Chapter 9, like other another chapter in the book, started off with talking about different mapping techniques that can be used with students on the computer. For examples, the book talked about using Google Earth, as well as other GPS type systems, in the classroom for different lessons in geography. The book also had useful ideas for teachers to use in the classroom for visualizing math ideas with different softwares such as MathLab and Statistical Analysis System.
It is sometimes very hard for students to get concepts with just picturing them inside of their head. They need more to go on and something more concrete than just a mental picture. These types of models are especially good for visual learners and spatial learners. Students can also use these types of systems to represent their data.
I enjoyed reading this chapter a lot because of the fact that it went into how students an visual with digital cameras and phones. Almost all students these days have digital cameras and cameras on their phones. Teachers should take advantage of these devices and allow the students to use them in the classroom as a medium for learning. In the book, it had the great idea of digital documentaries. These can be about anyone or anything and this type of project allows the student to have a lot of control and creativity.
It is more fun for the students to make a video in the classroom about something and learn while they create than just to sit down and watch a video someone else made about something they may not relate to. This way, they are truly learning with technology, not just from it. They can also share their creations with the class and perhaps spark someone else s interest in a subject or medium.
I have used Windows MovieMaker before when creating a movie, but I am not by any means an expert. By the time that I start teaching, I am sure my students will be more familiar with these types of technologies and can show me a thing or two about how to use them. I am familiar enough with Movie Maker and iMovie that I could get the students started if need be and then let them explore the software and do different things with their movies.
More resources:
http://www.jumpcut.com/
http://www.picnik.com/
Monday, March 16, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Ch. 8- Designing with Technologies
Chapter 8 focused on how students can design different types of things using the technologies in their classroom. The chapter first introduced the CAD system where students can create layouts of different areas and also put together different types of shapes to create a figure. The chapter then talks about how students can create games and simulations using different software, such as Scratch. Then, the chapter goes into composing music on the computer, which I want to get in to later.
I am very unfamiliar with using programs such as CAD or Pro/DESKTOP to design or build architectural things. I would probably not use this type of technology in my classroom with my students, and it would probably be more suited for students in upper-middle school and high school. I could also see this technology being useful at a Vocational school to be taught as a skill.
To reflect a little bit about students building games in the classroom, using such software like Scratch, I think that it is something that I would most certainly use with my students. I want to teach 4th grade eventually and think that it is a great outlet for students to be creative, especially since there may not be art and music in the schools by the time I look for a job (which makes me sad!). In the class the other day when we were discussing the use of this program, I felt as though many of the other girls in the class did not want to use it because they were almost afraid of it and think that because they may not be able to do it, a 2nd grader won’t be able to either.
To bring up a commercial that has been on recently, PCs have been advertising the fact that a 4 and 7 year old can use these computers and the technologies that go along with them, and I see no reason why a younger elementary student couldn’t use SCRATCH.
To move on slightly, I was intrigued that the book included music software, where students could learn to “compose” their own music. I have always had a passion for music and was a Music Education major at my old college before switching my major to transfer to UF. Because of program cuts in the creative and performing arts areas in schools these days, I think that it is VERY important for teachers to compensate for these programs in any way that they can. Having software where students can play around with music and different types of instruments on the computer is a great way for them to even be introduced to it without having an actual music teacher. I plan on incorporating music a lot in my classroom and finding out that these soft wares are available is great news to me.
Other resources:
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Chapter 7: Communicating With Technologies
Chapter 7 was again about communicating with technologies. To chat online, people need to remember that it is much more informal than talking face to face. With face to face interaction, it is much easier to "read" someone and how they are feeling about a topic than it is online. Talking online can sometimes send people the wrong messages only because you cannot use any type of expression in your typing like you can with hand movements and facial features.
With those disadvantages out of the way, forums and chat room-type places for students can be a very good way for them to express their feelings about a topic in class without feeling threatened or embarrassed about what they have to say. Like the book says, computer conferencing allows students to reflect on their ideas and responses before they even make them. This is helpful to learners who need to think about everything they say before they say it, and because of this they often do not have time to respond in class.
