DigITaL cAmERaS and coMIc LiFe FuN!

Today was a fun day in Instructional Technology! We got the opportunity to use digital cameras, to create a fun geometry definition book for students. We started out by taking pictures of geometric properties in natural life. I love this idea! Children are naturally interested in the world around them. It would be so interesting to learn about Math, a hard subject, using the world, instead of manufactured pictures in a text book.

We also got the chance to work with i-photo. This was a wonderful Program. I had never used it before, but it was so easily accessible. I had no trouble figuring it out. I would love to use this program in a future classroom. I feel as though the children could easily work the program, and be successful in uploading photos to it. (Of course, I would have to hope that my classroom includes Macs!) 

The last thing that we worked with today was called comic life. I LOVED this program! It was so fun to use, and easy as well. I believe that it was created this way, so even novice computer learners can use it. A lot of times, programs that are created for beginners are mostly informational, but this was way fun! It was so easy to create the geometry book using this program! I would love to use this program in my classroom, the children could create their own projects, or open it to access my creations.

I really want to use this method in my own future classroom! I loved the idea of making the geometry definition book, but I would also like to extend this use to other subjects. I would love to use this method with english and literacy. I think it would be way fun to allow my students to take a camera home for a weekend, and take pictures of their natural world. Once they have taken pictures, they can return the camera to school. Then, as a class wide project, the children will  load their photos on i-photo and write their own story using comic life. I believe this will be a meaningful experience for the children. Not only will it increase their language and literacy skills, but it will be a personal project, one that they will be able to remember.  

Fun with COmpUtEr TuTOrS

During this weeks lesson, I was able to participate in a language arts,  computer based tutoring system. The first one ART (Affable Reading Tutor),  is targeted toward 4th and 5th graders, to help them build comprehension, by questioning as they read. I liked this program for the most part. I think one of the most beneficial parts of the program is that children are able to work on it alone, at their own pace. They don't have to follow and keep up with a class. I also liked how the children were able to type their own answers into the program. I feel that this builds literacy, as well as comprehension, which is great!

However, there were some things that I didn't like about the program. I felt that the answering was a little inconsistent. At some points in the program, you could answer with pretty much anything, and the program didn't check to see if it was wrong or right. On other parts of the program, they wanted such specific answers, that sometimes substituting words like injury for injured was counted against you. 

If I were designing this program, I would have made the answering system a little more consistent. I would want my students to be able to use word substitutions, because I feel that this builds vocabulary. I would also have picked a different voice for the little girl. It seemed like her intonations were off. At some points when she was supposed to be expressing enthusiasm, her voice sounded sad. Since children are always learning, I would try to make her intonations accurate, so the children would learn accurately.  

All in all, I would use this program in my future classroom. I feel like this would be a great supplemental material, to use in conjunction with teacher instruction for comprehension. I really appreciated how the program focused on questioning, which is something I have noticed with my practicum children, that they have a harder time understanding.   

WeB qUEsT

Today, we got the opportunity to explore a great website entitled WebQuest. This site, or rather, model of learning was created in 1995 by Bernie Dodge. The philosophy of WebQuest is to provide an interactive learning experience for children that is inquiry based, with information obtained on the web. I found this very exciting. The children are able to explore and learn about things, that they would have otherwise been limited from. 

I was able to experience a WebQuest lesson first hand. I participated in a third grade lesson titled "The Show Must Go On." This lesson gives children a unique chance to fill an adult role, and recruit missing orchestra members for a last minute performance of "Peter and the Wolf." It was way entertaining, even for me, a 20 year old adult. 

I would absolutely use this learning method in my future classroom. Especially because a lot of times computer time is wasted in classroom, on meaningless games. I believe this will give my future students a fun and meaningful way to fill computer time. Because of the wide variety of activities, I feel that my students will find something to interest them. 

WeB sItE EvALuaTIon

Today in class we got the opportunity to become experts on websites and evaluate them. We used 4 different forms. My favorite form was created by Kathleen Schrock. Her form was very easy to understand and easy to use. My least favorite form was created by Terri Snethen. I thought that the link finder on ALTAVISTA, was pleasing, but the rest of the form was hard to use. It didn't ever even ask what the title of the website was! 

I wish that I had found some sort of "SECRET" about the websites using the form, but I didn't! They all seemed to be pretty legitimate and educational. However, I feel by using a form to evaluate these sites you can discover any hidden problems and ascertain the validity of websites.

I plan on using these forms in my future classroom. If I am going to use any website in my classroom, I have to make sure that the SAFETY of my students is my number one concern. Chances are, if they use it at school they will want to try it at home. Because of this, I will need to check the sites to make CERTAIN, that my students are accessing safe websites. I feel that this will make for a HAPPY teacher, students and parents! 

ExCel ANd SuRveY FuN!

Today we had the OPPORTUNITY to learn about MICROSOFT EXCEL. I had used Excel before, but had  never used it to the extent that we were able to use it today. I never took the basic computer class during College, instead I opted out of it and took a test. I remember STRUGGLING really badly during the Excel portion. I could not figure out for the life of me how to work the equation deal. Today I learned that it was really easy! As long as you start the equation with an equal sign, it is pretty STRAIGHTFORWARD!  I am really happy to have this new information! I am excited to put this into practice. I believe that this will be incredibly helpful and time saving for my future grade books! 

Today, we also learned how to do something really NEAT! We got to create surveys on G-MAIL. I have never done this before! It was so FUN! I loved it! I am way excited to put this to use in my classroom. I feel that it is a great way to get parents, and students involved. I am planning on using this to ask my students/parents opinions about assignments, as well as getting feedback about my teaching style. This is a great tool, and I am really EXCITED to utilize it in my future practicums and classrooms. 

