Last Blog Post of the semester!!

This last class in Computer Technology was great! For our final we are to use web 2.0 tools in creating two lesson plans with any part of the curriculum that we could use as a project for our students. I am excited to use creativity and make these lessons something I will be able to use as a future teacher! The best part of this assignment is that technology can be used in any subject area! You can teach history with it by creating an assignment where your students can go on a online field trip. You could teach writing by letters to pen pals in China. You could teach math with Mr. Duey's rap videos. How great is technology?! I have learned so much from this class! Most of which can be summed up in the video below :) The video below describes my feelings exactly on why technology is so important in the classroom! Our students are becoming more and more technologically savvy which is why we as teachers must find ways that our students can use that technology to learn. Web 2.0 is great and I'm so excited to continue going more into depth with it in the education program!

Technology Fear Factor in Education

VIDEO

This is an incredible video on how important technology is for education. It is not a video for students, but for educators. It teaches on how important it is to start using technology in education. I thought it was a great follow-up video for the entire semester of this class because of how it talked of the importance of teachers not fearing what technology can do for students, but how it can help them in incredible ways! We should not be trying to get rid of wikkis and blogs on our school internet, but allowing students to use them for educational purposes! Why not allow students to use facebook, twitter, wikki, blog, and all of the recent web 2.0 tools that will help these students to improve their learning. We must allow them to speak with other students around the world and learn from them! We must allow students to learn in ways that they enjoy and know and are good at! We cannot fear technology, but love it and incorporate it into our teaching!

Tools of Choice

This week, we started on our tools of choice. It was a lot of fun to have the freedom to choose whatever tools we wanted to make brochures, flyers, and a newsletter with. We have used so many different tools in this class that it was hard to decide on a which ones I wanted to use. This activity will be very useful to me in my own classroom because I will always have to be creating flyers and newsletters for different activities in the classroom and outside of the classroom. I will be able to use it to publicize school plays, let parents know what is going on in the classroom, what I plan to do for the school year (like a syllabus to parents), events that we plan to do as a class around the community, or opportunities the students could participate in around the community, field trips, etc. There are tons of ways to use brochures, flyers, and newsletters around the classroom. I'm excited to have so many different sources to create them with. I will be able to find which tools are easiest for me and use them constantly throughout my career.

Video

Schoolhouse rock is AWESOME!!! It is so catchy and was one of my favorite ways to learn while I was in school. I really like the one called "How a bill becomes a law" about how bills are passed. And there are many more videos to teach different subjects with them too. They are simple enough to remember and the songs just stick in your head. I still know some from middle school. Schoolhouse rock can be used to present all kinds of subjects to students. They also repeat themselves so kids can really get it into their heads. It combines visual learning with repetitive and rhyming songs. No matter how old they are, I still think kids love them and they are a great way to teach.

Vidcast

Mr. Duey/Web 2.0 Videos

This week was Thanksgiving Break :) It was a great week and these videos just added to the great week!

Mr. Duey

I found Mr. Duey back during the zamzar assignment. He is AMAZING!!!!!! I went to his website and found some awesome information about him! His website is like really exciting blog with current events, how he came to be, pictures galore for holidays and other things, and so much more! He has more videos on his website and tips for teaching new media in the classroom. What an incredible teacher! He makes learning fun through things the kids like such as rap. His video reminded me even of how to do fractions. He also has one on how to do long division. He has made it so his videos are entertaining and excited yet very easy to understand and learn from. What a cool dude!!! I am so impressed! I could definately use his video in my classroom if my students were struggling with math. I could even use his ideas to create my own videos for my students. The most inspiring part about Mr. Duey is that he used his own dream of becoming a rapper to inspire his students to learn. On his website he tells of how he had always wanted to rap since he was a little boy. Even as he went to college, he wanted to rap. His mechanical engineering teacher inspired him to become a teacher so he went to school for becoming a teacher instead of rapper, yet he still used his own passions in teaching to inspire students to learn. He tells of how he let his students first listen to some of his music and they loved it so he continued with it. His rap songs are so effective that when students took a test without the songs, they struggled, but after memorizing one of his songs and taking the same test after, they all aced it!!! How cool is that?! I am excited to be able to possibly use some of his music in my own classroom one day.

