Course Reflection

This course has really made me re-evaluate my outlook on technology. When I first started this class I thought I knew all there was to know about Word, PowerPoint, email, and social networking. I had no idea that technology could offer me so much more. This course has taught me how to store my documents on Google Docs, improve my lessons by adding in technology, and creating useful resources that parents and students can utilize. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever learn how to create a website. I thought that only technology majors and extremely smart people did that, and now look at me. I CAN DO IT TOO!
I think that I have several both strong and weak points. My favorite assignments that I consider strong points were the “turnitin” and the “web tools” assignments. I have never had a problem with plagiarizing my papers. I was in the gifted program in elementary school and started writing research papers in the Fourth Grade. I have always been proud of my word and how I write my papers. I do not feel like I need to copy someone else’s work to get a better grade. I believe that the grade I get is the grade I deserve, because the work is that of my own. I really enjoyed working with the web tools such as creating the rubrics and tests. I like to get creative with my requirements on rubrics. I have had to write several lesson plans over the past three years, and not one rubric is the same. I also think that it is neat that you can create your own tests, save them, and go back to make changes in the future. Not all of my work is peachy keen. I am after all my own worst critic. My weaknesses include being a perfectionist and not being patient. I also had a really hard time with the “assistive technology” assignment. Designing our websites was probably the most vexing activity of all for me. I wanted everything to be bright and vibrant, because that’s what makes me feel like I accomplished a goal. I wanted my website to reflect my pride in my work as well as capture my personality. I am also not the most patient person in the world. I do not like having to wait a long time to see the finished product. I hated having to take my time in creating my digital story and electronic portfolio. I wanted to hurry and finish it up so that I could see it completed.
There are several things that I would do to work on my weaknesses. I could use extra training for adapting my lessons to meet the needs of all my students. In order to do that I would like to learn more about the accessibility options that are on my computer. I also need to learn patience when it comes to creating websites, and stop being such a perfectionist. I think that those are just problems that I need to work on with myself.
I cannot wait to integrate everything that I have learned in this class into my future classrooms. I will most likely always use Google Docs from now on. It has so much storage and I can go back and edit my work anytime I want. I will definitely create a classroom website so that parents can see what their children are learning through out the year. I want to be able to share pictures and videos of their child/children’s progress. If I were to ever work with older students, I would require them to complete the “Google Groups” assignment. I would be able to keep up with their ability to work in a group with their fellow peers. I think I would like to use the digital story to introduce myself to my students in the future. Since I wish to work with younger children, I feel that might be a little too difficult for them, but I will definitely post a video on my website to share with students and parents. Overall I got so much out of this class that I feel one page does not do my learning experience any justice.

Chapter 12 Reflecton...

Question(1) Reflect on ways to use the classroom website with students

Having a classroom website is probably the easiest form of communication between teachers, students, and parents. Teachers can inform parents and students of their classroom website. The students can see their progress and the activitites that they will be completing within the next few weeks. Parents can keep up with what their child is doing from week to week. The classroom website should also contain links to several other aproved sites that are apprpriate for the children. These sites can act as extra review for the lessons they are learning in class. They should be fun and intersting so that the child enjoys learning. As teachers it is our job to provide our students with a proper education. It is also our duty to make sure that all materials used are age appropriate for the grade level.

Chapter 11 Reflection...

Question(1) Reflect on ways to integrate multimedia tools into their classrooms

There are several ways that multimedia tools can be added to lessons and lectures. This was one of my favorite sections of this class. I feel that students might enjoy creating slideshows or digital stories. These tools can allow students to share a bit of information about themselves with their peers. Slideshows and digital stories can be made unique with sounds, audio, colors and various other options. The students can give their peers insight into their personality without being shy or embarrassed. I think that it would be nice to require your students to complete this activity. Slideshows make presenting information easier and more interesting.

Chapters 9-10 Reflection...

