Newsletter/Flyer Reflection

I am glad that I was forced to come up with a newsletter and flyer as the final project by myself. The other projects during the course have been beneficial, but I have learned more because I was forced to do this on my own. Computer technology has not been a strong area for me since I am not a traditional student and computer technology was more primitive when I was first a student. This class and various projects have forced my out of my comfort zone and have made me more aware of the vast technological world out there and the dire need to utilize what we have available to us. I know that technology is essential in the educational field and am better equipted to use technology in my future classroom and curriculum.

Do You Believe in Me? Video Reflection

I truly got a kick out of this young man, Dalton Sherman, who so bravely inquired of his adult audience if they believed in him and his fellow students. He pleaded to convince his audience that they held in their power to positively influence his generation. He implored that his audience must first believe in themselves and that their most important job was this duty. He insisted that every position within the school system is vitally important. He was very sucessful in his plea as he earned a standing ovation from his audience. I was touhed by his message in that we are so vitally important to all of our future students. They will be relying on us to believe in ourselves first and to then believe in them. We must dedicate our future professions to this calling, after all they, our future students, will need us to.

More on technology

There are so many many tools out there to adapt and use. I especially liked working with power point and putting together an acrostic for my classroom. It not only will help students with learning some basic principles of the importance of exercise and fitness, but can further promote technology. It is imperative that we keep up with our ever changing world in order to provide the most beneficial education for our students. It we don't, we will be left in the dust.

Todays Technology

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Noun: A Person, Place or Thing Video Reflection

At first I felt like this video was more geared to the younger grades because its a cartoon, but then I felt like the content would be a little advanced for the younger grades. It was appropriate for middle to older grades, but maybe a little childish in the presentation. I thought the other video using live actors who were chanting or used more popular music would be more appealing to the older grades. But as I continued, I thought the song became catchy and mostly thought it was appealing overall. It definetely taught and instilled the concept of what a noun is and where we can expect to find them.

Technology Tools in Education

This week we have been further instructed to consider how these tools might benefit our students in future classrooms. I have spent several hours surfing educational tools in the internet and there is a extremely wide selection of wonderful and educational technological tools available to us. It would be a disservice to our students to not use and teach with these tools in order to broaden their minds with what is available to us.

The connected classroom video reflection

This video was similiar to many we have seen this semester, imploring us as educators to keep up the the rapidly growing pace of modern technology. It astounds me the comparison of both
China and India to us here and it scares me the reprecussions of not doing our part to try to keep up. We will obviously never catch up to their population or even their technology, but if we don't educate our students in that direction, we will be squished. It is our duty and our responsibilty to not hold our students back. They are our future leaders and we must strive to push them in that direction and not hold them back. We cannot be old school. We must focus on technology and our future.

Kidspiration/Inspriration Reflection

I was really impressed and excited about the kidspiration and inspiration lesson. I feel that this will be a great tool to use in my future classroom. I realize that there are still many who feel like having real hands on type of activities are more beneficial and I do still feel like they have there place. However, we are in a technological world and having benficial activities that promote creative learning for our students will be necessary. I spent along time with the various activities on there 2 sites and I know that my students will be able to learn from what they have to offer. In our world we need to help our students have access to technological resources, not only for learning but for fun as well.

How Not to Use Powerpoint Reflection

It made my chuckle to watch this video, because I am not alone in admitting I have been subjected to long and boring PowerPoint presentations, such as the video was referring to. I still feel like power point has a valuable place in education, but its important to limit the information to essentials. In the elementary setting, students would quickly be tuned out if the information were too lengthy and monotonous. I feel like if I were to include more creative fonts, pictures and graphs, and keep the information to a minimum, the presentation could still be beneficial and interesting.

Powerpoint and Google Presentation Reflection

It still amazes me just how much technology is available to us, if we just know how to access it. I have learned something new everytime I have come to class that will benefit me in my future classrooms. I have been aware of power point, and have attended lectures which use this feature, but I have not actually used it myself until class this week. I feel like in my future classes, I could use this avenue to create interesting slide shows for my students, and I could educate my students to use it as well. Then, when we created a similiar assignment, using google presentation, I was even more impressed. This was much more effective when using in a group collarboration setting. I am excited to offer this to my future students who will be able to work together on projects and utilize this technology.