Web 2.0

I talked a lot about web 2.0 last week, and I've seen this video before, but one thing from this video I really liked is that is makes me think of how web 2.0 is so important for the classroom. There are many ways to use blogs, wikkis, tagging, podcasts, R.S.S. Not only does this video explain what all of these great technologies are, but it gives examples of websites that as a teacher, you can go to and figure out how to use these tools, then apply them in your classroom. Web 2.0 is so important and I believe that more and more teachers will begin to implement it into their classrooms so it is important to keep up and learn of these technologies so I know how to use them when I need to and want to in my classroom.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is an INCREDIBLE THING!!!!!!!! It is people! We are using the internet constantly. Web 2.0 allows people to put information through the web and allow others to view it more easily and technologically upgraded. People share, trade, and collaborate information through the internet constantly. It has become so advanced with web 2.0!! Web 2.0 only started in 2004! It is a new phase of the internet to us all. Web 2.0 allows for mass publishing on the internet. But it is important to be careful with copyright and ethics and so forth. It is such a great tool to have so much information from others on the web and ways to get our own information out there so simply. The exact meaning of web 2.0 has not yet been reached, but to me, it seems like it is just newer and better technology that we use on the internet to put our message out there or here others' messages. Blogs, wikki's, podcasts, and you tube are just a few of the new things on the web sprouting from web 2.0.

There are so many new technologies for the classroom because of this incredible new tool! We can more easily communicate with distant areas and those who live there. We can view endless educational videos and listen to podcasts which are great for a variety of classroom uses. We can have our students write in their own blogs which are like online journals. Students can communicate with their teachers and friends easily through places on the web like facebook. How great that people came up with web 2.0. We would not be anywhere close to how advanced we are without it. It is definately being used in the classroom for the good!

VIDEO-Do You Believe In Me?

How inspirational this video was to me! WOW! It most definately confirmed my decision to teach. Teaching is not easy!!! I have observed various teachers in their own classrooms throughout my life and have also worked at an Elementary School for three years now in an after-school program with struggling students. I KNOW it is nowhere near easy. But his inspirational young boy helped me feel so good and confident about my career choice. I learned that I must believe not only in my students abilities to be whatever they want, but in myself to do great things! I must believe that I am making a difference. Sometimes I will be the only one that my students will have to care about them....this itself completely boosts my passion in this career. I KNOW I will make a difference in my students' lives for the better! This adorable young boy was a terrific speaker! He truly inspired me and thousands of other teachers out there to believe in themselves, their colleagues, and their students! GREAT VIDEO!

Powerpoint

This week in class, we learned about powerpoint. It was short and sweet, but great because I already use powerpoint and know how it works. Powerpoint is a learning tool that can be used for many things in the classroom. I've used it for many uses in my own education. Mostly presenting and teaching a class a concept is where I have used it. I like it because it adds the visual concept of learning with words. So if a student is a visual learner, you can add pictures. But if they learn from just reading, they can also learn.

Some uses I found for it in the 50 Quick and Easy Powerpoint Activities Book are to use it for a journal each day for students. Another use it to have students create biographies with pictures on it and present it to a class. You could use it to teach your family history and make a family photo album on it. You could create your own story on it and read it with pictures to the class. You could use it for simple steps on how to complete a math problem. There are countless uses of powerpoint and its a great tool for students to know how to do because it is used in classes all the time.

It is great for teachers because it adds direction so the teacher does not get side tracked as easily. You can also teach a variety of subjects with powerpoint. You can use it to teach math, history, science, etc. And you can easily copy and paste pictures into it. You can be as creative or as simple as you wish. Its so easy to use that students can learn it quickly and teach others with it.

