The End of GE-555 .. Reflection on my last semester @ SPC ..

When signing up for my last course at Saint Peter's College I looked over all of the possible electives that I could take. When I saw this course as one that I could possibly select I was very interested. I love using technology in my classroom but I hadn't taken an online course since my undergrad degree. After talking to Dr. Luongo and seeing how helpful she was I was happy that I had chosen this course. Using a Mac for some of these activities in the beginning I was a little nervous that I would not be able to get all my work done but Dr. Luongo answered all of my questions and made the process very easy.

Looking back at all the courses that I have taken at SPC, I would have to say that this one was by far my favorite course. We learned so many different and fun ways to incorporate technology into our classrooms in just one semester. I have to say my students love that I am in this course because every day I am now trying new things that we have either had to work with doing projects in this class or just from ideas that I have read in others blogs.

Blogging has to be one of my favorite parts of this course. I have now even started my own class blog on wiki for my second graders and they love it. This course really openned my eyes to a variety of new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. I have said that I might now be done with going back to school. But lately I find myself talking about possibly going back for another masters.. possibly one in Educational Technology. If I do end up doing that I would have to say it is mainly because of taking this course.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blogs and to those that I have read thanks for sharing it was definitly fun to read!

The End .. or well .. maybe.. the beginning...

CLRN

At first, when I signed up for this site I really did not understand it at all.  I could not figure out how it could be so helpful when I could not find anything on it at all.  Then I went back to the site and tried again and was able to find a variety of resources for all different subjects in a variety of grade levels.  I think this was a good site to join and take resources from.  There are many great ideas that I have gotten that I plan on using in future lessons from information that I found on this site.  It is very important for teachers to have the internet to produce resources from, with the world constantly changing and people inventing new things everyday it is important that we stay up to date so that our students are never behind.  CLRN is just another way that teachers can find new tools to challenge their students minds with.  Thanks for sharing this with us!

Lesson Planning

Lesson planning is one of the most important tasks of a teachers job.  If a teacher just tries to wing a lesson it most likely will have many things wrong with it.  Classroom management can become a problem when a teacher does not plan his/her lessons prior to teaching them.  Students will either be waiting for something to start and if there is that wait time they most likely will not be sitting quietly.  

I try to use technology in every subject while lesson planning.  The more comfortable I make my students with technology early on in the year the more they will flourish later on.  It can make teaching a lesson become so much more interesting and fun when you have students just super excited to work.  I have found out so much information from this course.   The variety of ideas and tips from this class to incorporate into my classroom planning has just made my teaching level reach an all time high.  

The lesson plan that I submitted was just one of the lessons that I had taught last week to my own class.  This assignment was just another great way to share ideas with others; sometimes just looking at someone else's lesson, just to get an idea is really worth the time.  Hopefully everyone else had a good experience with it as well. 

Social Networking

I have to admit social networking at time is just the best thing invented, especially when you need to contact someone or ask something to a person that is halfway around the world.  I have personally had experience with different types of social networks and find them to be a great way to communicate with people that I have lost touch with or people that have moved far away and it costs so much money to talk to on the phone.  I think that some people have taken social networking way too far though.  I know way too many people that have become addicted to things like facebook and myspace.  It is not healthy to eliminate all face-to-face contact with the world and soley rely on using technology to communicate with others.  On the internet you can pretend to be anything that you want because who would really know unless they met you.  That is the scary thing though, do you really even know who you are talking to?? I think social networking is great but the world needs to use it in the right context.

The Book...

This was by far my favorite video this module.  It was something that we now can sit and laugh at. Like the man really needed to call the help desk to have someone explain how to use a book.  But that is not too far off on how some people feel about using a computer especially the first time they are using it by themselves.  When books first came out I can see some people being scared of it because it is something new and they have to change/adapt to the new age.  It does shed some light on others that do not understand technology and how they feel when they first encounter it.  Thanks for posting this video I showed it to my whole family and they all really enjoyed it.  My mom found it really funny since she was the last one I know to finally learn how to use a computer and now she uses it all the time.  Now if I could only get her to use a cell phone.  

School Webpages

Most schools have their own webpages.  It is something to show the calendar, post teachers email addresses on, publish announcements and pictures of special events.  It is just a general area that gives out information about the particular school.  It is important to have for parents to find information on and even as a marketing aspect of the school.  Many prospective parents look on different school websites when inquiring information about the school before sending their children to it.  Public Schools also have district websites that will provide links to all of the schools within the district. 

Web Page Building

For some reason the day that we had class technology was not on my side and the website that I had created did not save at all.  I then had to restart my website but then as long as it saved it seemed to be an easy assignment for me to complete.  I have worked at two different schools in my teaching career and neither one of the was done with this particular program.  I think that having parents and students be able to easily go online to check for homework or even just to find out websites to help practice with is a great idea.  I utilize technology everyday in my classroom and my students each use their own laptops at least twice a week.  I think it is very important that they can just sign onto my site and find the sites I have put up for them to use or even just to get the thrill of seeing their name on my Announcements board for doing a good job.  So even though this assignment didn't start out in my favor it was good that I was able to see another Free site to be able to create my class's website through.  All teachers know if it is free it is definitely  something to check out.