One great resource in the book was the Student Talk discussion board, it is a place where students can go to talk about anything with one another, and this is again a great way to build relationships with other people. Teachers can also utilize these discussion boards by using threaded discussions and they can be sorted by author, subject, and title, much like how we do them on Moodle or Blackboard.
Teachers can also use these types of forums and discussion boards when they want to talk about their teaching experiences and share ideas with one another about different lessons, etc. Many of us have used Blackboard in other classes and now we are all using Moodle for our education classes, and I believe that the forums (although mandatory) are a great way for students to get ideas from their peers and build on to their growing list of resources.
The book goes into iEARN, Global Schoolhouse and ePALS again, and as I said last week, I believe that this is a great way for students to build relationships with people who are different than them and it is a great learning opportunity.
I explored the ePALS website and was thoroughly impressed by it because of how user-friendly it was and also about how much information was on it. The website offered student forums as well as teacher and family forums. What I was most impressed with was that there was somewhere students can go to post their thoughts on current events, including the historic election and things going on with our environment. Students certainly have thoughts and feelings about these things and it is very important for their voices to be heard.
The book also went into video and radio podcasting, which is along the same lines are regular podcasting, but allows the students a little more creativity than regular podcasts.
Here are two additional resources I found while reading this chapter:
http://www.podbean.com/start-podcast?sourceid=goog_006s
Where Mom's can use a forum also
With those disadvantages out of the way, forums and chat room-type places for students can be a very good way for them to express their feelings about a topic in class without feeling threatened or embarrassed about what they have to say. Like the book says, computer conferencing allows students to reflect on their ideas and responses before they even make them. This is helpful to learners who need to think about everything they say before they say it, and because of this they often do not have time to respond in class.
One great resource in the book was the Student Talk discussion board, it is a place where students can go to talk about anything with one another, and this is again a great way to build relationships with other people. Teachers can also utilize these discussion boards by using threaded discussions and they can be sorted by author, subject, and title, much like how we do them on Moodle or Blackboard.
Teachers can also use these types of forums and discussion boards when they want to talk about their teaching experiences and share ideas with one another about different lessons, etc. Many of us have used Blackboard in other classes and now we are all using Moodle for our education classes, and I believe that the forums (although mandatory) are a great way for students to get ideas from their peers and build on to their growing list of resources.
The book goes into iEARN, Global Schoolhouse and ePALS again, and as I said last week, I believe that this is a great way for students to build relationships with people who are different than them and it is a great learning opportunity.
I explored the ePALS website and was thoroughly impressed by it because of how user-friendly it was and also about how much information was on it. The website offered student forums as well as teacher and family forums. What I was most impressed with was that there was somewhere students can go to post their thoughts on current events, including the historic election and things going on with our environment. Students certainly have thoughts and feelings about these things and it is very important for their voices to be heard.
The book also went into video and radio podcasting, which is along the same lines are regular podcasting, but allows the students a little more creativity than regular podcasts.
Here are two additional resources I found while reading this chapter:
http://www.podbean.com/start-podcast?sourceid=goog_006s
Where Mom's can use a forum also
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Chapter 6: Community Building with Technologies
It is highly important for students to be able to learn about how to build relationships with one another and with people that they do not necessarily know yet. As a teacher, it is our job not only to teach them math and how to read, but also how to build such relationships in a healthy, and globally friendly manner. Chapter 6 was about how to build such communities using technology in the classroom.
There are many great examples in the book on how to do just this. The book gave examples of Wikis (who knew there were so many!), blogging, forums, and also what to use to build international relationships and communications. As a reflection, I believe that this chapter is one of the most important chapters of the entire book thus far. I believe strongly that students should learn how to build healthy relationships with the people that they see in class each day and also with people who have different backgrounds than themselves.
