Week of November 26 Assignments

Happy Monday! Please add the following to your calendars!

Tuesday - GYM!
Wednesday - solar system rough draft due
Thursday - Library books due today! Permission slip and $5 due for field trip next week
Friday - Must be finished with chapter 4 of Hatchet - Hatchet Quiz today!
Sat
Sun
Monday - Friday folder sheet due!

A question that didn't get answered this weekend in your blogs was "Why is it colder in the winter even though we aren't further away from the sun?"

The answer to this is because the Northern Hemisphere in which we live in is pointed away from the sun and therefore we don't get as much direct sunlight.

Hope we have a good week! Remember there is a quiz on Friday! Happy reading

Podcasting and Audio

I honestly had no idea what a podcast was until tonight. I'm still confused if it is audio and video or just audio. I'm pretty sure it's just audio because I know on my ipod i can upload podcasts and i don't have a video i pod....

I think podcasts will be helpful in elementary teaching. I realllly like the idea of digital story telling. I can use podcasts to add audio to digital story telling. In the classroom I could also record important "lectures" so that if a student is absent they can access the lecture at home. Podcasting is also a neat way to teach lessons in general. I really liked listening to the lecture today in class and being able to pause it, do what it said to do and then play again. I know the one we saw in class was not a pod cast, but i could use the same idea. For example if i want my students to learn how to add a post to their blog, i could make a step by step podcast for them to listen to. Also, i could post this so if the students are at home and forget, they can listen and quickly be reminded.

We made a podcast today in class. it was fun.

Adding Images

We learned about adding images the correct way and giving credit where due. The picture to the left is Erickson Hall that I got from flickr. Creative Commons is also a neat website. I really like that everything is right there and you don' t have to worry about copyright because it's all there for you to use. I definitely think it is a good skill to practice and will be showing my students how to "take" stuff from the internet the correct way.

We also worked with google maps today. This is really neat. At the technology conference there was a presentation on google maps and I think it's a great way to be more geography knowledgeable. I'm probably a little bias because I enjoy geography, but I feel like a lot of students don't know basic geography. Google maps is a fun way to learn about geography on a local national and global level.

Some challenges I could see is students getting frustrated. I was very frustrated last class period because I was not catching on right away and it all seemed really confusing. I understand now what kml means and how to use flickr, but it took a while. So, as a teacher I need to be very patient and remember how i felt when everyone around me was done and i was still one step one. Also, having more than one way to explain how to do things helps. Sometimes things are explained and it doesn't make since, but if you just say different words it all of a sudden "clicks".

More on Personalizing the Internet

I think google calender is really neat. I love the idea of having everything easily access able. I will use this with my classroom by posting due dates and events the students should remember. I think logging onto google each morning and going over what we have to do for the week with our calender then checking out the phases of the moon and the date and time it's all in one webpage and i love it. For personal use i think google calender is a great way to keep myself organized. I think having two calenders, one for the students and parents and one for me is probably what i'll do. The parents will love this idea because they can always have access to what is due for their studnets. This way i think we can have an understanding that all the information is out there and easily accessable to late assignments will not be tolerated.
the bookmarks thing is alright. I'm not really sure i'd use this along with google reader. I would use bookmarks for sites that you could not subscribe to, but the ones you can will already be in my reader or aggregator which i think would be easier for students and parents to use.
i cannot say enough good things about the technology conference i attended this weekend. I attended the SMART board presentation and the COURTT presentations. The smart board is just amazing. i would love to have one when i become a teacher. From the COURTT presentations i got a lot of reallly good ideas. I definitely want to do a lesson making a digital story.
All in all, i think that when i become a teacher my students will be a lot more technological inclined and i think this class and the conference will help me to prepare!

reflection

In CEP this week we talked alot about personalizing the internet. I had no idea you could do so much with google. It is really neat. We set up a reader and an Igoogle as well as added more to our online portfolio. I really think I google combined with google reader is a great way to get the class involved. I liked the idea of checking our "class google" everyday. And then on the main page you can have the date, time and phases of the moon! how cool. Then we can subscribe to different web pages and we can learn off the internet. I think this would not only be fun but learning something outside of the cirriculum would be cool. Like even if our igoogle and reader gave us neat little facts about this day in history or something we wouldn't normally cover in the daily classroom.
I really want to put some time into my portfolio. At first i was a little intimidated by the whole idea of an online portfolio, but i think once i go to apply for a job, having a professional portfolio to show at my interview or what not i think will be a great asset. If i end up teaching in an older classroom, i think i will have them make portfolios too. This way they can get practice being professional and then when it comes time for them to apply for their fist job, they have a quick reference to give out.
i'm really enjoying this class, cep 416. Hopefully i'll be able to remember all this when it's over!

Portfolio

I've created a portfolio. I want to use this to build a great website for my future students, parents and employers to get to know me. I want to keep my portfolio more professional than this blog. In doing that I plan to post my resume on my portfolio as well as accomplishments. I will do this by allowing clickable links to my resume and what not.

first post!

well this is fun! I am definitely looking forward to using blogging in my future teaching. I think it's a great way to share information. But more recently, i think i'm going to set up a blog for my cheerleaders. I currently coach a 7th and 8th grade cheer team at DeWitt. They are in middle school and of course are on the internet all the time. I suspect i will be able to remind them of events, practice time, competitions etc easier through a blog rather than trying to get their attention at the end of practice. Also this way the parents can access the blog too so that I don't have to rely on my girls to remember what we talked about at practice and get the information to their parents. I'm super pumped to learn new things in this class! Let's be friends!