Questions(1)Reflect on ways to integrate databases/spreadsheets in their classrooms

Students can be required to collect and gather information about a certain subject. For example the students could collect the birthdays of their immediate family members. The information could be placed in databases and spreadsheets. The spreadsheet could be used to find the mean, median, and mode of birthdays in each money or year. Teachers could make their students gather information on different countries and then be asked to compare their data in shreadsheet. These tools can be used to store and organise information.

Chapter 8 Reflection...

Question (1) Reflect on ways to integrate digital diagrams into their classrooms.

I must say that once I got the hang of the concept map, I loved it. It is a very interesting way to organize and gather a lot of information. Teachers can use it to describe what units will be covered in class that semester or year. The diagrams can also be used to break down a lesson into different parts. The diagrams also have the outline page that it attached to it. The outline can serve as the notes page, the teacher can right out notes on specific parts of the lesson. I just think that it would be a nice way to organize lessons and units. Students could also be assigned a topic and use the diagram to break up the different parts of their research.

Chapter 6 Reflection...

Question (1) Reflect on ways to integrate word processing into your classroom

There are several different ways to add word processing in to lessons. I would have to say that I would require that all students get to learn word processing programs. Students will have to use programs like these for the rest of their lives. To introduce word processing to younger children, a trip to the computer lab may be needed. That way each student has their own computer and you can teach them how to use the programs. Younger students could practice their typing skills, while old students will need to learn how to use it to complete research papers. You could also assign them extra work outside of school if they are having trouble with the program.

Creating an Electronic Portfolio

I will admit that in class last Monday I was extremely frustrated when it came to this part. I seemed to fall behind and felt like I was missing so much information. Towards the end of the lesson I began just writing down every single step that Dr. Wang was explaining. I truly feel that that is the only reason I have been able to create this portfolio.

I think that electronic portfolios would be useful in creating an electronic folder of all the student's work through out the year. Personally I think it would be neat if every single student was given an electronic portfolio that followed them throughout their education career. It would be nice to see all of their required standards on file. I think that it would have been nice if I would have known about this application during high school. An electronic portfolio could be used to apply for scholarships or certain jobs. I will definitely plan on using this later in my career.

Assistive Technology Assignment

I would like to start off by saying that this activity was very hard for me. I am not a computer genius. After making all the changes on my computer for the different steps I was unable to change it back to normal. I had to end up bringing my computer to someone for them to get all my settings corrected. I was also very unsure about steps 7 & 8. I ended up adding text in mine so that if the child could not focus on the picture, the words are at the bottom in the same hgh contrast colors that were used in step 2.

This activity was very difficult for me. I do think that it is extremely important for all educators to know how to modify all of their assignments and activites for students with disabilities. I have to say that I never knew that my computer was capable of all of those accessability options. I am glad that I now know that if I had to, I could modify clasroom computers so that everyone could access the assignemt. I am also posting my example of the assignment on here. I pasted two versions of my artifact. The first one contains the words on the last few slides and the second one is just the sounds.

Assistive Technology

Assisstive Technology 2

Using Turnitin...

My experience with the "turnitin" website hasn't been bad so far. I have had to use it since I started school at USM. I know that most of the teachers require you to use this when you turn in your major papers. They do this so that they can find the slackers who do not uphold the University's policy on plagiarism. I know that most of my teachers required that you had a certain percentage when they pulled up your paper. I am keeping my fingers crossed, because so far I have never been over 4%.

I feel that it is very important to prove the originality of each student's work. It is not fair that to the students who actually try to write a paper on their own, if their neighbor takes someone else's work and tries to pass it as their own. I think that websites such as these help teachers weed through the people who are really trying and those who waited until the last minute to do their assignment.


Turnitin 1

Turninit 2

Creating a Website...

This was probably my favorite assignment so far. I am a perfectionist and kept changing and updating my site several times. I have not quite finished my reference page, but I am working on it. I feel that it is important for teachers to create classroom websites for their students' parents and community members to see. Sometimes parents want to see and know what their children are leanring in school. If the teacher has their own website set up, then the parents can simply go online and check their child's lessons.

