Blog Post 12

I loved looking at the PowerPoint screen shots that people had. It was really interesting to see how everyone has different creative abilities and took their own perspective on the assignment. I also enjoyed listening to every one's podcast and the stories they told.


I really want to learn how to make a website. Even though we learned about using Wikispace, I want to be able to create a website that is completely my own and I can control all aspects of it, such as a site like this (http://bellaandedward.com/) or (http://mugglenet.com/). I think it would be cool to be able to have your own website that you can create to be popular.

I've been thinking about taking some type of web designing class at FSU or for fun somewhere else. I think one of these classes could give me the tools needed to be able to create my own web page. If that doesn't work, I'm sure there is online tutorials of ways to make one.

Blog post 11

I actually never used Twitter after the day we made it in class. I went home and found my friend and celebrities to "follow" but I never logged in again after doing that. For me, Twitter was kind of confusing. It was easy to post tweets, but I had problems seeing who responded to what. I just never really grasped it.

I don't plan to use Twitter again. It's pretty much just like using Facebook status updates. Also, Twitter is good if you have a phone that supports it, but my phone doesn't have Internet on it anymore so I won't receive tweets until I log onto my computer.

Twitter could be a useful educational tool, but I think there are better ways to communicate in the classroom. Twitter allows the teacher to communicate almost instantly with their students if the children have phones that enable them to use Twitter, or allow the student to look up tweets once they log into a computer. This could be done with emails or instant messages as well. The main benefit to using Twitter is the fact that everyone can see the same information at once.

My Ballin Podcast

I'm hungry

Blog post # 10

I chose to review this website (http://www.easybib.com/) I found it to be extremely useful while citing papers in middle and high school. Every student has had to cite a paper in either MLA, APA, or Chicago formatting, and this site makes the process a lot easier. It allows you to cite almost any source imagineable, including books, websites, encyclopedias, magazines, and newspapers. Although some teachers would encourage their students to learn how to cite without using a computer resource, there's just so many little things to remember when citing sources that it would just end up causing a lot of errors to cite from memorization.

The site first allows you to pick your source from over 50 options. When you pick a source, you have to fill out a little bit of information and then the site produces a bibliography for you. This can be done for any source you have, so when you're finished, you can easily copy and paste your entire bibliography into your paper. The site is easy to use, but is kind of crowded with text and advertisements which make it hard to navigate at first. The color is simple and isn't overwhelming to look at.

I think web 2.0 tools are really useful to use in that classroom. There are so many options to choose from that any teacher could find benefit in using one. I think that the photo sharing website Flickr would be useful for teachers, because it provides them with a page to share all the pictures the students may need in doing a project, or to show all the pictures from class events.

Blog post #9

I chose to review this website (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx). I have used this website before, for a project I had to do for my Biology Lab class. I find it to be extremely helpful and easy to use. The website lets you create graphs that you can then save and paste onto a project. The graphs can be saved in many different formats, including pdf and jpeg.

The website allows you to create bar, line, area, XY, and pie graphs. You're allowed to change the color of each part of the graph, and allows you to use more than one line or bar (so you can graph multiple groups of data for comparative purposes). This website would be used in math or science classes, for all ages, to reflect data collected.

I don't really like using Excel, but I feel like once I practice more with it, then it will be easier to use. I would use it to make attendance charts and to record data collected from my students. It would be useful to use for grading purposes, if other methods were unavailable. The program can not only help you record grades, but to easily figure out letter grades for each student. For younger grade levels, work searches and crossword puzzles can easily be made using Excel.

Blog post 8

I'm actually really proud of my PowerPoint 2 presentation. According to the rubric from chapter 8, I excelled in all areas. The text is easy to read, and the colors compliment each other well. The navigation buttons are located in the same place on each slide, and are labelled correctly for what they're supposed to do. Every image on the screen has a purpose, and no slide is cluttered with objects. I did not use any flashing text and all transitions are consistent and appropriate. A variety of images were used, including Word Art, clip arts, and pictures from online. I tried to incorporate screen shots, but for some reason that button won't work on my laptop.

There are a lot of peripherals that can be incorporated into a classroom. Some of these include printers, digital cameras, loud speakers, microphones, and scanners. Having a digital camera in the classroom would be really cool, especially when working with younger students, because you can take pictures of the special activities that you do, and hang them up around the classroom. At the end of the year, you can put them together to make a digital scrapbook for each student. Printers are clearly important, because they're used to print out information/assignments for students and must be connected to a computer to work. Another importer non-computer audio device is an Ipod/ Ipod player. My childhood education teacher last year used to play songs for the preschoolers to teach them lessons, and for the older students when we were doing book work to keep us entertained and focused.

