Lesson Plan

I am pretty excited about presenting the project, but I am alos very nervous! I know the material its just the fact that I have to present it to my peers. But everything we need is ready, we didnt encounter any problems.
This class opened my mind on how I need to use technology in the classroom. The journals and other class activities have showed me that technology is an important tool that should be used in the classroom. I do believe it is a must for teachers to use technology in the classroom. Students use so much technology outside the classroom, so why not incorporate the technology in the classroom. Technology gets students engaged in their learnig. This class has showed me all the different kinds of tools that I can use in the classroom; for example, powerpoint, excel, inspiration, etc.

VoiceThread

I think VoiceThread is a pretty cool tool. I think its cool how you can put a picture on there and people can make comments on them through telephone, webcam, microphone, text, or file upload. I think I would use this tool in my classroom. This would allow me to put a picture of the problem on file and allow me and students to comment on the solution and steps of the problem. This would be a helpful tool for students who are having trouble on solving problems. They could get feedback from students on the solution. But before I could properly integrate this tool in the classroom, I would first have to make sure I understand how to use the program correctly.

PPT Project

The our power point presentation is going well. I was having a hard time trying to decide what information we needed to incorporate in the powerpoint. The topic we chose was "Integrated Technology into classrooms". I definitely like the idea of working with a partner rather than by self. It helps bring in more ideas to table and the work is split in half.

Week 7!!!

I think it is important for educators to know how to incorporate the technology students use in everyday life in the classroom. Of course, it can be very hard to try and do so because there is so much technology these days that some of the technology may not be appropriate. For example, the internet is a great tool that could be used by students in the classroom, but MP3 players or cell phones can become a distractions and not work so efficiently. Educators need to know how to incorporate the technology students use in the classroom to enhance the learning experience for the student.

I think online chats and instant messaging can be a great tool for the classroom. Like the textbook says, "instant messaging typically increases communication and allows easy collaboration." If used right, it can be very effecitve because it will allows students to communicate outside of class. I think it allows more flexibility for students to communicate with each other because it is not face to face and its more relaxed; shy students will not have a problems asking question or suggestion ideas because it will be online. If students are using instant messaging or chat rooms in the classroom, teachers need to be careful and monitor what students are doing online. The students can easily get distracted and browse the web so it is imperative to be extra careful if teachers decide to use instant messagine/chat rooms.

I think there are benefits to using both asynchronous and synchronous communications. Both can have a powerful effect on the student, depending on their learning style. Some students might find that they learn better by reading a text rather than having a face-to-face conversation with someone, or vise versa. Also students might find that they learn better if they read the text first and then have a discussion about the information they read, or vise versa. For example, the teacher can assign the students to read a certain section for the next class meeting and when the students come back that day, as a class they can review what was read in the text. This way students can understand and review the material with both asynchronous and synchronous communication.

I have never used podcast so i don't really understand the concpet of it. When I read the information in the textbook it didnt appeal to me much. I dont know if I didnt fully understand the concept of podcasts but to me it seems like it does the same thing as a blog but with audios and videos. Maybe I didnt fully understand the idea but I do not feel very strongly about podcast.

I think that videogames help devlop students studying. I remember when I was in high school my teacher used to review us by playing jeopardy with the information that was going to be on the test. I thought it was a great way to review because I would know what I got wrong and what I needed to go over before the test. Videogames are a great and fun way to get students involved in the learning process. I think videos rather than textbook work is more appealing to students, so it will get their mind focused on the material. Also, another way to keep it interesting is having incentives for the winner of the game. This will motivate them even more to pay attention. Videogames can help students learn their study habits, maybe their is a particular way that learn the information better than another way. If I have children, I will allow them to play videogames, but it will not be an everday thing. Videogames can be fun and educational but too much of something is never good. There are many other ways that my child could also learn, videogames is just one option.

Week 5:: My Type

I think that students do have different learning styles because of their personality type. Some people are quiet and shy and would be terrefied of going infront of the class and presenting a group project to the classroom. While others love going infront of the classroom and presenting to their peers. It would really be beneficial to know how my students learn. I don't want to go on teaching a certain way and none of my students understand what I am doing. My purpose, as a teacher, is to help the students learn and understand the curriculum so I think it is best to understand how a student, of mine, learns and comprehends the material.

Week 4

I have used Spreadsheets before and I think they are very useful. I am secretary of my sorority so I have to have all the information organized. Spreadsheets provide a lot of useful tools for high school math teachers so I would definitely use it in my classroom. It is a great way to keep records of grades, attendance, and even a great way for creating homework assignments.
As a teacher, it is more beneficial to use spreasheet rather than a calculator. With the spreadsheet you can visually see what the computer is doing with the grades. The computer, itself, calculates the average. Because the computer calculates the averages there is less room for calculation errors that could be proudced by single handedly punching in numbers in the calculator.
The three primary functions that the book mentions are: storing, calculating, and presenting information. Excel does indeed provide these functions. Ofcourse it stores information that we have inputed. What is great about it is that it will do the calculations for you once you find an expression for it. Presenting information is a great way to make homework assignments for the using graphs, charts, and such tools.

Week 3:: Inspiration

This is the first time I have heard of the program Inspiration. From the video that I watched it seems very beneficial for both students and the teacher. I find it interesting how much one can do with a single program. One can create an outline and see it in several differnent "inspiration views" without making a change to the outline. This program just has so many tools that are very useful for students to make it easier for them to study their own way; they can create their own outline with the information learned in class, and have it for future refrence when test are coming up. This program is good for a teahcer, because it is a great way to include "visual learning" in the cirriculum. The teachers can create her lesson plans using the templates the inspiration provides. It is a great tool for teachers to enhance the way students are being taught.

I think reasearch presentations would make the best use of technology in the classroom. The student would reasearch a topic and later present the information through powerpoint. The students could use the program inspiration, and all their tools, to gather and organzie their reasearch and then later present it to the class.
I thik blog postings are a great idea for peer revisions. Students can post their rough draft online and I, as the teacher, can make it a requirement to go through other students paper and make revisions.
I don't recall the first time I taught something. But I do help my friends a lot with math homework or upcoming math test. I like to think that I know the information pretty well before I help them with it. And if I am unsure of how to work a problem, I work the problem out bymyself and when I figure out the correct way to work it out with them. I try to show them step by step until they understand; sometimes I will repeat it several times to ensure they understood thoroughly. Helping people out with math is a great review for me. Right now I am taking advanced math classes so it is good to review the things I've leared in the past that I might have forgotten about.