Teachers

James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

I just want to encourage you all. Teaching is a calling (Eph 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers). It is not an easy one, but it is great. Not great is the meaningless sense that most people use the word today, but great as in powerful. It will be exciting, tough, painful, stressful, worthwhile, rewarding, and life changing. I know that each and every one of us will be great. I know that we have all been called to shared our knowledge and to share our faith. Blessings to everyone!!

Amazon's Wireless Reader

CHECK IT OUT!

We talked about this briefly in class, but it interested me so I read up on it a little bit. So this thing comes with wireless internet, so you don't need a computer or any cables and you don't need to sync it in anyway! (syncing is basically uploading media files or files of any kind onto a device from your computer) Also right now there are over 90,000 books to choose from and that includes 95 of 112 from the bestseller list!

Get this it can hold up to 200 books and it only weighs 10 ounces! Its dimensions are 7.5"x5.3"x.7" So it is pretty much incredible.

I think that this would be amazing for traveling and especially for convenience sake. I know we expressed how detracting this is from the experience of holding a physical book, but the idea will save multitudes upon multitudes of paper.

and just FYI there are completely sold out. The cost is $399 and each book is roughly $9.99. Also, there is no approx. shipping date other than amazon saying "we'll deliver when available"

Random Technology Thoughts

I was at work last week (yea I have a lot of free time there), and I was thinking about how everything has changed technologically. I know I talk about this elderly man who still works in the nursing center a lot, but his situation really displays the point that I am speaking about. My boss and I were talking about simple things like e-mail and Outlook and just how important these tools are for a business. When this elderly gentleman works a shift, he will leave a post-it note when something goes wrong or we need to order something (or anything of that nature). However, he leaves that note just wherever the problem occurred instead of a centralized system like e-mail. I know that's incredible random and quite specific, but it goes shows the old way versus the new way and how much of a difference there is between the two. I tried to apply this to my spiritual life and how hard it can be to change things that you are so used to doing. We can be just so stuck in our ways spiritually, and it may not be wrong, but there might be a better way out there, or maybe it's not better it's just different and that can be hard to adjust to.

Wow I'm done!

I am so thankful that I was able to take this class. I was really upset when Pam told me that I might not be able to take this class this semester. I figured that this class was going to be nothing, like I said before. But, when Lynette asked me after my presentation if I felt that I had missed out since I am not placed in a class yet, and I am. I want to tell everyone that after listening to your stories and reading your blogs about your experiences in your classrooms, and I am very excited. You guys have shown me first hand how useful technology actually is in the real classroom. Like I said after my presentation, I knew how to work through a lot of this but now I see how useful it can be.

Final Project

This project and the whole semester really have changed my view on the use of technology in today's world, and more specifically in the classroom too. I thought that this class was just going to be a waste of time. I had no idea what I was about to begin. This project doesn't necessarily culminate my entire learning experience in this class, because, if it did, it would take a whole two hour class period! For this project I chose to make a mini lesson using power point software and to incorporate video and audio from United Streaming. In my power point I used the custom animation and the slide transition features to make my presentation more unique, but that's a given right? I used the background feature to use real photos as backgrounds for each slide, but that's still pretty amateur. I linked the first two sections of the lesson to different United Streaming videos. These videos come from different Discovery channel programs, and they are really awesome to watch. The third section is linked to a web page I found through United Streaming and answers.com. My last slide I linked each of three different pictures to different reliable internet databases, so that students could further their knowledge with correct information.

I had never used, or even seen, United Streaming before this project, and I think that it is really interesting and useful. When I first heard about it, I was a little skeptical. However, now that I've used it and had a chance to mess around in it. I see that it can be incorporated very and managed quite easily. I think that only drawback is that sometimes it takes a little while to buffer and load. I definitely feel that I can add this technology to my expert list now, as well as power point (because I had never used the hyperlink feature before and it can be a little tricky).

Here is my project, hope you enjoy!

Nature's Wrath

I always find it amusing how dependent we are upon our technology. I can't even imagine how people survived before indoor plumbing and heating systems. Like today, the moment it starts to snow, people freak out. We are dependent upon our electricity, and yet with the slightest breeze, a tree (and most of the time a dead tree)will knock it right out. I know that it's not "funny" but I do think it is ironic just how dependent we have become.

