Post #10

I saw on Bethany's blog about computer in Wakulla County schools. She said that students go work on computers every day. This allows them to work at their own individual pace. I think this is great for kids for many reasons. First, our world is becoming more and more governed by technology so students need to be aware how to work and use it efficiently. Second, this is another way students can learn material, plus it's more private. I also looked at Katie's blog. She talked about presentation software and how useful it is. It allows students to be able to further study them on their own time in case they didn't pay attention in class or was just absent that day. I think it's great for teachers to post their PowerPoint cause it allows students to quickly recall the information taught.
I would like to further learn how to create a website. We learned the basics, but I would like to learn more details about it. I feel like a website would be a great way to keep in contact with my students and their parents. I could list upcoming events and assignments. I could even have something like a discussion board so I could send notices out or even conduct assignments that required students' feedback.
I plan on incorporating several forms of technology in my classroom. I hope to have one of those smart boards to use. My lectures would consist of some PowerPoint presentations. I could even make jeopardy games with it to quiz my students' knowledge. I could use Inspiration to create graphs as a way to make connections between people and events. Excel would give me a way to create a grade book and keep track of who's turned what in. Like I said earlier, I plan on creating a class website and maybe even a blog, too, that tells students what their homework is in case they didn't get it the first time. My students will become very familiar with different technologies so that they can become computer literate in a technology dominated society.

Post #9

An interesting site I've found that might be useful to my students and I would be the http://www.archives.gov/. It gives the general public access to the national archives. The site has military records and photos. It would be a great place for students to go check out when conducting research on past historical events. There's even a section on the sidebar specifically for educators and students. As a history teacher, I think it would be fun to check out what are government has to offer!
For educators, the site gives lesson plans on how to teach certain lessons with historical documents. Some of these lesson plans provide pictures, letter and telegrams from soldiers, and even some actual court documents. This is yet another tool to help instructors diversify their teaching methods and give students visual representations.
My major is Social Studies Education so I will be certified to teach 6th-12th grade. At that level, students tend to have more assignments and projects to turn in. Excel is a great way to keep track of all those assignments. I could create a spreadsheet documenting who has turned what in and who still needs to turn it in. I could even document the grades they received on the spreadsheet. It condenses the information all one one page giving me quick access to any information I might need. It's basically another form of a grade book.

Post #8

I thought I did pretty good on my PowerPoint. I created a jeopardy game for a history class covering World War 2. The first slide is a little plain and not as flashy as it could be. The font could be a little bigger. The next slide that has all the categories listed isn't even. I tried to make the boxes the same size and width apart, but I can tell where they aren't even.
Peripherals are printers, scanners, probes, zip drives, cameras, and other devices that provide input to or output from a computer. I've had before where some teachers required a video project. Groups had to do a video interview in the time of Ben Hur. We had to incorporate the plot of the book in our interviewing questions. I remember my group got pretty ridiculous! But it was a fun project to do and gave us something other than writing a paper on it.
For the PowerPoint assignment, I created a Jeopardy game. I learned how to incorporate buttons to make it easier to navigate from slide to slide. I know I will definitely incorporate this into my future classrooms. I know as a student I always enjoyed playing Jeopardy. I think it would be a great review for my students and another way to get them involved in the learning process.

Post #7

Presentation software offers great visuals. Some students learn by visuals. It offers a picture that can trigger recall on information. For elementary students, presentation software needs to have bright colors and lots of picture or they won't be interested. As the students get older, there's not so many pictures as there is info. But teachers have to be careful not to overload a slide with too much writing or the student will not be able to comprehend and process it all. I think some disadvantages would be that some students rely on it too much. I know I've caught myself relying on PowerPoint presentations. When a teacher doesn't teach with it and outline the basic info I need to write down, I tend to be confused on what I need to write down and learn. So sometimes I think visual presentations can be a crutch to learning. So I would encourage teachers to change it up so students don't get hooked on one style of learning.
PowerPoint can incorporate picture with writing. If I was trying to teach elementary students about Christopher Columbus I could include a cartoon picture of him discovering America and maybe a Schoolhouse Rock video about it. If I was teaching the same subject to middle school students, I would include a real life picture of Columbus along with some interesting facts about his voyages; such as: who sponsored his trip, what ships he used, etc. I could include a video from the History Channel that reenacts Columbus discovering America. When I would teach this subject to high school students, I would include a real life photo of Columbus along with many more facts about the voyages such as how Columbus actually did many voyages after the first one. I would also include the video from the History Channel as well. My middle school and high school approach would be roughly the same with high school receiving more than just the basic facts middle school would receive.
I am very interested in web conferencing in classrooms. At my school we never had the opportunity to have an online conference with a school in another country. I think this is such a neat idea and allows students in America to broaden their knowledge on the world. It gives students a chance to appreciate what they have, but also learn more about other cultures and appreciating what they have to offer. I hope to find ways that I can incorporate this method into my teaching. I enjoy traveling and learning about other cultures. I want to become someone who isn't stuck in the daily affairs of my own country. I hope to give that same belief to my students. And I think one way I could would be to incorporate a connection to students their age around the world either by Skype or podcasts or even just written communication.

