iRLO Reflection

I worked so hard on this assignment, probably took more time on it than I should have before asking for help. I enjoyed doing it because I can see so many possibilities for it. I am hoping to teach a younger grade such as third and I would be so thrilled to be able to make more games on Scratch to be able to share with my students and personalize it to our current lessons in the classroom.

IWB Reflection

I really enjoyed doing the lesson for the IWB. I think that having the knowledge to make a lesson on the IWB will be very useful in my future classroom. If I am fortunate enough to have an IWB in my classroom I plan on using it often as it give the students the opportunity to become involved in their lesson and the younger students especially are so interested in the wonders of it. I am looking forward to learning more about what all I can do on the IWB and am also hoping to be able to use it more in the future.

Exit Slip 12-9-2010

Teaching Ella:

• Interactive lessons on an interactive whiteboard.
• Computer games (Scratch) used for reading and or math lessons at least once a week, each student has their own computer on which to work.
• Blogs will be used not only by myself as a way to communicate with the parents, but also by the students as a way for them to write about their day and they can share their reports and other assignments online.
• The students can have E-pals and write online to other students from other countries and learn about another culture and lifestyle that may be very different from their own. They will be able to collaborate and work together on projects.

When I first came to this class I thought of technology in a classroom as having a computer in the classroom and maybe an IWB. I have definitely changed my mind on that as I am much more aware of so many different types of technology now that I didn't even knew existed before this class. I still think that having computers and an IWB in the classroom would be great but now I know several different ways in which I can use them.

Exit Post 12-2-2010

From video:

• Uses SMARTboard for interaction. Used for cooperative learning. Actively engages students.
• Online collaborative projects with other classes around the world. Connect with peers.
• Teacher daily blog, posts assignments online. Open classroom concept.
• Parents can see what students are doing by checking online.
• Students daily blog. Exposed to current events. Share their opinions. Idea of being a global citizen.
• All students had laptops. (all the time or on occasion?) There were several desktops in the classroom.

I'm really happy that we did this exercise in class today because during this class I feel that I have been getting the sense that if I don't add a ton of technology into my classroom I am going to be considered a bad teacher. While I have never believed that to be true, I am happy to see that it is finally being said out loud in class by the prof. himself so that the others in class that have had that same impression will feel better about it as well.

PSA

I think that there could be a lot done with Movie Maker for the classroom and the kids could have a ton of fun using it and watching themselves. I am looking forward to using this with my future students and even with my kids. I think that kids would have a blast seeing themselves, in fact my partners son was thrilled to see himself and it was just the back of his head! Kids would really have a blast and just the endless possibilities make me excited to use this in the future.
I felt that the entire process went rather smoothly. I liked using Movie Maker and think that it was relatively easy to use. The hardest part of this process I think was just coming up with a concept and then making sure that we had a storyboard that we were happy with. After we had our concept I think that it went rather well and came out as we had expected.

Chapter 10 Rethinking Education

I like how the chapter was split up into sections and that each section was about rethinking different aspects of education such as education in the work place or government involvement in education. I did not agree with everything that was said in the chapter but that is to be expected, you can't always agree with everything that one person says, it is just one persons opinion after all. I am disappointed that the tone of this chapter leaves you feeling that if you do not incorporate technology into every aspect of your classroom that you will fail to be a successful and effective teacher and I do not feel that is true.

Chapter Discussion Guides

We met twice as a group and prepared well in advance for our group discussion. I felt that we were prepared and did a good job with our presentation. The one thing I think we could have done better with is time management so that all students could have had their ideas shared, I feel that that was a downfall in our presentation. I think that facilitating a discussing can be beneficial because we are then able to see our peers perspective on the subject at hand and therefore maybe get a fresh look at the same material.