I feel that i would be very goo at this when I start teaching. I find it fun as well as educational. Nine times out of ten parents are learning along with their children. They have already had this type of learning, but they forget about. If a teacher has their own web site they can leave tutorials for parents so that they can help their children with their homework. It is extremely important to show artifacts to higher administration such as principals or board members. Having artifacts allows the teacher to have their back covered in case any type of questioning arises.


Kinder-Class

Chapter 11 Reflection...

Question #1- Reflect on ways to integrate multimedia tools into their classrooms I think that adding slide shows and digital stories is a very good idea. The digital stories give students the chance to express themselves or tell a story in their own words. I would probably use it as an introduction to myself and my classroom for the first day of school. I think it would also be a neat assignment to give the students so that they could share THEIR stories with their fellow classmates. I know that when I was younger we were told on the first day of class that we had to bring and item of value to class the next day and tell the class a little bit about us and our families. I think that seeing pictures and have the students tell the class about their family in their won words would be a wonderful idea. I personally enjoyed making the video. I did not like hearing my voice telling the story. There for, this one is not fully complete. I have to figure out what I would like to say during the video. So I hope you all enjoy this one so far!

Google Tools...

I found this activity in class to be very useful and very helpful. I never new that more than one person could work on a docuement at the same time. Google Docs are very useful because we can store so much information and edit them at anytime. I love that I can invite other people and they can edit my information as well. I think that these type of applications are good tools to use in classrooms with older students. I would definitely use these tools in future assignments in the classroom. It is a great way to tell if everyone in the group is contributing effort and not just one person.

Concept Mapping

Google Groups

I found this assignment to be very insightful and useful. I think that having to look up the five pages that cover what we are learning in class is very helpful to my understanding of technology. I now know different applications that can be used when I am creating a discussion form. I know how to link something to a web page, insert images, and use my Google account. I did not really encounter any problems when creating my postings. The only real issue I had was trying to find information that I thought was important or useful for this class. Some things that are found on the Internet are just useless pages and sites that people create to voice their own opinions. So, it did take me a good bit of reading to find pages that I thought were interesting.

Google Documents is probably my favorite application that our accounts have. I like know that I can use it as a storage unit for all of my useful documents. I am even using it for information and images that have nothing to do with this class. I think that if more people knew how to properly use accounts such as Google, they would use them instead of regular emails. I believe that if you are working with older children as in high school and college, that Google Groups would be useful. This could be used to create groups for your different sections on each class. Each class can have their own group and can complete discussions on what they learned throughout each lesson. If I were to teach older students I would definitely use this tool. I plan on teaching Pre-K through 1st grade. I could use Google Groups to post announcements and notices to parents. I could also give brief descriptions on what their children are learning each week. I am not too sure on how I will utilize this application yet, but I am sure I will figure something out in the future.


I am sorry this is a little late! I thought that the Google Groups reflection was supposed to be posted on our group page.

Web Tools...

I must say that last Monday was a bit stressful for me during the class. I think I got a little behind during the web tools section when we were creating the rubrics. I really did like using those three websites that we learned about. The test maker site was my favorite. I loved all of the different ways it allows you to change up the test itself. My least favorite was creating the rubrics. I found that their examples were a bit wordy and I had to edit half of them myself. Therefor, I think that I would much rather create my own rubrics. TrackStar was very interesting. I had a to remember how to do it all again once I got home to create my own track. I think that it is a very good way to share educational websites with fellow educators, parents, and students. During this assignment i found several websites that I fell in love with. Most of them have great ideas, activites, and teaching techniques that I will definitely use in my classroom. I also like that most of the websites I found had free printables. There were lesson plans, activites, and assessments. FREE educational material is something that all teachers need as some point in their career. We tend to run out of ideas, so we have to borrow other people's to get the light bulb turned back on in our heads.

Please view my artifacts: Rubric, Test, Online Bookmark

GREETINGS...

