Skype

Ok, so I did my first skype today. It was really easy. I will be playing with it a little more so I can learn more about it. I will use it with my family that live in NE. It was easy to set up and to use. You have the choice of using the webcam or not. I Skyped with Amy, we used the webcam. myself. I was surprised to see that not only did it show Amy (the person I was talking to) it also showed me I think that it would be good to use with a parent who could not participate in a conference. I would also consider using it to Skype with another class from another school, in another state or even in another country, kind of like a pen pal.

Being safe on the internet

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/prevention/index.html

http://www.healthdetails.org/life/is-your-child-being-cyberbullied-4-questions-every-parent-should-be-asking-about-cyberbullying-1065.html

http://www.cyberbullyhelp.com/

The key to cyberbullying is to teach our children how to first communicate in the appropriate way on the internet or through texts. Tell the children that they are not invisible behind a computer.  A message can always be traced back to the sender.  Not only that they can lose their ISP or IM accounts because of cyber bullying. As a parent you need to make sure that your child knows that they can come to you if this is happening to them. First make sure that it was not a misunderstanding, especially if it was an incident that has happened just once.  A good tip is to make sure that you have all security and safety setting is enabled on the ones your child uses. If your child is a victim of cyber bullying tell them the best thing to do is to not engage in the cyber bully, turning off the computer is like “walking away.” The best thing to do is to make sure that we educate our children before they become a victim. Talk with your child before they start using cell phones or Facebook accounts.  It may be easier to prevent cyber bullying than to stop it. Besides the lasting effects of it can be very hurtful and even damage a child’s self-esteem.  Let’s protect our children by educating them.

Blog reflection

In reading my first blog I could understand and remember my comfort from reading my other classmates blogs because I really was not knowledgeable about the computer and I was not alone.  I was pleasantly pleased with my second post about what kind of teacher I want to be. I have been having a frustrating time at work lately, being shared between two first grade classrooms and school work and home life.  It made me remember the whole reason why I started my journey back to school. When I read my blog post about blogs I thought it was funny because I was curious about a blog that could be live. Not knowing at the time about Elluminate sessions that anyone could create! There is so much out there that has yet to be discovered. When I read back through my blog posts I realize that even though I still feel like I am jumping off the side of the bridge into a dark hole J that I somehow  have always seemed to land on my feet. (Or at least for the most part) I am glad to have been given the assignment to look back at my posts. It was nice to do some reflection on where I started. I absolutely loved learning about Delicious and Google Docs.  Some of my posts seemed to have gone from posts of wonder and curiosity to more telling about what I had done and my actual experience, often times with some frustration. I think that through time and being able to “play” with the different resources I will be better.

Power Point

Oh My Gosh!!! I am so frustrated with this assignment. I have been working on it a little over the past week and a half but I knew that I would get the most of my assignment done over the weekend. This is sad and I am not exaderating but I got onto my power point at 10:00 this morning and about 20 minutes ago I decided to stop until tomorrow. It is 6:15 !!!! I did have to stop to get the kids lunch and stuff like that but I really can't believe it. About 65% of my time was trying to figure out how to get my you tube video on there......still don't have it. I followed the step by step instructions. I really don't know much about computers. I'm thinking maybe I do not have an updated version of Adobe? I really don't know. I am excited to know how to do this for my class in the future but if it takes this long honestly I won't be doing it. I work at an elementary school with about 60 teachers and there might be 5 who actually know how to do this type of stuff and most don't even use it. I am not saying that it shouldn't be used because it is a great tool. Well now that I think about it, until about a week ago our county blocked a lot of things so integrating you tube was not an option until recently. I will try to get it tommorow but I have other things, like other assignments that I have to complete, laundry, house cleaning....ect. Life.....