I can not wait to see how some of the websites have come out.

Web-based Educational Resources

There are many educational resources out there on the internet for teachers to utilize in their classrooms to make learning exciting and fun.  Technology is a must in todays classrooms.  I have had personal experience using many interactive websites, as well as many of the listed sites for this weeks examining.  My school district also holds accounts with many other educational resources like A-Z books, Tumblebooks, United Streaming, Kidspiration, Nettrecker, etc.  By being allowed to incorporate these types of resources into my lessons my students have many opportunities to learn the topics that we discuss in a variety of ways.  By using computers and technology learning seems more fun and less like work.  In fact though they are learning and will probably have a better chance of retaining the information for longer since they are doing it in a fun way.  Learning straight out of the textbook and doing workbook pages is a way of the past the future is really in technology.  

Kidspiration Video

Here is another video I had found on using Kidspiration using a MAC computer.  Hope you find it helpful!

Kidspiration & Inspiration

My school has an account with Kidspiration so I already knew what that was all about.  I was unaware though that there was Inspiration for students in the older grades.  I think this is a wonderful program that teachers and students can utilize to great creative with their thinking and putting together projects. I have used Kidspiration with our 6+1 Traits writing program in school. It was nice that one of those videos got to show how it can be used if someone has not seen it before.  This program can be used in a variety of ways, for example, whole group instruction, group work, pair work, or individual usage on a laptop/computer lab.  It can be used by students of all ages and of all different learning abilities.  It is a great program to be used for all different subjects in a variety of different ways.  I would definitely recommend using it if you have never done so before.   

Blogging

I think that blogging is a great idea to reach kids in a fun way.  I had taken online courses before but I have to say even though a discussion board on blackboard has the same idea as blogging there are so many extras that come along with using this type of format over the regular just blackboard.  I didn't realize how many educational blog spots there really are out there but it is amazing what you can find on the internet.  Between myspace, facebook, and this new thing I keep hearing about Twitter blogging is the new thing to do on the internet.  It is a great tool to keep in touch with friends or just to have a conversation/discussion on and find out new information from people all around the world.  Being a second grade teacher I was really trying to come up with a way to start using a blog type application in my classroom because I think that by starting my students early using this type of technology it can only benefit them in the long run.  I just opened my first account with WikiSpace.  It is another type of blogging outlet but I think it would be easier to use with students of their ages.  It will be an ongoing process and I am sure there are tons of other blogs that I can use with my student that I just haven't found out about yet.  I am going to give this one a try and see how it goes.  If I taught students in the upper grades I would probably use this application since it is so super easy to use.  I just think overall it is a fun way to teach and have all involved in the blog learning from each other.

Webquests

At first when I looked at this assignment I was completely unsure what a webquest was and not really looking forward to creating one.  After viewing all of the videos and examining the other materials on what webquests are and how to create them my overwhelmed feelings started to ease.  I had heard of them before but as far as seeing what one actually was or thinking about creating one well that was far from ever happening to me.  I have found a couple of really great webquests on quest garden though and actually am incorporating them into my lesson plans for the next week.  I think this will help me get more familiar with them and they seem very fun that I think my students will really enjoy them.  Thank you Dr. Luongo for the extension though this really helps.  

NJCCCS & NETS

When looking at the assignment about the  NJCCCS it was not a new topic for me.  My district is very strick when it comes to lesson planning and we include at least 2 standards in every lesson plan that we do in each course everyday.  My students use technology all day long whether it be using our SMARTboard or the MacBooks or the regular PCs in our classroom but one thing that I have never heard of are the NETS.  I think that it is very important that students use technology as much as possible to learn.  We are in an age where everything is at the tip of our fingers all we have to do is press a button and information is right there.  These students will only be moving forward as technology keeps on advancing.  Teaching with just paper and pencil is great but it is not going to really be making them any smarter.  When we teach students using technology we will only be helping them move forward.  For my students benefits I plan on implementing more of the technology standards from the NJCCCS and the NETS into my lesson plans. By doing this I will be able to monitor my progress on how well I am incorporating technology into my curriculum. 

Internet Safety

Today my school sent out a paper informing parents how important internet safety is and how it should not be overlooked.  Sometimes young children trust people they do not know very easily and with all of the different internet sites out there today that are so popular like myspace and facebook it is very easy for younger students to be tricked by adults.  Parental controls are very important to have in place on a home computer and in schools.  I know in our school almost everything is blocked but if you give the technology department enough time they can unblock a site so that it can be used for a class.  I was shocked, since I teach the second grade, when one of my students said that they have a myspace after seeing the internet safety paper I had them put in their folders.  It just goes to show how parents need to pay more attention to what their children are doing on the internet and what better way to rest assure that your child is safe then by choosing what they are allowed and not allowed to access on the internet.  The internet can be a great tool when used properly but children need to be taught just like not to take candy from a stranger to not talk to someone on the internet that they do not know.

Taylor Mali

I saw this video What Teacher's Make in another class I took and thought that if any teachers haven't seen it yet they might enjoy it.  Happy watching!

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