09-24-2008
I think UEN is an incredible resource for my future teaching. I can use it for my students’ assignments and not have to give out paper assignments. If my students are sick or going on a trip all they have to do is go to my UEN website to see what their homework assignments are, when they are due on the calendar, and print it out or e-mail it to me prior to the trip with out being a huge inconvenience to the student or myself. I could even use it to post my disclosure document for the class and have my students print it out at home and bring it back to class with them to make it a better convenience.
I thought this was a beefy assignment, one in which I will admit was a challenge for me because I am not patient with computers. Normally and just use them for what I need and what I have to do. But after I calmed down and had a “spirit of discovery” using UEN was a lot easier and enjoyable for me. Not only to complete the scavenger hunt but for me to find relevance for the tools in my classroom.
In Pioneer Library I loved Searchasaurus because it has informational “Fun Facts” for my students to learn from and have fun learning. I was also impressed with how SIRS resource is a credible resource for both me and my students to use. I also loved going on teacher tube.com and enjoyed learning they had a website for teachers like youtube. It will be a good resource to use in my classroom.
I found a lot of cool Lesson plans to use in my classroom, but my favorites would have to be on sesame street.com with the math games for kindergarten students. “Grover’s Trash Can Game”- sorting objects and “Walking the Dog”- helps with counting.
The Core Curriculums UEN resource I enjoyed using because all I had to do was select a grade level, a subject, and a lesson plan, objectives, and resources were at my finger tips. This tool will make teaching a lot easier when I know the core curriculums for different grades and make it more enjoyable for both me and my students.
I also enjoyed the resource World Book; even though I do not intend to teach Social Studies I still found it was very informative on Ancient cultures that I have enjoyed learning about. The “Media Showcase” was an interesting tool and would be a great resource for students to learn interesting facts.
Overall I enjoyed using the tools and UEN website and will be able to use all the tools for my personal use or for my students. Even though I had a difficult time completing this assignment I can see that the use of it will make me a more effective teacher.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Internet safety Reflection
09-26-2008
We should use the internet because it contains many useful, fun, exciting, resourceful, and educational websites that me and my students can utilize in my classroom!! As long as Educators teach their students proper Internet Safety and give them the websites as needed in the classroom the Internet can be just as useful as a library! I had so much fun doing this assignment; i wanted to play on the websites i found and i book marked almost all of the websites you gave us as resources that i can use in my classroom. This has opened my eyes to the vast resources that i have through UEN to help me with my teaching!
But we should only use the internet as a tool in our classroom- "nothing can take the place of a great teacher in the classroom". Teaching still happens in the classroom and the internet cannot do all our teaching for us or do all that our students require help with. There are also many dangers with using the internet: preditors, not credible resources, un-useful websites and dangerous websites- that have content not appropriate for children to use.
We as educators should evaluate sites we use for our students safety, to give our students credibile websites to use, to keep ourselves as educators safe, and to teach our students how a good websites functions.
Questions to ask about a website
1- Does the website connect to outside links?
2-Does the website end in: .org, .gov, or .edu?
3-Does the website have a lot of advertisements
4-Does the website have a lot of pop-ups?
5- Is the website easy to use?
6-When was the site updated?
7- Can I find information about the producer/sponsor?
8-Does the Website take along time to load?
I can keep my students safe on the internet by giving them Internet Safety Games to play, showing them what bad websites look like, give them a list of safety questions to ask about the website they are surfing on, and teach them to use common sense when surfing on the internet. I can also teach them to tell their parents immediatly if they see something on a site that makes them feel uncomfortable. If they are in my classroom i will teachi them to tell me so i know what websites to block from the computers.
We should use the internet because it contains many useful, fun, exciting, resourceful, and educational websites that me and my students can utilize in my classroom!! As long as Educators teach their students proper Internet Safety and give them the websites as needed in the classroom the Internet can be just as useful as a library! I had so much fun doing this assignment; i wanted to play on the websites i found and i book marked almost all of the websites you gave us as resources that i can use in my classroom. This has opened my eyes to the vast resources that i have through UEN to help me with my teaching!
But we should only use the internet as a tool in our classroom- "nothing can take the place of a great teacher in the classroom". Teaching still happens in the classroom and the internet cannot do all our teaching for us or do all that our students require help with. There are also many dangers with using the internet: preditors, not credible resources, un-useful websites and dangerous websites- that have content not appropriate for children to use.
We as educators should evaluate sites we use for our students safety, to give our students credibile websites to use, to keep ourselves as educators safe, and to teach our students how a good websites functions.
Questions to ask about a website
1- Does the website connect to outside links?
2-Does the website end in: .org, .gov, or .edu?
3-Does the website have a lot of advertisements
4-Does the website have a lot of pop-ups?
5- Is the website easy to use?
6-When was the site updated?
7- Can I find information about the producer/sponsor?
8-Does the Website take along time to load?