Google Docs

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AniLy-qCUDNgdGRxUWlXZGVtNUVrMXRldlpCTmpuMnc&hl=en&authkey=CN2T0IIN#gid=0

I actually used google docs in order to create my spreadsheet. I used it because I do not have the full Microsoft Office on my laptop. Another reason that would make it nice to use is that you can use it at any computer. You do not have to download it to anything to use at another computer, it's on the web. It is also nice because you can make it a private or as pulic as you want to. This URL is my actual assingment that I created through google docs. It is also nice to use in the classroom with students. It makes for easy sharing. You can allow others to edit too which makes it good for group assignments as well. It is very similar to the Wiki because it is on the web and it can be utalized in very much the same way.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom

I chose this video because I am familiar with the interactive white board and I will use it in my classroom. I like that this video showed how different grade levels utilized it and how to integrate it in different ways.
Integrating the videos and different things through the SMART Board can create obstacles because you have to be careful of what you show your students before you let them view it. Getting You Tube videos are not always what you think they will be.

Podcast

EDUCAUSE Pocket Editionhttp://www-

Created by Diana Oblinger (EDUCAUSE) on January 7, 2006

http://www.educause.edu/blog/dianao/PodcastingintheClassroomEDUCAU/165531

Wow!! What a great idea. This person interviewed a teacher David Gilbert in Marymount Manhattan College who allowed his students to create a podcast for people to download before entering a New York Museum known as Art Mobs. Not only were the students extremely excited about doing this they were showing ownership on their work. They wanted to make sure that it was the best that they could do because it was going to be heard by many different people. Just imagine, taking your students on a field trip and letting them all have an iPod to listen to all the important parts of the field trip that you want them to know. You don’t have to worry about interruptions or forgetting what you wanted to say. It is all ready to go when you get there. Your students would get so much more out of the experience instead of just reading the information they can actually hear it as they are there looking at it.

It also talked about how a teacher used it and added other media such as slide shows and URLS. A lot of podcasting is being integrated in colleges. I could definitely see how it would be beneficial. You can listen while you are driving, walking, at the gym or even at the grocery store. All you need is a computer to produce a podcast. A lot of the software is free to use.

For me the most frustrating aspect of this class is researching things. It is fun and exciting but it is very time consuming. I took at least 30 minutes just looking for a podcast that I wanted to review for this blog assignment. I was amazed at what I found. I had never even heard of podcasting.  I listened to the 13 min long podcast four times. That is another great feature of podcasting. You can go back, review and listen or view as many times as you want or need to. What a great way to get students involved with something that they love and are already accustomed to, technology. I chose this podcast because it gave a new idea on podcasting, being able to use them on a field trip. If you listen to this podcast you will hear of more than one way that you can integrate podcast in the classroom.

I am definitely excited about podcasting in the classroom. I am not so sure how it will be beneficial in the classroom with K-2 students. It is definitely beneficial to students who are older and have a lot on their agenda. They can learn on the go with podcasting.

Database in the Classroom

Database is very much like a spreadsheet. When students create a database they are required to think critically. The students have to think "out of the box" creating a higher level of thinking. Not only does this meet the NETS for students this type of learning goes along with Bloom's Taxonomy. A nice feature of using a database is that children can use it throughout a period of time, adding, changing and deleting information as needed. I would like to use this in the classroom so children can keep up with their own grades on different assignments. This will create ownership of the grade that they receive and will help them to strive to do better where needed. A disadvantage of using this would be that I may not have enough computers in the room. I would like to spend a small amount of time in the computer lab so each student can input their own grades and view the results! Once students move on to third grade it is hard for them to adjust to letter grades and to be responsible for actual averages. I believe by creating a database with their grades will help them to also have a better understanding and help them adjust to third grade.

Spreadsheets in the Classroom

The first thing that came to mind when I thought of using a spreadsheet in the classroom was to use it for myself, for grading. After reading and visiting some of the websites I realize that there is so much more that you can do with spreadsheets. In math I would be able to utilize spreadsheets a lot with the children. Children often have a better understanding with information that is visual. Using a spreadsheet the numbers become bars, if you use a bar graph, and the children can see the size and compare the information that way. In my thematic unit study of recycling we would use a spreadsheet to record and create a graph of the number of items that we had recycled from day one to day five. As we become more aware of recycling and create the habits of recycling I would hope to see our graph grow as the days went on.