Podcasts/Video

This week in class we learned about podcasts and video in the classroom. Podcasts and videos are electronic technologies that can be used in various ways to teach. Podcasts are an audio way to teach. You record your voice on your i-pod or any recording device and make it available for your students to access by posting it on the web. There are tons of websites that give instruction on how to create a podcast and its free to do! Podcasts can be used in many ways in the classroom. You could use them to give instruction to a substitute or to give instruction to your students if they miss class. You can also use it to create a song that will help students learn better. They can be used for students to create their own audio journal. They could even be used to communicate with parents online and help them to know what you are doing in class each day and what the homework is, etc. Podcasts are not hard and a great teaching tool!

Video is also an awesome way to teach, especially for those visual learners! It isn't hard to record video footage with a digital recorder or a new technology that has come out-a flip video hd. The hardest thing with video is editing it if needed to make it flow. You can even take video footage with the new i-pod nanos! They are coming out with so many new incredible technologies that are easier to take videos with. Videos have so many uses in the classroom! You could use them to show geographical locations to students and take them on a virtual "field trip." You could use an educational video from youtube as an attention getter. You could make a "how to" video to give instruction. My Mother is a teacher and she teaches home ec. so she uses video to teach her middle school students the steps to sewing a project or baking something and then she creates a few dvds on it and when students miss class and need instruction they can refer to them or even if they don't miss class and need that visual of how to do it, the videos come in very handy! She even has a couple of small tvs spread throughout the classroom so students have plenty of room to see it. Videos are easy to publish on youtube! One of my teacher's in high school used a video of himself as a wizard to teach math. He just recorded himself teaching it up on the board. We loved it because it was humorous and taught us exactly the steps so it was like he was still there teaching us without being able to actually be there. Educational videos can be a lot of fun! They don't have to be boring! I found a youtube video where a man named Mr. Duey has come up with an awesome way of rapping to teach math. He has a couple of AMAZING videos!! I think students would eat it up!

There are so many different ways to use podcasts/video in the classroom! Its incredible how much different technology there is out there! Podcasts and videos can be very important accomodations to those students who learn different also. I am excited to create my own video in this class as a teaching tool to use later in my own classroom :)

Technology Article/Video Blog

VIDEO

Introducing Web 2.0 was a very cool video. I thought it was great how it introduced what each tool was and then a whole variety of different places on the web that each tool is offered. I haven't ever really used podcasts so it was interesting to see different places where I could go to look them up and find them on the internet and learn more about them. It also really helped how it had a definition for each tool and it was an easy to understand definition so I could understand each tool better. I've known of most of the tools and used some of them, but I've never really thought of a definition for them so it made it more clear to me exactly what each one was and what it can be used for. This age is really becoming more and more advanced technologically and its great to learn of just a few popular sites for where to find these great classroom tools.

Technology Article Blog

PLANET FOSS (FULL OPTION SCIENCE SYSTEM)

There are so many tools in technology. It was difficult to decide on just two, but the first

tool I came upon is called Planet FOSS (Full Option Science System). I decided that I wanted to

find a cool way to teach science and this technology tool is an INCREDIBLE way!! I am so

excited to have found it! FOSS is completely interactive. Everything on each page does

something when you click on it or drag your mouse over it. There are many different parts of

Planet FOSS. Some of these include: An interractive GPS for the human body, a virtual lite brite,

and video-conferencing between teachers, parents, and students. FOSS also has a place where

students take, share, and view scientific photos from other students all over the country! There

are worksheets already made up to go along with activities and there is a place to order all kinds

of science materials for your classroom. The best part though about FOSS is all of the online

tools. There are countless tutorial videos and online interactive learning games. Not to mention,

