Technology in the Classroom

            Technology has become such a large part of the world today that it is necessary to incorporate it into the classroom.  Since kids of this generation are so wrapped up in their video games and other sources of technology that incorporating it in the classroom could only benefit their learning.  It can help to expand my students' knowledge not only on how to use technology, but also on many relevant topics that they may be studying.  It allows students to be interactive with what they are learning which helps them to learn the material as well as keeping them interested.  As a teacher, it opens a new door as to what I can use to help my students learn concepts.  Technology also can help me become a better teacher.  For example, I can create an electronic portfolio that allows me to reflect on my work, improve it, and watch my growth.  This can also be used for students to watch their growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
           Some challenges might be getting the correct technology for the job.  Since technology is expensive, some school districts might not have the leisure of getting the newest up-to-date technology.  Therefore, it will be my responsibility to utilize what materials I do have.  Also, it is a lot of work to set up technology projects for the students to do.  It requires much setup, prior teaching of how to use the equipment, much planning and a lot of time.
           I will take from this class many important lessons.  I now know how to fully use a SMART board which many more schools today have in their classrooms.  This will allow me to incorporate the students in the activities more.  Similarly, I can successfully power my way through Microsoft Word, Photoshop, and even create my own blog and videos.  I know how to make a portfolio which will help me in the future when I begin searching for a job.  All of these ideas will only help me to become a better teacher, and allow me to incorporate these technologies into the classroom.  This was an extremely useful class, and I had so much fun doing and learning everything!

Copyright

I was surprised by just how much was copyrighted and all the procedures teachers (should) need to go through in order to use copyrighted materials in the classroom.  Many of my teachers in the past have showed movies in class without getting copyrights.  I have also had teachers who have shown movies that they copied off TV.  Outside of school, my coaches have done the same thing (watching movies on the bus on the way to a district meet, etc.).  Also people use materials from others to base ideas and works they have/produce.  I think I can teach my students basics of copyright such as not to plagiarize.  I can make my students cite their sources or where they received information from when they write a paper or do a project.  This will get them used to using sources for help but giving credit where credit is due.

Good and Bad portfolios

Locate 1 good and 1 bad example of electronic portfolios on the Internet.  Post as links in a blog entry.  Tell me your justification for choosing each.
http://durak.org/kathy/portfolio/ Good

I think this is a good portfolio because:

• it is easy to navigate,
• it had everything needed listed on the side,
• it included a Resumé,
• student work is portrayed, and
• it is colorful.

 http://www.geocities.com/Baja/8205/pcstudents.htm

I think this is a bad portfolio because:

• the color scheme makes it difficult to read,
• there is too much on the webpage which makes it overwhelming to look at,
• I do not like the format of it, and
• there are no pictures.  

Video project lesson plan

If I were to incorporate video into my classroom here is one possible option in doing so:

Age: 5th grade
Subject: History project
Title: History in Motion.

Prep work: In order to prep for this project, I would have to take time in class to teach the students how to use the video equipment as well as how to use editing equipment.  This will probably take about a week with at least 3 or 4 days spent in the lab experimenting and using the equipment.  Also, this project would be used at the end of the school year as a culminating activity of everything the students learned that year in United States History.  I would also need to be sure that the students had all materials available to them such as:
- Video cameras,
- Disks, class flash drive, etc. for the students to save work on,
- Microphones (if needed),
- Tripod (if needed),
- Movie Maker 2.6,
- Story board worksheets, and
- Ample computer lab time.

Procedure:  After students learn how to use the equipment in class, I will give them a description of the project.  I will assign roughly 3 to 4 students to a group (depending on class size possibly 4 or 5 in a group) and each group will pick an important historical event that we talked about in class.  The groups will then have to make a video recreating the event with the students acting as the historical figures of the time.  One requirement that I have for the students is that each student must take a speaking part in the video.  Students will need to have props and create a script as well (as an entire group!).  Groups will receive class sanctioned time during specific days and are also allowed to work on this project during their extra time in class as well as during lab time.  I really want the students to research the historical time period and really learn and understand the event as well as come up with creative ways to portray it to the classroom.  They will have about 2 weeks to create their short movies and the movies should range from 3-5 minutes in length.  Once the videos are done, we will have a class movie day where we will watch all the groups' videos and make comments on what we learned!

