Monday, April 27, 2009

Reflection

When I first walked into this classroom, I didn't know what to expect. I thought maybe it would have been mostly bookwork but when I we got further into class I realized it wasn't that. In this class, I found that all the tools and instruments we used were helpful to me. The blogging was used to post things and ideas. Blogging can also help you and other teachers share different lesson plans. Podcasting took a lot of time but it also can be helpful. You can use it in the classroom by giving the children a different option of the way they learn new material. Also if you have a sub, you can let them listen to the podcast so the sub wont have to teach it. Learning about what google has to offer was extremely helpful because if I didn't take this class then I probably wouldn't know about the free tools they have to offer.Google has power point presentations, notebooks, maps, news, and email. All of the services,you can use for free. Overall, I found this class to be extremely helpful because I can use them in my classroom.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Twitter

Twitter is a service for friends and family to keep in touch with each other. It also keeps thing simple that other chat services don't. If you are using twitter on the phone then it will just instantly let you know that you got a status update instead of looking at everything else that you don't want to look at. You also can get cute twitter backgrounds to make it more interesting. It won't just be a boring page with nothing to look at.
I think twitter can be good for a teacher because if you have a hearing impaired student in your classroom and they weren't financially able to afford the technology then the teacher could tell the student what the assignment is regardless of they are in the classroom or at home. Also it could be good for a teacher because other teachers can communicate with it by sharing their ideas of things on twitter or informing teachers about other things that are going on.
The negative effects of twitter could be that students and teachers could be easily distracted by all the technology and not want to stay off of twitter because you are socializing with people you know. Another negative thing about it is that everyone doesn't have access to a computer or a phone with internet on it.
As a teacher I don't think I am going to use twitter in my classroom unless it is necessary and as an individual I may use it eventually.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Podcast

The podcast is something new to me but they are OK. It explains to you how to do things or get a lesson taught. It also says the title at the beginning. It tells you who will be speaking to you. It gives references. The podcast tells the listener what the objective is and what they will be listening to. They ask questions. It should be at a pace where the listener can take notes.

I like that one of the podcast explained how podcasting works. It gives step after step how it works. If kids have a ipod then they can listen to the podcast on the ipod. They can pause and replay. Also if they need to go back and listen they can have that option also. Students could also comment on the podcast with a website that they get from the podcast.

The podcast also have music playing in the beginning and someone introducing. Podcast is more like a conversation with the people. You discuss the pros and cons of a topic. You can interview and cite sources in it. You get to use notes but it is suppose to be a natural conversation.

At the end of the podcast you have to wrap it up with an end conversation. You also talk about experiences with the subject. The only thing is you dont get hands on experience. You can discuss it with the person if they give you a website but not if it is something that needs to be demonstrated.

Monday, February 16, 2009

International teacher blogs





A teacher that teaches in an Asian high school is trying to make education and poltics come together. He wants the students to see the different things from different points of view in which should happen. People have a right to their opinion. Also, kids get different lectures in history then they do in college. If you teach what is not on the curriculum then you are likely to get fired or your students will not pass.


On this blog I like it because everyone can stay in touch with each other. They also have all their events and what is going on in the school. If you are not satisfied with something then you just write a blog or leave a comment. Also, it has photos and forms you can download for the school.

US Teacher blogs


ATQS (3)(c) 1.(iii); (3)(c) 4.(i); (3)(c) 4.(ii)

The first blog I read about a Spanish teacher that teach in Chicago. What I found interesting about it was that she quoted Brittney Spears on her song circus. That is what really caught my eye. She said "when you are running a classroom it is like running a circus.'' It is because it is different acts and the teacher is a ring leader. I find it true because you have to engage with their students differently children are different.

http://mathematicslearning.blogspot.com/search/label/Algebra%20tileS
The second blog that I read was how to teach Algebra with tiles which I found really interesting because I never heard anyone do it like that before.You use tiles to represent the equation and count it out from there. I thought it was neat becaue I never saw a math teacher teach algebra hands on

Monday, February 2, 2009

Google's rumored GDrive may 'kill' the PC

In the article, Google's rumored GDrive may 'kill' the PC, it is saying that the GDrive can crash your computer but also a hard drive can crash and anything you saved to it could be destroyed. The G drive is wonderful because you never know when your computer could fail you but if you have it saved on a web based program then you can access it anywhere instead of either buying a jump drive or using up all your memory on your computer.
It also may work against you because some people don't have internet access everywhere they go and if they save it to the jumpdrive then they could pull it up on a computer with no internet access.

Changing the way we think

In the article, Change the way we think, it is saying that the way internet and television differs on the way that the brain works is making more people not think the same anymore. It is especially targeted at the google website that people start to struggle. In my opinion, the internet and television can alter your mind but only if that is the only sources you are getting information from. Television is a source you can get a lot of information but if it isn't a show on that particular subject then you won't know much about it at all. The internet can make you lazy because of the way it breaks everything down for you. If you search something then you can get it broken down for you and not have to read a whole lot. You can miss a lot of things that can be important. If you read to back up what you are looking for then you will have all the knowledge that you need instead of getting bits and pieces. You will also get the all parts of knowledge from different sources.