Placement Next Year.

For my placement next year, I have been put in a 5th grade classroom. I have only worked with students in the lower elementary school grade levels. So this will be a change of pace for me however I am a little worried. However, I have been able to talk with my teacher and she would like me to develop a class website to use. I think this will be such great practice about what we have learned in this class. I am so excited to see how much of this class can be incorporated in my new classroom. For all of those who will be having the internship next year, best of luck!!

Blogs, Wikis, webpages-- aren't they all the same?!

Before going through with this class, I only knew what a blog was and did not understand why people loved blogging so much. Wikis I had only used in my college classes but really never understood what they were. Webpages I had never heard of before CEP. Now, I am know all about them and the purposes.

Blogs: These are individual to a person or group that they update by posting thoughts, feelings, new ideas or graphics. These have been thought of as more a journal or a personal diary. The user normally updates frequently because people can follow them. This means they can read what they write and comment on their thoughts. Great way to reflect on your learning or life.

Blogs/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Wikis: Is a website that allows different people to have access to it. This means they are all able to go in and edit or change the information. The Wiki will update every time someone hits the save button and allows each person to see the changes. It's best used with a large group where changes will be needed. This eliminates the consist e-mail of different drafts or ideas to people and not knowing which draft is the final. Or like in some college classes, a place where discussion forums are done.

wiki / CC BY-NC 2.0

Webpages- (such as www.weebly.com) These are great resources for designing or creating your own personal URL. These web-pages can contain be informational that you would like to teach people about or a way to publish information for yourself. For instance, a teacher could create a webpage where they could put information about the class up. Each parent and student could have the link and check it to see what was going on in the classroom. Or for this class we have created a personal website that allows the viewer to learn about me and see sample lesson plans.

Next Generation of Teaching!

After seeing my teacher and learning about this class, I think it is up to us to take teaching to the next level. I think that just using a computer to it's full abilities is one change that teachers could make. Image, having all of our lesson plans typed and saved on a computer instead of filing it all. This way changes can be made easily without any problems. I will use either outlook or a similar calendar program where I can keep consistent my weekly lessons however change or edit them each week. This way I could refer back to them the next year and know exactly what I did each week.  I will keep a running record of the classroom and the actions to help me remember behavior problems, situations that work and situations that did not. I want to keep up on my e-mail as much as possible because I feel so many adults check their e-mail many times a day and it is way user to send out a mass e-mail than to call each parent on the phone. A classroom website will keep everyone in formed of events and activities that will be going on in our classroom.

Finishing up feild placement!

Next week is my last week in my field placement and I am going to miss my students so much and all that we have been through. I have learned so much from my CT and my students. So I would like to take a moment and reflect on different technologies that I was able to see in my classroom. First of all each teacher has a laptop of there own. I think this is great idea because this way the teachers can take work home with them, to meetings etc. and have everything with them. My CT was lucky enough to have a smartboard, which I used for my lesson plans and just played around with it. They are such a great addition to any classroom and I just love them. Everyone Tuesday and Friday the students get an opportunity to use technology, where the technology teacher would come into the students classroom with a laptop cart. My teacher and the technology teacher would communicate about the students were learning and incorporate that into the technology teacher's lesson.

Second Life: New Technology

I was very interested in this second life. I have never heard of it however I am very interested in the website. It reminds me of a Sim style game, in the way that you create your own character and their life. Then through this character you travel around and live a virtal world. Once you have a character then you can interact with others. The website is based on the idea of 3D and this allows you build objects that look real to life.

After seeing the demo for this website I thought that this website looked like fun and a game. I believe the goal is to create a life and survive. I did not understand how I could use this in the classroom without making it just a game? I saw that it is a good way that they can learn about life and how to manage a house or a car, but I was thinking that they need more out of a game.

I went looking for ideas that teachers have used Second City for in their classroom. I found this blog that had 11 ways to use Second Life in the classroom.