An advantage would be that the children are going to have a better understanding of the amount of recycling and how much it has grown by looking at the graph that we creating by utilizing the spreadsheet.

Though creating a spreadsheet is easy enough for a first grader I would create the spreadsheet on the computer as the children view what is happening by looking at the white board that projects what is happening on my computer screen.

I would be meeting the NETS standards by incorporating technology and by allowing the children to work collaboratively in helping create the graph. I would be engaging students in exploring real-world isues of  trash build up and solving authentic problem of reycycling using a digital tools.

Word Processing software in the classroom

I would integrate Word Processing into my classroom by putting data into the computer in order to create a graph to see the results of our survey on how often people recycle. This way the children will have a visual rather than just a number. We would also each create a poster on recycling and then put our ideas together to create one poster from Word.

 

The advantages are that it would be exciting for the children to do a survey and create their own poster. Through collaboration students enjoy learning more therefore they will truly learn it not just memorize it. The technology aspect of the assingment would help to keep an attentive audience.

 

Some disadvatages would be that not each child could utalize the software themselves because of time and not enough equipment. Also some children might be upset that some or all of the infomation that they shared with thier poster may not be put on the class poster.

 

 I would meet NETS by creating an envronment where students are given the opportunity to collaborate. We would have conducted research through our survey and then used the information by creating a graph. Through creating the graph we I am integrating tecnology into the classroom. Creating thier own poster based on the infomation they have learned and what they know the students will be thinking critically of ways to help alert others of the importance of recycling.

ABC Mouse Early Learning Academy

After submitting your evaluation, you should write up your review as a blog post  to share with your classmates. You may use the reviews below as guidelines. The focus should be on how to incorporate the title in the classroom and the specific need the software title would meet. Since your principal distinctly requested that the software be highly reviewed, you should make sure you reference the reviews you found on  your title.
ABC Mouse website is a great site for children to learn in all different areas. The cost is is low for the school at $70 for a years subscription. There are reviews from children and from teachers who all love the the program. There are 320 different lessons in six different areas of study. The creation of the curriculum of this program has been assisted by early childhood educational experts. ABC Mouse is geared toward children ages 2-6. It can be used for struggling students as well.

Areas of Study
Reading
Math
Science
Art
Music
Geography

In this program the children are challenged and when they master each challenge they are rewarded by winning tickets and mastering each level. The teacher can prepare the program at the level that the student needs to work at. There are different types of activities so that each kind of learner can be successful. Students learn in a classroom setting with a teacher that you create for them. Children love playing the different games and are learning at the same time.

Recycling software

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/

I found this website with free games for kids. There are three games that I played that are related to recycling the first one is called Kung Fu Trash Master, where you try to kick as much trash in the can within a short amount of time. The second game was Recycle Roundup, the goal is to pick up and sort as much trash in the recycling bins as you can in two minutes. The third game is Creek Clean up, where you are a bird with a net in your beak trying to clean up the creek from all of the trash. All of the games were fun and are good to help get children excited about recycling. My favorite was the one with Recycle Roundup. I saved this site because I have a three year old son who loves playing on the computer. He, like most boys loves animals and learning about them, not only does this website have games for children it also has videos. I even saw some information about frogs, a game and some videos that I would like to use in the classroom tomorrow because one of the students vocabulary words is hop toad and we did our writing assignment on frogs. This class is not very interested in writing and we are a little boy heavy in the class. I think that the game and maybe a short video might get them a little more excited about the writing assignment. I will have to run it by the teacher that I work with first but I'm sure she will be thrilled. How FUN and exciting! I can't wait to share this with my students and with my son.

