Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards enhance teaching and learning by creating new ideas for the classroom.  Creating lessons on the smartboard are fun and attention grabbing.  A simple lesson can be turned into something interactive such as a math lesson, science presentation, or a history review.  The smartboard confused me at first.  I think I was overwhelmed with all the things you can use.  But after having a lesson on using the smartboard I felt much more comfortable with it.Pros- It gives children something to look forward too.  It also gives the teacher a chance to get away from lecturing.  Teachers can create a range of different lesson plans and activities.  Cons: Technology does not always work.  The board can also be placed either too high or too low.  Teacher might become dependent on just the smartboard.  One lesson plan that I created was Science.  I taught about the different animals and how they hibernate.  To incorporate the smartboard I would have them do activities on which animals hibernate and which do not.

Software Skills

I think all the software we learned about were all beneficial. These softwares will help our teaching and add many possibilites to our classrooms.  Taking the time to go over this software was interesting and definatley worth it.  I am more aware of the different technology and how to use it properly.  Even in microsoft word learning about the different fonts to use.  I always knew there were hundreds of fonts but now I am more aware of how to use them.  And in my own classroom I will have to make flyers and handouts for parents so now I know what will catch their attention.  I have been using Microsoft Word for a really long time and never knew all the stuff I could do on it until learning about it in this class.  Learning to use a smartboard is important. Technology is getting more advanced each day and I think teachers need to try new things.  The smartboard offers so many new ideas.  Kids love the smartboard and seem to be excited to use it.  Learning how to use a smartboard will keep the classroom refreshed with new ideas.  I also like concept maps in publisher, more for the teacher than the student.  They are helpful when teachers need to plan out what they want to teach for a certain amount of time.  If a teacher is teaching a unit.. this gives the unit an overview of what the teacher wants to include.  I am happy that I gained these software skills to be a better teacher and use technology in my classroom.

Web Resources

I thought all of the web resources we discussed in class were useful.  I especially like Rubistar, United Streaming, and Ethemes.  Rubistar is a great tool to have.  Instead of making your own rubric it does it for you.  This cuts down some time on projects and lessons. Rubistar has really good rubrics for projects that would be great for the classroom.  I would use Rubistar in my classroom because I use it now for my education classes.  It helps that Rubistar is easy to use also.  United Streaming is awesome.  I love all the videos that you can use in your classroom.  It is easy to navigate and is broken into different sections.  I love the videos for all of the subjects.  Especially videos for Science and Social Studies.  I feel that these two subjects are harder to understand for some students.  Showing a video for these subjects might help the students grasp certain concepts.  I loved the magic school bus when I was a child and was happy to see it was still present now.  I also enjoyed Ethemes, I liked the lesson plans and the activites they had for the students.  United Streaming would be most useful to me.  I loved the videos and the lesson plans that went with them.

Inspiration

I really like Inspiration.  I think that it's really useful in a classroom.  There are so many different things you can do to enhance your classroom.  Inspiration can be used to create lab reports.  You can make visual handouts.  Students can make Venn Diagrams to use in Science. For example, they can compare and contrast animals.  Both students and teachers can use concept maps. Teachers can use a concept map to plan out their unit objectives.  Students can use a concept map to help them learn.  Concept maps can even be used for Pre-K and Kindergarden because you can use pictures on the map.  You can use a concept map to create a job chart for your classroom.  Inspiration can be used for cause and effect activites.  It is also used for productivity tools and assessments.  This can also be used to make outlines( show relationships between characters in a play or book), graphic organizers, worksheets, and study guides.  I would use Inspiration in my classroom because there is so many things you can do with it.

Social Bookmarking

I believe social bookmarking would be a great application in the classroom.  Students can use a bookmarking site to save websites that will be beneficial for all the student's to excel in certain subjects.  If students had to find background information on different writers lives they can bookmark all the websites that they find.  This can give organization skills to the students as well as making it easier to search online.  As a teacher social bookmarking can organize all the lesson plans I would use in my classroom. Instead of going to Google and typing in to find the website again I could just bookmark it.

I think social bookmarking could help me out now.  I search the internet for new websites everyday.  I like to read quotes and there are many websites that offer really good ones.  If I bookmarked these websites I would not have to use a search engine all the time.  Social bookmarking makes everything fast and easy.  Also, lesson plans that I find now I can save in my bookmarking.  Social bookmarking seems like a really good idea no matter if your a student, teacher, parent, or just someone who searches the web. 

GoogleApps

I really like GoogleApps I feel that it is fairly easy to navigate. I like all the different things you can do on it.  I never knew it existed until now. I plan on using GoogleApps now that I know about it.  It seems like it would be a good tool to have whether your in elementary school, high school, or college.  If I were to work in a group it would make my life easier because  I could share information quickly.  We wouldn't have to send emails back and forth to each other. ( which can get so confusing) I like how when you type in words it saves everything you write, right away.  That is really cool.  Because unlike a word document you have to constantly save your work. A disadvantage is they don't have as many applications.  For example, in the presentation section they have less backgrounds and details.  Some of the things GoogleApps offers are presentations, text documents, spreadsheets, drawings,images and videos.  They offer a wide variety of applications to use. 

Incorporating blogs in your classroom

I think incorporating blogs is a great way to grasp students attention. When students are given readings  for homework they can respond on a blog.  They can respond answers, ideas, or even questions about the readings.   Also, you can have students write about how they feel that day. I would use this idea for maybe a Special Education classroom.  When I observed a Special Education classroom they wrote in journals so blogs would probably have the same effect. For a science experiment, students can blog their findings.  And if each group has a blog they can look at other groups answers. Blogging is a good source of communication, rather than emailing back and forth.

A disadvantage to using technology is it does not always work.  Internet connection does not always work properly in the classroom.  Also, not every child has access to a computer at their home.  Parents may also disagree with using technology if technology is not used at their home.

Technology has many advantages.  Most technology intrigues the child to want to learn.  Students seem more excited about the lesson if somehow technology is incorporated.  Using technology brings new ideas.