I can keep my students safe on the internet by giving them Internet Safety Games to play, showing them what bad websites look like, give them a list of safety questions to ask about the website they are surfing on, and teach them to use common sense when surfing on the internet. I can also teach them to tell their parents immediatly if they see something on a site that makes them feel uncomfortable. If they are in my classroom i will teachi them to tell me so i know what websites to block from the computers.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Using Microsoft Word and Excel
I had to be very creative deciding what to write in my reflections this week. It was hard to incorporate computer programs made for older people to my teaching as an Elementary school teacher. But the challenge made me creative and therefore have better ideas for their use in my classroom.
I have concluded that these programs can be very beneficial for both myself and my students. Microsoft Word can help my younger students write small papers for English and have fun with the typing style,size functions and add pictures if they choose to. This will make my students assignments more enjoyable. I can also use this function to make my class outlines and goals, in a graph by days of the week with assignments.Which will make my teaching easier during the school year.
Also i could use Microsoft Word as a means for all my students K-6th grade as their first assignment of the school year,to find 5 pictures they think describes them on the Internet; like their favorite food, animal, color or something unique about them. For the older students i could make it more difficult by asking them to write something deeper about themselves with their pictures. I can then have my students e-mail me the assignment using g-mail or yahoo with the students name. During the course of the school year i will spotlight students at the beginning of class to connect them with their classmates.I could even make a spotlight of myself for the first class to create an example of the assignment and introduce myself to my students. This assignment will create a fun environment in my classroom and allow my students to use technology to complete it.
Excel is also a beneficial tool to use in my classroom. I can use it with my younger students probably k-2 grade for a math lesson on percentages. I could incorporate the pie charts to make math fun by using percentages with examples that relate to my students, such as their favorite cartoon. Excel can be beneficial for me as a teacher to keep track of my students grades and their homework assignments instead of using paper. I could also use it to evaluate my students understanding of certain concepts i am teaching by using their scores from pre-tests and tests to create a class percentage using the pie charts and bar graphs function of Excel as a way to tell what concepts my students need further help comprehending.
As hard as it was to write this Reflection it forced me to be creative in my use of these programs for my classroom. Which in my opinion is what teaching is all about. Being able to take a subject that not everyone will enjoy learning and making it fun.
I have concluded that these programs can be very beneficial for both myself and my students. Microsoft Word can help my younger students write small papers for English and have fun with the typing style,size functions and add pictures if they choose to. This will make my students assignments more enjoyable. I can also use this function to make my class outlines and goals, in a graph by days of the week with assignments.Which will make my teaching easier during the school year.
Also i could use Microsoft Word as a means for all my students K-6th grade as their first assignment of the school year,to find 5 pictures they think describes them on the Internet; like their favorite food, animal, color or something unique about them. For the older students i could make it more difficult by asking them to write something deeper about themselves with their pictures. I can then have my students e-mail me the assignment using g-mail or yahoo with the students name. During the course of the school year i will spotlight students at the beginning of class to connect them with their classmates.I could even make a spotlight of myself for the first class to create an example of the assignment and introduce myself to my students. This assignment will create a fun environment in my classroom and allow my students to use technology to complete it.
Excel is also a beneficial tool to use in my classroom. I can use it with my younger students probably k-2 grade for a math lesson on percentages. I could incorporate the pie charts to make math fun by using percentages with examples that relate to my students, such as their favorite cartoon. Excel can be beneficial for me as a teacher to keep track of my students grades and their homework assignments instead of using paper. I could also use it to evaluate my students understanding of certain concepts i am teaching by using their scores from pre-tests and tests to create a class percentage using the pie charts and bar graphs function of Excel as a way to tell what concepts my students need further help comprehending.
As hard as it was to write this Reflection it forced me to be creative in my use of these programs for my classroom. Which in my opinion is what teaching is all about. Being able to take a subject that not everyone will enjoy learning and making it fun.
Friday, September 5, 2008
What i learned this week ( :
i did't really have anything to write in my Reflections until class yesterday when the class was discussing how they could apply their classrooms. And that finally got my creative juices flowing; I've been thinking about what an affective tool Blogger really is for Teachers and students. I could use blogger to have my students to write in their journals. I of course would post daily topics for them to write about and if they were K-3 grade i would probably do it with them in class and grade them on our class Blogg. And 4-6th i would make it a daily homework assignment to give them an enjoyable way to write and be on the computer.
Blogger would also allow my students to be actively involved in their community and with the students in their class. They could also use blogger, Facebook, g-mail, and Instant messaging to get ahold of me as their teacher to ask me questions about assignments they are struggling on, or if their family is going to be out of town; therefore having a class blogger with the assignments available on it past and future will allow parents to get their homework so they won't be behind when they come back.
If i created my own Blogger for my classes of my older students 3-6th grade, then parents would know when all my field trips are scheduled, assignments if they are available to create online, and announcements. This feature would allow the parents of my students to always know what is going in in the classroom without interrupting their busy schedules or worrying that their children won't bring home important papers.
I have learned in just this short week that Computers can be an effective tool to use in the classroom as long as i know how to use the tools and be able to explain them to my students.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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