Implementing technology will not just benefit those who are disabled, but I think everyone will really get something out of it. Technology wasn’t created just for people with disabilities; it was created for many different reasons which I won’t get into. But by including more technology in your classroom I think it would help create an environment where everyone would benefit and learn more. As a teacher, it is part of my job to help educate all students in the best possible way. Using technology, and many different sorts of it, I believe will help me achieve this.
Universal Design is not just one common way to teach, but it is actually many different ways to help teach so it reaches everyone’s different ability levels. This website gives a great example of how like speakerphones and closed captioning helps everyone, not just those who are disabled. I know plenty of people who use closed captioning a lot and they have no hearing impairment, they just like to see what is being said. Universal Design uses a lot of technology to help environments and society become more inclusive.
Section 508 is a law that was enacted in 1998 by congress. It is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act that states that electronic and information technology should be available for people with disabilities. This means that everyone, including federal agencies will have to follow the guidelines and sections of 508 when creating new technology. Hopefully with this law, new technologies will be made to better assist the disabled. It will also help change old technologies to make them more accessible so that people can better obtain and learn from them
Obviously, one technology that I think I would most definitely need in my classroom is a computer. This is something that every classroom should have. It has so many uses that go above and beyond just helping someone with a disability. You can do research on it or you can have it read a book aloud to you. Another technology I would use in my classroom is a Smart Board. I think these are truly incredibly useful in so many different ways. It also makes a good visual for anyone. Another technology that I may want in my classroom is a Tango. This would be useful especially with an autistic child, but could be helpful in early learners. One last technology I would like to use is the Touch Math book; these had great lessons in them that I think would be applicable to many different ranges of students.
I think by using some, maybe not all of the technologies I talked about it would help make my classroom more inclusive. It would have students learning on different levels. I would also be approaching how I taught students in different ways so that it fits the needs of all. I think creating a classroom modeled around Universal Design will benefit everyone including myself. Also, as a teacher, it is part of my duty to comply with the section 508 and make sure I am helping meet all students’ needs.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Science Unit Ideas
1.) Planets (Grade 5?)
I would have students study the planets and find out different characteristics about all the different planets. We would read a few books, but a lot of this would be independent research. Then as an ending project I would assign each student a planet. They would then have to use Nvu to create a web page about their planet that they could share. They could also use Pixie to draw their planet.
2.) Environment (Grade 4 or 5?)
I would have students research the different environments that there are in the world. Then we would specifically look at the environment that we live in. Then we would talk about the environments that our in our country. I would then somehow set up kids to have pen-pals but through e-mail to talk with a student in a different part of the country that live in a different environment. As an ending project they would have to write a comparative essay on the two different environments.
3.)Plants (Grade 2?)
I would have students study different plants from books and online research. Then we would use the information we found to go and identify plants around the school. I would have students pick one particular plant and draw a picture on pixie of it. They would then write a small informational piece about this plant.
4.) Owl Pellets (Grade 3)
I would have students research owls and find out what they eat and their habitat. Then I would have them visit websites in which they could dissect owl pellets to see what they eat. Then if I could I would have an organization bring in pellets so students could really dissect owl pellets. I would have them taking pictures (almost like a crime scene!) so they could put them into frames and make a short movie about dissecting owl pellets.
5.) Inventions(Grade 8)
I would have my students research the different inventions that were made, and how the whole process of things being invented. Then I would have them think up of their own inventions and then try and create them. They could then make their own i-movie on the inventions that they made. They would have to write about the process of how they thought of, made, and would try to get a patent on their inventions.
I think I am going to write up a lesson plan for my first idea on the planets science unit. This seems fun and interesting to do!
I would have students study the planets and find out different characteristics about all the different planets. We would read a few books, but a lot of this would be independent research. Then as an ending project I would assign each student a planet. They would then have to use Nvu to create a web page about their planet that they could share. They could also use Pixie to draw their planet.
2.) Environment (Grade 4 or 5?)
I would have students research the different environments that there are in the world. Then we would specifically look at the environment that we live in. Then we would talk about the environments that our in our country. I would then somehow set up kids to have pen-pals but through e-mail to talk with a student in a different part of the country that live in a different environment. As an ending project they would have to write a comparative essay on the two different environments.
3.)Plants (Grade 2?)
I would have students study different plants from books and online research. Then we would use the information we found to go and identify plants around the school. I would have students pick one particular plant and draw a picture on pixie of it. They would then write a small informational piece about this plant.