1.  Understanding what 3D is
2. Adding a visual element (traveling to Egypt Pyramid
3. Data Repository with linkage
4. Connection device: online classes, voice with group meetings
5. Apply classroom knowledge: business students applying creating a market place
6. Team building/critical thinking: discovering resources they need to teach each other
7. Research tool: currency exchange with other countries
8. Build awareness of virtual tourism
9. Social devices
10. Create anonymity: confidential information
11. Macinema 

11 Ways to Use Second Life in Education (Michele Ryan)

View more presentations from Michele Ryan.

After seeing Michele Ryan's ideas, I can see where High School or College economics or business class could use this idea. It is a great way for them to explore real life situations in the business world from the classroom. Also, computer designer could use this website to explore this idea of 3D and how to use it. I think that students often learn best when it is seems as if it is a game! 

My only concern is will parents or school districts will be nervous having students on the virtual world. With all the situations that have cam up with online worlds, I could understand parents concerns with not wanting their children to use this. So I do not know if you can set it to only certain things in your classroom or only letting students see certain things, but this might help with some of those concerns.

Video taping- we should try it!

During my TE class we often watch videos of their teaching and how students react to their teaching. While I understand many parents might have issues with their students being video taped, I love the idea. This allows the teacher to go back and reflect on their teaching as well as parents being able to see their student at work. It can be a great way for the teacher to have proof of the students growth throughout the year. A lot of times, teacher disagree on the studetns ability. For instance, in my day care center we had this one teacher say the student could do all of these benchmarks to get the student out of their classroom. Video cameras can not lie about what students can and cannot do.

Parents would be able to see their students behavior during different parts of the day and understand where the teacher is coming from with different issues. I think this would help eliminate the idea that teachers "do not like certain kids" or they are not treated fairly. Students also could watch themselves on video because I think many of them would be embarrassed how they act sometimes. A lot of times students can not understand what it looks like when they are acting a certain way and how it comes across to the teacher.

During student presentations or big projects, the video camera could be running. This way the students could show their parents, family and friends what a good job they did. It can help with public speaking because watching and reviewing your presentations, you learn a lot about yourself.

I do not think that the video camera should be running all day, everyday because that would create a lot of wasted film. I think on some days for like an hour or two having a video camera on would help everyone understand what happens inside your classroom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zcreem/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Too much Technology

Can we have too much technology in the classroom!? I know that many different technologies have great advantages in using them but when is enough. However, some teachers are trying to do too much. While I see having computers, smartboards, lap tops, tape recorders and voice recorders in the classroom is great but does it take away from teaching. I observed this classroom where the teacher spent so much time worry about if the technology would work or if the students were understanding how to use the program, the actually teaching of the subjects were lost. She was so worried that the students did not understand spelling city or how to write on the smartboard that they spent hours going over this. When does it become too much?

I know that technology is great for helping and improving teaching, but like anything too much is bad.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevewilhelm/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Online classrooms

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivevans/4140362042/I know this isn't a specific technology however it is something that I have been thinking about. In college, I have had three different classes where I did not know what my teacher looked like. We turned in all of our work typed or scanned it. They posted lecture notes and readings online. We had meeting times for blogs or chat rooms. Now, for a college student who may be lazy this is great but I will tell you that I did not learn as much as I would have going to the class.

There have been some public schools who have factored in this type of online learning and some students do not attend classes. While it will take years for these to pop up all, what does this mean? Does this change students development? Is online work too much? Can a teacher reach students online and help them the same way they can face-to-face?

I think these are issues that we need to think about and start researching now. If budgets keeping cut, I can see more and more schools incorporating more classes online. I do not think this is a good idea for elementary age students because structure is so important to their development. I could not image trying to teach a student to add through the internet!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivevans/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Three Weeks left in CEP

With the semester coming to the end, I would like to take a small reflection on this class. Taking this class was an elective for me because I wanted to see ways that technology is used in the classroom. With the class almost finished, I have found that I have learned not only some really good ideas for the classroom but just how to better organize my life. I just love google reader and how all my webistes are organized. I love that I now can make a website very easily and understand how to use the features. I have a general understanding about technology, that does not make me feel so lost when people talk about different things. I finally know what a RSS feed is.

