Sunday, April 12, 2009

Post #9

An interesting web based resource I have found was the owl.english.purdue website. This site has everything you need to know about the MLA (Modern Language Association) formatting you would ever need to know. I know earlier in the class we had talked about how we as teachers would need to inform our students about how to properly cite other peoples work as well as finding legite information to use in research papers. This site allows you to format your paper properly as well as give you links to how to fix other aspects of your paper to make sure it is correct.

The cite has everything you need to know about how to properly cite movies, articles, interviews and etc for a paper. They also have a place to help you with your creative writing techniques as well as teaching writing and tutor writing. There is also a link about grammar and mechanics that helps you with the little things that add that little extra bit to your paper. Another link that is helpful for literary based classes. Many literary based classes require writings about a story that you have read and require you to analyze the story. This site can help you with your papers needed for college and upper level high school students. The site is wonderful and can help you to accomplish those stubborn papers easier without feeling such a huge burden and wondering if you did your paper right or not. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

There are so many different ways teachers can use excel to help make their classroom run smoother as well as teach students. A few ways that teachers can use it to help things in their class run smoother is by using it to print things like hall passes, and teacher- parent contact forms as well as lesson plans and calendar templates. Excel can also be used to teach the students as well as help them out. Comparison spreadsheets can be made to teach students in science at the elementary level. A comparison chart can be made to show students their different weights for different planets because of the different gravitational forces. Because excel has different calculations that can be entered, these simple caculations can be adjusted simply with the click of a button. As for using this in science it can be tricky to find different scientific things to put in but for the math, excel is excellet. Math for first and second graders can be made simple with the use of excel from a teacher. Addition and subtraction sheets as well as multiplication charts can be made easily through the use of calculations on excel and then can be printed and distributed to students with ease.

My final course project has a few challenges. I know one challenege before the project began was trying to figure oput exactly how all of the components from the semester would be incorporated but with a little planning, it was not too dificult to figure out how everything would fall into place. The plan is to have a set budget for our project which is budgeting for microscopes for elementary and middle school aged kids to get more aquainted with science and to get a more hands on learning experience in the classroom.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Post #8

The powerpoint 2 assignment was interesting. It was probably the only only assignment so far I had issues with because of the linking slides and such. I think it was nice to learn how to do some of the extra things that aren;t addressed in your average cgs classroom. I think in the classroom using non audio visuals would be a challenge because that is something I have been around my entire life except for elementary school. I know somethiongs that are good in the classroom is hand on learning and such for students to actual 3d visualize what they are learning about as well as seeing it in actual size, just like learning about animals and such, it is nice to see a cat or dog up close if they have only ever seen them on the computer or in books. I always got more out of my classes were hands on learning was in addition to the class because I could relate and I had actual ideas about it as well.

Some of the skills I have learned in the past 2 weeks are about linking slides. I think it will be really helpful in going back to certain slides that cover other slides I am teaching off of. Other than the linking slides, I have learned a lot already about the new powerpoint in my cgs class and I have not aquired many new skills this past week that I actually didn;t already know.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Post #7

I feel that the biggest advantages are that it is less time consuming because a teacher can prepare at home and present in class while with wipe off boards, it takes time to transfer your written notes to the board. Also, personally, I cannot draw if my life depended on it but with presentation software, I can find examples online and post them on powerpoints to prove a point rather than try and draw. I think the biggest disadvantage is that kids want them posted online later so they do not have to pay attention in class. This is true for the higher grade levels.

I may use presentation software to support learning because there is so much you can do with the software rather than writing on the board. The software also allows it to be porjected at the front of the classroom and whn you write on the board, your writing may not eligable or it may be too low for students in the back to see. For math, it is easy to use the sentance transitions on powerpoint and put up the answer and then once students are done, you can hit enter and then the answers pop up.

One issue I have with educational technology is that I always wonder what other resorces are out there to be used to teach students besides the usual powerpoint that my teachers use in class.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Post # 6

A paragraph discussing your thoughts about the use of Web 2.0 technologies in K-12 education. Would you use them? Why or why not? How? Use online resources.A paragraph discussing your thoughts on Wikipedia as a learning resource.A paragraph on new skills you acquired in the last week that you think will be especially useful to you in your educational career and why you think so.

I think the web 2.0 technologies should be used in the the k-12 education. From when I was younger, computers were hardly used in the classroom as a 1st grade or kindergarten student. I can't even say that I remember my teachers in k-2 having computers in their rooms. I remember once a week we would all as a class go to the computer lab to play a certain game but other than that I was exposed to more things online and such until I was in 3-4th grade. I think that computers are pretty much a major part of society and you have to have certain computer skills to even acquire the simplest jobs today. I think that the earlier kids are exposed to web 2.0 technologies the better equipped they will be in the future, as well as if they learn early on tey will be more interested in learning.

