Presentations

I do know that I could have done better with my presentation today but since I had to go at it alone I had to play it by ear. This was a good thing simple because it forced me to change my plans in the middle of the ball game. This made me try to think on my feet and to be better prepared for the what ifs. I can not always depend on something and I must always have a back up plan. From now on I will try to always have a plan B just in case my plans fall through. This was a great learning experience for me and like I stated earlier I must always be ready for the unexpected.

The voice thread site seems like it could be a great tool for students. I know some subjects it might hard to use in some classroom setting but with a little work I can see the benefits for the students. Since I am going to teach history I can see different ways I can use this in my lessons. I think this can be a great when working with children with special needs. Using the voice thread would also be a great benefit for students with special needs. Since the voice thread do not require much as for expenses there is no reason why schools could not take advantage of this software. I know I will use this program not only will it benefit my gen. ed. students but this program will allow me to work with special needs students in a true classroom setting with their peers and that is the best kind of leaning, working with your peers.

My partner and I changed the topic of our powerpoint. We have decided to do ours on The Role of Technology in classrooms. Other than that we are doing great on our project.

The topic for our post is "Teachers' Capacity for Using Techonologies in school". I do think that our topic is coming along pretty good. I enjoy working with my partner. My partner is someone that I know from my major. I have had classes with him in the past and I know that he does great work. I have enjoyed working with him in the past and look forward to working with him in the future. I think my partner and I work great together. We stay in contact with each other in and outside of the classroom so I know this will be a fun experience for me and I hope that he feels the same about me.

I do think that teachers do need to try to match the technology the student use in the classroom. Online chatrooms and IM's are only good if they are used in a controlled setting. I know that chatrooms are much easier to controll but IM's should only be used if the students are mature enough to handle this form of media. There is a thin line when it comes to technology in the classroom. In some cases technology is a major plus but I do feel that if it is used to much the student will "zone out" and not focus as much on the lectures. I know I have done it so I figure that other students may do it as well. Each method of teaching is very important for a student to have a good education. I think in order to have a positive educational experience a student needs to be exposed to all forms of teaching methods. I think podcast are great when the student is not able to attend class but it should not be the norm. The instructor should only allow students who were absent to have access to the podcast and that the instructor need to have access codes that changes. Podcast need to use only as a supplement not a main form of instruction.
I have mixed feelings about video games. I will admit I am a gamer myself but I did learn something from games but it was not because of what I did it was from my sons. My sons love playing the Dynasty series of games. (did not mention the first part of the name because I cannnot spell it) It deals with Japan and China and I know my sons became interested in the Asian culture from these games. After playing my boys went online looked up the characters in the game and they found out that they were based on real people, as a result my boys have really got involved in Asian studies. One of my boys is even thinking about studing Asian history in college. So I do think video games can teach people but you have to use the games wisely. So yes I will continue to allow my twins to play video games now and in the future.

I like the http://del.icio.us/ website. This is a site that I know I will now and in the future. Using this site makes it easy for someone like me to keep up with all of my information. Being a history major it is great to know that I have access to a site the can keep up with all of my references. I will encourage my future students to use this site so they can a place to that can manage all of their works.

Week 5 Posting

I do like Wikis for entertainment purposes. I would not take them to serious because since they are done by anyone a person must be sure that the facts are correct. I would not allow any student I would teach to use them. For starters here a A & M the history department do now allow us to use these sites because they are unrealiable and I agree with the staff. There have been several cases in the media were someone had posted wrong information on these sites.

Yes you can learn more by taking the team approach the problem is your team is only as good as its members. I have seen several cases where teams have came up with great ideas and build on their thoughts. Now the down side of teams is that everyone has to do their part if not the project will fail. I know this first hand because when I was in ETEC 224 I had a partner who did not understand or did not want to do the work so in order for me pass the assignment I ended up doing the whole project myself.

Yes I do believe that students do have different learning styles. It not only their personality that effects they way they learn but also how excited they are about a topic. I do think the test can give a person some insight about how a student learn but we must remember that in order for the test to help the student must also realized that they have those trait within themselves and accept it.

Personality Week 5

Well the test stated that my personality type was the Idealist. After reading the results several times I can see how I fit into this catagory. The article is pretty much on point when it comes to how I deal with personal relationships and the outside world. To be honest I was surprised that the test did not say that I was an evil mean spirited person but once I took the test and read the results I see how the choices I make fit into the bigger picture. I found this test to be fun as well an eye opener. Even though this was meant to be a fun activity I think I might just take some the lessons I learned from the test to heart.

Je'nee

Week 4

After this week assignments I gain a better understanding of spreadsheets. I never really liked them because I always had a hard time navagating the program. Spreadsheet are worth their weight in gold. When it comes to working with numbers and doing grade sheets I can see how they can make a teacher's work much easier. Yes, I will use spreadsheets in my classroom.

