Looking at Educational blogs (required)

The site I visited was NCS-Tech, and on this blog the first entry caught my eye. It deals with this program that allows children to type in words and then the picture of that word appears. This kerpoof spell a picture looks more based for younger children but would be great to connect the spelling words with the pictures of those words for the week. Here is my comment on the site and a link to the blog entry. I learned about a program that could help students learn their spelling words in a new way and my comment mentions how I like the program but I wish that it would be expanded to fit a wider span of ages.

Project podcast (required)

For this technology project I am planning to create a math lesson dealing with adding fractions with uncommon denominators. I plan on using a video from the web and the Smartboard technology to help teach this lesson. For a more detailed plan please follow this link to hear the details of the plan.

Questions for the NU Educators Panel (required)

1. As a substitute how do you handle the use of technology in the classrooms you enter?
2. What is your favorite part of using technology with the younger students?
3. What do you enjoy most when working with the high school student?

Assignment #3 (required)

As a teacher, collecting resources that will enhance the learning experience and make the classroom function more smoothly are great to know about because the students will be more willing to learn and more excited to interact in their learning. For the teacher there are some fantastic online sites that help incorporate technology into how you give quizzes, home, and much more. While exploring the web for some great sources I needed to have a location that would hold and organize these sites. For my teacher toolbox I used delicious to compile all the wonderful sites that I discovered. I placed my toolbox on the blog but for a direct link click here to view the bookmarks.

When it came organizing the toolbox I tried to organize the sites by the subjects that are focused on in the various websites. There are tags dealing with math, art, English, even games, and a tag for sites for teachers. I chose these sites only after testing the sites and seeing if there were ways to use them in the classroom or in the homes of the students. All the sites are free of charge, which is nice for everyone. I looked for websites that were fun and exciting, while still teaching the lessons. I know I will use my toolbox in the classroom and for creating lesson plans. I could even post the link to my toolbox on my apple account for other teachers who also have apple will be able to view it and use my toolbox.

My toolbox will be a great place to go and find materials, for example one of the sites I found let's you create math flashcards, the site is Aplusmath, there is also a link called homework helper that you plug in a math problem and the answer, then it double checks if the answer is correct. That will be great for students who's parents do not understand how to complete the math or if the students don't want to bother anyone they may go online and check their homework. Another great website is Quizstar. This is a site that you need to create an account, but it's free! Once you have an account you are able to create quizzes for your students. The students also has a login and then they add your class, then they will be able to take quizzes online. This is really neat and I think I would use it in my classroom and you don't even need to put in the students full last name just the first letter. It is similar to how some of the teachers at Northwest have online quizzes. My third favorite website is all about children's books, you can select a book and either read it on your own or have it read to you. They even provide a place where you may create your story book. I have not done this yet but it looks really fun. In the classroom, students could create their own book based on a subject that they are learning in class.

Caught on Video (required)

This was a very interesting and mind stretching article. Bob Spankle's "Caught on video" discusses how he has been able to use videoing in his classroom and various ideas in other areas where to use this technology. One way to use the videos in the classroom that is new to me is to record students as they solve various problems in their homework. By doing this you will be able to focus on how they student thinks not just on "do they have the right answer." I really enjoyed the idea about making a digital yearbook that is based off of video clips, that would be really amazing. Then there is the possibility of recording the newsletters and information that the parents will need to know. This one is interesting because only if the parents had access to a computer would they be able to watch the video and it would be too expensive to send home DVDs. But overall, I do believe that Mr. Spankle has some wonderful ideas and I hope that I might be able to build off of those ideas and create my own projects.

Reflection #6

WOW! My head is still spinning from all that I learned about the ActivBoard tonight. I love how when you are working with the board only the pen can make a mark and so your hand touching the board will not mess up how you write. I enjoyed seeing how easy it looked to use the technology and how much Mrs. Adair is able to incorporate the technology into the curriculum. The set-up of the activBoard was interesting because it has it's own computer and she has her "control area" right next to the board so she can be in front of the class and is able to just get up and work on the board. The board has it's own keyboard and mouse both are wireless meaning she can walk around the room and click through the lesson without having to stand behind a table. But even though I enjoyed the ActivBoard there are some advantages to the Smartboard. For example, you can erase a small area on the SmartBoard easier by circling it with the eraser and then tapping the center. I did think it was amazing that the school district has all the curriculum online so that the teachers can copy it and incorporate into their flipcharts. Seeing the flipcharts that was pretty cool too because they would transition from one page to the next in different ways. When is came to the response controllers I think the ones for the SmartBoard are more interactive and have more possibilities for various uses because it has True and False, letters, and numbers. While the "eggs" only have letters. Either way I think I would not mind working on either of the boards, I feel that it will be amazing, hard work, yet fun.

Promethean ActivBoard (required)

While looking for information on the Promethean ActivBoard I discovered a youtube clip that talks about using the ActivBoard in the classroom. In this clip they show the students using the board in a special education classroom. While I was watching the teacher use the board I thought it was amazing how it would "flip" to the next slide, I believe this tool is known as a flip chart, but I'm not too certain. Either way though, it was a great way to transition to a page. The ActivBoard can do everything a computer may do, by projecting the image onto to the board. By using the ActivBoard projecting screens and overheads will no longer be needed because the board has replaced them. The clip also mentions that the board came from Britain, which I found very interesting because I would not have thought of it coming from outside the US since the US is normally the leading inventor of new technologies. I think it is great that it made it over to the States so that our students may have a more interactive learning experience.

Reflection #5

While I was researching for artist for my visual arts methods class I found this really neat website called, The Artist's Toolkit. This "toolkit" is a way to introduce the various elements and principles of art. They explain what the element or principle means and how to create it. Then the students have to label three different pictures, showing where the element or principle is or describe what part of the elements or principle is in the picture.

As I played around with the website I enjoyed how they explain the elements and principles, even the picture labeling was great. What I think that the site lacks is the ability for the students be truly creative because they can only use the shapes provided to make their drawing, for example squares, ovals, circles, rectangles, which can made the artwork feel too structured and not smooth. Even through this down side the students can still learn a great deal about art and it will be an asset in the classroom.