week 5 video

I could not open week 5's video, It kept trying to play on my windows media player but couldn't and I could not get it to play anywhere else, and could not find anything with a similar name on you tube or teacher tube.

Week 5 cont.

I have found learningplanet.com to be a valuable resource, it has many games designed to help children learn. The games are organized by both subject and grade level. Specifically I plan to use “Count your chickens”. It is a counting game using animated pictures of animals to help the player learn to count and to recognize the written number and associate it with the number of animals on the screen. This game has an added bonus in that it has audio on it so a player who does not yet read could still play the game. This game displays a picture of animals- for example chickens, and audibly says count your chickens and put three squares with consecutive numbers in them at the bottom of the screen. If there are three chickens on the screen the numbers on the bottom of the screen might be 3, 4, and 5. The player then chooses the number, if they are correct the program responds right and moves on, if not the game says let’s count together and verbally counts the chickens and highlights them and lets the player try again. I liked this method because it positively teaches the child how to count without making them feel bad for choosing the incorrect number. With this game I plan on using headphones so that the game can be played in a classroom with other students without distracting anyone.

Week 5

I plan to use Primarygames.com and more specifically the ABC game. This game shows the player a letter and three cartoon pictures. The player then has to choose the picture that starts with that letter. The program then confirms the correct answer. The correct picture is displayed with the word, the letter highlighted at the beginning of the word. This game chooses pictures that are appealing to children of the age that is usually learning to read and uses them to help the child to associate the letters with the sounds that they make and reinforces that by displaying the word with the picture helping the child to identify words in preparation for them to begin reading. The drawback I found with this game is that in the beginning you would have to sit with a child and help them through this game till they have some basic reading skills or are familiar enough with the game to be able to play it without reading.

Week four

How will Microsoft Word help me communicate with my students?
Microsoft Word and other programs like it will be a great way to make worksheets and progress charts that my students can work on and use to follow their own progress.

How will Microsoft Word help me communicate with my students' parents?
I can use this program for writing news letters, permission slips, and progress reports.

How will Microsoft Word help me communicate with my colleagues?
I can communicate with my colleagues by writing letters, reports, school news letters, and articles in Microsoft Word.

In which ways might I employ Microsoft Word to achieve classroom objectives?
The first way to achieve classroom objectives would be to keep track of them so writing them out in Microsoft word would be a great place to start and then I could create a progress chart where I could keep track of the progress toward those objectives.

What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Word?
Microsoft Word is fairly versatile as you can use it for many uses, and it has a lot of tools, such as spell check, different formats, different text options, and many more. The biggest drawback I have run into with Microsoft word is that it keeps coming out with new editions, which granted are improved versions, but that cost a lot of money to upgrade to and if you don't it is difficult to share documents with someone who has upgraded.


Video reflection.
These videos are very interesting and thought provoking. They make you think about the pros and cons of technology, and education today. I am overwhelmed by the rate of change today. The first video talked about the Internet and it made me realize how much things have changed and how quickly. My parents bought our first computer that connected to the Internet when I was in high school, I think the same year the video said e-bay was founded. I now have 3 computers that hook to the Internet in my house plus two cellphones that do, and only 2 people who know how to use them. That is a big difference for only 13 years. It is also kind of overwhelming to know that China and India have so many English speaking college graduates when Americans don't learn other languages as a standard and we don't have as many college graduates either. It was surprising to me that when all those statistics were being posted America was not listed even once. Americans seem to have such a superior attitude and the statistics show that we are lacking in so many areas.

Week #3

How will these tools help me communicate with my students?
If parents are willing to help their kids view the website my students will be able to keep up to date with what is going on in class and tell their parents about it.

How will these tools help me communicate with my students' parents?
A website will keep parents informed on what is going on in class and help their students by enhancing what we talked about in class and helping them with anything they might have missed.

How will these tools help me communicate with my colleagues?
A website can be very benificial for sharing ideas that have or have not worked in a class.

Week 2- Using tools.

Q: How will these communication tools/ social networking tools help me communicate with my students?
A: I do not foresee these tools helping me communicate with my ideal students as I am hoping to teach preschool. I can however see how these tools could be useful with older grades as homework reminders, study helps and keeping students and parents informed on what is going on within the classroom.
Q: How will these communication tools/ social networking tools help me communicate with my students’ parents?
A: I can see using a class web site as a source of information for the parents, where I can keep the parents up to date on the on goings of our classroom. I can have updates of what we have done, what we plan to do and ideas for the parents to do to further enhance what their children are learning. I can post pictures of the children in our classroom.
Q: How will these communication tools/social networking tools help me communicate with my colleagues?
A: I can see these tools being a great way to share information with other teachers and collecting information from other teachers. I can keep a blog of the things that have worked for me, I can follow other teachers blogs. I could also keep a website of resources, and use other websites as resources. I can also use facebook and e-mail to keep in contact with other teachers and to ask for help and share information.
Q: Why are these tools so popular with my students?
A:Like I said before my students won't be old enough to use these tools.
Q: In which ways might I employ these communication tools/social networking tools to achieve classroom objectives?
A: I can use these tools to keep in contact with parents so that they can do things at home to enhance what we are doing in the classroom, making our lessons more successful.
Q: What are the pros and cons of the communication tools/social networking tools?
A:The pros of using these tools are that you can keep other people more informed and you have more access to information. The cons of these tools are that it takes time to keep up these sites and tools, and it keeps your information public so other people are more aware of what you are doing and of your failures as well as your successes.


Video impressions-
Mr. Duey Fractions- I could not get this video to work on my computer. I will try to get access to another computer and try again.
Introducing Web 2.0 – This video was full of great information and fantastic resources, however it was delivered at such in such a fast paced format that the information doesn’t stick and the resources difficult to retrieve.

My ideal Classroom

My ideal classroom would be a preschool classroom set up in the basement of my future home. It would be a number of areas set up in one large open room. There would be a couple of large tables set up where we could have snack time and craft time. There would be a large rug where we could sit together for any group sharing time, such as song time, and show and tell and some lessons. I would have a couple of bullitien boards, one for showing off the kids work and one for highlighting the subjects, letters and numbers that we are working on that week.

I would also have play areas, and reading areas, where the children would be free to experiment with pratical everyday items in an enviroment that is safe and fun. There would be a little play kitchen area with pans and plates, and a table and chairs, brooms and mops, maybe even a toy vaccum. I would like to have pillows, or bean bags piled up in a corner with lots of books that the kids can look through or have read to them.

There would be an entrance into a little room blocked off from the classroom by a two way mirror so parents could watch their children without the children knowing it. There would be small area from coats and boots to be left.

I don't know much about teaching techniques yet, so I hope to bulid that part of my ideal classroom more as I go through the elementary education program.

I am sure as I learn more things will be added or things might change, but as of right now This is what I see when I think of my ideal classroom.