What?
This week we were given our final project. The assignment is to create 2 documents and we can choose out of a flyer, newsletter, and/or brochure. We can also choose which program we want to use to do the assignment.
So What?
Best assignment ever. There was no question in my mind which program I would use. Illustrator, of course. I love Illustrator, I use it a lot. I have used it to create my own visual for lessons. I used it to make my newsletter for the practicum class. I use it for everything.
I liked creating these documents because I know it's something I will definitely do in my career as an early childhood educator. I'm sure I'll continue to use Illustrator to create visuals and graphics throughout my school classes. I also use it for personal things like designing my wedding announcements.
Now What?
I'm sure I won't be giving out any assignments to my students to use Illustrator - it seems a bit advanced for a preschooler. But it will affect my children by the visuals and activities I create through Illustrator. It will also affect them by the brochures, newsletters and flyers I can create through this program. Yay Illustrator, let's hear it for Adobe! Wahoo!
Video
Oh how I love Schoolhouse Rock - takes me back. The one that I still remember is the "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill" but I'm sure I've watched a million during my elementary years. And now having watched this I'm sure it'll be in my head for the rest of the day. Yipee.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Weekly Post - Videos
What?
This week we learned about videos - particularly videos on the web. Our assignment was to find two educational videos, convert them to MP4 files, and post them on our UEN site.
So What?
I think the use of videos is very effective. I am a very visual person so actually seeing things helps me learn much better. I can use videos in presentations in my classes right now - there are so many videos available on the web. Web videos are also for entertainment - I like to share funny videos I find with family and friends.
This will help me in my future career as a teacher because it helps me practice implementing different technologies for different uses. I'm sure there are instructional videos of how to make crafts or create projects that I could use in my preschool class. I could also share these helpful videos with other teachers. By sharing ideas and collaborating with other teachers, everyone benefits from each individuals contribution - this saves a lot of time.
Now What?
Before this assignment I had never heard of Zamzar which is a really awesome thing. Zamzar allows you to rip videos on the internet to a downloadable file. This will be really helpful for me if there's any videos I want to keep and save that are on the internet now because chances are they won't be on the internet forever or at least not have the same link.
This would also be a great way to share and keep vidcasts. I have found that it's hard for me to send video files to other people because my files are usually larger than what's allowed to send. By uploading it to youtube, other people can rip your files through Zamzar and get the file that way. This would also be great for the parents of my students. If we watched a web video in class I could share the URL and then the parents could rip and save it to their own computer with Zamzar.
Video
I thought the video brought up some good point about the rising generation of technology. I am very impressed with how far technology has come just in my short life and am very excited to see what the future holds. Everyday it seems there is a new product with new technology coming out, it baffles me to think how things will be in 10 years. I love technology, I'm all about making things easier, simpler, more efficient, but sometimes I wonder if the world will turn out like the movie Surrogates where everyone is so removed from the real world because of increasing technology. Hmmm.
This week we learned about videos - particularly videos on the web. Our assignment was to find two educational videos, convert them to MP4 files, and post them on our UEN site.
So What?
I think the use of videos is very effective. I am a very visual person so actually seeing things helps me learn much better. I can use videos in presentations in my classes right now - there are so many videos available on the web. Web videos are also for entertainment - I like to share funny videos I find with family and friends.
This will help me in my future career as a teacher because it helps me practice implementing different technologies for different uses. I'm sure there are instructional videos of how to make crafts or create projects that I could use in my preschool class. I could also share these helpful videos with other teachers. By sharing ideas and collaborating with other teachers, everyone benefits from each individuals contribution - this saves a lot of time.
Now What?
Before this assignment I had never heard of Zamzar which is a really awesome thing. Zamzar allows you to rip videos on the internet to a downloadable file. This will be really helpful for me if there's any videos I want to keep and save that are on the internet now because chances are they won't be on the internet forever or at least not have the same link.
This would also be a great way to share and keep vidcasts. I have found that it's hard for me to send video files to other people because my files are usually larger than what's allowed to send. By uploading it to youtube, other people can rip your files through Zamzar and get the file that way. This would also be great for the parents of my students. If we watched a web video in class I could share the URL and then the parents could rip and save it to their own computer with Zamzar.
Video
I thought the video brought up some good point about the rising generation of technology. I am very impressed with how far technology has come just in my short life and am very excited to see what the future holds. Everyday it seems there is a new product with new technology coming out, it baffles me to think how things will be in 10 years. I love technology, I'm all about making things easier, simpler, more efficient, but sometimes I wonder if the world will turn out like the movie Surrogates where everyone is so removed from the real world because of increasing technology. Hmmm.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Weekly Post - Podcast & Vidcasts
What?
This week we learned about Podcasts and Vidcasts. Our assignment is to use either of these two forms of media to teach a concept in our teams. For our team we are making a Vidcast of animal signs to be used when singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
So What?
I think Podcasts and Vidcasts are great, especially Vidcasts. Right now in my life I could use Vidcasts to make videos of cooking new meals to share with family or how to make crafts/visuals to share with my fellow student teachers. I could also use Vidcasts if I had a presentation that included some type of demonstration - I could make a Vidcast of the demonstration at home and just show it during class.
If everyone had access to equipment to make a Podcast, I think it would be a good tool to collaborate anecdotal notes in the practicum class in the Early Childhood Education Program. Right now in class we use sticky notes - 1 sticky note per child, per observation, handwritten - which is very time consuming. If everyone could record themselves and speak their notes and share them through a podcast that would save us all carpal tunnel syndrome in a few years.
Now What?
