Technology Article 2

Sheppard Software

This website claims to "make learning fun", and I would have to agree!  There are literally hundreds of interactive activities for children (and adults) to use.  There are links to geography games where a student can visualize the continents of the world, see the different countries, learn their capitals and gain an understanding of their landscape and culture.  There are interactives that teach students about health and exercise, ways for them to learn medical terminology and understand what causes/prevents a stroke.  One of the tools I am gong to use in my classroom is under the vocabulary link.  Students are to figure out the meaning of a word and then they are quizzed in an interactive game.  The words are all used in the standard SAT test.  This will be a great way for students to study without the typical structured way of studying for the SAT.  Although my 4th grade students will not be taking this test for several years, it will be fun for them to add a new word to their vocabulary each week.

A few other topics available for students are Astronomy, Chemistry, Endangered Animals, and Math.  Within the math link there are games that challenge even the best math students.  I actually found them very helpful as a review for myself, not just the students.  When the students feel like they have mastered a math concept they can challenge their time and see how fast they can go.  There are many, many more topics to choose from and each one links you to games and information that will create hours of learning for educators to use in the classroom. This is just one more fabulous tool to use in the world of technology!

Technology Article 1

Utah History For Kids

This Website is an incredible resource for students in the 4th grade. It is loaded with historical facts and interesting ways to help children understand Utah state history.  There are several games students can play, one of which is "History Detective" where they are instructed to take a few minutes and study a picture, focusing on the details. Then they take a little test at the end to see how much they remember.  For every activity students are learning skills they will need as they read informative essays and analyze information throughout their education. There is a link to a UT history Encyclopedia that is packed full of history, plus over 250 pictures to scroll through and study as well.  Within this link there is also "Utah History To Go" which is an online resource where students can read articles from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Another part of this website that I love is a link entitled "jump in" where students can dive deeper into understanding and analyzing information.  Just one of the interesting facts shared is the comparison of how people lived thousands of years ago and how we love.  The authors make the kids think about the similarities of living in a house like we live in compared to living in a cave.  All of the tabs within this website give you one simple sentence such as "In 1854 grasshopper plagues endanger crops."  Just enough information to peak their curiosity and keep their attention.  This website is a great "Tool in Technology."

Final Project

Yippeeeeee!!  I can't believe the semester is coming to a close.  This class has been a great stretch for my little brain.  I have definitely been challenged and have come to appreciate technology in the classroom.  I don't think I would have EVER stepped outside of my comfort zone and researched the many different software programs available to students and teachers if I were not required to take this class.  

I have really enjoyed being pushed into discovering the amazing tools available at our fingertips.  Not only have I gained a lot of knowledge, I have made several new friends along the way.  Thank you Sandie for your inspirational and humorous way of teaching technology!  I will look forward to taking part 2 from you in a year or so!

The final stretch!

I appreciated all the time we had in class to work on our final project.  Each section seems to be a little bit of a challenge mixed with just the right amount of fun and learning.  I feel like I have acquired several new skill that will help me day to day as well as in my career as a teacher.  My only concern is the fact that I don't want to forget how to use and access the many, many different software programs I have found.  I am looking forward to getting a lot of pactice as I continue my eduation.  By the time I am finished with my Master's degree I figure there will be a whole new world of softward at our fingertips.  I'm excited to see what the future holds for technology in education.

Kidspiration/Inspiration

We were asked this week to play around on "Kidspiration"/"Inspiration" for 30 min. or so. The biggest problem I had was making myself stop after 30 minutes. By the time I was done "playing" I realized I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface. What an incredible resource for teachers and their students! "Kidspiration" seemed to be geared more toward younger children and "Inspiration" was geared for a little bit older student, but both were amazing!

A few of the activities I tried on "Kidspiration" were, "Alike and Different", "Balanced Meals" and the "50 States". In the "Alike and Different" category a student learns to group similar items. After removing items that do not belong and finding a new item that matches the others the student then moves to step two. This step involves critical thinking as the student must think about what makes these items alike, such as animals, or flowers. Then the student is to write down these similarities. Since students learn in several different ways, this is a great tool to help children learn the same idea from many angles.

"Balanced Meals" was a lot of fun. Students are to create a nutritious meal from the library of food items displayed on the side. The students drag the items onto the lunch tray and creat a healty choice of foods for their meal. There are several choices of "junk food" items as well as healthy foods for them to choose from. What a creative way for children to learn to make good food choices when faced with many options.

