FINAL REFLECTION
3 THINGS I HAVE LEARNED OR HAD AN “AH-HA” MOMENT ABOUT
One thing that I found very interesting about this course was the fact that we had to use Firefox Browser. I had no idea there was such a thing as it. I just knew there was Internet Explorer and Netscape. Seriously, I was way out of the loop. I also really liked the idea that we had to create our own Del.ic.ious and Portaportal sites. Those were so cool and so easy to access. I will definitely use that in the years to come. That is so much easier and a great way to organize all of my sites.
Another thing I found very interesting was the fact that we had to create our own website. I have always wanted to create my own website, but in all honestly never thought I could. Well, needless to say I proved myself wrong and I put a lot more materials on there than I thought I would ever be able to do as well. I had a great time designing and messing around on it. It was such a great learning experience. It is something that will definitely help me in the future and something I hope to use in my classroom. I certainly want to keep it updated so I can continue adding to it and working on it. Another thing that I really surprised me was the fact that the program that we can buy is only $25. That is so cheap. I could stay in one night and not go out for drinks and have myself the web program. I think it is very much worth the $25. I think I am going to buy it for sure.
The last thing I found interesting about this class was the fact about how much Cyndi knows about technology. I just find it so intriguing that she knows every little detail about computers. She is absolutely amazing. Heck she even published her own book. That is pretty dang impressive. I also think it is a great thing that she MADE us use MacIntoshs in this class. Honestly, when I first came into this class I hated Macs. Seriously, I thought they were completely pointless and I saw no use in them. After using them and getting to know how to use them I have completely changed my viewpoint on them. Sometimes, I think they are actually easier to use than an IBM. I still think it’s balanced between a Mac laptop and my Dell laptop, but it is a toss up and that’s pretty impressive considering I wouldn’t give Mac the time of day when this class started. I really learned things in this class that I never thought were possible. I created a podcast, an interactive storybook, an imovie, and heck even a website. I have really learned a lot from this class and I am very glad that it is a required class to take. Thanks so much Cyndi for all of your help!!! J
6 REFLECTIONS OVER STUDENTS WEBSITES
I think that my website was very fun and colorful. I think that I could have added a couple more things to make it a little longer, but overall I think it was a success. I did have so many dang problems with it that I did just want it to be over with, but I really think I will continue to work on it. By looking at some of the other websites my peers have made I sometimes wish I would have used a different theme. I wish I could have found a digital background package that had all these parts and pieces I could have used for my website. I just used one background and created everything else. I really liked the way it turned out, I just wish there was a theme with all of the letters and shapes and things. I wish that I would have put a photo gallery on my website on photos of me. I wish I would have included some photos of my friends, family, and boyfriend. I think it’s fine though because I included pictures of the class that I interned at instead. Overall, I am very happy with my website and I am very glad that I got the chance to create one.
Keri Sherman
-Very detailed
-I really like the pictures on the second page, gives us an idea of what you like to do
-Many different lesson plans to choose from---very impressive
-Looks like you do a lot in Corrections class
-Love you ABC storybook very creative!!!
-I think it’s a great idea that you used your formal for your imovie. Very good!!
-Very nice website!!!
Danny Grater
-Very appealing when you first open it
-Very detailed, looks like you put a lot of work into it
-You have great pictures on your website
-I like how you changed the backgrounds up made it more interesting
Ashley Feldcamp
-I really like the first page really makes you want to look at the website
-I like your about me section lets people get an idea of who you are
-I like how your website is set up
-I like your pictures that are in a slideshow…very creative!!!
Chris Schmidtberger
-The first page is blue
-When you click on a button it takes you back to the first page
-I like the set-up and colors of page 3 but when you click on a button takes you to home page
-I really like the background on page 4. It’s a really cool saying.
Jessie Deines
-Love your picture on the first page
-I LOVE your ABC Book…so cool put a lot of work into it
-Can’t wait to see your imovie
-Very organized
-Buttons look really good
-I like the personal page gives people an idea of who you are
-Very nice website!!!!
Joan Steinkuhler
-I like the design on the front page
-very organized
-I like how you used your formal for your imovie—good thinking
-Your storybook is AWESOME!!! Very cool!!! Very neat how you did that!!!
-I like your personal page
-teachings button goes back to home page
-Very creative website!! I like it a lot!!
