End of the Semester IP&T 287

I think that the most valuable aspect of creating a PLE was that is is a great way to communicate online. It has made me want to do this with my future students so they know what is going on in the classroom as well as the parents will be informed. I liked that it is a way for you to document what you learned in the class and see how you progressed through the semester.

Having a PLE the only thing that I really didn't like is that sometimes what you are trying to post, especially pictures they never seem to line up where you want them to. Also I had a lot of problems with it not letting me post the things that I needed to for the assignment.

I think that I will use my blog in the future so that I have a place where I can see the different things that I have learned throughout the years as so I can look back at them for ideas when I am teaching in the future.

Internet Safety 2

There was lots of interesting internet safety videos. One that I liked a lot was the netsmartzkids.org. I learned that kids need to use your netsmartz. I learned that students need to be really careful online, in making sure they are saying No to things they don’t know about.

They also need to make sure they are checking their email for viruses before they open them and telling a trusted adult anything that you are unsure of when online. You need to make sure students understand that on the internet you don’t always get what you think it is. Students need to learn to never give their personal information out online to people they don’t know. I also learned about the importance of understanding of ethics on the internet so that students will learn that taking songs is stealing things that are not theirs.

These internet safety videos and websites are a great resource for you to introduce your students or kids to. Many of the songs on netsmartzkids.org are catchy songs that will help students and kids understand what is important for them to know about how to use the internet and keep them safe.

Internet Safety

I decided to read the article “Mixed Signals” from the June 2001 New Era. This was an interesting article and it had lots of good ideas to help your family keep safe from the internet. One of my favorite things it said was that you are in control you can keep yourself save on the internet. Another thing I liked was that discussing with your children different things like don’t trust everything you read and different internet rules in your house will help keep you as well as them safe.

I learned that the internet can be both beneficial as well as dangerous. One of the biggest things we should do is make our students and family aware of these dangers. This is one of the preventive measures we can do, as well as get a filter for our internet, put our computers in a public place and educate ourselves on as much as possible about how to prevent the dangerous of the internet in our homes.

What I have read in these articles will influence me because I will use the preventive measures learned to help educate my students on what they can do to prevent themselves from getting into trouble on the internet. I will make sure every student understands the dangers and knows how to make sure they don’t run into them. This may include teaching children to never share personal information and to always be on the internet for a specific purpose and not aimlessly searching.

I can use what I have learned from reading these articles by talking with my family and friends and teaching the about them preventive measures they can take to protect their family from the dangers of the internet. Some of these will include putting your computer in a public place, talking to your students or children about these dangers and making them aware of not to go on them. This has helped me realize that we need to also have meetings with our families and make good choices ourselves so that we can set a good example for them that they can learn from. We also need to take the time to watch good appropriate shows with our children so that we can discuss how to make choices that will help them rather than hurt them.

Week 4 of Practicum

This week saw the Elmo used to help the students understand vocabulary words. The teacher brought different objects such as a family picture and a little Christmas tree to help the students understand the definition of a few new vocabulary words.

This week in one of my lessons I used the Elmo to help emphasize the learning in the classroom. The lesson was helping the students identify the digraph sounds ch, sh, tch, and th in different sentences. The students were able to see different pictures as well with these sounds in them with the Elmo, and see how to spell the words correctly. The students were able to participate by coming up and circling the words they could identify has having these sounds in them.

In a math lesson you could use the Elmo in helping the students understand how to use manipulative. This would help the students to enhance their learning, because all students would be able to see the manipulative, as well as help the teacher use them by coming up and explaining how they solved the problem.

Week 3 of Practicum

In the school I am working in, there are not very many things that you can check out, or use as far as technology goes. I did not really see any uses of technology in the classroom other than the students using the CD player for the listening center, and the TV for morning announcements.
Everyday I have been using the Overhead which is part of technology, but it is not considered up to date technology. In the 2nd grade classroom I am, although there is only an overhead we can use, it has helped the students see a bigger picture of different things as well as understand the material better because they can see details of pictures and other thing a lot better.
In a lesson that I taught this week if the classroom had a projector with wireless internet, I could have shown them a clip of a jungle instead of just having them look at different pictures I had printed on the overhead. This would have provided a better image of what a jungle really is, especially for the ELL students in the classroom.