FOSS has a search engine where students can type in any word and it will bring up tons of

different games to teach what that word means, books to teach, ask a scientist interactive

activities, quick tips, etc. I can't brag enough about this AMAZING new tool I found! It is easy

for kids to get around on and its fun! Also, under each different topic of science such as "air

and weather" there are videos, images, audio stories, and a list of websites to teach more about

each one. The possibilities are endless with planet FOSS. Also, it has an additional parent letter

already made up where you can insert your name as a teacher and send home to make sure the

parents are aware of what FOSS is and the media/digital pictures involved. It asks the parents

give consent with their signatures also. FOSS fits in with curriculum for each grade level and

specifies what activities are under which grade level. The only cons to FOSS that I can think of

is how much information there is! It contains so much that it will take the teacher quite a while

to find their way around and organize it. Also, not all students will own a digital camera which

can be a disadvantage to them. Parents will love it because its easy to use and can be done at

home also. I've chosen this tool because it has proven stats that FOSS increases student's

science test scores and it is a fun way to learn about science. It is a tool that will help kids

want to come to school and participate at home also. I love it!

References

Integrating Technology and Science

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech233.shtml

WEBQUESTS

I think webquests are great because they really help students to learn how to use the

internet. Some pros to webquests are that they help students use their imaginations and

problem-solving skills. They must discover the answers for themselves. Webquests are

also a great way to get students into groups so that they can communicate with one

another. It is way more interactive than just memorizing. Students can sort out ethical

issues on their own and pick a side after they have "discovered" the topic with guidance by

their webquest. Webquests also are adaptive. You can make the adjustments needed on them

for those students with special needs or make them more advanced for the students at a higher

level. You can make webquests go right along with your curriculum and encorporate flexibility

into them so students have more room to personalize it. With today's internet focused world,

webquests will give students the chance to learn how to use the internet and become experts.

The cons to webquests are the time they take to build. Parents will find webquests helpful in

teaching their children creativity, allowing children to go at their own pace yet challenging

them, and teaching them how to use the internet. I think webquests are great! Mostly because

of the technology and many different websites they allow children to discover on their own.

References

Using WebQuests in the Primary Grades: Joy’s Thomas’s Planet WebQuest

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech247.shtml

Creating a WebQuest: It's Easier Than You Think

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech011.shtm

Picasa

Manipulated Picassa #1

Manipulated Picassa #2

Original Picassa #1

Original Picassa #2


Picasa is an incredible photo tool. It allows you to edit pictures in a variety of ways. You can change the size, look, color, shadowing, and more! Picasa can be used to add pictures to the web such as adding them to a blog, a facebook. or any website. It provides a link with every picture. You can add your new and improved manipulated photos from it, or just the original copies to wherever you want them. There are a lot of different ways to use picasa in the classroom. You could use it to add photos into a powerpoint. You could use it to take pictures and add them to a classroom website. You could use it to order prints online. You could use it for group project to have your students use it and edit their own pictures. I have always had a hard time when my photos won't fit into a document or powerpoint or when they don't look just right. Picasa offers a solution to my problem! I am so excited to be able to have it and download it for free! I am definately going to edit my own pictures with it to put on facebook and it will be a great tool to use in class. I am also going to teach my students how to use it because it is the easiest photo editor I've ever used!

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras have many pros in classroom use. There are hundreds of ways to use them. Some of my favorite ideas are:

1. Create a Birthday Book. Add a photo to a page that the child has written about birthday plans. Print one for the book and one to send home.

2. Take a photo of an object zoomed in. Have students guess what it is.

3. Create a game for matching student photos and student names.

4. Create a video book report complete with costumes and action.

5. Create "It's My Turn" name cards with student pictures for choosing who gets the next turn.

Digital cameras are easy to use and you can edit the pictures you take. They are a fun way to use technology in the classroom and allow your students to learn how to use them. I think it would be fun to have your students find creative ideas to use the pictures they take in a group presentation for the class. We are using the pictures we took to teach a certain subject. It would be a lot of fun for kids to do the same. Digital cameras can be used to teach any subject in the classroom, even math!! There are tons of resources online with thousands of ideas to use digital cameras in the classroom and it is a great way for kids to show their creativity. Some pros of using digital cameras are that pictures are immediately available, pictures are saved in graphic format, and they are easily transferred from the camera to the computer. I never even thought of using digital cameras in a classroom until this assignment and now I have so many great ideas and lesson plans to teach and use them in my own classroom! I'm so excited to have this new resource!