In my future, I think making Vidcasts would be an excellent way of doing demonstrations for projects. Children love guests and new faces to teach them something new - I think it would be fun to make Vidcasts of "guests" doing demonstrations for the class. This way they could do it on their own time and their own home or maybe even at a special location.
This might also be a great tool to use for a sub. If you had to stay home sick one day, you could make a Vidcast of an explanation of why you are gone for the sub to show the kids or even demonstrate activities that the kids would be doing that day. This would be very helpful for the sub because most students don't treat subs as well as they treat teachers because the sub doesn't really know how things are run. This would be fun for the kids to see their teacher on the computer even though they weren't going to be in class.
Video
I thought the video addressed many good points. The world is ever becoming a digital place and we need to keep up with the times. I'm not saying we should eliminate basic skills like writing (with hands) and penmanship, but there is definitely more to add when it comes to expressing yourself with written words. Blogging provides many great benefits such as literacy, engagement, sharing, etc. which are important for all ages.
This week we learned about Podcasts and Vidcasts. Our assignment is to use either of these two forms of media to teach a concept in our teams. For our team we are making a Vidcast of animal signs to be used when singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
So What?
I think Podcasts and Vidcasts are great, especially Vidcasts. Right now in my life I could use Vidcasts to make videos of cooking new meals to share with family or how to make crafts/visuals to share with my fellow student teachers. I could also use Vidcasts if I had a presentation that included some type of demonstration - I could make a Vidcast of the demonstration at home and just show it during class.
If everyone had access to equipment to make a Podcast, I think it would be a good tool to collaborate anecdotal notes in the practicum class in the Early Childhood Education Program. Right now in class we use sticky notes - 1 sticky note per child, per observation, handwritten - which is very time consuming. If everyone could record themselves and speak their notes and share them through a podcast that would save us all carpal tunnel syndrome in a few years.
Now What?
In my future, I think making Vidcasts would be an excellent way of doing demonstrations for projects. Children love guests and new faces to teach them something new - I think it would be fun to make Vidcasts of "guests" doing demonstrations for the class. This way they could do it on their own time and their own home or maybe even at a special location.
This might also be a great tool to use for a sub. If you had to stay home sick one day, you could make a Vidcast of an explanation of why you are gone for the sub to show the kids or even demonstrate activities that the kids would be doing that day. This would be very helpful for the sub because most students don't treat subs as well as they treat teachers because the sub doesn't really know how things are run. This would be fun for the kids to see their teacher on the computer even though they weren't going to be in class.
Video
I thought the video addressed many good points. The world is ever becoming a digital place and we need to keep up with the times. I'm not saying we should eliminate basic skills like writing (with hands) and penmanship, but there is definitely more to add when it comes to expressing yourself with written words. Blogging provides many great benefits such as literacy, engagement, sharing, etc. which are important for all ages.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Weekly Post - PowerPoint Activities
What?
This week we learned about PowerPoint activities. Our assignment is to get together with our team and create a PowerPoint activity of our own. For our team project we are creating a PowerPoint activity that teaches how to create and print your own matching game.
So What?
With this new skill, I can utilize PowerPoint to make learning activities. This would be a fun way to do an in class presentation in my classes this semester. Most of my presentations involve some sort of activity, and by using PowerPoint it would be a new interactive way of implementing an activity. I've never seen PowerPoint activities done before learning this and I think if I presented this it would excite the other students in the classroom.
Because I am in the practicum class this semester, I am grouped with a bunch of student teachers creating their own lesson plans. I would like to benefit from their hard work and share lesson plans to build my curriculum. I know that I make a lot of visuals for my lessons and activities, and if everyone created PowerPoint activities of how to make their visuals everyone could easily get that file to save for future use. By collaborating with each other it would save a lot of time collecting visuals and other elements of lesson plans.
Now What?
By using PowerPoint, I can start creating learning activities now that I could use in my future career as an early childhood educator. I think this would also be a great collaborative tool as well. If several different teachers came up with their own PowerPoint activities then shared them with each other, each teacher would benefit from the other teachers by sharing these activities.
This could also benefit the parents of students as well. Since I'm going into early childhood education, particularly preschool, I know that a lot of parents want learning activities to do outside of class with their children. By creating a PowerPoint activity that allows parents to learn to create their own activity, it allows parents to create activities of their choosing and gets parents involved in their child's education.
Video
I liked how this girl related her knowledge of chickens to all of the major cores of education: math, science, language, social studies. I liked this video because she liked chickens - not anything grandiose or anything. Just a simple dream of raising chickens that might one day lead to being a veterinarian or something else. It tells me that you can have any kind of dreams, whether big or small, having a small dream is better than no dream at all. I didn't mean to be cheesy and make that rhyme.
This week we learned about PowerPoint activities. Our assignment is to get together with our team and create a PowerPoint activity of our own. For our team project we are creating a PowerPoint activity that teaches how to create and print your own matching game.
So What?
With this new skill, I can utilize PowerPoint to make learning activities. This would be a fun way to do an in class presentation in my classes this semester. Most of my presentations involve some sort of activity, and by using PowerPoint it would be a new interactive way of implementing an activity. I've never seen PowerPoint activities done before learning this and I think if I presented this it would excite the other students in the classroom.
Because I am in the practicum class this semester, I am grouped with a bunch of student teachers creating their own lesson plans. I would like to benefit from their hard work and share lesson plans to build my curriculum. I know that I make a lot of visuals for my lessons and activities, and if everyone created PowerPoint activities of how to make their visuals everyone could easily get that file to save for future use. By collaborating with each other it would save a lot of time collecting visuals and other elements of lesson plans.
