Final Reflection

My opinions have definitely changed regarding technology during this term. I never knew about all of the options that could be used in the classroom, all of these elements can be so beneficial to students. Especially with how fast the technology world is changing I think that it is important for students to be up to date with technology, using it in the classroom can help. I will use Storyjumper in the future with my classroom. I think it is an awesome program and will be so much fun for younger kids to use! Print Page in IE

Wordle

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PBL: My Healthy Self Project

My favorite of the six project based learning assignments is definitely my healthy self project created for elementary school age. This project is awesome because it deals with information that young kids need to know. It is also a perfect for a project based learning topic because the teacher is able to make all lesson plans surrounding the same topic. This project will help young children get a better understanding of what makes them sick and how to prevent these things. They also learned how to read nutrition labels and how to evaluate if certain foods are healthy or not. These are great resources to learn early in life because not only are these kids learning how to prevent sickness they are learning about how to be healthy in their everyday lives. Print Page in IE

Integrating Websites into the Classroom

The site I am looking at is called Character Scrapbook http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/. This is a really cool website for younger students. The student is able to put in their book title and character into the site and create what their character looks like. This is an awesome way for the student to apply what they know from the book visually. After the student is done creating the character's appearance the student is asked to apply numerous facts about the character.
One way to incorporate this into the classroom is to use a book that the whole class has to read and make it a collaborative project with the entire class projecting the characters in front of the entire class. This way the students are getting a visual idea of the characters while reading the book. Another way to use this would be to have a group project on a book report and instead of them having to make a PowerPoint to present it to the class they could use this website to create in actual scrapbook to turn in for their report. This could be a collaborative project because they could work in a group but also use technology.
This site can extend opportunities beyond the classroom because this site is created for young kids to access it and use a step by step process to create a character. This will give young kids the opportunity to work on a project independently from adults. This teaches young students skills that they will need later in their schooling. Print Page in IE

Reading Response 2

Tellacollaboration projects if used correctly can be extremely beneficial to students especially in the area of critical thinking. Tellacollaboration projects open a new door to students to experiment with technology and to become immersed with new data that can be found on the internet. If these projects are created and used correctly for the students the projects will demonstrate the highest levels of Blooms Taxonomy Pyramid. The six levels of Blooms Taxonomy Pyramid (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) are examples of what the teacher would want their students to know/learn from an assignment. When using a tellacollaboration project it will fit into Blooms Taxonomy Pyramid perfectly. Using each of these levels the student learn a lot from these assignments.

In order for tellacollaboration projects to be successful there are a number of things that teachers need to be aware of. From the article Commonly Asked Questions About Teaching Collaborative Activities the authors suggest that collaborative projects should be challenging enough so that one student would not be able to complete it alone. This way each student is using their own strengths in order to complete the task. This helps to improve students critical thinking skills because the task is challenging and will take time for the students to accomplish but at the same time it is not impossible to do with the help of other group members. Integrating collaboration projects and the internet is a great idea, this way the students are reaching their full potential based on Blooms Taxonomy Pyramid and also learning more about technology. Both of these things make for a great lesson plan that is beneficial and fun for the kids! Print Page in IE

Reading Response 1

I have been very fortunate throughout my education to have technology be extremely accessible to me at school. In elementary school there was a computer lab filled with enough computers for each child in the class, also in my teachers' own classrooms there were always two to three computers that could be used during free time. There were also computer labs accessible to students in both middle school and high school. Unfortunately what computers we did have in the schools were not in the best condition and were extremely slow. In my previous education I never experienced a teacher who integrated technology into their curriculum. It is unfortunate because integrating technology in lesson plans could have been very beneficial to me and my peers.

When I have my own classroom I hope incorporate technology in my lesson plans! I hope to teach 1st grade and think that a Smartboard is something that would be helpful to this particular grade level. I have seen a Smartboard used in a 1st grade classroom before and it was extremely effective. There are so many wonderful things that you can do with a Smartboard! It gives another way for the students to get involved with the lesson, causing the lesson to be interactive. It can also help the class stay interested in the lesson plan by the use of graphics, videos, and pictures. The kids can also volunteer during lesson plans to demonstrate something to the class using the Smartboard. The kids would learn more effectively with this type of technology and probably enjoy the lesson plans more too!

The most challenging part of trying to use technology in the classroom is having the funds and support to be able to afford this technology. There are always cuts being made in the schools and if a school is really struggling with funding they will not be able to afford technology that is expensive. Also I think it would be challenging for myself to have the time to learn all of the  programs and software that go along with new technology. In order to integrate technology into lesson plans the teacher would have to master the programs and how to use the software. Even though there are some challenges that go with integrating technology in the classroom I think that it is so beneficial to the students and that it is worth it! Print Page in IE

Avatars in Education

Avatars can be extremly useful in education! It is a fun way for kids to learn to using technology. This project will help kids to learn to navigate on the internet. The use of avatars is also a creative project for kids and is a fun way to incorporate their personality in a project. Print Page in IE