Do you belive in me

I enjoyed seeing the other PODs Web quest. It is always fun to see a fresh look on how to do the same thing. It will fun try them out on some genie pig students and watch them work through the quest. The weather one was so creative in the wording of there task- the idea that the weather man can’t be found and that the student will have to become the weather anchor man. The Plant web quest photos where truly amazing. The “who did it?” was very strait forward; I like the idea of real life finding out. The American one made me start singing it’s a grand old flag. It reminded me of the fourth of July, watermelon, and fireworks. They choose some really interesting facts to learn about. That feeling for our countries history needs to be taught.
Dalton Sherman speech on believe in me was amazing. Students will rise to the stander you set for them. Believing in them is what really makes the different. Everyone in the school is apart of the education of a child. It goes back to the idea that it takes a whole town to rise a child. It was an inspiring talk to end the semester with, I think I will need to watch it again when I get my degree. What a cute kid- he has a lot of guts.

Game show

Sweet moments

These three weeks of field where full of learning, fun, and failures. It has been a learning curve. Leaving the class was a bitter sweet moment. In these short weeks I have learned to love the class. Each of the students were so cute and have the funniest personalities. For our review of what we had been teaching them we made a jeopardy power point. We got the schools projector, had the students sit on top other their desk, and turned off the lights. The students really enjoyed it. We could have made it even harder than we did. We taught four grade social studies, which is Utah history. The teacher had already gone over most of the core so we did more local history. Here are some photos of wild animals in that live Alpine mountains.

movie yarn

First week of Field

This first week of field reminded me of a quote I heard once. “Be like a duck clam on the surface but paddling like the dickens underneath.” That is how I feel I’ve been this week. The students are adorable and they don’t know I am clueless. During math the teacher asked us to walk around the room and help one on one. I felt bad the first time when I didn’t know the answer to the fourth graders homework. I need to go back to fourth grade. The teacher Mrs. Pratt is always telling the students its okay to be human and make mistakes.

We taught our first lesion on Wednesday. It was on irrigation systems. I used the overhead to show a photo and blinded myself. Good thing I started off small on my technoegey use in the classroom. The teacher (while we were out of the class cleaning up) asked the students how they thought the lesion went and what things we could do better on. They said that the instruction part of the lesion was good but they got confused on the activity. I am so glad she took the time have the students give us input. It makes me want to try harder next time. One thing that stood out to me was how pressured for time we were. The school day is so full of other things teachers really have little time to just teach.

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Seasons

The webquest of the seasons

Web Quest ll

I think we have reached the snag part of the web quest. It is overwhelming at the moment to think of how to put this all together. I’m sure we are thinking a little too hard about the whole thing and it will all come out in the wash. It is hard to divide put parts and make the work load qual. I am sure that as a group we will make it happen. I truly enjoy manipulating things around on the computer. I look forward to a world where this can became easily done- like the digital coffee table. Web quest will be a great way to guide students through websites. Interactive lesion holds students interested. It is the way they enjoy learning- through the web. Making Web quest will become faster as we learn how to put one together. The first project is always the longest one to put together. Next time it will be clearer what needs to happen to make it run. I made a digital movie of family clips and photos after our project of the butterfly. Putting the voice and music in went rather smoothly compared to the problems we had making ours. Hopeful the same is true of our web quest- that next time it will be rather easy to put together.

Video: Did you know?
This video shows that as teachers we need to keep in mind that the world is changing. What we teach should be things that will be of some use in the years to come.” The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004 we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…” So what can we teach them today that will be of some value in years to come? In the first years of school we must lay the foundation for learning. They need to have positive experiences in their first years of learning. The greatest thing we can teach is to love learning. My first impression of the video was the undercurrent theme these videos are repeating. The first time you hear the messages “we are living in exponential times”, it is vast and impressive. We don’t know what will happen in the days and years to come but, most likely new gadgets will be at the center of it. It brings to my mind Saturday morning cartoons like the Jetson’s. At the touch of a button instantly things happen. It is hard to think the world can change that much in a few years. Yet, we will always still need the same basic things; Food, shelter, and love.

