Fbruary 25, 2010 Exit Slip

Today the attendance question asked who had ever heard of "rickrolling". It was extremely annoying to me that I did not know what that was. I had to look it up as soon as I got back to my computer. It is where when you click on a link you are transferred to a music video on youtube instead. I feel that the contemporary issue topics that we talked about today were interesting. I did not really realize that sexting was such a big issue and that the charges for it were so tough. I am glad that he went over the inquiry projects because I have been a little confused about what is expected of us for this project. I also feel more comfortable about my Scratch project after it being reviewed today because I an much more sure that mine is representing the correct content for the age and the interaction level is what he is wanting (i think).

Chapter 5 Reflection Post

This chapter was interesting to me. I liked the way that it said that computers are used a lot of the time as a “teacher” for students. Instead computers should allow students the opportunity to interact and use the technology to help them construct “mental models” that they can use. That way they are contributing too, it is not just answer this question with something that you have memorized in your head and I (the computer) will tell you if it is right or wrong. The way that the chapter suggests making these models is with “mindtools”. It makes sense to me that teachers should incorporate technology tools for students to organize and gather their thoughts with. The only things I think of is are these really useful if it is something that can easily be done on paper in less time? For example, concept maps, I have only used concept maps to organize my thoughts before writing a paper. They were very easily constructed on paper. We had to make one for our science class on the computer and I felt like it took me forever to get all of the lines to show a connection like I wanted them to. I would have spent more time on the concepts I was highlighting and less on making it look good if I was to do it on paper. On the other hand, I do agree with the textbook authors that spreadsheets are good tools to use. These programs (once figured out) do help with having more accurate data. I know that if I am trying to add a whole row of figures by hand I might miss a number here and there or need to add it multiple times before I get the same answer twice. I like that you can total a whole column on a spreadsheet in a matter of a few clicks. This is much easier than doing it on paper and more useful to me. After reading this chapter I do agree that teachers should incorporate using some type of mindtools into their teaching so students learn to use technology to help them learn. I want to teach the early elementary grades so if I was to incorporate these tools into my teaching I will need to research what is available and try to adapt it to younger students. The book stated that most of these are used for older grades.

February 18th Exit Slip

Today we had Kelsey and Amanda doing their presentation. I really feel that they did really well with their presentation. I liked their examples of websites that they used during their presentations. The cool tools explanation was interesting to me. I really liked the one that Kelly mentioned about the stud website dweeber. I feel that teachers could use this tool to pair students with similar academic levels or varied academic skills to study together or work on assignments together as a group. Erica shared great sites that talk about cyber bullying which is a growing problem in the classrooms today. That bullying is not just an outside of school issue, it carries over into the social aspect of school too. Before she talked about it today I really thought that if a student was being bullied by someone online they could just ignore it or log off of it. But since students are all online and friends of each others online pages, other students can read these comments and carry it over to school. I am interested in figuring out some of the problems that I am having with Scratch at the end of class.

Ch. 4 Supporting Writing with Technology

When I began reading this chapter I was thinking to myself, how can technology really help students with writing? I was thinking that using a computer for writing and having spell check and things help. But I never thought of using an online concept map to organize my thoughts before. It makes sense because I have seen the ones that I have made on paper and a computer based map would be much neater and organized better. In turn would probably mean that I could see what I was thinking more clearly to be able to use what I have recorded. Another tool for writing was teaching students to use power point presentations. My son was making one of these earlier this year. He needed pictures of himself and he created a story based on himself-basically and autobiography. I know that he enjoyed making his presentation because he would come home and tell me about what he was doing. I do agree with the book that sometimes people can get carried away with creating power points and make far too many slides in their presentations. I like how in this class we have been asked not to use this program and explore other presentation options. The site that I found for my meaningful learning website had a place that was for kids to post their own writing on. I like this idea because students will have more pride in their writing. The class we took last semester about teaching us how to teach writing was a lot of work, but we worked so long on a book project that we did that I have tremendous pride in mine that I made. I also agree with the chapter that peer feedback helps make your writing better. Everytime I read my story in class someone would have something that I could add to make my story even better. I also liked the way that we “published” them in a book form. As a future teacher I want to use technology to my advantage when having students write. I want to introduce them to different tools that can help them get their creativity flowing. This is a great way for students to learn about different technology tools and enjoy writing at the same time.

February 4th Exit Slip

Today mostly all I took away from class was the different ways that teachers can use technology in the classrooms. When I read the chapter for today I did not feel that it gave that much information about the differences for microworlds and other things like simulations and virtual worlds. In the class discussion i received a better understanding about what microworlds are. Me and Marissa had our book chapter discussion today. I feel that over all it went pretty well. Having to be aware of the time was a little frustrating and trying not to say umm's and like's is difficult. I really appreciate the way that Jeff spent a little more time reviewing the scratch program because it is hard to start on. I feel more motivated to go home and start on this assignment over the weekend.

Chapter 3

February 5, 2010
Chapter 3
Below is a link to our presentation for today. Please log on and feel free to look around as we get set up.
http://tasandmer.glogster.com/chapter-3/

Chapter 3 Reflection

Chapter three was about how experimenting with technology helps students learn to reason better. It discussed how learners need to use causal reasoning by hypothesizing, conjecturing, experimenting, speculating and testing. This chapter has taught me that students can learn so much more if just the right technology is introduced to them. I did not think that games that have virtual civilizations had much of an academic aspect to them until now. As a teacher I want to take what students are interested in (fun and games online) and incorporate some educational aspects into the mix. The chapter mentions microworlds, simulations, games, and virtual worlds. These ideas are great ways to get students that have various learning styles involved in your lessons. I experimented with most of the sites listed in the chapter. They were pretty cool to play around with. I am very interested in learning how to incorporate these different tools into my teaching some day. I want to teach Kindergarten or First grade, so some may not apply to me but I am always looking at how I can modify the information that I get in my classes for younger grades. I especially like the Jeopardy quiz games site. According to the chapter, for this to be meaningful learning for students and not just memorization, the questions need to have meaningful responses. Not just answers that are previously memorized. I feel like I could use this tool for studying for different tests with my students. Jeopardy was the first computer game I had when I was younger and I loved to play it. Well let me rephrase that, it was the only computer game that me and my sister had when we got our first computer. I am glad that my kids have an opportunity to learn in so many different ways that when I was in school. I can remember when our middle school first got computers in a new computer lab. We only had two games to play on them (Oregon Trail & Where in the world is Carmen San Diego-I think) and but we all looked forward to going to the lab every week. The learning games that are offered know includes so much more. For example, the SimCity one mentioned in the chapter. The players are in control of their land and property. This is such an interesting game. The only thing I wonder about is that students may become so involved into the game that they think that it is real.