blog post #10

I'm definitely glad I decided to take this class as apposed to a regular computer literacy class. As a Creative writing major I did not have to take this, but I thought it would be much more interesting and helpful to me than learning something I already knew in computer literacy. I'm not sure that I will become a teacher in the future, although I see it as a viable option for myself, but in either case the tools I have learned in the class will most definitely help me out in the future, whether it be in creating projects as a student, or as a teacher.

I feel pretty good about my team's project. I feel that each member has showed good teamwork and support by fulfilling their roles in the project in a timely manner. I think that we have compiled a collection of material that the teacher will be satisfied with and the students will enjoy and benefit from.

Like I said before, whether I become a teacher in the future or not I think that the things I have learned in this class will be useful to me in my future. If I do become a teacher someday, I think I would like to teach high school English lit. Being familiar with tools like powerpoint and MS word will definitely help from the lecture point of view. As well as the many programs we have learned that can help both teacher and student, like inspiration, and creating game and quizzes through powerpoint.

I liked to see the different grade levels and subjects my fellow classmates plan to someday teach. It was interesting to see people's interpretations of the materials based on this choice. I helps me to see how many different ways people can utilize the same tools.

blog post #9

My team and I are working on a project involving specific types of structured poetry, and poetry vocab. So far it has been interesting to begin to incorporate everything I've learned in this class to create a full and coherent lesson plan for this material.

I have been working on a powerpoint that represents this core information for the lesson and offers visual, and in one case, audio examples of what the slides are talking about. My team and I have separated the tasks between the three of us, but are sharing all our work as we progress via our wiki page so that every group member can have a say in what is being created.

I have been learning how to work coherently as a group to create a full project in which every group member is involved.

blog post #8

My group is doing our final project on poetry for 6th grade students. A webquest could provide the students with information and to use in a task such as creating a chart to categorize major poets with their styles. You could set up a scenario in which the student is a poet in a certain time frame. Provide them with information about literature and poets of this time, and have them create a summary of what style they would write in as a poet of that era and who their major influences would be from the existing poets of the time.

I found this WebQuest that deals with the stages leading up to genocide and the steps you can take in each stage to stop the process. I thought this was really interesting because it's dealing with a really tough topic in a very real way. It's about learning what happens so that you can learn to prevent.

I thought WebQuests were really interested, I had never heard of these, and they are definitely useful and fun tools to get students really involved in a lesson. It's been interesting putting together all the things I've learned in the class so far to create this final project. It's neat to start to look at all these tools as things that can be used together to create a lesson, rather than just individual things on their own.

blog post #7

A website with lots of games and word puzzles for kids is Funbrain.com.
The website is not particularly well designed, and isn't the easiest to navigate, but has a lot of great games and tools for many different subjects.

Tools like excel are helpful for a teacher in the administrative aspects of the job. It can be used as a roster to keep track of your students and all of their contact information. As far as using it in the class room, it is useful with older high school students to work out problems in statistics. For younger students it can be used to teach them organization and how to classify items into lists.

You can create a time line using excel to illustrate a history lesson or create games like bingo for your students who are learning numbers to play.

blog post #6

In my powerpoint I think I followed most of the guidelines pretty well, keeping things simple without too much information on each page. I think one of my problems would perhaps be that I didn't have enough on some pages, making them seem pointless.

I used a variety of images and backgrounds to keep visual interest and to make it cute!

I would use songs and videos in my classroom to enhance lessons. You could use computers to show these by playing dvds or MP3s, although they could be used without computer by showing things on a tv or through a cd player. I think it's good to incorporate all kinds of media and expose kids to various forms of art and ways of understanding things through music, pictures, and film.

It has been fun and useful learning to use powerpoint. I have only had very small experience with PP previous to the lesson, so it's been neat learning how to use transitions, and animations.

Blog post #5

• The website I chose to critique is Once Wed a blog style site about creative and unique weddings. The website has a very simple and assethitcally pleasing design. The colors are muted and consistent. The layout is simple with all links on the top bar, posts with images to the left and advertisements and links to wedding photographers, jewelers, designers, etc. This layout is consistent with every link that you follow. The font and colors are attractive and simple. The links always remain at the top so it's easy to navigate back and forth through the pages.
  
• Some of the biggest advantages of using presentation software would be creating a more diverse learning experience; making it visual as well as auditory. It would provide you with more resources to show and explain lessons and concepts. One of the biggest disadvantages is the struggle to stay current. Technology is forever changing and it can become a difficult and expensive task to remain abreast of current technology.
• Power point helps both the teacher and student stay on track with what is being discussed. A power point with bullet points can help a student in keeping track and taking notes on a more complicated lesson. With power point you can also go back to older slides in case there was anything your student needed to see again. If you were teaching a lesson on the Civil war you could use a chart on power point to demonstrate time line or to link people with events. This gives the students something visual to help the information to stick.
  

blog post #4

1.) Concept maps are a great way to help students grasp a concept. They are especially helpful when it comes to studying. It's a great way to break down information and see how it all connects together. Programs like Inspiration are good tools for students to learn how to make colorful and easy to follow concept maps. There is also something to bed said for doing this free hand however. As a student myself writing things free hand definitely helps cement it into my head. So I would teach students how to first brainstorm with a free hand concept map, and then set it into order by using a program like inspiration.