4.) Owl Pellets (Grade 3)
I would have students research owls and find out what they eat and their habitat. Then I would have them visit websites in which they could dissect owl pellets to see what they eat. Then if I could I would have an organization bring in pellets so students could really dissect owl pellets. I would have them taking pictures (almost like a crime scene!) so they could put them into frames and make a short movie about dissecting owl pellets.
5.) Inventions(Grade 8)
I would have my students research the different inventions that were made, and how the whole process of things being invented. Then I would have them think up of their own inventions and then try and create them. They could then make their own i-movie on the inventions that they made. They would have to write about the process of how they thought of, made, and would try to get a patent on their inventions.
I think I am going to write up a lesson plan for my first idea on the planets science unit. This seems fun and interesting to do!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Educational Podcasts
Kidcast #45 - Building Interview Skills Through Speed Networking
This podcast was created by Dan Schmit. He creates podcasts about how to integrate podcasts into your classroom. This was one of his activities that he thought would be a great way to not only build some skills, but also learn to use a podcast. He took the idea of speed dating from our pop culture world and added a twist - made it into speed networking for students. What they would do is set up in groups of 10, numbered one through five. Two people would be paired and have the same questions to ask the rest of the people in the group. They would take about eight minutes asking and talking to other members in their group. All while this is going on it would be recording. Then at the end, the two students would come together and analyze the answers they got and upload their recordings onto a computer. Then they would edit them and put hm onto a podcast so they could share their findings with everyone else.
Kidcast #46 - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This podcast was by Dan Schmit again. He introduced an activity that would be used to try and encourage students to look more closely at pictures to describe and generate more detailed and thoughtful narratives. What would happen is each group, or student depending on how you divide the class, would get a photograph. They would then look at and explore the photo and ask 20 questions. Then discussing the photo together, they would generate their answers into a narrative that they would then record and put on a podcast. Then if you add the photo to the podcast, you can zoom in and pull up certain details about the photo to show what the student is talking about. This will build good descriptive narrative skills.
Personally, after just listening to this first podcast, I do not like them. I think they may help benefit some students, but it is hard to listen to and take in what he is saying. Perhaps I am just a more hands on learner. I think they idea he ha of speed networking was better than putting it onto a podcast. It is a good way to pull technology into the classroom, but I think there are better ways. The whole photograph podcast would be more interesting however. I think it would actually work. I think using podcasts in the classroom is a good way to build up to something big at the end of a long unit, by putting it all into a podcast. But I wouldn't use them to teach anything in my classroom.
Podcasts could be used to support literacy instructions in some ways. You could use them to teach students a new strategy or lesson in literacy. You could also use them to have students compile their own work at the end of an unit. When students are writing poems they could read them and upload them onto a podcast. You could also use the idea that Dan Schmit had earlier about using photographs to write narratives.
I would use podcasts in my classroom in these five different ways:
- To teach about using detail in stories
- To read a finished story of a student's or the classes onto a recorder and transform it onto a podcast to share with the community
- Have students practice writing instructions to simple tasks and then record them on podcasts to teach other, younger students perhaps
- Use it to teach an informational section on something they are learning
- I could use them to have my students interview each other so we could all share what we found out about others to get to know everyone better
This podcast was created by Dan Schmit. He creates podcasts about how to integrate podcasts into your classroom. This was one of his activities that he thought would be a great way to not only build some skills, but also learn to use a podcast. He took the idea of speed dating from our pop culture world and added a twist - made it into speed networking for students. What they would do is set up in groups of 10, numbered one through five. Two people would be paired and have the same questions to ask the rest of the people in the group. They would take about eight minutes asking and talking to other members in their group. All while this is going on it would be recording. Then at the end, the two students would come together and analyze the answers they got and upload their recordings onto a computer. Then they would edit them and put hm onto a podcast so they could share their findings with everyone else.
Kidcast #46 - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This podcast was by Dan Schmit again. He introduced an activity that would be used to try and encourage students to look more closely at pictures to describe and generate more detailed and thoughtful narratives. What would happen is each group, or student depending on how you divide the class, would get a photograph. They would then look at and explore the photo and ask 20 questions. Then discussing the photo together, they would generate their answers into a narrative that they would then record and put on a podcast. Then if you add the photo to the podcast, you can zoom in and pull up certain details about the photo to show what the student is talking about. This will build good descriptive narrative skills.
Personally, after just listening to this first podcast, I do not like them. I think they may help benefit some students, but it is hard to listen to and take in what he is saying. Perhaps I am just a more hands on learner. I think they idea he ha of speed networking was better than putting it onto a podcast. It is a good way to pull technology into the classroom, but I think there are better ways. The whole photograph podcast would be more interesting however. I think it would actually work. I think using podcasts in the classroom is a good way to build up to something big at the end of a long unit, by putting it all into a podcast. But I wouldn't use them to teach anything in my classroom.
