Weekly Blog Number Fifteen

This week in class we went over more of the final. We have to make two lesson plans that use tools that we have learned this semester. These lesson plans seem a little intimidating, because I have never done one before.

I think that I have a pretty good idea to start off with; it's just a matter of making it inventive and collaborative.I really hope that the more I have experience with lesson plans the better I will be at them. I also was working on my brochure, an newsletter this week. I had a lot of trouble with it last week. I had better luck with my newsletter this week. I was excited that I finally got publisher to work.

In the future I plan to take all the things I have learned in this class and be able to come up with inventive ways of using and teaching technology. I really want to teach first grade, so I know that using technology may be a little bit of a challenge. I just hope that after I go through the program I will be better equipped for the task. I have enjoyed this class and I really do feel like I am a little less technology-challenged then when I started.

The video for this week was: Called Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things. Here is the URL address:http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=6252&title=Ordinary_People_Doing_Extraordinary_Things. It was a cute video about all the people who have done things that seemed impossible. It was very inspirational. I didn't know that Thomas Edison got kicked out of school for asking too many questions. Crazy.

Weekly Blog Number Fourteen

This week in class we were introduced to the first part of our final. We have to make a flyer, newsletter, and a brochure using any tool that we have learned about this term. I thought it was a fun final assignment.

I had alot of trouble making my flyer at first. I decided to design it in Google presentations. I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea. It was very hard and the program kept malfuntioning. I couldn't get it to look quite how I wanted it to. So I then decided to use Word Publisher. All seemed to go well, it was nice, because this program had templates so it was nice to have a good starting point. All went well, until I tried to open or/and save the file as a PDF. It would open up as a blank page. Everything I tried didn't work. So I ended up just doing the flyer in Power Point using Word. I'm not as excited to do the other two projects anymore.

I hope that through this assignment I will be able to reach back into my memory and utilize tools we have learned this semester. By the end I know that I will realize how easy this assignment is and I will be able to make these kind of documents with very few difficulties in my future classroom. I do know that I will be making these kind of documents in the future.

For the video this week we watched Schoolhouse Rock- A Noun is a person, place, or thing. I thought this video was really cute. I remember watching it when I was younger. I think it is a great way to teach children a concept through visual, and musical aide. I just really enjoyed it. It took me on a trip down memory lane.:)

Weekly Blog Number Thirteen

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm not sure what we are supposed to blog about this week, so I'll just talk about what I did over the holiday. I really needed this break from school and work. I spent Wednesday with my nieces and nephews just preparing and shopping for Thanksgiving. It was really fun. I can't believe that they are growing up so fast. I spent time with an old best friend of mine also, we went to dinner. It was really nice to see her and be able to catch up on things going on in our lives.

On Thanksgiving I went with my parents and extended family over to my Grandma's house for dinner. We all had way too much food. I really enjoyed visiting with family that I don't get to see very often. It was funny, I had brought my scissors and clippers home from work, so I had to cut my Grandpa's and cousin's hair. All in all it was a pretty good Thanksgiving.

Well, I did watch the videos posted for this week. They were Mr. Deuy Fractions And Introducing Web 2.0. I liked both of these videos. One was a rap given by a teacher all about fractions. I thought that this was such a creative idea. It was definitely a creative way to teach fractions, and I definitely think that students would respond to this kind of instruction. The second video was all about new tools that allow creators to share ideas through different mediums on the web. I thought this video was informative and interesting. It pointed out a few tools that I have never used before, one of these would be Wikis. I liked the video, but to be honest I felt like it was a little boring and a little repetitive.

Our Vidcast Assignment

This is Chelsea White, and My (Nicole Meldrum) video for our vidcast assignment. It is a video of my niece and nephew showing different faces, for different emotions. I think it is cute, and fun.


I also posted the video on You Tube also, here is the url:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI9s6yDzqqE

Weekly Blog Number Twelve

We have learned many different technologies this semester. Some of my favorite things we have learned about are Picasa, Power Point Activities, Zamzar, UEN, and Vidcasts. We have been introduced to many different ways of utilizing these tools to teach our future students.It has been very fun and interesting to learn about different forms of technolgies.

This semester I think that one of the hardest assignments we had was the big UEN assignment. I felt that it was pretty crazy. It was neat though when I finally started getting the hang of it. I thought it was really useful. Zamzar is a online tool that converts files, I thought this was a really neat tool to use. This way I can convert music, and educational videos from you tube, this will be a great help to have on my own computer. This way I can incorporate music and video in presentations to better help my students understand the material I will be teaching.

