Blog Reflection...(E)

Overall, I have to say the experience of writing in this blog has been very educational. I enjoyed the experience and will try to keep up with this throughout my career. I have learned a lot from my peers and am really impressed with what they've had to say. The best part about these Blogs are that its what real people have to say...you are not just reading textbook information. It's the sense of real-world issues coming from your peers is what makes these blogs so useful. I will be a blogger for a long time!

PowerPoint: A Great Tool for the Classroom...(A)

As I searched databases for something significant to post...I came across an article on PowerPoint on the Education World website. The article, "PowerPoint--Creating Classroom Presentations" by Linda Starr briefly covers the gist of the software program such as what its uses are and how one can obtain the program. The article also describe the many uses of the program and why PowerPoint is just a perfect tool for the classroom. Linda Starr rants and raves about this programs uses and the ease of using it; she highly recommends it to any age group.
I picked this article to post because right now we are working with the PowerPoint program in class. We are making an interactive quiz along with a story book all using the PowerPoint program. There really are so many interesting projects we could use this program for as teachers in the future. I enjoy this program and I would recommend it to people because it is fairly simple to learn to use and can create beautiful finished products. PowerPoint will definitely be used in my future classroom!

Grants for Technology in the Classroom...(D)

As I was reading the "Building Blocks to Learning" Blog, I came across a posting that spoke about a school receiving a grant to make digital yearbooks. I think that is a great idea...digital yearbooks can be the new wave of the future! I believe the post said that the grant was for the students to buy camera equipment and software to make the video yearbook. It is pivotal for schools to be doing new and inventive projects like this; it is the only way we can start developing the children's computer skills more effectively. I think more schools should be provided with grants such as the one that was given to this High School... I think the students would really create some impressive work.

The whole eBook experience...(B)

I have never heard of eBooks before until I took this Computer class. They are a great tool for teachers and generally just a fun thing to pass the time with. An assignment Dr. Baylen gave had us future teachers reading five eBooks that were posted by the Lee County Library website. We had to analyze every aspect of these five eBooks. Whether it be animation, content, or illustration... we analyzed it on a very specific fill-in-the-blank computer document. It was very time consuming.
I really enjoyed the whole experience. Even though the assignment was very tedious and specific; it was still fun to read children's books again. I love the animation and the moral behind some of the stories that we were assigned to. I didn't encounter any problems with this assignment other than the fact that it was just very time-consuming since we had to watch the five to ten minute story and then fill out a very long document. I learned something new from this assignment and that is that I have to check out the Lee County Library website more often...they have some great things on there!

Lesson Plans and Technology..(D)

As I was reading the blog, " Tech for Tykes" I came across a pretty interesting posting. In this posting, the writer wrote about using PowerPoint as part of her lesson plan to create a fun interactive lesson for students. I think this is a great idea. Anytime a teacher can make a really great interactive lesson using technology is fantastic! I believe PowerPoint is a great tool and should be used more often. This posting was great because the writer wrote how she used the program to create a great conceptual lesson for first graders and I believe we can all learn a lot from this post. We really do need to start using more technological tools in our lessons because our world is becoming more technologically advanced and us teachers need to start changing for the times.

Interactive Quiz...(B)

An assignment to make an eBook has turned my life upside down. Along with making the eBook, which in itself is difficult; we have to make an interactive quiz to go along with it. Well let me tell you...this has been quite the experience. I have had so much difficulty with this one project that it makes me just want to throw a rock at my computer. Although this eBook and its matching Interactive Quiz is a great idea, it is just extremely difficult to execute properly.
So our assignment was to make an eBook, which I found difficult as is. On top of making the eBook we had to add an interactive quiz to ask questions from what was learned from our story. Using PowerPoint is already hard enough to an computer-challenged person like myself but a Interactive quiz? This seemed almost impossible. Like anything, I took this as just another opportunity to learn as much as I could about the program and boy, did I. I feel like a PowerPoint genius after this project!
The thing I found most difficult about this assignment was hyperlinking each slide to the one it was supposed to correspond to. The way I went about fixing this problem was really trying to listen in class and just really mess around with the PowerPoint program. I've learned so many new actions from pretty much just playing around with the program. Although I have encountered much difficultly from this assignment, I am glad I know so much about the PowerPoint program and how to make an Interactive Quiz. These skills, I'm sure, will help me greatly in the future.