The Future Classroom

I guess my future classroom really depends on where I will be teaching. I know that I want to teach overseas and in more underdeveloped countries. I want to get out there and help those who are less fortunate and those who really desire to be educated. Therefore, I will be lucky if there is internet in my classroom, or even in my entire school. I hope to see each student able to have their own desk, their own backpack, their own textbooks, and their own materials. From what I've seen, schools desperately lack the materials necessary to instruct students and to give students the opportunity to practice and experience on their own. In five years I want to see each student have those chances. This scenario almost seems unreal. Here we are messing around with high-tech gadgets and things that only supplement the educational process, instead of things that are vital to it. So my future classroom is really primitive, to us, but seems impossible to those that deal with it today.

The Perfect Classroom

Unfortunately, I don't yet have a classroom to observe, so we worked it out that I should think about what the perfect classroom might look like.

In my classroom, each student has access to every aspect of technology that they might need. The class session are comprised of lectures, group discussions, technological research, etc. My goal is to make studying history come to life. It is an extremely dry subject and my goal is to change that. I want students to be interested in studying and researching how their country has developed into what it is now. The classroom then would be very different than how it was before. Now it will be podcasted, so students can replay the classroom discussions to help study for tests or in case they were sick. Those podcasts would be posted on the class website, where students would have access to discussion forums, podcast lectures and class sessions, links to informational and helpful resource sites, and pdf's of all handouts and worksheets. I love the idea of having a class blog as well. Here students can post assignments and have discussions about the topics discussed in class. Hopefully this way, students, who are immersed in technology already, will be more interested in learning about their past and how it affects their present. My perfect classroom doesn't necessarily have to be smothered in technology, but as long as the students are engaged and interested then my job is being done.

Panel Questions

I want to know how prepared you were to integrate technology into your lesson plans after you graduated college, or were you prepared at all?

Do you think that students appear to be technologically superior because they are or because teachers are lacking the knowledge to compete?

Have you heard of any new technological implements that are up and coming that you are interested in?

More on the Technological World

Again, today, I was astounded by how much of a necessity it is to be technologically competent. Our full-time receptionist is leaving in two weeks and we need people to fill her hours. An elderly gentleman, who has been getting shunted on hours recently, asked, in the middle of the meeting after much debate about holiday hours, if he could take the full time position. He has been wanting more hours since I and the other part-time receptionist started, but, unfortunately, since I am qualified to use the computer, he does not receive the hours he wants. Our supervisor replied that he was not qualified for the position on account of his lack of technological abilities and knowledge. I felt horrible, for everyone. Not only was it awkward for all the listeners to hear, but it was hard for my supervisor to say, and it must have been even more difficult to hear. I felt awful, but it just goes to show that the world today requires a knowledge and an understanding in technology.

Assignment #5 -- Part 1

So I originally wanted to use the SMARTboard software and combine them with the clickers and really see if these work well for teaching. However, I just can't get the SMARTboard software to act like I want it to. I am going to admit that I, a technological native, cannot figure this out. So instead I am going to use powerpoint, because I know how to mess around in there and make some really cools things happen. I am still looking for my second piece of technology though. I want to find something that I don't know anything about and that no one else really has used before either.

Yesterday's Presentations

Hey everyone, I thought we all did a pretty good job yesterday. I thought there was a pretty nice diversity between the target age level and subject matter. Also, we all had about a million technological problems, and yet we all (whether you realized it or not) were able to work through them and continue on with our lessons. I just thought that was pretty impressive, considering that none of us (I don't think) have used a SMART board incorporatively in a lesson before. Another thing that I thought we all did well was involving each person into the presentation (with the help of Professor Garret of course), but I thought that was a neat thing, because I don't think that any of the MIT students have used or ever, some, even seen a SMART board before. I definitely feel like I accomplished something and I hope you all do too.

SMART Board presentation

For my SMART board presentation I chose a secondary social studies lesson about the Hitler's rise to power.

The Social Studies/History EALR for 10th grade, in regards to technology, has two points. The first point wants students to be able to "investigate and research" using both technological and human resources. If I would have made the lesson I presented I would have added links to each page and for each statistic or piece of information. I loved the way the slides were presented and the interaction they required, but there was no citations anywhere, which bothered me a little bit. The second point of this EALR wants students to understand the "origin and impact of ideas" and to analyze the effect technology has on society and history. I'm sure how much this EALR was met with through the presentation, but I sure it could be tweaked to do so. However, the idea of this assignment was to show how information could be presented using new technological tools. If I were to meet this EALR, I would have used the tools in my presentation to talk about technological inventions and the history and impact of them.