Hardware in the classroom

In looking at the different hardware technologies that can be used in the classroom I was amazed. I also felt fortunate because at my school every classroom has a SMART Board. We also have clickers for grades 3-5. I was really impressed with the mouse mischief; I have never seen that before. It seems like an inexpensive way to get all of the children working hands on with technology in the classroom. You wouldn’t even have to have one for every student; they could share and work in groups or as partners.  Some of the disadvantages would be first the cost of the hardware. Then comes the responsibility of taking care of it. If you break it or your children do, you are responsible for it. Another disadvantage is that it may take some extra time and effort on your part to get to know how to use the hardware and ways that you can implement them in the classroom. The advantages are far greater than the disadvantages. Lessons that you create for your students do not have to be filed in a cabinet, they can be saved on a disk or a flash drive for the next year or when you want to reference back to them. You can add to them or take information away. The children are interested in technology so it is easier to get them involved. You can easily share videos, music, power points, graphics and other information right then and there when a question or interest arises in your students, by searching the internet via the SMART Board.  I shared the information about taking a virtual field trip with the teacher that I work with and when I walked into the room today the children were viewing a virtual tour of the home of George Washington! It was so exciting, they can actually see what things were like then and it didn’t cost anything.

I would use the SMART Board in my class every day. There are so many possibilities with it. You can do all of your lessons at home on the computer and then just open them up on your computer at school. It is an interactive way for the students to learn. They can actively participate in the lesson by utilizing the SMART Board. You can add pictures and sounds to your lessons. You don’t have to spend time getting hands on materials ready to get ruined or lost before the next school year. I was introduced to something at my school today called a web pen. You can use it with the SMART Board. It records what you do with the writing as well as recording the sound. The teacher that introduced it uses it while they do their lessons in class and then post it on a site where the children and parents can look back at the actual lesson as if they were in the classroom all over again. If the child gets stuck on their homework and they need help they can look back to the lesson. And if the parents want to look back so that they know how to help their child with their homework they can. The world of technology is amazing.

Recycle/NETS*S

The NETS communicate and collaborate is a very important part in learning and in teaching. Not only does it help students to become comfortable in their surroundings it helps them to think of things in a new way. Communication in the classroom can also open a new understanding to the teacher. For example if the children are given time to open discussion you may realize the reason why they had given a particular answer that you as the teacher stated as wrong.  I have experienced this personally in the classroom. We were sorting items in a Venn diagram and when the student said to put it on one side I said no it should go on the other, she then proceeded to explain why she sorted it that way. I could see her way of thinking, her point of view and she was right. Also I think now days a lot of children are involved in television, electronic games and things that they may miss how to communicate and express themselves. Not only does collaboration help on an academic level it can help children to learn how to simply communicate and work with one another.

When I think of collaborative learning it reminds me of the gentleman who we learned about our first week in this class. He had put a computer on the wall in a place where children had never seen such a thing. In a short amount of time they were e-mailing other children. Then later he gave information to a group of students in a language that they did not know. Through collaboration with each other and the internet within about 30 minutes they were able to tell him what it was and what it meant.

 I would implement collaboration in my classroom through a project on recycling. We would discuss what trash is and what it means to recycle. Once we have come to these conclusions we would then search the internet for any more information that we could find. We would discuss ways that we could recycle in our own environment, starting with our classroom. Next I would have students get into small groups. Than have each group go to a different classroom in the school and tell the students in the other classroom about recycling and how they need to separate the objects before recycling can take place. By presenting how to separate objects in every classroom the whole school can have a school wide recycling project to help the community. I would tell students that the class is going to keep the bins in the classroom so they can continue to recycle and help the community reuse things. Last I would have the students decide where the best place is to have the recycling bins (classroom, hallway, and cafeteria.) ©2007 K6edu.com

http://www.k6edu.com/2ndgrade/social_studies/recycling.html

Delicious

Creating a Delicious account was fairly easy.  It does seem like a good concept, especially for teachers. Being able to have access to lots of websites on certain topics without having to spend the time doing the research is a great benefit. I have just bookmarked one website so I am not real familiar with using Delicious at this point but I do think that I will like using it. This would be a good tool for group research because you can share and see what websites your group members are getting there information from.  I can see how using Delicious bookmarking would be a good resource for me in the classroom. Not only is it a quick and easy way to look at websites that you like to use, you can retrieve the information from any computer. It also is better because instead of e-mailing other teachers websites that you feel would be helpful and risk them being deleted or forgotten about, they are always there available at anytime, anywhere.

