We were all assigned to post a web 2.0 tool on our wikispaces. It was really interesting to see what tools were posted and by who. This was great to share all of our experiences through our web 2.0 tools. By far my favorite one was the one Alicia posted with the music clips. I thought this one was hilarious and it would be really fun to use in a classroom. I know through experience, children love anything that involves music and singing. This would be a great tool to make sentence structure work fun and exciting.
These web 2.0 tools are a great resource for teachers to use in the classroom. As new teachers, we could use all the resources we can get our hands on. I think the Wikispaces and Google Reader are great places for us to post our resources that we find and want to share.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
5/18/11-Social Networking in the Classroom
Today we had the opportunity to Skype. I found the Skype session really enjoying and educational. The topic of today was social networking in the classroom. I think it is important that students are exposed to different technologies and to different ways in communicating. I think as teachers and parents it is important that we monitor which social networking sites are used in the classroom for the student's safety and the school's safety. I know it is hard to avoid all the bad things that occur online, but I think we need to control it as much as possible to keep our students safe. I think social networking sites are a great tool for communication and it is a great way to use technology in the classroom. The one site I am not comfortable using in a classroom would be Facebook. There are many concerns about Facebook not being safe to use and not being private enough. With all of these concerns, I would just rather not use it in school so that I know I can keep my students safe. I think the best way to communicate safely with peers and parents is to set up a blog. Blogging is a safe and easy way to connect with others and develops strong writing skills and communication skills.
As far as social networking goes, I think it is important that we find safe and private sites and we monitor the sites very closely.
As far as social networking goes, I think it is important that we find safe and private sites and we monitor the sites very closely.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Blogging in the Classroom
I have not done much with blogs before this class, so it has been a great experience for me. I think blogging is a great way to communicate with others. I find blogging to be very safe and effective compared to social networking sites. I think blogging would be great in a classroom for students to incorporate technology into the classroom.
In a classroom, blogging would be a great communication tool. As a teacher, I would set up a blog site where the students and myself would blog about what happened during the week and what is planned for the future. I would send the web link to parents so that they could see what happened during the week and what is coming up. This would be a great way to communicate with parents because as teachers we often do not get that face to face communication with parents, so this would be a great alternative. This particular blog site could be used as the monthly newsletter as well. Each month I could post the big events that would happen during that particular month and post the concepts the students would be learning that month as well.
I would also use blogs for students to communicate with each other. Students could have their own blog site set up where they can post anything they learned throughout the week and anything they want to share with their classmates. I would then ask the students to respond to at least 2 other classmates about their posts so I could see the class interactions. I think it is important that students know how to communicate with each other and this would be a great way to develop those communication skills and writing skills using blogs.
Blogging in the classroom is a great idea, and I would definitely use it in my classroom.
In a classroom, blogging would be a great communication tool. As a teacher, I would set up a blog site where the students and myself would blog about what happened during the week and what is planned for the future. I would send the web link to parents so that they could see what happened during the week and what is coming up. This would be a great way to communicate with parents because as teachers we often do not get that face to face communication with parents, so this would be a great alternative. This particular blog site could be used as the monthly newsletter as well. Each month I could post the big events that would happen during that particular month and post the concepts the students would be learning that month as well.
I would also use blogs for students to communicate with each other. Students could have their own blog site set up where they can post anything they learned throughout the week and anything they want to share with their classmates. I would then ask the students to respond to at least 2 other classmates about their posts so I could see the class interactions. I think it is important that students know how to communicate with each other and this would be a great way to develop those communication skills and writing skills using blogs.
Blogging in the classroom is a great idea, and I would definitely use it in my classroom.
5/17/11-Writer's Workshop
Today's class was all about writing in the classroom. I think writing is one of the hardest things to teach, but it is one of the most important things to learn. I find Writer's Workshop very helpful when it comes time for writing. I think it is very important to have students just write. They need to have opportunities to write whatever comes to mind because it makes the stories personal. My experience with students and writing is that they all love to write if they are given the opportunity to write about anything; once the teacher gives them a topic they all seem to struggle a little bit. I also believe it is important to work on sentence structure, but the most important thing is the students' ideas. It is so fascinating to see what students write because most of their writing relates to a personal story.
As far as technology and writing, I think it is important to have students hand write their writing and type their writing. Students can write the rough draft of their writing and after they have looked it over and talked with the teacher, they can type their final draft. It is very important that the students have the opportunity to type their work because when they get older, they will type everything they are assigned.
As far as technology and writing, I think it is important to have students hand write their writing and type their writing. Students can write the rough draft of their writing and after they have looked it over and talked with the teacher, they can type their final draft. It is very important that the students have the opportunity to type their work because when they get older, they will type everything they are assigned.
Monday, May 16, 2011
5/16/11-Keyboarding
Todays class was all about keyboarding. When I was in school we had keyboarding around 5th or 6th grade I believe. We did the old fashion keyboarding class where you covered the screen so you would not look at the screen while typing. Now that I think about it, I don't think that was the best method for teaching keyboarding. I think it is important for students to learn how to type because they will do a lot of typing when they get older. I do think we need to focus on keyboarding but we also need to focus on traditional handwriting. I do not think we will become a society that will never pick up a pencil or a pen. It is very important that students learn how to write with a pencil at a young age, so I think it is important that there is more emphasis on handwriting at the young ages than on keyboarding. I do think the younger students need to learn how to type but it does not need to be the main focus.