Mashup video Reflection

When we first watched this video in class, I didn't realize it was a mash up of many different youtube videos. I just thought they were coming together to put together their music. It was interesting to see all the many different videos and how they were put together. I felt that it was well done and amazed how for the most part it seemed to flow into one production. It just goes to show that we are all unique, and when can collarborate to make one big thing better and more entertaining than if we were all by ourselves. We can teach our students that by mashing up, we can put all of our ideas together and make one big idea better.

Digital Cameras Reflection

I have a digital camera and wonder often how I ever lived with out it. They offer so much to us and the click of a button. In education I feel like it will be very beneficial in my classroom. I plan to use it in various situations. I feel like students can benefit from using digital technology when they are putting together projects. They can collaborate with their fellow students to be creative in assignments. When we put pictures to our words, it comes alive. There will always be a place for imaginations without pictures, but in many instances, they can be free to express themselves with pictures. While there here is still a place for self expression, I still feel like they can also accomplish this sometimes with the help of a camera.

We Didn't Start the Fire Video Reflection

I have heard this song before on the radio, but had not ever really paid attention to it. It was enlightning to see this video depicting many important evets in history to which the song pays tribute to. I feel like these types of videos can provide a mini history lesson to our students today. They tend to relate more to music and videos that teach in this format than to a docutmentary type. If anything, it can show them the cronological order of many important events and people in our more recent history, that have all played a role in shaping who we are as a nation and even a global community. I think that these types of videos can contribute to our students appreciation for history as well as other subjects.

Internet Use Reflection

I strongly agree that we should use the internet in our educational experiences. I feel like with out it, we would be putting our students at a disadvantage in todays technological world. There is a vast amount of information available to us as educators and to our students at the click of a button. We would be doing ourselves and our students an injustice to not provide this as an avenue of learning. However, we need to be extremely careful about making sure our students are aware of the many dangers that they could be exposed to. When necessary precautions are practiced, the internet can be a very safe and valuable tool. We must educate our students about these internet hazards and provide an avenue of learning what they should and should not do while surfing the internet.
When we as educators explore the internet, we must be mindful of the sites we visit. Since there is no premisis for checking the credentials of authors who provide information, we must protect ourselves by doing some homework. Some important questions to ask ourselves when visiting various websites is:

1. Who wrote the information and what are their credentials?
2. What is the purpose of the website, does it seem to be informational in nature?
3. Is the information credible for teaching or learning?
4. Is the information biased, or does it present various viewpoints?
5. How recently was the information written, is it up to date?
6. Why should I consider using the information, does is seem reliable and have back-up sources?

When we help our students to learn about internet credibility, we must also have them research these question as well with our help.

Web 2.0 Reflection

Many of the communication devices available for use on the internet are still perplexing and unfamiliar to me. I am familiear with blogging, but the others are somewhat vague to me. I do see the benefit of some in an educational setting to enhance the learning experience, but I feel for some I would need more experience to utilize them. As I have mentioned several times before, I feel a strong need to educate myself with respect to technology in order to provide a foundation for my students to suceed in our modern society. Since I can understand blogging, I will address it. I feel like most students would benefit if they were able to more effectively commnunicate with their peers in many circumstances. When they are assinged projects and assingments, they could greatly benefit from a collarboration effort. If they could make comments on a blogger account, they could help others and themselves while away from the school setting. Their blogging would need to be monitored by teachers to make sure that it is kept appropriate and no cheating takes place. I feel like some of the other options could also be beneficial such as wiki spaces and podcasts. It is liberating to see so much available to todays students, but we need to act fast to keep up with our changing world.