The "50 States" were a great tool as well. Each state was layed out like a puzzle. Students are to move the states into their proper location on the map and make the United States look as it should. Then they can add labels with the democraphics of the state featuring items such as the state capital, or the terrain in the area...

Mathematics were very colorful and fun for the students as well. The children could learn even basic statistics by learning to use bar graphs from data they can pull from at school. One way they could do this would be to count how many students ate each different meal for lunch in their classroom. The possiblities in "Kidspiration" were endless!

Like I said earlier, "Inspiration" seemed geared toward a little bit older crowd, but had very similar software. The students were able to have help outlining and creating an essay, doing a science experiment, adding hyperlinks to their projects and increasing their vocabulary.

One of many tools inspiration has is a word guide to pull from as you are writing research papers and essay's . If the student were to type in a word such as "happy", not only would they be told it is an adjective, they would also be given a huge list of synonyms as well as Antonymsn(the opposite meaning). The student can then click "insert" and it will automatically insert the word into the writing assignment.

As the students read a book they can also take the main character and find how every other character in the book influences or connects to the main cahracter, such as enemies, friends, relatives, school friends... Students are then able to practice retaining and recalling information which is a skill they will need throughout all of their years of school.

If taken advantage of in the classroom, this software, like all the others we have been learning to use are a wonderful resource for students and educators everywhere!

Powerpoint Presentations

This week both class periods consisted of presenting and watching others present their powerpoint presentations.  I have been impressed by the endless possibilities available through this one piece of technology.  

We were divided into groups.  Each person was assigned a different segment to work on.  I found that it can be helpful to work with other students who have had significant experience with computers, but sometimes it comes so naturally that they just prefer to do it themselves. My favorite project that we worked together on was our comic strip.  We downloaded it to a google account and everyone was able to work on it from home.  Thankfully everyone carried their weight and it ended up turning out well. 

The presentation of our first project infront of the class was pretty frustrating because the music didn't attach like it was supposed to, but we learned from our mistake and now we know what we need to do next time.  I have also learned which students I would want to work with down the road and what we could do to make the finished product more polished and ready to go.

As I refelect on the past several weeks participating in this class I have come to truly appreciate technology. It has been such an exhilarating experience as I've accomplished things I never would have imagined I could do.  I'm looking forward to what is yet to come!

Powerpoint!

This has been one of my favorite weeks in my technology class.  We've been working on 2 different Powerpoint presentations as a group, and lucky for me the other students that joined me are fabulous on the computer.  The taught me several shortcuts and some great tools that will save a lot of time as I put together projects in the classroom.  

For the first presentation our group decided to make a comic strip. Since we LOVE UEN so much (LOL) we did the comic based on the 7 dwarfs and tied each of their personalities into the PPT.  It was fun to see the finished product. 

For the second project we made a book mark with a picture of Helen Keller and inserted one of her an inspirational quotes.  This would be a great way to introduce a new author to my students as they are preparing to read a book.  Another idea would be to have the students even create their own bookmarks. 

  

I am looking forward to next week when we get to present our finished product with the students in another class.  I'm a little bit intimidated to stand up and do the presentation, but that's actually a blessing in disguise because it means my comfort zone will continue to expand which is always a good thing!

Digital Cameras

We have learned a lot this past couple of  weeks about Digital photography.  Sandie asked us to read 3 articles which were all very informative.  The first one was regarding 100 uses for digital photography.  Five of my personal favorites were 1) Using a digital camera to create a "thank you" card/power point with pictures from their presentation to send to guest speakers, 2) Using digital photography students could create "all about me" type of presentation to show the class when they get "student of the week".  3) I liked the suggestion was to create a seating chart using digital photography. This will be something I implement since I am not very good with names until I've seen the person several times. 4) The idea of taking photos of nouns, verbs, adjectives... would be extremely helpful for students while studying English. Studies have shown that learning the same concepts in different ways increase the ability to retain information. 5)Making a calendar of memories throughout the school year would be another fun way for students to recall all that they have learned and take it home to share with their parents.  There were many great suggestions which I will incorporate in my teaching.

Another article I read was the 10 tips for using/purchasing a digital camera.  I need to print this off when I go pick out my next camera in order to be sure I am getting the most bang for my buck! The article also discusses many of the features on the camera and how to make them work for me.  I am going to try to figure out how to use the "continuous mode" on my camera the next time I pull it out.

The third article I read was regarding a kindergarten class that was introduced to digital cameras.  The educators found through using digital photography students were not only learning skills that will be a benefit throughout their lives, but their reading and retention skills were improving as well.  The teachers had students take pictures from throughout the year to put together a presentation to take home and show their parents.  This was one way the parents were able to get a better feel for what their children were being taught at school.