Now What?
By using PowerPoint, I can start creating learning activities now that I could use in my future career as an early childhood educator. I think this would also be a great collaborative tool as well. If several different teachers came up with their own PowerPoint activities then shared them with each other, each teacher would benefit from the other teachers by sharing these activities.
This could also benefit the parents of students as well. Since I'm going into early childhood education, particularly preschool, I know that a lot of parents want learning activities to do outside of class with their children. By creating a PowerPoint activity that allows parents to learn to create their own activity, it allows parents to create activities of their choosing and gets parents involved in their child's education.
Video
I liked how this girl related her knowledge of chickens to all of the major cores of education: math, science, language, social studies. I liked this video because she liked chickens - not anything grandiose or anything. Just a simple dream of raising chickens that might one day lead to being a veterinarian or something else. It tells me that you can have any kind of dreams, whether big or small, having a small dream is better than no dream at all. I didn't mean to be cheesy and make that rhyme.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Weekly Post - a little bit of everything
What?
Because our teacher was out sick last week, she taught us about Picasa this week. However, I already explored Picasa and blogged about it so this post will be about the different photo editors I use - Picasa, Picnik, iPhoto, and PhotoShop.
So What?
There is another online picture editing program that I wanted to blog about. It's www.picnik.com. I love Picnik because it has a lot more fun effects than Picasa, but Picasa is definitely better in some ways. The free portion of Picnik.com is fun to use, but you have to subscribe to the premium version to have access to ALL it's wonderful features. Also, on Picnik, you can only upload and work on one picture at a time whereas in Picasa all of your pictures can be saved in the program to be used at a moment's notice.
Picnik allows you to edit your pictures in more extravagant ways, which is fun, but I don't necessarily think you would want to edit your pictures to the extreme for everyday classroom use. It definitely wouldn't be efficient to use Picnik for a whole batch of photos either since you can only upload one at a time - it would take way too long.
Now What?
I can see the advantages of Picasa and Picnik, but for me, I will stick to iPhoto for now - photoshop when my work gets more extensive. I think it's most important to know all your available resources so you know which ones to use in different situations. If I needed to do a certain photo edit on an entire batch of pictures I would use Adobe Bridge. If I wanted a quick fun edit on a few pictures I would use Picnik. If I wanted to share entire albums I would use Picasa and if I wanted to do everyday minor edits (on my own computer) I would stick to iPhoto.
Lucky for me, I'm more knowledgeable about photo editing than the average teacher because I have studied photography. I can see myself using all of these different programs in my teaching. I am glad there are free online photo editors like Picasa and Picnik because keeping updated with Adobe programs gets expensive - especially when I won't be able to buy student editions anymore.
Video
Since I've already watched and blogged about all the videos I chose found one of my own
This video is a tour of iPhoto '09.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl8OZXh52RE
I'm not really familiar with iPhoto '09, I'm still in the '06 version, which is when I bought my Mac. After watching this video it is now on my wishlist - along with many other Apple products. One thing I thought was pretty awesome about Picasa is it's face recognition tool. Now iPhoto has the same kind of tool. I'm pretty jazzed. It also has more organizing features, which I really like because I have a lot of pictures between my photography and normal snapshots. For now I will stick to what I have and when I become rich I will blow my money on every Apple product out there.
Because our teacher was out sick last week, she taught us about Picasa this week. However, I already explored Picasa and blogged about it so this post will be about the different photo editors I use - Picasa, Picnik, iPhoto, and PhotoShop.
So What?
There is another online picture editing program that I wanted to blog about. It's www.picnik.com. I love Picnik because it has a lot more fun effects than Picasa, but Picasa is definitely better in some ways. The free portion of Picnik.com is fun to use, but you have to subscribe to the premium version to have access to ALL it's wonderful features. Also, on Picnik, you can only upload and work on one picture at a time whereas in Picasa all of your pictures can be saved in the program to be used at a moment's notice.
Picnik allows you to edit your pictures in more extravagant ways, which is fun, but I don't necessarily think you would want to edit your pictures to the extreme for everyday classroom use. It definitely wouldn't be efficient to use Picnik for a whole batch of photos either since you can only upload one at a time - it would take way too long.
Now What?
I can see the advantages of Picasa and Picnik, but for me, I will stick to iPhoto for now - photoshop when my work gets more extensive. I think it's most important to know all your available resources so you know which ones to use in different situations. If I needed to do a certain photo edit on an entire batch of pictures I would use Adobe Bridge. If I wanted a quick fun edit on a few pictures I would use Picnik. If I wanted to share entire albums I would use Picasa and if I wanted to do everyday minor edits (on my own computer) I would stick to iPhoto.
Lucky for me, I'm more knowledgeable about photo editing than the average teacher because I have studied photography. I can see myself using all of these different programs in my teaching. I am glad there are free online photo editors like Picasa and Picnik because keeping updated with Adobe programs gets expensive - especially when I won't be able to buy student editions anymore.
Video
Since I've already watched and blogged about all the videos I chose found one of my own
This video is a tour of iPhoto '09.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl8OZXh52RE
I'm not really familiar with iPhoto '09, I'm still in the '06 version, which is when I bought my Mac. After watching this video it is now on my wishlist - along with many other Apple products. One thing I thought was pretty awesome about Picasa is it's face recognition tool. Now iPhoto has the same kind of tool. I'm pretty jazzed. It also has more organizing features, which I really like because I have a lot of pictures between my photography and normal snapshots. For now I will stick to what I have and when I become rich I will blow my money on every Apple product out there.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Weekly Post - Picasa
What?
