What?
This week we learned about the UEN website. UEN stands for Utah Education Network. Doc Waters showed us all of the great resources that are available to us through UEN. Our assignment was to create our own account on the UEN site. There is a two part assignment which will take two weeks to complete. First we will finish setting up our account with the tabs and thing things listed on the rubric. Then, next week we will do a scavenger hunt. The UEN site is going to be very helpful and I look forward to using it often!
So What?
So what does it mean to me as a teacher? As a teacher, UEN's site will be a treasure box of resources from lesson plans to online classes. I love that other teachers have put lesson plans on there for other teachers to use. I am still learning more about the site but I am excited about it and the information that is there for me to use. As a student it will help me to come up with ideas for lesson plans as well as getting ideas of what is required for curriculum. It also helps me to create my own account where I can organize the information that I am getting from this class. I took a look at some of the links to past student's pages and there are a lot of things that can be done with UEN. As a colleague, the site and account is helpful because we can use the information as a team for lesson plans and I also love the interactive activities that are on there. We can also take some of the continuing education courses as a team or with the other teachers in the school and can encourage each other to reach our teaching goals.
Doc Waters has told us that we will use the UEN site a lot in the next two years. I know that I still have a lot to learn about it but know that it will become a very useful resource. I am sure that it will come in handy with all of the team projects that we will be doing in the Education Program too. It makes me excited to be learning the things that will be a "life saver" when I am actually in my own classroom!
Now What?
What does this technology mean to my future students? In playing on the site, I found many fun activities that I can use as teaching tools in my classroom. There are also some activities on the site that I can have the students do when they have finished their work but others haven't. This is if I have access to computers in my classroom. We were able to "play" on some of the interactive activities in class and there are tons of activities that teach the concepts that we are teaching as core curriculum. I had a class last semester where I had to come up with several lesson plans but I hadn't ever made lesson plans before. I struggled to put together lessons that would be good. Had I known about this site, I wouldn't have had such a hard time. It will save me a lot of time to be able to use the resources on the site.
I can even assign homework to the students from the site. I just found one that will be very helpful to my own children about counting money. I can send the link home with their homework packet or a note and as long as everyone has access to the internet and a computer, they will be able to do the homework. There are activities from math to reading and spelling and much more that will be great practice for the kids as well as homework ideas for me as the teacher. I shouldn't have any problems knowing what to teach or finding something to teach because there is a plethera of information on all subjects that we will cover in the classroom. As teachers we will all have access to this site and can get packets or lesson plans together so that we, as a team, can all be on the same page.
I not only plan to use this site in school but I am also going to have my kids do some of the activities on there. Both of my girls struggle in school and it will help them to get to where they need to be. As a parent it is important that I do all that I can do to help them. I know it sounds silly to be so excited about this site but I really am because I feel like it is a treasure box of information that will help me to be the best teacher I can be!
Video Reflection
I am so glad that Doc Waters had us watch the video called President Obama's Speech to Children because it caused so much controversy back in September when he spoke to the children of America. I had not had the opportunity to hear the speech until now. I had my nine year old daughter sit and listen to it with me. It was great to talk to her about the things that President Obama had to say. He encouraged students everywhere to take advantage of the opportunities that they are given to improve themselves. I love that he used examples from his own life growing up so that the children can relate to him. He listed the responsibilities of the parents, government and that of the student. He said that the one responsible for learning and being the best that they can be is them, the student. He told them that they ALL have something special to offer those around them as well as their country. So many young people think that they can drop out of school or just graduate from high school and a great job will drop into their laps. President Obama explained that it doesn't work that way! He encouraged them to take responsibility for themselves and their education and to also set goals that will make them strive to be better. I was very impressed with his speech. Thank you, Doc Waters, for having us watch this video!
No comments:
Post a Comment