wk 5 Recycling webpage evaluation

Website Evaluation Checklist

Student Name: Carrie Blanchard       Date of Evaluation: 02/09/11

Name of the Website:  Education World

URL of the Website:  http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson308.shtml     

Accuracy of the Web Page	Yes	No	Notes
1.  Can you find the author of the page? Hint:  Scroll to the bottom of the page.  It may be an institution.	x		Author Name: Gary Hopkins
2.  Can the author be contacted: Hint:  Look for an “About Us” or “Contact Link”		x	Author email:
3.  Do you think this person or institution is qualified to publish this webpage?	x		Why or why not? Education World is a creditable source.
Authority of the Web Page
1.  Check the domain of the URL, particularly the extension.       Is this a commercial site?   The URL can give clues to the authority.			What does the extension tell you? The extension has the word help on the home page and the word lesson on the recycling page.
2.      Are there credentials listed for the author(s)? If not, try Googling the name of the author or the institution.		x	What did you find? Gary Hopkins: Founder, Editor in Chief who joined Education World after eight years with Weekly Reader. He was also managing editor of the third and fourth grade editions. His planned the content of the student and teacher editions and managed the teams that produced them.
Purpose of the Web Page
1.  Read over the information on this website carefully.  Can you determine the purpose of this web page?	x		Why is this web page on-line?  Think critically about possible opinions or bias? This page is online for the purpose to educate children and to assist teachers in the process. It gives fun activities, ideas and objectives for the topic.
Currency of the Web Page
1.  Can you find a publishing date?	x		When was it published? 04/11/2003
2.  Can you find the date it was last updated?			When was it updated? 03/28/2008
3.  Are the links working and current? Click on some of the links to check.	x		What do you think about the links?  Yes
Looking at your answers, do you think this website would be a reliable, credible source of information?			Why or Why not?  Yes because it is not for advertisement, there is no persuasion. The information on this website is for educators to use as a tool to help the students learn a particular topic.

Group Project

The group project that I participated in was blogs in education. I was not too excited at first because of my past experience of working on a group assignment online did not go so well. I did get off to a rough start, not knowing how to even get to my own wiki page. I was posting comments on the front wiki instead of my own…..oops. Dr. Keesee came to my rescue and through taking to her she gave me some tips and helped me to create a discussion page for my group which was very helpful in making decisions for our wiki. I was surprised that my other group members wanted to get started early, just as I did, that was a relief. I wish we would have made it a point to get to know each other a little more on a personal level first, not that I think it hindered our project, it may have made our collaboration a little easier. I also wish that I had set up a session where we could have all collaborated together and had someone have control of the wiki. It would have made the whole process go more quickly, rather than having to wait until someone else got a chance to work on it.  Overall I feel that our group did a great job. We all did our share and we worked well as a team.

My first recommendation would be for you and your group members to follow each other’s blogs so you can get to know a little bit about each other.  This I think will make it easier to collaborate with one another. Setting up a discussion page is necessary in order to give direction and share ideas about your project. It is a good idea for you and your group members to have one another’s e-mail address and or phone number in case you need to get a quick response.  Also getting started early is helpful because doing an online project can be a lot of waiting. Creating an Elluminate session would be very beneficial for your group. You all could talk through the computer and view the project while one person makes the changes as you decide on what to do. Checking on your group project every day is important so that you do not miss out on anything or get behind.  Keep in mind that someone does need to be a leader, someone to guide the group in the right direction.  Laying out a plan from the start is a good place to get started. Just try your best, be present and be sure to be there for your group members.