We also learned how to put together a power point presentation.  Our group focused on the 4th grade geology lesson.  We did it specifically on rocks.  I downloaded the theme song to "Rocky" and added that to my power point... kinda fun!

I think I'm finally beginning to catch up a little bit in this class.  Whew!!!!!  

Power Point

This weeks focus has been learning to use "Power Point".  I've always used the iphoto version which I love, but I am finding there are a lot of things that are not available on my Mac that I can do on PP, and vice versa.  We are just beginning to scratch the surface on the many tools that are available, but I can tell it's going to be an interesting couple of weeks. I actually made my first slideshow for one of my professors and received extra credit for doing it.  I'm thinking it was a great way to practice my new found skills =) and earn a few bonus points at the same time.  

On Thursday we were taught how to add a link to our power point presentations so that you can go from any slide on the presentation back to the first slide just by clicking on the link.  This upcoming week we are going to practice with a small group of students as we take pictures on our digital cameras, download the photo's and make a small PP to use for teaching a subject appropriate for the grade level we are planning to teach. We chose to do ours on rocks and minerals.  "Power Point" will be a skill I will use frequently as a student for the next 5 years. Once I have this  mastered  I will be able to use it as I teach  in my classroom as well as use it to be able to help my own kids make awesome presentations they can use to "wow" their teachers.   

Kathy Schrock's Website

This weeks assignment was  great!  We were asked to go to Kathy Schrock's website and look around to see what tools we would find useful in our classroom.  On the website she has been nick named the "Gadget Queen" which definitely seems like an appropriate name for Kathy.

One  of my favorite links she shared was "Dumpr"  where a person can create unique projects with their pictures.  One of Kathy's ideas is for educators to have their students use this site in order to create an "about me" slide presentation.  What a fun suggestion!

I also liked the ability I have on her site to go into archived information to look at several years worth of ideas for how to better improve the students ability to learn.  One of the links took me to a side entitled "wordtalk" which is a software program that is a free plug-in that makes it possible for someone who has a difficult time understanding or reading text to hear the instructions when they are using "microsoft word".  It even has a talking dictionary incase there are misspelled words.

I am looking forward to the future when I will have more time in order to look around Kathy's website in more detail so that I can explore the many different tools she has to share when it comes to technology in the classroom.

Kathy Schrock's Website

This past week we were given an assignment to look up Kathy Schrock's website.  WOW!!!  I couldn't believe how much information is there.  I literally could have spent hours following links to all sorts of information available to educators and students.  This "Gadget Queen" as she is called has shared some incredible insights

Internet Safety and Evaluation

This week was extremely challenging for me with the 2 huge assignments we were given.  I don't think they were supposed to take as long as they did, but at least several other students felt the same way.  

Although these projects were very time consuming I gained a lot of knowledge I will use in the future.  Some of the things that were helpful were the ability to recognize an authentic website.  I learned what things to look for if they are or are not a valid site.  Things like;  Image quality, Tech support available, grammatical errors, author credibility, and if there are breadcrumbs at the top of the webpage to help me navigate back to where I began from the moment I opened up the site.  Another way is to pay attention to the URL.  Just by looking for things like .edu, or .gov and symbols such as "~" automatically throw up a red flag that this is a personal site.

Another thing I learned was how to help children be safe as they are chatting online.  I had never even heard about how people can bully children online.  It makes me sick to think that there are so many sexual predators online and how deceptive they are as they lure children in without them realizing it's happening. 

I am going to teach my children at home as well as at school how to recognize a good website as well as how to be safe while surfing the web.  What a great plus this will be in the classroom and at home. 

Internet Safety

UEN Reflection Paper

This weeks assignment has been a little bit more than I was expecting.  The UEN website is absolutely amazing, yet it is also very, very overwhelming.  It has literally a world of information available if you know where to look.    I have been working on this assignment for the past 5 hours or so and I am still not finished.   If I had nothing else to do I would love to spend 5 more hours looking at all of the resources that are available, but since I have several more hours of homework in other classes still to do, I've decided to take a break and wait until Tuesday to ask "Doc" how to finish these little items that have stumped me.

The Pioneer library is one of my favorite resources that I am definitely going  to use in my home with my own children until I am officially a teacher.  What a fabulous way for my students to find ideas for projects and get unlimited information to write research papers not to mention the incredible resource it will be for me as I am trying to create lesson plans that will be fun and interesting to the children. 