This week we had to explore Picasa - a picture editing program - on our own. We didn't really have an assignment to go with it because the teacher was out sick and we were just supposed to mess around with it.
So What?
Picasa, like other Google programs, is a great way to share documents over the internet. This will make it easier for me as a student when I work on group projects that involve pictures. I have found that it is really hard to share pictures if you have a lot of pictures that are big file sizes. By uploading them and inviting people to view your web album, they can just copy the pictures they want to their computer whenever they want.
Because I am in the practicum class, I have been taking a lot of pictures that need to be shared with the other teachers. By uploading the web album to Picasa I can share all of these pictures without having to burn them to CDs or copy them to flashdrives. This will make it easier on me and all of the other student teachers. If we share pictures through Picasa everyone can get the pictures they need a whole lot faster and more efficiently.
Now What?
Picasa wil be a great tool for me as a preschool teacher. I'm sure I will take so many pictures and they can't all fit onto a newsletter. By creating a web album and inviting the students parents to view they can see pictures of what we do in class and copy pictures of their own kids to have for their own. This saves from printing pictures which can get expensive when you take so many.
I could also create a "Show and Teach" album, for the pictures that the kids take at home to share with the class. By doing this, the kids could have their parents go to the web album and then the kids could tell the parents about the "Show and Teach" pictures and teach their parents the things they learned in class. This would be a great way to develop language skills at home.
Video
I liked this video. It was funny because it is so true. I think people tend to get carried away when making PowerPoint presentations because of all the exciting things you can do. Less is more when it comes to PowerPoints. I don't mean that you should make 4 slides with a white background and 12 pt. times new roman font, I just mean that it's too overwhelming to choose a theme for each slide and a different crazy font. Make it interesting, but keep it simple.
This week we had to explore Picasa - a picture editing program - on our own. We didn't really have an assignment to go with it because the teacher was out sick and we were just supposed to mess around with it.
So What?
Picasa, like other Google programs, is a great way to share documents over the internet. This will make it easier for me as a student when I work on group projects that involve pictures. I have found that it is really hard to share pictures if you have a lot of pictures that are big file sizes. By uploading them and inviting people to view your web album, they can just copy the pictures they want to their computer whenever they want.
Because I am in the practicum class, I have been taking a lot of pictures that need to be shared with the other teachers. By uploading the web album to Picasa I can share all of these pictures without having to burn them to CDs or copy them to flashdrives. This will make it easier on me and all of the other student teachers. If we share pictures through Picasa everyone can get the pictures they need a whole lot faster and more efficiently.
Now What?
Picasa wil be a great tool for me as a preschool teacher. I'm sure I will take so many pictures and they can't all fit onto a newsletter. By creating a web album and inviting the students parents to view they can see pictures of what we do in class and copy pictures of their own kids to have for their own. This saves from printing pictures which can get expensive when you take so many.
I could also create a "Show and Teach" album, for the pictures that the kids take at home to share with the class. By doing this, the kids could have their parents go to the web album and then the kids could tell the parents about the "Show and Teach" pictures and teach their parents the things they learned in class. This would be a great way to develop language skills at home.
Video
I liked this video. It was funny because it is so true. I think people tend to get carried away when making PowerPoint presentations because of all the exciting things you can do. Less is more when it comes to PowerPoints. I don't mean that you should make 4 slides with a white background and 12 pt. times new roman font, I just mean that it's too overwhelming to choose a theme for each slide and a different crazy font. Make it interesting, but keep it simple.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Weekly Post - Digital Cameras
What?
This week we learned about digital cameras. Our assignment was to get together with our team, come up with a concept to teach, and take pictures to teach that concept that will eventually turn into a presentation.
So what?
I love taking pictures, and I'm sure I will take a lot of pictures as a teacher. I think this assignment opened up my eyes to how I can use my camera for teaching! I usually take pictures to document and assess, but now I can teach by taking pictures too. I think this assignment opened my mind to come up with creative ways to teach concepts.
I think pictures will be a great tool in my teaching career. Not only are pictures fun to look at, but they are especially important for visual learners. I know because I'm a very visual learner - I have to see to learn. I don't really gain anything by just hearing the information. It is important for me to use a lot of visuals because I want to teach preschool and most preschoolers can't read yet. With the access to a digital camera, a computer, and a printer, I have a great tool to create my own visuals.
Now what?
Instead of trying to find clipart on the internet, I'm going to try and make more of my own visuals by using my camera. I love pictures and taking pictures (I pursued a photography last year) so why wouldn't I think to incorporate photographs into my teaching. I would love to cover the walls in my classroom with pictures of teaching concepts that are fun for the kids as well as the kids in the classroom and the activities we do.
I would also, if I had the resources, invest in a kid's digital camera that students could take turns taking home and taking pictures. Kind of like show and tell - they could take a picture of something they wanted to teach the class or share with the class, and when they would come to class the next day we would look at it on the computer ( and eventually print it out and hang it up) and the child could talk about it; this is a great activity for language development, which is important in preschool, because kids are excited to share what they know.
Video Reflection
The mashup was amazing - for lack of a better word. I wish I was so musically inclined that I could put together a bunch of different musical clips and make it sound like an actual song. Incredible. I also wish I had the computer technical skills to edit and compile all of those videos - that is something I would love to do (actually what I originally started going to college for - Computer Information Technology with an emphasis in Visual Technology.) I also enjoyed Letterman's Top Ten - all of them are so true. My favorite one is believe your students when they say they need to go to the bathroom - very relevant when teaching preschoolers.
