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End of the Semester Reflection

When thinking about all the different technology we have learned how to use over the semester it is mind blowing. The biggest one being the SMART board and learning different and effective ways to use it in the classroom has be great. I don't think my perspective has changed about technology being used in the classroom because, I have always liked the idea of incorporating it in to education. But, my eyes have been opened to see all the different ways we can use technology in our classroom. Also, I now realize how truly important it is to know what the current technology is to use in your classroom. Additionally I have learned there are many great free technologies and programs that are available for teachers to use. I have learned to use these different thing to my advantage such as delicious, igoodge, google search, page flakes even twitter. There are so many more than what I have listed it continues to mind-boggling. I am excited and nervous all at the same time to see how technology will change when I am teaching, as the gap between my generation and next grows with the new technology. My goal as a teacher (when I have my own classroom) will be to keep up with the new and current technologies and utilize them effectively and efficiently in the classroom.
3a Demonstrate fluency in technology system and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. Is the NETS standard I focused on this semester. I believe I have made a lot of progress on this standard in a few ways. First, I have become very fluent with the SMART board. I have used it for many of my lessons this semester and feel I have used it effectively. I have a lot to learn but know enough to effetely use it in the classroom. Second, I have learned how to use the flip video and the software effectively in the classroom through my final project. And Third, I have learned how to use imovie maker to help create a high light video. I know enough about these two technologies (flip video and imovie maker) to create and edit clips efficiently to not take hours.

Assignment #4

My technology project was originally “Day in a Life of a Fourth Grader” but, due to many of the students not turning in a permission slip my project now is call “My Favorite Thing About 4^th Grade”. The very first step for this project was making a permission slip for the students to take home to their parents. I had to include what my project was for and why I was doing it; additional I had to list all the different conditions all the parents would be agreeing to. Once, I had the permission slip written it was give to the principal for approval. After the permission slip was approved it was copied and sent home with the students. A week later I interviewed about 14 students asking them what their favorite subject, thing or project is so far in 4^th grade is. I used a flip video to video tape the interviews and also I was able to video tape some students in the classroom during a math lesson and readers workshop. Once, I had enough clips and imported them on my computer and did a made a test video using the flip-video software. Next, I imported the individual clips into imovie, and started to put them in the order I wanted them in. After I had all the clips in order I took out the sound of some the clips and enhanced the sound in some of the interview clips. Also, I added title and ending slides. Finally I chose a song from my itunes library and added it to the background of the video. I had to take down the volume of the song from 100% to about 11%. This was the last step of the process for completing my movie. I published the movie and it turned out very well. I am not able to put the video up on my blog due the fact that I do not have permission to post it online.

Features of technology I learned to use:

Flip-Video

· Installing the Software

· Import the clips from flip video

· Snapshot

Imovie

· Import clips into imove maker

· Create title and ending slides with different effects

· Enhancing the voice in a clip

· Taking noise out of a clip

· Adding music to the background

NETS Standards

I believe this project fulfills NETS standard for teachers 3d. Model and facilitate effects use of current and emerging digital tools to locate analyze, evaluate and use information resource to support research and learning. The reason this standard is fulfilled is because, I demonstrated an effective way to use the flip-video in a classroom. This video helps to evaluate what students favorite subject or project is during fourth grade. Another standard this project fulfills is 3a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. I believe through the process of making this video I have demonstrated fluency in how use the flip video and also using different features in imovie maker.

The first NETS standard for students this project covers is 2d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. The reason this standard is covered is because each students that participated in this project contributed to the final video by being interviewed and also by the highlight clips in the classroom. The second standard this project covers is 5b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using a technology that supports collaboration, learning and productivity. Every student that participated loved that fact that they were being video taped and showed a lot of enthusiasm toward the flip video. Most students had never even seen a flip video and realized how easy it was for even them to use for school project. Also by being a part of this video they were supporting my learning for technology class.

This project in the beginning was just a requirement but after creating the vido means so much more to me. The reason this project means so much to me, is most of the students that participated are involved with the after school program where I work. This is my last semester being able to work there, and will miss many of these students greatly. Many of these 4^th graders hold a special place in my heart and remind me of why I want to be a teacher one day. I can play this video when I am having a bad day at school and remind myself why I want to be a teacher. Not only will this movie make you happy but, it will just brighten your day.

