Field Experience -- April 12

I truly enjoyed my field experience that I just completed. I was initially supposed to go into a 6th grade class but then was switched to 5th grade. I have never had a desire to teach 6th grade, so I am glad I was switched. The school that I requested to go to was the elementary school that I actually work at. I wanted to go there because I thought it would be so much fun to teach the kids there, that I already knew and have them see me in a different perspective, other than the “teacher” that does recess duty. We taught two lessons the first and third week and three the second week. When we were just sitting there the first day, I could not believe how boring I thought it was. Within a few days, I really started noticing little things, that I have never thought about, with becoming a teaching. I never realized how much time goes by when you are doing a lesson and how you need to pace your lesson so you don't leave out anything, or finish too fast. The kids were complete angels while we were there and getting observed. In fact, Dean Rowley asked us how much we had paid the kids to sit there and be quiet. We had to inform him that they really are that quiet and respectful while they are being taught. I had the fear that while we would be up there teaching our lessons, that when we asked them a question, no one would raise their hand. If no one raised their hand, then I was going to have to come up with the answer, and let me tell you, I am no Civil War expert. That was never the case. I also was not too thrilled to be teaching social studies, and especially the Civil War. I do not care much for history, but as we started into the unit, I realized that the kids really like the history stories and activities, which made me start to enjoy it. They really seemed to be interested and liked what we were teaching. After we were finished, I was sad to say good-bye, even though, I see them everyday. It was fun to get to know how they are inside the classroom and not just out on the playground. They were all so sweet and wrote us the cutest cards to give us on our last day.

My Beliefs -- April 12

I believe that technology should play a huge part in how we teach the students of today. It is what they have grown up on, it is what they do when they come home from school and how the communicate to their friends and family. I have seen second grades at the school that I work at, with cell phones. That just goes to show you that kids are being introduced to technology younger and younger. My 2 year old has a play computer, which proves the previous point.

I believe that for some students, not all, technology is going to be the only way they may understand what they are being taught. I never think that technology should be taken out of the classroom and every child should have access to a computer and the internet. Not necessarily at their homes, because of some families financial situations, but they should always have access to one at school, for the right reasons.

Lessons Learned -- April 12

The video, Millennial Generation, was really fun to watch. I liked seeing people who are around my age, and thinking in a way that I thought, ten years ago, would be happening today. It amazing how technology is around, yet there are so many people who are missing out because they are afraid of it.

I also really enjoyed the "Tools for Change" page and how it went through the old and new ways of technology. I liked how it showed the day in the life in 2004. I graduated high school that year and to me, technology was not that big. Or maybe it was and I just did not notice. I remember having my friend ask me if I had "texting" on my cell phone, which I borrowed from my mom so I could feel cool. Now look where all that has gone!

These article, movies and websites were very informative, some kind of slow with reading, but in the end, I enjoyed them.

Strengths and Weaknesses -- April 12

With my strengths, I was a novice or an apprentice for most of the sections. I understand computers and how important they can be in teaching our students. Some of the ares that I feel I am close to "practitioner" would be: Use internet and email to communicate with others. I think I use email more than the average person, especially being in school and having to communicate with a lot of people, email makes it very easy. The areas that I had a pre-novice answer was: Use of video conferencing such as the Iowa Communications Network to communicate with others. I am aware that there are such things as video conferences, but I think i have never got into them, because they have never been an interest to me.

The first short course I would use it a podcast I found called "Technologies For Special Needs Students". In this, is talked about all the different types of technology that students with special needs can use, and how it can help them. I think that kids with special needs have always made me nervous because sometimes i feel like I wont know how to meet their needs.

My second resource I found to help me is called, "Show and Tell: Using Visual Thinking in the Classroom". This is an online work shop that teaches you about how important it is to use audio and video to help your students succeed. I want to use technology all the time in my classroom, but I think what makes it a weakness, is that it is scary. It is scary because I start to second guess myself on my technology skills. This is just another way that I am able to develop the ones I have, along with gaining others.

15 March -- Copyright

We have been learning all about copyright. The laws, restrictions, everything about what you can and cant use and how much of it you can use, when you use it!

To me as a teacher, this mean that I need to be careful with what I decide to use with my class. We are doing this because it can be so easy to use someone else's stuff without their permission and you probably don't even know you did it. We just need to be aware with what we are using as teachers. To me, technology become more broad with the more stuff we learn about in class and I don't think it will do anything but help us all become great teachers in the near future!

This information we learned can change the type of teacher I will be because it has opened my eyes to the types of resources and i can and cannot use. I think copyright laws are a good thing. I don't think i would want people using my stuff without permission, especially if i had worked hard to develop it and only wanted it for myself.

8 March -- Digital Stories 1

We are learning about digital stories, what they are and how to create one. The assignment we will be performing will be making a digital story to use in our upcoming field experience, in one of our lesson plans.

For me as a teacher, this could just be another approach in teaching a subject that may be boring or uninteresting to some, and make it into something that can catch their attention. I believe we are doing this to better our ways of teaching and to widen our mindset, into somthing besides standing and teaching and talking. To me, technology is a skill that can better what you already know, opening your mind to new things. To my colleagues, this can mean a better perspective for them, because maybe they have not been exposed to methods like these.

To my future students, technology can mean more opportunities to express they way they feel and get a better sense of they way they like to be taught. This can change the way I can be a better teacher because each time I learn something new, it is just one more type of teaching, added to my "teaching type" bank! I personally love new ideas like this. Well, new to me. The more I learn they more ways I feel I can reach more kids through teaching.