Sat. Q and A Session

 I did enjoy participating in the session. Next time I will try to be better prepared and e-mail any questions ahead of time. I was going to just sit in and see what other people asked and then go from there. Not that many people participated though. It was extremely nice to have Dr.Keesee be able to show me exactly what I was talking about by her letting us view her computer. Pretty much just like being in the classroom but you don't even have to worry about getting out of your PJ's. I felt like it was a good time for me. Through the week it is hard to find time to sit down and do anything before 10pm. Sundays I like to just spend time with family. The time for me was good. Just enough time to sleep in and it doesn't interfere with your Saturday.

Collaborating

In this week we had to work on a group project. Is so far has been a good experience, especially compared to a prior group project. It is nice to know that all of the work is not only on you, if you have a group in which everyone does their share. In my case I think we have all done our share. Though there were supposed to be four of us only three of us have worked on the project. Maybe our other group member is no longer a part of the class? I do wish though that we would have taken the advice of how to work in a group and had gotten to know each other more on a personal level. I really do not think that in the time allowed to complete the project, along with other assignments, that we actually had much time for that. It would have been nice to have some kind of assignment on getting to know each other in our group and then moving on to the project. I would be interesting to work with another group on a future project but at the same time I would like to be able to work with my group again. One challenge for me has been trying to communicate. We did create a discussion page on the wiki but it is not instantaneous.  Someone may ask a question and not get a response until the next day. That can be a little nerve wracking. Though we have access to each others phone numbers there hasn't been anything that couldn't wait for a response. I do think that collaborative learning is a good way for students to learn, but I feel that is has a more profound impact when it is in a face to face class.

Assessment Questions

Content standards are goals that are set two to three years prior and they are set up as benchmarks. These assessments are used to see if the student has mastered the skills that are at predetermined times throughout the year. The results of these assessments help students and teachers have an understanding of the student’s growth and what they may need to focus on more in the future.

Individual learning characteristics of children include what their prior knowledge and experiences are. What their learning skills are and their strengths in academics. Knowing their talents and interests can be helpful. Also knowing if there are any language issues and factoring in their cultural community and religious beliefs can be beneficial. Gathering information about your students prior to teaching will actually speed up the process of their learning because you will not be wasting time trying to figure out what works, you’ll know because you already did the planning.  Getting to know the children personally and building a relationship is important in a learning environment.  When children are comfortable they are confident. When they are confident they are willing and eager to explore and learn.

The information processing model of learning is when the children receive the information where it is stored in short term memory. Then the teacher must connect the information to prior knowledge thus moving it to long term memory.  Last the teacher needs to be sure to help the students to use the information in ways that help them to retrieve and connect it.

Adapting instruction is important because we want to maximize the students learning and we do not want them to be on curriculum overload, where we cover a lot of information but nothing in depth. Which will result in quantity of work, not quality of work?

Different types of assessment need to be done throughout the year in order to have an accurate evaluation of the student’s achievements and knowledge.  Individual-referenced is where the assessment compares the student’s growth with previous assessment taken by him or herself.  Another is norm – referenced where the students’ performance is compared with others. Criterion – referenced is when the knowledge is assessed with an objective through multiple choice and true false questions.

There are there stages of instructional cycle. Stage one is intended instructional outcomes, at this stage teachers know what needs to be taught according to standards. Stage two is planning, teachers plan activities and strategies that will be effective towards the child’s academic growth.  At this point assessments are planned as well. The third stage is assessments.  The assessments are used to see if the students have met the appropriate predetermined growth.

Curriculum mapping is a guide for teachers to meet the needs of the student. First they must know what have the students already learned, what they need to learn now and what are they going to learn in their future grades. This helps you to make connections in all areas of teaching that is bifacial to the children.

The lesson topic should come from standard based curriculum. It is good to focus on the specific lesson that the students have shown interest in.

Blogging and My Career

How does what you learned this week relate to your career plans?