I would suggestion for any of my followers who are interested in taking this class to go for it. Everything that I have learned, I will use in and out of the classroom. It is an exciting and entertaining class that will teach you to better use the internet and your different technologies.

Wiki's and PB Works

This week I had quiet the struggle with PB Works. Since I already had an account (CEP classroom) they put me straight to this page. When I tried to add a new page but could not figure out how to do it. I could not figure out how to have people come to my page and so Greg could come in and edit the page. I put this up on the Gallery however, I was unhappy with my work. 

This is when I decided to switch what I had done and create a wiki's space, so I could learn really how to use these types of websites where everyone can edit it. I found starting from the beginning was much easier and I was able to work around wiki spaces much easier. However, I do not know if I would have started PB Works from the beginning I would have ran into this problem.

The Wiki idea that I created was a way for my students in the class to post their ideas. Ideally, this would be something I would do with writing prompts at first then they would move away from the prompts. I want them to explore their ideas and thoughts about the subjects in a safe environment. They could put websites they found interesting, attach work they had done or just write about their thoughts.

pic/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Wiki's

Here is the link to my wiki!! Enjoy! :)


Click Here

Technology and Spelling

Something that cam up in my TE I have been thinking about the last couple of days. Should we teach kids to use the book dictionary or should we teach them to use the computer? For instance, this one girl in my class brought up a very good point that she use the auto correct for words such as govt for government. Should be teaching the students these trips for spelling since technology is taking over the classrooms? 

I know, personally, that when I type a paper I often mis-spell words however I am more worried about my thoughts then my spelling. My sentences often have a few mis-spelled words but all I do is right click and there is the word I meant to type. There was no thought process on the spelling or the mistakes that I did wrong. I think that using mircosoft word has made me worse speller because I do not have to think about my spelling anymore. 

Does spelling matter anymore? Do we have to focus the sounds so that words just get close to real spelling? I know on my Mac, it doesn't matter where I am typing but no matter what if I spell a word incorrectly, the red lines are going to appear and I know I have change my spelling. Does this limit my thinking about spelling? For students, do they have worry about spelling because they know the computer will fix them? Also, students know if they want a "smarter" word they can go to synonymous and the words will come up.

So my questions are, should we teach to the new up coming way? Should we be teaching students how to use Spell Checker or should we teach them to dictionary? I am torn because I feel as if knowing how to use the dictionary is so important, but think of the last time you used one? Computers are taking over the classrooms, so should we teach them  the old school way or should we teach them the future?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24498687@N03/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Google Reader

When we were first introduced to the idea of Google Reader, I had mixed feelings about it. Google Reader is a way to way to organize and combine all of the websites or blogs that you are following on the web. Every time the website or blog gets updated, it will be put on one page and you can check it. All of the updates come to Google Reader so instead of checking all of your websites, you can just go to this one website.

The websites that you follow have to be RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which allows websites to distribute new contents or information as it becomes updated. I thought that at first I was not going to like not going to my websites or I thought it was going to be impossible to keep up on all of the reading. Personally, I have learn to love this page and love how all of my information is in one spot.

At first I didn't understand why we were learning about these types of RSS feeds and google reader but after exploring it I can see many uses for kids. For instance, you could set up a google reader with different educational websites were the students can access them. For instance, if they were doing research project on plant life then I could have different RSS feeds that they could check out and keep up to date with the news.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chin/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Photo Peach

The website that I used to create my slideshow was www.photopeach.com. This website allows you create slideshows and veiw other peoples creations.Then then the viewer can view your creation as a slideshow or a spiral.  I found this website to be a very easy and simple way to develop slideshow. I think for elementary students this is a great website to use because all you do is add photos, then music and then captions and it's done. There are no special effects to add in or transitions to worry about. I think this is a great website to use when introducing online slideshows.

