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.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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.
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