This article seemd so interesting to me I couldn't wait to read it. We have such a problem today with English being the second language I was eager to see what the article had to say. The preidction is that by the year 2025, 1 in 4 students are expected to be limited in English proficiency is absolutely crazy. Nearly 1/10 of American's students body speaks predominently Spanich, and English is their second language. I think this is just unreal. I mean I know it is the real thing and I know it is happening, but it is just so dang hard to believe. It also talked about the No Child Left behind Act. Because of the No Child Left Behind legislature, we as future teachers are expected to cater to the needs of these students and help them to speak English proficiencently to the best of our ability. I think this is a great thing, but it is really going to be a hard thing. I just can't believe what this world is coming too. We do need to be optimistic about this and try and figure out what we can do because it is definetely happening.
Episdoe Title: Policy, Privacy, and Practical Legal Issues for Teachers, IT and others.
Episode #: 136
Date: 3/25/06
Reflection: This podcast talked about the appropriate policies, knowledge of the law and the situations that will arrise, and concurrent issues in technology. A good policy needs to be created for each school districts for issues that occur when studnets have access to school computers, computer labs, and other technology in the school. In almost every class there is some sort of technology provided and they need to have some sort of block and guidlelines for students that use the Internet and computers. I think definetely there should be some sort of contract that says they will abide by all of the guidelines.
Kidcast
Episode Title: "Texas Notes, Crowdabout"
Episode #: 38
Date: 2/26/2007
This podcast talks about inviting people from Public Radio Stations into the classroom. People in the radio business are excellent when it comes to voice overs, introudcing songs, sound effects, and many other elements that are required in podcasting. It would be such a great opportunity to have someone from the radio station come in because the students and the teacher would learn so much. I think it would be a great learning experience for both the student and the teacher. The point of podcasting is to condition our students to become effective communicators and comfortable public speakers. Lots of practice and pointers from professionals will help to aid students in their podcasts.
Teaching the Past with Modern Tool
By: Angie Green, Los Angeles Times
March 18, 2007
The title of this article really caught my eye. Music and ryhthm can turly help some students to soldify concepts into their memory banks. I think it's great that teachers introduced a lot of recording technology to his students. He used his resources to contact a friend who owns a music company to compose the music and record the students. This could possibly be a very beneficial field trip or gues speaker for this class. I hope that I will be able to use as much music as I can in my lesson plans because I know personally for me, that's how I remembered and learned many things.
Friday, March 16, 2007
By: Debra Sherman
There is an on-going proposal to help falling schools through the use of video games. These video games are not the gorey games such as Mortal Combat or Doom, but rather alternative educational video games. These video games propose real world questions or problems and students have to work through processes and form hypothesis to solve real world problems. I think this is such a great idea because so many kids today play and use video games. I have mixed emotions about this because then somehow they could bring other video games, but for the most part I think it is a wonderful idea.
By: Karen Seidman, The Gazette, March 22, 2007
The Lester B., Pearson School Board has recently decided to swith gears and spend money on educating teachers on how to use technology rather than just buying hardware. I think this is a great idea because technology is such a huge issue in our society now that teachers need to be well educated as to what is going on. If schools put all these teachers in workshops, these teachers will become more comfortable with using the technology and they would integrate it a lot more.
Parents, Teachers, Kids Speak Up On Ed Teach (Communication, access are imporatnt to students; most parents believe technology is underused in schools.
By: Justin Appel, Assistant Editor, eSchool news
After reading the title in this article I was very surprised to think that parents believe that technology is underused in schools. That really surprises me. But, this is the second year in a row in which results of a survey have suggested that students and teachers desire to have more technology usage in schools. I personally think we use technology for almost everything now. Wow, it seems crazy to even integrate more technology into our schools. 97% of students and 50% of teachers think that the cell phones should be allowed in schools for emergencies and for connecting with parents. I really don't like the idea of having cell phones in the classroom becasue personally for me it is a distractor for me. I don't think I would have learned anything in high school if I would have had my cell phone in class. Seriously, there is so many things you can do on those cell phones.