This week we learned about digital cameras. Our assignment was to get together with our team, come up with a concept to teach, and take pictures to teach that concept that will eventually turn into a presentation.
So what?
I love taking pictures, and I'm sure I will take a lot of pictures as a teacher. I think this assignment opened up my eyes to how I can use my camera for teaching! I usually take pictures to document and assess, but now I can teach by taking pictures too. I think this assignment opened my mind to come up with creative ways to teach concepts.
I think pictures will be a great tool in my teaching career. Not only are pictures fun to look at, but they are especially important for visual learners. I know because I'm a very visual learner - I have to see to learn. I don't really gain anything by just hearing the information. It is important for me to use a lot of visuals because I want to teach preschool and most preschoolers can't read yet. With the access to a digital camera, a computer, and a printer, I have a great tool to create my own visuals.
Now what?
Instead of trying to find clipart on the internet, I'm going to try and make more of my own visuals by using my camera. I love pictures and taking pictures (I pursued a photography last year) so why wouldn't I think to incorporate photographs into my teaching. I would love to cover the walls in my classroom with pictures of teaching concepts that are fun for the kids as well as the kids in the classroom and the activities we do.
I would also, if I had the resources, invest in a kid's digital camera that students could take turns taking home and taking pictures. Kind of like show and tell - they could take a picture of something they wanted to teach the class or share with the class, and when they would come to class the next day we would look at it on the computer ( and eventually print it out and hang it up) and the child could talk about it; this is a great activity for language development, which is important in preschool, because kids are excited to share what they know.
Video Reflection
The mashup was amazing - for lack of a better word. I wish I was so musically inclined that I could put together a bunch of different musical clips and make it sound like an actual song. Incredible. I also wish I had the computer technical skills to edit and compile all of those videos - that is something I would love to do (actually what I originally started going to college for - Computer Information Technology with an emphasis in Visual Technology.) I also enjoyed Letterman's Top Ten - all of them are so true. My favorite one is believe your students when they say they need to go to the bathroom - very relevant when teaching preschoolers.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Weekly Post - Internet Safety
Although there is access to many inappropriate materials on the Internet, the Internet is an invaluable resource. The Internet gives us access to oceans of information at our fingertips that would otherwise be limited to the resources within our physical reach. We no longer have to spend countless hours searching through libraries to find information we need, with the click of a button we have millions of resources set before us. Another great thing about the Internet is it is or can be immediately updated whereas with books it takes time to revise and republish information. As well as having instantaneous access to informative resources, the Internet allows people around the world to share ideas. This is especially useful for teachers because they can share ideas and lesson plans with each other and not have to do everything on their own. People can work collaboratively on the Internet because it is can be accessed almost anywhere in the world, you no longer have to be physically in reach in order to work on the same project. The Internet is an incredibly valuable resource and great time-saver.
Video Post
I thought the video outlined very good Internet Safety tips. This would be a good video to present to a class before giving out an assignment that uses the internet, although the class would need to know how to read beforehand so I'm kind of out of luck with the preschoolers. Although this video was good, I think the presentation could vastly be improved. It wasn't very interesting; it laid out all the information but that's about all. Also some of the effects were not very well thought out, like in the rule #6 how the words scrolled across the screen in a huge font; it was really hard to keep track of the words let alone the whole sentence. All in all, it was a good video to introduce Internet Safety tips.
Because there is access to just about everything on the Internet, it is important to evaluate sites to make sure they are appropriate for students. There are many dangers on the Internet and as teachers we need to make sure we are doing everything in our power to steer children clear of those dangers. Another thing to evaluate sites for is making sure they are worthwhile and useful to the students. If they are not valuable to the students there is no point in using them. An important thing to evaluate is accuracy. Everyone can publish things on the Internet so it is important that you check the sources of information to make sure they are accurate and reliable.
To evaluate websites I’ve adopted Kathy Shrocks’ 5 W's.
WHO wrote the pages and are they an expert? Is a biography of the author included? How can I find out more about the author?
WHAT does the author say is the purpose of this site? WHAT else might the author have in mind for the site? WHAT makes the site easy to use? WHAT information is included and does this information differ from other sites?
WHEN was the site created? WHEN was the site last updated?
WHERE does the information come from? WHERE can I look to find out more about the sponsor of this site?
WHY is this site useful for my purpose? WHY should I use this information? WHY is this page better than another?
I also as myself other important questions like:
What domain does this site use? Is it a prefffered domain such as .edu, .gov, .org, .net?
Does the URL include a personal name or a tilde (~) or a percentage symbol (%) which indicates a personal page.
Does the page have a lot of advertising? Is that its perpose?
Are the page author’s credentials relative to the material?
What other sites link to this page?
Does the page cite reliable sources?
I can try to keep my students safe by sharing my Internet safety tips with them and their parents. By letting students and parents know how to evaluate websites they can use the Internet more to their advantage. Knowing what to look for in websites will help students to eliminate the bad websites and use the good. With teaching preschoolers, I would focus on educating parents on how to evaluate websites. I would post these tips on my blog or send it out in a newsletter. I would also inform parents of the educational websites that I have evaluated and approved by my standards for their consideration.Video Post
I thought the video outlined very good Internet Safety tips. This would be a good video to present to a class before giving out an assignment that uses the internet, although the class would need to know how to read beforehand so I'm kind of out of luck with the preschoolers. Although this video was good, I think the presentation could vastly be improved. It wasn't very interesting; it laid out all the information but that's about all. Also some of the effects were not very well thought out, like in the rule #6 how the words scrolled across the screen in a huge font; it was really hard to keep track of the words let alone the whole sentence. All in all, it was a good video to introduce Internet Safety tips.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Weekly Post - UEN Part 2
Utah Education Network is full of valuable resources I would like to use in my future classroom. Because I want to teach out of my home, UEN would be a useful tool to find the pre-k core curriculum so I would know what I should be teaching. UEN also offers lesson plans, which is such a time-saver. All of their lesson plans are based on standards and objectives from the core curriculum so UEN is a much better source for finding lesson plans than searching Google. 