Being someone of a different race and culture, I would have very much liked for my teachers to have included something like this in our classrooms. Although I am aware that there was not necessarily the technology for it, there were ways for them to branch out and help us to experience different things, but they did not take advantage of this. I think that KidLink and the Global Schoolhouse resources in this chapter will be great things to use in the classroom. Students will be able to practice how to communicate with people of a different culture and language and the students on the other side will be doing the same. If there is an ESL student in the classroom, this is also a great way for he/she to still use their primary language and to also practice their English in letting the rest of the class know what the other student is saying.
Blogging I think is another great tool to use in the classroom. Like the book says, it gives students the opportunity to let their voice be heard when they may be too shy for it to be inside the classroom. It also is a great alternative to book projects by allowing the students to post their thoughts of a book or an assigned chapter. It keeps things interesting and the kids are able to use technology and the internet to do their homework, which will be more encouraging I think to them then just sitting down and writing a report about what they read.
Although I did not register for KidLink (I can't handle another username and password!), the website was much less advanced than I thought it would be. There were several different languages that could have been chosen by students which I liked and it said that it was a safe process for students, which is always a concern for teachers and parents.
I have often used Wikipedia online to do random research for some things, and was always told not to use it, but I never knew why. Now that I know what a Wiki actually is, I think that teachers have to be very careful in what their students are finding on these types of sites. I explored Mediawiki, Wikiquote and also Wiktionary and all three of these sites are very user friendly and can be very useful in the classroom as long as the students are shown the correct and safe way to use them and to also know that some of the information may not be correct and if they are in doubt, they need to have the resources to find out the truth.
Overall, I found this chapter to be highly useful and I was able to find some resources myself to use in the classroom in addition to the ones in the book.
Here are two other resources that I found that can be used in the classroom:
http://my.echalk.com/?elqPURLPage=55?g=blogs&gclid=CPqnvc_N3JgCFRxN5QodjChCcg
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/studwikis/
There are many great examples in the book on how to do just this. The book gave examples of Wikis (who knew there were so many!), blogging, forums, and also what to use to build international relationships and communications. As a reflection, I believe that this chapter is one of the most important chapters of the entire book thus far. I believe strongly that students should learn how to build healthy relationships with the people that they see in class each day and also with people who have different backgrounds than themselves.
Being someone of a different race and culture, I would have very much liked for my teachers to have included something like this in our classrooms. Although I am aware that there was not necessarily the technology for it, there were ways for them to branch out and help us to experience different things, but they did not take advantage of this. I think that KidLink and the Global Schoolhouse resources in this chapter will be great things to use in the classroom. Students will be able to practice how to communicate with people of a different culture and language and the students on the other side will be doing the same. If there is an ESL student in the classroom, this is also a great way for he/she to still use their primary language and to also practice their English in letting the rest of the class know what the other student is saying.
Blogging I think is another great tool to use in the classroom. Like the book says, it gives students the opportunity to let their voice be heard when they may be too shy for it to be inside the classroom. It also is a great alternative to book projects by allowing the students to post their thoughts of a book or an assigned chapter. It keeps things interesting and the kids are able to use technology and the internet to do their homework, which will be more encouraging I think to them then just sitting down and writing a report about what they read.
Although I did not register for KidLink (I can't handle another username and password!), the website was much less advanced than I thought it would be. There were several different languages that could have been chosen by students which I liked and it said that it was a safe process for students, which is always a concern for teachers and parents.
I have often used Wikipedia online to do random research for some things, and was always told not to use it, but I never knew why. Now that I know what a Wiki actually is, I think that teachers have to be very careful in what their students are finding on these types of sites. I explored Mediawiki, Wikiquote and also Wiktionary and all three of these sites are very user friendly and can be very useful in the classroom as long as the students are shown the correct and safe way to use them and to also know that some of the information may not be correct and if they are in doubt, they need to have the resources to find out the truth.