We use speadsheet to cut down on human error. It is easy for people to add the number or miss a number and spreadsheet helps us find our mistakes faster and also allow us to correct it easier. When it comes to the functions of a spreadsheet anything to make my life as an educator it a bonus in my book.

I found Inspiration to be a very useful program. Being a history major I just know that this program will be use a great deal with my future students. I am already thinking about how my students will be able organize their work into useful data. I plan on using this program mostly for research projects. That way my students will have a way to visualize what they are researching not just reading a lot of facts.
For my class I will use a combination of research papers and short essays. Just to make sure my students understand the topic. I will also use a hands on system when I can. At times I will have group assignments, other I will use a loose form of peer review. I would encourage my students to different programs to help improve theirs skill that also improve their confidence. If any students are like me I never truly felt comfortable with my writing skills and I would encourage students to take advantage of all the programs that are available. Another thing I would do which in reference to the peer review is I would ask the student to submit two copies one would have their name and the other would not. That when their peers are reviewing their paper the student would not know whose paper they are reading and might be more honest in their review. I would also use the TURN IT IN system. Like the one here at the University. This a way I can be sure that a student do not cheat on their paper.

What do I think about blogs

Question 3

I think that blogs can be very useful if they are used in the proper manner. I am not really sure about having a medium like this in the classroom but if I can have a closed blog, where only the people I choose have access, then I do not have problem with it. In my field of study blogs are very useful. It would be a great way for me to send information to my students without e-mailing everyone. I can also now that my students can see items that are useful for class without trying to make copies or using films. Blogs in the classroom is great as long as it is related to the topic. As for me I am not really sure if I want to use them with my future students but I am open to the idea.

week eight

The midterm itself was not too hard but for me it was more difficult because I have missed a lot of class due to illness. I did like the format of the exam and it allowed students to show their strong points points with the essay format. Even though most people prefer multiple choice I always believed that the essay format give students a better chance at earning higher grades simply because the student is allowed to explain why they came up with their answer.

Week 4 Assignments

What I found out about Inspriation is that this would be a very useful tool for my history students. Since students have to do a lot of writing it would be very helpful to hava a tool that can help students write more clearly and accurate. I also liked the fact it can help with research and streamline projects. This will be very important when students have large assignments to complete. I will most likely use this product in most of my lesson plans. Not only will it help simplify the assingment it will also help make the task less stressful for the students. If students know that there is a tool availiable to help ease their work load they will be more likely to use and benifit from it.

Some of the activities I would use would be time lines, graphs, outlines, power points, etc to name a few. Since I plan on being a history teacher I a wide range of opportunities to use technology in my classroom. By using some of these tools it can help students get a better understanding of the subject and help them get use to putting their thoughts on paper. By using time lines and outlines the students will be working documents with the information right there in front of them. The technology that could help students get them started just might would be the use of concepts maps. I found this to be very helpful. I myself used this in order to get my ideas started. Now when it is time for feedback peer reviews are only as good as the students are. If the student do not have a good understanding of the topic then the review would not help much, so what I would like to do is assing my future students to read their peers paper during one class period and on the next one I would like to go to the computer lab and have them look up the topic for accuracy. Once this is done then I would have them talk about each others papers, discuss what they could have done better, was it fine, what errors they found and hopefully by doing this they will get a better understanding of the subject.

Inspiration

What I found out about Inspriation is that this would be a very useful tool for my history students. Since students have to do a lot of writing it would be very helpful to hava a tool that can help students write more clearly and accurate. I also liked the fact it can help with research and streamline projects. This will be very important when students have large assignments to complete. I will most likely use this product in most of my lesson plans. Not only will it help simplify the assingment it will also help make the task less stressful for the students. If students know that there is a tool availiable to help ease their work load they will be more likely to use and benifit from it.

I have learned a lot this week. I now how to critic a web site and this will be very useful with my research here at the University. I also found out that some of the tips that were given in the web site I already knew. This at lease made me feel like I have some compter savy. I Find the lessons very interesting and really enjoy them.

A little about me

Well I am currently a junior here at Texas A & M-Commerce. I am a History major planing on teaching middle/high school once I leave here. I do not plan teaching in Texas once I graduate, my goal is to either go to Arkansas or maybe go to the west coast and teach. I am also the proud mother of 16 year old twin boys who are juniors here at Commerce High.

Week 2 assignment

Well personally never had a use for blogs. Just from searching some websites the blogging area tend not to be a child friendly place, in some cases adult friendly. Now as far as the educational factor goes I would only use a blog if it related to the subject and it would have to be in some kind of private form. Even then it would not be a totally safe environment for students. As for usefulness for education I would have to do more research on that. I am still not totally convinced that blogging is good source of education. Blogging my be a good tool for a computer class but right now I feel that there are better ways to use the computer for educational purposes.

If I had to use a blog in my curriculum, I would use it as a homework help line, if they had questions they wanted to ask me but were to afraid to say so in class. To me this would be the best way for me utilize blogging.