Reflection 11

On Friday, I went to the 4^th grade classroom at Holy Family to videotape for my final project. In doing so I also had the chance to observe and see how Ms. Desimone uses technology in her classroom. I was there for math and also for readers workshop. It was fun to see how she used to document camera and SMART board in her math lesson. They were learning about factions and she would show different fraction pieces under the document camera to help them figure out the answer to the problem. She also used the SMART board for students to self correct their math homework. The students would come up to the SMART board and write down how they solved the problem. This was one of my first observations seeing the students using the SMART board in the classroom.

Also, it was interesting to see how the students responded to the flip-video. As you will see in my final project some students absolutely loved being filmed while some other students were very shy and weren’t to sure about being interviewed. Over all it was a great fun hanging out with the 4^th graders.

Comments part 2

Angelyna's Blog

Reflection #10

A couple of weeks ago I went to observe a PE class. It was a third grade and also their Holloween game day. On this particular day students got to play this big game with scary music and the black lights. I was really surprised because I didn't know what to expect but she used a lot of the same management tools that teachers use in the classroom. She also used some technology, she used her ipod and a speakers system to play the music. The game the students played had many different aspects to keep the students actively moving. Over all, it ended organized chaos. It was great. I would use some the management tools Mrs. Ahern used for her PE class some day in my own classroom.

Software Reflection

The first program that I looked at was kidspration. This is a great program for school to be able to use. It has many great brain storming ideas as well as time lines math mats for manipulative's and so much more! It was so cool I would defiantly use it in my classroom one day. The second program I looked at was webspration which is the free online verson. It allows you to create many things and used it as a tool to create a idea web and so much more. There is not as much available online as the actual program but I can use it for my classes next semester.

The last program I looked at was Chalksite, it was pretty easy to use once I got the hang of how to add the assignments and students. I think one of the most useful features about this site is that the students can see their grades any time they want. They can see how they did on a quiz or see if they have any assignments missing. I think that it was pretty easy to use as a teacher having some step by step instructions. But if I didn't have those then I am not to sure how easy it would be to use. For a students to use all they needed was a user name and password then they could see their graded assignments by name and the score.

Over all i found all these different programs useful and will some day use them in my classroom.

Comment part 2

Jessica's Blog

Reflection #9

This past week I volunteered in a second grade classroom at Holy family. I was there for a math lesson and a part of reading. Mrs. Leach is very good and effective at using the technology in her classroom. For math she used the SMART board to introduce the lesson and have the students participate in some group problems. Then she had the students work independently on their math problems. Once the students were finished under the document camera she would write a problem on a piece of paper and have one student some and show how to solve it while the other students had their eyes on the SMART board, following along. The way she executed this lesson kept the students engaged. I think what really helped the flow of the lesson was that she is fluent in the technology she had in her classroom.

The reading lesson she used the document camera to do a read aloud so students could follow along and see the pictures. I think this was very effective because, students stayed at their desks and could see the pictures and follow along while she read the words. Next they used the SMART board for a worksheet, where students would come up and move different items in the correct column. All the students wanted to participate and move and object on the SMART board.

Comments Part 2

Amber's Blog

Reflection #8

This last Wednesday I went to my school where I was placed just to observe and meet the students. There many different things that I observed and learned. The second grade classrooms at Seattle Hill Elementary are all in one "pod". There are three classrooms altogether. At the beginning of the year they asses the students on their math and reading and based off of these assessment they dived the students into three groups, High learners, right on track learners and low learners. In the morning they have Math and reading, during these times the students just know what room they should be in. In one room there is the high learners and in another room the right on track and in the next room will be the low learners. This way the teachers do not have to prepare something for every lesson for the high and low learners they are all in one room. The students don't know why they are in one room or another during this subject. In other words they don't make it known to the students that they are high, low, or right on track learners. Also, another thing is that one teacher does not always get the high learns or low learners they have a different group of kids for each subject. I thought this was very interesting.

