SARA

This class has certainly taught me not only how crucial it is for a teacher to stay up to date on new technology, but also how beneficial technology can be in the life of a student. Now that i have become aware of technolngys’ importance there are a few specific steps that i plan on using to stay up to date on the newest technology but more importantly how to use them!
I hope to teach in the Ottawa County School District, and in looking at the webiste www.oaisd.org, i found that they are constantly updating their class so i can take classes in subjects from Internet Services and Network/Technical Assistance & Consulting to Software Selection & Integration. But most importantly i will mostly rely on journals and magazines sent to me. I can see my life getting extreamly busy and the thought of going to an optional class for technololy may get pushed futher down my todo list. With the journals and magazines i can get updated integration tips, new information on software and ect… A couple journals that look interesting to subscribe to are:
Electronic School, an award-winning technology magazine for K-12 school leaders: www.electronic-school.com
This website list a ton of websites for technology journals and it seems like it would be great for me in my classroom because it is specially designed for english teachers:
http://www2.yarden.ac.il/english/TechKnow/technopubl.htm
As far as strategies that i will implement: I will strive to integrate technology into my lessons daily and also make it a goal for myself to constantly keep updated on technology that is being upgraded, improved and invented. Losing track of this goal of a while will begin a gap between myself and technology that is hard to redeem.

http://www.martinlutherking.org/
This website is created to notice the so called immorality and subversion of doctor king. They believe that the goverment is hiding something on his life and that is why the FBI has locked down files on him. They say that he plagerized his speeches, was an american hating communist and a criminal betrayer under the control of a Marxist Jewishconspiracy.
This website could only be used in schools to teach kids that there is alot of information on the web that isn’t trustworthy, this would be a good example to show them because most of them are probably familiar with Martin Luther King. Kids can learn to be less trusting by being taught how essentail it is to research your webpage and ensure that it is credible.
When i did a google search of martin luther king jr. this website came up second in my search. I think this webiste is so high on the list because the name of the website in exactly what i typed into the search box (mius the www and org).
As far as using the web page evaluation checklist, is would be hard to use on this website if i knew nothing about MLK because the webpage appears to be well research by all the links on the right hand side. It’s not hard for a website to deceive people if they want to do so. This website has good documentation of their sources becasue the speeches are all correct they just use false information to accuse King.

Constructivism has numerous beneficial aspects for the students. So many times teachers get so caught up on instilling as much information into the students in the fastest amount of time possible that all the students begin to do is either zone out or memorize. Through lectures, textbooks, drill and practices, and testing, teachers get stuck as a strict authoritive figure that pounds information into their students. Getting stuck in this rut can ruin students valuable learning experience through rote memorization they are tested then the information is easily forgotten.
The concept of constructivism is great in many ways:
1. Students are working with their classmates, this is a skill all in itself that is so essential to practice and work on. Aside from learning the information, this is a skill that the students will be able to carry with them into their family lives, work place— beyond the classroom. Working with others will build a relationship between the students- teacher- and his/her classmates. The classroom will grow in their communication and problem solving skills by helping each other learn the information.
2. With the encouragement of the student asking questions it will force them to become engaged with the information that is being leaned. Question asking keeps the students constantly thinking of deeper and better ways of looking at the situation. For the student to feel like their interest and questions are valued will reinforce them to feel accepted and encourage them to keep thinking and asking.
3. With the student and teacher communicate on a level where the student is trying to get to the depth of what is truly being taught puts the two of them on a level that is so interactive and helpful for the student. They are construing their knowledge on a level that is best understood for them. As the teacher’s job being like a guide in many ways including driving away from the idea that constructivism is a “group think” concept in which only the assertive voices are heard.
It would take a lot of thinking, planning and patience to run a classroom that is based on the concept of constructivism but I truly believe at the end of the day or year the students will be better off in so many ways from the communication skills they would have built to the information that they now know that will stay will them for a longer length of time because they construed it in such a way that they understand it. I don’t think that this concept is always the more correct way to run a classroom. I don’t think it is appropriate for all the types of material that a teacher is going to teach. Sometimes it is necessary for the teacher to teach and test the students in a way that the knowledge is concrete and unchanging. For instance in the subject of history, a teacher could use some aspects of constructivism like group work but the knowledge is primarily constant and fixed.
I don’t think this is an issue that should be controversial because the way a teacher teaches his/her students should be a mixture of all the different types of teaching and learning, by a teacher teaching a classroom inclusively in a constructivism way he/she could be harming other students. Every child is shaped in such an individualistic way that no teaching skill is going to be right for every one. The teacher needs to be constantly observing the students and work with them in a way that fits them best.

