Reflecting on What I Know~ Chapter 11

What are the benefits of using problem-solving or educational software? The benefits of problem-solving games and simulations is that "game players exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly demanded by employers in a wide range of industries" (Federation of Scientists, 2006, p. 2). The games are made so that yo need content knowledge to pass or win the game. The result is students wanting to learn the information rather than learning it to pass a test, (Morrison and Lowther, 284). For simulation type software there is an increase in students learning because the students learn to manipulate components of a simulated environment. It creates critical thinking activities that require real-world application of knowledge and skill. The benefits of educational software is that student achievement in basic skills improves if the software is used on a regular basis. It provides instructional content, mastery-type practice, feedback, and assessments that are aligned to state standards, (Morrison and Lowther, 285.) How do I choose the correct software? You need to look for content accuracy, research-based instructional strategies, alignment with instructional objectives, assessment of learning and the ease of use. You may also need to look at evaluation and teacher support material, technology system requirements, and software features, (Morrison and Lowther, 287). When I integrate problem-solving or educational software into a lesson, what changes will be needed? When you integrate problem-solving or educational software into your lesson plan you should always use the NTeQ Lesson Planning system for planning your lesson. This lesson plan ensures that you will use computer functions, research and analysis, results presentation, activities during, before and after computer use. As you plan your lesson using NTeQ you will decide upon a software to use. Changes will be made due to your planning if you notice that its not age appropriate, doesn't meat your objective, or there may not be the right resources provided or available while using specific software. Changes will be made during your planning session to create your perfect goal and objective.

Reflecting on What I Know~ Chapter 9

How can my students use multimedia for their projects? There are many ways students can use multimedia for their projects at school. The tools for creating presentations alone have many options like Apple's iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, PowerPoint, and Adobe Flash. They can create digital videos, create presentations, add media like additional videos, clips, music, etc. They can make slide presentations with added features like hyperlinks and animation. Multimedia also encourages creativity, research for information and acquiring new knowledge of technology and how it operates. In these ways, multimedia is very useful as a teaching tool but the teacher needs to be aware of the possibilities that students can get side tracked or off course. Knowing the "bells and whistles" that comes along with multimedia is helpful and necessary for the teacher to keep students on track, (Morrison and Lowther, 234). Make sure that the students are clear on the purpose of the project to keep them on task. What applications are available for creating a multimedia presentation? PowerPoint is the main presentation tool for creating presentations in the classroom. Thinking outside the box of our text book, iPad/iPod has created many apps that help you to make easy presentations using the iPad. Doodlecast Pro is one for example. The app records your voice as you draw to create quick presentations. ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. Podcasting is another brilliant use of multimedia for presentations in the classroom. It's typically an audio file that you download and listen to. Podcasting is useful for recording a teacher's lesson or a student conversation. It can be used to create a newscast or run a radio show. Students could use it to read their own essays or stories. They could record guest speaker and make their presentation available online. The list of applications and ideas for creating presentations is endless! Should I place limits on how my students use multimedia? Yes, I think that as a teacher it is important to place limits on multimedia use just like you would any other boundary in your classroom. I liked how Morrison and Lowther on page 238-239 said that students should focus on specific points for their presentations so that they do not get side tracked with their multimedia usages. When creating a presentation using multimedia they should: 1. Think about who the presentation is intended for 2. What is the topic? 3. What is the information that they need to share? 4. What is the goal or purpose for the presentation? By following these guidelines, students should stay on task and it limits what they can do with the multimedia.

