What?
This week we learned about Podcasts. I thought that I knew what they were but I learned that they are audio casts. I thought that they also included video but I should have known that from last year. The ones that include video are vidcasts. We made a public announcement for our Podcast.
So What?
The podcast was fun to do. We worked with our partner to come up with an announcement for our school, community or class. We chose to make a podcast for our classroom teaching them how to do the Pledge of Allegiance. We also explained what the flag represents and how we show respect for our flag and country. It allows us to get information to many students at once and if a student isn't at school for some reason, they can go to the podcast to see what was covered so that they don't fall behind if the teacher keeps a quick podcast made daily. We are doing this to help us to become better teachers and to also be the most efficient teachers possible. The podcasts will make my life a lot easier as a teacher and will make it so I don't have to waste paper because I can direct the students to the podcast for the info. This is another way to make our lives easier which I will never turn away.
Now What?
I am always looking for ways to be more organized and the podcasts will help with that. I can add it to my classroom website so that the students can refer to it from home or school. Hopefully, this will also help so that I won't have to repeat myself over and over because they can go to the podcast if they didn't hear or understand. It will make me a better teacher. I can make assignments where the students have to go to the podcast to find out what the assignments are in detail such as reports or step by step assignments. They can rewind if they don't understand something. We can also do this for our colleagues so that we don't have to waste paper since we can do it all verbally.
I like the podcast idea but I don't like my voice so that's something that I will need to get over. I think it will become very helpful in the classroom and will eliminate extra work for me as the teacher. I had a lot of fun working with Julie on this project.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Google Sites and Research
What?
What am I learning? This week was a little bit crazy because we didn't have class last Monday so we had to squish two class periods worth of information into one. It was a great class though. We are learning to make a Google Site for our class. There is a lot that goes into it but once it's done it's pretty awesome. We also did research on a topic from the Utah State Curriculum so that we can begin putting information together to make our digital stories.
So What?
So what does this mean to me as a teacher, student and colleague today? It means that I have learned how to make a class website for my students and their parents to find out what our class is studying and what homework there is. As a teacher, this is a great thing to have for the class because it shows the parents that I am organized as a teacher and I have made an extra effort to put a site together just for the students. There will be no excuse for homework not being done or for students to forget what the homework is. It is accessible to them anytime. As a student, it is helping me to become more organized and to find new resources to help the students (the resources page was difficult and took a long time to do but is well worth it for all of the information and resourceful links that I was able to find. As a colleague, it means that I can be prepared ahead of time and don't have to feel like I'm running one hundred miles a minute. I can help them to create their own classroom sites if they don't have one yet. I will have time to help my team do well and work well together because I won't have procrastinated.
Now What?
I have already discussed in the above paragraph what this means for my future students but I want to reiterate that having the classroom site is only going to enhance the way my classroom is run and the organization that I will have. This new information changes my current schema because I now know that I have a place where parents can go to make sure that their child is getting the homework done that is assigned. I really love that the students can access great resources directly from my classroom site. They can play games and learn new things which makes me really happy! This will help me to become a better teacher in the future because I will always be organized with the homework because the students will just have to get onto the internet to get their assignments and I can print out the homework page from the site for the students. As a team, we can make sure that we are on track with our teaching and homework by using the calendar that is public for all to see.
This assignment took me a long time but I am very happy with the end product. I feel that the site is such a great resource for the parents, students and teachers. I enjoyed finding resources and playing around with them to see if they were age appropriate and testing to see that the students would enjoy them. I showed my children the site and they loved it. They wanted to get right onto the resources page and play the games and do the activities. I think that's a pretty good indicator that the students will like the site since my children are around the same ages as my target grade. I had lots of fun with this assignment!
What am I learning? This week was a little bit crazy because we didn't have class last Monday so we had to squish two class periods worth of information into one. It was a great class though. We are learning to make a Google Site for our class. There is a lot that goes into it but once it's done it's pretty awesome. We also did research on a topic from the Utah State Curriculum so that we can begin putting information together to make our digital stories.
So What?
