Group Discussions/Final Class

This class period was interesting. I have never recorded a group discussion/role play before. The camera was really cool! I have never seen a video camera that is that simple! And, the quality is very good. I was impressed with that. It was not difficult to use. And the tripod came in handy too. It was fun to use that. I also liked thinking about actually using the iTouch in my future classroom. The idea in the scenario is a great one! The students would really be engaged as they used the technology to find out the weather. The iTouch could be used for many other units and applications in the classroom. I would like to try and get a grant for getting iTouches in my future classroom.

Website Evaluation/ Visit to Edith Bowen

I enjoyed going over to Edith Bowen today. My favorite part was when the students got to show us how they use the different technologies in their classroom. It was great. :)
With the Website evaluations, I liked the Midlink Magazine Evaluation page. It was the best because I could 'rank' each catagory instead of just a yes or no answer. That page was the easiest to understand too. The one that I didn't like as much was the Jericho Middle School Library one. It was geared towards middle school students, and so it wasn't as applicable to what we are doing as pre-service teachers. The one 'hidden secret' that I could never seem to find was the exact NAME of the authors of each of those websites. I didn't realize how important that is, but also how hard to find it is. I feel that using an evaluation is VERY helpful for teachers! We need to know what our students are looking at and if it is useful or not. The only time I would see where you wouldn't need an evaluation form would be for a school district website. Those are quite reliable.

Instructional Architect

So, working with the Instructional Architect today was good! There were a few glitches, but I was actually able to make an inquiry lesson. I found several resources, and put it together. I found that the Instructional Architect website was VERY helpful. This is a resource that I will definitely hold on to a use in my classroom. And I'm sure that I'll get to be more familiar with it as I use it more. I can see this being very helpful in my classroom for allowing the students to do further exploring and research in many different subject areas. Thanks to Brooke for introducing this to us!

WebQuest

I like the lesson that I saw on Webquest today. I can definitely see that this is a VERY good resource. I would like to look into getting more access to this Quest Garden website. I LOVE the Inquiry-Based Learning approach! It just makes sense to have the students explore and ask questions and then answer their own questions! It truly solidifies their knowledge and they learn SO much more when they are doing things hands-on. If teachers just lecture and ask questions of the students, then the content doesn't make it very deep for TRUE learning to take place. We want the students to truly understand and comprehend what we are teaching. The best way is to allow them to explore, experiment and ask questions on their own.

Science Sim

We did a lot with learning about avatar animations today. It was really interesting. I've never done anything like that before. I can see how you might use it in a classroom. If you wanted the students to experience a different time period in History, for example, you could set up a world according to that time period. It would be very good for the students to role model different things too. Another way this could be used would be if you wanted the students to experience a different country- for example, Africa or China, etc. You could set up that 'world' and the students would be able to explore that country simulation. And, they would love to use the technology! :)

Using Excel

Wow! I really liked using Excel to create a grade book. I know that this will be a VERY good tool for me to use. I had forgotten most of the formulas to use in Excel, so today it was good for me to review the formulas. I had not thought about using Excel to keep grades, but that will be something that I will use for sure. I can use the formulas in keeping grades and information about my students when I have my own classroom.

Microsoft Word & Google Docs

Well, today was very good. I can definitely see myself using collaborative writing with Word. The only problem I would see with that is the amount of computers in the classroom. There usually aren't enough. But I suppose that I could use just the few computers that are usually there, and then just do the collaborative writing in groups. That would work! And it could be a longer activity- over the span of a week or longer, depending. The Google Docs is something that I've really not been familiar with. I remember trying to use it, but it was foreign to me, and I didn't use it. But now, I can see that this could be a great tool! I could use it as a class newletter, and have different students take turns adding to it- and then have each student and their parents be able to view it online. For those parents who don't have access to the internet, I would make a hard copy for them. These are some GREAT tools!!!