Final Blog

Question: How important is it to incorporate technology into your classroom? What are the benefits to you and your students? What are some of the challenges? What are the important lessons you will take with you from this class and use?


Answer:  


It is very important for any teacher to incorporate technology in the classroom because it can help prepare students for the vast growing use of technology in the real world. 


Some of the benefits include enhancing the curriculum, flexibility of presentations, improves lectures, and provides visualization in a variety of formats.


A challenge to using technology in the classroom is that it is always changing. Changing rapidly that teachers may not have the time to catch up. Their knowledge in technology may not be as up to date as the technology itself.


Naturally, I will take everything I learned from this class and try to use it effectively in my classroom. I learned some things I did not like and a lot of things that I did like. For example; I really liked the Diigo site where I can store all of my favorite websites. It is an easy way to bring up homework assignments I may want to use, lesson plans for ideas, and videos I found that I want to show my students. One thing I did not like was the use of the Smartboard. It is very tedious and time consuming and as a teacher I feel it's time I will not have. 

Bad Portfolio & Good Portfolio

Bad portfolio

http://www.cesa8.k12.wi.us/teares/math/it/samplePort/ANN%20K/index.htm

I believe this is a bad portfolio because the pictures she used are distorted and the colors she uses just don't catch my eye. She also never updated her professional artifacts like she stated she would. The whole page just doesn't seem very "professional" to me

Good portfolio

http://www.cesa8.k12.wi.us/teares/math/it/samplePort/LAURIE/Laurie's%20index.htm

Although very plain when the url first opens, I like this portfolio a lot. She uses a lot of color and enhances it with clipart and pictures related to teaching. She provides a lot of information in an organized matter.

Blog Post April 27th

Discuss copyright for teachers. What surprised you? What ways have you observed copyright laws being violated in schools (no names, please. Just examples)? How about violations outside of the school environment? Is it your job to teach copyright respect to your students? How can you do this?


Answer: 


I don't really understand the copyright laws and how they pertain to teachers. Yes, I know that copyright means you cannot use someone else's work without permission but I don't understand the fair use policy and how teachers use it. 


What surprised me the most about copyright was the video example you gave us. That a teacher must have permission to show a video to her class, even if the video is just for fun. So I can't show my kids a video on the last Friday before summer vacation just for fun without someone's permission?


I probably observe copyright laws being violated everyday and just don't realize it. Teachers are constantly using things off the internet and never actually giving proper recognition to the person who created it. I violate copyright laws myself. Last semester I printed off worksheets for something I was doing. I didn't create those worksheets and I didn't give proper recognition to the person who did. To be honest, I don't even know who created them. Second, myself and thousands of other people violate copyright laws when we download illegal music off line or make copies of movies. We are never given permission to download that music or make those copies. The only way to get music legally is to buy, from expensive places like Itunes, and lets be honest here, who actually does that?


Is it my job to teach copyright laws to my students? Yes, I believe it is. If I didn't, my students would be plagiarizing every day and never having a clue why or how they did it. Then parents would come to me or the school board and complain about their students getting bad grades all the time. If I don't teach my students about copyright, it's pretty much my fault that they are receiving those bad grades. 


How can I teach my students about copyright ?? The same way most people teach their students about copyright. I would have them read articles, Id give them examples of things that should be copyrighted and things that shouldn't and see if they can distinguish a difference.

4/13 blog continued

Scenario: You decide to incorporate a digital video project in your classroom. What is the

content area/project/age level? What are the preparations you will have to do prior to

beginning this project? What are some of the challenges? Be specific – think like a teacher in

the public school system and make a checklist and timeline of beginning to end, starting

with prep work and ending with the final project. Write this up as an informal lesson plan and

post to your blog.

content: CPR

project: students will teach their classmates CPR

age level: 7th grade

preparations prior to beginning project:

1. make sure all students know how to do CPR and what steps to follow so that they can

teach to other students

2. make sure they have access to cameras

3. teach them how to use the software

4. rules

5. give them a rubric and a deadline

challenges:

1. Students may not know CPR

2. Students may not know how to work the camera

3. Some students may be absent on the days of filming

timeline : project would take a week

all prep work that needs to be done by the teacher will be down the week prior to the start

of the assignment 

Monday : students will learn CPR and also learn about the camera and its software

Tuesday: filming

Wednesday: filming, making any last minute changes

Thursday: editing

Friday: films will be submitted and shown to the class.