P.S.- If anyone wants to check out my SUPER COOL survey here is the link:

SURVEY!

Hands on Experience at the YETC

Today we were given the OPPORTUNITY to experience all of the resources that the YETC has to offer. Instead of just learning and listening about these things we were given the opportunity to actually EXPERIENCE them!

One of my favorite resources that I was able to navigate today was the GUTENBERG PROJECT. I love to read, and I am hoping to instill this love with my students as well. As I was looking through all of the resources they had, I was totally impressed by how broad the collection was. I found a book that I could use for every holiday. For Halloween....The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. By clicking on the link "HTML" the book appeared on my screen in seconds. The children could easily follow along, or obtain their own copies if they were all seated at a computer. Because this particular story isn't illustrated, children could create their own illustrations, and insert them into the text.

Another interesting page that I found as I was exploring was NATHAN SMITHS EDUCATIONAL TREASURES. The link to this page is found under the main YETC resource page, or by following this link, http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/nathan/index.html. This page, which is updated yearly provides many useful websites, and their links. I found several sites, that I have bookmarked for future use.
For a math lesson, I could use http://www.hbschool.com/activity/calculator_gr1/.
This site provides a fun tutorial on how to use a calculator. The site also provides many fun math games, with topics and themes that would be interesting to children.
For a disorganized person like myself, an organizational system would be perfect. Based on the sticky post it notes that are commonly seen posted on computers, http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/index.html, this site provides an electronic form of sticky notes.
As a teacher, a common resource is other teachers. Ann Brundige, a teacher who has worked for many high profile companies has created a free teacher resouce found at http://www.annbrundigestudio.com. This link provides many resources for teachers, including activities for each grade level, clipart and how-to activities.

Another really interesting resource is STELLARIUM. This very pleasing resources is found at www.stellerium.org. This is essentially a virtual solarium right on your computer. You can localize the view of the sky to personalize it for your students. However, my very favorite part of stellaruim, is the link that has various cultures interpretations of the constellations. More and more we are learing how we need to have multi-cultural classrooms. This provides such a great opportunity to do so. Stars are a universal concept, which all students are familiar with. Using common ground to learn about different cultures I feel is the best way to go about multi-cultural education.

YETC Resources

Today we visited and learned about all of the resources that the YETC offers. As we all know, there are many useful resources there, with an ever helpful staff. I was impressed by how much there was to see, and how willing and anxious Nate was to help.

I would love to gather some of the resources to use in a future classroom. I believe the password protected area of the YETC website, will be especially useful. I feel that I should gather as many materials as I can now, before I am graduated and can no longer take part in these wonderful opportunities. I am excited to watch some of the training videos. I love to watch how real classrooms are putting the principles that we discuss into use. Also, I am really enthused about the clip art collection. I feel I have wasted so much time searching for clip art on the web. Now I have a resource, that will narrow down my search field, so I can spend more time on the content parts of my lesson, rather than the supporting pictures.

I also really liked learning about the add on's. Especially the video downloader. I never knew that something like this existed. I think this is an excellent resource. I would love to be able to create a digital library of videos for my future classroom. I so often times find videos, that I would love to save. However instead of saving the url, I now know that I will be able to save the videos to a thumb drive.

I would also love to obtain a show, from Microvision for my classroom. I believe this would be such a useful resource. This thing is so neat. I would specifically use this piece of equipment in place of a general overhead projector. Not only is it tiny, so it doesn't take up useful classroom space, but you can upload anything from your computer or i pod and have it at your fingertips. This device will project on anything, not just a white screen. Even if we were on the bus going on a field trip, I could bring this piece of equipment, and share in a learning expeience with the children on the way to our destination.

I am excited to use all of the new resources that I have learned about today!

UEN Lesson plan for Technology Class

I have used the resources on the UEN website before, but I had never before created a profile. I am amazed at all the opportunities this has for educators. I like that students and parents can log onto to the website and can personalize their page as well. I am excited to use this website in my future classroom, as it has many things on it to keep me organized. I think students need technology integrated within their education. I feel this website offers them alot of opportunities to do this. This website helps them to take partial control over their learning.

I am planning on doing a lesson plan for 2nd Grade students.

The subject matter relates directly to the content core, standard one. Which states, that students will develop a sense of self.

I am loosely basing my lesson plan on the following link:
http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=5691

I am going to tweak this lesson plan a little bit by adding technology, and changing the story that we will use. In order to add technology, I am going to give my students the opportunity to create their own version of the food guide pyramid, on the computer, using the national guidelines.

DiRtY AiR aNd No GoOd InTEntIons!

I love that I can blame my total lack of effort towards anything productive to the nasty air outside! In case you didnt know...Logan is the 4th worst in the nation for bad air. For example:

1- Hmm, working out? Oh you know the air is really bad to breathe...maybe I should wait and do that next week.

2- Class... What? That would require me to walk outside in that dirty air, and ruin my poor little lungs.

Not to mention, my wonderful mother who I adore, called and told me that I shouldnt feel bad about not going to the gym today, because she heard on the radio, that a man who is important in his own right, said if he ever had the ambition to run, he wouldn't in this smoggy goodness.

So really, if you think this post is lame..don't blame me......It's that nasty air!

7:30 in the Morning!!!!

I am currently in class...at 7:30 in the morning! Ahh, trust me I am not even ready for the day! I cannot physically function this early in the day! I wasn't truly aware that this time did exist, until I had a class scheduled at this time! I suppose that it helps that my teacher is super nice! The best part of 7:30 in the morning? The opportunity I have to take a nap when it is all over!