Podcasts could be used to support literacy instructions in some ways. You could use them to teach students a new strategy or lesson in literacy. You could also use them to have students compile their own work at the end of an unit. When students are writing poems they could read them and upload them onto a podcast. You could also use the idea that Dan Schmit had earlier about using photographs to write narratives.
I would use podcasts in my classroom in these five different ways:
- To teach about using detail in stories
- To read a finished story of a student's or the classes onto a recorder and transform it onto a podcast to share with the community
- Have students practice writing instructions to simple tasks and then record them on podcasts to teach other, younger students perhaps
- Use it to teach an informational section on something they are learning
- I could use them to have my students interview each other so we could all share what we found out about others to get to know everyone better
Monday, February 11, 2008
Ideas for Language Arts Unit
Idea #1
Since my first grade class is working on writing narratives about horses, I thought this would be a great opportunity to do some research on computers. Students could then also put all their new found information into a book. They could type up different pages, differentiating between different topics about horses. This would not only have them learning about horses, but about how a story is written and how to use the internet for research. Student's could also take this one step further and create a wiki with the help of a teacher so everyone else online could see their work.
Idea #2
An idea for a fifth grade class would be to have them create their own websites. Since in fifth grade students study the American Revolution, they could base their websites around biographies of different important people during that time period. Each student could be assigned a different person and would be responsible for researching and reporting back to the class about that figure in history. Then all biographies could be posted online for all to see and learn from. You could even go a step further, and have it so that each week there is a new famous historical figure "in the spotlight" and is posted on the school website for instance.
Idea # 3
An idea for a second or third grade class could incorporate blogging into the curriculum. The classes would be learning about correct grammar usage and mechanics. Student's could blog a weekly writing assignment (that of which would vary every week and be assigned by the teacher) and have a partner that could respond to the blog stating what they found wrong in their partners writing, or what could be improved ect. This would be like peer advising but using a blog to do it. The weekly writing would improve student's writing skills, and peer revising would improve revision and editing skills as well.
Idea #4
A first grade class might be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. The teacher could take digital pictures of each stage of a butterfly's life span. She could then print them out and have student's organize them into the right order and write about what is happening in each picture. This could be done with more than just a butterfly, but with life processes or anything really that goes through stages. This assignment could be altered to be used in an older classroom where the students themselves goes out and takes the pictures.
Idea #5
Students in a 7th grade classroom could incorporate video technology into their curriculum through their studies of plays. Normally in 7th grade student's read some of Shakespeare's plays. To involve student's more, you could record student's acting out certain parts of the play. This might encourage them to read into the play more to figure out how they would act. It would also be fun to use as a tool when teaching the next years class. You could tape some of the most important scenes in a play and show them to a new class to prepare them for reading and acting Shakespeare's plays out.
Since my first grade class is working on writing narratives about horses, I thought this would be a great opportunity to do some research on computers. Students could then also put all their new found information into a book. They could type up different pages, differentiating between different topics about horses. This would not only have them learning about horses, but about how a story is written and how to use the internet for research. Student's could also take this one step further and create a wiki with the help of a teacher so everyone else online could see their work.
Idea #2
An idea for a fifth grade class would be to have them create their own websites. Since in fifth grade students study the American Revolution, they could base their websites around biographies of different important people during that time period. Each student could be assigned a different person and would be responsible for researching and reporting back to the class about that figure in history. Then all biographies could be posted online for all to see and learn from. You could even go a step further, and have it so that each week there is a new famous historical figure "in the spotlight" and is posted on the school website for instance.
Idea # 3
An idea for a second or third grade class could incorporate blogging into the curriculum. The classes would be learning about correct grammar usage and mechanics. Student's could blog a weekly writing assignment (that of which would vary every week and be assigned by the teacher) and have a partner that could respond to the blog stating what they found wrong in their partners writing, or what could be improved ect. This would be like peer advising but using a blog to do it. The weekly writing would improve student's writing skills, and peer revising would improve revision and editing skills as well.
Idea #4
A first grade class might be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. The teacher could take digital pictures of each stage of a butterfly's life span. She could then print them out and have student's organize them into the right order and write about what is happening in each picture. This could be done with more than just a butterfly, but with life processes or anything really that goes through stages. This assignment could be altered to be used in an older classroom where the students themselves goes out and takes the pictures.