I plan to use these tools we have learned about in class in my future lesson plans. I think it will be great to be able to go on virtual field trips, have e-mail pals, and to be able to help my students learn through music and video instruction. I feel more equipped to teach my future students how to use and be comfortable with technology. I'm excited to think of creative ways to use technology with my future first graders. :)

The video I watched this week was called Shake it Up, it was a video on how the world has changed. It talked about how the average student will have ten to fourteen careers. It talked about how since we live in a world of instant information we need to make sure that we are teaching students the skills they need to really thrive in the world and in their future careers. It was an interesting video. It once again made a point that technology is changing and we need to be constantly learning as much as we can, so we can teach our students. Here is the url for this video I found on Teachertube:http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=223&title=Shake_it_Up

Weekly Blog Number 11

This week in class we learned about power point. For our assignment we had to make two power point presentations.

It was really fun making these power point presentations, for our group we made one about the top five reasons to live in Utah, and the other one was about all the senses to describe the feeling of being grateful. This assignment was pretty easy, I liked it though.

I will definitely use power point presentations in my future classroom. I think that my first graders will respond well to power points. It will help to have pictures and written text about the subjects I am teaching. I think that by using this tool, subjects will come alive for students and help them to become very interested in the subjects I will be teaching.

The video I watched this week was called A Vision of K-12 Students Today. It was a little informative video about how we as teachers need to be able to let our students create and learn by using technology. It really opened my eyes to how little teachers of today are allowing the use of everyday technologies in their classrooms. It made me realize that I don't want to be one of those teachers. Here is the Url: http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

Weekly Blog Number 10

This week in class we talked about podcasts and vidcasts. These are two very useful tools that can be used in education. A podcast is just audio that can be played over the web and a vidcast is audio and video.

I thought this was a fun thing to talk about. I use you tube all the time, so I am already familiar with vidcasts. Our assignment this week was fun, we had to make a video teaching something and then post it on our blogs. It was nice to get ideas from the class about subjects that we could use for our videos. I really think that you can find a way to teach any subject by using this tool. It's fun for the students to be able to view material, because so many children learn by watching anyways.

In my classroom I think it would be fun to take advantage of this tool. It would be fun to have introductory videos, to introduce new ideas and subjects to the students. I think another fun way to use this tool would be to split students up into groups and have them make videos about gravity(for example). Then we could have a day where we watch all the videos and we could even have popcorn and call it our "movie minute", or something. I think it would help the students to get interested and excited about new subjects.

The video of the week was about student blogs, blogging. It was a cute video that tells many of the reasons why blogging is beneficial for students. It made me really realize that I really do want a class blog for my students. I think it would be fun, and students need to learn literacy with technology early on. This way, students can help put things on a class blog and parents can also access it as well, to know what is going on in our classroom. :)

Weekly Blog Number Nine

This week for our technology articles assignment I chose to use the online tool Imeem and to also use e-mail. We all know the purpose of e-mail is to send messages/mail over the Internet. The benefit of this is that you can contact people much faster than using regular mail.

Imeem is a online tool that allows people to create an account and listen to music that they like using a search engine. This is very neat, because you can listen to music for free, and you can make play lists with the music that you have chosen.

I wanted my first graders to learn and be able to be in contact with other students there age in a different state. First, I thought it would be fun to have pen pals, like I did when I was in elementary. Then I thought what is the best way to do this but to involve technology? So I decided that it would be fun to have a class "pen pal" and use e-mail instead of actual mail. I thought that it would be fun to write to another first grade class once a week. We could as a class decide what we wanted to say, and what kind of questions we would want to ask the students. I would do the typing, but I could put it up on a projector screen and that way the students could see what was going on and be involved. I think it would also show them how to send and compose an e-mail. By the end they may even be able to send an e-mail to an individual student themselves. I think that this would be very beneficial for the students. It would help them to learn at any early age to be caring towards other people and it would help them to become more familiar with e-mail. I think that a con of this e-mail pen pals would be that maybe students might get bored if they are not the ones doing the typing, and maybe they would think that it would be dumb. But as a whole I think this could be very fun.


Another thing that I wanted to do with my students was to learn about music. To learn about different types of music, find out what they like and dis-like. I thought it would be fun to talk about why they like or dis-like the music that they do. We could also talk about cultural music and music that uses specific instruments. It may even be good to show them certain types of music that would introduce a instrument for the first time to a student. So, I decided that Imeem would be a good tool to use. Imeem is very neat, because you can search for songs that you like and know, and it also suggests songs that you may like that are like the song you have selected. It would be fun as a class to look for their favorite songs. I could make a play list of all their favorite songs and as a reward we could listen to it at some point in the day. I really thought that using Imeem would be a good way of introducing different types of cultural music to my students. It would be very useful when we are studying a certain country. The only downfall of using Imeem would be that sometimes the site is a little faulty and doesn't display the music. Another con with Imeem is their is no way to know what all the lyrics of a song are before playing them. But I as the teacher could get the names of their songs beforehand and listen to them without the class to make sure that the lyrics are age appropriate.