I'm going to incorporate the SMART board and the clickers in my presentation. I'm going to run through my presentation and select students to participate via a random selection using the clicker system. In order to prepare for the activity, I will acquire a list of students and faculty that will be present for the presentation and add them into the clicker system. Then I will pass the correct clicker to the correct person, so the random selection will make sense. I have run through my presentation a few times just to become familiar with what the purpose of each slide is and how best to incorporate the class. Also I deleted two slides in the presentation because of their redundantness. Like I said, the students will be selected at random to participate in the lesson (I think this is best, because it takes the pressure off of students to volunteer and the teacher to select them), by either writing with the pens, using the eraser, dragging and dropping, and the whole class will answer a question collectively. There really wasn't an assessment portion of this lesson as it was. If I had created it I might have added a review slide of all the information, or maybe a review handout, or maybe this presentation was the review for an upcoming test on this information.

I think that students could benefit from technology in the classroom. The clickers I like because you can incorporate each student into the disscussion. I also think that the SMART board brings the teacher out from behind the desk or the podium and into the direct view of the students. The teacher can also bring the students up out their desks and use them to interact with the class and the lesson through the use of the SMART board. I know that all students learn differently and with the SMART board use can incorporate video, sound, touch, sight, and repitition. I think it is awesome!

Technological World

I never realized how much of a necessity computer skills are. I have benefited greatly at work simply because I know my way around a computer. However, not everyone is as fortunate as I am. Some of the more veteran workers don't know how to work through the computer, or only know how to turn it on. Not only does this reflect poorly upon them personally, but this hurts the business as a whole. Everything is done on computers, we all know this, so every time this person sits down at the desk there is a waste of 8 hours. This in turn reflects negatively on the rest of the staff at that desk, because we spend extra time making up for the lack of work done during the wasted shifts. It's not that I'm trying to be self-righteous or rude, but I am now realizing how vital it is to know how to work a computer (and other forms of technology) in order to be successful in today's modern workplace. I almost feel bad, because these people love to work, but it is almost not even worth the money to pay them to be here or the money that would be spent trying to train them. It worries me because I think of what it will be like in the future, and I don't want to end up the way these people are now. I bet they never thought in their wildest dreams that life would end up the way it is now, and I'm only willing to bet that it is going to happen again.

Internet Issue for Students

I think the most prevalent issue for students on the internet is safety. It is getting easier and easier to throw your name and address into some website's offer to try and redeem some prize or take advantage of some offer. But who is reading this information? And where is it going? I'm sure that a lot of students don't really know either, they just want that free I-Phone. I obviously don't consider myself an expert on internet security, but you really just don't know who's out there and what their motives are. Also, there are always stories of some young girl who met some guy in a chat room and went to meet him and wound up missing and found dead. It's tragic! I think that the internet is the most life altering invention of this century, but that doesn't mean that it is perfect.

Oodles of Googles

This presentation gave teachers ideas for using free applications from google to let students use the web to create writing projects. It started out very basically, explaining to teacher how to use the internet and special features of their browser (i.e. bookmarks and web history). She had four categories: Investigation - research; Preparation - organization;Presentation - the product; and Summation - reflection / feedback / archiving.

We created google accounts and used the google notebook to save all of our research through basic google searches. Something new I learned was the google alerts. This alerts you when new information is added about your topic. All of this information could be shared too! Which is great for a group project.

Preparation used mainly notebook and docs/spreadsheets. You can send your notes directly into your notebook without re-typing!! Google docs is practically the same as a word processor, except that you can access it anywhere and it can be shared with anyone over the web.

Presentation lets you share your project in a totally new way. You have to subscribe to presentation app and page creator app to post your research. These applications also lets you share the construction of your project and at the end produces a URL to give to anyone who needs/wants to see the finished product. People can also comment or ask questions if you are giving a live presentation!! Page creator is extremely simple and each project can have it's own webpage! Once these are finished they are available immediately for viewing!

The final step is Summation. This is the reflection stage. Google groups is what the instructor suggests is the best. This is interesting because you can make the sessions public or private to just your students working on the project. In this app you can upload files, add links, see the members of the group, visit their profiles, send the members private messages, and discuss what ever you want.

