The Fischbowl

I really enjoyed reading the post called is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher? I liked when he wrote about being a math teacher and parents would say “I was never any good at math either.”  Society really values literacy and it shows in our schools. When I student taught in a first grade classroom, I mainly taught reading and writing with a short time devoted to math and science. Social studies was only taught during holidays. I quickly learned that reading and writing is the key to “success” in schools. I NEVER read in elementary or secondary school, because I never knew what the point was until I came to college. When I came to college I realized that reading could lead to knowledge and I loved it. I did not read in school because it was boring and I felt like those fiction books were a waste of my time.

I have learned that it is very important to convey that reading had a purpose. Using technology is just one tool you can use to help make reading meaningful. You can find all types of literature to meet all of your students interests.

I also liked at the end of the post when he talked about exploring right along with your students. This is important for all subjects, I learned this when I had to teach science. I was always scared of science because I felt that I wasn’t smart enough. In order for me to get over my fears I had to explore with my students when we did science experiments. I did some research on what I had to teach and that made me feel a whole lot better. I went in with more confidence and was willing to take what I learned, and used it with my students. Teachers should  explore with their students and they will find out that students could really educate the teacher!

traditional learning in the year 2008

I decided to become a teacher because of all the “bad” teachers I had. I have learned reflective and interesting teaching techniques from college. When I was student teaching I helped out a first year teacher many times. This first year teacher graduated from Nazareth, so I know that she learned just about everything I learned. Some techniques I  refer to are incorporating many different learning styles, differentiation, hands-on work, out of the box (non-traditional) ways of teaching. This teacher did none of these strategies and was really struggling. I have never had my own classroom so I don’t know how it feels, but once you have your classroom you may feel overwhelmed. I find that this teacher like so many resorted to teaching how he/she was taught and “forgetting” everything he/she learned from college. The way she was taught would look like the teacher having all the knowledge and power and the students are to listen. Worksheets were used to teach many easy hands-on concepts. This type of teaching seems like it could be easy to do under-pressure, but teachers are still learners and should learn how to face their challenges to promote learning. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or  experience of being a first year teacher? How could one avoid falling into “traditional” teaching and views in the classroom?

Technology can help us differentiate and gain students’ interests. This is one tool to help teachers go against “traditional” ways of teaching and it is not hard. Schools have programs and they are just waiting to be explored.

Blogs in the classroom

Blogs can be used to share information and much more! You can use blogs to create a web site  for your class that may include students and parents comments. I have been in many classrooms and have not seen many classroom web sites. Teachers are not aware that a detailed blog could serve as a web site. Creating a web site sounds complicated, but if you use your blog to post homework, daily schedule, and events it is easy. Blogs can be used to post a summary of the day’s class for students that were absent and for parents. Parents care about their children and are curious what their child is learning about. Anytime you can get the parents involved is great. I like the idea about using a blog in the classroom to have students post drafts. These drafts can be used for peer editing where many people can comment. Using blogs for team projects lets students see what others are working on and can comment on each other’s work. Overall, using a blog in your classroom can link technology with cooperative learning. I know when I was a student and even nowadays, working in groups can be boring, but if you can incorporate some technology it makes life better.

skills to teach students

I really enjoyed last class about the “fake” web sites. Looking at the end of the URL really makes a difference. I knew that .edu was an academic site because that is where I go to check my email and look up infomation on education. The other  endings like .gov and .com, I had no clue what they were and never really cared. Now I understand the importance and that .gov or .edu are more reliable sites. The wayback machine is helpful to see old web sites. I went back to my high school web site in 2000 to see what it was like and it was amazing. I never knew we even had a web site when I was in high school! I was disappointed to find only a few hyperlinks worked. I can’t wait to use what I’ve learned in a classroom. I was never allowed to use web sites for research papers and now I can teach my students that some web sites are permitted as long as they take the steps to check the site.

Technology accepts that people learn differently

Having technology  allows students of all learning differences to see how capable they are in succeeding. My research topic looks at how technology could benefit students with disabilities. Since I would like to be a special education teacher I need to know what kind of technology is out there for my students. I would need to know what works well for their strengths and weaknesses. How can technology help students with disabilities feel like a “regular” student? There is so much technology out there to help students with needs and allowing a student discover ways that work well with their learning preferences is most important. I remember being a terrible speller my whole life and when I was in college I purchased a spell checker and I used it regularly. This little piece of technology at the time gave me the power to feel that I can accomplish anything. This must be the same feeling students get when given a device or program that is easy to use and makes you feel smart. You can even purchase spell checkers that speak the word and meaning. The possibilities are endless with technology and money is an issue regarding devices out there. I am looking forward to finding more articles on this topic and seeing what I can learn about to enhance student learning.

Learning microsoft word

This past class made me feel like I was in high school again. Where we would learn by exploration and if we could not figure it out we could ask for help. I liked that we could work at our own pace. I think this class is about technology, but we are learning about classroom management and ways of differentiating. I would have never of thought of inserting a hyperlink in a picture. Making worksheets does not seem so hard anymore, because of all the tools you can use like hyperlinks, bookmarks, and drawing instruments. I can remember creating outlines for students and getting really frustrated with bullets and numbering. Sometimes you would not need a bullet and then one would appear and when you wanted the numbers to follow sequence they wouldn’t. I did not have a problem with bullets on the newsletter, but I’m sure if I had to put more of them in I would be in trouble!

      I think I could now make my own worksheets to meet my students needs instead of trying to adapt a worksheet with information that may not pertain to my students. 

So much new information …

I was excited to read and learn about how to use technology in the classroom. One of the readings talked about visiting textbook publishers Web sites. I thought this was a great idea because you can find activities, unit and chapter notes, and advance organizers. 

      One semester I was in charge of creating graphs for my group research project on excel, since no one in my group was comfortable with excel. After many hours and days of revisiting and revising my data, I feel that I mastered excel. I was able to plug in my results and found many graphs to choose from with statistics. I never used excel before this and I was excited that I was able to figure it out on my own. I believe students of all ages should learn excel and spreadsheets. Going into college knowing excel could save students many hours of frustration. I feel that teachers going into the classroom should really take the time to explore with excel before they try to incorporate it in their classrooms. If I never volunteered to create the graphs and percentages, then I would never learned excel. How many pre-service teachers really know excel? This is an interesting question but more importantly how many are willing to learn?

First class

I am very excited about learning new technology programs and creating a web site. This class seems like it will be a challenge but that is when learning takes place. I would like to learn more about Inspiration and Kidspiration. I tried using Inspiration to make a concept map for a thematic unit and I just couldn’t figure it out. I ended up doing my concept map on Microsoft word which took me forever. Hopefully by the end of this class I will be able to use Inspiration without getting frustrated.