Reading to a child...(B)

Reading to a child is the best gift one can give. I have had the opportunity to read an eBook to a child. The experience was wonderful; but after all this was an assignment and I had to learn from the experience as well. I had learned a great deal from reading to Kayla, my manager from work's daughter. Kayla, enjoyed and learned from the eBook as did I. It is amazing the things technology has brought to the experience of reading a simple picture book. It is amazing that a book online could be so fun AND educational for a child...it makes our job as teachers so much easier!
For this assignment we had to read to eBooks to a child. I chose two ebooks that were targeted for Kayla's age group. After we read the books, our assignment was to analyze the experience and record our findings from the time we spent reading to the child. I must say that ebooks are a wonderful creation! Kayla seemed to learn so much from the short time I spent reading to her. Ebooks are extremely beneficial and I think should be used in the classroom more often.
I don't believe I encountered any problems from this assignment. The whole experience went very smoothly. I did find that the animation from the eBooks captivates the childs attention, therefore allowing them to take more in and retain the information more effectively. I've learned from this assignment that eBooks are a great tool for a teacher to use. I will definitely be using eBooks in my future classroom. I really did enjoy this assignment and it felt great sharing this experience with a child who actually gained some knowledge from the time we spent together as well. EBooks are a fantastic creation in the strides toward making education fun!

Blogs (B)

This blog posting project we've been working on is quite amazing, I believe. There are so many windows of opportunity to use blogs in our future classrooms. I have learned so much from my peer's blogs and I feel like I have contributed a lot as well. We have all helped each other in ways we won't understand until we are out there actually teaching all that we've learned in these past few months. Technology is definitely changing the ways of education not only for students, but for teachers as well.
Every week we have been posting our thoughts, trials and tribulations on these blogs. We have written about different projects, questions, and just general knowledge that we have about teaching and technology. I think it has been great! I love reading the thoughts and advice of my peers. There has been tons of very beneficial information shared and I believe I will keep up with this even after the "Blog assignment" is over.
I have learned so much from my peers during this assignment. Just reading their advice has advanced my knowledge about teaching and education, vastly. The only problem I had with this assignment was remembering to update every week. I would get so caught up reading every one's blog that I would forget to post on my own! I over came this dilemma by setting a day that I would not read and just post for myself. I think overall this was a great assignment and should be carried on for future education majors!

Learning from mistakes...(E)

At this point in my education I feel like I should be fully prepared for whatever comes my way. The fact is that it couldn't be further from the truth... I feel so unprepared for the "real world." There are a few skills that I wish I could of learned way back when in High School. I have no study skills what-so-ever. I honestly feel like teachers should provide proper methods to students on how they can study thoroughly. It is sad, I know, but I do not know how to study at twenty years old. I also wish I wasn't such a procrastinator. I find myself in such horrible predicaments when I have something due in a day and I haven't even started it yet. I don't know how to fix these bad habits now; I am in too deep to change them. My plea is to all teachers to provide guidance to students about study skills.

eBooks (D)

In response to "The Building Blocks of Learning" Blog, I agree that the interactive eBooks is a great project for us future teachers to do. The blog said how fun it was to see other peoples work and how helpful this will be for us all in the future. I think these books are great as well and we all should have learned how to make them earlier. The writer mentioned how this project challenged our imaginations and I believe this to be a great thing because I believe our minds need to be challenged more often. I agreed with everything in this posting... but i still feel like something was left out.
The only thing I failed to see in this posting was how difficult it was to learn how to do these interactive eBooks. I have very little computer knowledge and I found this project very difficult. Learning how to do these interactive picture books was challenging, which like I said is good; but, still it was very time consuming and stressful. I believe "The Building Blocks of Learning" Blog, should of added something about how much time students put in to these books along with her praise for the project. Without our tears and sweat, nothing good would be produced...so give your peers some credit for their dedication and long hours!

The Best Tech Tools for Teachers (C)

As I scoured the net, looking for something useful to post I came across this article entitled, " Technology Integration that Works" written by Linda Starr. This article explains how easy it can be to integrate technology into the classroom with different projects and activities. The author wants teachers to use the Web, PowerPoint, Excel and Digital Photography to enhance the students technological talents and to go on and prosper in a future world run by technology. The article outlines each source and thoroughly describes fun and exciting uses for each. The article wraps up with a section for all administrators, asking for their support in teacher's efforts to make the classroom a more technologically advanced atmosphere. Overall this was a very informative article that provided many useful tips on how to integrate technology into the classroom more often.

I really received a lot of helpful ideas from this article. For general use of the Internet, I loved the idea that Starr gave about giving the students an Epal to compare communities with. I also liked the idea of taking virtual field trips to different places around the world using Virtual Reality. There is just so much one can do with access to the Internet. I will definitely keep this article in my favorite places and use it when I have my own students and classroom!

How technology has enhanced my ideas..(B)

When I first realized that there was no way to get out of this class if I wanted to stay an education major I knew that it would be a very long and grueling semester. I had heard some bad things about this class. I heard that it was such an intense amount of work and left very little time for the rest of one's classes. I was extremely nervous due to the fact that I am probably the least inclined person when it comes to computers and technology. In the end I came to grips and knew that I would just have to get through this one difficult class to accomplish my dream of being an Elementary School Teacher.
No lie, this class has been extremely difficult. Between trying to balance a full time job, 3 other classes and a life with this one class...it almost seems next to impossible. I am struggling but I know that its worth it. I have gained so much knowledge about computers, technology and all the amazing things I can accomplish on the computer. I was so thrilled when I actually made my friend a really cool PowerPoint presentation for her birthday about our friendship. Technology has so many uses in and outside of the class room and this class has given me so many ideas of what to do with my future classroom.
I am so proud of what I am accomplishing in this class. I never thought the computer could be so helpful in such cool projects. The ideas that I am coming up with will definitely inspire a new generation to be more skillful and knowledgeable with technology and the computer. Though this class may take a lot of hard work and time, it is definitely worth it all to come out of it a more technologically-advanced person!

