50 PPTs/ Do you believe in me?

This week we worked as a pod on the 50 PPTs assignment. I will admit that at first I was a little hesitant because I haven't had very much experience with Power Point. Through the process I realized that it isn't really that hard to use and actually quite adventurous. I had a really fun time doing the assignment and playing around with the different tools. I especially like the shape tool that helped move my presentation along smoother. My pod decided that to load our presentation on our websites it would work better for us to make our presentation in Google Presentations, that way it would load on our sites automatically, which helps when updates might need to be done. I felt that the presentation went well and was fun.

In the video Do You believe in me? a young boy is the keynote speaker to thousands of people at a teaching conference. It is a shock to most that the key note speaker is a young boy but he come out with a powerful statement. "Do you believe in me? Because I believe in me...Do you believe in my classmates? Because they believe in themselves and they expect that you believe in them" What a powerful statement and very true. How can the future students of America progress if their teachers don't believe in them and if they don't know that their teachers believe in them. It is all in he power of projection. If you know you have the support of people behind you, expecting that you can be the best at being you then you will always strive to live up the expectations that people hold for you and you will always try to be better and the best at the best of yourself. It was a strong video and a very powerful kid with a lot to say in such a small body!

3 steps video

When watching the video for "3 steps" I thought it was one of the more intriguing videos. For one, because I recently read an article about a school taking chairs out of the classroom and replacing them with exercise balls. I see that in the video they used a similar approach using big bean bags. I wonder if it really helps students focus more and feel more stimulated. I also agree that we need to modernize our classrooms, take out the old desks and chairs and replace them with computer tables, and exercise balls. Cover the walls with stimulating things to look at and keep the mind flowing and creating. They tell you to keep lots of things around for babies and children to look at constantly, it is suppose to help them learn faster and more. Why then do we keep the schoolrooms in our high school dull and white? Doesn't really make sense. I also think that we need to teach students to compete with themselves, it would help them constantly progress. They need to also understand the value of cooperation and collaboration. It is what we do everyday in the "real" world, should students be learning it through out life instead of being thrown into it once they graduate?

Teacher Connceted/ Kidspiration, Inspiration

Using the tools Kidspiration and Inspiration were really fun. It was a really cool interactive way to make lessons or sort out activites to help teach the students. I really had a fun time putting the puzzle of America together. I think students really really learn from this because they could soon recognize every state and then realize which states would fit next to each each state to create the puzzle. I also had a fun time mind mapping, it helped me explore lots of ideas. In inspiration I did a project where you have a person, put them in different elements, decide which clothes your person should wear in that element and what they should bring with them, ie a flashlight for the forest at night, a coat for going to Antarctica etc.
The movie this week was Teacher Connected, it was another video similar to the "Did you know?" video stating facts about other countries vs America and technology. It is interesting to hear that China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the World. At the same time though, it's OK because America wasn't meant to have only one language, it was meant to be a diverse country full of all races/languages/religions. One thing that I really found alarming though was that Myspace could be the 12th largest country in the World with all it's users, crazy! It's true though, technology has come so far, people everywhere in the World could be using the same network at the same time, and we have technology that can handle that! Crazy!

How not to use powerpoint: Picasa Reflection

The video was a lively way to show how annoying some power point presentations can be. I agree with some of the topics the comedian brought up. Color schemes definitely play a role, if the colors are awful that is all the viewer thinks about. Too many graphs and animations can be overwhelming but not having any could be worse. It was overall an entertaining video.
This week we worked with our digital cameras, Picasa, PowerPoint and google presentation. I was rather excited to be able to learn to use these tools, since I have heard of them and not known how to use them. I think they are great, pretty easy to use and fun applications. I thought that using a google presentation was easier to use when working with others on a presentation but found it disappointing to find out there weren't hyperlinks available in the program. Picasa was a fun application to use because I like changing how my photos looked, enhancing, saturating the pictures etc. It was a fun week. I really liked that we as a class worked through the homework this week, that way if anyone had questions they could be easily answered and teaching to peers helped me retain the knowledge of the information.