Assignment # 3

I had a difficult time finding a lesson plan that incorporated both technology and social studies. I say find because I'm not in Instructional Design so I haven't had to prepare one. Anyway, I found one that I was interested in, and that includes just about as much technology as I experienced in every one of my social studies classes so far.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolent Resistance

The amount of technology, like I said before, is limited at best. In every history class I've ever taken that amount of technology used in the lessons has been no more than watching a movie every once in awhile, using overheads, or power points. I think that is awful. Listening to a teacher lecture for a hour is hardly a way to explore the past.

Some ideas that I have to possibly improve upon this lesson plan could be to listening to Dr. King's speech or watching the video of the speech. I know that when I was growing up and learning about the Civil Rights Movement, we read the speech in class and weren't allowed to use the word "Negro." However, there is something different about watching the man who had the dream deliver his speech in front of thousands of cheering people and standing in front of the Washington Monument. Also, being able to listen to the actual speech makes the person who delivered it that much more real. For example, I listened to Robert Kennedy deliver a speech about Martin Luther King's death and it made him seem like a real person, because I had only seen his picture before.

Besides listening to speeches and watching their deliveries I pulled up the digital timeline and checked out some of the social events of the time. One of the first ones that I found was the Rosa Parks event and the first sit-in.

Some of the technology needed to incorporate this technology into the lesson would be at least one computer, projector, speakers, internet connection, and maybe a SMARTboard. Ideally, each student could have their own personal computer and each explore a different video or audio clip. However, if that is not possible the teacher can find one he/she deems the most important and play it on the classroom computer and project it onto the screen. It would be most interactive and intriguing to use a SMARTboard while viewing the Digital Timeline. The best part about these technological implements is there are flexible. If there are not enough computers for each student than only one is needed. If there is not wireless internet than only one LAN line is needed. Also, none of these ideas require software or licensing.

I guess some possible challenges to all of this technology could be a loss of internet connection or computer to speaker to video connection problems. Eventually, these websites might be removed or they might remove their video or their audio files. To overcome these problems, the teacher should have a basic knowledge of troubleshooting (i.e. technological problem solving). It isn't feasible for a teacher to be fluent in the language of technology but to have a basic understanding is a must. As for the removal of websites or website aspects, there is always something new on the internet.



The NETS (for 8th grade proficiency) which are satisfied by this lesson are 1a except for part 5, because the lesson did not focus on the changes in technology over time and their effect on business. I believe that 1b was covered, because of all the different file formats used to access the different media, and they would be exposed to some problems because there is almost always problems with classroom technology. NET 2 could be satisfied if the teacher took time to discuss all of the related topics. However, that would be better suited for a one time occasion, most likely at the beginning of the year and not during each lesson. NET 3 could definitely be incorporated into the lesson and be satisfied. However, the lesson plan would have to go one step further and assign a project to do. I think that students could take what they've learned from the Civil Rights Activists and fight for something that they strongly believe in that is happening in the world today (there are still a lot of oppressed people groups in the world today). They could make blogs and podcasts or anything they wanted to really. NET 4 would go along perfectly with the assignment I thought for NET 3. They could use all of these forms of media and technology to get their message out there to the public. NET 5 I think most students would have already satisfied just by using the internet at home, except 5b which is not satisfied in this lesson plan. NET 6 is definitely satisfied in this lesson plan, because there are multiple forms of technology with is going to be used and displayed for the students.

Inspiration Software

Inspiration Outline Test Drive

Web 2.0 tools in class

I could practically guarantee that 100% of students are already using Web 2.o at home or wherever they access the internet. In light of this, I think that students would be a lot more likely to engage in learning and education if the material was presented on this level. Students might be assigned to create a blog and in that blog act as if they are living within a certain event or time period. They could research and present their information in a way that might be entertaining to the themselves and the rest of the class, instead of handing in a 6 page paper on WWI. I think it would be fun to write and record fake radio bulletins or entire radio programs and turn those into podcasts. I think that history and social studies can be a lot more interesting than the typical read a book and write a paper approach. I would also like to try and use google earth and show the students what different parts of the world look like. So, for instance, when talking about the construction of the Panama Canal, the students could both see the canal and see where it is exactly. I feel that engaging the students on a level that they are already interested in is so important for today's and tomorrow's teachers. Life changes and so should we.