The videos this week were not available, so I found my own. I found a video on Teacher Tube called How Not to Use Power Point. It was a pretty funny little video. It was a stand up comedy about the ways people use power point. It was really funny, but it also had a lot of good tips. It talked about how it's boring when people put up there whole lesson word for word on their slides of their power point presentation. It also talked about how people can use too many bullets on a slide. It was very fun. I enjoyed it. Here is the Url:http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=6102&title=How_NOT_To_Use_PowerPoint

Weekly Blog Number Eight

This week in class we learned about Zamzar. This is a free internet tool, where you can convert files. It is awesome, because you can download a video, change it's file format if needed and have it on your hard drive. It is pretty cool.


This assignment was fun. I had a little trouble at first getting my videos in a place I could find them. After that it was smooth sailing. I really enjoyed looking for videos that could be considered educational. It was fun to find this Bill Nye video, I remember watching Bill Nye the Science Guy as a kid. I don't know what else to say really, but I enjoyed this weeks' assignment.

I am definitely going to use this tool in the future. I love that I can search you tube for educational videos and then I can upload them to my own computer. This way I can put videos in a power point presentation, on my classroom blog, or just play the video for the class. I think it would be fun to have a video of the week that the class could journal about. It could be about something that we had learned about in the previous week. I just think it would be so fun, and I think my little first graders would love it. Hopefully it would make the subject come alive, and that way it would be easier for them to remember what we have just learned. I plan to also use the simulation kind of videos we talked about in class for virtual field trips.

This weeks video was interesting. It was a video about technology and students thoughts about how it is changing, and how they thought it would change in the future. I thought it brought up some interesting things about how our world is all about technology. It is pretty amazing. In the video one kid said how he thought one day we won't even have credit cards, that we will just use thumbprint technology. I can see how that could be very possible within a few years. It is exciting how technology keeps getting better and better. This video just made me realize once more how I need to be continually learning about new technology and not be afraid of it.

Weekly Blog Number Seven

This week in class we learned about Picasa. This is a tool that you can use to edit and view pictures online. With Picasa you can edit pictures in many different ways. It is a pretty neat program.

I feel like this is a very useful tool for teachers. I think that I will definitely use this program for pictures taken in my class. I thought it was neat how you could edit pictures in so many ways. I really liked that you could crop, change fill light, shadows, change the glow, and even more. I uploaded this program on my computer and it automatically uploaded all of my pictures to the program; I thought that was awesome.

As a teacher I plan to use this tool for pictures that I want to use on my class blog. I think it would be really fun to use it to make web albums, that parents and students can go and look at about things we have done in the classroom. It would be useful for students if they were old enough to edit pictures they have taken for class projects and stuff. I think that this is another tool that is free for teachers to use. I like it!

Weekly Blog Number 6 (October 11, 2009)

This week in class we learned about digital cameras. We learned a lot of fun ways to use digital cameras in our classrooms. We learned that by using digital cameras we can save a lot of time and money. We had to get in our groups and make a presentation teaching some curriculum, using our pictures.It was a fun and relaxing assignment for me.

By using digital cameras, I can make learning new concepts interesting. These cameras are fun to use in the classroom, because children really respond to pictures. Children love to take pictures and they love to see themselves in pictures.I think that by using digital cameras, I could teach many things; and by using pictures that we have taken children will become excited and more involved in the learning process.

In the future, I think it would be fun to use a lot of pictures that we have taken as a class to put up around our classroom. We could have pictures for letters of the alphabet, animals, colors, etc. I think that it would also be fun to take pictures throughout the school year. I could take pictures of our class in each unit that we are in, and then I could post them on our classroom blog.One idea I had that might be fun, would be; as a class we could have a lesson on the environment. We could go around the school and take pictures of our environment. Then, I could put a presentation together and show the class. The students could also take pictures of their "home" environment, and they could put a little poster together for the class. I just think that things like that could be really fun.

The mashup video we had to watch this week was awesome. I loved that someone was clever enough to put all these clips together to make one big video, that flowed so well. I think that it was very creative and I think that students would love to have assignments like this in the classroom. The other video we were supposed to watch, I could not find on teachertube.

