Week 4 Reflection (accidentally posted to other blog)

I accidently published this on my other blog account that I had previous to this account that I tried to merge with this but I didn't know how, and I accidently posted on the other one. So here this is.This week in class we are working with Google docs. I have found google to be a great tool for me! I already use google for my business website and for my homework so that I can share it with classmates.

Google has given us the capability to do everything on the web and share it with whomever we want. It really is an amazing FREE tool. That's its best quality. It is free for everyone to use and it offers a form of word document so that you can type papers as a group. It has the ability to do presentations through slide shows and power point again as a group. Google also allows you to make websites and publish them freely for free. It's a real tool to have as a teacher and a student. They are changing the world with this technology.

For my future class room I will teach my students to use this technology because it is amazing and they can use it for all their classes. They can do reports, presentations, and create website with the touch of a mouse and with other classmates. For me it means turning my classroom into a virtual one. My students will always know what their grade is. They will always turn in their homework and get feedback quickly. They will be more knowledgeable about using google and all of it's options.

Video:

This video is very interesting but I'm not sure what the intention of it is. I don't get the phrase we are teaching the machine but then we are the machine. We are the web. I get that. We are the ones creating it and controlling it. So the video was interesting I guess I just don't really understand what it was trying to get across. I do agree though with the things it said we need to really think about when dealing with this much power. We need to think about copyrights, privacy, family, and ourselves. For me in my future I see this as something I am aware of but don't know how much control I have. My students have the possibility of cheating by copying internet stuff and programs are coming out to try to stop that but it's hard to stop everything and protect our children from getting caught in the web. Measures need to be taken to make what's on the web regulated and controlled a bit.

Week 5 Reflection

I accidently published this on my other blog account that I had previous to this account that I tried to merge with this but I didn't know how, and I accidently posted on the other one. So here this is.

This week we learned how publish our google docs and create google websites. Using google docs is very easy way to suddenly have a type of webpage. Google sites gets a titch more complicated because it has a lot more capabilities. This is really like creating a real personal website. It is easy to use and easy for viewers to use. I love all the things and options it offers.

I think learning these about these things is extremely important. As teachers we need to know of these great tools out there to make our lives better and easier. I can see through this that teachers, students, and parents can now always be on the same page. If anyone has a question they can go the website and find the answer. The ability to use websites and other technology by google is really enhancing the capabilities of the classroom and extending it to home.

In my future class I will have a personal website for my students to check out and use. On it I will include a lot of things like homework schedule, assignment descriptions, and my personal information so that my students can get to know me. I would also use it to give my students access to different websites I assign them to visit and provide links to pioneer, UEN, and to interactive games. Great tool for the classroom and for the benefit of my students. Learning about this will also help me with my business and other things I want to do in life on the computer. I love it.

Maximizing Google

I did this last week but didn't really comment on it. Google is advancing the options and capabilities of its search bar. It now can do math, find addresses, and fix spelling errors. It is already a handy tool but they are making it really powerful. This is interesting because they are dominating the market with all of their new advancements and no one can keep up. But now that I've learned about SIRS and other search engines that don't take you to websites so that you can be a consumer they take you to educational websites. I feel a little bitter that they are doing so well. For my classroom this is a scary thing. My students can just type their math questions into the browser and suddenly the answer. I fear that more students are going to rely on getting answers that way than actually struggling to figure things out which will keep their knowledge at the surface 'remember' level. For me this means that instead of homework out of the book I will have to do memory test in the classroom and really challenge them by doing activities and not lecturing. More work for me but that is how I should be teaching anyway, but I'd like to think they are developing their math skills outside of class as well and that homework is helpful not just busy work. What do we do?

Reflection Week 3

This week we're learning about more tools on UEN that we can use as teachers, students, and in our personal lives. We explored Pioneer, Ebsco host, and other amazing things that UEN offers. Pioneer library is a search engine that provides quality results of peer reviewed articles, websites, and information. Ebsco host is a way to get full articles to read or to have our students use for reports. Some other amazing things were the games, interactive programs, and just the accessibility of so many other options.

As teachers we need more safe options to show to our students. They can be exposed to too many temptations if they are just searching the world wide web. Using safe search engines that only provide quality material for educational use makes me feel as a teacher that I am keeping my students safe and away from harmful things for their impressionable minds. Another, 'so what' aspect of what we learned was the great purpose of Ebsco host. This option available to us is great for me to have access to for reports, professional development, for information about a subject I might be teaching in my class, and for use by my students. Having free access to full articles is rare and a great find and I'm happy to now know where to seek quality information.

"So what?" I plan to use these programs when the need is there. I really see myself using the interactive features that are provided and the games created to teach and not just entertain. My classroom now has some more options! I would love for my students to go home and play a game as homework instead of having to use their book and some paper. They would be glad about that too. I really feel like the things we learned and discovered this week will be implemented in my classroom.