Did You Know 3.0 Video Reflection

Everytime I watch one of these types of videos about the ever fastly technological advancing society we are living in, it humbles me. For so many years I have lived only thinking we were of such a powerful country. One of the points that this video makes is just how insignificant the United States really is. China and India are 2 countries that are rapidly passing us up on a technical scale and will soon leave us far in the dust. We owe it to the children we will be teaching to do our part to prepare them for this world. We will only hold them back if we don't do our part. From a very young age, we need to teach technology to them and not hold them back. This generation will benefit in everyway if we do what we can to keep them on task of advancing, the world will certainly be advancing and will leave us in the dust if we don't keep up.

Surface Computing Video Reflection

This weeks video seemed a little out of place for me in this class. Although it pertained to computer technology, I didn't feel like it particularly pertained to education. It was interesting how you can paricipate in a chess game via a computer screen with someone across the world, or that you could both similtaniously draw a picture on your screen, or even drive computer cars on anothers persons computer course, it just didn't fit the curriculum or objective for this course. I did however further impress me that the type of technology available to us it vast and very quickly moving forward at a very constant and fast pace. I hope and will constantly strive to keep up.

UEN Reflection

UEN Reflection
I was at first apprehensive about this week’s assignment, but after getting started, I became increasingly curious and excited about the UEN experience. I had no idea that there was such an informational and unique site available to teachers and students.
I felt like the pioneer library offered students and teachers exceptional information to be utilized for many various activities and projects. For younger students, the “searchasaurus” provided many fun facts and activities. For both younger and older students, there are pages full of information for reports, projects, and for just plain fun. In my future classroom, I will have my students use this site for both their personal time to learn and explore as well as for providing valuable information for projects.
As I explored the main UEN page, I was fascinated at all the great interactive activities available for me to incorporate in my classroom. I feel like when my students are involved with either a report or other various projects, they will have multiple wonderful information they can access though this site. The themepark area has wonderful “hands on” activities, rich with ideas and experience. I could have groups of students work together on a particular virtual field trip and then report their experience to the rest of the class.
I also was very intrigued with the core curriculum link with the attached lessons plans offered. I thought it contained many very well written lessons plans that will offer me as an educator many enriching activities and lessons for my students. I spent quite a bit of times exploring these curriculum ideas, and lesson plans. I feel like they provide me many wonderful ideas to teach my students.
I particularly liked the “culturegram” link about students of other countries. I feel like my students can learn a lot by reading about other students around the world. This website offers them information with the touch of a button. I feel like by having them find information about students from another particular country, they can broaden their own social abilities. They will also be able to explore history in a different way by reading about many different times in our history as well as history of the world when they are able the “surf help of this site. I will most definitely utilize UEN in my future classroom because I feel like the ages” in this website. I spent some time here learning about some interesting facts in history that I wasn’t aware of. I also felt that the “world book” offered many very interesting facts about what happened on a particular day as well as other great information that could be so easily found with the it greatly help my students.

UEN page with Videos and Technological Articles

By having this page available to my students on my classroom website, I am providing a means by which they can access fun educational videos that will catch and keep their attention. Students today are bombarded with many different possibilities of technology. They have devices at their immediate disposal for communicating and entertainment. If we expect them to learn with the methods of our own education, we will most likely lose them because they may become bored. By offering such videos, and other technological opportunities, we will more likely engage them. They will be able to more effectively collaborate with their peers on various subjects and objectives and thus more effectivley learn what we are hoping to teach them. Students of todays technology will be our future leaders, and we as teachers must do our part to prepare them for their world.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today Reflection

After viewing this video, I am even more convinced that preparing teachers for tomorrow's students of technology is of upmost importance. If we do not keep up with this rising generation of technology, we will surely be holding our students back. It is eye opening to realize how much these young students already use technology. They will most certainly continue to advance in their knowledge and use of it, and we must therefore keep up with them. This is the way they communicate, socialize, relax and collaborate, why not then should it be a way for them to learn and grow. This vision of our future students must lead the way for us to prepare to teach them, and help them reach their full potential.

My use of facebook and google groups in the classroom.