Word, Excel. and PowerPoint

Word

• Clipart
• Boarders
• Different fonts
• Templates for different projects
• Word Art
• Online resources
• hyperlinks to web pages
• Tables

Excel

• formatting the Cells
• alphabetizing
• number order
• formulas to find the answers for talbes
• Clip art
• boards

Power Point

• different templates
• backgrounds
• different fonts and shadows etc.
• Clip art
• Graphs/tables
• animation/ sound

There are many different projects that students could do to learn how to used these Word, Excel or Power Point

• type up a book review on word using a font and clip art with boarding if wanted
• have the students research an animal of their choice and make a power point with interesting fact on their animal
• have students use excel to make a graph for a math problem or have them create a table by entering the equation to find the answers.

Reflection #7

I couple weeks ago, I was watching the Today Show and a segment came on saying how some students are using their technology skills to bring the news to their school. I though this was very interesting because it was right after we learned about the flip video in class. I went online and looked up the segment and sure enough these students were using a flip video to record their news clips. Every students in this 5th grade class had a part to play in making this production happen. Some students were the board casters, while some tapes the footage and other edited the clips and put the final product together. This is just one great example of how technology can be used effective in the classroom and inspire learning.

Blogs for Educators

The first Blogs I looked at was "Free Technology for Teachers". I spent some time reading on different entrys and they had some neat free resourses for schools and classrooms to use. The entry that caught my eye was the "Tiny Chat Launches Tiny chat TV". This entry is about a new stream lineing website that is completly free that allows you to have a live feed on a website. How cool is that. This could be used for workshops or even videoing students presenting projects so parents could tune in and watch. I think this would be a great technology to learn more about and how it could be used effectively in the classroom. according to the blog entry it is easy to set up and use.

Free Technology for Teachers Blog : Tiny Chat Launches Tiny Chat TV


The second blog I looked at was "Emerging Internet Technologies for Education" this was an interesting blog. Right now this blog is doing a comparison with SMART boars and Polyvision eno Whiteboards. The previous week they took a close look at the SMART boards and what they offer for the classroom and just general functions. This week they are focusing on the Polyvision whiteboards. Since we have SMART board here at Northwest, I though I would read the entries that were about the Polyvision boards. They entry I found most useful was "Polyvision eno Whiteboards: A Great alternative to the SMART Board". This entry had many great comparissions to the SMART board and told why many districts are choising these board as an alternative to SMART boards. One of the first reasons is that they are a little bit cheaper. Second being, there are no cords involved. It is set up wireless to work in the classroom. Third, to mount the board on the wall you simply can just put it over a regular white board because, there are magnets built in. These are just a couple of the reasons that caught my eye. This would be useful for me to know as a teacher because, I may not have a SMART board in my classroom some day it could be Polyvision white board and the things talked about in this entry would be good to know as background knowledge.

Emerging internet technologies for education Blog, PolyVision eno whiteboards: A great alternative to the SMART Board

Online Learning Experience

Leading the Change Beyond the Stacks: Using emerging technologies to strengthen teacher-librarian Leadership

This was a great session even through it was talking specifically to teacher-librarians. It had many great ideas on how to use new technologies with students and still promote reading and different books. They talked about many of the different technology they use and how they are engaging students to read. One way they did this was by creating "Meet the Stars" which students would read books they selected and voted on them. There were many different step to this depending on their grade. Another point they made was teaching students to use the online resources such as Google to find information but teaching them to find out if it reliable or accredited sources. Also, they are teachings students who are fluent in technology to think critically and the difference between the two.

Leading the New Change Telling the New Change:Leverage Points for Inspiring Change Orientation

David Warick was the teacher of this session and it was very good. He talked about how the school are changing very fast and what worked for his generation (30 years ago) won't work for the future generation. Because our students will be growing up so different even from how we grew up. He also talks about different programs and how his son learned how to use garage band a music editing program when he was never taught how to us it. Also, he brought up the point of when he was a student he had no idea what teaching would look like today. He asks what will teaching look like in another 30 years and what will we as teachers be teaching our students to prepare for jobs in the future.


