Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Lab 13 Reflections

I believe that my technology skills have become more proficient during this class in the many different areas and the skills needed to perform as a successful teacher. Before taking this course, I believe that, with a computer, I was able to use certain tasks and programs, but I gained a deeper knowledge into each program and can use this to my advantage in my future teaching career. The areas I will need to continue my work on in my other EDTL class would be items that deal mostly with becoming the absolute best at using Microsoft Office, because this is the most important program to know how to use on a computer. The MAC operating system, as a whole, would be another area of emphasis because I understand how to work most of it, but if I had to take something like an ATC on it, I would fail it for sure. Overall, I believe that I worked hard to understand the features of computers and not just through basic computers, but also through programs like GarageBand and iPhoto (although personally, I am quite proficient at Photoshop and I do not see the need). I am confident that as a teacher, I can use my skills in a way that would benefit students and help them to gain the best education possible through every series of a classroom (including outside of the classroom by using podcasts and video sources). The technology goals that I have set for myself in the remainder of my college is to become one of the most proficient computer users to better prepare for my students and for my professional development. But, using computers is a task that one must become a lifelong learner towards and that is what I have to do, myself, to better myself for the future.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Pertinent Links for Use

1. http://themathworksheetsite.com/- Great website to create your own worksheet!!

2.http://www.math.com/- Anything from the world of Math can be found here!!

3.http://www.discoveryeducation.com/- Great for finding educational topics from many different areas of the world, as well as lesson plans for fun activities!!

4.http://www.lessonplans4teachers.com/- Find great uses of many lesson plans and even create your own!!

5.http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Science/Mathematics- Source for podcasts and their use in a math classroom to explore the world from someone else's point of view!!