I have a friend who also teaches 5th grade in another state and we are both teaching our students about American History. We have collaborated and decided to have our students make facebook pages and write and share about some of the facts that they have learned about American History. They will each be assigned a history buddy from the other classroom who they do not know. We have chosen facebook as a tool for this project for a few reasons. It is a fun means of communication for this age group to participate in. They will have fun putting together their profiles and building their pages, all the while learning about valuable technological tools. During this project they will be able to study facts that they have learned and then share them with their buddy, as well as other students. Face book also offers a chat window in order for them to share information instantaneously, as well as a means of posting information on their wall for others to access and learn from. We both feel like this opportunity will both help our students learn and share American history, but will also introduce them to a world of technology. We also feel like this will enhance their learning experience and entice them to want to learn more. Likely they will be eagar to discuss history with fellow students and will probably be eager to learn and share other subject areas as well. Some concerns that we have discussed will be internet safety and privacy of these students. We plan to explain to their parents that this is a project that needs to be somewhat monitored by their parents, and we will of course be helping students implement safety awareness by teaching that they must not invite unknown friends to join. Regular checking of their facebook accounts will also be a top priority in order to protect the students.



Another objective that I plan to implement technology in my classroom is by using google groups. I am having my students divide into several groups and work on a group project for science. Each group will be given a different science concept and together present their discoveries to the classroom. I want them to be able to communicate about their science topic both in and out of the classroom. I will give them plenty of direction in how to go about this. They will be required to do some research about it, and then collaborate about possible solutions that may come up, during their research. They will need to prepare a poster, experiment, hypothesis and then teach the other students about what they discovered in this research. By being able to discuss various things outside the classroom they will also be learning and using google groups to communicate. This way they can each add, edit and communicate about each of their findings and then share with other group members. I will then be added to the group so I can then evaluate as to who participated and provided information for the project. I feel like this tool can be very beneficial for my students to learn to cooperate as a team as well as learn a valuable communication tool for future group projects. I realize that these young students will need a lot of guidance and I will communicate with them regularly in order to assist them. I will also be communicating with parents and informing them of what we are trying to accomplish. I will send home information about the research and how to help their student succeed. I feel when we introduce students to such valuable tools in the world of technology we are enhancing their educational experience. They will be much better off in our modern society if they are required to use these types of tools at such a young and impressionable age.

Millenial Generation

This video was somewhat informational but not quite as in depth or intriguing. It opened my mind up to the possibilities and benefit of a better mobile communication possibility, but was not as attention grabbing as other videos so far. I feel like if we were able to more effectively use our technology to communicate in a more mobile fashion, it would definately be beneficial. One student brought up the idea that we still aren't ablt to use our cell phones during a flight. You would think that with all our avanced technological capabilities, that this would be now available.

Did You Know? Video Reflection

WOW, its hard to comprehend just how fast this world of technology is rapidly shifting. We have all been told that just after we purchase a new and exciting computer that it is already a dinosaur. Unless we buy the newest hottest items every month or so, we can't keep up with it all. The video included some very interesting facts about language, education as well as technology in our world today. Sometimes it makes my head swim to even try to understand a small fraction of what is available to us, and I can't even comprehend what might be in store for us in the coming years. Just when I figure out how to navigate my new cell phone, or figure out how to run a program, its already been replaced with the newest model. I guess I will just have to remain a bit ignorant about it all, but will certainly enjoy the ride.

Microsoft Word

I have been using microsoft word for several years and am very satisfied with it and what it has to offer me as an professional teacher. I feel like it offers a great means of communication for my students as well as parents and colleagues. I am able to create notes, calendars, letters and many other tools that I can then attach to an email and send to anyone with an email account. We live in a day and technological age where just about everyone has access to the internet and an email account. My students feel very important to recieve mail from me and not just junk mail from unknown companies. Most of them are excited to go home and see if I have sent them mail about upcoming classroom projects and home work assingments. Even though I can and do communicate with them through my classroom website, they feel it is a little bit more personal when I send them each reminders through word documents.