Reflection: There were many good point brought up in both of the sessions I attended and both had very different but some similar points. The similar points were how new technology is influencing teaching and we as teachers need to be fluent in them. Also, how we need to integrate these technologies into our teaching to keep students engaged and interested in learning.


The online experience was very different what I thought it would be, in a good way. I had never thought about attending a conference on the internet. But I think it is a very effective way so that many people can attend without even leaving their homes. One of the conferences that I attended was done through skype and that was very interesting to see how he maneuvered through the different programs he pulled up while he was talking. Over all I learned many great things and experienced an online conference.

Technology Project Plan

My project is called "Day in a Life of a Fourth Grader" I will follow the 4th grade class around at Holy Family Catholic school and find out what fourth grade is all about. I have permission from the Principal but, I will need to get permission from the fourth grade parents to video all the students in the class. I will be using the Flip-video and using Imovie maker to edit it and put all the clips together. This project will high light different projects the 4th grade does throughout the day and interview 4th graders as well.

I couldn't use free recorder to record my plan, because it is a windows based program. I used photobooth which is already on my computer to film a video/podcast of my plan for my final project.

Comments Part 2

Jenny Teixeira

Flip Video - Reflection #6

This was a great learning experience, on how to use a flip video. It was so easy to film the different scenes in our movie. also, the uploading the clips on the computer was very easy and straight forward. Once our clips were on the computer we could rearrange them in any order we wanted them to play in and add in a title slide and credit slide. Finally, we added music to our video which was also pretty easy and chose the volume of how loud we wanted the music to play. This video provides many good laughs and was so fun and easy to make! The part of this process that took the longest was uploading it on to you tube.

Mission impossible 37 Staring: Jessica, Amber and Heather

ENJOY

"Caught on Video"

I don't even know where to start, there were so many great things about this article! Bob Spankle, reinforces so many thing that we have been learning about this semester. How to integrate technology into our classroom to keep our students active in learning. But, making sure we use it to add to the learning not take the focus off learning. I think that the flip video in the classroom is a great idea! Being able to show short clips of what the students are doing in the classroom and e-mailing them to the parents is a awesome way to keep parents in the loop. It also, is a great way for students to create goals and then play them back to them once the unit or the year is over and see if they have met the goals they set. My favorite idea in this article is asking the students of the first day of school what there hope/dream/goals are for the school year. Then you could play them back at the end of the year to see if they have accomplished their goals and reflect on them. I would love to use this idea in my classroom some day. I believe, that this would get students excited about the school year and get them ready to learn!


The only point about this article that I'm not to sure about is his opinion on grading. Yes, I think the flip video is a great way to show progress so that the parents and students can see it. But, I still think a letter grade gives most (not all) students motivation to do their best in school.

Assingment #3

Teixeira and I made our teacher “toolbox” on delicious. We chose this container because it is very effective and practical for teachers. You can tag the website under multiple things and quickly scan through the sites to find what you are looking for. I plan on using this website to search for things in the future for teaching ideas. It is a great way to find websites that other people have found useful. It is organized by the tags you put with the website. So, if a website that you tagged with resources you could go under your tags and find all the website you tagged under resources or do a search for “teacher recourses” and the website that were tagged would come up.

Enchanted learning is a great website for art projects especially seasonal art projects. They have step-by-step directions and free print out templates. I would use this website in my future classroom for art projects to decorate the room with or to send home for the parents to enjoy.

Teachers Net is a great website for all different kinds of different teacher resources. What I found useful about this site is that there are so many great lesson plans and ideas that you can take away and use in your classroom. It is categorized by grade level and subject, and is very easy to navigate.

The Teachers Corner is my favorite website out of all the websites I found because, it has different lessons for unit studies. It is all categorized buy grade subject or unit. It has such great teacher friendly resources, what’s not to love! It even has ideas for bulletin boards, printable work sheets, and collaboration projects.

Hope you enjoy our teacher toolbox and websites!

delicious.com/heatherandteixeira

Reflection on ActivBoard/ Clickers

I loved all the great things that we learned this week going into Mrs. Adair's classroom. She was so knowledgeable on how to use the board in an effective way in her classroom. I really enjoyed having a different perspective on how to use active-studio and have a little knowledge about flip charts and how to execute them in the classroom. Also, she had so many great ideas on how to use the board as a managment tool for her students. Such as, the stop light during her lit groups while her other students are working on a project independently.