Last week we had to create a blog. I was not very enthusiastic about it. I am not even on face book. I don't really know what twitter is and I didn't know what a blog was until I started this class. Since I have been utilizing my blog I have come to the conclusion that it can be a great resource for me to use in the classroom. I am still learning how to manipulate my blog and I am excited when I have time to play with it to see what all I can do. This is why I chose Blogging as my group project. I know a little about it and I want to learn more and become more familiar with it.

I think that it is a great idea for a classroom teacher to have a class blog. When I get my own classroom that is what I intend to do. A lot of teachers take the time to prepare a newsletter to send home to the parents. Why not have your blog as your newsletter. Parents can access it to see what their children are learning and they can post any questions that they may have. This would be a good place to post homework assignments and any reminders that need to be made. On my blog I would have websites that the children could go on in order to strengthen the skills that we are focusing on for the week. I would even post websites and/or post videos to help the parents. Things like tips on how to encourage your children to do well in school, and why it is important for your child to get a good night’s rest. I also think that it would be great to post photographs and video of events in the classroom so that parents who do not have the luxury to come to class in person can still be included in the experience.

Parent teacher relationship is important in order to help each student succeed and I believe that through blogging it would help to bridge the gap.

Group Collaboration and Problem-solving

Creating a blog is still very new to me, so I am still kind of slow at it. I do enjoy reading about people and a little bit about them personally. I noticed some people did not post their personal information, I can understand that. I am a private person and I was a little apprehensive at first but I am glad I did. It made me feel like I could really relate to some people and it made me feel more at ease with this class. Ever since I have been taking online classes we have had to participate in DB. A blog is much more personal and it creates a better learning environment. Not only can I read what other people have posted I can read what the instructor has posted in response and it is often helpful to me. I was also glad to read that I was not the only one who was not real familiar with technology. I was also glad to read that there were some who were pretty good at it, those will be the people who I can maybe ask when I am stuck. I guess reading the other peoples posts is good because I enjoy it but bad because I want to read them and keep up with all of them but it is so time consuming. I wonder if there is a way to do a sort of blog that is like a live chat? That would be interesting.

Blog 2

   I would say that I am one who believes in student-centered teaching.  It seems that teachers of the past have been teacher-centered teaching. This gives you the knowledge of who knows the information and who does not.  I prefer to have the learning centered on the students through discussion and interacting in different activities the children actually learn and experience different thoughts that may have never crossed their mind before. Often times the help of a peer is more effective and more welcomed by the other student.

   In teaching we all have guidelines and certain material that has to be taught.  I want to teach the material that needs to be taught but I do not want to be afraid to try new things and add my own spin on it. I hope to make the learning experience fun, engaging and memorable. Technology is a great way to do this especially since so many of our children are familiar with it and it is what keeps them occupied in their free time, computers, games and electronic toys.

   I do know one thing without a doubt that in order to have a well-balanced classroom you must first create a community learning environment.  I used to always think that it was classroom management but it is so much more.  In order to create this type of environment I will make sure the children know exactly what is expected of them as far as their assignments go and their behavior as well. I will get to know my students and let them get to know me on a personal level which can be done through fun games.  I will always encourage my students to go beyond what they have to do. High expectations are something that will create responsible and confident young children.  The children will know that I truly care about them and that we are a family in the classroom. We are all here to help each other to learn, to succeed and to grow. Creating this type of environment will take time but once we have accomplished that the rest will be much easier and the results will be so much more rewarding for me as well as the students.  After all if we are not in the teaching profession to make a positive influence and make a difference in children’s lives than what are we doing? 

Tutorial Questions

   Learner-Centered learning environment first takes in consideration each students background knowledge, their interests, and their social and cultural values.  This way the teacher can have a better understanding why the learner may answer in a certain way and the teacher may have the knowledge to direct them in the right way.  We lean new material and base it on what we already know.  In working with children at the age of 5-7 you must try to think how they would when teaching and giving instruction.
   Once when I was in the classroom the children were to draw a picture of the Mayflower. When one boy brought his completed picture to the teacher she asked him to put water under his boat. I watched as the boy proceeded to the sink to " put water under the boat." We stopped him and explained what we meant and he then understood. Through experience you realize how to better explain exactly what you expect so that there is less confusion.