I absolutely loved this lesson. A girl in my Intro to Education class last semester made a Jeopardy game for our final exam, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I learned how to use hyperlinks in PowerPoint presentations which opens up a whole new set of possibilities for presentations to my students. I would use these new skills to create games and animated stories for my students, which will be a fun new way for them to experience and learn information. If my students are old enough to be able to learn these skills, I'll teach them how to create games and stories as well so that they can create presentations for other classes.

blog post 7

There's a lot of advantages to using powerpoints in the classrooms. It allows students to easily write down notes on the topic being discussed, which benefits the people who don't learn from just hearing information. It gives students a visual of what's being discussed. It also helps the teacher stay on topic with the information, and helps them stay organized. A few disadvantages are that students may not listen to the additional information provided by the instructor because they're too busy copying from the powerpoint. I know in college, that when teachers post the powerpoints online, it discourages kids from attending class (high schools may do this too.).

One of the biggest educational topics that interest me is the idea of copyright. The Internet provides so much information that it's hard to write a paper and not accidentally "copy" someone's idea. When should you cite something, and when is it considered your own words? Copyright has always confused me, which is why I hate doing research papers.

blog post 6

I'm not sure that all aspects of Web 2.0 should be used in K-12 schooling. Wikipedia and Wikispaces are definitely useful because students can learn information from outside sources, and contribute their own knowledge, and teachers can easily convey information with the use of Wikispaces. However, sites like Facebook and Myspace have no use in the educational environment, except allowing students to connect with their classmates. So I would use Web 2.0 sometimes, but not all of it.

I love Wikipedia. I use it all the time to look up terms I'm not sure about (such as Web 2.0), or to look up facts on people and events. All my teachers in high school refused to let us use Wikipedia as a reference for research papers because it wasn't "reliable" due to the fact that anyone can create a Wikipedia page and change information to make it incorrect. This is true, but the site works hard to make sure all the information is as accurate as possible. I think Wikipedia shouldn't be the only resource a child uses to learn something, but I think it's an excellent source to use first because it provides a foundation for the knowledge in an easy to understand manner. Then the child can have an understanding of the topic and find new words to also research with
other Internet or book resources.

Learning about Wikispaces was really cool, especially since I didn't know it even existed. I think it will be useful to use Wikispaces as a teacher because it allows me to easily create my own webpage, where I can provide information on topics we discuss in class, upcoming events, and other important things to remember. Wikispaces gives me multiple pages to design on, which could allow the creation of an archive of posts; each page could be dedicated to a week in school and students will be able to go back to each week in case they need to look up information. No information is ever lost.

Blog post 5

I highly agree with the idea of using the Internet for student research. The Internet allows so much more information to be accessed that otherwise students wouldn't be able to find...and if they did, it would most likely take a long time. The Internet may be considered the "easy way out" but just because it's easier than looking up information in books doesn't make it wrong or "bad". It's not AS useful when you want students to look up primary documents or other certain information. It also tends to be easier to copyright from the Internet because you can just copy and paste information.

I'm actually a huge fan of using Wikipedia as a web-based resource for knowledge. Yeah it's true that almost anyone can post on Wikipedia, so the information may not be completely accurate, but for the most part it's really good. I think Wikipedia should be used as a sort of...outline for knowledge. Like it can help you get started and giving you new ideas to look up, plus at the bottom it usually provides a list of websites related to the topic.

I do have a few concerns when it comes to being a teacher who supervises technology. I feel like, at least when it comes to my computer, I am pretty familiar with it if something goes wrong. But sometimes something can go wrong and I have NO idea how to fix it. I don't want to be the teacher who has no clue when using the technology in the classroom, no matter what age/grade my students are in.

Blog Post 4

I think developing concept maps for use in the classroom would be a productive way for students to oranganize their knowledge. If I were a teacher, I would use concept maps to help students gather their ideas. Making an outline before writing a research paper is extremely beneficial in staying organized and allows students to put their ideas together before trying to gather it all up to put in a paper. I would use Inspiration because I'm most familiar with it and I find it easy to use..and it's fun.

Even though as a student I wasn't fond of creating concept maps and outlines, I would encourage my students to do so. It may seem like a waste of time, but once you start getting "good" at creating one, it can really help in gathering ideas. Looking at a broad outline of what you're doing can help students see if they missed any important ideas. If you just go ahead and start writing your paper off the top of your head, you're likely to miss a lot. It'll also be harder because your ideas aren't all written out in front of you.

I'm not really sure which "week" this is referring to since we missed a week...so I'm just going to assume it's based on concept mapping. I really enjoyed using Inspiration and even though it's super easy to use, I think it's an important skill to have in the future as a teacher. Creating outlines by hand can be dull, but using Inspiration will help me add excitement into concept mapping that will hopefully keep my students' interest.

If I were to teach a lesson using technology, I would use Inspiration to help my third graders outline an English paper before they wrote it. Inspiration would be used to help them organize ideas before writing their paper based on a topic of their choice. The program would not only encourage children to organize their ideas, but it will provide a fun, creative outlet to do so.