Within this website are unlimited amounts of ideas for interactive activities for every subject you can think of.  I believe that this one resource that helps you stay focused on the Core Curriculum while having a blast learning from educationally sound resources will absolutely change how I will teach.  I can hardly wait to share the information I have found with my kids.  It will be great practice so I don't forget how to maneuver around the UEN website.  I LOVE THIS!  

Still Going Strong

This week we have been learning some really cool stuff.  On Tuesday we learned how to make a google site.  It was fun playing with the layout of the page as well as adding images and creating my own project. 

I can imagine how effective this would be in the classroom when we have a student of the week.  It would be fun to highlight different aspects of that students life with pictures of his/her family or allowing them to show off some of their favorite things or 10 of their personal dreams.  Once it was created their parents, grandparents... could all have fun celebrating the students success no matter where in the world these loved ones live.

Another thing I learned by going in and talking to our instructor "Sandie" before class on Thursday was how to use the google calendar.  I was planning to purchase a  Franklin day planner, but now that I have learned how effective this tool can be I'm going to save the cash for something else.  With the calendar I can put in my cell phone number and request a text to be sent 15 min. before an activity reminding me to get it in gear!  No more being late to class because I was in the middle of studying for another class and lost track of the time.  LOL   Also, I have no reason to forget another birthday ever since I'll be reminded in plenty of time!  In my classroom I can completely organize my day, week and month.  If something needs to be rescheduled all I have to do is move it to another day with the click of the mouse.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

I'm looking forward to what we will be taught today about my UEN website.  More to come later...

I LOVE A GOOD CHALLENGE!

This week has been filled with new adventures for me.  I am overcoming many of my "fears" of working with computers and learning to relax and enjoy these assignments.  Already I feel empowered as I am learning to use programs like "Microsoft Word" and excel spreadsheets.  I was a little bit stressed when a 20 minute assignment turned into a 1 1/2 hour assignment because the software was so unfamiliar to me, but in the end I have decided that I am going to purchase "Word" for Macintosh users.  Our instructor "Doc" Waters is a Mac fan like me, but she has all the programs that make it possible to do anything a PC user can do.  I have come to realize that there are many things that I am currently unable to do.  For example, I love the way I can create documents at just the click of the mouse,  or create fun and informative spreadsheets.   

One of our projects this week was to create a spreadsheet using information from the summer Olympics and how many gold medals were won by each country.  What used to look so hard and impressive became something I can actually do myself!  I can't wait to go home and turn my personal budget into a spreadsheet and do a pie chart that will show me how I'm actually using my money each month and where I need to cut back in order to increase my savings.

  

Another one of our assignments was to create our "Dream Computer".  In reality that's all it  is... a dream, but let me tell you, my dream computer was loaded with everything from a 30" monitor to enough memory to  last a lifetime. We had to find all of the parts on the internet and put pictures of each item with ALL of the details including a picture pasted underneath the price of the item.   (This was the project that took me an hour and a half, but it made me feel better when a student said it took her 3 hours, and several others said it was a challenge for them as well). 

 I am determined to learn everything I can about computers and what they have to offer while getting my education so that in a few years I will have the latest information and technology available in my classroom.  From just the few assignments we were given this week I am excited about my future students will be able to produce.  I look forward to watching them create some amazing projects and feel a sense of accomplishment as they use their creativity to make something that will inspire others to do the same.

It's a good thing I love a good challenge because I can tell already that this semester is going to be full of them.  I can't wait to see what we will be learning next week!

Technology

During the past week as I have been signing up for new email accounts and registering on Facebook and Blogger, I am beginning to realize that there is a whole new world just waiting for me to discover.  Technology has always been very intimidating to me because I am afraid of it.  I'm not really sure what exactly scares me, but it does.  My best guess is that my fears stem from the fact that there is so much technology out there that it seems overwhelming and I don't even know where to begin.  Taking this class has already helped me to overcome some of those fears as I have found myself exploring and discovering many new things that have the potential of bringing education to a whole new level if applied in the classroom.   

Beginning with the amazing things I have already learned are available through my new gmail account I can see how beneficial just that one source can be in helping the students (and teachers) step outside of their sheltered little comfort zones and let their creativity begin to unfold.  It is my goal to learn everything I can while taking this course, not only to benefit myself, but to help ignite a burning desire to discover new things and create a bright new future filled with fun and exciting ways to share what's happening in each of our personal lives that will be a benefit for generations to come.

 Although I am just beginning to scratch the surface, already I can see that when it comes to technology, the possibilities are endless!