"Pay Attention" video reflection

I thought the video was exceptionally "eye-catching" even though it was only written messages played to music. Nothing was new information to me, but it really opened my mind to just how much technology our children have been exposed to in their short lives. This is the language that they speak. Why do we expect them to try to learn without their native tongue. Instead of embracing certain apsects of their technological world, we ban them from it and expect them to learn the old fashioned way, the way we did. Not to say that it is bad or unimportant, just that with these technological advances, we have the opportunity to enhance their learning experiences. We all know that almost every aspect of our lives has been greatly enhanced with technology. I mean where would we be if we have to stop and use a pay phone on the way to work, or actually have to run in and pay the gas attendant for our gas. What about writing a letter on a peice of paper with a pen, how old fashioned is that? Well not to say that it would be inappropriate, it is still fun to get a letter from a friend in the mail. It's just that our young people don't know that world, so it isn't fair to expect them to learn the way we did. They have been privilidged to have been born in a time with so much technology, I feel like their learning experience will be so much better if we embrace this instead of fighting it.

Classroom Website

This week I created a classroom website in order to be able to better communicate with my students and their parents. With so much advancement in technology developement, it is important that we utilize this opportunity for enhanced communication. By offering this type of communication level, I feel like my students and their parents will benefit.
At the click of a button, they can access information about me personally, as well as other imforation pertaining to our classroom and curriculum. Thc website includes important announcements and dates, a calender in which they can plan and prepare for upcoming important dates and projects, informs and reminds students and their parents of daily and weekly homework assignments, makes them aware of technological tools we use in the classroom and also highlites our students of the week, with special recognition. I feel like such a website can offer a cohesive unity for our classroom. As long as they do their part and utilize this opportunity, they will always be aware of important dates and information. Their parents will always be able to access important due dates and keep up to date with special events and projects. I feel that by spotlighting students who have performed at an notable level should be recognized for their fellow students and parents to see. This might help them to feel special and encourage positive behavior.
I am excited to be able to implement this website and look forward to the positive outcome of such commication tools we have at our fingertips.

week 2 video reflection

This week I enjoyed the short video "Web 2.0". It was to the point and professionally done to demonstate just how useful communication and social networking tools can be. Some of the items were unfamiliar to me but I am intrigued to find out more. Already this class has introduced me to various forms of communication that I can utilize in my future classrooms. I look forward to learning even more types of social networking and collaboration with my classmates during this semester.

Communication Tools/Social Networking Tools

In todays world, modern technology can effect every aspect of our lives. We would be dinosaurs if we didn't incorporate these tools into our classrooms. Since I am teaching 5th graders, they are definately old enough to participate in classroom technology. I use this strategy in order to encourage them to learn and utilize communication and social networking tools. I do not make this required due to the unfortunate situation that not all of my students and/or parents have access to this type of communication.
Although not all of my students and/or parents have technological access, fortuanately, most of them do. By providing such communication and networking tools, I am better able to keep parents informed of important dates, information and other items of business. When these items are only sent home in the form of a paper note, many parents never receive them, or some could lose the information. Most keep up on emails and other technological communication tools and I am better able to inform them of necessary information.
Since my fellow 5th grade teachers and I depend on formal collaboration, it is very useful to have such tools at our disposal. We do meet together weekly to plan and stategize over our students, curriculum and agendas, but it is very benificial to be able to otherwise commicate via these networking tools. Many concerns can't wait until our weekly face-to-face meetings, so it is imperitive that we are able to address these immediatly.
Although it would not be impossible to communicate effectively without these modern technological advances, they greatly enhance our ability to do so.