Weekly Blog Number Five

This week in class we learned about internet safety. We learned how to spot a website that has true information. We also learned what we need to look out for when using the internet, when teaching our students.

This week was a lot less stressful than last weeks' assignment. It was helpful to know how to identify a good website from a bad one. It is good to know that a reliable website will usually be public. I also learned that a reliable website will have information given by an expert on the subject. I had no idea that online bullying was such a big issue. It is nice to be aware that the Internet doesn't have to be a scary thing. The Internet can be used to help teach and make subjects come alive to students.

I plan on teaching first grade, so I don't know how much computer time as a class we will get. I do plan to utilize the Internet, even if it is just used to play educational games to get children used to using the Internet and the computer. If I don't teach first grade though, I would have the students use the Internet regularly. We could have groups go on the Internet to find out as much as Benjamen Franklin as they could. We could then have the groups present a fact to the class. It would be a fun way to introduce many different subjects of study. As a teacher I will pre approve sites that the students can get their information from. I will have a program on the computers that I can set to keep dangerous and inappropriate material off the computer.

The video I watched this week was from Teacher Tube again, the url address is:

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=838&title=Why_Let_our_Students_Blog_
This video was a short little video about why we should let our students blog. Basically the video said blogging is a good way for children to learn and express creativity. Blogging is a good way for children to connect the process of learning to write with the online world. As a first grade teacher, I think it would be fun to have a classroom blog to post pictures and events that both parents and children can access.

UEN REFLECTION

I think that this website has many resources that are very useful for both students and teachers. For me as a future teacher I am looking forward to using the pioneer library for many reasons. One of those reasons will be to use country grams. I think that this is a great tool to teach about diversity and culture. I plan to talk about a different country every week. We could as a class learn fun facts about children their age, and even learn a few words in a different language. We could then discuss it in our journal time, because learning to write is a big part of first grade.

I think also another way that uen can be used, would not only be for lesson planning and things in the classroom. It is also a way to continue education as a teacher. On uen they have many courses listed that are inexpensive and seem very useful. As a teacher I plan to always continue learning in some form, so that I can be the best teacher I can be.

I think that uen is beneficial for students as well. They can look up information for reports, classroom projects, and even just to find good visual aides to support oral reports could be good. There are so many interactives for students to use if they are having trouble grasping a concept. Even if they aren't having trouble the interactives are fun and make learning come alive for the students. I also really like how the site lists many fun things for the students to be involved in. I read on the site, how you can read the Hungry Caterpillar on October 8th and your school can have their minutes added to the global total. Children love stuff like that.

I really liked this website. It is still a little confusing to me though. I do plan to use it in the future. I love that you can find many articles and ideas for lesson plans. I think that it is great that they have the lexile level there for you, and also what curriculum standard these ideas, and articles correspond with. I really enjoyed searchassaurus, I thought this was a great tool. This website is great, because it has curriculum approved and appropriate material. Because of this website, I know I will save a lot of time and headache.

Weekly Blog Number Four

In class we started to learn about UEN. We learned how to make a website, and all the free tools and information that are located on this website. We learned how to make our website operate with it's personal, and public page. I found it very interesting how this all worked. I never knew how to do any of this stuff before, and now I feel somewhat confident in the things that I am doing.

This particular assignment of the UEN and Pioneer Library savenger hunt was stressful for me. At first I was so confused and I couldn't get anything to work for me. Then as I went on with the assignment and took a big long breath, everything started to make sense, slowly but surely. I really thought that the website guideline tutorial on our classroom website was very helpful. It helped me to remember what all I needed in certain tabs. I definately could have used some more in class time to figure things out, but it all went well. Every week I get a little bit more stressed about things we are learning, but by the end of the week I have learned something very useful.

Now that I know my way around UEN a little better, I'm excited to use it's resources. I love how it gives you the lexile level of reading and gives you many grade appropriate ideas for lesson plans. There is just so much information on UEN for teachers and students. I am truly amazed. I plan to use the ideas for lesson plans they have and build on them. I plan to use the website for ideas for service projects and for in class presentations. I plan to use the Culture Grams to provide information on differnet places and cultures for my students. Honestly, I'm not too familiar with everything on this site yet; but I can see that there is a lot of good tools and information for teachers on this website. I plan to use it.

The video I watche this week was from teacher tube, the url is:http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com. This video was just a fun video about how we are scared of technology. It brought up good points, how there is no need to be scared, that we need to adequately prepare students to use the technology at their fingertips. It talked about how there is no required curriculum on internet safety and there are no national technolgy curriculum standards. I think that as teachers it is our job to prepare students in these areas. Especially since technology is just becoming more and more part of everyday life and careers.