The clickers in addition to the board seem to keep her students involved and engaged in their learning through out the day. They love the fact they get to click the buttons and show their opinion for a question. For the teacher the clickers provide a quick and easy way to collect data and no hand grading is involved. Additionally they and efficient want to collect data for the class to look at very quickly.

Over all it was a great experience going into a classroom and hearing how the teacher is using their technology in the classroom. I believe, the best advice she gave us "soon to be teachers" is, to be fluent in out technology and be able to use it effectively in the classroom, so it doesn't take the focus off of the learning but aids the learning.

Comments

Here are the links to where I left my five comments
Jenny Jenny 2
Teixeira
Jessica
Emily

Reflection #5

As some of you may know, I absolutely love the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park. They were my favorite growing up and still continue to be my favorite today. So what in the world does this have to to with technology? The other day I was online looking around, I came across the Junie B. Jones website. This website has tons of great ideas of how to use these books in your classroom and includes activity ideas as well as teacher resources and many other things. I thought this was amazing! I had no idea there was a website for this set of books. I got so excited about it I thought I would share this site with the rest of you.


Some of the links will take you to other websites but, over all thought this would be a great starting place if you wanted to use these books as a read-a-loud for your future classroom.

Enjoy!


Junie B. Jones Website

Also, this got me to think, "I wonder if Junie B. Jones has a website, do other children's books collections have a website too?" The answer is YES! These sites are great, and are full of activities ideas for all the different book collections that you might have in your classroom one day.

The other website I liked was the Magic Tree house collection. Check it out!

Magice Tree House Website

Reflection #4

Lately I have been thinking about how technology has developed just in my life time over the last 22 years. Some people would say that's not that long and I know but, to think how much technology has changed in just that amount of time blows my mind away. When I was younger and would go to a home-schooled coop, I was always so excited because they has computers. They were huge desktop macs that had a black and white screen. No, internet was around then. To play games on them you had to insert this hug black flop-disk. It felt like it took hours to load, to play a game that all you did was move left and right on. These computers were the coolest thing ever! I also, remember when I was finally able to go on the internet to check my parents e-mail (because I wasn't allowed to have my own right away). It just amazes me how how much things have changed. Here are just a couple of ways:

• - tapes --> DVD
• - cassette tapes --> CD --> Itunes (all digital)
• - CD player --> Ipod
• - House phone --> Cell Phone
• - Dial-up interned --> wireless DSL Internet
• - Flopy disks --> Jump Drives
• - Huge desktop Comupters --> Small light weight laptops
• - White boards --> Interactive White boards

These are just a couple the list could go on forever. Its just CRAZY to think about how much things have changed.

NET Standard Reflection

The NET standard that I have decided to focus on this semester was 3a Demonstrate fluency in technology system and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. I think I am making progress in this standard by learning how to make our own class website and learning some basic HTML. Also, by being by learning some very basic things on the SMART board. We are currently learning how to effectively use the SMART board during lessons and how to use it to our advantage as teachers. By volunteering and practicing presenting with the SMART board this semester I am on my way to meeting this standard.

Assignment #2

Links to SMART board activities:
Peep and the Big Wide World

Count Us In Games (math games)

NETS Standard for Students: The first NETS standard for students that these activities would cover is 3d. model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information resources to support research and learning. These activities meet this standard because, students will have to work together and take turns to do some of the games on Peep and the Big Wide World. This also, shows how to use emerging digital tools to support learning, especially when using the math games
Another student NETS standard that these activities include is 6a. understand and use technology system. These activities meet this standard because when students come up to participate in the games they have to know how to use the SMART board and show they understand how it works in order for the games to work. Even more so in the math games because students will have to use the key board on the SMART board to type in their answer.