I saw while looking through other peoples slideshows that were created. One was about World War II and was very interesting. I think that programs like this are great ways to end units. Students can use pictures and small phrases to tell a story. I can see this working great with science (for example: life cycle of a butterfly) or social studies (for example: a day in the life of a solider). 

Personally, for the use of this class I was disappointed with the website. Not because it was not user friendly but because it was so simple. I was hoping to make a slideshow with more special effects or have it be more creative. While for elementary school students this website will be great, I would just liked to have worked with something more complex.

My SlideShow.

My Adventures on PhotoPeach






http://photopeach.com/album/9qo9y0#

When is it to young for Computers?

The question that I am proposing is when is it too young for students to use computers? I think there are so many advantages for having computers in classroom for students. I work at a day care center at starting at the age of two and a half there are computers for students to use. However, my thinking lately is does this effect their learning? Or do we need to be teaching these students differently now that technology is so important to our lives?

The two and half year old children are able to figure out the learning games once they are on. I see that the computer is a great tool for reading for young students. However, if we expect students to use the computers so young, should be giving them instructions on how to use? Or start explaining them what a computer is? There are how to go to bathroom books, how to tie your shoe books but no how to use a computer book for kids.

The other thing I have been wondering about is what will be the developmental difference compare to generations before? We have no research of the effects of having computers in the house or using them from birth. Will it lead to more ADHD? Will it help develop fine motor skills? Any thoughts.....?

Nook- good idea or bad idea?

I have been having a lot of thought on the new technology Nook. The Nook is something where you can read books on a small device compared to reading them in a book form. My take on it is like a small lap top that just hold books. Personally, I do not know how I feel about the Nook. I think that it is a great idea to have all of your books in one place and you don't have to worry about wasting paper. You could have hundreds of books on the touch of the button and I am thinking you would be able to search quickly. For someone like me who loves to read it saves money as well as the convince of having the books sent to you instead of having to go to the store. However, I do not know how long I would be able to read looking at a screen or will I miss the old school way of turning the pages?

So, how could this be useful in the classroom? I think that having the teachers library on this machine would allow teachers to make classroom sets easier. Students could use these during reading time, classroom reading and for projects. The Nook allows the stories to be read to the students which would help students who are struggling or help students who are ELL (English Language Learners). Also, for students who are different levels, its a way for to limit the idea of the better readers verse the struggling readers. This is because students won't know what level each other are at. Also, teachers can put rich literature on the Nook instead of kids picking up picture books or books that push them. 

I think that students might look at this as a game would enjoy reading off of it. Books would last longer because when you send them home and they read them, paper books often get destroyed within the year. This way the stories will last year after year the teacher will not have to continue to buy them. 

The problems I see is that if these break or data gets lost you are losing all of your books. Will students learn the basic concept of print if they read off of these? Is this something that schools are moving towards? Just something that I have been thinking about when I saw this!?

Nook/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Classroom Website

I have received my placement for next year and have already met my teacher. We sat down and explored different things that we could do in our classroom. One idea I suggested was making a class website to keep parents and students posted instead of doing the weekly newsletter. My teacher loved this idea however we are going to ask the parents who still wants it in paper format. My plan is to post important information, newsletters and big projects on the internet. 

My problem that I am having with this idea is that am I assuming that all parents and students are going to have a computer at home? Can I assume that just because it is a "nice" area that all parents are going to computers? My thought process was to help save paper and have papers be able to do a RSS feed so they get e-mails every time something was added. What are everyone's thoughts? Can we assume elementary students will use a classroom website?

Spelling City

The students in my class were using this website, www.spellingcity.com. I found this website to be a great study tool for the students, especially ELL. The user first types in the words and the computer generates the list. You can have the words pronounced and used in sentence. Then their are test at the end and games for the students to play. I think that many times ELL students have a hard time with spelling test because their parents may not know how to say the word in English. I see this in my class with my ELL student. After using this website daily, he is starting to improve on his test because he can hear the words being pronounced when he is studying/learning them at their house.

