Blog #5

I loved learning about power point this last week. I was kind of familiar with the basics regarding power point but was not aware of all of the great features available to me. I have already put what I learned to use in a few of my other classes. I have used power point to make presentation before but, now that I have learned more about it, I realize that I had made previous presentation too wordy and distracting. Power point can be used many ways in the classroom. Of course, it can be used for lectures so that all of the students can see as well as hear what I am teaching. It can be used to create fun games that relate to classroom material. Power point can be used to create a visual agenda for each day so that students can know what the day will be structured like. Also, students can be taught how to use power point for their own presentations. The Inspiration software was also really neat. I think that Inspiration will be very valuable in helping students to organize their writing. For both teachers and students, the technology that we learned about this week will provide a more fun, more engaging, and more interactive learning environment. Bloom’s taxonomy was interesting, I’m not sure that I really understand how it can be used as a study guide for students but I think that it is a great template for teachers to use when creating tests and assignments.

Blog #4

I loved the idea behind the assignment presented in the article, “Mapping Student Minds” by Ariel Owen. I was amazed at how this one assignment gave every type of student the chance to use their personal strengths and improve upon their weaknesses. It is an assignment that every student can be successful at and that every student will be able to learn from. Furthermore, by observing the students at work and grading the finished assignment, teachers are given the opportunity to evaluate each individual student’s learning style and intelligence strengths. The outcome being that the teacher will be better prepared to tailor future assignments, for each individual student, based on his or her dominant learning intelligence. As we learned in class last week, there are many different types of intelligences that students may possess. The multiple intelligences include: kinesthetic (body smart), logical (number smart), intrapersonal (myself smart), visual/spatial (picture smart), linguistic (word smart), interpersonal (people smart), musical (music smart), and naturalistic (nature smart). The assignment in this article incorporated nearly every type of intelligence and promoted critical thinking skills at the same time. Much of the assignment is completed as group work, which covers interpersonal intelligences. The students go on at least two actual field trips and observe the natural environment, which touches upon naturalistic intelligences. Students use logic to debate and agree upon causal relationships. The causal relationships are displayed as a causal maps, using word association, which benefits both visual and word smart students. Students are encouraged to self-correct their work, which might be beneficial to intrapersonal learners. Finally, students present their projects to each other, which will help auditory learners to better absorb the material. If you add appropriate music while the students are working in the classroom, it might benefit music smart students. There are countless other ways in which this assignment touched on various learning intelligences. The most impressive thing about this assignment is that the basic outline of how the assignment is done can be used for a variety of different subjects and topics. This assignment also took advantage of the many forms of technologies that can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning. They took virtual field trips, used online databases, incorporated causal mapping tools, and conducted research on the web.

Blog #3

I found the article "Oh the Changes" very interesting. I think it is crucial for every teacher to know the difference between first-order technology integration and second-order technology integration. The first-order is known as amplification and is considered more "old fashion" in that it uses technology to perform tasks that are used in the classroom already, such as flash cards (p. 7). My early educational experiences focused on first-order technology integration, which was effective in achieving repetition and fact memorization but wasn't nearly as exciting as second-order technology integration. Second-order integration uses technology to actively engage students in their own education and allows for more student independence and critical thought; aspects that benefit both student and teacher. Overall, the progression of technology in the classroom has moved towards a constructivist approach where the learning becomes student-centered and the teacher's role moves from being "Sage on the Stage" to "Guide on the Side", which encourages students to become motivated learners. The most interesting part of the supplemental article was the concept of multi-age student grouping where a teacher is responsible for two consecutive grades of students. This classroom concept allows for teachers to get to know their students better and allows for the older grade students to act as peer tutors to the younger students. I think that the implementation of multi-age classrooms would allow for more quality instruction and student collaboration since there would be a much smaller learning curve for both the students and the teachers. In class this week, I learned about the advantages, for students and teachers, of providing rubrics for all assignments. Rubrics provide a guide for students while they are working on projects and assignments; thereby, allowing the student to better focus their work. For teachers, rubrics keep the grading process more fair and precise. Furthermore, rubrics provide a solid reference point for teachers to stand behind if parents and students feel the need to argue a grade. I thought that the web site we visited in class was of great value. I am sure that all of us in the class will be using this site to create rubrics in the future!

IMPORTANT: I posted this blog on Sunday (2-10-08) but I accidentally posted it as a "new blog" instead of a "new post" (I e-mailed you about it). So, today I moved it here (in the correct place) and deleted the old blog (2-12-08).

Blog #2

I found the tools that we learned about in class very helpful. I especially liked Yahoo Briefcase and Yahoo Groups. I think that being able to create a web page that parents and students can go to for information about our class will be very useful in the future. I will definitely be using the Yahoo Groups tool in my career as a teacher. One of my biggest fears about becoming a teacher is the possibility of not knowing what the heck I am doing, so Yahoo Groups will be an extremely valuable tool in getting advice and ideas concerning curriculum and classroom management.

The "Teaching for Understanding" article made a lot of sense to me. In my past a lot of the information that I learned was just that...facts that I memorized and then immediately forgot after I was tested on the information. This article stresses the need for students to understand information in order to be able to put their knowledge into action. Prior to reading this article I hadn't really considered that preconceived notions affect how and what a student can learn. I like the idea that by using technology in the classroom you can reach and then challenge every student. The technologies outlined in this article make it possible to relate the material being taught to every student in a way that is relevant to then; thereby, reaching every student regardless of their background and learning style. At the same time, once a student's learning style is assessed you can use technology to make sure that each student is challenged in an engaging manner. I intend to save this article so that I can refer to the various programs mentioned when planning my curriculum in the future.

I also learned a lot from the "Netiquette" article. Although I have always found chain letters annoying, and so never inflicted them upon my friends and family, I never knew that they were illegal. Furthermore, a tip that I found useful was to, when replying to an e-mail, always include the original message so that the receiver has some way to reference what you are talking about. Also, I think it is a great tip to always include some form of signature when writing an e-mail to someone so that they can quickly assess who you are and in what context you are writing to them. Finally, and most importantly, I will always re-read my messages before sending them to make sure that I am portraying myself the way that I intended in order to avoid misinterpretations and to always put my best foot forward.