Reflection

This is the first time that I have taken an online class, and I must say I really enjoyed it. I was able to learn a lot about technologies that are out there and how to incorporate them into my future classroom. I am looking forward to using some of these technologies in my classroom. A few technologies that really stood out to me were glogster and podcasting. I had never in my whole life heard of glogster.com before, and when I first started exploring the website I thought it was really weird. But after I created my glog I was able to see how useful it would be in a classroom (especially if that classroom has a SMARTboard). I thought it was really cool to be able to make an interactive poster board where you can have text about the information, pictures and even videos to help the students understand the content. I also really enjoyed making a movie for this online class. I had never really used iMovie on my Macbook so figuring out how to use it was a little strange. Once I got the hang of it I was able to put together a really neat video about the solar system and the plantets. I could definitely see how teachers would want to use iMovies with their students, they are a great way to hold the students attention and get the information across. 

If you would like to check out my glog click here 

If you would like to view my space video on youtube.com click here

Technology

Since last time there have been some new technologies that I have learned about that I could see myself using in my future classroom. The online presentation tool that I enjoyed the most was Prezi. Prezi was really easy to use and it is a lot of fun to watch the presentation. I feel that students would enjoy watching the zooming action of Prezi. It would even be fun for older students to create a Prezi.

Since the last time that I posted I have learned some interesting things. The thing that stood out to me the most was the visual organizer. We had to download this really cool software and make a web. It was fairly easy to grasp once I got accustomed to the software. I can definitely see myself using this program when I am a teacher. Especially if I want to create my own handout to have the students work on.

Well for my second blog entry I am going to talk about what grade I want to teach and why. I would love to teach second grade. When I did my field experience at Ohio State I was placed into a first and second grade combination classroom. Half of the class was first graders and half the class was second graders. Being able to experience both grades at once was a really fun experience. The first graders did not hold the second graders back and the first graders were able to excel past their normal first grade academic level if they were ready. I decided that I wanted to teach second grade based on this experience.

Technology is always changing and people are always coming up with new ways to use technology. I recently learned that Google Earth can be used in the classroom. Whenever I used Google Earth I would use it to creep on my house or my friends houses. However through recent research I learned that Google Earth has an educational aspect as well. It can be used to look at the whole earth no matter where you are. Ok so that one was dumb because everyone knows Google Earth is a 3D image of the world. But did you know Google Earth can also be used to look at different climates on the planet? Or that it can be used to see the locations where asteroids hit? Or furthermore that it can be used to look at populations of endangered spices? Google Earth is truly an oldy but goody when it comes to technology in the classroom.