Final BLOG!!

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Week 14

This past week in class we have been finishing up our web quests. I have learned that web quests are very time consuming and require a lot of preparation. However, i do believe that they are an effective form of teaching. Even though they are a lot of work, web quests allow the students to explore and learn on their own. It also incorporates technology and allows them to become familiar with a subject in an effective and fun way. I am very glad i have learned how to create web quests and will use them all the time as a future teacher. I feel that it is a very effective way to teach and students enjoy them a lot. My pod created a web quest on a google site and although it required a lot of work, it has turned out very well!
The video this week was on school house rock. Even though these films were created years and years ago, they still are very effective and students enjoy them a lot. They are accurate and fun videos to teach your students basic topics that are important to learn about.

Week 13

From this experience, I have learned a lot about how technology influences a school. I learned that the school is limited to what the district allows them. The teachers have opportunities to expand on the technology they use in their classroom but many are scared of changing their classroom routine. I learned that their is a lot of resources available and many teachers take advantage of this. I learned that students today are very computer friendly and are very comfortable using the internet and other applications that are available. This experience will affect me as a teacher because I know the importance of allowing technology into my classroom and how it will benefit each of my students i the future. I also am very aware of the resources that I can use to implement technology in my lessons to help better understand the students on particular subjects. This experience changed the way i think about the use of technology because I got a first hand experience on how it is used in a classroom and how the students react to it From my observation, students are eager to use technology and they find it fascinating and fun. As a future teacher I will use technology in such a way that it will benefit me and my students in a positive and effective way.

Week 12

This past week was our second week in field I have grown and have learned so much. I have learned the aspects and importance of classroom management. Also, I have grown to see the importance of teaching students about technology and how to adapt it in their own lives. The students I am observing go to computer classes two times per week. In these classes the students learn keyboarding skills and programs that they will use in the future, I was impressed to see that these sixth grade students were using movie maker! Technology has grown so much from when I was in elementary school. As a future teacher I am glad to be learning about how to integrate technology so that I can do so in my own classroom.

Week 11

So I survived my first week doing my field work! Being in a classroom full of sixth graders has really been an eye opener to me because I get to experience first hand some of the concepts i have been learning about through the semester. Our teacher incorporates technology by projecting math problems with an overhead to introduce that days topic. Other than that, he has not adapted any technology tools besides using the computer lab. The students meet once a week in the computer lab to improve computer skills, i was very impressed to see how well the 6th graders could type. This showed me how much technology has grown since i have been in elementary school, it amazed me! Me and my partner are teaching our class about the Renaissance. Our first day we created a web quest for the students to explore what the Renaissance was all about. I feel that incorporating technology is fun for the students because it adds variety and most of the students enjoyed learning this way. Also, this teaches the students the importance of finding correct information on the computer and it keeps them on task while doing it. I am looking forward to my next two weeks here at Brockbank Elementary and am looking for ways i can improve myself and my classroom in the future.

Week 9 Reflection

** the voki would not let me type very much**
I think learning how to create web quest will be really useful in our future classrooms. This allows the students to explore computer technology in a safe and productive way. As a pod, we are creating a web quest on weather and the different types of clouds. I have realized that creating a web quest is very time consuming and takes a lot of preparation. In my classroom someday i will for sure use web quests on occasion to help my students explore what technology has to offer and the information that is available to help them succeed in life!

Week 8 Reflection

This past week in class we have been working on our PDP's. This assignment was an eye opener for me because i realized that although i thought i knew a lot about computers and technology, I still have so much to learn in order to become a great teacher. I feel that i need to learn how to integrate technology into the curriculum by creating activities to engage students. I thought this week in class was not very productive becase we didnt have much instruction as to what to work on. I enjoyed learning about the different concepts that are nesessary to become a great teacher and i really learned a lot from that.
The video this week was very informational, however i feel that it was sort of repitory to previous videos. I enjoy learning about how technology has increased and how it is involved in our lives. It is so important for us as future teachers to inform our students about current technology and how they can prepare and benifit from it. The video discusses how large is myspace and other networks have become throught time and that amazed me!