Google Tools

This week we were asked to explore Google and the tools it has to offer. Google is such a great resource, especially for teachers. I could see myself using Google and it's tools a lot in my future teaching. Google Docs is one of the tools I use the most and I would probably use a lot with students. Google Docs is a great place to make a document, especially if you want this document to be shared or edited. If I were having students to a group project or presentation I would have them use the presentation or "PowerPoint" on Google along with Google Docs. Students could work on this document from anywhere and all edit it whenever they had time. As long as all the group members had the link and were able to edit they could go home after school and see what their group members had done and either change or add to that. This is great because not everyone is able to figure out their schedules to get together so this could be done throughout the day whenever each individual member has time. I would also have students use Google Docs for peer editing. The students could write a paper and then type it up into Google Docs and share the link with their classmates. The other students in the classroom could edit the document online and give feedback right on the document. This is an easy way for others to see a document as well as give suggestions without the student having to go and retype and re print the entire paper.

Google Reader

This week I decided to look more into Google reader. I have made myself a Google reader and it helps me to keep track of blogs or website I like to read. This application allows you to save links to certain blogs or other websites and puts them all in one spot. This is done through an RSS feed and this reader can be linked to other websites like my blog or Facebook. I have found that this tool is useful for me when I want to look for resources on education or stories that I can blog about or research for classes. This tool helps people to have all their websites in one place as well as save their favorite blog posts or stories so they can refer back to them at a later date. This website is great for people who like to reader multiple websites a day or want an easy place to keep all thier favorite stories and blog posts.

Needs to Be Fixed

Article

I could go on for pages about No Child Left Behind and my feelings on this, but instead I'll ask you to simply read the article I linked. This article says it right that the NCLB bill is broken and it needs to be fixed.

Education Hot Topic

There is a lot I could write about when it comes to education hot topics. Specifically, for me, the events occurring in Wisconsin. I have family members who teach in Wisconsin and are witnessing first hand what these events are like. I myself am planning to move to Madison, WI when I am done with student teaching to pursue a job there. The events happening worry me about my future as well as my families, but in a time like this I think it is important to try and focus on some good things happening in the school system and look on the bright side of my future. While looking for some articles on the events occurring with teachers and the union in Wisconsin I came across an article that I found really interesting and I wanted to share it on my blog.


Article

This article is about students in a Wisconsin public school system who will be receiving iPads for use in school. The iPads will be used by students to do homework and assignments as well as virtual textbooks for AP classes. This is just one example of how schools are taking advantage of technology and moving forward academically and technologically to improve learning. The article also shows that these virtual textbooks will help save the school money on textbooks. We talk so much about technology and how it can really help learning and students and this is just one way that one school district is taking advantage of the technology out there.

Student Publishing

Student Publishing
The technology I choose to work with this week is a website called Studentpublishing.com. This website is used to create story books online. The website allows for different page layouts as well as different background to use on each page. There are stickers to use for images as well as a tool that allows you to upload your own picture to use in the story. The color and size of any image can also be changed. The pages can be text and picture or just one of the two. The book can have any amount of pages and any story can be told because it is all made from scratch. Your own drawings can also be made with the drawing tool in teh left hand menu of the site. This website allows you to have a classroom or individual log in as well as the opportunity to publish the book in hard copy.

I think this would be a good tool for the classroom. The students could create their own stories in workshops during class and then create their story online when it came time to publish it. This would be a great way for students to be creative with their work because they can create their own layouts and pictures. I think it would also be a great way for students to display their work. The disadvantages to it would be the typing portion. Younger students who don't know how to type may have difficulties making their book, this would probably get a good tool for older students to use individually and younger students to use as a group with their teacher. I think this would be a good project for writing.

Benefits of Twitter

I have been using Twitter now since September and I am starting to see the benefits it can have for me as a future educator. One way Twitter has been helpful is as an educational resource. I follow discovery education on twitter and I frequently go to their profile page to look at their tweets when it comes time for me to make a lesson plan. This profile frequently tweets about lesson plans for different topics or resources to use with lesson plans. I think this is so helpful for a starting teacher to get ideas and resources for different lessons. I would definitely recommend people to follow this group on Twitter and explore their website.

NCLB

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/obama-s-war-on-schools.html

I found this article while looking through some tweets this morning and I found the opening paragraph to be really interesting. I really think it is true that people in the government, who are making educational policies, don't fully understand how these policies are effecting education. I feel that people who work within school systems and see the education happening first hand need to have more of an input with educational policies being made by the government. I'm not naive and I do know that this is probably not going to happen anytime in the near future, but I do hope that changes will eventually come to the public educational systems and the government will see that these changes need to be made.