For wikipedia I feel that if you are looking up something quick for just a fact or something it my help but for resource purposes for papers and assignments, wikipedia is not the right resource to use. Wikipedia is a site where anyone can put in their own 2 cents about any subject and call it factual. When doing reserach projects you need reliable sources and not ones from random people who just want someone to see what they have to say.

The new skills i aquired this past week had to do with powerpoint. I was really familiar with the old powerpoint but the new one is fantastic and I learned a lot of different things that I can do with the new one versus the old one. I really like how easy is it to use and find ways to make the powerpoint more personal and can help connect with students rather than you just up there talking. I think that I can use this to reinforce what I am telling my students and they will be able to connect better with what I am saying with visuals to go along with it.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Post #5

The internet to support students research is wonderful and not so wonderful all at the same time. I love using the internet to find resources to support my papers or my theories because books are hard to find that have a lot of information about your specific topic because books may only have one or 2 sentances that have to deal with what you are looking for. It is really useful when looking up information about a subject that has government statistics and issues that have been further researched and the information is legit. When information is online from doctors and Ph D graduates who research specific issues and ideas and when the information is also from teachers who have done extensive research it can be helpful. The internet is not useful in the aspect that anyone can post anything online and clain it as either their own work when it is borrowed from someone else or they just made it up out of thin air.

Some resources that interest me are databases particularly. You can be reassured that databases are there to help you and are not like wikipedia where anyone can add in their own 2 cents at anytime they want to. I love using FSUs library online because I can find what am looking for and even locate books in the libraries and I can then go and pick them up. I think databases are amazing and can hold a lot of much needed information and help to prove a point in a paper you may be writing.

The age of my children would be from 6-7 and their grade would be first or second. For students in the technology environment I would talk to them about the internet before I even allowed them onto the computer. I would talk to them about plagarism because the earlier they are on the computers the earlier they can be taught where it is not ok to take someone else ork and call it your own or borrow someone elses idea without crediting them for adding to your theory and paper and I would explain this to them in the terms that they understand. The earlier children learn something is wrong the less likely they will turn to that bad behavior later because it is the difference between right and wrong...

Post #4

Chapter seven covers skills that are very useful in many ares of study, but English would be the more prominant subject to use these skills in because of the use of outlines and idea maps and story lines especially. Outlines are necessary in education because that is what notes are based off of. In every class I have ever taken, outlines are an essential to learning different tasks and skills and to test prep. Outlines are also used in education to map out how you will prepare your students for different tasks and assignments. For these tasks the technologies I would use would have to be MS Word. The word 07 has an easy way to make outlines quickley and neatly with just the use of the enter key. To teach students about these skills I would use a projector to ultimately show the students how to achieve a perfect outline. It is nice to hear how to do something as well as see it visually because I personally am a visual learner and to see how something is done just engraves the skills into me even better so I may duplicate the task at a later time.

I would definatley encourage my students to use outlines and such to accomplish readings and essays and such. To tackle a 20 page chapter, it would not be efficient to just jot down random notes and ideas. It would be better to write down paragraph main ideas and a few notes about that paragraph and why it is important. It would be just as difficult to reread the chapter or to read the bulk of random notes you took as well. With storyboard skills, it helps to have them written down and to have the bigger idea out there and it is easy to add in details to where they would fit more naturally into the story line than to have a bunch of random facts in a big mixed up mess. It helps to keep you more organized and to make the story flow in a more organized and readable manner.

I think a skill i encountered last week that i will use in the future is the inspiration because I never knew that t could be that easy to make a simple flow chart and it be readable and neat on a page. I think it will be nice because many people learn by charts or outlines so if half of my students learn well with a web chart then many of my students will be able to advance and learn in their own unique way.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Post # 3

A lesson plan I might create that would use technology would be an introduction to animals and the different types of them to my younger age students. The technology I would use would have to be microsoft powerpoint. I can use the slides to talk about the animals and put up different facts and i can also create links to different websites to reinforce what i was saying about the animals I was teaching about. The subject would be animals and the grade level would be for first graders because i can teach them more about why animals are the way they are and not just this is a cat and it meows.

For the visual I would use where everything in my powerpoint is lined up correctly and it is not just one slide full of words. For the website, it would include information that was age appropriate and pictures to reinforce what i was saying to the children.

For copyright and fair use, I would site the sorces I was using and teach the children the material that not only they came up with on the site but my material as well. As a teacher, I would tell students they cannot just take other peoples work. I will show then things that I have come up with as well as use sites to back it up. I would teach them in a manner where they would understand. They learn at an early stage what is right and wrong and i would teach them you cannot take without asking or you can borrow something as long as you give credit to the person you are borrowing information for. If you try to teach students using methods they already know then it helps to reinforce everything and they will understand much better.