Another good use for keyboarding is for assistive technology. Some students never develop a strong handwriting skill so they may need to use a keyboard to write all of their work. I think the keyboard is a great tool for students who may need this kind of assistance.
Keyboarding is necessary and should be taught at a fairly young age, but I still think the main focus needs to be on traditional handwriting skills.
Another good use for keyboarding is for assistive technology. Some students never develop a strong handwriting skill so they may need to use a keyboard to write all of their work. I think the keyboard is a great tool for students who may need this kind of assistance.
Keyboarding is necessary and should be taught at a fairly young age, but I still think the main focus needs to be on traditional handwriting skills.
Literacy Instruction, Technology, and Students with Learning Disabilities
I chose this article because I am specializing in special education, and I was curious what research was out there that supported technology and students with learning disabilities. According to this article, the gap between the level at which students with learning disabilities (LD) perform and the demands of the curriculum that they are expected to meet is often wide. This article stated that 21% of students with LD are five or more grade levels below in reading, 31% of students with LD drop out of school compared to 9.4% of nondisabled peers, and only 11% of students with LD attend postsecondary school. I found these statistics interesting and as a special education teacher, I hope I can close the gap and help the students succeed in their education.
According to this article, eText helps students gain access to text through simple changes to font, size, color, and availability of other tools that are assistive in nature. This particular research group focuses on improving student decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension through various embedded supports such as electronic dictionaries, links to outside resources, and utilization of cognitive learning strategies. I think that it is really important to use different strategies when teaching students with learning disabilities. They need a lot of support and in order to give that support teachers need to know how to differentiate and use different strategies to teach a concept.
This article focuses on TPACK and how important it is to balance content, pedagogy, and technology. According to the research of this article, technology can play a role in helping teacher structure individualized literacy instruction; however, the use of technology must be augmentative and logical in terms of its impact on the overall instructional plan. I like how they stated that TPACK can be used across the three tiers of the RTI framework helping to conceptualize and organize the delivery of literacy instruction.
Overall, this article's main focus was using technology with students with learning disabilities. It focused on finding appropriate technology to use that will help the students and not hinder them. There are several factors to think about when using technology like sound and lighting. These can affect students in ways that will hinder their learning. The article stressed the importance of selecting and designing multimedia materials for literacy instruction that helps students build skills necessary for literacy-related success, including meeting individual needs, along the demands of local and state standards.
According to this article, eText helps students gain access to text through simple changes to font, size, color, and availability of other tools that are assistive in nature. This particular research group focuses on improving student decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension through various embedded supports such as electronic dictionaries, links to outside resources, and utilization of cognitive learning strategies. I think that it is really important to use different strategies when teaching students with learning disabilities. They need a lot of support and in order to give that support teachers need to know how to differentiate and use different strategies to teach a concept.
This article focuses on TPACK and how important it is to balance content, pedagogy, and technology. According to the research of this article, technology can play a role in helping teacher structure individualized literacy instruction; however, the use of technology must be augmentative and logical in terms of its impact on the overall instructional plan. I like how they stated that TPACK can be used across the three tiers of the RTI framework helping to conceptualize and organize the delivery of literacy instruction.
Overall, this article's main focus was using technology with students with learning disabilities. It focused on finding appropriate technology to use that will help the students and not hinder them. There are several factors to think about when using technology like sound and lighting. These can affect students in ways that will hinder their learning. The article stressed the importance of selecting and designing multimedia materials for literacy instruction that helps students build skills necessary for literacy-related success, including meeting individual needs, along the demands of local and state standards.
Kennedy, M. J., & Deshler, D. D. (2010). Literacy Instruction, Technology, and Student with Learning Disabilities: Research We Have, Research We Need. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33, 289-298. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from ERIC. <http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu:2048/ehost/results?sid=7d50fd64-eead-45dc-9df6-bf6f8e8d75ea%40sessionmgr15&vid=2&hid=19&bquery=(Literacy+AND+Instruction%2c+AND+Technology%2c+AND+Students+AND+with+AND+Learning+AND+Disabilities)&bdata=JmRiPWVyaWMmdHlwZT0wJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d>.
Friday, May 13, 2011
5-12-11 and 5-13-11 reflections
Since blogger was down on Thursday, I am going to blog for Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a fun and exciting day. We had the opportunity to create a book talk using a flip camera. I had a great time acting out the book without giving the whole story away. The flip camera was a fun and easy tool to use to record the book talk. Any grade level would be able to use a flip camera as long as they are instructed on how to use one. This was a great activity to incorporate technology into a literacy program.
Today which was Friday was a day were we discussed more programs that could be used to incorporate technology into the classroom. We did a fun mystery project today where we had to solve the clues to find out what Willie looked like. This would be a great project for students because it was fun and interactive with the use of the PowerPoint and KidPix. As an adult, I enjoyed this project, so I know children would have just as much fun, if not more.
In the next week, I looked forward to seeing everyone's digital story and I look forward to learning more about technology in the classroom.
Today which was Friday was a day were we discussed more programs that could be used to incorporate technology into the classroom. We did a fun mystery project today where we had to solve the clues to find out what Willie looked like. This would be a great project for students because it was fun and interactive with the use of the PowerPoint and KidPix. As an adult, I enjoyed this project, so I know children would have just as much fun, if not more.
In the next week, I looked forward to seeing everyone's digital story and I look forward to learning more about technology in the classroom.
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