Reflections Chapter 4 & 6

There are so many types of software; how do I know which ones to include in my lessons? There is a vast amount of software to choose from these days and most are beneficial in the classroom. In our book Morrison and Lowther listed 5 specific categories of software that can be used in the classroom. The types they list are productivity, research, communication, problem-solving, and educational software, (Morrison and Lowther, 93). In order to choose one to use in your lesson plan you need to decide what the goal or objective is for your lesson. A well thought out and planned lesson plan will help you determine which program best fits your needs. For instance, if you want your students to collect data about various states within the USA then a database would be helpful. If you want your students to create pie charts with to calculate their calories taken in for the day then a spreadsheet would be useful. I understand why students should use educational software and the internet, but why should my fourth-grade students learn to use a spreadsheet, database, or video editing software? There is a mathematical learning lesson involved when kids use spreadsheets. Students can use spreadsheets to make math calculations. They can use it to organize information, they can visualize the impact of changing numbers, they can store information neatly. Also, using spreadsheets makes learning fun for students. Databases are good for learning to search large amounts of information to get the records that they need...like a library database, or a database for a specific field or category about the states. Video editing software are very popular and are included in most computer application packages. "Videos are a great tool for capturing different stages of student work while creating 3-D models of an ancient artifact, student reenactments of a classical play, or student reporters collecting opinions on current events," (Morrison and Lowther, 101). How can student use of different types of software help improve scores on state tests? I think that it can help because students are very excited to use software compared to the traditional teaching style of sitting and listening to the information that they should memorize. Giving them hands on experience with the software creates ownership. It creates motivation and excitement and they will become active learners. Thus the improvement in test scores. Chapter 6 Now that I have access to the Web, how can I use it effectively? To make the web usage effective, you must use it in a meaningful way. What I mean is, there should be clear learning objective when using the web. Just having students doing whatever they want on the web, or instant messaging each other, is not a good use of academic time. The book divides the Internet use for teaching purposes into 2 categories 1)for searching for information and 2) it is for posting information for others to read and review, (Morrison and Lowther, 167). How do I manage students' use of the Web in my class? The book had great ideas actually for classroom management when computers are being used. One idea is to have the teachers desk in the back of the classroom so that she can see everyone screens. The second, and my fave, is to have the students sitting in a U shape. In this position the students would sit in the inside of the U shape so that the teacher can easily monitor every screen. Which features of the web do I use? Email is a popular thing to use for your classroom to speak with students and parents. Blogs are great for communicating as well or for having students do writing assignments and reflections. A lot of people use Wiki...I honestly think it's a horrible website to allow students to do research on. But there is a wealth of great information on the web for research papers. Content management software and Video streaming are all great to use in the classroom. (Morrison and Lowther, 169).

Educational Websites for Teaching

The 15 educational websites I found are: 1. Fakebook 2. FakeTweet 3. Edublogs 4. Kidblog 5. Edmodo 6. Global Read Aloud 7. Global Classroom Project 8. Physics of the Future 9. Encyclopedia of Learning Games 10. Focus Show Online 11. Kinder-Craze: A Kindergarten Teaching Blog 12. Mrs. Wills Kindergarten 13. Sprinkles to Kindergarten 14. Miss Kindergarten 15. Rowdy in Room 300 I thought it was very easy to find educational websites for teaching that were legit. I had already found blogs I love. I'm always searching for Lesson Plan ideas so that was easy. For Web 2.0 sites to use in classroom situations I simply found articles that suggest sites and I researched them from there using the websites provided by our teacher. As far as running across sites that claimed to be educational but only wanted to sell products; I have run across a few that claim to be educational idea sites. They were more geared towards selling their cute little worksheets and educational tools that they made at home. These were mostly on personal blogs. However the sites were still relevant and useful. I found a lot of valuable websites on this journey. I really did not find any that were not valuable. I guess I got lucky! I really was impressed with how teachers are using Web 2.0 sites in classrooms. Honestly I was amazed at the great ideas out there! I never have heard of Fakebook and FakeTweet! I think that these student blog sites and social sites are a safe and great way to teach children how to communicate properly and effectively while online. I think that they would help teach kids to work collaboratively through a social site while being monitored and safe. I'm really excited and actually want to let my 6th grader try them out to see how they work. I found so many sites on my own that I did not get a chance to follow any of my classmates sites yet, but I will because there seems to be SO many out there!! I'm sure everyone found amazing sites. I liked how relevant they were to today's culture. So much of our time is spent on social websites and it's only going to become that more integrated into our society. So I think it's great that these sites are geared towards teaching children how to blog and socialize online while making it educational.

The Crayon Lab: Graphic Organizer

The Crayon Lab: Graphic Organizer: Need an new graphic organizer to use in your classroom?  Try!  iCREATE!   This tool can be used for so many interactive assignments in th...