VIDEO BLOG

I really like the "Top Things You Do Not Learn About Teaching in College" video. Teaching truly takes time to become good at and you don't go into it knowing everything. It takes time and practice to learn what works and what doesn't work. It takes time to learn what lesson plans are best and how students are all different and what different ways you need to teach certain students. It was a very commical video for me. The mashup was interesting. I hope I watched the right video of a whole bunch of people around the world playing chords on musical instruments to make it into a song...But from that video I learned that using digital cameras to record things for a video is an awesome idea! And putting those songs together from different parts of the world is brilliant! If I could get my students to do something like that in a classroom, it would be so much fun and such a great way to learn how to put a whole bunch of different parts of video together. We could create a video together as a class even and send it to a different part of the world showing what our day was like in an American classroom and then to receive one back from another classroom in a different part of the world would be such a learning tool for students and we'd have a blast doing it! The videos this week were lots of fun! I enjoyed them a lot.

Reflection #5

INTERNET SAFETY

The internet is vital in education. It contains endless information that students can learn from. It gives children a chance to learn at home and to participate in interactive teaching games and activities. It gives answers to the many questions that curious children yearn to know. The internet also contains many different ways of teaching such as interaction by games, videos, learning by reading, learning by listening, etc. So many children are adjusted to the internet and technology in this day in time that it would be crazy not to allow children to use the internet for learning.

But along with how wonderful the internet is, teacher must evaluate the websites their students are using because not everything that comes from the internet is good or true. Many websites are not credible and are full of junk. As teachers, it is our job to know each website and make sure that it is full of learning before our students look at it.

The questions I'd ask myself to evaluate a website are:

1. Is it safe? Meaning it contains nothing inappropriate for children.

2. What is the purpose of the website?

3. Does it contain any biases?

4. Who is the author? Is he/she credible?

5. Are there useful links?

6. Do the pictures help teach and not detract from the purpose?

7. What is the date?

8. 5 w's (who, what, when, where, why?)

9. Is there something else better than this site to teach with?

10. Is it interractive?

School filters, supervision, and evaluation of many websites can help keep my students safe while surfing the web. It is important to walk around during time on computers and make sure the students are on websites they should be on. It is also very important to tell children that if they run across anything uncomfortable, no matter how embarassing it is, that they need to raise their hand and make sure they tell me. Its important for your students to trust you so that they feel they can share any problems they run in to.


The internet is such a great creation, but it must be used for good and kept safe in the classroom. Although it is more work as a teacher, it is vital to study websites and use question to evaluate them for classroom use. It is important to teach kids internet safety not only in the classroom, but for home use also. I think that parents need to be made more aware of the internet and how scary it can truly be because teachers can do all they can, but that is no guarantee for internet safety. The internet is huge and is only going to become more used in school and at home. In becoming a teacher, we need to inform ourselves and those around us on internet safety so that it may be used for good.

Video Reflection

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oui0IcNpvmQ

There are thousands of stories where children get in trouble by giving out personal information on the internet. Children do not understand how dangerous the internet can be so it is so important that we teach them in our classrooms because a lot of time parents are overlooking the danger of the internet too. This video is one I would definately show in my own classroom to help kids understand the right from the wrong and how dangerous it is to give information out online. I would also use netsmartz videos to show some real life situations and the stories of real kids giving out too much information online. It is a serious matter and helping kids become more aware will also help parents become more aware. The more who are aware, the less incidents that will occur. The internet is so good, but also very dangerous so it is important for kids to know that there are people out there who do misuse the internet and will take advantage of them. Hopefully showing this video would not make kids afraid to use the internet, but know how to use it correctly.

