Podcast

Post 10

I have learned a lot from this class. At the beginning of the semester, I found the information to be boring and very basic. However, I have learned to use technologies like excel, PowerPoint, inspiration and MS Word better. I enjoyed PowerPoint because it was easy to create. I enjoyed inspiration the most. I like colors and different graphics that can be used.I have enjoyed learning all the new technologies.
I confident that my group members and I have done a good job on our project. We all worked hard to make it the best. We used technologies such as inspiration, PowerPoint slides. We also created a jeopardy game using the PowerPoint. I know the student will enjoy our work.
I will definitely use some of the technologies that I learned in this class as a teacher. I want to be a middle school social studies teacher. I think my student will enjoy technologies like inspiration and PowerPoint. I could use inspiration as an interactive tool where my students can communicate and learn with each other. I will personally use excel with all my classes. I will use it to keep track of the students attendance and also their grades.
From the blogs that I have read or commented on, I have noticed that I have similar interest with them. For example, they plan on using the same technologies that I plan to use in the future. Also, I have learned how they feel about new technologies and how when they started using technology. I have enjoyed learning new technologies in this class

Post 9

I did not like our topic at first but once my group members and I discussed it, I was excited about it. The topic that we received was "Parts of Speech." I did not understand the teachers full requirements at first but when we visited the school, she helped clarify. I like the people that I am working with so I feel confident that we will do well on this project.
I have contributed to my group in the past week by driving my car to Fairview Middle School. Also, I have been working on my part of the project. I volunteered to do an introduction exercise for the classes using inspiration. I am still working on this project because I want it be attractive and exciting.
I have learned a lot this past week. Courtney, one of my group members introduced me an educational game called "grammar rock." She is planning on incorporating this game as an interactive exercise for the students. All in all, I am very excited about the final outcome of our project!

Post 8

Webquest are activities using Internet resources to encourage students to use higher thinking skills to solve messy problems. I would use Webquest in my 7Th grade Social Social studies class by giving the topic of "US Constitution." I would require them to make a newspaper with their findings. Each will have a reporter, illustrator, writer and an editor. I would put the students in small groups in order for them to communicate and think deeper. I will give them open ended questions such as "What does the constitution for for citizens of the US? Write biography from a delegate of your state. How did this person contribute to the constitution?" I think that my students will benefit for this activity because it will make them better thinkers and gives them chance to interact with their classmates.
The example that I found of a webquest is on "Animals of the Ocean Floor." It is a good example because the students did good research on the topic and they site their sources correctly.
I will definitely use excel in my career. I like using excel because it helps to keep my organized. It was frustrating for me at first but I slowly learned how to use. Excel will help me keep track of attendance and grades.

Post 7

A Web based tool that I would like to use as a middle school Social Studies teacher would be http://www.wikispaces.com. I would give groups assignments that requires my students to use wiki. The groups members will research their on the given topic by posting it on the group's web page. While the other group members can edit the finds with what each have researched.When the research is complete, all my the students can log into wiki and read/learn from their classmates findings.
I will use Excel spreadsheet in my Social Studies class for student attendance and grades. I think that using Excel for attendance and grades will keep me more organized as oppose to inputting them manually. I could also use Excel to make time lines in my Social Studies class. I could use it as a visual by making charts such as a bar graph or a pie chart to show the differences between society today and years ago. I think that my students will be attentive when I used these visuals.

post 6

I feel like I did an excellent job on my PowerPoint project. I still consider myself new to developing PowerPoint presentations. I do not have any grammatical errors on my slides. My slides are easy to navigate. All of my ideas are in order. I used transitions after some slides. I used a light yellow color as my background because I want my audience to pay attention to the information on the slides. Also, each of my slides have its own purpose or idea.

I would use a projector to help me teach my lessons. Using a projector would be a great way to get and keep my students attention. Also, I would have creative and attractive drawings on a cartridge paper. The draws will relate to the topics that I am teaching. These drawings will be colorful and realistic. It also depends on what grade level that I teach.

As I stated, the idea of PowerPoint is still new to me. I will use all the PowerPoint skills that I have learned so far to assist me in my classroom. For example, for each lesson, I will create an attractive PowerPoint that includes pictures and animations.

Post 5

The website that I evaluated was the homepage of Yahoo(http://m.www.yahoo.com/). This website has many graphics and headlines. The website is left justified. I consider it left justified because all the text is left justified and the few numbers are right justified. The text style was not consistent because some of the paragraphs has wider spacing between words then other. There is a variety of different colors on Yahoo's homepage. Each news headline has its own color. I believe that the creator of this page gave each headline a different color because he/she wants to attract, hold or direct attention to each article. The website has an equal amount of text and graphics. The text is accompanied by illustration, boxes and diagrams. The creator of this page used upper and lowercase when necessary. The text lines were very short, catchy and easy to read. I also noticed that the author placed the news headlines in order of importance which showed that placement does matter.

The biggest advantage of using presentation software in the classroom is that it helps the students to interact with each other more often. Having a visual presentation also helps the students who are considered visual learner to get a better understanding of the information that's being thought. The biggest disadvantage of using presentation software is that it may become a distraction for some students. Students who are non-visual learners will eventually become bored or annoyed by presentation software.

A PowerPoint is a good aid for students. An example of how I might use PowerPoint to support m students learning at each knowledge dimension in a particular classroom lesson would be for them to create PowerPoint of their top three presidents. I would expect my students to incorporate equal amounts of text along with graphics. I would require my advanced technology students to create a beyond average PowerPoint. I would expect the beginner students to ask for my assistance more often than my advance students.