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.