Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Reflection #1
In class last week, I was taught how to use a document reader. I came from a school with old projectors, so I never had the chance to use a document reader.
Document readers are very good tools for teachers because they can act as a white board or projector in a way, but they allow the teacher to remain facing the class and still engaging them as learners.
I taught my first anticipatory set yesterday using the document camera and hope that it is a tool that I might have in a future classroom because it really was quite helpful to show students what I was doing on the worksheet but also to be able to still face them for classroom management.
Document readers are very good tools for teachers because they can act as a white board or projector in a way, but they allow the teacher to remain facing the class and still engaging them as learners.
I taught my first anticipatory set yesterday using the document camera and hope that it is a tool that I might have in a future classroom because it really was quite helpful to show students what I was doing on the worksheet but also to be able to still face them for classroom management.
Blog Assignment Week #8
http://www.funenglishgames.com/grammargames.html
This website has a lot of great ESL resources including games. The games would be a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom and also a way to engage the learners away from monotonous worksheets. I wouldn't only rely on these games, but I think they would be a good way to shake up the routine. Or they could be a consistent, end of the day "reward", because they are a little more fun, but students are still practicing skills. These games would be great on a smart or activboard so students could come up to the board and touch the screen to answer instead of just me asking them what the answer is and then checking to see if it's right.
This website has a lot of great ESL resources including games. The games would be a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom and also a way to engage the learners away from monotonous worksheets. I wouldn't only rely on these games, but I think they would be a good way to shake up the routine. Or they could be a consistent, end of the day "reward", because they are a little more fun, but students are still practicing skills. These games would be great on a smart or activboard so students could come up to the board and touch the screen to answer instead of just me asking them what the answer is and then checking to see if it's right.
Blog Assignment Week #7
So I couldn't find the heading "Blogs for Educators" on the class blog so I played around on google for a little bit looking for some blogs. I found this one
http://www.tcps.org/blogs/math/
which is a link to Ms. Hocks math classes.
On the blog itself, she posts copies of the students finished assignments that they did in class, as well as videos of them working on their projects. In the videos, you can also see that students are using netbooks to research data for their projects! I thought this was really neat, because when I did graphs we were given data, not able to find some data that might interest and engage us in the learning process more.
She also lets the class video record their definitions of things they are learning. It's a great way to engage the students not only in math, but with technology as well.
Her site is also a great resource for parents wondering what the students are doing in class!
http://www.tcps.org/blogs/math/
which is a link to Ms. Hocks math classes.
On the blog itself, she posts copies of the students finished assignments that they did in class, as well as videos of them working on their projects. In the videos, you can also see that students are using netbooks to research data for their projects! I thought this was really neat, because when I did graphs we were given data, not able to find some data that might interest and engage us in the learning process more.
She also lets the class video record their definitions of things they are learning. It's a great way to engage the students not only in math, but with technology as well.
Her site is also a great resource for parents wondering what the students are doing in class!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Assignment 2 - Smartboard presentation
I am doing my smart board lesson on Spanish Adjectives. Here is the link to the original presentation: http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=0a80a24f-1bc5-44d1-b4bd-cf52d723f6c5
During my presentation I will be moving objects, popping balloons (I'm not sure if this feature has a name), and using the writing tool as well as the tool that you can draw arrows.
Teacher Net:
Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments - By developing an engaging presentation where students are learning and using technology for their learning they are engaging in digital age learning experiences.
Student Net:
Technology Operations and Concepts - Students will interact with the smart board using the touch tool to pop balloons, this shows they understand technology operations and concepts.
During my presentation I will be moving objects, popping balloons (I'm not sure if this feature has a name), and using the writing tool as well as the tool that you can draw arrows.
Teacher Net:
Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments - By developing an engaging presentation where students are learning and using technology for their learning they are engaging in digital age learning experiences.
Student Net:
Technology Operations and Concepts - Students will interact with the smart board using the touch tool to pop balloons, this shows they understand technology operations and concepts.
Blog Week 6
Genration IM
I really enjoyed reading the article. What really stuck out for me was all of the statistics about how much time children are spending plugged into technology.
On a side note I find it interesting that as a society we are encouraging children to be less social together and be plugged into technology. Students would rather Skype or text than call or spend time with other people because at the same time they can be doing homework, facebooking, listening to music at the same time.
There were many programs/websites mentioned in the article that I had never thought of before or heard of. I like the idea of making students their own social networking sites for the safety but also because the students will feel included in the current fad.
In a science class, students could create their own wikis about a science topic. They would be split in tot groups with one topic and then could edit the group wiki together. Then students could learn from each others work.
I really enjoyed reading the article. What really stuck out for me was all of the statistics about how much time children are spending plugged into technology.
On a side note I find it interesting that as a society we are encouraging children to be less social together and be plugged into technology. Students would rather Skype or text than call or spend time with other people because at the same time they can be doing homework, facebooking, listening to music at the same time.
There were many programs/websites mentioned in the article that I had never thought of before or heard of. I like the idea of making students their own social networking sites for the safety but also because the students will feel included in the current fad.
In a science class, students could create their own wikis about a science topic. They would be split in tot groups with one topic and then could edit the group wiki together. Then students could learn from each others work.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Week 5 Blog Post
I was able to find research on the Promethean Activboards effect on a classroom of special needs students. The results were all positive. The Activboard helped increase student engagement, students contribution to discussions,and many more things relating to the classroom. Because the Activboard engages the students on many different levels they become more focused on the lesson. The Activboard was also helpful in allowing students who had trouble with fine motor skills to work on them more freely with the help of the stylus. The Activboard was a great tool for this classroom in order to help its participants become better students overall.
Is there an advantage to having the Activboard versus the Smartboard?
Week 4 Blog Post
After our lesson with the smart board I learned many things, mostly because none of my teachers use the Smartboard and also because we didn't have them in my school district. The first thing I learned was about the pens, the eraser, and the touch screen. It was interesting to me and a little bit annoying that the tools had to be in the bar otherwise the user had to click the toolbar to use the tool that they wanted. It was also interesting to learn all the different features, such as being able to cover items and then remove the cover and also use flash and sound in the presentations.
One question I have is how to remove items that are covering answers. Is there a way to click on them and just have them disappear versus pulling them down or on another part of the screen?
One question I have is how to remove items that are covering answers. Is there a way to click on them and just have them disappear versus pulling them down or on another part of the screen?
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