2.) Like I said before mapping things out can be a great way to better grasp a subject and really implant it into your brain. I love the idea of using story boards. I would like to someday teach writing courses, and story boarding is definitely helpful in this aspect. It's great to get your ideas out of your head and in some visible order before actual starting on a project or story.

3.) Learning how to use MS word more fluently has definitely been helpful already. Also, learning some good tips on evaluating the content of a web page will definitely be helpful in the future when looking for sources to beef up lessons.

Inspiration

Grace's Introductory Podcast

Oh goodness gracious......

blog post #3

• I might create a lesson plan for a high school lit class using Microsoft Word. Using MS Word I would be able to write out the lesson plan in detail, using columns or bullet points as needed. I could also insert an image as needed, or if the lessen plan was distributed electronically, insert hyperlinks to websites with assigned readings or helpful tips on tackling homework.
  
• As a teacher of high school students there would definitely be a lot of potential problems with having internet access in a class room. The potential issues go beyond the teenagers simply being distracted by computers and the internet and enters all sorts of hazardous waters when it comes to being able to monitor what they are doing and where they are going on the web. It would definitely be important to have a system of firewalls and filters to keep students from wandering too far on the world wide web.
• I know that when I'm trying to figure out how to do something that is new to me I turn to the internet and it's wealth of instructional videos to help me out. A great place to find a whole slew of these is on eHow (formerly Expert Village). eHow could be used in a classroom setting to teach students about particular projects, shoe them how to find answers and instructions using the web, or simply about making a how-to video.
  

blog post #2

• As a student I have had much experience using MS word. Almost every class one takes as a college student involves some form of writing and turning in this writing to teachers, whether it be essays, journals, reading responses, etc. And so throughout my years in college I have used MS word to help me to complete these assignments. I've been able to use this program to not only write out my papers, but format them properly according to MLA guidelines, or my teacher's personal preferences. I have seen teachers utilize MS word to write out syllabuses and handouts, and in some classes my teachers have demonstrated how they want a paper to be put together by displaying MS word on the overhead and going through the steps in class.
  
• I had teachers who used MS word to create handouts that involved pictures and descriptions for everyone in the class. I thought this was a good use of Word's ability to allow you to use pictures and text, and as a student and a visual learner this helped me in studying and grasping the lesson.
• Well I learned how to put together a test on MS Word, which is a very important thing to be able to do as a teacher. This course has helped me in learning how to navigate through processes quicker with the use of shortcut keys which is important when doing things in class, you don't want to be taking so long to preform a task that you lose the attention of your students. And it introduced me to Jing, which seems like a very useful program!
  

The Christmas of the mustachioed cat

Blog post #1

• Over the past several years the role of technology in the classroom has grown leaps and bounds. Teachers are using smart rooms with interacting white boards. Many classrooms are equipped with projectors so teachers can use computer displays, websites, and power points to enhance the student's learning experience, and aid in their understanding and comprehension. Computers and technology are very important in the classroom experience because they create a more diverse learning experience for students and they offer more resources to teachers. The use of computers and projectors in classrooms also caters toward students who, like me, learn better through visual stimuli. Previously the visual portion of a lesson was limited to white board notes and overhead projection diagrams; lessons were based mostly on the spoken lecture. Now students are able to learn visually as well as audibly, and even kinesthetically , as many classrooms are equipped with interactive computers for student's use. Technology and computers come with their own issues however. For one, the introduction of new and advanced technology can tend to set back older teachers, who are very set in their traditional ways and might have more trouble learning to use the new computer dominant systems. It also creates entirely new privacy issues. Teachers who use emails or blogs to keep in contact with students must be cautious that all interactions are professional, and available for review by parents and principals.
  
• If I became a teacher I would certainly utilize technology to help make the classroom more interactive. If the resources were available to me I would like to be able to have students working on computers, individually or in groups, to solve problems, perform tasks, complete puzzles, and do research. I also believe in mixed medias in the classroom. I would utilize classroom computers to play music, videos, show pictures and illustrations to teach a lesson, explain a concept, or illuminate an art or truth from every possible angle.
  
• I don't necessarily want to be a teacher in a traditional school or public school. I don't agree with the way most schools go about teaching children to just spit back facts and list off answers. I believe in truly teaching critical and abstract thinking that is not confined by strict structure or finite time limitations. I was home schooled, and plan on doing the same for my children, so whether I ever become a career teacher or not, I intend to spend portions of my life teaching in some form or another.
  

youtube embedding practice

Blog #0

1.) My prior experiences using technology is probably pretty similar to most students these days. Not only am I familiar with many forms of technology for personal entertainment and communication purpose (i.e. facebook, email, family blog, YouTube, and Hulu), but I also have experience with technology used in school assignments (i.e. Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint).

2.) In this class I hope to learn helpful tools in computer technology that can be used both for general communication and for teaching. I want to know the variety of resources that are available to me and have a basic understand as to how to utilize those resources.

3.) After taking the learning styles quiz I saw that I was most strongly an intuitive and a visual learner. As an intuitive learner I have an easier time grasping concepts and theories, and more difficulty remembering facts and details. As a visual learner I retain and understand facts and concepts better when able to see it, read it, or have some sort of visual diagram to help me understand.