To encourage parents to continue education at home, I would also post bookmarks on my UEN page and in newsletters to parents of interactive learning games and virtual field trips relating to our theme that week. These are fun and easy ways for parents to implement learning activities in their home.
Through Pioneer Online Library, eMedia offers many video clips that I could use in my classroom or could suggest to parents to watch at home. It is easy to find relevant movies through eMedia because it lets you search by grade level or by Utah Core subjects, as well as featured items, media type or popular series.
A great feature that Pioneer offers, especially for me, is Preschool Pioneer. This is a whole site dedicated for Preschool! It has tons of educational activities for kids to do. There are sections for Learn, Play, Watch and Read, but all are educational. There is also a page for parents and one for early childhood professionals. This is especially great for me because it has links to research, blogs, current news and more to keep me up to date at home.
UEN is such a valuable resource and can be a huge time-saver for underpaid teachers. There are many great features in the K-12 Student Center for teachers and students. Pioneer gives you access to movies through eMedia, audio clips through Soundzabound, articles through EBSCO, SIRS Discoverer and Knowledge Source, and many more. The great thing about these resources is that they are not only great for teachers, but they’re parent-friendly and kid-friendly as well.
Video Post
Oh how I love Sir Ken. How inspiring. I totally agree with what he says. I am kind of one of those people who thrive in creative arts - I love design, I love to sing, I love to dance, take pictures, create things, the works. But I too think I was stifled as a child with "that's never going to happen" and "choose a reasonable career" type of thing. That is why I love preschool - in preschool imagination and creativity are encouraged more than in any other grade. Three, four, and five-year-olds have yet to be stifled by society and the rationality of the world. Yes only a few make it to the top, but who can say that won't be you - you never know until you try. I think the world needs to realize the importance of creativity and encourage it more, especially in schools.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Weekly Post - UEN
This week we learned about UEN - Utah Education Network. Our assignment is to create our own page on the Utah Education Network.
This is something entirely new to me, I've never heard of the Utah Education Network. What a valuable resource it is. There are so many free resources through this site which is so important for underpaid educators. I'm excited to learn more about this as I explore through UEN's extensive site. I'm sure it will come in handy as I am planning my preschool lesson plans for my student teaching this semester.
I really enjoy the Preschool Pioneer through Pioneer Online Library because I want to teach preschool and pretty much nothing else. This is a great resource to keep in the loop through blogs, current news, and research. Because I will most likely open a preschool in my house, it is up to me to keep up to date on everything. If I had access to the resources on UEN it would be very beneficial for me and my career as a preschool teacher.
If I don't end up teaching in my home I hope to teach at a school that has access to UEN. There are many resources that would be helpful in developing a class like clip art, movie clips, activities, etc. Because teachers don't have a large budget it is important to use as many free resources as possible. Especially in preschool, classrooms have a lot of visuals. Clip art subscriptions can be expensive at times so if you had access to free clip art, like through UEN, it would help a ton.
Another major benefit would be having a web page for the class. Parents could access it and have the links to things we did in class, or movies to watch at home, or books of the month. There are so many tools and services like calendars and bookmarks and messages - everything you needed parents to know could be easily communicated through a UEN web page - that is if they would continually check it. I think the parents would find it very helpful and convenient.
Video Post
Obama makes a good point - you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. So it is with education. It can be placed right in front of you but only you can reach out and take it. It is important for students to be proactive in their education. Everyone has their own trials and adversities but they work past them and so can you.
This is something entirely new to me, I've never heard of the Utah Education Network. What a valuable resource it is. There are so many free resources through this site which is so important for underpaid educators. I'm excited to learn more about this as I explore through UEN's extensive site. I'm sure it will come in handy as I am planning my preschool lesson plans for my student teaching this semester.
I really enjoy the Preschool Pioneer through Pioneer Online Library because I want to teach preschool and pretty much nothing else. This is a great resource to keep in the loop through blogs, current news, and research. Because I will most likely open a preschool in my house, it is up to me to keep up to date on everything. If I had access to the resources on UEN it would be very beneficial for me and my career as a preschool teacher.
If I don't end up teaching in my home I hope to teach at a school that has access to UEN. There are many resources that would be helpful in developing a class like clip art, movie clips, activities, etc. Because teachers don't have a large budget it is important to use as many free resources as possible. Especially in preschool, classrooms have a lot of visuals. Clip art subscriptions can be expensive at times so if you had access to free clip art, like through UEN, it would help a ton.
Another major benefit would be having a web page for the class. Parents could access it and have the links to things we did in class, or movies to watch at home, or books of the month. There are so many tools and services like calendars and bookmarks and messages - everything you needed parents to know could be easily communicated through a UEN web page - that is if they would continually check it. I think the parents would find it very helpful and convenient.
Video Post
Obama makes a good point - you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. So it is with education. It can be placed right in front of you but only you can reach out and take it. It is important for students to be proactive in their education. Everyone has their own trials and adversities but they work past them and so can you.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Weekly Post - Google Presentation
This week we learned about Google Presentation. Our assignment is to collaboratively create a presentation of our group's 10 classroom rules without physically meeting.