Speech Development

Article
This was such an interesting article to me. This is about a family that video and sound recorded their home for the first three years of their child's life. This footage allowed for education researchers to gain information about speech in children. One aspect of speech and speech development I find important is the therm "baby-talk". I think this has become a natural reaction with babies and many adults speak in baby talk to young children. I work in a preschool that has classrooms for infants, toddlers, 2 year old, 3 year old, 4 year olds, as well as preschool program for 5 and 6 year olds. In our preschool we are told during training that baby-talk is not used with any child even infants. We are taught that direct speech is very important for the development of the child and their own speech development. Having this job has changed the way I interact with young infants and toddlers. I now see how important it is to speak to them as I would to an adult, obviously with simpler words. The children understand what I am saying even if their own speech isn't fully developed. I think this is such an important part of speech development for everyone to remember.

Webinar

Link
I was looking through some education tweets and came across this webinar. I thought it looked interesting so I wanted to share it with everyone. I think having a sound and successful digital learning environment is important for any school and can really increase learning.

What Does it Take?

A question I've been asking myself a lot lately is "What does it take to be a good teacher?" This is such a hard question for me to answer because I feel that there are so many aspects of good teaching. I think a good teacher needs to care. This may seem trivial to mention, but I feel that it is important even after 5 or 10 or 15 years that a teacher still maintain the same passion for teaching as they did their first 3 or 4 years. I also feel it is important for teachers to maintain strong relationships with families of students. Getting to know the students and their families well at the beginning of the year will make for a strong bond of trust with everyone in the classroom. Another aspect of teaching I find to be very important is to stay up to date. It is important that teachers learn about new strategies, techniques, and technology. If teachers can stay up to date then their classroom will be the best learning environment it can be. The world around us is always changing, therefore education should be following. Students are interested in many different things and these are changing everyday. If a teacher knows his/her students well then they will know what these students like and are interested in. The teacher should incorporate these things into the classroom and the children's learning to keep them interested and engaged. I also think that this will help the students to see why what their learning is important and how it pertains to their daily life.

Iphone 4

I recently bought the iPhone 4. I was amazed at everything I was able to do with this "phone". I say phone like that because this goes beyond what a conventional mobile phone should or can do. I am able to play pretty much any game I want on this phone as well as call or text my friends and family. I am also able to access all my social media sites with just one touch of an icon. I can set alerts to tell me when someone has posted on my Facebook or tagged me in a tweet. I am becoming more involved with Twitter now because of this phone and the accessibility to the site whenever I want. I think that this phone also has multiple educational uses.
One application I downloaded right away when I received this phone was a calendar and to do list app. I was able to put in reminders for special dates as well as work meetings and assignments. I think this specific application could be great for students, specifically special education students. For students who struggle with remembering tasks or need to be reminded of how to do a task step-by-step or even need a calendar to tell them the events of the day, this app would be perfect. The teacher could pre-record all of this information into the phone or even ipod and the student would have access to it all day whenever they want. There are also applications that allow for people to type what they want to say and the phone will read it out loud for them. I found this to be a tool that would be helpful to some students who have difficulties speaking or speech impediments. The student could type what they want to say and the phone would say it for them. There are devices that already to this, but they are large and hard to carry around. The phone is small and very portable and easy to manipulate because it is touch screen. Many applications also allow for captioning while listening to or viewing a video or audio. This would be perfect for deaf students or students with hearing impairments.
Overall I think this phone is amazing for me as a college student, but it would also be great for any student who needs a little extra help in the classroom.

Educational Benefits of Facebook?

While working on a project for another class I came across an interesting video about facebook and how it can help learning. I found this to be interesting because so many people feel that this and many other social networking sites like twitter or myspace have no benefit. I wouldn't say that facebook is the most educational site there is and that I would even use it on a daily basis in a classroom, but it just goes to show that social media as well as technology as a whole can be Incorporated into the classroom as long as you are creative enough to find an appropriate way to use it.

Video

New Literacies and Social Networking

I have been working on a New Literacies project for my TE class and I have come to find that the internet and technology are a huge part of my literacy. Social literacy, to me, has a lot to do with social networking and the online world. I think that this is such an important topic to discuss with students. One thing that I feel is important about social literacy and social networking is safety. I think that parents or teacher should be introducing students to online networking websites so that the students know from an adult what these are. If a student is introduced to a social network such as facebook by a friend they may not know the dangers or privacy settings they can have.
Having an adult introduce social networks to students helps them to fully understand how to use the program and the benefits of the program on an educational level. The adult can also explain what privacy settings the students can and should use as well as what the dangers are of social networking.