The game are ones that I found my students enjoying to play. My CT has added this website to their weekly studying of the words and I have found that the students respond very well. They are always excited when it's spelling city time. Compared to how they hate doing their worksheets about the words. I have also seen my students with ADHD focusing more during spelling time and then turning around and increasing their grades.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57634636@N00/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Majority Rules

In a society where majority rules and voting is important, this system has naturally been moved into the classroom. Student Response Systems are a way for the class to vote or click in to vote or to answer questions. An example of this is the i-clicker. The clickers are like remotes and they send their messages to one main computer. This computer collects the data and projects the data in data sources. Teachers use these systems for quizzes, interactive questions and votes. Each student will register these clickers so the teacher knows how the specific student responds.

Clickers are used a lot in large classes, like college, and can also be used as attendance. Since the clickers are assigned to each person, the teacher can tell who was in class and who was not in class. As well as monitoring each students learning by how they answer the questions.

Another way for students to respond to questions is through their cell phones. Websites have the students text different codes and it calculates the data into charts. While this is a great way to have students participate using their phones (which most students love), there are many problems. For instance, this is assuming that each student has a cell phone and has a text messaging plan. Also, many schools band all cell phone use and this would be breaking that rule. I think this is great more in the high level class, such as college.

Student Response Systems are great, however I have seen many flaws with them as well. The clickers allow students to easily "cheat" or wait to everyone has put their answer in (in the ones that show the polls as people vote). I think this will give answers that are not as accurate as simple paper and pencil. Also, people can use other peoples clickers which many students do in college so it does not ruin their attendance.

clickers/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Presentation- embedded

Area

View more presentations from megkendall.

My Presentation :) 

Presenation

Link to my presentation

My presentation is a review of what area means and how to find the area of square.

Presentations

This weeks topic is about Presentations and what makes good presentations and makes presentations not as strong. For my work, I have the responsibility to design many presentations for different events. One thing that I have learned is that font size and color is the most important thing. If the audience can not read what you are presenting, then you are going to have problems. We use the software called Abode Connect which lets live audiences view the presentation from any computer (with an access key). This software allows one to record the presentation for later viewing. I believe that it does similar functions as google documents. 

In the classroom, I could see how having assess to presentations could be beneficial to the students. For instance, lectures could be recorded and put on the internet. The students could view them from their own house for extra help from the lesson. Or if a student misses a day of class, they could just log on and view the information for the day. I see this happening in older classrooms, especially in our college classrooms. Some classes are strictly all based online and you may never know what the professor/teacher looks like.

Elementary Learning is going to consist of different presentations. The presentations may be used for parents to see what is being learned in the classroom and keep them posted. Or they be used in staff meetings. Right now, the methods for teaching elementary education is not "PowerPoint" or lecture base, so presentations may not be used very often to teach the students. 

picture/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Google Documents

Google Documents/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Google Documents is a place where author's can put up their writings and invite other people to share their work. The author can choose whether or not they would like the viewers to just view or edit the writing as well. I think this is a great  way for students to work together  outside of the classroom. For instance, I have the experience of working in groups for projects were every sends each other four different versions of the powerpoint or word document. Now, everyone can just be working off of the same document where everyone can see the changes that they are making from their own computer.

In the classroom there are many ways in which a teacher could incorporate this into their lesson plans. For instance, if the students were doing a science experiment in the classroom. Instead of the teacher making this big large chart on the board where everyone fills in their data then each person copies down the data, they now can all go into the Google Document to add their data. This way each student will have access to the work and can edit if they need it. 

In my classroom, I think I would have students type their stories or upload their writings in Google Documents and have them share them with me. This way I could see the process of each students writing without having 30 documents printed off or sent to me through e-mail. I can go in as I please, without the students knowing when I'm going to be looking, making sure they are staying on task. 

What does Technology mean?