I've decided to critique blackboard (www.campus.fsu.edu). Nothing flashes and there is no stacked text, so it's easier to read. Also there's a nice mix of uppercase and lowercase letters so it's not confusing or hard to read. The navigation buttons are easy to locate, and aren't placed in many places. There is many colors on the page, but they all compliment each other so it's nice to look at and doesn't hurt your eyes. I think it's a pretty well organized site to look at visually.

Copyright has always been a difficult concept for me to understand, even to this day. Clearly, copying a large portion of some body's work is illegal, but if you cite it is it legal? And if you just read something, and like a concept, is that illegal if you don't cite it? When writing papers for my AP English class, I just cited everything and hoped for the best. If I were to become a teacher, I would definitely learn and understand every rule of copy writing and then make a handout using Word so my students can easily understand what's legal and what isn't. Because I want to teach elementary school, I will make sure my lesson on copy writing is easily understood and not too detailed as to confuse them.

Inspiration

Blog Post 2

I've used Microsoft Word as a student for as long as I can remember. I've used it since elementary school to type of assignments and essays. My teachers have used it for multiple purposes. The newsletter they sent out each week were created using Word, as were the assignment sheets they passed out. Many of my teachers used Word to type of grading rubrics that they gave to each student. I feel like my teachers used Word often, I just never realized that Word was the program they were using.

Chapter 9 has given me some new ideas to use Word in the classroom. I like the idea of using Word to create a newspaper. I think, if I teach a classroom full of older students, I can encourage them to create a newspaper for the entire school to tell other students about important events from the students' perspective. Creating and using tables can be used to organize data when my students do science experiments, or take surveys for math activities.

I've definitely acquired a lot of new skills in using Word. I used it just to primarily type essays, but now I know I can create a lot of really cool things with it. I've learned how to create page borders, new shapes besides rectangles, columns, and tables. I knew how to do most of it before, but now I feel confident that I can create whatever graphic I need. I think these skills will be useful because I can teach my students the skills I learned in order to help them complete any type of assignment.

MS Word Creates a Blog Posting

This is unusual

Blog Post 1

I think computers, especially in this day and age, are a fundamental aspect of the educational experience. Many children have at least some experience using computers, and know, to an extent, the value of the Internet and common programs (such as Word). Computers allow a large variety of information to be conveyed easily to students and will be beneficial to use in the classroom. The days of using projectors and transparencies, along with whiteboards, are over, or at least will be relied on less to teach students. I think there is a chance that students or teachers could misuse computers. We've all heard about people who send naughty emails from their work computers, or who are so absorbed in their emails that they ignore their students. Students could spend their time on Facebook or Myspace instead of doing their intended work. But many schools have securities on their computer to prevent certain websites from being accessed, and I think this will help prevent students AND teachers from using computers for the wrong purposes. I agree with the issues raised in Chapter 1. Computers are extremely important in the education field, but must be monitored to ensure proper use.

I will use computers in a variety of ways. I'll allow my students to learn and explore different ways to find the information they need on the Internet. I'll teach them how to use Word and PowerPoint to complete various assignments, and also use these programs in my own lessons. I'll teach my students how to create spreadsheets to present data. When students behave or do well on assignments, I'll allow them to play educational games on the computer (such as Oregon Trail) for an allotted amount of time. I hope to learn how to use Excel in this class, because it is the program I am least familiar with. I also look forwarder to learning new ways to convey information that I didn't know before.

I've been thinking about double majoring. I'm not completely sure which other major I would select, but I'm thinking either Psychology or Business. Psychology really interests me, but I know just having a Bachelor's degree in Psychology won't really help in getting a job. I would major in business because it's been my life goal to open and own a bakery.

Paint

Journal # 0

1 paragraph about your prior experiences using technology
1 paragraph about what you hope to learn in this class
1 paragraph about what you learned about your own learning style based on the learning style questionnaire results.


I've used technology throughout my life. I used Microsoft Word and Powerpoint to complete many school assignments, and have become really good at using them. I spend time on social networking sites, including Facebook and Myspace (although I don't really use Myspace anymore). I check my email daily, on both Blackboard and through my Yahoo account. I use itunes multiple times a day and listen to my Ipod while I'm walking to class or on long trips.

I hope to be able to use technology proficiently while teaching. I use Microsoft Word to type up basic assignments already, but I'd like to be able to use it to make more complex papers. I'd also like to learn how to use Excel and other programs that will help me become a more effective teacher.

Taking the learning style quiz helped prove what I was already starting to figure out about myself. I learn better by sitting back and thinking things through than actually doing them. It actually supported my theory that I learn facts better than I do theories and concepts. I was, however, surprised to see that I learn better through hearing instructions than seeing them written out.

playing with picture image

Woo.

embedding a video