A Quality All Teachers Should Have..(E)

So I've been reading the second book by Ron Clark, entitled "The Excellent 11." This book explains, in Clark's views what all teachers should be like. One quality Clark discusses in his book is humor. I agree completely with the idea that all teachers should be somewhat humorous. In the past I've had some hilarious teachers, and some very dry ones; I always seemed to do better in the classes with the funny teachers. I think Ive done better in the past with humorous teachers because their humor just keeps me interested in whats going on in class; literally, they are not putting me to sleep. When a child is stimulated to laugh... they pay attention more and enjoy being in class. Our goal should be to make our students want to come to class and hang on our every word because what we are teaching is so darn interesting...so lets achieve our goal by being the funny, crazy teachers we know we can be!!

Teacher's advice (E)

So over the break, I hung out with some friends of my sister's who are Elementary School teachers. I asked them tons of questions...they must of thought i was doing a report or something. The best or the most interesting advice I got out of our conversations dealt with how to handle student's behavior. One teacher said to be really strict the first two weeks to show the students you mean business; and then after that you can ease up a bit and be more nurturing. Another teacher said the the "3 check marks" method usually works with her. I really enjoyed listening to everything the teachers had to say and hopefully I can use their advice in the future.

In response to Brittney B's comment..(D)

I am so happy to hear that my posting about, The Essential 55, could be of help to someone. I really did enjoy reading this book by Ron Clarke and I'm so happy to know that someone else will soon find great value in it as well. Brittney expressed that she hopes that this book will help with her classroom management skills, and I am sure it will. This book had so many useful ideas for the classroom and it will definitely be of help to you, Brittney.
Brittney's post demonstrates that it is always a good idea to learn from your peers. Now, if she encounters someone in the future that needs help with some classroom management skills, she knows a great resource to suggest. Networking between teachers is extremely important because you never know what the person next to you might be hiding up their sleeve! We must constantly be learning whether it be from our peers, our elders, and even our future students! :)

Mosaic 9 square Project (B)

Technology has made projects in class very high-tech and advanced; the mosaic 9 square project was no exception to that. For this project we needed to create nine squares that told a story. Each picture was linked to a sound wave. On the sound wave was a recording of my voice that explained that part of the story. This was definitely the most unique project I have ever done in my college career.
I have learned a lot from the process of making this 9 square project. I never, ever thought I could do such amazing things the computer program, Microsoft Word. I also never knew that i could hyperlink a sound wave to a picture. That is so cool! As much as a whined and complained about the complexity of this project; overall I am happy I completed it and have learned so many new things.
The main problem I had with this project was getting my pictures all to be 150 by 150. I tried everything I could do to get my pictures to be exactly perfect. But no matter what I did, I had no luck. I eventually just settled for the closest thing I could get to 150 by 150. I wasn't going to kill myself over this because I believed even with the pictures close to 150 by 150 pixels, the project still looked good.
This project definitely presented itself as a challenge for me. Though I thought I wouldn't be able to accomplish such an advanced technological task; I really surprised myself when I created such a cool little game for my peers to play. I see that I work myself up too much and worry before I even attempt to do the actual task. The fact of the matter is, is that I can really do anything I dedicate myself to. I am proud of myself and my work for this project! :)-

The Essential 55_posting (E)

So, I've read this book called, The Essential 55, by Ron Clark. This book is absolutely wonderful! I will boldly call this a teacher's bible for the classroom. This award-winning book contains 55 rules to manage a classroom and find the successful student in every child in your class. I have gotten so many helpful tips from this book, not only for my future classroom but for everyday life as well. Clark's "rules" may seem strict and too formal for a classroom but I believe that the more regimented a classroom is, the more one's students can learn and grow from every lesson taught. I like rule # 55 the best; it states that everyone should be the best person they can be. I think everyone should read this book while studying to become a teacher; it will be more beneficial for your career than you can imagine.


PS: A great follow-up read is, The Excellent 11, by Ron Clark. This book talks about qualities teachers and parents can use to motivate, inspire, and educate children. ENJOY :)

WELCOME!

Hey,Welcome to my blog! This blog will be a tell-all experience of my times of the Spring Semester at FGCU while I study the many interesting findings in my Computers in Education class. I am very excited to learn all the new and exciting ways to make a child's time in my future classroom an exciting technologically-advanced environment. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!