NETS Standard for Teachers: The first NETS standard that these activities for teachers is 3d. model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information recourse to support research and learning. These games and actives meet these standards because using these games on a SMART board shows and effective way to use this technology in the classroom. It also supports the students learning whether it be in the matching games or recognizing shapes in Peep and the Big Wide World or having the math games be an anticipatory set for a math lesson. In addition, this will also help me as a teacher evaluate my students with how much they know about the subject and how well they respond to the help of their classmates.
The second NETS standard that these actives meet is 2c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resource. These games meet this standard because it incorporates the different learning styles, auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Also, it shows the teachers ability to use digital tools and online resources in the lesson.

There are several ways the SMART board will improve student learning in my future classroom. I believe, the biggest way is that the student will be more engaged in the classroom. Because, they will be able to actively helping to teach the lesson by playing a game or writing down how they solved a problem on the board. Also, one student could be showing and example using different manipulative under the document camera while other students follow along. In addition, it will enhance the time while the teacher is explaining a new concept. Not only will it serve as a visual ad but the teacher can interact with the board as well making it easier to model different concepts taught in school. By using these new technologies that are available to us as teachers I strongly believe that it will keep the students excited to learn. With a SMART board there are endless possibilities, using games, have the students take a quiz with the key pads have the students write their ideas on the smart board, podcast, blogging. Who wouldn't be excited to learn with all the different ways to teach. I know, I am excited to use these technologies in my classroom especially the SMART board and share my love for learning in a ways that will excited my students to learn!

Reflection #3

Recently, I went and volunteered at holy family with the reading specialist and I was presently surprised how much technology was integrated into the lesson. One of the first things they did they had a quiz on the smart board over the story they had read the day before. This was so that the teacher could get a grasp of what the students remembers and if they had done their homework. Once they had taken a quiz they switched over to the document camera to show the book they were reading through so that the students could follow along. The students would take turns reading the lines. Once the students finished reading, they did a interactive quiz and review on the smart board. The students took turns answering the question and if they did not know the answers they could poll their classmates. I thought it was really good how the teacher integrated all the different technologies with the students. It kept them evolved and engaged their whole time they were in reading.

HTML and Weebly

Over all I found once I got the hang of the HTML coding it was lots of fun. Creating a website with all HTML coding would take a lot of work. Now, I respect the start of the internet way more then before. It takes many letters and codes just to create a link or change the background color. Once I become more familiar with the pattern of the codes I started to enjoy creating my website with HTML. I chose to use weebly for create my class website. It was easy to navigate through and straight forward about how to create new pages and how to add text and pictures. I uses a pre-made template and added my own tabs, bio, and welcome screen. Click on the link below to check it out! Miss Craigs Class Website

Reflection #2

I have recently went and observed a math lesson being taught in the 5th grade. It was a great experience, for the beginning of the lesson I just watcher the teacher (Ms. Foulan) introduce the new strategy for problem solving. She used the SMART board to help introduce this new concept. Once she explained the processes, they did a practice problem together on the SMART board. First she let the students try and figure it out on their own, then she actually had the students figure it out using the actually materials in the problem. The students then were given a worksheet to do with a partner using this new problem solving strategy. This lesson was a great way to see how the SMART board can be used as a visual aid to help explain a new concept in math. The teacher did a great job using it effectively for this particular lesson.

Relfection #1

In class we had the chance to learn how to use some web 2.0 tools and talk about how we could integrate them into our classroom. One of the tools I looked at was imaginationcubed.com, this is a very simple website that students can use and be pared up and work with partners. When you open the website there is an option to invite a friend via e-mail, Teireira and I worked together to create a picture. This can teach students how to work as a team to create something, because when someone hits the undo key it deletes the last thing drawn and it might not be yours. Students will really have to talk about what they want to draw and how to do it. Check it out! http://www.imaginationcubed.com/loader.php?aDrawingID=2d7f73f0f8b938377a756e862342520a&from_email=heather.craig06%40northwestu.edu&from_name=Teixeira This program has many different drawing options such as stamps and shapes. There is also a grid that you can put on which could be used for a math lesson. You can draw pictures play games, the options are endless. The only thing is to watch how much ink you have left in your pen, once the ink is gone the drawing starts to disappear.

