Week 13

Field Experience:

This past week it was my last time being with my first graders in my host classroom. It was really sad because I have grown to become attached to these students. This particular week we didn't use any type of technology but I know down the road when they will continue to incorporate the technology into their learning.

Technical Skills:

A recently purchased a Macbook and I am getting used to the Apple product because I was so used to the PC's. I am grateful to be in this Edu315 class because we have learned so much new information on technology. I have a basic understanding of the mac computers now and hope to explore the other wonders of this great product soon!

Weekly Reading:

The reading that I recently used this week came from eschoolnews. It was about empowering education with video technologies. Many schools are using websites and videos to inform the parents/guardians of what their child is learning. It also lets them know what is happening in the school up to date. Sometimes parents/guardians are unaware of special events because the children either forget to or choose not to tell their parents. It is empowering because the usage of video is common especially with students playing video games so much and watching television, they have adapted to the usage of videos.

Week 12

Field Experience

During my field experience this week I got to see the children do their morning greeting as a whole school in the gymnasium. They had a power point for the whole school to see the news and announcements of the day. They showed whose birthday it was that day. The birthday students were allowed to go up and say a few words on the microphone. The power point also showed the words to the pledge of allegiance in case some children may have forgotten it. I think it is done every day of the school year so that it a key reminder of using technology each and every day with such a basic task.

Technical Skills

A technical skill that I learned about was a website that helps math teachers with different activities and games for students to use. The website is http://nlvm.usu.edu/

It is a great site for children of all ages to learn about the various mathematical topics. I would definitely use a site like this to help me better understand material but also to incorporate this mathematical technology to my future students. I would recommend it to parents as well so they can play and practice around this site with children as an extra activity at home.

Weekly Reading

In our Edu 373 class we read a book called An Ethic of Excellence by Ron Berger. He isn’t the prototypical teacher that believes in testing. He uses portfolios to view the progress of students. Throughout the book he never mentioned himself using technology which I found to be extremely weird because he is viewed as one of the most remarkable teachers in America today. I thought possibly he just didn’t fit that into the book because he bases his experience mainly on classroom management rather than specific topics. If I had to bet I would guess that once in a while he does incorporate technology into his classroom. This book is great I learned a lot about teaching and the positive and negatives of going into the teaching field. It is a job that won’t pay a lot of money but the reward for this job is like no other. It is something you cannot physically measure, but something that you can measure inside your heart.

Week 11

Field Experience

During this week’s field experience a few kids did their normal routine of listening to the CD players read a book aloud. I went to my host classroom on a different day this time and saw them go to their library session. I haven’t seen this class ever go into the computer lab before. I wonder if they are too young to use the computers because it would take a lot of one on one instruction to help each child. Yes, if it was a small group this would be manageable but as a whole group of first graders it could be troublesome. They are still learning the basics of reading and writing and it would be difficult for them to comprehend even the most basic steps of starting up a computer. If I were the teacher it could be feasible to send a letter home to have the guardians encourage and help the children with basic activities like we practiced for the “Come to the Edge” project. 

Technical Skills

A technical skill that I recently learned was how to use a digital camera when doing the IMovie Project. It was great getting an opportunity to use a video camera because I am used to using a regular camera for taking pictures. After we got the opportunity to film our story, we hooked the camera up to the computer and did a ton of editing. The program had some awesome features like editing music and special effect noises. It brings some comedy to each and every movie. As a group, we all learned how to create an IMovie with special effects and it was a fun activity to do!

Weekly Reading

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/02/more-states-look-to-online-learning-for-students/

The article I found came from eschoolnews.com was about states were looking into mandating students to take at least one online course before graduating from High School. The first step is seeing if online courses will prove to help education for students. A key problem with this is that teachers aren’t available inside the classroom to help guide and assist students. Another thing is that the students may not be the actual ones completing the assignments. For example, they can have a smarter friend doing the assigned work online and no one can prove them wrong. As of now there are three states that require students to take an online course in order to graduate. These schools are: Michigan, Alabama, and Florida. I could understand if students were required to complete a class on technology, but I disagree with the fact that they must complete an online course because of the reason I previously stated.

Week 10

Field Experience 

In my last field experience with my first graders, they did not use any technological devices. The only minor one I could think of was when a few students used CD players to use as listening tools to help guide them along with their reading. Not everyone got a chance to use it today but I am most definitely sure they will get their own opportunity within the next few days. It’s a great resource to have in the classroom if the teacher is unable to read aloud to the class as a group, they can listen to the CD reading the story to them. 

Technical Skills

A technical skill that I recently learned was how to use Microsoft Publisher. I have never opened this up before but wanted to see what it was capable of doing. It is a great resource to have because you can create greeting cards, brochures, newsletters, postcards, and even calendars! All of tools I previously mentioned are great because teachers can hang these up around the classroom to help children with any previously learned materials or use them as a reference when needed. I can definitely see myself using Microsoft Publisher more often for my classroom but also for any everyday life thing as well. 

Weekly Reading 

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/01/researcher-technology-might-be-returning-us-to-stone-age-thinking/

The link that I listed above comes from eschoolnews.com. It discusses how this one researcher Nicholas Carr believes technology might be returning us to Stone-Age thinking. Technology is changing the way we think because we have all of these wonderful resources we don’t need to use think as much and we are going away from innovation and progress. Schools are libraries are now sometimes viewed as an afterthought as a resource tool because students have access to almost everything and anything because of computers and technology. His main point is that technology changes the way we think and I couldn’t agree with him anymore. I thought it was a good point because before I read this article I never thought like that. After taking some time to think about it, he brings up many valid points.