Post #6

I think it's great to use technology in K-12 education. So many children grow up with a computer now. It would be a great way to incorporate something they are used to in the teaching method. A tool like a class website allows students to be more responsible and have a quick access to a syllabus or their grades. I plan on using tools such as Wikis, blogs, or podcasts as resources to further connect with my students.
I was always told in school to never trust Wikipedia. My teachers constantly warned us not to use it as a source for any research papers we did. Sometimes we would even be marked down for using it. Wikipedia allows any person to upload information, which allows for an excess of false information. I think if someone needs to find some quick facts about a topic the site can be very useful. But if someone is actually doing some research I would not recommend using that site. If one does, he should compare it to other sources.
Inspiration was a neat program that I had never used before. I learned how to easily make diagrams and flow charts. For our skill check, we had to create a family tree. I could definitely see that coming into play when I teach my future students about the different dynasties in Britain. Henry VIII and his eight wives will definitely need a family tree! The whole basis of Inspiration gives yet another visual method for students to process the information needed.

Post #5

The Internet is a great tool for students doing research papers. It provides quick access to thousands of articles covering millions of subjects. Sometimes libraries aren't always accessible and may not have books on the subject one needs. The Internet gives a vast majority of information all at the click of a button. I think if a teacher is going to assign a research paper they should require different sources to be used. It prevents from students using too many unreliable sources. I don't think the Internet is as useful when students use it for studying purposes. Not everything is correct on the Internet. A student will see a website and rely on its validity. If it's not, now the student has learned all the wrong information. One obvious website would be Wikipedia. Teachers are always telling students how this website is not reliable because anybody can upload info to it.
I liked the idea of using web conferencing. It would be such a cool experience to have my class video conference with students their age in another country. It gives students an insight into another culture. They can compare their education and lifestyles. It would give them an appreciation for other cultures. As a teacher I would love to conference with other teachers around the nation, or even world. I could exchange lesson plans and ideas with fellow teachers. I could have new and fresh methods for teaching my students.
As a middle/high school teacher, the problem with a technology environment is distraction. Students are always going to be on sites they should be like Facebook or Twitter. One person supervising many children doesn't always work so well. It's going to be hard to keep them on task for the whole time. Another issue is technology not working properly. If the computer isn't functioning right, then that adds to the problem of keeping a student on task. There's always seems to be something that goes wrong when you're working on a project on a computer. Hopefully, when I become a teacher I can manage the class and keep them all occupied on their assignment.

Post #4

Idea maps and concept maps are great learning devices. They give students step-by-step instructions or data to follow along with. It's easier to understand and breaks down the material into categories. These categories help students to group information together allowing for easier studying. Inspiration is a great application to accomplish these. The making of a concept map is fairly easy with this program. As a history teacher I could use these maps to show the unique qualities of different dynasties or show the different political parties and what they stand for. I could also use them to show how a law is passed starting at step one. These are all different ides that could be taught with the use of concept maps.
I would encourage my students to create their own idea maps because they are a great studying tool. They help show a logical flow of different material. A storyboard would be a great way for students to plan out how they may present a topic starting with the formatting and then the actual content. Outlines are always useful when writing a paper. It helps the student decide what will be his main points for his argument. It sets out a clear agenda for the flow of the paper.
I really enjoyed learning about Inspiration. I have never used that program or even heard of it before. As a teacher it will come in handy. It gave me another way to present the material to my students. I could also add pictures or even hyperlinks to further stress my points. It's another visual aid for teaching. It helps the teacher get away from the boring lectures and present the subject in a fresh, new way. I can definitely see me using that in my future classrooms.