Book Chapter Discussion

My partners and I put a lot of thinking into how we were going to present this chapter to the class. After quite a while, we all agreed with the idea of jigsawing. We had remembered that a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Boyer had mentioned the idea of "jigsaw" and all thought it would be a great idea. As a team, I believe we put a lot of thinking and EFFORT into completing this task. It is important for me to present with my peers because it will allow me to interact with others as well as learn how to "pair teach." I believe this is an important part of teaching because we never know if we'll be alone or teaching alongside with another teacher.

As a future teacher, I believe it is important to read a chapter, then reread it to pick the important parts of it to use to present to the class. This is a task that will happen no matter where you end up in teaching. Knowing which parts to choose is always key to successful learning.

Exit Slip 11/18/2010

I found many new sites with addition activities for first graders. I put it in my delicious account and will have it for future use.

Ch 10 Rethinking

This chapter recaps the entire book of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology. It allows us to rethink of everything that involves technology and education. Technology will one day become the main focus in everyone's daily lives in the future. The chapter had mentioned that one day, technology will take over the role of a teacher and the "teacher" will be there only for the extra support. The teacher will no longer be needed to instruct the students, which is a big concern because educators now will someday lose their jobs before they are able to retire.

Ch 9 Rethinking

As much as some people don't like it, our world is becoming a technology world. Technology has become a big part in what we do nowadays. Children are learning to use technology more than we would like and they are learning quickly. In this chapter, it stated that instead of parents judging what their children are doing, they should go along with them and learn what the kids are doing. This will allow them to learn what their children are learning and what the world is coming to. It will introduce them to what is available  on the web and teach them what is safe and what is not.

Exit Slip 11/11/10

I knew that Facebook could be used in the classroom setting, but today I found out how it was used.

Podcast

I knew right off the bat what I wanted as a topic for this assignment. However, it was hard trying to find sources that would work. After some research, I was able to find some good sources and was able to complete a script for the podcast. As before with the screencast, I hated how I sounded so I recorded myself multiple times. After a couple of tries, I was able to get the podcast recorded. It was a fun assignment because I was able to find out what many people think about children and computers. In the future, I will most likely have students create podcasts to share with their peers in and outside of their classrooms.

I thought that I had uploaded the podcast, but it didn't upload right. So here it is now:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E9HBDPYD

Ch 10 BWP

While reading the chapter and the epilogue, I reflected on the entire book. I realized how much technology plays a role in education now. As the years pass by, more and more technology will be incorporated into the classroom because that is where the world is going. I agree that technology will continue to grow and we will have to teach students how to use technology in the elementary schools because this is where it all begins.

As a future teacher, I plan to incorporate as much technology as possible into my daily lessons because this will allow my students to be the best they can be with technology. This is where the world is heading and it is for the best.

Cools Tools Screencast - Wallwisher

Kaz's Screencast

I spent a lot of time looking into how wallwisher works and it is amazing to find out HOW it actually works. I spent time writing a script after exploring the site. Doing this was hard, but I work a lot better when I know what to say. I did change things around while I spoke, but it still kept the meaning. I know that I used pause a lot, but it helped me feel more comfortable with recording this screencast. It gave me more time to show what the page was about - the loading took a lot of time and this helped cut it out.

I actually had fun creating this screencast, even though I didn't like how I sounded on there. It was neat to see what my peers did also. In doing this assignment, it will make me a better speaker in front of others. Also, it has showed me how I could use wallwisher in my future classroom. It was a neat opportunity and I hope that I can continue screencasting in the future.

Ch 8 Rethinking

After reading this chapter, I thought about the percentage of students who graduate from high school. I knew that there were many students who drop out, but the number of graduates was ridiculously low. Another thing in this chapter that I liked was the Performance Based Assessment. I liked how they mentioned how lower income or poorer schools can help their higher level students be challenged. By integrating technology into their classroom, it allows their higher students to have an individualized curriculum such as AP classes. This allows the students to be challenged and still learn the same materials as their peers. This would be creating new curriculum to accommodate the "gifted" so they are able to learn. It is amazing to see the many ways that schools can cope with new technologies.

I would love to use technology in my classroom because I will most likely be teaching to the majority level of the students. To reach those who are higher level or considered "gifted" this would be a good opportunity to allow them to explore what is out there for them and have them be challenged.

Ch 9 BWP

I am a Facebook user myself, but only for friend-based relations. I have never thought of it for interest-based relationships. I am amazed at how educators can incorporate facebook into their daily lessons. It allows the students to interact with one another and keeps them updated with what is going on in class if one is absent. Also, I have heard of Ning.com before but have never used it myself. It sounds like it would be a good source for researching and getting peer reviews. It is amazing how many social networks have been integrated into the regular classroom setting.

I will continue to use facebook for friend relationships, but will also use it in the future to connect with co-workers and parents. I think this would be an amazing thing to do because it allows us to learn from one another. However, I would not use it for student-teacher interactions because my students would be too young to understand what Faceboook or Ning is used for (I am primary elementary).