EDTL Weekly Reflections

Weekly Reflection #1
This week was a basic introduction to the class. The class introduced the events of the class during the year and what to expect out of the class. The class was given introductions to the major projects of the year and the expectations out of the instructor of the class. During the week, we learned about the operating systems of both a PC and a MAC, along with the first chapter of the class, which discussed the theory about education, while giving a background to the technology that will be talked about throughout the year. The activities that we did before class 2 shows a basic introduction into our personalities to the way we were and our backgrounds going into the class.
The class seems to be one that is going to be full of hard work and one that really needs a full amount of effort into the class and a class that slacking off is not a question. The operating systems lab was pretty boring since I already knew how to operate both, but was insightful to those who cannot.
This week, there really was not much that I could use in the classroom, besides the personality tests, to find out what my students like and how they learn. The information during the week would be primarily used to discuss students before digging into the curriculum of the class.
Weekly Reflection #2
We discussed our activities from the previous week and did activities about our personalities, including tests to find out our learning styles and the way we think. This week’s lab discussed Microsoft PowerPoint and how it works. The chapter for the week introduces us to planning in the classroom and the way technology helps us to convey this message. The chapter activities that we did during the week provided us a look at the weekly quizzes to help us throughout to help in learning more about the chapters. We also had to find out about the physical environments about and we were suppose to give what this may provide in our future classroom.
The activities in class helped to find out how I am like as a student and how I can use this in my classroom with my students. The lab helped give me information on PowerPoint that I would not have know to help my students learn in a better fashion.
The personality tests were the biggest things out of this week that I can use in the classroom. PowerPoint helped in the way notes can be done, under certain circumstances, but most of this can only be used in a way that helps over concrete facts, rather than abstract, which is what math involves.
Weekly Reflection #3
This week we had our first weekly trio share. These trio shares give us an insight to the chapter that we were suppose to learn about instead of having the instructor ramble on and give us as students more of a way to work on our presentation skills. We had to make a PowerPoint in retrospect to our last lab and presented them to many students in the class and gave us a background to most people in the class. This week’s lab was about Microsoft Word and the way it can be used in many different aspects. The chapter for the week discussed computers and the way that they are used in the classroom. This tied into our activities because they thought us about lesson plans and the way certain schools use different uses out of a computer.
The trio share shows that when my group goes, it is going to be one that involves a lot of work because of the way that the information needs to be share. The lab showed many things that I alrighty knew how to do in the PC, but showed me good insight to what needs to be done on a MAC. Word is a program that gives many great functions to display many things to a classroom and can be a better benefit that PowerPoint in many different things.
Microsoft Word was built for teachers to allow kids to easily type papers, instead of the stresses of trying to read everybody’s unique handwriting. It also allows them to create worksheets that cannot be easily readable if handwritten.
Weekly Reflection #4
This week we discussed the one child per laptop initiative. This initiative shows that, we as people, are trying to help everyone earn an education. We also learned how to use an alphasmart, which is a device that helps students convey their message wherever they are, regardless of abilities. The chapter we discussed was about the different technology items there are and how they relate in their abilities in the classroom. The lab this week was on Microsoft Excel. Excel is a program that I have always had trouble with it and it helped for me to learn the aspects of the program. The activities we discussed was on technology that we can use instead of using basic teaching techniques to convey a message and allows for more hands-on activities, including virtual reality.
The lab was very helpful in the way that Excel can be used and the information it conveys. It is made primarily for record keeping and would be useful to a classroom to show many different things that can be done on it. The activities showed me that teaching can be done in more of a manner than what a lecture can provide and allows for another method a student can learn through.
This week, I learned that I make spreadsheets to show class many different things they may want to know and allows them to show off their creativity through the activities. The activities also shows me that I can teach a lesson, without actually teaching them by allowing them to learn through doing.
Weekly Reflection #5
This week showed many different aspects of technology that I found to be from stuff that I would never thought of using in the classroom. Using virtual reality in the classroom was a thing that I would never have thought of using in the classroom. Our activities discussed digital portfolios and the way they can be used in classrooms at a basic level. The chapter for this week was on administrative software, which helps students in more ways than what Microsoft Office works through. There are many great avenues for this including, grade keeping programs, and this week’s lab, Inspiration. Inspiration is a program that builds chart for someone and allows them to show virtually a thought process.
Inspiration was a program that is brilliantly laid out, but helps only certain subjects succeed in the message they are trying to portray. Virtual Reality is a great way to determine areas of things that students cannot see in the classroom. Digital Portfolios make it so that students can upload and use their work at a different time, like that of MyFiles and our E-Portfolios.
I would defiantly use a digital portfolio in the classroom to show students a way they can easily store information without using things such as a memory stick and helps them take clutter off of their computer. Inspiration would be something that I would show step by step procedures on, but that would be the only thing that I would use it towards.
Weekly Reflection #6
This week was all about academic software that helps a teacher in the classroom. This includes ideas such as, simulations, html programs, graphic software, and even video games to help portray another way for a student to learn through. The activities help to go through this, as we had to go through certain reference links and show how they are helpful to the way students learn. This week’s lab was about our final ATC review before we are to go through and take the ATC. This helped to relieve any stress about any program, as we had to show information that we learned in all the previous labs. Our productivity tools were due today and it gave us a helpful insight, to not only review for the ATC, but also, to show how we can use Microsoft office in the classroom.
Everything that was done this week was very helpful in the classroom and shows that kids can be hands-on in the classroom. Microsoft Office was the biggest part of the week and it is also the biggest tool that I will use in the classroom to help connect the students learning abilities.
The tools given to me in this week’s lesson will help the most in the classroom and will definitely be useable in all contents of my teaching, as well educational, future.
Weekly Reflection #7
This week was our last class before the ATC. We went through our lab and made sure we did not have any issues with any topic and if we did, we were to make sure that we could do it by next week. This week’s lab was a two part lab in which we were to go through different photo elements to work on a digital image project. This was going through items such as Photoshop and iPhoto. The chapter was about the internet and how this is a resource that has no limit and the possibilities are unlimited with what can be done using the internet. The activity that correlated to the chapter that we read was though the many virtual worlds there are, especially towards lesson planning and how they relate to the classroom in such a tremendous way.