Challenges:  I really need to be sure that the software is available for the students.  That means it needs to be installed in the computer lab as well as in computers in the classroom so groups can work on it during free time.  I also need to approve the groups' topics and make sure they are grade and school appropriate.  I also need to be sure that the students are all working on task and not goofing around when they are making these videos.  Batteries and tapes on the video camera need to be charged and ready to go the day before filming as well.  I think this project could be extremely beneficial for the students, so it needs to be done right.

Video Project

I really enjoyed the video project in class!  It was a lot of fun to film and create and definitely interesting and useful.  Janet and I really worked well together and both contributed many good ideas to the creation of our PSA laundry announcement.  I think we found really good people to act in it whose reactions worked perfectly for what we were trying to portray.  I also think the scene where Paul (the roommate) was passed out on the floor from the stench was really effective in telling our story.  I also think the entire program really told a story and could easily be followed.  I think we should have redone the last part where they were actually in the laundry room.  We were trying to go for a corny, funny retro infomercial feel and it didn't quite work exactly the way we wanted it to.  If we were to do this again, I think we should slow down the original speech and do more exaggerated actions to get a funnier, more entertaining end.  I will definitely consider using videos at some point in my classroom and I can take much away from this project.  I now know how to upload videos to youtube as well as use editing software to edit a short movie.

Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are tools that are critical to a student's learning of a concept.  Not only are they "cool" and fun to use, but they add a level of interactive capability that a teacher could not use without the board.  It gets kids up and thinking as well as interacting and actually doing something.  It offers many great programs and software that are included with the interactive whiteboard.  For me, learning how to use the technology was not that complicated, I just get caught up with some of the little details (like clicking the arrow again after creating a text box).  I really enjoyed learning how to use the Smartboard and am so glad I did learn.

They are great tools to use in the classroom, especially with the toolkit that comes along with the software.  There are so many great interactive and flash files on it!  Unfortunately, the program is hard to use if the computers are slow or if the software doesn't get updated.  Also, when putting it in a classroom, it might be difficult depending on the age level.  Kindergarteners must be able to reach it so it cannot be too high, and also, it gets tricky when trying to keep it stabilized.  If it is a portable interactive whiteboard, you might have to orient it every time it gets bumped.

Last semester I taught a lesson on measuring to the nearest inch.  I could have used a setting in the software that would have allowed me to put a ruler on the whiteboard, and let the kids come up and actually measure an object on the screen with that ruler.  Also, I did a lesson on symbols on flags.  I can let the students in a class create a flag that represents our entire class on the whiteboard.

Software

We learned many great software skills this week in class.  I think it was extremely important to learn these skills because they are something we will using all the time when we are teaching.  I think Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word skills are the most important.  As an elementary school teacher, I will have to create tons of newsletters that will be going home to my parents.  It is important to know how to make newsletters and have them be visually appealing as well as informational.  I also liked learning how to create concept maps.  These will help me plan out my units as well as be great tools for the students to use to study or learn.  I think all of these skills are important to learn and eventually master if I would like to be a great teacher.  I also think using the Smart Board is an extremely good tool.  This gets the kids interacting in the lesson and also gives them a good way to stay focused.  I would use it for interactive lessons such as a science lesson where they could observe interactions such as learning how rocks are formed.  This is an essential tool for the classroom.