Web Quest

Web quest will help me communicate better with my students because it uses there kind of learning. If you want to find something out today you go online. Fifteen years ago if you wanted to find something out you looked in a book or asked someone that might know. Today’s students grew up with the internet and so using the web is natural to a lot of them. Web quest guides learning in a step by step kind way. It takes the filtering process out of learn because the web quest has already found the “Best” sites to teach that information. We spend a lot of time on the web filtering or narrowing down our searches to find the right sites. Parents would like that kind of clear direction and safety first thought behind the assignment. They wouldn’t need to worry about what sites their child might run it to. Students like having real hands on learning. Online learning means the latest information on the subject. In a way web quest holds you’re had all the way through the learning process. They can be used in large groups or one on one. Web quests are fun to make but will take some time to put together. Perhaps I’m odd, I find it relaxing to play around with photos and click around the web looking for stuff. Doing group projects will help me learn to collaborate with my colleagues as a teacher. I look forward to getting with my group and sharing the ideas we have for our group web quest.




Surface Computing
I couldn’t get the link to work so I Google it and there was lots of videos about it. Wow! Cool! I got the impression from the video clips that this is the “wave of the future” that the keyboard and mouse are going into retirement. I can see myself playing around with photos as if they were real on the coffee table or even showing off home video chips to friends. It’s amazing that you don’t have to plug it in for the table to know that is sitting on its surface. The potential of it to become useable (Needed) in the home is what makes it seem science fiction to me. Will we ever need walls to be computer screens? Will we as a society rely on computers that much that they will need to be built into every surface? I think that is going a bit too far. Surface computing is real cool thou. I showed the movie to my Dad who is a retired teacher he said he is sure glad he got his schooling in back in the Dark Ages were everyone carried around slid rulers. He feels like technology is moving along so fast that he can’t keep up with it. There are a lot of neat new gadgets out there. As a teacher I will need to keep up with the technology so that I can relate to my students changing world.

My Beliefs

It is my belief that with knowing comes an obligation to share what we know with others. Teaching with the idea in mind of making it meaningful to the students is will create lifelong learners. I believe that technology can make our lives better or worse; all depending on how we chose to use it. With the invention of the light bulb came a new kind of time frame and life style. Just because we have the technology doesn’t mean we need to always use it. We get so much sensory input from technology. Some teens cannot go anywhere without music on and cell phone to text. We need to go back to the basic sometimes and just listen to the world of natural occurrences sounds. Using technology equipment can only better us as a people if we are using it to become better not just faster. My sister lives in Canada, the stores all close at 6pm so that people can be home. We have used technology to make are days longer in America, yet we all still need to sleep.

It is my belief that the main goal of school is to help build students sense of awe for the world they live in; to teach them to ask and discover life. I believe that using technology in the classroom is key for preparing young minds- who will someday be create new technology. I believe that sitting in each of our classroom there is the tomorrow’s doctors that could put an end to cancer. They need to know what a cell looks like. I believe that sitting in today classrooms are the men and women of tomorrow that will see incredible changes in this world. They need to be equipment with all we can give them.

Lessons Learned

There is new wave of teaching with real life meaning rather than teach to test. It creates personalize thoughts and helps them interpret what they are really learning. Remembering facts is not as important today’s internet. If you really need to know it you can hop on the web and look it up. Being able to know how to find facts is more important. I remember doing research in a library world book- I thought it held everything there was to know about. Know days we are trying to teach students that Google doesn’t hold all the wealth of the world’s knowledge. As a teacher I will have to build upon lesions with real life applications. I will need someone so show me how before I can fly on my own, it is an overly yet exciting style of teaching. In the movie clip about the math class using the cheer leaders statics I thought it that was revolutionary. I always wonder where I would use the math I learned. Teaching this way will make learning needful and useful. School teachers would need to support each other and collaborate on lesion plans in order for this to work. It would be nice to go into a school where the net work is already up and running to start with. As the new person on the job creating nets will take extra charisma and skills.