WK #9 Reflection

This week we worked with pictures on our digital cameras, transferring them from our cameras to our flash drives. This is something I already knew how to do but it was good to refresh. We also learned about Mash Up and watched a video about the top ten things they don't teach you in college about becoming a teacher. I thought the top 10 things movie was really fun and absolutely true. I have been teaching preschool for a few years now and it's true. Wipes are your best friends, being friends with the administration is vital, always listen when your students need to use the restroom and know how to understand instructions and directions. The mash up was a good thing to learn about because I think it is symbolizes how in education different people bring something to a big picture. Like the movie where different musicians making different sounds when put together they made a beautiful song, I think that teachers do that. One teacher may bring the idea of incorporating dance into the the curriculum, another teacher may take the dance steps and add their lesson on learning the 50 states to it and another teacher may put music to, then the final result might be a performance of children singing and dancing the 50 states, a lesson they will remember forever because of the different aspects of learn incorporated.

Internet Safety Reflection

This week we learned about and posted somethings about Internet safety. It was quite an interesting subject and I think very valid. It made me think back to the days when I was younger and how I often talked to people in chat rooms. Little did I know it but a lot of the people in there were probably not very good to talk to. I often got asked for my phone number so we could continue to chat outside of the chat room. I always declined because my mother wouldn't let me talk on the phone much. Thank goodness! Now looking back on it, it could have potentially been a problem. It makes me think how much technology and it's predators have progressed. The Internet is a very dangerous place. It is very important for us to teach children the importance of being safe and how to handle themselves on the Internet.

We didn't start the fire- reflection

I thought this video was a clever way to present the history of 1945-1989. It would be a fun way to get a history or social studies class pumped to learn about the time era. It possibly might help them remember the significant events if they got the song stuck in their head. I have to admit that I have heard this song several times but never stopped to think about the lyrics and emotion that was put forth to create the song. However, seeing the pictures of the events and people helped me put the two together and start to thing about what might have been going on for someone to write this song. I wondered if presented to students if it would have more of a lasting impact on them, seeing the actual events/people while pairing them with the song. It think it would be a fun beneficial lesson that could then go on and really delve into the information and history of those events/people.

2008 Latest Edition - Did You Know 3.0 - From Meeting in Rome this Year: Reflection

The thing that stood out the most from this video compared to the past couple of videos like it was that part about the illegal downloading. 649,000 song were downloaded in the 3 minutes I took to watch the presentation. It made me wonder what else could be happening in those 3 minutes, if that many songs could be downloaded how many other illegal things could be happening? It is all very scary to me that technology is advancing so quickly and those providing an easier way for people to be taken advantage of. I suppose on the plus side of that, technology is also making it much easier for children to learn and absorb history, facts and statistics. I wonder if we as humans will ever be able to catch up to what we invent in technology. It said in the movie that by 2010 a super computer would be invented and it would out think the human mind, that is awfully scary considering that it is only next year that this predicted computer will be made. What will we do when technology runs our lives? This makes me think of the movie Wall-E. Everyone depends so heavily on technology and robots, they don't even have to move. They all become obese and can't function. What will we do if we get to this point?

Surface Computing Reflection

Awesome! Wow, what an invention a coffee table computer that can do just about everything. What will they come up with next. I think this is a marvelous step in technology especially look at the aspects it will hold of students and schools. Students could all have surface computer desks, they could interact in the lessons visually and physically. This would help them learn and retain the knowledge that much faster. I think it awesome and I can't wait to have one, hoping that is, that I will be able to afford one, one day.

Pioneer Library Reflection

Reflection

I had an interesting experience using the Pioneer Library. I felt it was very hard to navigate through at first, it took me about a half hour before I began to get the hang of things. I think it would be hard for students to navigate through without prior knowledge of the website. However, I think once they know how to navigate around, they would find a lot of benefit from the system. I do like that everything seems to be compiled together. It was nice to just click the link and be taken to the page rather than open a new window/website.
There were several different resources for learning that would benefit students. They could learn about history, cultures, languages etc all in a fun interactive setting. I can see the students using the website for fun interactive games and programs. It also is an easy guide to find knowledge about the subjects they learn in school. It is a good reference for things they may need to do reports on or just future their knowledge about.
As a teacher I would use the website to help me understand the core curriculum for my Kindergarten classroom. I like that it has lesson plans available to use, or the option of writing your own lesson with helpful references to the core curriculum.