Assignment # 2

My first two categories really go hand in hand. However, to start off, when studying history, it is extremely important to have the facts correct. My goal with these websites was to provide a way that students could find basic information on a person, place, or topic easily. The internet if full of information, however, not all of the information out there is true. There are websites on the internet that are highly unreliable, the most widely-known is Wikipedia. Although, this shouldn't scare students away from finding useful information on the internet. It is the place most easily accessible for students, especially those without cars and who are not within walking distance of the library. This is why I have chosen these web pages and posted them in a groups of databases. The first, Answers.com, is a fairly new site and it seems highly reliable. Unlike Wikipedia, Answers.com pulls excerpts from other resources online. For example, when the term "WWII" is searched a variety of resources a brought up including: The American Heritage Dictionary, Oxford University Press, and Britannica Precise Encyclopedia. As a student it is important to find reliable sources, and even more important to find reliable sources that are easily accessible.

My second category was a step beyond the first. Once students have found strong reliable information about a topic they are researching, they can then investigate what other people may think about it or have written about it. For example, after clicking on the HNN Blogs link, and after entering in the term "WWII" again, pages and pages of blogs pop up in the search. Some of these are from news paper articles others are from personal blogs from professors or educated people. However, some are simply just people who have only dropped the term WWII into their blog for one reason or another. This gives the students a chance to decipher what is fact and what is fiction, what is reliable and what is unreliable. This can add a new perspective on writing research papers. Students can branch out from only using facts and personal opinion, to current or recent public opinion and individual opinion. I do admit that these searches are less reliable then the ones in the previous category, but this is a new idea for research.

My third category is multimedia. I was a little upset that I couldn't locate a good number of sources for this category. However, the onces that I did find are exceptional. The History Channel website is full of video, speeches, pictures, links to just about anything. It is really impressive. Digital History is really interesting as well. There are many different sections of that site, but one thing that I found really neat was the Interactive Timeline. As you dragged the bar across the screen different icons would appear. When highlighted, these icons would display information about an event or place. If the icon was clicked on, a page would pop-up about the subject of the icon. The Discovery Channel has similar aspects to The History Channel, but the topics discussed are slightly different. The neat things about web pages like these is that, students could use these videos, speeches, pictures in presentations and multimedia reports. Instead of simple papers being turning in, students could create blogs with links and moving parts encompassing all of their research on a broad array of media fields.

The fourth category is really straight forward. I tried to find sites full of ideas for projects that could be used in a social studies environment. The students will hopefully see what other people have done in the past and begin to formulate ideas that they want to do. The hard thing about history is that it has already happened and it is not going to change, but hopefully, after reading about what some people have done, the students' minds will be charged full of new ideas on exploring the past and making it come to life. Also, social studies is not just history. It is great for students to get involved in their world today and the social and political events that are happening all around them.

Since it is important for students to remain on top of the world's happenings, I thought it would be useful to have access to news from all around the world. Now obviously, these news sites are not from everywhere on the globe, because the students and myself included only speak English, for the most part. However, seeing the different perspectives from Seattle to New York and then to England can make a huge difference on how a person views a certain event or actions of a person.

"A Day in the Life of Web 2.0"

I just want to start out by saying, "Wow!" I am at a loss to describe how this school functioned in the article. I was so impressed and intrigued. I started wishing that my high school would have been just like that, and, also that, Northwest could implement similar technologies. It would be indescribably helpful if teachers could record and podcast their lectures everyday. I also loved the idea of the student created study guides, through the use of wikis. It is astonishing how the students were so involved in their education and how that involvement propelled their desire to learn.

However, I am assuming that since there were no real names, places, or dates given that this was a fictional school. I can only assume how difficult it would be for teachers to adapt to this technology and remain ahead of the students. Although, even though it might be difficult it seems the best way for students to get involved in their education.

He is the article, prepare to be amazed -- A Day in the Life

SMART Board

I really think that the SMART Board is powerful teaching tool. It allows the students to interact with the information provided in the lesson by the teacher and opens up new worlds of possibilities. In one of the articles that I read, it talks about the students have a live video conversation with scientists doing research off the coast of South Africa!! How cool is that? The Board brings students into a new type of learning that excites them and interests them. I would love to give my students the chance to see what life is like in a different part of the world and have them ask questions and see them want to learn. Even as just a basic tool in the class, with no internet connections or fancy gadgets, the SMART Board allows the teach to move out from behind the podium and engage the students in a more personal way, and the students can participate in a way that seems "cool" to them. Of course, the Board does come with some drawbacks. Most teachers, can barely work a projector or a DVD player, it could be difficult for some to make the jump to SMART Boards or clickers or something not even thought of yet. Here's is the link to the magazine that I read from. i.e. The article is on page 16.