Before this class I had a misconception of what it meant to use technology in the classroom. I thought that it meant that you had to use the newest and greatest inventions and incorporating them into your classroom. Technology does have to be a computer, a cell phone or video games. Technology is really anything and how are you advance what you do with it. Overheads have been around forever, but how can I develop or incorporate this into my classroom enhance learning. What can I have students do with textbooks, paper, pencil or markers? Those are technologies too. Using technology in the classroom is changing the way that you think about what you have in your classroom and how are you take it up a level for the students.

Now with that being said, of course ideally I would have all of this advance technology, such as computers, smartboards etc would be in my classroom. It is the up and coming thing and students love technology. But we need to remember, if we were not in a school were the expensive technology is available there are still some ways to get some stuff into your classroom.

Video chat

In my placement, the students engaged in a skype conversation with another class in South America. They had translators to help the students understand each other. The students before prepared questions to ask about their school, life and activities they liked to do. The student's showed their classroom and talked about things they do in school. The students found that they were pretty similar to the students in South America.

The thing that I loved about the chat was the students were learning about culture from native speakers and students. The only thing that would have been better would have been going to South America. My students loved seeing the other students and loved hearing how they do things differently. The student's then wrote an e-mail (using the smartboard) and sent to to the class in South America. The letter was about how they had so much fun learning and talking to them. Then they arranged another date in which they are going to chat. The teacher's goal was to chat every other month. This goes along great with Social Studies GLEC's!

skype / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Smart boards

 

The technology that I would like to look at this week is the SmartBoards. My CT has one however they use it as a projector and that's pretty much it. I have played around around on it a few times and found so many cool ideas but I know there is more to do with it. 

The formal name is called SMART board interactive whiteboard. It's idea that combines a touch screen, computer, a whiteboard and projector for an interactive learning experience. The SMART board will work like a computer (by touch) then act like a white board in the since that you can write on it and then erase what you wrote.

Advantages for the technology are endless. One thing is saving paper and resources. Instead of making "overheads" a teacher can create a document then use the SMARTboard to edit or go over the document with the class.  Another advantage is that it allows the teacher to save what the class is working on for later reference. The teachers are able to record a lesson for the students to review later (even from a different computer). Students are able to learn through sound, visual (reading, pictures, graphs) and touch. This allows students to become more engaged and take responsibility for their learning. I believe this will help teachers stay organized. They no longer have to think about where they left off the day before, they now can save it. Then compare year to year each day what they had done for certain lessons. Also, doing everything by computer will allow teachers to be able to do quick edits and then save for later uses.

There are programs that have been develop to enhance students learning through the smartoard. For instance, there is a place where students can share documents which they can view from the board, edit and change. Concept map generate where they have installed a hand writing recognition.

One flaw that I have been reading about is writing on the screen there is a delay. This causes hand writing to become messy and hard to read. As well as the eraser is hard to erase only a small amount of the text causing it hard to do a quick fix on the board. As well as the teacher needs to be able to create and develop lessons, worksheets and ideas on the computer. If you do not know how to do this then this will be more work then saving you time. As well as, if your class does not know how to work computers or do not have computers in there home, it could limit the amount that you can do with the smart board. 

smartboard/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Slide Show

  

Here is my slide show! The pictures are first the picture that I was playing around with figuring out how to use picnik.com (one with the heart). The second picture is the picture of my screen-shot, which was edited just to see my web-browser. The third picture is where I changed the size and created a black and white photo. The last picture is the original picture before any changes were made!

Hand Writing

Handwriting/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

While at the School on Friday, I made a comment to the Technology teacher about how some of the students can type faster than they can write. She made a comment about give it some time and nobody will write anything done anymore. This comment stuck with me all day, are we really moving towards a society that does write anything down? I know personally I have lost my ability to write in cursive in a fast and correct manner. While taking notes I can type faster then I can write as well. So what does this mean for society? Will we eventually lose writing and is this a good thing?