Reflection #4

UEN REFLECTION PAPER
UEN is a tremendous classroom tool to know how to use! There are so many different resources throughout it that it definitely takes time to get to know each one, but once you know the resources, your possibilities to use it in the classroom are endless. Pioneer library, interactive, lesson plans, and core curriculum are just a few of the many different sources UEN offers.

Pioneer library offers a variety of activities for kids to learn from. Kids could definitely use EBSCO in the classroom to learn what research is and to learn how to find things they are interested in online. I love it because it is safe for kids and home friendly. I would think that such an awesome website would spark an interest in kids to use it even at home. SIRS Discover Deluxe had so many awesome options on it. One thing I’d use it for in my classroom is to have kids look up news articles and then present those articles as a “newscaster” in the classroom. I think kids could get very creative and explore what they are interested in this way. This tool is so interactive and a great way to get kids to learn and explore on their own because there is never enough time in the classroom to teach them all they need to know.

Interactives are almost my favorite thing I discovered on UEN. I absolutely loved how they had lists upon lists of fun games that kids love to do. I had my little second grade sister test out a couple of the interactive games and she absolutely loved it. She was challenged yet had a lot of fun and forgot she was actually doing math problems. For math, you could use math magician to have all of your kids pass off add facts and then mark on a sheet where they are at each day because it is timed and shows the score after every round. Kids love games so why not let them play games that teach. The best part is that the interactive contains games for each and every subject according to grade level and what the kids need to be learning. How awesome is that?!
Lesson plans was also a resource that blew my mind! Being a new teacher, this is a huge resource that can help you every step of the way. You can revise the plans any way you choose, but it’s so nice to have a base idea of where to begin and it goes along with the curriculum perfectly. Core curriculum was also fascinating. I knew a lot went into teaching, but to be able to access it there on your computer in your classroom or at home. It’s great! It gives teachers a chance to continually evaluate how well they are doing with each area of the curriculum and know what they need to spend more time on. What an incredible resource!

I am so excited to have a website that links to so many different tools to use in my classroom. Hopefully, it will be something that is easy for parents to access at home and work with their kids on. There is just so much to UEN, it is overwhelming, but in a good way. I will be able to find tons of activities that kids think are fun and use them in my classroom constantly. I wish I would have had this as an Elementary student! I’m excited to keep learning about it and apply it.

Reflection #3

This week was so much fun to interract with other students in the classroom and put together a powerpoint slide show to convey classroom rules. I think this is such an incredible tool for the classroom. Kids can do so much and be extremely creative with it. Kids could create stories about their lives and send it to kids in different countries and become google buddies with someone in say Japan. Then that person in Japan could send a slideshow back of their life. It'd be such a cool way to learn about other cultures. Group projects and presentations would be fun for students and they wouldn't have to meet together, but they'd have the information and be able to collaborate from thier own homes. Teachers could create lessons on it together. If it was something each student needed to learn about in the school, each teacher could show it in their classroom. Teachers can actually post for all their students what is due in class the next day and what to bring and the lesson plans. What a great way to help kids be prepared! There are so many incredible things to do with this google tool. Its awesome!!

Video Reflection #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYPjJK6LZdM

This video really opened my eyes to some new insight about google docs. I had this thought come to me while watching, think if each teacher used google docs which is free instead of passing around paper how much money and how many trees it would save! If EVERY teacher did it? I thought to myself that maybe it would save enough money that each classroom could afford to have a computer for each student in the classroom!! This video shows how much students are getting into google docs. They use it for peer review, to talk to kids in other parts of the world, and to write essays within the classroom. The teachers in the video commented on how awesome it is to see their students exerting special effort on assignments in google docs because these students know so many people are going to be looking at it and they want it to look good. It is a technological age and kids can relate so much better to typing than using paper and pen. I'm so excited to have learned this new tool and to be able to learn more about it and apply it in my own classroom!