Integrating Successfully

I read the winter '06 article from i.e. magazine. The article was entitled "Integrating Successfully" and it was written by Wendy McMahon. The article talked about a school district in Connecticut, and, more specifically, Hall Memorial Elementary School. The school was awarded the Blue Chip School Grant, and began purchasing new technological classroom implements (i.e. the SMART Board). I was interested to hear how the school changed, when the technology was introduced. Students became excited to learn, "With so much excitement about
learning, discipline issues are nonexistent." I almost cannot believe such a statement about an American public school classroom. The article also talked about how the teachers became excited to teach. When they had discovered something new, or where shown something new by their students, they could hardly wait to show it to the next teacher. It was said that the school "changed from a closed-door environment to a more collaborative environment[.]" I would love to be a part of this process. I love technology and watching it alter the way things are done, and most of the time it looks really cool too!

Creating a Web Page

I think that the idea is really awesome. However, the process can either be quite simple or extremely difficult. It is kind of a hit or miss situation. For me, this time, it was not easy. Technology was working against me and I had no idea how to get around it. Now that my page is created, I think it was a good experience. It is awesome to be able to create a page of anything that you want and display it for everyone to see. It will also be a great tool to use in the classroom. Students can create their own pages and we can link classroom exercises in through that.

HTML Page

My School's Website

First off, I have not yet been admitted into the program, so therefore I did not have a class or school that I am observing. So instead, I decided to use my old high school's website. First off, I thought that the home page was organized and had decent appeal. The school's name is at the top followed by a bunch of tabs, that correspond to all of the sites sub-pages, and lastly, there is a large picture of an eagle, the mascot, surrounded by the school's colors of royal blue and white. The majority of the tabs, when clicked on, open up there page on the screen already present. This reduced the amount of loading time, and depleted the need of a home button. The rest of the tabs open up adobe spreadsheets, for the staff list and the schedules. This seemed a little bit lazy to me. When the spreadsheets open up, they pop up in a new tab. They are not as colorful or as interactive as the rest of the website. However, there was one aspect of the web page that I thought was very well done. Each faculty members name, when clicked on, opened up an Outlook box. For those that don't know, Outlook is Microsoft's email program. I thought that was very helpful and convenient for parents.

Despite the convenience of the site, there were a couple of things missing. There were no pictures of the school, students, events, or anything really. It would have been nice to see some student involvement on the page too. Such as, a tab for student interest or something posted by the ASB or the newspaper. Everything seemed kind of lazy and easily put together.

Technologically Literate

I believe that technology should be used in the classroom. Today's society revolves around the field of technology. The children that are being raised in the world today are submersed within an ocean of technological devices. These kids live and breathe technology. I believe that technology aides learning as well. Kids today understand technology. All the aspects of technology are first nature to kids. That is why I think that technology can aide in their learning. If a young child is having difficulty understanding a new math concept that is being taught from a book, he might be able to better understand when the same concept is presented in an interactive software program.



High school students in today's society have access to a plethora of new technology. They are woken up by an alarm clock that is programed into their cell phone. They proceed to plug in their IPOD into either their computer via USB or in a portable IPOD speaker/sound system. They then might grab their PSP or MP3 player and head out the door for school. After school, while surfing the internet, they will most likely access myspace, facebook, youtube, photobucket, hi5, limewire, itunes, or some other new site that has sprung up over night. While surfing the net, they are mostly likely logged into aim, msn messenger, or some other form of instant messenger where they are able to share any file that a computer can generate.


In the last class that I was in, the technology was fairly basic but it was spread out through the entire classroom. The teacher had their lesson outlined in a powerpoint that they brought to class via a USB jump drive. This also means that, in the classroom there was a computer that was connected to a projector, which in turn projected onto a screen. Most of the students in the classroom used personal laptop computers for taking notes

Under Observable and Best Practices my classroom would fall under Tier 1, because the technology focuses on getting the teacher's job done. For Professional Development Possibilities the classroom I was last in has elements from both Tier 1 and Tier 2, but I would tend to think it would rank closer to Tier 1 because the technology mostly supports learning as opposed to enhancing it. In the Required Conditions category, the classroom I was last in ranked under Tier 2. The school has a computer network and tech support as well as projector and some other elements. Overall, I would rank the classroom I was in between Tiers 1 and 2, but it would probably be closer to Tier 1.

