Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Podcast

During this class we did something completely new. We reviewed different education podcasts that we found using I-Tunes. We talked about different ways you, as a teacher, can use a podcast to promote learning in a classroom. We were then separated into groups to create our own podcast with the goal of teaching the class something. Our group came up with the idea to teach how to make a Schmitter sandwich. We used background music, sound effects, pictures, and the computer's microphone. We were able to work together to create a podcast that taught something through words and pictures. Podcasts can be very valuable in the learning process.

Newsletter

For this class we learned how to use Microsoft Word to create a newsletter for our classroom. This is a great application that I never knew about before. Using Microsoft Word made it much easier to navigate information in an organized way. I had information regarding important classroom and school events, classroom rules and dress code, homework assignments, and other important dates regarding the beginning of the school year. News letters are very useful for both students and parents. It allows them to keep on track and informed with what is going on in the classroom and school in general.

Website

During this class we learned about how to create our own website as a teacher. It was much easier than I originally thought that it would be. Once our homepage was created it was even easier to create several other pages with links from the homepage. In my website I included homework assignments for the week, important school functions, beneficial links for both students and parents, and visual effects to brighten up each page. I also had a link to our classrooms newsletter. In this newsletter I put important dates, rules, homework assignments, and much more valuable information that both students and parents can access through our classrooms website. Having a classroom website is very important for teachers. It is a great way to relay information to your students and their parents.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Google Earth

Our class on the 9th was canceled due to an impending snow storm. However, we received emails about a new computer program we were asked to explore on our own. I downloaded Google Earth on my laptop at home and began to read about the different usages of it. I was able to locate different cities across the world and see actual close up visuals. This program would be very useful to use in the classroom. While teaching a geography or history class, I would use this program to help the students see real world photos of places we are learning about. This program would help the students get a better idea of locations of different countries and cities by using hand on exploring.

Spreadsheets

In our class on February 2nd we worked on using the computer program Microsoft Excel. We will be required to create a spreadsheet of student's grades by the 23rd. We worked on creating columns of grades and names and using different useful tools in Excel to help manage an effective grade book. We learned things from alphabetizing our students by last names and finding out the average of different weighted grades. Excel seems like a very useful tool for any teacher.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Class of 1/26

Last class we talked about technology all around us and used Inspiration to graph all the ways in which it is used. I wrote how I use it for communication and during research as well as many other ways. We read an artlicle by Marc Prensky called "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" and recorded on the computer a major characteristic for each one. The article talked about how many teachers are "Digital Immigrants" and speak a different digital language than that of their students. It is very important to bridge this gap as educators in order to be effective as possible when dealing with a younger generation of students.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

21st century classrooms

Today’s classroom is rapidly changing in order to supply a level of education that will most benefit the student to thrive in our new 21st century life styles. With proper funding, classrooms will be supplied with smart-boards, computers, projectors and many other new technologies that will aid a teacher. Programs such as PowerPoint and Microsoft Word will be required for all teachers to master in order to use effectively with their students. In 21st century classrooms students will become comfortable in using technology available to them during lessons and group work. Many classrooms are creating websites their students can access to view word documents, assignments, and grades. The classroom needs to evolve with the world around it in order to prepare their students.