At the Teacher's Desk

I absolutely love this website. While I was reading through this post I made note to put this in my favorites tab on my laptop and follow it on my professional blog. This will come in handy when I have a classroom of my own.

I enjoyed reading different post from different educators and technology "literate" people. One of my favorites was Mr. Chamberlain's post about controlling and commenting on blogs. It is so true that your blog should always be fresh and updated because that will attract readers to come back. I have several blogs that I follow and sometimes they don't regularly post to them, and it is quite annoying, especially when I am looking for something new on their page! This post was really helpful.

I could really tell that this blog kept up with other "new" updates because there was always something new. The post that the teacher sent out for help for a new website and teachers from all over the world that she had never even spoken to responded to help her out. This was so cool to me because as a teacher trying to be technology literate, sometimes the teacher next door will not have the answer. This was a neat idea that I know will come in handy.

Not only was their ideas but there is loads of information about the latest teacher news (i.e. pencils being banned), that can always intrigue a thought.

Like I said, I really enjoy this blog, and I will continue to follow it, and I will make this useful in my classroom - to learn from it, and hopefully to contribute to it one day!

Use Your Smart Board!

Below is a presentation that I did in class. Smart Boards are sweeping classrooms across America, and I did some research for different uses in the classroom! Click on the links, and play the games...and LEARN how to interact and use your smartboards!

A New Future of Whatever

I must say that when I first started watching this video and saw that it was 33 minutes long, I didn't think this possibly could be interesting - however, I was proven wrong. Mr. Wesch certainly captured my attention! I have never thought of media the way it was presented here. The first thing that caught my interest was when he said that "media mediates conversations." It took a few minutes for that to process in my head, but once it clicked, I certainly agreed. My mind first went to the headlines on popular home pages such as MSN, Fox News, etc. All of the celebrity scandals, or the latest gossip about Jon and Kate is the topic of conversation at my workplace. It's the perfect conversation starter - such as "did you hear on the news about _________?" When media changes, the conversation steers to such change. It's quite amazing if you think about it!

Secondly, I really like the point that he made about the future of whatever. The way people respond to media is quite astonishing. While watching the videos about the free hugs (still one of my favorites out of the whole semester), and the one about the make a stand with a statement on your hand video, I sat back and thought to myself, media really does mediate communication and conversation. If it weren't true, YouTube wouldn't have the response that it does on a daily basis.

I really enjoyed watching this video, and Mr. Wesch's creativity of putting together the visuals with his presentation really put it into a perspective that could be understood by everyone.

So, if media mediates conversation, then I am certainly convinced that media in a classroom can enhance learning

Putting Students Work Online

The video of the class singing "Landslide"
The importance of a class blog to me is very high. Most parents are at work all day long, and they can have access to their child's class blog to keep up with what they are learning and what is going on. One of my coworker's child goes to a private school, and every week she gets the school announcements as a recording online. I thought that was very neat because instead of her having to hunt her son down to get the latest calendar, she gets in in her inbox every Monday. Also, when an emergency happens or any new news, they notify her through a voice email. I know it is very comforting to her as a parent to know what is going on at her child's school.

When I have a classroom, I want to have a class blog for more than one reason. First, I want to have it for the parents to keep up with the students' work and assignments. Secondly, for the student. I plan to be in secondary education, so I think it could teach the child responsibility to have to look online for their assignments if they miss a day of class. That way they will know where it is, what it is, and they can submit it to me through email if they want.

I still cannot get over how amazing that video was. I know this had to make their parents proud!

ACCESS: Distant Learning???

ACCESS is a sight designed to provide distant learning to every student. The site is designed to give teachers an ability to attend online workshops to equip themselves with the knowledge of distant learning. The goal is to provide students with electives and other courses to take online through distant education.

This is a very neat program. However, while I was reading the 12 objectives that the plan wants to implement, I asked myself over and over again, "when will this actually happen?" I know right now they have courses that are web-enhanced in the public schools, and students do a majority of the work on-line in computer labs, but distant learning? Would they be required to come to school or would it be work outside of the classroom?

I know as a college student, online classes are not for me. I prefer coming to class and doing things hands on, rather than having to do it all at home. It seems as though it takes much more responsibility to keep up with everything at home rather than coming to class a few days a week. However, maybe this is a way to prepare high school students for college. If so, I think that would help tremendously.

I wonder if in the long run if this is a way to cut down on actual classrooms. I just can't help but wonder how that would turn out????

ALEX: A very INFORMATIVE site!

ALEX is a website designed for parents, teachers, and really anyone who needs to teach the subject at hand. It has wonderful resources all for free. They have lesson plans, teaching materials, ideas and so much more. It is a very helpful sight that I think every teacher should keep tabbed on their favorites toolbar to regularly visit.

I think it is very interesting how it is available to parents as well, so that they can get in on the action. Sometimes parents need a little bit of direction at home to help students get in the right direction. And for teachers, it is a very helpful sight to perhaps change up the lesson plans a little bit and to give the classroom a little extra spice!

I definitely want to use this tool, and I WILL be bookmarking it on my computer!

Dear Kaia:

While I was reading these different stories about this little girl, it brought a smile to my face! It is so neat to read about different ways parents incorporate technology with their children. That little girl was so little, and the pictures that she took were fantastic! The best part about it was that each picture meant so much to her for different reasons. Children love to play with technology, but something I have seen first hand is that a lot of parents feel they don't have the "time" to deal with the children's creations!

This was really neat that he let his little girl put her pictures up and then followed up to see what people had to say. I bet it fed lots of energy to the little girl to go out and continue to keep taking photos, and putting them up on her blog!

This shows that even as a teacher, technology can be incorporated into a classroom. It might take a little bit longer with the younger children, but they will take more appreciation in it, and be eager to learn and do more