My friend a sixth grade teacher shared with me how her student writing has changed with texting. She said they use short hand in there papers all the time. She also said that some of her students are unaware of what the short hand means when it is spelled all out. Small changes like this could change our English over time. It is more than just teenage slang words like groovy was. Those words fade in popularity over time as styles change. Short hand text is taking a being impact. Also the idea that there could someday be a paperless world is still unreal to me. I love the feel of a book in my hand but perhaps that same cozy feeling is how teens feel about their cell phones and i-pods. Technology equipment is always changing a looking for more ways to be more users friendly. Some day we may live in a paperless world.

Strengths and weaknesses

According to the UNI I am considered to be an apprentice in many technology equipment areas. This means I used technology in everyday life but I’m not an expert. In some ways I am average for my age in skills and knowledge level of running computers and software. I understand the basics of how to get around on the net and find out what I want to know about. If you show me how I can most likely find my way around devices. I am however limited in my understanding of how they work. I’m not like my brother; he is has knack for picking up a technology tools and just using them. He knows how to build computers from the bottom up. He works for a company that creates simulation units. These are used to teach police how to drive in high speed chases, military personal how to fly, truck drivers, and others. One week he watched movies on the latest plasma screen TVs to see what one really had the best color for their new simulation units. I count having someone in the family to turn to when I can’t trouble shoot on my own as strength.



In my work with students with disabilities I have been exposed to many forms of communication and technology equipment, I count this as one of my strengths. I have been trained on using “Eagle-eyed”- which is an electrodes based device for controlling the computer with your eyes. By hooking probes to your face, your eyes become the computers mouse and you can wonder around the computer using eyes. Most of the students who use the program have neurological disorders that cause them to be locked into their bodies without the ability to communicate. Special needs really mean amazing people. In the classroom there are ways to help people interacting with peers. It would be fun to put the electrodes on students and have them see what it is like to use only your eyes to talk.

As a teacher I will need to incorrupt technology into my classroom. According to the National Educational Technology Standard it is the teacher job to use technology to make plan lesions, do assessments, and understand the ethical/legal issues with using technology. Knowing someone will make me more likely to try technology because I know I can always turn to my brother if anything goes wrong. However he won’t be able to come help me at a drop of a hat so being able to do things on my own is very important. I would like to take a workshop on how to use podcast in the classroom. It seems that the new way of teaching is to make learning meaningful and personal to the students. I like that idea but, I am over whelmed by idea of me have to know so much. I think field will help me see how it all comes together.

The Creative Process

We started out with dividing up getting the songs, the pictures, and a storyline worked out. As we did I became aware of how daunting a tasks it was to put this movie together. We got together a showed each other what had done so far. This was the hardest meeting because we all had a different idea in our heads as to how it was going to look when we were done. As we got together and talked it out step by step I learned that Shelly is very assertive in what she says. I like that. I need to become more assertive; I tend to just step out of the way and avoid conflicted. In the next meetings we knew what we wanted but had a hard time figuring out how to work the program. That was hard because we all felt helpless or useless. Only one person could be the driver. In some ways it would be a lot essayer to do this project on our own. We are getting to the lasted stages now. We’ve have to cut down allot of text and trim down on the photos. I didn’t think we could have a “fun” story line and do the life cycle of the butterfly but as it turns out we did it. Erika missed her calling in life she could have been a Disney Voice artist. She is so funny, she makes the world that much rounder. The movie can to life as we started doing the voices (we laughed so hard it was like we were at a sleep over party). The Creative process can be both frustrating and hilariously comical. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the members in my group and gained a better understanding of how to run a group project.

Millennial Generation
Why can’t TV be wireless? Why can’t I talk to friends on the airplane? Why can’t… The answer is we probably will be able to in a few years. My grandpa is 93 years old. He remembers driving his brothers Model A (one step up from the Model T) car from Utah to Arizona to date Grandma. There was no heating in the car and he got really sick on the way, had to be in bed for three weeks. What a change he has seen from horse drawn buggy to the cars. My Dad remembers when phone numbers were only four digits long. He jokes that you could pick up the phone any old time and hear someone else conversation. Today the older generation is always asking the younger generation how to run new technology. There is a roll confusion happening. No longer do the old people know more than the younger. What will the world be like in ten or fifteen years, waited and see. It’s exciting to see how far we have come. In the 1970’s we thought we would be living on the moon, selling real state. It’s hard to know where we will be in time. The thought of credit card changing over to fingerprint technology is not so far out of reach. My brother’s laptop has a fingerprint pass code. The problem with it is that he works construction so his fingers are always getting cut and the computer doesn’t recognize his print. With all technology there will be basic problems to overcome.