Reflection #2

Everything Google was so interesting to me. I found out so many new parts to google that I never knew even existed. I thought I was pretty down with technology, but it just goes to show that technology is endless. There is always something new to learn with technology. I especially loved google docs and google calendar. These tools will be so useful in my future classroom. I think google docs can definately be used for group projects with creating powerpoints together and giving each other feedback. Students have a new way to communicate which is very awesome and it is also a way for the teacher to look in and see what things the students are doing and give them feedback from home, not just in the classroom. You could even use it for announcements about class. Creating a book club with this tool for extra credit or something would also be a lot of fun! I do believe that this kind of technology would need to apply to the upper elementary students though because it is a little advanced for younger kids. Also, google calendar is such an awesome tool that could help students learn to make schedules and plan and be more prepared. Then receiving reminders on their cell phones about upcoming events...thats just amazing! It would be a good way to get students excited about getting things done and learning how to plan out their time. It would teach responsibility in a fun way. The only downfall I see in this technology is less them meeting together as groups and building strong face to face relationships, which is so important as such a young age. But I do believe that if students are given time in class to talk with one another and have those face to face group experiences, then google is an incredible teaching tool. Google has so many great new technologies that I'm excited to learn more about and think of more ideas of where to use it in my own classroom.

The video this week certainly touched home with me. I truly feel that if more teachers used cell phones, i pods, and computers positively in their classrooms students would respond to their teaching methods so much better! I would absolutely love if you could say "pop quiz students, take out your cell phones." Then you could have multiple choice questions where students texted their answers and somehow it could show up on your computer what their answers were for a grade. Then if you had it connect to your projector so the students could see what percent answered a, b, and so on. It would be a good way to discuss the answers and not leave the students wondering about the answers they didn't quite know. The students would be shocked to use their cell phones for a pop quiz! It would also be really neat if teachers used pod casts more in the classroom where kids could go home and watch the pod cast and then report back on it through google docs and give feedback to one another that way. There are endless options with technology. Teaching would definately be more effective if teachers used cell phones and i-pods positively in the classroom for teaching instead of yelling at students to put them away. Students would respond better and learning would be more fun.

This is such exciting new technology to me! I'm definately planning on learning more about it so that I may understand it better to use it in my own classroom one day.

MY IDEAL CLASSROOM

My ideal classroom will be full of color with work done by my students hung on the wall. It will have learning tools for the kids to use up on the walls such as a word wall for vocabulary, a math wall with the properties, and a science wall with the solar system. There will be big windows that allow a lot of light to get into the classroom. There will be a computer at every desk. The desks will be in groups of four and students will change seats every month or so in order to get to know everyone in the class. It will be an organized classroom, but a place where the kids feel free to make messes while learning. There will be a small corner for a classroom library with bean bag chairs and great books galore. There will be a play corner with learning games and games for fun. There will be a corner where my desk is, a sink with running water for the children to stay clean and wash their hands, and also a small room with a bathroom in it so the students do not have to leave for long potty breaks. It would be a place where students feel free to be themselves and always loved. Everyone would have a different personality, but united because we would be working towards a common goal. And that goal would be to learn and grow. I will be a student-centered teacher that focuses on my students and how they learn best. I would teach in many different ways: visual aids, reading, lecturing, group-work, and hands-on. I will walk around the classroom among my students and listen to their conversations and help them one on one. I will be very involved with my students. My students will feel free to ask questions and question me when they don't agree with me. They will not ever feel looked down upon, but we will all be equal. I will have a projector in classroom to teach with videos, internet, etc. I will also have a smart board where the kids will play interractive games and learn together. The computers at each desk will be used for research, learning, testing, and more. My students will learn how to make powerpoints and utilize the computer to teach other students. My classroom will be a place filled with students at many varying levels, but not a single students will never feel "dumb." They will help one another and learn from each other. I will teach every subject. Math, reading, writing, social studies, science will be among some of the subjects I teach. I will teach with my heart and discipline in a productive way that teaches a lesson. My students will not just learn the curriculum, but more. They will learn how to interract with others and become the best they can be. The main class goal will be to learn something new each day and leave with a greater knowledge than when they came into the classroom.