Blog Post 4/13

Reflect on your group video project. What worked well? Where could you have improved? How would you approach this differently next time? What skills will you take away with you from completing this project?


I think that the video group project went well for what it was. If we were given more time, I think the story line would have been better developed and the quality would have improved.


Scott and I worked well together, although we realized we fight like a married couple. We were both able to discuss different ideas with one another and decide what worked and what didn't. The video project was a fun experience for us both and we wanted it to be educational and fun for those watching. We also never really had any trouble with the camera. I know some people in the class experienced difficulty and I was thankful that Scott and I did not.


When improvement is questioned, we could have spent more time on the project. We spent about an hour a day on the project for a week and the end result seemed like it needed more work. We both had busy schedules the week of the project though so time was definitely a factor when it came to deciding when to do different scenes.


If asked to do this again, I would have had a better plan. We kind of just laid out a topic and went with it. We thought of each scene as we came to it. I like to plan ahead so I feel I would plan out a better story line, know what scene is going to happen when, and know when is going to happen in each scene long before we actually get to it.


The skills I took away from this project include; working well with another student, learning how to operate the camera and its different functions, learning how to edit properly, and learning what stuff you need and dont need before it becomes just "Fluff".

smartboard

  1. Interactive whiteboards are becoming more common in the classrooms. How do you feel they enhance teaching and learning? Was the technology difficult for you to learn to use? What are the pros and cons to having them installed in your classroom? Think of some lesson plans you wrote in the past. How would you incorporate the Smartboard when teaching that content?

Answer:

My personal opinion? I do not like the Smartboards. They are very temperamental and difficult to use. You never know if the Smartboard is going to work properly that day and it is a hassle if it decides that it doesn't want to.

Do I think they enhance teaching? I only believe that they enhance teaching if the teacher likes to use the Smartboard and knows how to use it properly. Learning is only enhanced if the teacher is capable of teaching the material well. If he or she does not teach well, the Smartboard will not enhance learning. 

Would I use the Smartboard in my classroom? Sometimes. Would I use it to teach a lesson? Probably not. I would use the Smartboard to give the students a chance for some interactivity. I would have them look at different sites using the board just because they are able to use their hands and get out of their seats once in awhile.

The pros of the Smartboard are the interactivity it offers for the students. They give students the opportunity for hands on experience and a chance to get out of their seats. It also provides a neat way to give presentations. It offers pictures, shapes, etc.

The cons, you never know if the Smartboard is going to work properly.

Blog Post # 3

1. Is Inspiration something you would invest in for your classroom? List at least 10 ideas in your content areas where you could incorporate it - include uses as a productivity tool as well as an instructional tool.

answer: After experiencing Inspiration, it is something I would invest in for my classroom. It's a quick and efficient way for myself or my students to create concept maps, outlines, etc. Inspiration pretty much does the work for you so there should be minimal errors.

Some ways Inspiration could be used include;
1) concept map of the plant cycle (teacher or student made)
2) outline information for a paper
3) the teacher could create graphic organizers for the students
4) students can save important symbols that they find in the symbol folder
5) students can export their work into a word document. so if a student creates an outline with inspiration for a paper they are writing, they can export it into word and either save it or print it. they can also incorporate what they did in Inspiration into a whole project or presentation.
6) sound can be added to diagrams. this can add meaning to the project that the student or teacher wants to present
7) teachers can pick a template that was already created, for example; the body systems. this could be used to teach a science unit about the body.
8) students can create an outline of important dates throughout history and provide ideas of why those dates are important
9) graphic organizers can be used to document the different types of oceans
10) graphic organizers can also be used by the teacher to provide him or her an idea of what the student knows, wants to know, and what they learned.

2. What are your favorite Web Resources we covered in class? Which do you think you would use the most? Why and how? Be specific.

answer: Two of my favorite Web Resources include RubiStar and United Streaming. When it comes to deciding which two I would use the most, I would have to say both.

RubiStar I would use all the time to create rubrics for projects that are assigned to students. I would also create rubrics to help students grade themselves and their peers.

I would use United Streaming to help show my students interesting videos that are provided online. I think using a video to show something is interesting for students but also a lot less boring. It wouldn't just be me standing in the front of the classroom lecturing.