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.