Blog #9

Your ninth post should contain:
A 2-paragraph review of an interesting web-based resource that you might use when teaching. Be sure to include a link to the resource, and check out the ones that your classmates have shared as well.
A paragraph about how you think you will use Excel and similar programs as a teacher (see Chapter 13). Be specific about your subject matter area and the grade level.

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/

The web-based resource that I chose is posted above. I liked this website because I found that it is very easy to navigate and gives a lot of different and useful ideas for lesson plans. Every teacher needs a lesson plan every week so I think this could be a very useful resource for me in the future. I would not necessarily use the lesson plans as explicitly as they are given, but I would certainly build off of them and tweak it to my personal needs. Sometimes I find that just having a starting point is useful and this website will definitely give me that.

You can find a lesson plan for pretty much any grade level, subject, difficulty level, etc on this website. I love that it is so diverse and everything is right at your fingertips. They are also all completely free, which I think is wonderful since I really would only use them as examples for the lesson plans that I will create myself. All in all, I think this is a very reputable and useful source for lesson plan ideas.

I will use excel when I am an educator for my gradebook. I think the fact that Excel calculates data is very useful and I will certianly benefit from that. I also may use Excel for my worksheets for my students too, since I am pretty particular about straight lines and even boxes, and Excel provides that. This program will definitely prove to be useful when I am a teacher, and I am glad I am learning how to use it.

Post #8

Your eighth post should contain: A paragraph discussing and critiquing your own PowerPoint 2 assignment using the concepts addressed in Chapter 8. Work in some screen shots as examples. A paragraph about how you might integrate peripherals and non-computer audio-visual technologies in your classroom. How might you use them with computer-based technologies? A paragraph on new skills you acquired in the last week that you think will be especially useful to you in your educational career and why you think so.

My Powerpoint 2 assignment was very good for a younger audience. The concepts were very basic, but that is why I would use it for kindergarten students. I included a lot of information, and I think it would be beneficial for the students to learn this information. Additionally, I believe that my slide show was easy to understand and pleasing to view, such as with the pictures and clip art.

I would use peripherals and non-computer audio-visual technologies to teach my students in other ways. For example I would use a projector and play music to emphasize a concept that I would need to show visually and auditory. I think the students would benefit from this kind of learning, and they would easily grasp the concepts if it were displayed as such.

Of the new skills I have acquired, I think creating the standalone hypermedia project was the most beneficial. Having this skill will benefit my students in so many ways, such as by creating games for them and even small assessment or practice activities, such as in my powerpoint 2 project. I think the students would also enjoy this type of active learning, because they will be able to participate. Even shyer students will enjoy the interactive game on the powerpoint, which is important because it is these students that are often left out.

Blog #7

Your seventh post should contain:
A paragraph on what you feel are the biggest advantages and disadvantages of using presentation software in the K-12 classroom.
A paragraph on how you might use PowerPoint to support student learning at each knowledge dimension in a particular lesson. Be explicit in your example! Use Chapter 5 and google for ideas.
A paragraph on an issue related to educational technology that now interests you. You may provide information, ask questions, include links, etc.

The biggest advantage of using presentation software in the K-12 classroom is the convenience of it. Let's face it, Powerpoint is very easy to use and extremely accessible, so everyone loves it. It isn't difficult to put together an entire day's lesson the night before if you use powerpoint. The biggest disadvantage, however, is that powerpoint can become easily overused, and students can get bored with it. I say this because students are looking for stimulation when they come to school, and if all they get everyday is a powerpoint, they will become easily distracted and lazy. Powerpoint cannot be used daily.

I would use Powerpoint to facilitate learning by not only creating Powerpoints for my students, but also giving them assignments to create their own lessons for the class. I think the best way to learn is to teach, and this would certainly facilitate that. Students will grasp the knowledge much faster if they are given the opportunity to explore it first by themselves. This encourages the student to think about the subject matter and create their own questions before I even introduce it. I would also include a lesson on teaching my students how to use Powerpoint to their full potential, because I think that is important too.

A current educational technology issue that interests me is the introduction of Smart boards into more classes. I think Smartboards are awesome, I had one in my French class in 9th grade, and I think it is great that they are expanding. I hope that soon every class will have one, sicne I really think students benefit from it. I also think it would be very cool if students used these Smartboards to do virtual field trips, since that is all the rage right now, too. I hope that when I am a teacher I will be able to use a Smartboard with my students.

Blog #6

Web 2.0 technologies can be useful in K-12 classrooms, in my opinion. However, I really think it should be limited to older students because younger students are much more impressionable and perhaps too inexperienced in life matters to be able to distinguish between valid information and bogus information. I like the idea of students being able to learn from one another, and also of them being able to see that value in that. I will talk more about this in my next paragraph, but I truly believe that in the world of education, we can all be each other's biggest resource.

In my opinion Wikipedia is one of the best learning resources today. So many people are able to access it, and it opens up many doors for educators and students alike. As long as the information on Wikipedia is cited, you can always cross reference if you really think it may not be valid. However, I have found that Wikipedia provides me with more information when I am researching than any other encyclopedia or web search engine, mostly because it is all in one place and easily accessible. I like that just anybody can contribute because I think this can provide unlimited information.

Before this last week, I did not know how to create a wiki or contribute to one, and now I can say that I do know how to do both of these things. I think this will help me in my future career whether I become a teacher or not because it can help make information available for my students and colleagues, and possibly aid in the distribution of information or the conduction of research.