Last Class

Today was our last class! We used a video cam corder that was cool to use and explore with. We were given a scenerio that we were asked to role play with a group. I wasn't sure what the purpose of this was, but it seemed to be a pretty good activity. After we finished we were able to work on our final lesson plan and finish anything that we needed to.

I was kind of frustrated with the lesson plan because i felt like the instructions were very unclear. There wasn't much time spent explaining it, but i hope that i did a good job and it is what Yanghee was looking for!

I thought this class was good and gave me many ideas of what kinds of technology i can use in my future classroom! I hope to use as much technology as possible in my future classroom!

Edith Bowen Class Tour

Today we went to the Edith Bowen Lab School. We went to Mr. Johnson's classroom and he showed us the different kind of technology that he uses in his classroom. This is was fun to see! He uses some amazing things in his classroom to enhance his teaching with technology. A few of the things he used that i really liked were IPODS for audiobooks, wii for learning math, Mac computers for learning with interactive websites. All of these and more are some things that Mr. Johnson uses. I think that it is so awesome that he has the resources to bring all of this into his classroom. I hope that i can use some of these things in my future classrooom. Students are using so much technology these days, so this will only help them learn more!

We also did a website evaluation in class today. This was good because it helped me realize what websites are worth using and are credited. It is important as a teacher that we use websites that are informational and true in what they are saying. I also found that there are some very good websites out there that can be so helpful in teaching. I do have to be careful though to make sure that they are scholarly and informational!

Instructional Architect!

Today we had a guest speaker named Brooke Robertshaw come in and teach us about instructional architect and a website we can use. She taught us how to search for different resources on this website and how we can integrate this into our developmental lesson plan. I thought this was really fun! I found a few things that i want to use for my lesson plan that go along with my topic. I hope i can remember how to use this is the future because i think it would be very beneficial for students when learning a new subject area. The website ia.usu.edu had so many resources and areas that we could search in. Lots of good ideas from previous teachers that can be so helpful in the future! I thought today's class was a success, and Brooke did a very good job at teaching us!!

Web Quests

Today we learned about webquests. We watched a video on how we can best use this resource. Then we explored the website! I worked with Justine and we found a lesson plan on math and how you can find the percentage of red M&M's in a bag. There was a website that helped you learn how to convert fractions decimals to percentages. My experience with this was ok. I feel like there were not very many choices of lesson plans on this website. Each group presented there lesson plan they found. This was good because i got new ideas from each of the groups. I think if i became more familiar with this website i would like to use it in my classroom. For right now i am still new to the idea, but would like to explore it more. We also went over the rubric and planning sheet for a developmental lesson plan. This was good because it gave me a better idea of what i need to do for my lesson plan. I need to have my planning sheet ready for class next week so i can continue with my lesson plan through the next couple of weeks.

March 29, 2010

Today in class Peter Blair came in and worked with us on a virtual website. The program we used is called Science Sim. You can go in there are create an avatar of yourself and change your clothes and chat with other people on your same island. This was really cool, but i had a hard time staying logged into this program because there were so many people on at the same time. The little time that i was able to be in there i thought that this was so fun and i could explore so much. I felt like this is definitely technology that would be fun for students to explore with. I think it would take a lot of patience as the teacher to get students to understand everything in this program, but it would be a great experience for both the students and myself. I hope to learn more about this and maybe use it in my classroom someday. Peter was so good to help us and work with us until we could understand it. I felt like this was a fun class and i learned something new!!!

Google Surveys!!!

Today was such a fun day in class!!! We created our own surveys in class through Google Docs. We created six different questions and sent them to other people in our class. Then we took each others surveys and found the results out! This was so fun to do! We were able to have some fun with it and also find out about other people! I then posted this survey on my blog so feel free to take it if you wish! I would love to see your response! I am definitely going to use this in my classroom. I think elementary students would love an activity like this and would also learn a lot from it too! An activity like this would be so fun at the first of the year for a get to know you activity! I think the students would enjoy it and get to know the other students in the class!

Take My Survey

I made a survey just for you! You may have to copy and paste it!!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG1BRC0wLTRUdXB4Q184WDZOUV8tZUE6MA

Excel

Today we learned about excel. We learned how to make our own gradebook and use equations to create our grades. This will be so helpful when i become a teacher. If i can do my gradebook on the computer, that will be so much easier than doing it with paper and pencil. This was so good to learn about and do myself so i can do this again some day. Something else we did at the end of class was the survey poll. This was such a fun website that i want to use in my own classroom. It would be so fun to create questions about what we are learning and then have the students watch the results come in. I think i would enjoy this and my students as well. There are so many fun things that i am learning how to use for my classroom!

Google Docs

Today we learned how to use Google Docs! I have only used Google Docs one time for a group presentation. This program is awesome to use especially in group projects. With the group that I used Google Docs with, we never had to meet! We were able to do all of our work over Google Docs and it was sooo nice! I leaned how to use this program more thoroughly today. It was confusing at first, but i think it will be very beneficial to use for the rest of my college eduction as well in my future classroom! Today was a good class and i am learning so much about computers and how to better use them!!!

Copyright Madness

After a long weekend, I am not going to lie it was difficult to come to class today! I did it though and there is sunshine and blue sky so i think it will be a good day! In class today we learned how to put a video on our blogs! This is so fun, but I haven't found a video i like yet! I will find one don't worry! :) We also talked a lot about copyright and how we need to use it and when it is ok to use it as a teacher. There is so much to know about copyrighting, it kind of overwhelmed me. I will get it eventually, hopefully with practice!

YETC

Today we went to the YETC for class! This was great to go to because it reminded me of the resources and options that are available in that lab. Nathan showed us very accessible websites that we can go to, to teach students a variety of subjects and concepts. I think that it is so great that Nathan does that newsletter every month. That will be so useful for me one day when i have my own classroom. I also love that there are units and lesson plans online and in the lab that we can use at any time, especially for our student teaching. I'm so excited to student teach and be able to use these resources on a more advanced level.

Practice Post

Here is my first post ever!!!!