Google Presentation, what a wonderful thing. It is especially great for me because so many of my assignments for other classes include presentations. This is great for group projects because everyone can have a copy of the file and work on it when they choose. Bonus: it's automatically updates the file for the rest of the group - no emailing files back and forth. Google, you are amazing.
I think this will come in handy for my other class presentations and throughout my future education. This will be much, much easier to work on a project together without having to actually get together. That is probably the hardest parts about group projects is coordinating schedules. Google Presentation offers an online way to work on the project together without actually having to be together, which makes group project 10 times more convenient.
Since I want to teach preschoolers, I don't plan on doing too many presentations, but it would be cool to make a slideshow of pictures from the class. It would be fun to have a presentation covering each theme and the activities we did during the week to show the class and reflect on. You could also email or post it/link it to your blog it to the parents so they could see what we do in class and so they could see all the fun pictures.
Presentation programs like Power Point and Google Presentation are a great way to assemble a digital assessment portfolio for a child, especially if you're collaborating with other teachers. Assessment is very important in early childhood education, just like the grade system is in higher levels or schooling. By using Google Presentation you could always have your assessment presentations available to you whether at home or at a school because they're online.
Video Post
I loved this guy! So charismatic, so entertaining -- had me locked in the whole time. This kid exudes confidence, which is something I kind of lack. I like his spunk and his spirit. This kid knows where he's going in life and knows how to get there--he even has a plan b, which I think is very important. He realizes how important an education is to reach his goals, which is sometimes rare in teenagers.
Google Presentation, what a wonderful thing. It is especially great for me because so many of my assignments for other classes include presentations. This is great for group projects because everyone can have a copy of the file and work on it when they choose. Bonus: it's automatically updates the file for the rest of the group - no emailing files back and forth. Google, you are amazing.
I think this will come in handy for my other class presentations and throughout my future education. This will be much, much easier to work on a project together without having to actually get together. That is probably the hardest parts about group projects is coordinating schedules. Google Presentation offers an online way to work on the project together without actually having to be together, which makes group project 10 times more convenient.
Since I want to teach preschoolers, I don't plan on doing too many presentations, but it would be cool to make a slideshow of pictures from the class. It would be fun to have a presentation covering each theme and the activities we did during the week to show the class and reflect on. You could also email or post it/link it to your blog it to the parents so they could see what we do in class and so they could see all the fun pictures.
Presentation programs like Power Point and Google Presentation are a great way to assemble a digital assessment portfolio for a child, especially if you're collaborating with other teachers. Assessment is very important in early childhood education, just like the grade system is in higher levels or schooling. By using Google Presentation you could always have your assessment presentations available to you whether at home or at a school because they're online.
Video Post
I loved this guy! So charismatic, so entertaining -- had me locked in the whole time. This kid exudes confidence, which is something I kind of lack. I like his spunk and his spirit. This kid knows where he's going in life and knows how to get there--he even has a plan b, which I think is very important. He realizes how important an education is to reach his goals, which is sometimes rare in teenagers.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Weekly Post - Google Docs & Calendar
I fell in love with Google today. Okay, maybe I was already in love, but now even more so. In class we're learning about the many wonderful things Google provides. This week we learned about Google Calendar and Documents, which are both fantastic and so incredibly useful!
I'm excited about Google Calendar because I'm a calendar person–I live and breathe by my calendar. I use iCal, which is Apple's version of a calendar. Google Calendar and iCal are alike in many ways, but the great thing about Google Calendar as that you can share it with people over the internet. How convenient!
If I end up working for a program I can see myself using Google Docs to collaborate with the other teachers in the class to create newsletters or handouts for the parents. I can also see using Calendar to keep the parents up to date on the activities going on in our classroom. If I had my own preschool I would use Google Calendar for the same reason. This way the parents could look at the calendar and see when they would like to come and volunteer or if they had something to help out with the theme going on that week.
Because I want to teach preschool, I don't see it affecting my students as much as their parents. I think the students will benefit from the convenient communication between their parents and me. Hopefully, when I have my own preschool, the parents will really want to be involved and volunteer and Calendar would be a great way to communicate what is going on in the classroom.
Having access to these two great programs will allow me to be more organized and have better communication between school and home. These tools will be very beneficial to me whether I teach in a program or have a preschool of my own.
Video
I definitely agree with this video–only you can make your life happen. If you want something work for it; not everything is going to be handed to you, in fact, very few things are. It is your choice what you do with the situations your given. Like the saying goes "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it," or however it goes. Life is only what you make it.
I'm excited about Google Calendar because I'm a calendar person–I live and breathe by my calendar. I use iCal, which is Apple's version of a calendar. Google Calendar and iCal are alike in many ways, but the great thing about Google Calendar as that you can share it with people over the internet. How convenient!
If I end up working for a program I can see myself using Google Docs to collaborate with the other teachers in the class to create newsletters or handouts for the parents. I can also see using Calendar to keep the parents up to date on the activities going on in our classroom. If I had my own preschool I would use Google Calendar for the same reason. This way the parents could look at the calendar and see when they would like to come and volunteer or if they had something to help out with the theme going on that week.
Because I want to teach preschool, I don't see it affecting my students as much as their parents. I think the students will benefit from the convenient communication between their parents and me. Hopefully, when I have my own preschool, the parents will really want to be involved and volunteer and Calendar would be a great way to communicate what is going on in the classroom.
