My Beliefs

I believe that technology can make a huge difference in the way that we teach. I feel as though it can really benefit teachers and help us reach students that we were never able to reach before. I have heard of teachers that had students in their classroom that were not able to write and thought they didn't care to learn. The teacher then brought the ipad into the classroom and had the student try working on it. The student then expressed to the teacher that they knew how to spell but just had a hard time writing it.
I feel like technology can make the biggest difference in the world. The only problem is if we use technology for everything that it takes away from social interaction. Students tend to get caught up with technology and spend their time playing on them. Society has seen how this effects the students social skills and their ability to listen in a classroom. I think that technology can be a great tool, but teachers just need to not get carried away with it.

Lessons Learned

These articles, videos and survey made me more aware of the different technology there is today and how it will keep progressing with more and more gadgets. Technology is continually changing and being updated to quicker, more effective tools. I learned that while I am a teacher I need to be educated on new technology often. There are many neat tools that teachers can use in their classroom if they are educated on how the tools work. I want to be one of those teachers that knows how the technology works and is able to incorporate it into their classroom and make the lessons more enjoyable.
Another lesson I learned about technology is that many individuals believe that technology will get to the point that there won't need to be lunch ladies or as much contact with the students. I really hope that it doesn't get to that point one day. I believe that students need that interaction with their teachers that feeling that teachers care. Technology can really benefit teachers but it can also affect the way that teachers teach. I hope that it never gets to that point where teachers use technology for everything.

Stengths & Weaknesses

According to the UNI survey and NET standards there is still more information that I can learn about technology. I am in the middle with technology. I know a good amount of different technology but there are still many things that I can learn. I need to learn these things for when I am a teacher so that I feel comfortable enough to teach these things to my students.
Some goals that I have with technology is to take time each time I am on the computer to look at a different tool and see what it does. Use the different tools and get comfortable with them. I also want to continue my education when I am a teacher and take numerous technology classes to keep me up to date with the new technology. I also want to buy a few of these new tools that are coming out to get me familiar with it so that I am able to help others and not be the one asking questions.
A couple of the online tutorials that I would like to take would be about Access and Macintosh. I feel like these tools are ones that I am not as familiar with and I feel like they would be good to learn about. These tutorials will help to further my professional growth and goals by helping me become more familiar with technology. These tools would be great to use in the classroom. Access would be a good tool for my class role and what dietary needs there are. Macintosh is a tool that many people use so it would be great to know more about.

14 April - Field

This semester of field experience I had the opportunity to work with Annalyse in Mr. Gowans fourth grade class at Park View Elementary School. This was such a great opportunity for Annalyse and I. The moment we walked into the classroom we felt very welcomed. The students were excited to have us as well as Mr. Gowans. From the very beginning of watching Mr. Gowans teach you could tell that he had great classroom management ideas. He had different types of rewards for the students when they had the correct behavior. Mr. Gowans focused his attention on the students that were doing the right thing rather than the ones that were not. He was very patient with the students and you could tell that the students had respect for Mr. Gowans as their teacher. Mr. Gowans was a very fun and outgoing teacher that would sometimes use sarcasm. He told us that at the beginning of the year he could not use sarcasm but as time went on and the students got to know him better he was able to use sarcasm more. As we talked more to Mr. Gowans about his classroom he explained to us that it is very important from the beginning to clearly explain your expectations of the students and to never give in.

In this field experience I was able to work with Annalyse. I felt as though we worked very well together and was able to bounce ideas back and forth very easily. It was really great to be able to have a partner during this field experience. When we were teaching lessons for the first time it was great to have Annalyse’s help because there are things that would slip my mind when I got in front of the class and we are able to help each other out. As Annalyse and I were able to teach the students for ourselves we were able to see how challenging it is to manage a group of students and that there is much more information we can learn about teaching.This experience got me so excited for when I am a teacher and have my own class one day.

3 March - Digital Story 2

What?
Last week we got the chance to learn about many different laws there are with copyrighting.
So What?
This is great information to learn about because as a teacher there are many things that I have to be aware of such as using Disney in my classroom. I did not know that you could only watch 30% of a video in your classroom for it to be okay. I remember as a student always watching movies in my classrooms and that was one of my favorite parts. It is good to know your history about the laws to see how these laws were formed.
Now What?
My partner and I just heard from our cooperating teacher about what subject he would like us to teach on. Now we know what we would like to make our digital story on which is state counties. As we begin to make our digital story we need to be aware of all the copyright laws. Also, this information we learned last week is great for me as a student today. It is great to be aware of the copyright laws when I am doing assignments for my classes.

24 February - Digital Stories

What?
Last week we learned about digital stories and the advantages it has in a classroom.
So What?
This is a great tool that I can use in my classroom that the students would really love. It is such a great tool to help students feel the emotion behind the story. The audio and visual components provide an extraordinary experience compared to simply reading a transcript. It is a great tool that I can use in college today. It is a fun way to present a subject to the class, making it much more interesting. I know digital stories are hard to do, but once I get it down it shouldn't be too hard. It is great to learn about this technology today so that we are prepared for when we get into our own classrooms.
Now What?
Digital stories can be such a fun assignment that I can assign to my students to do. I could have them research on a certain subject and then put a digital story together and present it to the class. Students will benefit with many skills just by learning to record their stories and view them afterward. Students will be able to remember this information a lot easier and it makes it a lot more fun to learn when something like this is involved. Students will be able to learn information within a span of a few minutes more than the most observant reader could grasp in the course of a novel. Digital stories are such a fun tool that I will definitely be incorporating into my own classroom.

17 February - Vidcast Reflection

The name of the vidcast that Annalyse and I prepared is "Order of Operations". The vidcast series addresses fourth grade Standard 2: Objective 2 which states to use algebraic expressions, symbols, and properties of the operations to represent, simplify, and solve mathematical equations and inequalities. An example they gave was to use the order of operations to evaluate, simplify, and compare mathematical expressions involving the four operations, parentheses, and the symbols. We were able to do this in our vidcast.
The rationale behind this vidcast is that it will help students learn the order of operations in a fun, interesting way. We are teaching a concept that is hard to remember but with our two catchy phrases will make it more simple. The reason I chose to do this topic is because it's one that I can use with the upper grades. I really think the students will love knowing that I made it and I think it will make it easier for them to remember. I remember learning this concept as a child and it took me a little bit to remember the order of operations. It is a tricky concept to remember but once you do you never forget it. I don't see any potential drawbacks to using this series in my classroom. This is a concept that we will always teach in our classrooms so this vidcast will never go out of date.
Some future plans that I have for this series is to do more vidcasts on math that would tie right in with order of operations. I would love to do a vidcast on fractions and decimals. I think it would be great to be able to do a vidcast on fractions and show them examples of things in the real world that they can compare fractions to. One thing that you could do with fractions is show a pizza and you cutting it in to halfs, thirds, etc. I think this is such a fun idea to incorporate these vidcasts in to our classrooms. I definitely will be using these in the future.