Week 15 Reflection

This is our final reflection and this class has been a lot of fun! I have learned about WebQuests, which I had no idea what it was before this semester and I just finished creating on with my group. I think that this class has opened up my eyes to the need to teach technology, but there is also a lack of funding to bring technology to the schools. I think that once we get out of this recession we might be able to start adding more computers and so on in the classrooms. I think that teachers in the school now need to take a course on using technology to teach because the teacher I observed hardly ever used technology to teach because she didn't know how. I hope that as I start teaching I will be able to remember what I learned in this semester to use technology in the classroom.

Video- Do You Believe In Me?
I thought this was an awesome video. It made me realize how much the students need good teachers that believe in them. I think that many teachers get in a rut after a few years and just do the same things over and over again each year. This video inspired me to not ever get in a rut, to change it up each year with the different students that I will meet. I think every teacher needs to hear this speech because I think we all have heard this from principals and district leaders but it is different to hear it from a student.

Week 14 Reflection

This week was our first week back after our field experience. It was a busy week but in technology we learned about attaching videos to our websites. This was very helpful, especially when we want to have the students watch a video they can just click the link instead of having to type in the URL. We also attached out Webquest to our website and knowing how to do this will take ease off of teaching technology and trying to have students type in a web address and I have 30 students that I need to make sure if they typed in the right address. I think webquests are great tools for students to use. They are able to learn by discovery and usually that creates a better memory of what they learned. I think that students also enjoy webquests because their assessments aren't always the same test of quiz they have to take. Also having these links on our website, other teachers can have students do the same one by going to my website. That creates a better teaching team by working together and I think the students can recognize how strong the teaching team is and they can feel more comfortable.

School House Rock- Noun Video:
I love school house rock and I think that these videos are a lot of fun for the students to watch, while they are educational. I think it is important to have the students learn the songs as well as watch them, that way the concepts stay with them a lot longer. I would use this video to teach about nouns, I would give each student the lyrics of the song, and first have them listen to it and then sing along with the video. I would then review the song with them everyday until they have it memorized.

Week 13 Reflection

This last week of field experience was very interesting. My partner and I switched teachers with another partner and taught their class our unit while the other partnership taught the class we were assigned to. It was fun because this classroom was a technology integrated classroom where there was a computer for every two students. We used the computers in our lessons on day one and two. For day one we used the dictionaries on the computers to look up new vocabulary words. For day two we were able to show our power point on each computer so the students would be able to see all of the slides up close and get the information off of it for their worksheet they were filling out when they viewed the power point. I would hope that one day each classroom will be able to have the same set up as this classroom. They were all new, nice computers and they weren't being used all the time but they were there for them to use. In order for the teacher to have this set up, she had to go to school for 2 more years with 4 hours a day spent in the classroom. It would be a dream to have this set up but the funding for school in Utah is being cut so much that there aren't even librarians. I think that so much money is being spent trying to fix the wrong thing when the real problems can be fixed by teaching the children the right things so this doesn't happen again.

Week 12 Reflection

This week in the elementary school we worked on the computers twice. Our class was never scheduled a time to go to the computer labs so they have a traveling computer lab where there are 30 laptop computers that are on this cart where they all plug in and they sign up to take this computer cart. We were able to work on the computers and find more about the different biomes but that was all they had time to work on with the computers. We also used a power point to help us teach the Pony Express and I think that the students really enjoyed it because they don't see a lot of technology besides the over head projector. My partner and I are going to be switching classrooms this next week to teach our unit in a technology integrated classroom where there is a computer for every two students. I am interested to see how much the teacher actually uses the computers and what she uses them for. I think that it is really unfair to have so many students with the ability to access computers so easily but then have the class I am working with and I am sure there are a few others as well that don't have a constant access to any computers. But at least they can use the computer cart and have some access to computers.

Week 11 Reflection

This week was our first week in our field experience and I thought that it was very interesting to see how different each elementary school works with their schedule. Our class has technology class every Thursday if the lab isn't taken; they forgot to schedule the class a specific time to do go have a time with the computers. There is also another fourth grade class that is specifically technology integrated where there is a computer for every two students but our classroom has 4 computers and only two of them have the internet so our class doesn't get to spend a lot of time working with technology. There is also only an overhead projector in the classroom and so I think that the teacher doesn't have a lot of resources to use a lot of technology in her classroom. I think that is a big setback for the students because the world is becoming more industrious in technology every day but this classroom is still pretty old fashion in the way that it is taught. For our lessons, I am hoping to be able to use a projector with a Power Point to help incorporate more technology in the classroom. I also think that our teacher doesn't know how to use all the resources so she doesn't and I think that as we can teach we can use web quests or use the computers in centers. There are a lot of things that our class can do to use technology but I think that way that the schedule is set up at the school makes it really difficult for this classroom to really use technology.

Week 10 Reflection

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Week 9 Reflection

This week in class we learned about webquests. I think that webquests are a great way of teaching students because students can use technology in guided setting to learn about a topic. I also think that students are more excited to learn because they get to discover for themselves about the topic and they aren't just listening to a lecture. Sometimes webquests even include games which make them very kid friendly. I think you can also let the parents view the webquest before the students view it to approve it. I think that this will help parents know the details of what their child is learning about and can even have fun exploring the different websites on the webquest. A webquest is great for the students as well because as a teacher I will get to choose what websites the students will look at and they won't run into any bad websites that are out there. I think working with other teachers on webquests is a great idea because every teacher in your grade will have to teach the same things and if you work together to create a webquest, it cuts down half of your work and is more enjoyable for the students. I think you have to be careful with creating too many webquests because the students may get bored of them and not put in the effort needed to complete it. Webquests are a great tool if you use them properly.
Surface Computing Video: The video from the website wasn't working so I went onto the YouTube and found a video called Microsoft Surface Computing and this is the URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pojPBPFV-Y. I thought that this idea is really cool especially when the virtual restaurant orderings explained. You can look at each food item and then place your order and then set your card on the screen and it will charge it right then and there. It is cool to see the technology growing in the world and how homes will start having these technologies where you don't have to have a keyboard or mouse with your computer; you will just be able to touch the screen. You can see it now in a lot of the cell phones.