The ATC is the midterm and with the skills I already know and what I have learned, I am ready for it. It is just a matter of reading the directions and taking my time. The chapter on the internet was probably the one that portrayed the best so far and the way it can be demonstrated in the classroom.
Internet is a big part of lives all the time and it should be a big part of my teaching skills. The way I use it in the classroom, will be vital in the way that my students learn with enjoyment and want to come into my classroom on a consistent basis.
Weekly Reflection #8
Today was the ATC. It was not exactly hard, but it was very time consuming. I can see why it is a timed test. This is about the only thing we did for class this time, we did not have any lab due until next week. The greatest thing was that there were not any activities to do during the week. We still had a trio share, but besides that the class was dominated by the ATC.
The ATC was something that should be done with more than just this class, to prepare students for the world that is being more dominated than ever by computers. The lab that is due next week, about Photoshop, is a very useful program to help manipulate items that can, not only help in the classroom, but also towards stuff such as showing effects from certain causes.
Using digital image programs is a great way to show procedures through one item. I also believe that an ATC should be given in the classroom in the future so that students can know what to do with everything that is needed to be done in a classroom setting.
Weekly Reflection #9
This week was our first class since spring break and taking the ATC. I was very surprised by my score. I thought I had done worse. This week we discussed webquests and the way they are used in education. These tools help a teacher and the way they help a teacher work in the classroom. The activities for this week dealt with chapter eight and the internet again for teaching resources. The activities that were used dealt with online publication sites, such as EBSCO, and the way they help a student with resource work. There was no lab for this week, although we had to turn in the lab about photo imaging.
The webquests can be seen as a benefit to a class, but to me I see them as “busy work.” Publication sites are some of the greatest ways to built a resource base because of the way that they are academic based and most can be seen as a way that people can express their resources in a more intelligent manner than using something as Wikipedia.
Publication sites would be the easiest component to use in a classroom because by using it, someone can use these to built a whole paper and be considered more academic because of the way they are used and how they can tie in nicely with a paper.
Weekly Reflection #10
This was my week for the weekly trio share. It was on chapter nine and the audiovisual technologies, such as videos, CDs and podcasts. The trio share went alright, things could have gone better and it seemed that my grade will slip because of the way the presentation worked out. The lab for this week was a part of a two part on podcasts and blogs. This week was on blogs and podcasts and the way they are used throughout. The activities we had to do for this class was on webcams and how these webcams open up the world to everyone and makes it smaller for everyone on earth to communicate with one another. The chapter quiz that correlated with the chapter was on audiovisual technologies and the many different uses they show, which is the basis for my trio share that shares next class
The audiovisual technologies are some of the most used technology in classes and sometimes is overused and can be used in more of a way that helps students learn. The lab on blogs shows that by creating a blog, one can always stay updated and know what is going on in a class, sort of like the way these weekly reflections are used in our blog project. Webcams, I see, as the biggest advantage of technology that a teacher can use in a classroom. By showing others they do not broaden their mind and allows them to see another look at a lesson other than that of the teacher. Podcasts are a great way to allow people to listen to a lecture and ties great with the distance education that is to be learned in the next week.
Webcams would be helpful in a classroom setting to show what people have done in other work and helps to open the minds of children through others besides the teacher. The blogs would be a technology component that can be intertwined into a class because they can keep parents updated on what their child is learning.
Weekly Reflection #11
This week, the chapters dealt with distance education. The chapter activities correlated with chapter ten and distance education. Distance education is a way that people can learn on their own time and allows them to take full advantage of any technology skills. The lab that was based this week dealt with operating systems and the way that they can be used in a way that is towards universal design and how we can use both operating systems can be used in more ways than just for work.
Distance education is something that people can explore, but it may not always be the best option because of the way that there is little interaction with an instructor. The lab showed that people can use the different operating systems in a better way and allow them to use them in their own preference and the way they can easily use them, especially a MAC.
Distance education, I would not want to be a part of because of how boring it would be as a teacher without seeing students on a consistent basis for many reasons. The lab really helped because I can help students use both and allow them to become better at using any operating system.
Weekly Reflection #12
This week was a week that involved much work. The blog project had to be completed and the components added on, including these weekly reflections. The wiki project had to be mostly complete along with class time that is promised to us in class. The chapter activities dealt with the “digital divide” and how technology is not felt by many schools. This was on chapter eleven, which was the many issues that technology can be implemented in a sense into a classroom. These issues can stem from copyrighted materials and just having the technology to use in the classroom. The lab this week is about digital video and the way they can be used in so many different ways. These ways can easily help to benefit a classroom. During class, we had a speaker about Garage Band and we were able to play around with this and see how great of a program that it is and just playing with it was a great experience.
The “digital divide” is something that scares me as a teacher and I hope that it does not affect me in my teaching future. Although, it gave a great insight to the problems some schools face. The lab was great for a teacher to make videos on hands-on activities. Garage Band is a use of making music and helps to make things such as podcasts with a little more flare to them with the musical component.
The lab for this week would be the greatest tech advancement to use to allow students to be more involved in the classroom. By creating a video, one can show them a step by step way to create objects and show them many different things and allows to use them in projects and presentations.
Weekly Reflection #13
This week we had our last class. This involved the last chapter in the book. This dealt with items that were discussed in EDHD 201, but also involved technology and how to maintain computer literacy skills. This worked with the chapter activities by the video we watched on Albano Berberi and how he lives life, despite being blind. The lab for this week did not involve a checklist, but we did learn how to work with our "E-Portfolios." In class, we discussed our wikis, which are due in full, in class, Tuesday.
This week was a light workload compared to other weeks. I do like this very much. The video that was watched was one of the most educational of the semester and really helped open up items to me. The chapter that was discussed seem to be one of the better chapters in the book because it gave the insight to what technnolgy is used for in the classroom and how it relates in the teaching world. The lab for this week seemed to be a little confusing at first, but I was able to figure it out after some time.
I was amazed by the way a blind student was able to work and live a normal life and motivates me to teach to the best of my abilties. I believed that this chapter was a chapter of the "paperwork" that is required by a teacher and really helped to learn how each teacher is actually a "lifelong student," although they teach children everyday skills that sometimes they do not even know.