Overall, I found this chapter to be highly useful and I was able to find some resources myself to use in the classroom in addition to the ones in the book.
Here are two other resources that I found that can be used in the classroom:
http://my.echalk.com/?elqPURLPage=55?g=blogs&gclid=CPqnvc_N3JgCFRxN5QodjChCcg
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/studwikis/
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Chapter 5: Modeling with Technologies
Chapter 5 is entitled "Modeling with Technologies" and is about how students can use models to expand on their learning. Using any type of technology in the classroom with students allows them to show their peers and the teacher what they have learned and allows them to represent their internal and mental understanding of a subject. In this course we are learning how to use technologies in a way to enhance learning, not simply to teach the students in place of a real teacher. This was also emphasized by this chapter in the book. The book went into learning with concept maps and other types of advanced modeling for higher learning.
Without going into too much of a summary of the chapter, I would like to talk about my thoughts on this particular chapter. I have always learned how to do webs in order to organize my thoughts before I was supposed to write a story. These, however, were a different type of concept map and models. The examples shown in the book were of a great variety and I believe that most of them I would try and use with my students, but at a lower level. I want to teach 4th grade students, but I do expect them to not slack off and to always do their best. With this being said, I will try to challenge them more than my 4th grade teacher did for me and using concept maps to show their learning is a great way for them to show their internal and mental understanding of a story or a subject.
I would definitely need to explore these different tools much more before having my future students work with them, but as they do they will also teach me how to use the program better. One program that I enjoyed in the book was modeling with databases. This seemed like an easier way to use models in students' understanding and is a great way to keep this information on record for the classroom. There are many great tools available for teachers to use on the internet, and a great one that I found is at inspiration.com, where teachers can find great softwares to use in the classroom for things like concept mapping. There are also many freeware concept mapping sites that teachers can go to.
As far as classroom application goes, I would have my students use this type of modeling mainly with stories, but it can really be used across the curriculum. If my students were to do a research type project on types of rainforest animals, they could use a concept map using technology to map out what they learned and then present it to the class in a very informal type of setting, instead of having to do a long essay on all of the facts that they learned about their animal. This type of project is more fun and interactive for the class and something that I think they would enjoy.
Resources:
http://www.inspiration.com/Freetrial#Kidspiration
http://www.thebrain.com/?gclid=CK69jd-V0pgCFRJ4xgodUnZ0ug
Without going into too much of a summary of the chapter, I would like to talk about my thoughts on this particular chapter. I have always learned how to do webs in order to organize my thoughts before I was supposed to write a story. These, however, were a different type of concept map and models. The examples shown in the book were of a great variety and I believe that most of them I would try and use with my students, but at a lower level. I want to teach 4th grade students, but I do expect them to not slack off and to always do their best. With this being said, I will try to challenge them more than my 4th grade teacher did for me and using concept maps to show their learning is a great way for them to show their internal and mental understanding of a story or a subject.
I would definitely need to explore these different tools much more before having my future students work with them, but as they do they will also teach me how to use the program better. One program that I enjoyed in the book was modeling with databases. This seemed like an easier way to use models in students' understanding and is a great way to keep this information on record for the classroom. There are many great tools available for teachers to use on the internet, and a great one that I found is at inspiration.com, where teachers can find great softwares to use in the classroom for things like concept mapping. There are also many freeware concept mapping sites that teachers can go to.
As far as classroom application goes, I would have my students use this type of modeling mainly with stories, but it can really be used across the curriculum. If my students were to do a research type project on types of rainforest animals, they could use a concept map using technology to map out what they learned and then present it to the class in a very informal type of setting, instead of having to do a long essay on all of the facts that they learned about their animal. This type of project is more fun and interactive for the class and something that I think they would enjoy.
Resources:
http://www.inspiration.com/Freetrial#Kidspiration
http://www.thebrain.com/?gclid=CK69jd-V0pgCFRJ4xgodUnZ0ug
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