Miss effie's ideal 5th grade class

First I going to describe my classroom. It is located near the middle of the school, ideally not far from the library, lunchroom, water fountain, rest rooms and the back door leading to the playground. I have decorated the room with many colorful posters about math facts, spelling tips and creative writing ideas. I have many exiting books for the students to browse through about science, social studies and other topics. I have many childrens literature books available for the students to read at their leisure. The students desks are arranged in a big circle around the classroom. I feel like this set up encourages team work and a unified group of students.
My students are from many different cultures and backgrounds, as well as varied socioeconomic status. I feel this is an ideal situation because it promotes more tolerance and understanding among students. Most of the students are well behaved and range from normal to advanced in their academic development. I do have a couple of students who struggle, one with a learing disorder, who attends a resource classroom a couple of hours a day, but spends most of the time included here in our classroom. Another, has ADHD and needs extra help keeping focused. Most of the parents are actively involved with their childrens education, but I am aware of a few who do not have such parental involvement. I try to offer a bit more help for these students so they don't fall behind. My colleagues and I regularly collaborate and come up with meaningful experiences to enhance the students learning. We try to organize 2-3 educational fieldtrips a year which are both fun and exciting for the students, and also educational. We also rotate the students daily between our classrooms to have them experience a broader perspective as well as exposure to a different teacher each day. We each teach our own students reading, writing and math, but rotate science, social studies, health and art. That way, each teacher prepares one curriculum to be taughts each group of students for each quater.
I am a strong advocate of a student learning atmophere. I feel like I am a great leader in teaching but that ulitmately, the students benefit more by learning hands on. I promote student tutors and encourage my students to be leaders in their strengths. When we learn a new topic or concept, I try to organinze labs for the students to experience the new concept and discover as much as possible.
I upkeep a class website as well as a blog spot for our classroom. I do not require any students to participate due to the possibility that some students may not have access to a computer and/or the internet. However I am aware that most students do have such access and this promotes class unity. They can participate in the blog where they discuss homework assignments and upcoming events. I provide a classroom computer for students to use if they don't have access to one elsewhere, so they can utilize the blogspot if they feel like it. I encourge all students to access our classroom sites whenever they can, so they can become more familiar with technology.
I hope to teach a wide variety of curriculum content to my students. They are just discovering algebraic concepts and its facinating to see them understand. They usually come to my classroom with many fundamentals of writing, but its fun and rewarding to see most of them really take off and become creative in their writing. I have a 4 part system to help them master their ability to adaquately write an essay on a given topic. I have a very extensive library of appropriate and exciting books that I have acquired through the years. I realize that not all of my students are at the same reading level or have the same interests, so I try really hard to help each student find books that truly engage them in this wonderful pastime. In the rotations I teach social studies. One of the reasons I chose to teach 5th grade, is I love American history and I want to try to instill a love for our American heritage by helping these students attain a fondness and respect for history. Since we have a variety of cultures among us, I use this opportunity to expose the students to other viewpoints of history and to include the differences of all our backgrounds and to embrace these differences. Some say we as Americans are the great "melting pot" but that would required us all to blend together. I teach we are a "salad bowl" each mingling and getting along, but respecting our differences.
In conclusion, our class goals are to show respect to everyone around us and do our best at all times. I organize a yearly service project where we as a class choose some group in need and orchestrate some sort of act of service to help out where we are needed. For instance, this year we are going to raise money for children in Africa who are in desparate need of certain immunizations. My students decided that they would collect donations from friends and family according to how many pages they read during a month. This promotes their reading ability as well as raising money for these less fortunate children. I am very proud of my students for their sincere efforts to help others. I feel very lucky to have such a great group of young people that I am able to help mold into strong, educated and responsible citizens.

Video Reflection

I feel like the idea of a cost related to use of internet is acutally a good idea. Some subscribers to the internet use it very little but pay the same amount as many who are using the internet much more. Instead of dramatically increasing the price for those who access the internet moderately, the price should decrease for those who rarely use it and increase for those who use it excessively. For the broad majority if users who are moderate, it should remain relitevely the same. I feel like it woud be ideal for all students to have a lap top for use, but feel like it would most likely be excessive. It is true that we need to devote more money into the education of our young people, but this would be a huge cost, and in my opinion, not worth the costs of providing them. I do however feel like more access would be beneficial and that worthwhile programs geared toward individual instruction in technology is essential in todays world. In order to keep up the the trend in our society, it is imperative that we teach our students as much as possible about technology and how it can improve our educational experiences.