Windows Moive Maker

My POD decided to make our short film with “windows movie maker”. At one time in my life I wanted to be a photo editor, I spent hours learning how to retouch pimples. I enjoyed it but over time it lost its glamour. From editing I learned how much work goes into the final product. It would be over whelming to making a film on our own. I wish there was a way that we could have more than one driver working on the project. My POD has been great about finding the time to met and work together so that no one gets left holding the bag. Doing this project in a group has helped me to keep things simple and avoiding hairy extra frills. Taking parts in a group seems to be the under line theme or lesion I am learning this semester. I can see me using movie maker as a teacher to share a final project, or tell our class story. I would record the student’s voices and play songs we used in class. This film could then be shared with parents, colleagues, and even students peers.

Video impressions
Those were some pretty neat statistics in those videos this week. Makes me want to ask what needs to change? With all the neat new bells and whistles we have in computers, cell phones, and i-pods are we becoming a better people? Are we helping solve world problems? What kind of world are we handing over to the next generation? I just finished a book called Three Cups of Tea, in it talks about Greg Mortenson’s vision to build schools for children in Pakistan. “One Man’s mission to promote peace…one school at a time.” He talks about the poverty of villages that lead to extremist groups because they (Taliban) offer an education. “By replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading,” Greg Mortenson has given the children tools to build themselves. I don’t think we prize learning enough.

Story boards

Thus far I’m enjoying Story boards. It is powerful way of expressing oneself- everyone has a story to tell. Its fun to think of how to do it, songs that would put you in the mood, a voice that would convey the right feeling, and images that would bring to mind the place. I’m enjoying working with my POD each of the girls are so different it will be fun seeing how we come together. I’m a little fuzzy on how kindergartners would make one on there own. Perhaps it would be a fun way of showing off a class project.

1969 Neil Armstrong steps out onto the surface of the moon and said “One small step for man, one giant leap for man kind,” my mom remembers sitting around her families TV and watching this historical event unfold. She said people thought it couldn’t be done. She also remembers hearing “I have a Dream” speech. The hope of an America lays in the coming generation being dreamers to seeing beyond the now to what it could be- what you can dream you can accomplish. They didn’t think John F Kennedy could be president because he was Roman Catholic, and American would be ruled by Pope. Civil right movement was the big issue- we were standing on the moon- and we could get along with each other. Image what they would think of Obama becoming president a few decades later. It reminded me of my visits to Washington D.C. walking around to the cities memorial building. Seeing them gives me a feeling of ah at the strength and persistence of the generations who lived before me. The baton has been passed to us to make this world a little better. It is our unwritten duty to keep free what they fought so hard for. Learning from the passed makes the sky or the moon with in reach. I can see myself showing this video clip to my class and having them write down their dreams. Bring those dreams into reality will take hard work. The problems of today are not so different from the passed; poverty, economical depression, disease and war. These challenges can be conquered with vision and work. As a teacher by job will be to light the spark and keep the fire of those dreams alive.

TECHNOLOGY REFLECTION

I would like my students to be able to show off the projects and art work they are doing in class to others in the school as well as their parents who may not be able to come in and see it. The technology tool I have chooen to do to this is called Smile box. Smile box is a fun way to share online scrapbooks, photo albums, postcards, slide shows. It has an templates for a news paper that could befun to send out head lines of what happen in class today. It also has a template for a TV- I could have the news flashes about whats going on in the next while at our school. This would be eassy and “cool” way to let parend in on whats their student is doing. It would make student progress a fun thing to hear about. Students could make e-cards to send to there parents for valentimes day, mothers day or just to show off art they have made.Smile box could be used to share photos of things that my class is learning about to my colleagues. Learning to using smile box is like a walk in the park and is fast to send. I can see smile box as a way to make classroom objectives funer by making a slide show of what where learning about. Its more colorful than power point and simpler to use. Smile box has the obshion of playing muisc in the back ground. The down side of using smile box is it is a extra thing for me as a bussy teacher to do. Having students make e-cards would take a lot of comptures and/or time that we may not get if I as a teacher don’t plan for it. Using smile box will help my students achieve more becaseu both of us together will be working harder knowing it is going to be shared with others.
http://wordpress.com/tag/smilebox-tips/

