tired

I have not blogged for some time now...I am ready for this long weekend, I really havent had a chance to spend time with my kids our husband. I miss them. I am really not looking forward to this 20 page paper in research nor the 7 hour IRB certification.

I am glad we are learning about new websites to use during the school year. I really like classroom 2.0 and tube chop. Those will be 2 I will definitely incorporate into my classroom.

memory and music

I have found so many songs on you tube that can teach kids memorization. I dont know if you guys remember or have been taught the states song...but it worked because we can say all 50 states in alphabetical order. If you play this song in the class each day for about a month your students will remeber the given subject. My daughter is 3 and has remembered the state song by hearing it ona daily basis in the car. Next I will have a presidential song that they can sing that a rapper came up with. IDK found that if my 3 year can learn my music, any body can. She is not one of those quiet calm kids neither, she even has a dance for the state song. Just a suggestion.

prezi

We have one week left and I am feeling great. I have all my assignments finished except prezi. Prezi is time consuming but cool all at the same time. I really want to use prezi vs powerpoint to keep the kids engaged more. Powerpoint is so 20th century lol. But I really hope I can be prezi proficient by the time school starts, or a little before so I can make some lecture notes on it. If there is anyone who is tech/prezi savvy and would love to help me become more proficient I would greatly appreciate it.

blogging in schools

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml

Blogging or Web logging as some people call it is thought of as an activity for high school students. Students as young as kindergarten now blog on a daily basis in a variety of exciting ways. Educators know that students write better when they have a real audience -- not just a teacher with a red pen. In the past, finding such an audience was a challenge. But with Internet access and some basic software, any student can write for the world to see.

The website gave specific articles for grade level and for levels of comfort of technology. So I knew which website fit well for my grade and since I am not tech savvy, it explained which a good blog site was for me. It also includes teachers concerns about safety and content. Teachers can use a blogging program/online tool that requires a password to publish. That way, you as the teacher have final say about what goes online, and you can edit out any identifying information (such as a student's home address!) before it becomes public.

This article was the best of all three that I chose due to the awesome information on how I can incorporate it and which websites can help certain levels of tech people. I loved the blogs idea when it was first introduced to us at the beginning of class; however I was a little skeptical if I was going to use in the classroom. I so wanted to use blogging for my students because I think blogging is a great learning tool. I agree with the articles about because of the simplicity of a blog, and because of the context of news and editorial column writing, blogging has become a highly effective way to help students become better writers. Research has long shown that students write more, write in greater detail, and take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, when they are writing to an authentic audience over the Internet.

cellphones

http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/cell-phones-in-the-classroom

Cell phones have become a huge accessory of high school students since the late 1990s. Initially banned by schools as an unnecessary distraction, events such as the Columbine tragedy and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 have made most districts reconsider the place of cell phones in middle and high schools. Although the bans have largely been removed, the problems—or distractions—of cell phone technology have only increased. Cell phones today allow users to do so much more than just a few years ago. Students can use their cell phones to write and send text messages, take and send digital photos, and even take and send short digital video clips, in addition to making phone calls. Nearly all of the uses can become inappropriate and undesirable in middle and high school classrooms.

This article was fair in which it described the positives and negatives in regards to the use of cell phones. I really learned a lot from reading about the part where the If found with a cell phone turned on during a test, students receive an automatic two grade deduction from the test scores. Remind everyone to turn their phones off prior to the test. However there was a rule about taking the phones at the beginning of class. I don't think the is realistic and plausible; they will just pretend that they don't have one.

Digital camera for fieldtrips would be awesome and they could send them to my phone and I can make a presentation or review of we saw on the trip. However in high school we don't go on many field trips especially in social sciences. They can be great for calculators, however I would rather supply calculators if possible just to decrease the risk of texting. Which I come to my next topic about them even being used at all. I think cell phones should not be used at all because there are more cons than pros when it comes to using them among teenagers.

smart boards

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/06/67710

Kids growing up in this new technology era may never know the painful sound of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. That's because the dust-covered board that normally would be the focus of their classroom has been replaced by a giant, touch-sensitive computer screen. All across the country, chalkboards are being ditched in favor of interactive, computer-driven whiteboards that allow students and teachers to share assignments, surf the web and edit video using their fingers as pens.
This article was very informative in explaining how effective the smart board is for all classrooms. Because I am not tech savvy I think this will be an easy tool for to incorporate in my school, mostly because of the computer aspect of it. This article made me want to go out and buy a smart board for my class right now. I hope In the next 3 or so year nearly all of OPS schools will have one, high school included.
Because it is technology driven kids are susceptible to grasp onto it more. Kids already have the newest and latest technologies at home so why not incorporate into the classroom as well. At the school I will be teaching at, they do not have a smart board. I will also be a traveling teachers so I do not think I will be lucky to get one. Once I have my own room as a teacher I will definitely ask for a grant to purchase one. My son comes home everyday and all he talks about is the magic board as he calls it. He remembers everything that was done that day that was from the smart board. Just think if a student had a question that you did not know at the top of your head…you can find the answer in seconds by using the smart board; immediate gratification.

hectic weeks

I am glad we had class time to do our choice proojects, I dont now where i find time to outside of class considering I pretty much had my weekends ll planned for the month of June. This weekend I planned on getting work done, however, I have to go to lincoln for a personal issue and on sunday is my 24 bday celebration as well as my daughters 3rd bday party, that by the way i still havent planned. I am all over the place. I am praying that the school year is not as intense.

Survey reveal gaps in school technology perceptions

I believe since we are in the technology age we need to cater to the students growths and cultural changes in the sense that this is a culture of technology era. The computer tech people at the school should be on board and have seminars about the new things that are available. If schools are having teachers be required to include this in the curriculum there needs to be a training seminar. To sum it up in my opinion, all teachers need to have some training in the new changes that is happening in the technology realm. Like a one day, all day seminar.

first day of cadre

The first day was actually yesterday and it went great, a little tedious but again it was the first day. My favorite part was that it kept me awake and time went by extremely fast.

Today, however I am so so tired. Last night my sink in my bedroom was overflowing and pouring out onto my floor.(I have carpet) It was 2 in the morning when I heard the splat splat splat splat, so initially thought I was dreaming. I called maintenence, they came an hour later and it took him an hour to fix. So I lost about an hour an a half of sleep. I woke this morning upset not at the big water stain on my carpet that cant get fixed until this afternoon, but because my husband did not wake up through the entire night, not through the loud plumber, not through me complaining, nothing. lol.
Now that I think about it all over again I am going home to a bedroom that will probably spell like mildew. Gosh i hope that isnt the case. I dont know if anyone has heard of the saying "If moma aint happy, aint nobody happy" hahahaa!

I think this is enough blogging this was so fun. Since I just blogged my feelings about my carpet just now I dont think I will be as upset when I get home, but hey then again I pay ALOT for rent and I shouldnt be going home to mildew and losing sleep!

Good bye my fellow bloggers. Until next time.