School Web Site

The website I have decided to go through is Holy Family Parish School, this is where I currently work and have done many of my observations. Likes

• There is not to much cramped on the home page. This page includes a picture of the school, a link to the principals page and student development page.
• Very easy to navigate
• Introduction to each teacher and their grade/subject with pictures
• They also have links for their parents to accesses their child's progress in the classroom, to the Catholic Church, the auction (their biggest fundraiser of the year), admissions and many more. My personal favorite is school life. This link has pictures of the students in the classroom and different school sponsored events.

Missing

• It could use an upgrade in the layout to make it more current and eye catching.
• have more of the students work displayed on the website for parents to see and perspective parents/students to see

Dislikes

• I did not have any dislikes with this web site - just thought that some things could be updated and made more current

Holy Family Parish School

Beginning of Semester Reflection

I think technology is an important and convenient part of our everyday lives. It helps us to stay connected with friends and family in different states and share photos cost free. I also believe that technology is starting to play a bigger role in the classroom. With SMART boards, document cameras, pod casting, blogging the possibilities for teachers is endless. It is important to use technology in our classroom as teachers because it will help enhance our lessons as well as keep students more engaged in what they are learning. By having the latest gadgets in our classroom, it will help prepare students for the future in our advancing society. In addition to preparing them it will create more involvement of students in the classroom. Having the students be up in front of the class, explaining a new game or "teaching" other students. As teachers we need to keep up on what is the latest new and "cool" technologies our students are using in their everyday lives and use them to our advantage in the classroom. This will make learning fun and interesting for our students and what better way to learn then with fun!

"Generation IM"

This article was very insightful and brought many different things to my attention that I thought about but never gave much attention to. I knew that as a teacher I would need to keep up on the latest technology. Now there are so many different options out there that it can get very overwhelming trying to integrate them into your lessons and the classroom. In the article it give great ideas on how to use free resources that our students already know how to navigate for projects such as myspace and facebook. I really liked the idea of reading a book and having student make a profile for the character. Also the seven tips to using technology in your classroom were very insightful and gave a good starting point of how we can use them in our classroom to better our students learning. It still amazes me how even kindergarteners and first graders know how to use and access all this different technology. This article really opened my eyes to how much I still need to learn about the technology world.

Assignment #1

"USING TEXT-TO-SPEECH SOFTWARE WITH STRUGGLING READERS" By Ernest Balajthy The article that I read is about Text- to- Speech (TTS) software, this software enables computers to read electronic text files aloud using phonemic voice syntheses. An example of how this software can be uses is if a student is looking up websites about a certain topic and the article on the website is above there reading level, students are able to use the TTS to read it aloud. The TTS software is easy to get but teachers need to have training before they can execute it effectively in the classroom. Depending on how much this software is going to be used in the classroom there are a wide verity prices. There are free versions available online but the options are limited on what the program can do. The more sophisticated software included scanning capabilities. This software is great for struggling readers. When a student is struggling with reading and is able to use the TTS software they can create personal setting such as, chose the voice of a male or female and how fast the software will read the selected text.Researchers have done many studies regarding this software because, one thing still remains the same, the value of being able to read and understand is the core to being successful today. They have also found that students who can read daily for long periods of time their skills of decoding, vocabulary and comprehension are always improving. With the TTS software they have found that students with ADD can help them focus on reading for longer periods of time because they are hearing a voice as well as being able to follow along seeing the words. There are many great things that can come from the technology but there are also so many up and downs as well. This software is great for individual use for struggling readings but, researchers are finding it is not as effective in a large classroom setting. I personally think that in the future the TTS software could have a big impact on the classroom. Especially since we are leaning more towards students working independently doing discovery learning. I believe that this tool can be used effectively once the teachers have been trained to use it to its full potential. Until then, I think it will be a great resource for parents to use at home if their child is a struggling reader. Balajthy, Ernest. "Using Text-to-Speech Software with Struggling Readers." College Reading Association Yearbook; 2007, Issue 28, p364-370, 7p. http://firma.northwestu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=26328918&site=ehost-live NETS STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS The NETS for teachers that I will be focusing on this semester is, to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies ans situations. I chose this standard because I believe it is important for teachers to be current in the new technology to keep our students engaged in learning. By being current in our technology we can keep up with what our students are using in their everyday life and apply it to learning. I plan to improve in this area by becoming familiar with the SMART board and being able to use it's technology to create effective lessons for the classroom. For students I think they are all important standard but for the 1st and 2nd grade I would put a emphasis on contributing to projects teams to produce original works or solve problems. I know this is important during these years of elementary school because they are learning how to work as a team and respect their peers. This standard can be integrated in many ways just by having the students work in pair to create a story together, or have students come with a science experiment and have them present their finding to the class. Another way is to have students play games that are inclusive during P.E. By having students work together in different ways I believe will enhance their relationships with others as well as make your classroom environment safe and inviting.