http://www.smilebox.com/learnMore.html

Children are captivated by the moving visual world around them. They are naturals on computers. Do to tie budgets classrooms go without up to date technology that could be available for them. Alice is a free program designed to help students create simple 3d animate for story telling, interactive game even short videos. Alice is helping the next generation of learns. It has, “drag and drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating fist programming experience.” Alice was developed by Carnegie Mellon University computer science program students. According to the CRA (computing research association there has been a significant drop in women’s science interest, “fallen to levels unseen since the early 1970.” The gap in wages between men and women came close in the 1980 and are falling back. Alice helps boosters interested in science by appealing to women desire to sharing stories. While at the same time guys enjoy the video game elements of Alice. Alice would be great in the classroom because it would capture the students interested and give them some basis skills in computer programming. On the down side it would take up a lot learning time as the students get hooked on programming.
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=54742
http://www.cra.org/CRN/articles/may05/vegso
http://www.alice.org/

Google

Google
Having an online belt of tools will be very helpful as a teacher. It is still a new idea to have everything go paper less, but it is looking more and more tangible. An online site for my class to interactive with each other would be a wonderful modern approach to learning. Technology is so engaging to students who are already very comfortable using it.
The Google calendar will be so handily once I get the hang of using it. The calendar has so many possibilities with being able to print or e-mail or just have the students look up online.
I can see Google Doc as being a great way for my colleagues and me to “get on the same page.” How nice to be able to work on the paper without having to meet together and coordinate schedules. Google Doc could also be used as a fun filled group assignment for students to do outside of class.
Taping into Google’s resources is that it’s FREE. It doesn’t cost the school anything. Google is very user friendly, colorful, and has a wide range of things you can do. On the other hand Google is not a certified school site like UEN. With all technology not everyone has access to it, although most do. As a teacher I would have to plan on having a backup plan for when severs go down.
Video
Dr. Deuy Fractions is not my style of music, but I won’t be able to get it out of my head. I can see it being a great tool to learn about fractions. I was rather bad a fractions as student maybe this would have helped.
Introducing web 2.0 has some nice definition of what terms mean. It would have been even better if they would have shown what they look like rather than just logos. I feel like a dinosaur not knowing what some of those terms mean and look like.

Ideal Classroom

As of right know I want to teach the lower grades; mostly likely kindergarteners. When I in vision my classroom I see the primary colors splashed around the room in some kind of IKEA organizational style. I see neat little shelf (Cubby’s) with the students names on them. Loads of shelves jam packed with toys in Tupperware containers. In the main part of the room there’s a chair for the teacher- then surrounding that chair, in a half circle, colorful rugs for the students to sit on during reading and circle time. The desk will be arranged in groups of four or so. The decor around the room will suggest that the kids are working hard and having a great time doing it. We will have a class pet (Gil) the fish and a plant; maybe even a row of milk cartons with seeds waiting to sprout lining the window. The teacher desk will be over flowing with papers, sticky notes, jars, candy, and knickknack given me by grateful parents. Near the door will be the hall passed and pencil sharper.
When the bell rings the students will file some happy some sleepy. Most of them will be happy to be there and want to tell me all about the bug they saw on the sidewalk. The parents will need to hear about what going on each day. Some parents will be helpful by not adding to my workload and ask if they can help with anything. Some parents will be kind by tell me how much their child loves coming. Some will think there child would be better off somewhere else, and I will have to work hard to please them. The children will be eager to do everything, (one or two will be unsure and one won’t want to do anything). On the whole they will be fun and cute. My days will go by learning from them and seeing them grow.