My Picture

Megan's Picture / CC BY 2.0

Here is a picture that was taken at the Chicago Aquarium when I went on New Years Day. The star fish was in the children center where one could take the star fish. I saw how excited the children were (and my boyfriend and I) to be able to touch some of the under the sea life. I created this picture with Creative Commons!

Spring Fever, I Think So.

 In response to Spring Fever on Scholastic's blog (http://blogs.scholastic.com/gifted/2009/05/spring-fever.html), I enjoyed that the Jill White talked about the problems that students face at the end of the school year. I understand as a student that the excitement for Spring Break, Summer or graduation starts to grow. Here suggestion to sent up a blog at the end of the year, which she hoped would keep students engaged because it's something different, I really enjoyed. I think the second half of the year is a great time to incorporate new technologies because students are often getting bored. 

In my second grade classroom, the students are now typing up their stories after spending the entire first semester handwriting them. I can see how excited the student’s are when they get to hit the "PRINT" bottom and she their ideas in published format. It seemed as if the students were getting tired of writing and a few were saying that they didn't have any more thoughts to write about, however now the students are excited for writing time. I see them going through the editing process more carefully as well. The use of technology at the end of the semester will help keeps the students excited about what is occurring in the classroom.

The push on technology, is it a good thing?

I love that technology is being pushed into the classroom. I think that it brings wonderful things and different ways to present materials to the classroom. However, I do have my doubts on some things. I am wondering if too much technology will bring away from the teacher-student interaction, teacher-teacher interaction and teacher-parent interactions. Face to face interaction is so important for the development of students and it just shows that that the teacher cares. In this day in age, everyone is so "busy" to really take the care to sit down and talk about the situation. It becomes very easy to push students to the back in our lives and this is something that we do not want to happen.

Recording... who would have thought!?

flikr Carla Gomez Monroy/ CC BY 2.0

In my classroom, they have technology twice a week. Where the technology teacher brings in lap-tops or using the smartboard with the students. Right now the students are working on publishing their writing right now. She suggested that on the class website that the students post their typed masterpieces on the web. That way their parents, grandparents or anyone can access students work. I thought this was a great idea because this is just another way to improve parent involvement and for students to feel proud of their work. When she said this, the class got excited and started working extra hard on making their papers perfect. What a great way to keep students in excited about their learning and keep technology alive in the classroom.

Bloogging.

Blogging, is something totally new for me. I never thought I would be publishing things on the internet for everyone to read, but it truly has become the "new thing" and I do not see it going away in the future. It has some many benefits and true way for people to share what they know and any questions they might have. I am having a hard time getting started on when to blog and what to blog. I was not one to keep a journal ever and only have ever kept a blog in classes where we would respond to a question or a reading. I find that I am having writers block on blogging. It is not that I do not feel I have good thoughts or intentions but I am wondering what to share and what to blog!? Any thoughts or suggestions internet world?!

In the Classroom

I find it interesting the lack of technology being used in classrooms. It seems to me, that keep your lesson plans on the computer would make your life easier for editing and staying organize. E-mailing parents would save time and paper. Think about all the notes that get sent home for "FYI" purposes, don't you think parents read e-mail daily or even help with the risk of the children using it? I find in my placement that my teacher is so against technology. She has a Smartboard but doesn't know how to use it, she won't check her e-mail and all of her worksheets come from books. Yes, there is nothing wrong with this teaching but it just seems to be that there could be so many easier and faster ways of doing things. This is a change I am going to make in my classroom!

Starting up CEP 416

When enrolling in CEP 416 at Michigan State University, I was not sure what to except because I did not know what types of technology we were going to be studying and how we were going to be using them. After the first day, I am ecstatic because we are going to be developing professional websites and create new and exciting ways to communicate in the classroom. While my technology training is limited I find myself able to catch onto new pieces of equipment very quickly.

I hope that this class will teach me how to better link my classroom with the internet and use it in away that is beneficial for my students and myself. I hope that I will learn how to incorporate technology into my lesson plans because technology is something that will be used in all classrooms very fast and students love using it!