Having access to these two great programs will allow me to be more organized and have better communication between school and home. These tools will be very beneficial to me whether I teach in a program or have a preschool of my own.
Video
I definitely agree with this video–only you can make your life happen. If you want something work for it; not everything is going to be handed to you, in fact, very few things are. It is your choice what you do with the situations your given. Like the saying goes "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it," or however it goes. Life is only what you make it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My Ideal Classroom
My ideal class would be preschoolers, early preschoolers, like 3 years old; I love that age. I wouldn't have too many students – just enough to keep me busy, maybe 5 or 6. I wouldn't care if they weren't all on the same level because with a group that small I would be able to give them plenty of one-on-one attention and I like to watch the progress the kids' make so the more room there is to grow the better. They would have all different personalities – some shy, some loud, some calm, some crazy. I like variety; it's the spice of life. All the parents of the children would want to be involved and would come volunteer in the classroom and donate toys, books, and snacks for the children. All the parents and I would have a close relationship and the parents would be friends with each other as well.
My ideal classroom would be plenty big, with tons of storage space because I don't like a lot of clutter – a creative mess is totally acceptable but I don't like unnecessary clutter. Closets, cupboards, cabinets – the works. Kind of a silly thing to be considered in an "ideal classroom" but I've been in a couple different classrooms and I've noticed that the amount of storage space available makes a huge difference in the overall feel of the classroom. My ideal classroom would be in my home – a big walkout basement that would work for my preschool and also a place for my own children to play or hang out in. That way I could do whatever I wanted with it. I would have to provide more for it if it wasn't part of a program, but at least I could paint the walls if I wanted to. It would also have to have a decent backyard. Hopefully it would be big enough to have a play set with a slide and swings and such and still have enough room to run around.
If I did a preschool out of my home I wouldn't really have colleagues. If I wanted a bigger class then I might have a teacher's aid, but honestly I prefer to do things by myself; I can be very particular about how things are done. If I had an aid they would have to be kind of like me in order to get along and to do things how I like them done. I would maybe look for a girl right out of high school who had an open schedule and that I could pay minimally–I would still need to have a productive business. The business side of my preschool would be run by me and my husband (to be for now) who is a business major.
The content I would teach would be very basic; it would have to be appropriate for a 3 year old. We would learn about the alphabet and numbers of course. We would learn about everyday things like different kinds of stores and emergency vehicles and different jobs and careers people have. We would also learn about manners and appropriate ways to behave. Just all sorts of stuff. We would also have a lot of large motor activities since I would be teaching 3 year olds; there would be lots of transitions to get their "wiggles" out.
I'm not exactly sure what technology I would use. I don't think a lot is needed for that young of an age; I think it's better to be simple in the way you present things for preschoolers. I would definitely use a cd player or mp3 player for singing songs, I would steer away from using TV, I don't think I would need a projector for anything either. I would have a blog for my preschool that the parents could follow and see what we did in class and of course I'd have a computer to make visual aids and such but the computer would be for my use, not the kids'.
My goal as an early preschool teacher is to give kids a jumpstart on their education. I want them to be successful as they go on maybe to another preschool or to kindergarten. I want them to learn to love school so they will continue to love it throughout their school years. I want them to know that learning can be fun and that it should be. I want to have a preschool that kids get excited about, that they look forward to coming to.
My ideal classroom would be plenty big, with tons of storage space because I don't like a lot of clutter – a creative mess is totally acceptable but I don't like unnecessary clutter. Closets, cupboards, cabinets – the works. Kind of a silly thing to be considered in an "ideal classroom" but I've been in a couple different classrooms and I've noticed that the amount of storage space available makes a huge difference in the overall feel of the classroom. My ideal classroom would be in my home – a big walkout basement that would work for my preschool and also a place for my own children to play or hang out in. That way I could do whatever I wanted with it. I would have to provide more for it if it wasn't part of a program, but at least I could paint the walls if I wanted to. It would also have to have a decent backyard. Hopefully it would be big enough to have a play set with a slide and swings and such and still have enough room to run around.
If I did a preschool out of my home I wouldn't really have colleagues. If I wanted a bigger class then I might have a teacher's aid, but honestly I prefer to do things by myself; I can be very particular about how things are done. If I had an aid they would have to be kind of like me in order to get along and to do things how I like them done. I would maybe look for a girl right out of high school who had an open schedule and that I could pay minimally–I would still need to have a productive business. The business side of my preschool would be run by me and my husband (to be for now) who is a business major.
The content I would teach would be very basic; it would have to be appropriate for a 3 year old. We would learn about the alphabet and numbers of course. We would learn about everyday things like different kinds of stores and emergency vehicles and different jobs and careers people have. We would also learn about manners and appropriate ways to behave. Just all sorts of stuff. We would also have a lot of large motor activities since I would be teaching 3 year olds; there would be lots of transitions to get their "wiggles" out.
I'm not exactly sure what technology I would use. I don't think a lot is needed for that young of an age; I think it's better to be simple in the way you present things for preschoolers. I would definitely use a cd player or mp3 player for singing songs, I would steer away from using TV, I don't think I would need a projector for anything either. I would have a blog for my preschool that the parents could follow and see what we did in class and of course I'd have a computer to make visual aids and such but the computer would be for my use, not the kids'.
My goal as an early preschool teacher is to give kids a jumpstart on their education. I want them to be successful as they go on maybe to another preschool or to kindergarten. I want them to learn to love school so they will continue to love it throughout their school years. I want them to know that learning can be fun and that it should be. I want to have a preschool that kids get excited about, that they look forward to coming to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
