PSA

Thinking of a topic for my PSA was difficult because I didn't want to make one that was similar to others in my 331 class. Once I knew what I wanted to focus on, finding the pictures was an easy task. I am familiar with Windows MovieMaker and iMovie so it wasn't hard for me to finish the rest.

Through this experience, I learned a lot about creating quick announcements to make parents and students aware of the many risks and benefits to technology. In the future, I might make something similar to PSAs for my students and parents. It was a good experience and I hope to create more in the future.

iRLO

Completing this project was difficult at first even though I've programmed before. After careful thinking, I was able to come up with what I have now. I feel that I have accomplished a lot because I believe I figured out Scratch. I have spent a huge amount of time completing this topic just deciding what I wanted to do. I knew it would be something with basic addition, but to have a story line that goes with it was more difficult to think of. This was my first time with Scratch and I believe that I will be able to do more in the future if I keep playing around with it.

Exit Slip 12/9/10

Over the semester, my thinking of technology has stayed the same. I have always loved technology and do believe that technology will play a big part in education. I will use technology, however not fully rely on it to teach students.

3 Different Ways of Integrating Technology in My Classroom

Integrating technology into my first grade classroom will be very important because technology lays the path to our future. One way of integrating technology is to have an interactive whiteboard. This whiteboard could be used in many ways. I would have lessons where the students would have to interact with the board. It could used for any subjects. For math, there's a game called Whack-a-Mole Addition. The students would have to come up to the interactive white board and use a hand to whack the mole. Students could also use the whiteboard to write answers to questions or they can drag things into the correct place. It all depends on the subject and what the lesson of the day is.


Another way that technology would be used is by podcasting. I have previously seen other teachers have their students podcast and they loved it! Podcasting not only shows them how to read by reading their scripts, but also allows them to research their topic. Another thing podcasting does is it allows the students to expose their ideas and thinking to others around the world.


The third way of using technology would be blogging. This blogging would not be used by students, but by parents of my students. It allows parents to post any comments or concerns. It would also have updates, such as newsletters and fieldtrips, so parents would be able to see what we are learning in our class.

Exit Slip 12/2/10

I learned that there are many ways to integrate technology into the classroom. We watched a video about a teacher integrating technology into her first grade classroom.

IWB Reflection

The interactive whiteboard assignment was not hard to complete. We created this whiteboard for another class. It was created to have students learn about the "Life Cycle of a Flower." This meets the First grade Science Wisconsin standards.

Since this is mainly for first grade, the lessons would be a little more teacher-based because students might not be familiar with this tool. The students would need help with using the smartboard such as: moving the words and/or writing on the IWB.

Creating this project has allowed me to finally use the SmartBoard. In the school I work at, we have a SmartBoard in every classroom, however, the teacher I work with is older and does not want one in her room. I have minimal experinces with the interactive whiteboard, so this assignment was great for me because I am exposed to it and know how to use it.

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.