Idea #5
Students in a 7th grade classroom could incorporate video technology into their curriculum through their studies of plays. Normally in 7th grade student's read some of Shakespeare's plays. To involve student's more, you could record student's acting out certain parts of the play. This might encourage them to read into the play more to figure out how they would act. It would also be fun to use as a tool when teaching the next years class. You could tape some of the most important scenes in a play and show them to a new class to prepare them for reading and acting Shakespeare's plays out.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Technology Beliefes
I believe that there is a limit to how much and how we integrate technology in education. Utilizing some new technologies will be helpful to lessons, but there is a line where technology is overused. Cell phones and even iPods are not needed in an elementary class.
Technology also has its price. Not all families and schools will be able to afford new technologies. If one school sees a great success from using podcasts, other schools may feel left behind because they cannot afford this.
Technology is a great strategy to bring into the classroom, but I think we need to limit how much we use it.
Technology also has its price. Not all families and schools will be able to afford new technologies. If one school sees a great success from using podcasts, other schools may feel left behind because they cannot afford this.
Technology is a great strategy to bring into the classroom, but I think we need to limit how much we use it.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Technologies
My first reaction to the youtube video on college students relating their life and education to media really grabbed me. I thought that how it was set up, no one narrating, just having the students hold up signs or type out a message on a computer screen was really powerful. It made me think about if I use technology correctly in class. I have brought my laptop to class and not used it for educational purposes. But then again, we've had more learning opportunities with our computers at hands reach. Also interesting to me was about the hours we spend doing things during the day...and there just isn't enough time. Just those simple facts that were stated seemed to really speak to me, and probably many college students. I showed it to my roommate and she also found it interesting and true of the college students life.
Article #1
The second video from Professor Wesch was a little more confusing for me to follow. I am still somewhat unclear about Web 2.0. I understand it's Wikipedia and youtube videos, and its no longer HTML, but its XML. But the whole formatting thing, still confusing to me. We are creating what we want to see online now, that is what I gathered from all of this.
Article #2
I am beginning to wonder where Jo found all these videos... They are very informational. The third video on integrating technology into the classroom I found to be very true. However, students like us going through college to eventually become teachers are learning about this technology, so hopefully we will utilize it more often. It's the veteran teachers that this message really needs to reach to. We were part of the generation that grew up in this technology era. Using technology in classes is becoming more and more common. I have yet to see how a cellphone and iPod can be used, but hopefully I will see that day. As long as we're paying attention to what is happening and evolving in the world of the students we teach, we can keep them engaged by reaching to them through their own likes and connections to the world.
Article #3
This fourth video did not seem to have as much of an impact on me, why I am not quite sure. I thought that we all knew for a while now that computers and the Internet serve as a great educational tool. When Chris Walsh was talking to the Google guy, I was a little confused. This video definitely did not have the impact that the others had on me.
Article #4
The last website that I looked at was interesting in the fact that it classified into Type I and Type II technologies. It really made sense when he said hat Type I was like a typewriter and Type II was like word processor and how the way of writing has evolved. I did not find this article to have as much of an impact on me as the others did, and basically all I pulled from it was that we need to integrate technologies into our schools somehow.
Article #5
Article #1
The second video from Professor Wesch was a little more confusing for me to follow. I am still somewhat unclear about Web 2.0. I understand it's Wikipedia and youtube videos, and its no longer HTML, but its XML. But the whole formatting thing, still confusing to me. We are creating what we want to see online now, that is what I gathered from all of this.
Article #2
I am beginning to wonder where Jo found all these videos... They are very informational. The third video on integrating technology into the classroom I found to be very true. However, students like us going through college to eventually become teachers are learning about this technology, so hopefully we will utilize it more often. It's the veteran teachers that this message really needs to reach to. We were part of the generation that grew up in this technology era. Using technology in classes is becoming more and more common. I have yet to see how a cellphone and iPod can be used, but hopefully I will see that day. As long as we're paying attention to what is happening and evolving in the world of the students we teach, we can keep them engaged by reaching to them through their own likes and connections to the world.
Article #3
This fourth video did not seem to have as much of an impact on me, why I am not quite sure. I thought that we all knew for a while now that computers and the Internet serve as a great educational tool. When Chris Walsh was talking to the Google guy, I was a little confused. This video definitely did not have the impact that the others had on me.
Article #4
The last website that I looked at was interesting in the fact that it classified into Type I and Type II technologies. It really made sense when he said hat Type I was like a typewriter and Type II was like word processor and how the way of writing has evolved. I did not find this article to have as much of an impact on me as the others did, and basically all I pulled from it was that we need to integrate technologies into our schools somehow.
Article #5
First Blog!
So this is my first blog... I'm not really sure what to say/write. Well one thing is for sure, I am extremely overwhelmed with all that is going on with practicum. I think my social life disappeared yesterday for the next 4 months.....ciao
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