LAST WEEK!

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This class has taught me a lot about technology. I liked just figuring new things out and discovering how to use several different tools rather than being taught step by step. When I have my own classroom I plan on making my students little technology gurus. They will know how to use all the tools that we have learned about and will be able to show their families and friends how to use them too. My favorite thing that I have learned about that I truly think I will utilize in my life whether I become a teacher or not is all of the little in's and out's about google sites. I loved learning about google docs, google presentations, google sites, google calendar and much more. It is so useful and I don't think a lot of people realize that you can collaborate so easy when writing papers or creating presentations through gmail. I really liked the UEN scavenger hunt because we had to figure out how to use UEN and it made me realize how much it has to offer students, and teachers. I loved looking at all of the lesson plans and actually thinking about having my own class and how I would incorporate it into my lessons; it made teaching 'real.' When thinking about becoming a teacher, I didn't really think about technology or how I would use it in my class. But this course has changed my view and perspective about teaching. Kids love technology so it is really important to utilize in our class. If kids want a job when they get older they really need to know how to use technology and improve it to make the world a more functional place. Thanks for truly instilling in me the spirit of discovery this semester, it has been a joy and pleasure to be in your class!

Lesson 15

This week we worked on Power Point presentations. This tool is very useful and there are hundreds of different ways to utilize them in planning lessons and activities. I really liked looking through the 50 power point activities book and seeing all of the different fabulous ideas that I plan on using when I teach. I like how the book gives you ideas but you can use the ideas for whichever grade you are teaching and just modify it to fit your lesson plan. After watching the video it helped me to realize the important roles that we play in students lives. They look up to teachers so much, they go to them when they need help with family, friends, or school problems. Teachers should always be there to dry their eyes, give them a hug, pat them on the back, and give them the encouraging word that they need to hear. If we don't believe in our students then who will? The future generation is in our hands! If we raise them up believing that they can achieve great things then they will, if we believe they can influence other people they will, if we believe that they are capable of hard things they will be able to conquer the hard things that come there way. I was talking to my mom the other day about "self evaluations" and how sometimes even if you know you have fulfilled all the requirements you put a 4/5 or 8/10 on something because you don't want to look cocky. She told me that when she was evaluating herself on a job some years ago she gave herself 5/5 on all of the questions. When her boss told her that he had never seen anyone give themselves full points like this before she told him how her dad told her "if you don't think of yourself highly than who will." I think that this can be related to the movie clip because if we don't think highly of ourselves as teachers and our teaching abilities and capacity then our students won't think highly of us either and vice versa. If we don't think highly of our students then who will? But by building their self esteem and showing that we care about them, believe and trust them then we can help to build a fabulous generation for the future.

Week ?

This week because there was no class I was just thinking about all the technology tools that we have learned and how I can utilize them in my classroom. I think that technology can be very beneficial to a classroom but I think it that if we're not careful it can ruin the learning atmosphere in a classroom. I was read a newspaper article yesterday about texting. I have been thinking about teaching high school so this article really made me think. It talked about how the superintendent sent an email to teachers saying that instead of restricting the use of technology that teachers should embrace it and welcome it in the classroom. I think that is true, well this Chemistry teacher gave her class an assignment. She told her class that they would be writing a summary about a paragraph in the Chemistry book, concerning Phospholipids. But here’s the twist. They would be required to write the summary in text message form (whatever that is) and to use abbreviation wherever possible. A student told her that some people use T-9 and/or predictive text input and don’t really abbreviate. She then told me that I should just use bad grammar and instead of writing, for example, “you” to write the letter u. And to use things like lol and cu8tr. I that this is a major concern in the school system because if teachers are promoting the use of "texting language" how are students going to learn when it is appropriate to use "texting language" and when not to. The promotional use of this language could soon mean that students can't really decipher between what is slang or abbreviations vs. real english. Although technology can be a benefit to the classroom how much is too much? What happens to the students who text during a lecture and never learn about the basics of algebra, chemistry, or the human body because there mind is elsewhere? What about the kid that gets all of his answers to tests through text messages and he goes to take the SAT/ACT and completely fails because he doesn't know any of the basics- making it harder to get into college. Technology can enhance a student's education or destroy it depending on how teachers utilize and allow it in the classroom.

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