ETEC

I would like to know how you feel about your lesson plan that you and your partner created?
I am a bit nervous but then again I am always nervous. I am about to email her and finish our lesson plan up.

Have you had any problems about it?
The TEKS are a little confusing but I think we will manage.

Are you ready to teach it next week?
Kinda sorta! lol. We should be fine. I believe that we have a few things to catch up on but we will be ready by this week.

What do you think we should have done it differently?
Nothing. Really. I love this class.

What do you think you have learned from this class?
I have learned how to (properly) blog about things, how to use voicethread, and now know what webquests are.

Do you think it is a must for today teachers to know how to use the technology in classroom?
OH YES. If you are not technologically advanced then you will have several issues. Unless you are in another country and they do not have any technology. It is 2009 and most schools have a computer room and have internet on it for research and email. If you do not know how to use it then you would not be able to teach your students very well.

Voice Thread

I would like to use it for my lesson plan maybe. I will have to talk to my partner. I think I would use it in the real classroom but it seems that anyone can say anything on the website so I would have to make sure my students didn't let the wrong people in to make certain comments. I think voice thread is awesome. You can put a picture of anything up and point out key features by using a speaker, webcam, phone or by typing a comment. I think that by using voice thread it can be very educational because you can take any picture (such as a famous painting) and point out why it is such an important painting. A map for example would be a great thing to discuss on voice thread. By viewing the map with different people who may be from a different country than your own is a very good way to learn about other countries, cultures, and different backgrounds all together. I think voicethread.com is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Powerpoint!

Topic : Educational Websites

I am partnered up with Amy Hale and we are very productive on our presentation. She is very helpful to me and we are discovering good websites that children can visit and good websites that teachers have made specifically for their students. I think that our presentation will be very interesting and I feel confident that our fellow ETEC classmates will enjoy what we have to say. Usually I would rather work alone but in this case my partner is really helping me out.

Video games, Podcasts, and Chat

How far:
I think that as a teacher you should know your limit. I think that technology is widely used and very important. I also believe that if you feel "iffy" about anything you are showing your students then you probably shouldnt show it to them at all.
Chat:
I think it depends on what grade level you are talking about. I think that for jr.high kids it may be a bad idea because kids in jr. high are more hurtful than a high school student. I think that by keeping up with each other by using chat and I think it is okay until someone is hurtful.
Are there benefits:
I think face-to-face meetings are always the best unless if one student is very ill. I think that by typing certain things some students can easily get confused. When working with a group of people it can become very confusing if you mistype something.

Does using podcasts with students really enhance learning:
I think that by teachers using podcasts it does enhance learning. I think that students can learn from video just as easy as seeing the teacher lecture right in front of them. I think that if the student has any questions then their may become an issue but overall it is a cool experience and you can learn from audio/video podcasts.

Does videogame help develop your studying? No.
Why or why not? When I play video games it is like a trap. I get sucked into playing it for about 6 hours and never get my studying done.

What skills can you gain from it? I think that some people might gain certain skills such as being able to use their reaction time better. I think that when you play a video game you are going to win or lose due to the time it took you to react to something. Do you agree with the article? Not really. If you have children, would you let them play videogame every day? Yes. Because my parents always let me play video games and it was always a lot of fun. If it helps my child one day that is good but all of the experiences I have had is me sitting in front of the television for about 6 hours stuck on a game I am trying to beat. Why/why not? I think that every kid deserves to play whatever kind of video game they wish to play. You are only a kid once. I think that it is very important that every child plays a game they want to have a good time.

Personality Type

I think that a lot of students have different learning styles because of their personality types. I believe that your personality molds the way you act and if you are a carefree person you may end up caring less about your grades. For instance if you are ESFJ then you may not do as well in school because you are more interested in others feelings more than your own. I believe it will help me to know my students a little better. I am not quite sure. From a single personality test, you cannot know everything about your student. I believe that you can learn a lot from a students personality type in general but, not everything. I will be able to better understand where they are coming from and maybe why my students do the things they do. It could also help me to help them discover their future goals or professions by testing their personality type.

Spreadsheet Awesomeness

I used to think of spreadsheet as something that you organize numbers or grades with. I now realize spreadsheet is much more than that. While making my material aid today, I used the matching aid. You can take a different pictures, jumble them up, and make a matching game out of it on spreadsheet. Dude, that is fun for anyone! I even had fun making the matching worksheet. You can also make statistics charts on spreadsheet or make stimulations of problems to show your students. I would use spreadsheet in my class room to give my students a more organized view of whatever it is that I am teaching them. It is a very useful program. I think you can make more interesting games and show your class things on spreadsheet that they actually find amusing or worth their time.

I believe that we use spreadsheet to keep records, store information, or to present information. For example with the matching game I made, it will help a student identify and match related pictures. It gives your student a mental note of what they are looking at. I realize that spreadsheets are for storing, calculating, and presenting information but, I also think they are good for learning new things by playing with the program. If you sat at your computer and messed around with spreadsheet long enough you could discover many different functions that it includes. People can use spreadsheet for math, english, science, or history. It is virtually useful for any subject.

Inspiration

I cannot believe I had never heard of the Inspiration tool. It seems like an awesome way to help all of your students keep up with their work, stay organized, and be prepared for any quizzes or homework assignments. It interests me that they have finally come out with something that can better help our students stay organized with all of their work. While you are using Inspiration you are learning and keeping everything you learn in a neat order. I would use Inspiration in my classroom so that students will not fall behind from not being able to see what they are learning. Students can use hyperlinks and put videos on their diagram. I like it when a student is able to hear or see what they are learning opposed to just reading it.

I enjoy the way a student can write an outline and can create little boxes on their tempelate that have information from their outline on it. I like how you can move your outline to the actual diagram that you are working on. You can have students help each other with their outlines and decide where they are going to put their information on their diagram or tempelate. Your students will be learning more from their outlines and diagrams than doing the usual class work.

I remember the first time I had to teach a skill I definately studied over what I was teaching before I ever taught it. I do know now that by my students asking me questions about it that I never wondered, really opened up my eyes to the issue. There are all kinds of questions people will ask you that you may not know the answer to. Whenever you find that answer sometimes you come out knowing more about the topic than you realized and end up knowing more after you taught it.

How I Feel About Blogs.

I think that blogs are benefical to everyone. Blogs meet almost anyones needs. Blogs are useful for education because blogs are intended for teachers and students. I think it would be wise for every teacher to have a blog spot along with all of their students so they can better communicate with each other. The teacher can be notified and updated with meeting every students need. If a student has a problem with an assignment or a question or comment they can just post it on the teachers blog site. It is not a waste of time. You can go to any given persons blog and learn something about that person or that persons interests. For example, you may know nothing about football and if you go to a blog about football you will be educated on things you never knew. Blogs help you better understand other people from various backgrounds. By keeping up with your blog and other students blogs you have less of a chance of falling behind in your studies. Communication is number one when it comes to pertaining knowledge. Blogs keep students in the loop of what is going on. Blogs help students have a better understanding of the material put in the classroom when posted for everyone to see. If there is ever a problem you may have with your studies then you can blog about it and then find out someone else may have that exact same problem and figure out ways to make it easier.

Bettina

I am Bettina Crews and I have never blogged before today. I hope that anyone who reads this will enjoy my comments on how I feel about certain subjects. I am a special education major. I enjoy working with people who have disabilities. I also enjoy playing the drums from time to time and taking photos.