Episdoe Title: Photo Story and Jodix
Episode #: 39
Episode Date: 3/23/07
Reflection: Podcasting tends to be Macintosh user friendly and this episode illustrated how Microsoft users could also join the podcasting trend. The episode dealt with creating visual podcasts on Windos XP through the use of a free downloadable program called "Microsoft Photo Story." Within this program, users can download real photographs, order the slides, crop, make color corrections, and record audio just like with programs such as audacity and garage band. The user of Microsoft Photo Story can hit each photo, determine how long you need to speak, and this deteremines how long your photos will show. This sounds like a great program and would be very helpful. There is a also a program called "Jodix" that is also a free downloadable feature on Windows, that will convert these files into .mp4 format, so they can be put into itunes.
Episode Title: Rethinking Teaching
Date: 4/1/2007
Episode #: 142
Reflection: In this podcast they discuss how imporant technology is. They discussed how computers can move from the lecture technique to more class invovlement with more students involved. As teachers we want more class involvement so why not use the computers and take a different look at how we can use technology in the classroom.
Source: eSchool News staff and wire service reports
This article was very intriguing. I was very eager to read and learn about this article after reading the article. In my Social Studies methods class we talked a lot about how the world is changing and more and more schools are going to all technology and getting laptops for everything and doing away with textbooks. When I first heard of the idea I thought they were crazy, but I really think it can be a great money saver and very useful. I definetely see the advantages of an all laptop school with no textbooks, but I think only to a degree. I think it is still very imporatnt for children to learn how to read and write and use notebooks to take notes. I think that at some point they should have to also learn how to spell. Computers do everything for you and it takes a lot of your learning away from you that is just given to you. I still think that some of the basic curriculum should stay in the schools. I do think it would be very beneficial to switch to technology textbooks, but I still think they should keep some of the basics in schools.
Source: Technology Counts '07
This article was so interesting and I definetely was excited to read it. This world is becoming more digital and involved in technology. Technology is becoming such an intricle part of society as well as in our schools. This last decade has focused in on technology and its various uses and opportunities. Billions of dollars are being spent each year to preare schools for tomorrow's technological demands and challenges. Disadvantage schools have been left behind in this technology shift, but the federal government has created an "education rate" or "E-rate" program that provides discounts on technology for disadvantaged schools. This has been a very beneficial thing and very useful for these disadvantaged schools.
Episode Title: The Changing Landscape of the Global Digital Divide: Opportunities and Challenges for Teacher Education
Episode #: 143
Date: 4/2/07
Reflection: This podcast talks about the Digital Divicde. The Digital Divide occurs between developed countries and developing countries, or the haves and have nots in regard to access to hardware and the internet. This digital divide is only a small part in a much broader social and economic divide. There is also a Knowledge Divide occuring between developed and developing countires. This is important to understand because access to computer hardware and the internet will not guarentee that people will be able to opperate it. Worldwide, 25% of women are not literate, and males have a slightly lower percentage. The literacy gap is huge between women and men espeically within Arab states and desert countries. OUr known landscape is chaging rapidly and it is important for teachers to understand where technology is now and where it will be going in the future.
Episode Title: Tips for Controlling Noise
Episode Number: 21
Date: 4/1/06
Reflection: WHen I first read the title of this podcast I knew I needed to read it. I need all the help I can get with controlling noise. Especially with teaching elementary students. It's going to be noisy. It is often hard to escape the noise in active, learning classrooms because students and learning tend to be messy and loud. There are measures that teachers can take to help eliminate some of the excess noises that are recorded in the background of their podcasts. First, teachers can express to their students their concern about their noise level and how it is affecting the podcast being generated. Teachers can do a test by having a student record a podcast while two other students are talking in the background to help show and illustrate the idea that it is important to be quiet while others are recording. A signal is often a good approach to quietting students down. For instance, shouting out "Voice Over!" could be the universal signal for students to be quiet because podcasting is being done. Also, trying separting podcasting recording students into different rooms is a good idea. Teachers could also designate time slots for their students to take turns recording.
Source: AP Education Writer
by: Nancy Zuckerod
I really enjoyed reading this article. It was worth the time reading. There is a study suggesting that technology usage in the classroom is not benefiting math and reading scores. This study has shown that classrooms rich in technology are not doing any better in these areas than classrooms not using very much technology. I think that technology can help a student to use knowledge more creatively. I think that teacher's need to impact the students learning. I think technology is essential in the classroom.