps to teach children the order of how they should complete mathematical problems or to keep track of different concepts used on a daily basis. Lastly, in science children can create webs to keep track on the different cycles that occur in the world. If I was teaching about the water cycle, inspiration can be used to help explain the different phases that occur. These are just some ways I would use inspiration in my classroom.

Social Bookmarking...

I believe social bookmarking is an excellent tool to use in the classroom. As a teacher I would tag websites that I think would be significant for my classroom. Students can use this websites when they are curious about the different topics we are learning in class or if they just want to brush up or learn more information about the topics. Students can tag websites themselves if they stumble across a website that might be helpful to the teacher and/or other classmates. I would tag websites that I would use during classroom lectures to have easy access to the links when I need them.
Social Bookmarking could benefit my classroom because it would provide an easy way to organize imperative information on the web. If I found a website that I thought would enhance my teaching I could bookmark it, so I would never forget it. I can remember many times when I find great websites with lesson plans or activities that can be used in my classroom and the next week when I go to find them, I can’t locate them. Book marking sites can be organized into categories, this makes finding the specific information you need very easy. If my class was on the computers I would not have to recite the websites I wanted them to go to. I could tell them to look under the classroom category on my book marking site. This would allow the students to have more time to look over the site.
I think all teachers (no matter the grade level) should use social booking marking in their classrooms. As a current student I would be able to find websites, with a click of a button that my professors thought to be vital to the class. Professors could tag sites that students could refer to if they are having trouble understanding a particular topic, or sites that the teacher thought would be beneficial to the class. When I do research for a paper, sometimes I am in my dorm room and other times I go to the library. It doesn’t matter where I am I can always log into my account. Having a bookmarking site help to remember the sites you have visited. When it comes time to making a bibliography you can just visit you personal site.

Diigo site... http://www.diigo.com/dashboard/rmy131

Websites...

Teachers need to evaluate websites because the internet can be a scary place for people who do not know how to use it properly. Children are vulnerable when it comes to computer use and appropriate steps need to be taken to insure their safety. Teachers need to make sure the website is “kid friendly”, this means that the materials that are displayed on the websites need to be suitable for the age group in which you are teaching. Also teachers need to make sure the sites are useful for the assignment. There are also many websites that display fake or wrong information and teachers need to insure that data is correct.
I think that people do not take the time to truly evaluate websites. They take the internet for granted and believe that everything posted on the internet is true, when in most cases it is not. People believe what they see and do not investigate to make sure that the site is reliable and accurate. People do not check the copyrights dates on the bottom of websites to make sure the sites are up to date. I think people quickly eye the sites to make sure there is nothing disturbing and make sure the site contains information that can be useful in their search. Also, people tend to sign up for “free gifts” or join different sites and give out personal information, such as their home addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses when in reality they should not.
Before I allowed my students to use computer I would teach them about proper safety precautions must be taught to the student. I would review the rules of the computer and make sure they understand that personal information should never be given out. Also, I would make sure my students remained on task and were completing the assignment. I would watch over my students to make sure they remain on task. I would also remind my students to report anything that shows up on the internet that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Blogs In the Classroom...

Blogs can be used on a daily basis in the classroom to aid in learning and help grab student’s attention in new and fun ways. One way I would incorporate blogs, is to have students answer certain questions each night as a homework assignment. These blogs would act as a journal and also operate as a call of help if children are struggling with the lessons that took place during the day. Students can interact with each other and help other students if someone is struggling. As the teacher I can monitor the blogs and answer questions and be prepared to re-teach the lesson if I find it necessary. Students can also use the blog as an online journal, where they can record their thoughts for the day. The students can interact with other classmates and see what is going on in each other lives on a daily basis. Another way I would use blogs is to set up a sort of “pen pal” program with another school and allow the children to communicate with other kids their age from another state or country. This would allow the children to learn about another place, culture and person. Blogs minimize the use of paper and go along with the going green trend. Blogs is also a good way to stay connected with parents. Announcements can be posted to help keep parents informed of what is going on in the classroom.
Technology is our future and it needs to be incorporated into classrooms to help children broaden their horizons in order to succeed in their future endeavourers. Any type of student/ learner can benefit tremendously from the use of technology. With technology lessons become less lecture based and provide more hands on activities for the students. Using technology is just another way to learn and practice different types of information.
Disadvantages of technology are that some schools do not have the funds to buy pricey computers for each classroom. Children might not get the opportunity to use technology when needed. Technology is also changing everyday and it might be hard to keep up with the advancements. Lastly, using technology can affect a child’s verbal communication skills and ability to socialize with other human beings.

First Blog

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