Week 2 of Practicum

In my classroom this week since there are only two computers, they are mostly used for students, especially ELL students to practice learning their sounds and hearing the language. This week they didn't really listen to the CD player, but they did watch a movie about the presidents of the United States on the TV. The students also see the overhead and use the listening center everyday.
I did not use any technology in the classroom yet, because the school does not have a lot of access to a lot of technology. They have one lab in which the students while we have been in the schools have not used. I also found out that a lot of times the reason why I have never seen the use technology is because they do it during their rotation time where they go to the library, have gym and have time in the computer lab. In a lesson you could use technology by showing them different pictures or movie clips of the different topics you are talking about so the students, especially the ELL's will understand more of what the vocabulary means by providing them with a visual picture in their minds.

Week 1 of Practicum

In my classroom this week there are only two computers, an overhead, TV and a tape/CD player. Throughout this week I saw that the kids use a program that allows them to practice their reading skills. They also have a tape and CD player in which they listen to stories on it and they answer questions about the story their heard. They use the computer and CD player daily but there can only be one child on the computer and up to three on the listening center.
I have only seen the overhead being used once in the classroom so far. They don’t have any other things in the classroom that have to do with technology. I did not use any technology in the classroom yet, I did find out that you can get an Elmo from the library, or you can schedule a time in the lab. In a lesson you could use technology by showing a digital storytelling story to the class, instead of just listening to it on the tape player.

Integrating Technology in the classroom

Read Aloud
Critical Attributes: Book at Instructional or frustrational level-student wouldn't be able to read on their own. Teaching fluency-proxity-how to phrasing, pauses etc.
Motivate students to enjoy literature, opening world of books to students
Print concepts
Helps them to focus on context-comprehension

Technology integration: Book Trailer
Elmo
Author studies-google earth
Websites like Peter and the dragon (show how illustrations were made)
Story board about author or concept taught or other books the author
Wrote for author studies

Google Virtual Tours

There are so many ideas on how to use Google Earth to create virtual tours for your students to go on. I have learned so many good ideas for my classroom by watching the virtual tours of some of my classmates. I watched Sarah Kidd’s; she had the idea of going on a tour of different physical land forms. This is a great way for you to show your students what kinds of things are around the world and show them the different areas they are located in. I also watched Devin’s Volcano’s tour. This is a great idea for students because instead of just describing where a volcano is located, you can go on a tour of where they are in the world. This would get kids even more interested in the different subjects you travel to by using Google earth virtual tours.

Architecture through the years virtual tour

For my virtual tour I did architecture through the years. This was based on a sixth grade curriculum of exploring architecture as well as many other things through the years. We start with the Caves in France, then to Pyramids in Egypt, then to Greece, Rome, back to Paris, France for the Notre Dame Cathedral and then finishing with the modern architecture of the tallest skyscraper in the world Taipei 101 located in Taipei, Taiwan.

I can use this virtual tour for a sixth grade class to introduce a unit on architecture through the years. By using my virtual tour to travel around the world and look at how the architecture has dramatically changed over the years all over the world.

Google Earth and KMZ files

Today in class we learned about how to implement Google earth into the classroom. I have learned that using Google earth you can take your class to so many places all over the world. They can not only see the land formations, but they can see the cities and towns where people live. In my classroom I could use Google earth to show different places that we would be studying as well as different weather formations.
The website I found included many kmz files that showed different landscapes and formations. This was a really cool website because you can see different places in the world with different pictures. The website is http:www.kmzlinks.com/ I clicked on the link that said WeirdThingsAndBeautifulSandFormations.kmz. I looked at the link that showed a desert with different sand formations. The images are very interesting and make it seem like you are really there. I could use this in my classroom to show my class the different ecosystems around the world.

Digital Storyboard application and refection

After looking at several digital storyboards done by my classmates, I was very impressed at the creativity and quality of these stories. I got so many new ideas for how I can use these storyboards in my classroom. Some of the differing things I saw were raps about fairy tales, poems adapted to a familiar tune, and stories told through the lyrics of songs. This goes to show how many possibilities there are out there with using digital storyboards.

As I am hoping to teach 3rd or 4th grade, I saw that I could use the digital storyboard tool with these students. I could easily use this tool for a unit on poetry. I would start by having created my own poem through a digital storyboard. Then, I would show this to my students and help them in creating their own. First my students would prepare the text for their poems, using such things like rhyme, symbolism, alliteration, etc. Then they would find or take pictures to help represent the poem. I can anticipate the students loving this activity, especially when they get to show their finished product to their classmates.

Boa Constrictor-Digital Storytelling

Check out our Digital Storytelling Project!