15 February -- Vidcasts

This past week we learned all about vidcasts. We are going to be creating a vidcast as well, with our partner to put with our class website.

To me, as a teacher, it will give me the opportunity to create different projects for my class that can possible and hopefully will, teach them how easy using technology. TO me, this technonly means that I will have so many more tools avaibable to me to use not only throughout my career, but also with my life! To my colleagues, this be a wonderful tool that we could use as team members to share with our individual classes.

What this technology means to my future students could be that they will now have the opportunity and ability to incorporate what I have just learned, into their future teaching. This changes my current schema because everytime I learn something new, it just opens my mind up that much more. There are many assingments that could be used between students outside of class. They could be working in or out of school on all sorts of projects, such as making tutorials, and video stories. I think vidcasts are going to be such an awesome thing to know about. The more I learn about technology, the less I hate it and the more I really start to enjoy it.

8 February -- Podcasts

We have been learning how to create a podcast through IPhones, Ipods and Macs. We are going to be creating a PSA, which me and Kristie decided on Internet Safety, for our topic. We will be uploading our PSA to our class websites, which we created 2 weeks ago.

To me as a teacher and as a student, working on projects, I will be able to have my students be able to create projects, such as podcasts, for various subjects. I believe we are doing this to expand our creativeness to other forms of technology, other than the plain Internet, word documents, ect. As for applying to my other classes, I will be able to cooperate this new skill into lesson plans and presentations.

Learning this new technology, changes my current schema because with each new thing that I am learning, opens my mind to so many other things! This could change the way I will become a teacher because I will know so much more technology, than those who have not learned this. Students will be able to work with each other, outside of school by using podcasts, not only for projects, but to upload vocal messages to their fellow peers. That can also be the same with teachers. For example, if a teacher is out of town for your weekly collaboration, you can record your meeting, post it on ITunes, and your colleague now has all the information she missed.

1 February -- Google Part 2

This week we have been learning how to build our own google site for our future class. We are creating everything from homework pages to quizzes.

What this means to me as a teach today is that I will have a way to communicate to teachers and students in such an easy way, that I know they will be able to navigate it. We are doing this so we will now about and have access to such valuable tools. To me, technology means being able to do something on the computer that you cannot put on paper, at least for this assignment.

To my future students, this technology can open their minds and even have them make fictional personal websites so projects, as if they were someone else in history, ect. My students will be able to collaborate with others through their website because everything they need to know and have questions to, can be on or answered through exploring their websites. This can help me become a better teacher by me feeling more confident when it comes to technology. I love learning new things because it then makes me think of stuff I have already learned, then helps me to improve on it!

25 January -- Google Part 1

We are currently learning about all the extremely cool, free stuff that Google has to offer. The assignments we are performing are going and finding educational websites that we can use as teachers. We are summarizing them posting them for all of our fellow classmates to use.

Today, this means that I now know how utilize free tools that Google has to offer, to help me in my teaching. Whether it is making it easier or more interesting. We are doing this because it is so important to know about tools that make life, as a teacher, less stressful and less difficult. Just within this last week of learning how to use Google docs, I have used it daily. No joke, daily. To me, this technology is something that will ease my mind when trying to do anything from documents to spreadsheets. I guarantee that my colleagues find it a lot easier to communicate about assignments that are due. Now, we don’t have to meet up after class or after work and some random place to work on a paper together. Now we can do it through our own home computers!

To my future students, I believe that his technology will help them with their own assignments as well as projects. This new information has made me think of how I have wanted to rip my hair out, when using programs like Word, because now, I don’t have to worry about it changing formats and moving stuff around if I try to open that document from another computer. Assignments that I can give my students, and have them work together, outside of class would be something like a county or state project, where they can both contribute to it and do their own part, without having to be together. I will become a better student and colleague now, because I wont feel like an idiot when my Word document now looks different when I did it at my house. I will be more confident in my work. I am so glad that we were introduced to such a simple, but amazing program that has so many different tools and ideas to help us be better teachers and ease the stress of it too!

January 18-Special Topic Reflection

When I think of an educational hero I don't think of someone in history or someone that has done something good for the education world. I think of someone who has made somewhat of an impact in my life. My educational hero is my Mom. She received her Associates Degree in Nursing from UVCC (Now UVU!) when I was about 6 years old and my sister was 4 1/2. I remember her getting us up early to do our hair before she went to work early in the morning. My dad was not about to attempt to do his two daughters' hair. She has worked as a nurse at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center since she graduated so many years ago. Back then you didn't need a Bachelor's Degree to become a nurse. About 4 years ago, the hospital made it a requirement for all the RN's to receive their Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. While she was going back to school, she had a daughter in junior high and two other daughters also in college. She was the Young Women's leader in her ward and still worked her three, twelve hour shifts a week. She never once complained. She did it with a smile on her face and she is so proud of herself, as are we. I am now going to school with a 19 month old daughter and it is hard. I am trying to do it with a smile on my face and for my family, just like she did.

The reason I want to teach is because when I was in 5th grade, my teacher made me feel like I want to make kids feel when I am their teacher. She always cared and I felt like she was truly one of my best friends. I didn't have a lot of friends and i was extremely shy. She just always made me feel like I did my best and that she was proud of me.

I would like to teach 3rd grade when I am done with school. I work at and elementary school right now and I help in a 3rd grade class everyday. I just love those kids and they are so funny at that age. I also like the curriculum that we get to teach as 3rd grade teachers.