To raise technology's influence from supporting to enhancing, or even to transforms, I would like to see some interactive technology in the classroom. Instead of a simple lecture class with projected information, maybe classes could create research projects that are posted on created class websites, and and semester has an original website. The website might even incorporate video and sound along with text, as opposed to only text.

GLE Social Studies/Geography - Grade 10 -- The part that is really intriguing is "Analyze how the environment and environmental changes affect people: Analyze how technological innovation may both solve environmental problems and create new ones." I would like to see if there is a way that my students could interact via e-mail or IM with students who live in other countries. They could theoretically talk to these students and see how environmental changes such as a natural disaster like Felix affects their lives. They could then as a project create a web page that collects donations or brings awareness to people here in the states and directs them to a place where they can make donations.

GLE Social Studies/History -- Grade 10 -- 2.1 -- this point wants student to research using electronic resources and library ones as well. I think that if students were aware of the happenings of the past, they would better understand the events of today. I think it would be interesting for students to access Legal Databases and read about court cases that have influenced the way in which they are educated (i.e. Brown v. Board of Education). They could then create a blog or website for the rest of the student body informing them of how school became what it is today.

3.3 -- the point wants students to comprehend how technology has "changed people's ideas of the natural world." I think that it would be interesting if students could recreate through video recording and/or video production software how life has adapted with the introductions and integrations of technology. They could create a blog and post the video or you an already existing site such as youtube or googlevideo.

Professional Preparation Performance Profile

Adopt and Adapt

For this assignment, I chose to read Adopt and Adapt: 21st-Century Schools Need 21st-Century Technology, by M. Prensky. I really appreciated this article. I am assuming that Marc Prensky, the author, is a current teacher or administrator, because of the perspective of the article. This article really opened my eyes to the challenges of technological integration in today's classrooms. A lot of teachers who are currently instructing may fear using advanced technology in their class because their students are so far advanced into the technological field. The worry is that the teacher will no longer be able to instruct his or her students, and they fear that the education of the students will suffer. Growing up, I always wished that we would have had more time in the computer lab or working with something associated with technology, even something as simple as the projector. Another point brought up in the article is, the disassociation of technology and learning. The article expressed the thoughts that parents or educators may feel about learning and technology. They feel that the excessive use of technology will move away from "the basics" and "the basics" is where children get most of their learning. However, I do not think that is true and I don't think the author of the article does either. Children are described as "digital natives." This means that they are accustomed to the workings of technology and might learn better through it. Overall, I thought that article was interesting, since I am neither an educator or a fully-grown adult, so I had no idea what their perspective might be. I missed out on a lot of technology growing up, mostly due to the financial situation of my school district, but I am always excited to learn something new in the technological field. After reading this article, my view on technology in the classroom as been put into perspective. Children are already immersed, comfortable, and familiar with technology, so why take them out of it and force them to learn a different way? It makes much more sense to bring education to the children through means that they enjoy.

A Passion for Teaching

When I was growing up I always detested social studies. I thought that it was boring and I did not see the point in studying about people and events that were over and would never occur again. That is, until I was a Junior in High School. I decided to take the easy way out and I registered for the regular American History course instead of AP American History. I figured that this would be a push over class, and if I had been a regular student it probably would have, but Mr. Anderson challenged me. He let other students just get by, but he saw potential and passion in me and pushed me to the ends of it. Like I said before, I was never thrilled to have to sit in a social studies course until Mr. Anderson decided to change that. Now, I have taken that passion for learning and have turned that into a passion for teaching. My hope is to turn students into passionate learners, just like what happened to me when I was young. It is too easy to just slip by in our education system. Many people just disappear into the masses and never really succeed but are not enough of a problem to be worked with. My goal is to change that and challenge each student and instill in them a desire to learn and to always keep learning. While my experience is solely here in the United States, I want to breech those borders and teach internationally. I recently visited Latin America, and felt that this could possibly be where I want to be. As of right now, it is just a dream, but I want to see this dream become reality.