February 27th

This week we did our webquests and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually kind of easy. I do not think that mine is probably as high tech as it could be, but it works and that is the main thing. I can't believe that this class is almost over. We have learned a lot in here and I'm sure it will be very helpful when I am a teacher. All of the stuff that we have learned will be very useful someday. I just hope that I do not forget it all when I finally get my teaching certificate.

February 20th

This week we are actually doing our webquests. I think that I am probably going to have a lot of trouble with this. I am not that good with computers and I think that I am going to have a lot of trouble connecting links and attaching files. I also do not know how I am going to make my topic, Thomas Edison different from other web pages about him. I think that all of the information about Edison is probably similar so it might be difficult to be original. I think that is probably something that a lot of teachers struggle with though. It is probably hard for them to make the subjects that they are teaching original and exciting. I am sure that there are some lessons that are almost impossible to make exciting, but I wish there was a way to make them exciting because that would inspire more students.

February 13th

Tonight we did our presentations about technology in the classroom. I think they went pretty well. We also learned about Web Quests, which are great resources for students to visit to learn about things. I think that they would be very helpful in the classroom for some lessons. I don't think that every lesson should be taught using a web quest because I think that students need to learn how to look up things on their own. I do think that some lessons would be very neat to look up on a web quest though. I think it would help some students find things more interesting. I think that they are a good idea, but they should be used sparingly.

We will do great!!!

Since the last class, I have gotten very excited about the use of Smartboards in the classroom. I spoke to a teacher that I have inclusion with and we discussed how beneficial it would be to have them in class. She really knew very little about them and we just chatted about the features and impact they could possible have on educating the students. She was so impressed she actually took it to Curt Simonson the superintendent!!! He said that the school was in the process of trying to get some. He also claimed that they are in the process of looking into getting some for every classroom just like Hannibal. I was very impressed. I just thought this was a fun tid-bit and wanted to share it!

Blog for February 6th

This week in class we discussed our group projects. My group project is on the Smartboard. It is relatively new technology, but is very useful in the classroom. I am kind of nervous for our presentation because we have never used one before. I think we'll be ok though. We also have incorporated a power point presentation into ours so we are using skills from the week before. I think that class is going pretty well. I feel like I know what is going on. Hopefully the midterm test is not to difficult to complete though.

Blog for January 30th

This week in class we are discussing power point presentations. I have done power points before so I feel fairly confident doing one for class. I have never added music before though which may be a challenge. Hopefully I will be able to do it because sometimes I am computer illiterate. Hopefully by doing these projects I will know how to use power points even better.

I think power point is helpful in the classroom because you can put notes on them for a lesson and put pictures to emphasize your point. I think that it is a good idea to show your students how to do power points because when they get older they will probably have to do them for class. It would be a good idea to show them proper procedures such as not reading directly off the slide, which a lot of people make the mistake of doing. Even a lot of people in college that I went to school with made this mistake. I think it is a good idea to show students how to use them even if they are not going to use them that often.

Paiges week of January 23

This week I learned a lot more about copyright issues. I thought I basically knew what was legal or illegal, but I guess I was wrong. There are a lot of things you have to think about before you can just use a picture or even use something in quotations and cite it. It is kind of exhausting thinking about all of the different issues when using something.

As a teacher I would use this information on plagiarism to teach my students that you can not just look up something and use it as your work. Everyone has to give due credit to the original authors and as students they must know that and use that information. I would teach the students all of the stipulations they must follow to use something in a report or presentation.