"The Wonders of Interactive Whiteboards"

"The Wonders of Interactive Whiteboards" is a great article about how interactive whiteboards in the classroom are keeping students engaged in learning. Benjamin Hazzard reflects on the frist time he saw a interactive white board as a teacher and how in "aw" he was of it. Not only was he in shock but, his talking students where so intrigued that the room be came silent. "Hazzard thought, whatever this is, it is good" The article goes on to talk about all the different options that are available for teachers with the smart technology. Hazzard is now teaching teachers how to use interactive whiteboards to their advantage in the classroom through pod-casting. Some teachers are worried about the interactive whiteboards taking over there classroom or being the only focus. But Hazzard says, "It isn't about the boards; it's about the learning that is happening. The board are a consult to the curriculum." The effects that the interactive whiteboards are having on the classroom have been nothing but good. A teacher in this article talked about how she has seen her students become more engaged in the classroom and and also wanting to help teach more. Another effect this is having in the classroom is teachers are seeing the grades of their students rise, because of being more involved in the classroom with the whiteboard. I believe that the interactive whiteboard will be a good and necessary addition to every classroom. It offers endless possibilities for teaches and keeping students engaged. It is almost a perfect match. http://firma.northwestu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ762455&site=ehost-live

"Turning On the Lights"

After I finished reading this article I found myself pondering my own education experience as well as, looking back over the many classes I have observed and the converstions I have with students about their own education. The first thing that I thought of was my own teachers would ask us to turn off our cell phones or not to use computers for our assignments. I think it was crazy not being able to use resources that we had at our exposure. Some of my own teachers thought we were being lazy if we used the computer for a project when really it would enhance our project. This proves the point from the article that teachers want students to "power down" once they step in to the classroom. I completely agree with the point, that as teachers we should use the technology to our advantage to help students learn more or increase their knowledge. Such as using games on the smart-board when we teach or having the students have some creative freedom for a project so that they can make it geared to one of their personal interests. There are so many different resources for our use as teachers that just are not being used in the classroom today. I believe if we start to tap into these different technology and websites, we will be able to hold our students attention longer and engage them in what we are trying to teach them. Another thought that came to me while I was reading this article was some of the conversations that I have overheard between students. Children who are in 2nd and 3rd grade talking about a youtube video that they watched last night on the internet, or checking there myspace and e-mail. When I was that age I had no clue what youtube was or how to use the internet. This just shows how times changed so fast and as teachers we need to be able to adapt to how our students are learning. I'm not trying to say throw out the old ways of teaching. We just need to find a balance, a new balance for teachers and students with technology in the classroom.

Week #1

Deciding to become a teacher was one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to be a teacher. My inspiration to become a teacher was my mom. She was my teacher until the 9th grade and was a great role model. In 8th grade I had a great opportunity to be a teachers assistant in a 1st grade classroom and really sparked the desire to teach. Being in a classroom gave me the chance to work with students in small groups as well as some one-on-one time. My senior year of high school I did a work base study in a 1st and 2nd grade split classroom, this really gave me the chance to experience teaching. I was given more responsibilityi was able to teach some simple art lessons and also, planned a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was a lot of work but, I was hooked! During my senior year of high school, I really discovered my heart for teaching the students that needed a little more help.This is what I see myself doing after I graduate from Northwest, I would like to purse a masters degree in Special education. I hope to one day to be able to help the students that need an extra push in learning. Whether it be with special education or being a specialist of some kind.