   Learner-Centered Activity
At the beginning of the year a fun way to get to know your children is through an activity that not only gives you knowledge about them as a person it also shows listening skills and reviews shapes and colors. Give each child a piece of white paper, crayons and a pencil. Instruct the students that they will use their listening skills to create a pumpkin, starting with their orange crayon. (The rest will be drawn with a pencil until the end when they color)
1. If you have
One sibling draw a round pumpkin
No sibling draw a pumpkin with two bumps
More than one sibling draw a pumpkin with three bumps
(you may need to demonstrate the first one)

2. If you went
to this school last year draw triangle eyes
to a different school in Nc draw square eyes
to a different school out of state draw circle eyes

3. If you have
One pet draw a square nose
No pet draw a triangle nose
More than one pet draw a circle nose

4. If you share a bedroom draw a smile mouth
If you have your own bedroom draw a zig zag mouth

5. If you like spending time
Doing art color your eyes black
Playing sports color your eyes blue
Watching TV color your eyes green

6. Favorite desert
Cookie color your nose yellow
Cake color your nose orange
Ice cream color your nose red

7. If you liked this activity color your mouth purple
If it was just ok color your mouth white
It would be nice to already have made yours that way when everyone has completed you can all share.

   The elements knowledge-centered instruction child first start out with a well thought out lesson of what will be taught. How will it be taught and how will it be put together.  Through knowledge-centered instruction the goal is to not "teach to the test" and just have students to memorize but to help them to have an understanding of what has been taught.  In a way that they can take that knowledge and apply it in different ways.Keeping the children in engaging activities will help them to develop a more in depth understanding.  In  this type learning the skills and activities need to be meaning full and to be connected in a way that is beneficial to the student.

  Two types of assessment in assessment -centered instruction are Formative and Summative assessment.  Bother are important and they work together to create a better learning environment. A Formative assessment encourages reflection and growth with in the student as well as the teacher.  Through  these type assessments students learn over time problem solving skills.  It also benefits the instructor by showing ways they can improve their teaching.  A summative assessment is finding out what the student has learned, usually through standardized testing.

   Community centerdness is mopritant to student learning, it is the key to creating a great classroom environment.  There are high expectations that are clear form the beginning.  The students have an understanding that they are valued not only by their instructor but also by their peers.  Through community-centered learning students are not afraid to ask questions and the floor is always open to constructive discussion.

   In doing our writing assignment about winter with first graders, we first make a circle map on the SMART Board discussing what we already know about winter.  Then we read a story about winter.  After the story we then talk about what was the same and what was the new information, adding this to our circle map.  Finally I demonstrate how to complete the writing assignment. I remind the children that they may use their dictionary or the word wall to help them spell. I also tell them to get out their sentence mechanics picture so they can fefer back to it when writing there sentences.  This is a community-centered activity because we all share information, I demonstrate exactly what needs to be done and remind them of helpful tools that they may use.  I also will encourage them to write like almost 2nd graders, letting them know that I have high standards for their writing assignment.

   When i am in the classroom with the students I make sure they are clear on what they are to do.  I make it a point to encourage them to go above and beyond what they have to do. The students are still working on becoming self-evaluative. I am guilty of not always taking the time that it requires in order to create children who are self learners.  In the long run the more time that I take up front in focusing on community and knowledge learning the better results we will have in the end.  it may take us longer to get to that point but we will finish off with a bang.

Goals

My goals for this class are to at least become computer literate. I think that technology is important in order to be a successful teacher. In the school I work at every classroom has a smart board and it is amazing. It is also sad that many teachers do not use them or know how. I do not know how to blog, make a power point, utilize a spreadsheet. I basically know how to use e-mail and how to search the Internet. Power points will be helpful to know how to make for the classroom. Also spreadsheets even for personal use would be nice. I guess it is about time I catch up with the rest of the world. I am looking forward to learning new things and I hope that I do not get lost on the way.