Just wanted to stop in and tell everyone hello! Hope you all had a funfilled break with lots of beads and parades!!!! I now feel like i can finally relax now that it is all over with! I am actually caught up with all of my posts, if any of you have any suggestions that might help me better my posts please feel free to let me know! See you all in class!

Chapter 5 Reflection...

Question #3: Discuss the advantages/disadvantages of using web-based applications

One of the main advantages of using web-based applications is that now a days they are free. Before we used to have application-based where you had to pay for the applications separately. Now most information we want to retrieve it free. They also allow students/people to communicate with people far away by chatting, emailing, blogging, and photo sharing. It is a simpler way for people to keep in touch with long distance relationships (family, friends, special someone). Web-based applications give the students a bit more freedom to explore the Internet and all that it can offer.

There are several disadvantages in using web-based applications. As teachers we always have to monitor the content of the articles and materials that our students are retrieving or getting into. Pop-ups are everywhere on the Internet. Sometimes the things that can pop up are quite graphic and are not meant for children. When using the Internet we must always be cautious to monitor what our students are viewing!

Chapter 2 Reflection...

Question #2: Reflect on the importance of access to technology

In today's society we are much more technologically advanced than we were in the past five or even ten years. Every year companies come out with new little gadgets such as computers, cell phones, and cameras. I remember when I was in elementary school we only had one computer in each classroom. Those things were dinosaurs compared to the type computer we have today. Back then it was a hassle to send someone an email, and as a matter of fact I do not know if I even knew what an email was during that time. Today our cell phones are like mini computers, we can use them to send emails, receive portfolios for work, and download music. Technology has opened several doors for mankind and now acts as a portal of knowledge and vast information. There are now computers in almost every classroom around the country. Thanks to the Internet we have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. Teachers use the Internet to get lesson plan ideas and examples of assessments for different subjects. We also now have projectors, smart boards, and other advanced pieces of technology in our classrooms these days.

As much as i want to rant and rave about how great technology is, I want to say that i think that it has spoiled us. Thanks to text messaging our children do not know how to hold proper conversations face to face with other people. Their vocabulary is shortened so much, because in a text it is easier to be short and sweet. I will admit that I love to text, but I try to limit myself to not saying things like: "nuthin, aint, k, lol, lmao, jk, cuz"...etc. I feel like in a way we have more knowledge than future generations, but we are a bitter dumber than they were. We do not use big words, we now look for the smallest word that means the same thing. Also because of technology our society it much more lazier than it has ever been. Children stay indoors all day playing X-BOX and computer games, rather than playing outdoors and experience life!

Chapter 1 Reflection...

Question #3: Reflect on the connection between learning outcomes and assessment.

As teachers we use different types of assessments to see how much our students are learning and if our teaching methods are reaching the students. If the teacher's methods of teaching are boring, repetitive, or confusing students will have a harder time comprehending what exactly is being taught. Our assessments that we give our students should contain the same material that was covered in the lesson and should always be age appropriate for the grade level that is being taught. If our lessons are unorganized and unclear our students might not understand the questions that are given on tests or quizzes. Assessments are used to evaluate the comprehension of the information that is discussed during the lesson. learning outcomes reflect on assessment scores. The learning outcome is what the student takes away from each lesson. Are they understanding the lessons or not? Teachers have to give quizzes, tests, and class discussions to make sure that all students are paying attention and soaking in the knowledge that is being taught.

Introduction...

Well, there is not that mch to know about me. My name is Amanda Rouse, most of my friends and family know me as MayMay. I am an Elementary Education major with a minor in Child Development. I want to teach the little ones and eventually open up my own daycare. My background with technology is not too great. I have worked with comptuers and smart boards in school, but other than that I do not know much! I would love to learn more in this class as far as integrating technology in my future lessons.

Welcome...

Hello everyone. Good luck in the class. Hope you all watched the Saints game last night!!! WHO DAT! I am a student at USM.