Students

I am currently student teaching in a 2nd grade class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I started a pen pal program between my students and the students in my daughter's 1st grade class. I was just reading the letters my students wrote, and they are just so cute! The kids are really excited about this activity, and they put a great effort into their letters. I am so excited for them to receive letters back. If it wasn't for the science aspect of this semester, i would say it's my best yet. The kids just keep getting better, so I know I will have a hard time deciding which grade I'd like to teach. I guess I'll teach whereever I can get a job. :-)

Found!

Thanks to my sister-in-law Misty, I decided to rekindle my old blog I started for a class last year. I had to have my username and password e-mailed to me, but it worked. Here I am!

Perhaps I will actually start to post a thing or two; recipes? School updates? Probably whatever I think my adoring fans will be interested in reading. :-)

Explain at least three specific ways that Integration of Technology helps facilitate a Learner-Centered Classroom that encourages students to construct meaning from the technology-assisted activities you have them engage in.

Children learn best by teaching, and technology gives students many opportunities to "teach" their peers. I think Power Point is a great way for students to use their creativity to teach their peers. There are so many extras that students can add to truly make Power Point their own. Power Point is a great tool to use when presenting a report because students could use bulleted text and pictures as cue cards, and can include links to references.

Kidspiration is also a great activity. Again, students can use their creativity to put their ideas into pictures, text, music, etc. Kidspiration helps the student organize their ideas. They can then use the SmartBoard to share their ideas with their peers.

I like the idea of having students do their own blog. There are only so many hours in a school day, but if students have their own blog, they can have the opportunity to have their ideas and opinions known. Plus, they can receive feedback.

Blog #4

I would definitely use the Kidspiration software and the SMARTBoard in my classroom. In fact, I used the Kidspiration to help me with my lesson plan. I used the Kidspiration to make a lesson where the students could use the SMARTBoard to move coins around to make different monetary values. When my fellow students presented their Kidspiration presentations, I saw a lot of great ideas that I would use in my classroom. For example, I would use the Concept Mapping and Whiteboard to teach students about the weather, time, holidays, etc. Their uses are endless. I hope my classroom has a SMARTBoard because it really is a neat piece of technology, and I think children will be excited to use it, too.

Blog Prompt #3

I plan to work with early elementary children, so I think the Databases and Spreadsheets can be used in a variety of ways. I think children are inquisitive, so I could have the children "interview" their parents/grandparents/etc. and compile the results. Then, we could make graphs and practice reading them. I could also have the kids earn points that they could spend, and use the Spreadsheet to keep track of it, sort of as a banking activity. It would teach the children about credits and debits. We could use the Databases to make comparison charts. For example, we could measure and weigh everyone in the class. Then, we could see if boys weigh more than girls, if they are taller, etc.

I think setting up the formulas needed to calculate the items on the Spreadsheet would be the biggest disadvantage. If items are not inputted correctly, the data will be incorrect.

Blog #2, Emerging Technologies

After exploring Geo Technologies (GPS, GIS, Google Earth & Maps, etc.) Games, Simulations & Virtual Reality in class and participating in a GPS Scavenger Hunt, reflect specifically on how you might use at least two emerging technologies in your future classroom.

I plan to teach young children, so I don't think a GPS Scavenger Hunt, while fun and appropriate for older children, will work for them. However, I would like to use the GPS Travel Bugs in my classroom. If my students are anything like me, they will not have traveled much by the time they are in school. Travel Bugs are a great way to live vicariously through others. I would ask finders to post short stories of their adventures on our class blog, and would have the students discuss where the bug is. I would also map the bug's travels on a big map in the classroom. At the end of the school year, I would have each student chose a travel destination, and have them share with the class why they chose that locale.
I would also use games in class. Many of the games I played were fun and educational. In 1st and 2nd grade, Math is basically memorizing; children memorize times tables, steps involved in mathematical functions, etc. I think the games help children memorize in a fun way. The racecar game shown in class helps children learn their times tables, and helps them recall them quickly. I also think games help children with reading. There are many games that help children learn the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes.

Blog #1 for ETPT 2020-009

I plan on teaching children in the 1st or 2nd grade. I would like to specialize in Math or Social Studies if I am in a school that uses co-teaching. On the newsletter assignment, I used the following benchmark:
1 – H2.0.7 Identify the events or people celebrated during United States national holidays and why we celebrate them (e.g., Independence Day, Constitution Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day;
Presidents’ Day).
In my classroom, I would put the students into small groups, and then assign them each a holiday. I would then allow them to use their knowledge to "teach" their fellow students. I think kids that age love to teach other children, and according to the learning pyramid, children retain the most by teaching. We would then put our knowledge into a newsletter for the parents to enjoy.