A Vision of K-12 Student Today - Reflection

Watching the last couple of videos I have realized a common message. The youth of America is digitally technological. It seems overwhelming that there is so much technology discover, learned and used. It also seems so much easier for our next generations to absorb the information and easier for them to learn. I feel a little overwhelmed with the thought of trying to keep up, but also intrigued that so many systems are now available to help teach students. It seems there is a program for everything. I wonder what technologies will be available in only two years from now, that kind of systems and programs will I be incorporating into my own classroom?

Millenial Generation Reflection

I suppose it is important to realize that technology is growing with the future generations. It is going to be highly important for teachers to keep up with the many changes in technology to be able to relate and understand their students. For instance if a teacher wasn't up to date with the "new" language of IM/Texting she would not be able to understand a common conversation with his/her students. This may result in the student feeling that their teacher was less adequate to be teaching them. Children already feel "smarter" than their parents these days because parents are turning to their children asking for help with almost everything, TV, IPODs, Computers, Phones etc so if the teachers are turning to the students asking for help as well then it gives the students the advantage.

Did I know?

Watching the video "Did You Know" brought a lot of realization to my attention. I am one of those people who is sure to have worked 14 different jobs before I am 38! I started out in college in Business Management, got my Associates, went back to school got certified as a Dental Assistant, went back to school and got certified as a Preschool teacher, then became a girls counselor and in between have worked as an Entertainment Manager for six years. I am now back in school getting a Bachelors in Elem. Ed.
Times are rapidly changing and it's true, people want to know and do everything they can. They want to be multitaskers who have worked several jobs and are knowledgeable in a variety of things. People today have to not only have a phone number or address but an e-mail, fax, website, facebook, myspace, you tube channel etc. to feel like they are in society. I would agree with the college students in video two. Is sitting in a classroom listening to a professor talk really worth our time when we can learn everything he might have to say on the Internet in 15 mins. It's and interesting realization.

"Pay Attention" reflection

Wow! I feel some what overwhelmed with all of those thoughts and I completely agree. I have never thought about how much technology everyone, everywhere depends on. It has all just seemed a part of life but until today I never really stepped back and thought about it. I realize now that I spend over three hours a day on the computer, there isn't an hour in the day I don't send or receive texts. It's amazing! It's an awesome idea to use these new tools to connect to students. Every student does have a cell phone and IPOD and they all love to use them so why not have them use these tools to learn. My husband receives text of the history channel every morning at 7 AM. What if every student in America signed up to receive the same texts, it's a little tidbit they could learn everyday and they would connect with it because it comes to the device they use in a language they understand! Great, incredible idea!

Video Reflection, Week 2

I found the videos to be quite informational. Someone learning fractions would be very entertained and easily taught by the fraction rap. The repetition and rhythm made it easy to remember "..divide the bottom from the top" and the visual aspects helped convey the message. I also learned a lot from the Web 2.o video. I would like to think I am pretty computer literate but I have always wondered where the word "wiki" came from and why it is used in several websites. The Internet seemed to be full of endless opportunities and I wonder if I will ever catch up.

Ideal Classroom

My ideal classroom would be a kindergarten classroom filled with bright colors everywhere! It would be divided into different sections, a spot for circle time, reading time and an arts/work area. In circle time, I would have the children meet in front of a bulletin board to discuss, plan and learn comfortably on a soft rug. Reading time would be set apart by small bookshelves filled with fun, adventurous books. There would be pillows and blankets for the children to get comfortable and involved in their reading. The arts/work area would be filled with tables and shelves with art supplies, puzzles, works, and projects. The kids would be surrounded by fun things to do so that they would love to come to arts/work time.
If I could have my say I would ask that class rosters be cut down to eight to ten children. I know that children's learning is enhanced in smaller groups. They can focus better and enrich their learning skills when they aren't over-crowded in the classroom. I also think there is a better teacher/student dynamic when the teacher can spend more one on one time with every student, every day. It would also be benificial to have at least volunteer in each session, to help with the ratios and learning.
Another thing that would be great to have is a big enough budget to get all the supplies and materials needed to teach in a Kindergarten classroom. I would also like the freedom to teach the curriculum the way I chose and in the order I prefer.