Websites for teachers

There are many websites out there that are excellent resources for teachers.  My two favorite that we talked about in class this week are Rubistar and United Streaming.  I think that I will use Rubistar very much because it really is a great way to create rubrics for various projects.  Projects and speeches are better ways to assess students than taking tests, so by having a resource such as Rubistar, it makes it easier as a teacher to employ these assessment methods instead of always giving the students a test.  I also really liked United Streaming.  This site has so many great videos on a variety of subjects (my favorite being the Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy!).  The videos could be used to further explain a concept or elaborate on the content learned in class.  I also think it is a fun way for students to learn.  Who doesn't like learning from Bill Nye or Ms. Frizzle?  Aside from these two sorts of videos, there are also plenty of informational videos on real life scenarios.  I really liked these two websites and will definitely use them in my classroom in the future!  :)

Inspiration

The program Inspiration can be used in classrooms everywhere.  First, I could use it as a teacher to help organize and plan concept maps for my lessons.  I could also use it  to help me create certain subjects on tests, such as creating concept maps that the students would have to fill in on their papers.  It is also a great tool to make outlines.  Inspiration has many useful templates already created for teachers to use.  For example, one map or outline could be used to help show relationships between characters in a novel or play.  I could also look up outlines that I could use for different concepts in science such as the water cycle or energy.  All of the pre-made outlines/maps can be used either as an instructional tool or as a testing element.  Students can also use Inspiration to create their own concept maps to ensure their understanding of the material.  I can also use Inspiration to create graphic organizers for my students, so they can use them to follow along in the lesson.  It's a program I could use to make worksheets with as well to expand students knowledge.  It also could be created as a study guide, by giving the students maps and outlines to fill in.  Lastly, it can be used even in Kindergarten, because I can add pictures to the maps to give more visual aid to younger learners.  This program is just extremely useful in the classroom.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking can be a useful tool in an elementary school classroom.  Many projects could be done where the students will be using a social bookmarking site such as diigo or delicious.  It is a great resource for group projects that the students will have to do.  If I have all the groups create a social bookmarking page for a research project, when one student finds a useful article, they could just post it to their social bookmarking page and the entire group can find and read it.  Similarly, if there is something we discussed in class or websites with fun games or applications on it, I could post them to my account and then the students could access it from home to check out the sites.  Also it would make projects easier on the students.  Instead of having to write down every web address, the students can just add it to their page and access it from home.  It makes projects and work much easier on both the students and the teacher, and it helps organize everything in an orderly manner.  I could definitely use these types of sites for myself now.  I could use it when working on a group project so that all the group members could see each others articles.  Similarly, it would help me organize the different articles and sites that I find so that it makes it easier for me to locate them all on one site.  Overall, social bookmarking is extremely useful in classrooms.  :)

Google Apps

So while there are many google apps available to the world, many of these are great to utilize in a classroom.  I personally really like the idea of using GoogleApps in the classroom.  Gmail accounts, GoogleDocs, GoogleCalendar, GoogleSites, etc.  GoogleApps have many advantages over the traditional Office apps.  Students can particularly use the GoogleDocs app for collaborative projects among students.  They can each add their own portions to the project and then it can all be downloaded.  This is one advantage of using GoogleApps.  Some disadvantages are that you don't have quite the variety of choices in items such as the font, colors, etc. that traditional Office apps. do have.  Overall the biggest advantage of GoogleApps is that it is all collaborative and students can add their own ideas to a group project, all in one place.  A disadvantage of GoogleApps is that it does not have as many choices as the Office apps on a traditional program.

Blogs in the Classroom

I think that blogs can be extremely useful in a classroom.  For example, I could have students use blogs to create daily journal entries in order to help them with their writing skills.  Each day if they have free time, they can take out a packet of writing prompts and start writing their prompt on a blog.  Then I can let all the students in the classroom look at each other's blogs so they can read them.  Similarly to writing, I can have them practice more writing by creating a page on themselves, sort of like an autobiography.  Of course, the sites would be set as private for each student.  Students could also respond to questions in class on blogs.  Blogs are extremely advantageous for classroom teachers.  Students could share their work online with others in the classroom, as well as gaining valuable knowledge into how to use more technology.  Blogs are also very flexible because students could use them when they are at home and log on there.  But for as good as blogs are, there are still some disadvantages.  For one thing, the teacher would have to be sure that all the blog sites are private and can only be seen by the teacher and the other students.  Also, since the students would be writing their own information, the teacher will have to be sure that the students are writing appropriate entries.  Overall, blogs are a great resource for classroom teachers to utilize with their students.