Digital Storytelling

This week we learned about Digital storytelling. This is one of the most useful things I have seen to make storytelling even more fun. In our group we decided to do our interpretation of a poem. We choose to do Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein. We are going to use clay formations to tell this poem.
There are so many things you can do with digital storytelling. I have learned that this tool you can use with almost any grade level. It is a quick, easy project for your students to do and they will have so much fun doing it. It is amazing to me some of the things that we watched that younger grades did with storytelling. I also learned that you don’t only have to use it to retell a story; you can use it to make an ABC Storybook, Circle Story, Fractured fairy tale, Adventure Story, Poetry Interpretation, Book Trailer, Public Service Announcement, or Mini Documentary. Your students will love digital storytelling.

Reflection on The Tech Savvy Teacher

Looking at two other Tech Savvy Teacher articles (Stacy and Asheley ), I have learned that technology although it has many glitches can be very helpful in the classroom. It not only helps children become more engaged in the experiments you are having them try, but they also are very useful to show the whole class different things.
One of the things that I liked about these lessons is that they all used some form of newer technology, such as the digital microscope and Stellarium program. This would be so helpful to the teacher because they are able to project things bigger so that all the students will be able to see and the students will be able to explore the objects in greater detail. Overall, I am very amazed at how many uses technology can have in the classroom.

The Tech Savvy Teacher

September 24, 2008
The Tech Savvy Teacher
By: Amy DeLawder, Janae Stolle, and Candace Sanders

We all know that students live in a world surrounded by technology. What better way to capture their fascination with technology than to incorporate it in your classroom. Here is a good example of how to incorporate technology when teaching a third grade science lesson.

Our lesson is based on the Utah Third Grade Science Core Curriculum. It is found in Standard 2 Objective 1. This objective states that students will classify living and nonliving things in an environment. Keep these guidelines in mind:
1. Identify characteristics of living things (i.e., growth, movement, reproduction).
2. Identify characteristics of nonliving things.
3. Classify living and nonliving things in an environment.

After the students have gained an understanding of how to classify living and non-living things, they will be split into small groups. Each group will go to an outside environment chosen by the teacher and take pictures of three living

and three non-living things.

Then students will choose one item out of each of the categories to bring back to the classroom. They will collect data in a small petri dish. Then they will come back to the classroom and observe their specimens under a digital microscope. Using the microscope students will be better able to observe their specimens by taking pictures and recording videos. They then will use this time to observe characteristics of living and non-living things. Students will post the digital pictures onto a PowerPoint presentation to share their findings with the class.
Technology can be a great aid in the classroom. The use of a digital camera and microscope enhanced the student’s ability to make observations and classify their findings. Technology is also an efficient way for students to gather data and learn new technological skills that will be beneficial to them in the future. So go out there and become the tech savvy teacher you always wanted to be. Do not be scared of technology—it can be your friend in the classroom.

Fair Use and TPCK

In watching the fair use videos and looking at all of the guidelines on using media, as well as printed documents in our classroom, I had no idea it was as specific as it is. I think that the charts on what you can and can’t use are a great resource to us as teachers. This way we are able to follow the copyright laws in our classrooms. I think fair use policy for teachers is really great, because the resources they are able to use to teach their students are so valuable to each individual’s life.

Learning about TPCK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) helps teachers like me become more aware of all of the new practices in teaching and technology. It also helps us to better incorporate the knowledge needed in the classroom into our teaching, as well as helps us better understand the intersections between content, pedagogy and technology today, so that we can better help our students.

Possible Wedding Invitation

Here is a sample of what our invitation possibly will look like. Tell me what you think about it.

Web 2.0 Resources

We had to create some kind of blog, wiki, or website for my IP&T 287 class. I chose to do a blog because I have always wanted to start one. In this class so far I have learned so many reasons why technology is important to learn now. In learning about web 2.0 resources, I have decided that they will be really helpful to use when I have my own classroom. I was very surprised at all of the helpful technology tools to use for teachers. As a teacher, you can definitely use goodreads as a tool to recommend a variety of books, share books with your students, find new books to add to your classroom library, as well as help parents learn and know what their kids area currently reading. In addition, the delicious website will help assist teachers in finding many different resources for different subjects they are teaching their students. This website also aids teachers in finding more resources that meet their state requirements.
Using these resources will help as well as parents have a place where I can update parents on what we are doing in our classroom as well as post any homework or announcements I have on a blog, wiki, or website designed for my classroom. This will also allow me to better keep in contact with the parents of my students. This is becoming a very effective use of technology, because now day’s early and elementary aged children as well as parents spend so much time with the new technology developments. I have learned that it is extremely vital for everyone to keep up with technology. As a teacher, using a balanced amount of technology in the classroom, will help their students become more aware of the newest technology ad how to use it for many future jobs that don’t exist yet.