So what does this mean to me as a teacher, student and colleague today? It means that I have learned how to make a class website for my students and their parents to find out what our class is studying and what homework there is. As a teacher, this is a great thing to have for the class because it shows the parents that I am organized as a teacher and I have made an extra effort to put a site together just for the students. There will be no excuse for homework not being done or for students to forget what the homework is. It is accessible to them anytime. As a student, it is helping me to become more organized and to find new resources to help the students (the resources page was difficult and took a long time to do but is well worth it for all of the information and resourceful links that I was able to find. As a colleague, it means that I can be prepared ahead of time and don't have to feel like I'm running one hundred miles a minute. I can help them to create their own classroom sites if they don't have one yet. I will have time to help my team do well and work well together because I won't have procrastinated.
Now What?
I have already discussed in the above paragraph what this means for my future students but I want to reiterate that having the classroom site is only going to enhance the way my classroom is run and the organization that I will have. This new information changes my current schema because I now know that I have a place where parents can go to make sure that their child is getting the homework done that is assigned. I really love that the students can access great resources directly from my classroom site. They can play games and learn new things which makes me really happy! This will help me to become a better teacher in the future because I will always be organized with the homework because the students will just have to get onto the internet to get their assignments and I can print out the homework page from the site for the students. As a team, we can make sure that we are on track with our teaching and homework by using the calendar that is public for all to see.
This assignment took me a long time but I am very happy with the end product. I feel that the site is such a great resource for the parents, students and teachers. I enjoyed finding resources and playing around with them to see if they were age appropriate and testing to see that the students would enjoy them. I showed my children the site and they loved it. They wanted to get right onto the resources page and play the games and do the activities. I think that's a pretty good indicator that the students will like the site since my children are around the same ages as my target grade. I had lots of fun with this assignment!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Chronology of Technology
I was in school back in the dark ages! I remember my school getting new computers for us to use when I was in fourth grade which would have been in 1984. It was so exciting to get to learn how a to use a computer. They were Apple computers and the monitors were huge but so cool! The screen was black and the text was green. I remember the first thing that we got to play was The Oregon Trail game. It was a very basic game that taught us how the pioneers made it across the country to the West on the Oregon Trail. I remember also playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.
I don’t remember learning very much about technology in school. I never had a computer in my classroom growing up. In high school I took a keyboarding class where we used computers but in school that was really the only access we had to technology. My teachers would use overhead projectors which was about as exciting as it got.
I had a word processor when I went to college the first time. Ricks College had a computer lab but I didn’t know how to do more than type a paper on the computers. I didn’t get an email account until after I got home from my mission in 1998 and I just got a Facebook account in 2009. I didn’t know how to do a Power Point presentation until a year ago when I came back to college. It’s pretty sad but after spring semester in Doc Waters' class I feel that I actually know something about technology.
Now, my children have had a totally different experience than I did with technology. They have a lot more knowledge about computers and technology. They have computer class for three months out of the year but my children are able to pretty much find anything on the internet without very much of my help. Their teachers use computers for many of their assignments as well as for class presentations. It’s a totally different world than the when I grew up. I am excited for the technology that we have now and for the tools that we have at our fingertips to enhance our lives.
I was in school back in the dark ages! I remember my school getting new computers for us to use when I was in fourth grade which would have been in 1984. It was so exciting to get to learn how a to use a computer. They were Apple computers and the monitors were huge but so cool! The screen was black and the text was green. I remember the first thing that we got to play was The Oregon Trail game. It was a very basic game that taught us how the pioneers made it across the country to the West on the Oregon Trail. I remember also playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.
I don’t remember learning very much about technology in school. I never had a computer in my classroom growing up. In high school I took a keyboarding class where we used computers but in school that was really the only access we had to technology. My teachers would use overhead projectors which was about as exciting as it got.
I had a word processor when I went to college the first time. Ricks College had a computer lab but I didn’t know how to do more than type a paper on the computers. I didn’t get an email account until after I got home from my mission in 1998 and I just got a Facebook account in 2009. I didn’t know how to do a Power Point presentation until a year ago when I came back to college. It’s pretty sad but after spring semester in Doc Waters' class I feel that I actually know something about technology.
Now, my children have had a totally different experience than I did with technology. They have a lot more knowledge about computers and technology. They have computer class for three months out of the year but my children are able to pretty much find anything on the internet without very much of my help. Their teachers use computers for many of their assignments as well as for class presentations. It’s a totally different world than the when I grew up. I am excited for the technology that we have now and for the tools that we have at our fingertips to enhance our lives.
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