Technology in the Classroom #10

Yesterday in my practicum I noticed a new piece of technology in the classroom I am in. It was a document camera which I have seen used before especially on campus. I think it is a great form of technology. Not everything you will need to show to the class can be accessed on the computer so it is nice to have the document camera. She used it to show the new seating arrangement she made up for the class so they could move into it. Granted a document camera can be hard to get use to especially when trying to align the paper but it is a great tool!

Technology in the Classroom #9

Today in my EDS class I learned about a different form of technology that is used in schools. We were learning about visual impairments. We were on the subject of brail and learned about a special printer. Apparently, most schools have a special printer that print out handouts and what not in brail. I never knew there were things like this in a regular school. I thought they were only in special schools. I think having them in regular schools is a great thing. It is very possible to come across a blind student in a classroom so you would need to be able to make all assignments available in brail. I am curious to learn about other technology like this.

Technology in the Classroom #8

I learned about many tools today that I can use in the classroom someday. The National Library of Virtual Manipulative's is a great website to have your students do hands on activities. There is mind42 where students can do brainstorming and organizing for writing papers. Just doing graphic organizers on papers can get old so doing it in this way can offer new experiences for the students. Spelling city is a great website that I would love to share with children. It is a great way to extra practice in with spelling words. Spelling words are a big part of elementary school so this will be a great tool for me when I teach. Finally, I discovered google for educators. This is a site on google for educators that gives teachers ideas on activities and tools to use in their classroom.
Learning about all of these tools will make technology be more prevalent in my classroom but not be repetitive. I think it is important to someday introduce a variety of technology in my classroom!

Technology in the Classroom #7

This week in my practicum I saw the negative side of using technology in the classroom. My cooperating teacher had prepared a PowerPoint at home and emailed it to her school account so she could use it that day in a lesson. The PowerPoint she sent was missing slides she had made at home and wouldn't play correctly. She had to remake some slides but still had the problem with presentation not playing correctly. She tried it on another computer and ended up having to copy and paste the whole thing into a new presentation. That did the trick but she had no backup so if it didn't work she would of had to make it up as she went. Technology is great but its not always reliable. As teacher you need to always have backup and plan days ahead incase something you do at home doesn't work at school.

Technology in the Classroom #6

Today in my practicum technology was used a lot. The students watched another video from Brain Pop that was projected from the computer on to the board. Some students were on the computers on a program called compass. I am not exactly sure what it is but from what I could see they were playing math related skill games. A camera was used today because my cooperating teacher is going through KTIP and has to record a lesson. During this lesson she used excel to make a pie graph of an experiment the class was doing, this was also projected onto the board. She followed with a PowerPoint. I really enjoyed seeing so much technology being used. The students seemed to be more interested in this lesson than any other one I have observed. Even though she used a lot of technology she did it in a way that was not overwhelming to the students which is very important.

Technology in the Classroom #5

In my first practicum after spring break I saw a new form of technology being used in the classroom. The teacher was showing a video she found on the Internet to the class through the projector. The class doesn't have a smart board or a pull down screen so the video was just projected onto the regular white board. The teacher apparently uses this website a lot because the students were very familiar with how the process worked; a short, fun video followed by a quiz. This website is www.brainpop.com. It has tons of videos to explain topics that are taught in the classroom everyday. I feel that it is a great resource and I am glad I was introduced to it.

Technology in the Classroom #4

I participated in Read Across America at another elementary school in the Erlanger district. I was in various classrooms and was surprised by the technology. My practicum is also in the Erlanger district but this school is way more advanced. There is a smart board in nearly every room. The teachers were using it to show videos from their computers and have books read from the Internet. The students loved it and it was a great background addition while the children worked on other assignments.

Technology in the Classroom #3

Yesterday in my practicum my student's special was computer lab. I have never seen that done before. When I was in school we had art, music, and gym for specials. Computer lab was something we got to do every so often. I like how this school has it has a special. This way the students get more expereince with the computers and the teacher does not have to take more time out of her day for it. It seems to work very well and the students love going to the computer lab.

Podcast in WebQuest

I could include a podcast in my WebQuest by telling a story relating to the lesson.  For example, in my math class our teacher told us a story with shapes that went along with the lesson so I could do something in that manner. I feel that students would enjoy the quest much more with a podcast involved. It would be a break from traditional lecture and be entertaining. If the students created them I think they would enjoy it so much more. They would be learning more about technology and the content at the same time. I think podcast are a great idea and that students would love to use them in learning.

Technology in the Classroom #2

On Wednesday in my practicum I saw the students using the computers in the room to take accelerated reader tests. These are tests based on the books they read and they collect points from every test. The points are used to buy items from the accelerated reader store. I like that I am seeing the students be independent on the computers. They know how to work this program fairly well. I did accelerated reader when I was in elementary school so it was kind of neat to see that it is still being used. I am familiar with this program so I will be able to help these students and my own students some day if it is still in use.

Technology in the Classroom #1

I have been in my practicum for about a month now and I am just now seeing technology being used. On Monday the students were working on the computer to type their personal narratives. I worked with one student who was very unfamiliar with the computer. I was surprised at how lost she was when trying to do a simple task such as type. Technology does not apparently pay a large role in that classroom and it shows. I hope to see this change while I am in there because it really needs to or these kids will suffer.

Ideas for WebQuest

I would like to do my Webquest on mathematics because that is my emphasis area. I am an elementary education major so my two ideas are dealing with money or an adding WebQuest. With money I could have tasks dealing with recognizing coins and making change for a dollar. With adding I could have tasks where the students use items to add and then another task where they just have the numbers. I feel that both of these areas are very critical in mathematics at the elementary level, which is why I chose them. I plan to expand on these ideas or maybe even combine them in someway.

Webpage in the classroom

I feel that using a website in my future classroom will be a great tool. It will be extra work but I think it will be well worth it. I plan to make my website for in depth for my parents. I will post all assignments and homework on there. If someone misses school they can make up their work that same day because it will be on there. Also, if they lose their homework they will be able to print off another copy.
On the other hand, using a webpage could be hard depending on what school I teach at. If I am at a lower income school my students and/or parents may not have access to the internet or a printer. In that case my website would not be a big deal but I would still have it for the parents that can acess it.

Class 2

I learned more about operating my blog today. I have never blogged before so all the editing was new to me but I enjoyed it. When it comes to blogging I think I will have trouble expressing myself but I am trying to get over that. I think I will become more open from blogging. I would like to learn about how to make an effective classroom blog and how to search for blogs I would find interesting. I am very eager to get into blogging and see what it has in store.

First Day- My impressions

This semester I feel that I will learn about new programs dealing with computers. I am pretty familiar with the basics on the computer but I feel this class will offer many new things. I have never blogged before so I have already learned something new on the first day. I plan to take in everything I learn from this class and someday use it in my classroom when I become a teacher. I think I will be introduced to many interesting programs that will allow for originality and fun in my future classroom.