Week 4 PPT Presentation

I have created several power point presentations during my college career and as a student teacher. The power point presentation I am most proud of is "William's House" vocabulary presentation. This presentation consisted of only 8 very simple slides. The reason I was so proud of this presentation, was because of the success my students felt because of it. "William's House" was a story in our 3rd grade reading book about a colonists who moves his whole family from England, and has to build his home from scratch. William builds this house to accompany the weather conditions in England. Therefore, as the seasons change William is forced to make changes to his new home to accommodate the weather in the colonies.
My students were having a really hard time understanding the meaning of the vocabulary words for the week: clearing, steep, spoil, pegs, barrel, and cellar. One slide contained all vocabulary words. We said them together so that everyone knew the correct pronunciation. Then each word was put onto a slide with a descriptive picture for that word. We then discussed each definition and picture. Their assignment for the day was to draw each word correctly in a picture. After seeing the presentation, my students went right to work! They really enjoyed this lesson. It was so much better than doing a worksheet filling in the blank with the correct vocabulary word. Having that visual aid touch so many of my learners, especially my ESL students. These words were completely new for them! Without the visual aids on my PPT Presentation, the majority of my students would have been very discouraged and felt unsuccessful.
The only changes I would make if I were to do it again, would be to jazz up the presentation. I quickly put this together during class once I saw how my students were struggling. I really did not want to take the time to add a lot of animations or sounds.

Week 3 Word Processor and DTP

This week we read about word processors and Desk Top Publishing. I do not have my own classroom yet, but when I do I will use word processor and DTP often. I plan to use word processor to enhance my instruction. I also plan to make my own documents, so I will need my word processor to create, store and revise these documents as needed. These documents will include infraction cards, responsibility cards, contact logs, etc... I will use DTP to make flyers, newsletters, and brochures to send home to parents.
My students will help with the newsletters, brochures and flyers so they too will be using DTP. I also will have my students to use word processor to type reports, portfolio pieces as needed, etc... I will allow my students to use word processor as a way to revise their work, and to work on their spelling. I had forgotten this technique until seeing it again in my reading this week. My cooperating teacher and I also used word processor to accommodate students needing multiple choice spelling test.
Since I don't have a classroom of my own right now, I made a newsletter that I would send to my students before the start of school. To make these flyers and newsletters we send out appealing, I believe we should use graphics, different font and color text. However, you need to be careful not to over due it. Too many graphics, font and text changing could make it look unprofessional! I will try to upload my newsletter to share with you!

Spreadsheets and Databases Week 2

One website I enjoyed this week was, http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/databases/ . On this website, we read why and how databases were being used in the classroom. There was a great example of a Social Studies class using databases to determine the horror of war. Students were to research information, and then compile it into a database. Another example I liked of students using databases, was having students keep track of their own grades. This way they could visually see how they were doing, and where they were struggling most. I believe this gives students more of an ownership to their grade. No, they didn't give themselves the grade. However, they are constantly reviewing their efforts.

Before my reading this week, I had never thought of using spreadsheets in my teaching of elementary students! I did not learn anything about spreadsheets until my college classes three years ago! Therefore, the thought of teaching elementary students to use them never crossed my mind. My reading this week, has definately changed my point of view! While looking over the teach-nology website, I found a lesson plan I would like to use in the future. It is for Grades 3-5, and it is about teaching students to do a webquest on Amazing Americans. In the lesson plan, students visit the Library of Congress to explore biographies of amazing Americans. Then they answer questions such as: How many men/women? What years were they born? This information could be compiled into a spreadsheet and graphed. This lesson plan also had daily activity suggestions, a rubric, and suggested time period for each lesson. I found this website very beneficial in my future lesson planning!

I do not have a classroom yet of my own, nor had I thought of using spreadsheets with my third graders during my student teaching. I have no experiences of using them with students. I have had students use search engines for my lessons, but that is as far as it went. I have used spreadsheets and databases during college classes to track imaginary grades and graph progress, and to keep a list of imaginary students and their personal info. These classes were spread out and all used different softwares, so each time it was like starting all over. When using these spreadsheets, I was amazed at how much easier it was to track and analyze data. I plan to use spreadsheets and databases when I have my own classroom.

Week 1 in 53302

This was my first week in a graduate level class. I have not taken any colleges classes this year after graduating last December. It has taken some adjustment on my part to get back into the swing of school work! I must say I have enjoyed my "free" time the last seven months, but I have also missed the experience of learning new things and challenging my self!

I am most proud of myself for creating this blog! I have never created a blog or webpage. The closest thing I have done would be facebook. While I enjoy posting to facebook, I don't find it appropriate to use in the classroom for educational use. I could see myself using this blog or another one I create to use in the classroom. Parents could use it to see what we are working on in class for the week. Some parents do not feel comfortable meeting via telephone or face to face weekly to discuss classroom activities. Or maybe, their schedule will conflict with mine and blogging just might be easier! I would also like to teach my students how to create their own blog, if I feel they are mature enough to handle this. We would need to discuss blogging etiquette, and their own rights and responsibilities for use.

A challenge I might face using blogging to interact with parents would be that some of my students may not have internet access at home. Some families may choose not to have computers in their home for whatever reason. To overcome this challenge, I would let all parents know that this is not a requirement. They are more than welcome to contact me via phone or face to face. Anything that I post on the blog will also be sent home in a bi-weekly newsletter. I would not want to make any parent or student feel like they were being left out of something. My students will hopefully have access to the internet while they are at school.

Another challenge could be parents posting personal comments about their child or another child in the classroom that needs to be discussed in private. I will explain how the blog works at the beginning of the school year when I first meet with parents. I will let them know what is acceptable on the blog, and what is not.

The challenge for me now is not knowing alot about blogging myself. Hopefully by the end of this 8 weeks, I will have overcame my own challenge!