Weekly Blog Nuber Three

This week in class we went over more google things. We learned how to make a google presentation. It was very interesting and fun to learn. I was amazed at how easy it was once I understood how it all worked. I thought that it was fun to work with different groups on this project. It was nice to be able to do it on our own time, thanks to our little power outage.

The presentations were pretty fun I thought. It took me a little while to know how to upload pictures from the internet. Eventually I got it. It always seems like the little things that frustrate me the most are usually not that hard after all. I thought this week was fun, and generally easy. I like the whole idea of presentations on the computer, it helps to keep students interested.

As a teacher I plan to use these presentations often. I think that students would enjoy something like an alphabet presentation. I could take pictures of the students holding a picture of something that starts with that letter, and then I could post their picture and the actual letter in the presentation. This way the children are more excited and involved. I think they would enjoy seeing themselves on the projector screen. I just think it is a good way to teach something. It would be good to have visual and audio stimulation as well. I'm excited to learn more about it, it will definately help students grasp concepts; because all children learn in different ways.

I found a video on teacher tube called "Did you Know." Here is the url address http://www.teachertube.com/vie; I think everyone should watch this video. It is eye opening, it talks about how China soon will be the number one english speaking country in the world. That doesn't really say alot about our country. It also said that there are more honors students in China and Russia, then we have students altogther. It just makes me really want to make a differnece in these kids lives. I want to be the kind of teacher who really pushes her students to be all that they can be. The last comment made on the video that I'll share is that because technology and information is constantly being updated every two years; college students by their third year in college half of what they learned will be outdated. I thought this was so crazy. It makes me really scared and worried that whatever education I have is never going to be enough. It was a really interesting video, I hope you watch it.

Weekly Blog Number Two

First off, I thought the video we watched in class was eye opening. I know that technology just keeps getting bigger and better, but I had no idea students think that what they are learning in school is pointless. I have to admit that I am a little technology retarded, and I'm a little scared that my students will know how to do more than I will. The video made me realize that I need to learn as much as I can so that I can utilize the tools that I have right in front of me. It made me want to be that creative teacher who really uses technology in my classroom everyday.

In class we learned all about Google this week. We learned how to use Google documents and Google calendars. I thought it was really cool. I liked that my documents just kind of live on Google and I can share them with people. I absolutely loved the Google calendar. I love that you can set it up to send you a text when you have something scheduled. It just makes everything so handy right there in front of me.

I feel like I am getting a little more comfortable with the computer. It's exciting when things become clear and I feel confident with the things we are learning. I like that every week in class we learn something new. I feel like the computer always has problems though, it can sense my fear I guess.

Now that I know how to use some of these tools, I'm excited to do more with my documents. It will be nice to be able to have fewer group meetings, I work full time so this will save me a lot of time and headache on group projects. I also think that the calendar will come in handy. When I'm a teacher I could definitely give the parents the website for the calendar and they could stay on track with what we will be learning and going over in weeks to come. Or maybe I could put the Google calendar on a blog for my classroom. That would be awesome. I'm not really sure how I could do that but, I'm going to learn!

EDEL 2200 "My Ideal Classroom"

My ideal grade that I want to teach would be first grade. I want to teach here in the United States. I possibly want to teach here in Utah. I want to teach a multicultural classroom. I think that if I have a culturally diverse classroom, then we could all talk about our heritage/culture. Then as a class we could do activities that represent all of our different cultures. By doing this my students will learn early on that we should celebrate and love our differences.

I want to have students who are excited to learn and who are easy to motivate. I want my future students to all participate and feel that all of their input is important. As a teacher I plan to make lesson plans come alive through lots of hands on activites and field trips. I want my students to love reading, because I love it. I plan to have many storytelling events, and even have the children make up their own stories and tell them to the class. I would love to make this a weekly thing in which we could all participate, kind of like a little play.

I want the parents of my students to be active in their child's education. I want parents to be able to voice concerns to me about what their children are learning and what hopes they have for their child's education. I want parents who will help their children learn to read and support them in their homework. I want parents who simply put are involved and truly care about their child's education.

I want the classroom itself to be very homey. I wouldn't mind a classroom that isn't terribly big. I want my classroom to feel like a home away from home for my students. I want to have a reading pool, or a reading loft or something of that nature. I want it to be decorated with my students' artwork. I want to decorate my classroom for the holidays. I also want my classroom to be very print rich. I want to utilize music, art, dance, and technology to make learning fun and exciting for my students. I want my students to be able to become familiar with computers. I myself need to become more familiar with them myself. I think we could do many things on the computer.