Technology in Education is a great class to take online, I have enjoyed to so much for a multitude of reasons. My favorite part of online learning is the amount of freedom on when the material is completed. I don’t have to fit this class into my schedule, when I get the chance earlier in the week and then again later in the week is when I get the work done. This class is also I nice class to have online because most of material about computers and the software on computers, the rest of the material concerning integrating them into the lives of students can be learning through readings and articles. So in essence this is the perfect class to have online because the material is not so challenging that we would need a teacher in the room to answer questions, the labs are mostly about software that most of us have always used.
If I had to change a part of this online class I would adapt it so that we could use online video lectures to replace the large amount of readings that are due. That way we aren’t loaded up with readings and it would feel more like a real classroom but we just choose when the teacher speaks .
It’s hard for me to imagine taking a different course online because it just seems like in most of the other subjects like math or science you would need that face-to-face interaction because there is just SO much explaining, questioning and problem solving going on. Even in a literature class it would seem easy to have it online until I think back to days when we discuss books in-depth and there is so much flowing discussion going on; it would be hard to do that online. I think for a literature class if would be best if the class meet once a week online and the once a week face-to-face. During the online meeting students could post questions and respond then discuss when the meet together. Through an online course you don’t get to experience the passion of the subject that the teacher normally instills in the students. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of classes, online is more adaptable to the students life.
Next semester I am going to be taking Diversity in Education online, I am really curious how this will go because I can’t really picture what types of activities we will be able to do online like this class where we work with Work, PowerPoint ect.

Five specific software applications that every student should learn are:
#1. Word processor. I think is the most essential software tool for students because it enhances their writing skills through the thesauras which enriches vocabulary and spices up a paper, spell check which polishes the paper gramatically and a typed paper is much more professional looking and eligable than a writen paper. The word precessor should be taught at around grade 3 because it is at this age when students are starting to create pieces of writings and have the skill of reading and writing down good.

#2. Spreadsheets. I think that excel is an important software to be taught because it organizes data clearly. After organizing the data a student can go back and easily analyze and enter more data. With the data entered it can be made into a variety of different charts. Spreadsheets can used for a variety of different uses that will save the student lots of time. The skill of using excel should be taught at grade 3 or 4, whenever the student begins collecting data. It doesn’t need to be complex but a simple pie chart can show them a different way of looking at data.

#3. Powerpoint. This is a great professional and clear tool to present information. Powerpoint keeps the listeners attention, is fun to make and interactive. This skill should be taught at around grade 5 when students start to do presentations infront of the classroom. Also, at this age students should already know quite a bit about computers and be comfortable with the different softwares.

#4. Imaging software. With this skill under their belt students can enhance their powerpoint presentation along with a multitude of different things. With imaging software they can edit images which will add finishing touches to their projects or presentations. This skill should be taught at about grade 9 when students are going more indepth into specific subjects and are creating larger projects.

#5. Graphical organizers. Alot of times data and material are thrown at kids but with this skill they can organize it in a fun and interactive way. This skill is list last as far as importance becasue it can not be used for alot of different uses besides graphically organizing material. This skill should be taught at any age and low as Kindergarden because the program Kidspiration can be used which is specifically designed for kids.

Each year of my High School career there was a death of a classmate within the school. My freshman year a girl in my grade was killed drunk driving, sophomore year four boys in the senior class collided into a tree and all were four were killed, junior year a sophomore girls heart stopped beating on her way into school and senior year the death hit closest to home when one of my friends, Andy, drown in the merciless waters of Lake Michigan.
Each one of the these tragedy turned the school upside down, reversing it from a house of education to a house of grieving and pain. The student walked around with no motivation, if you went into the hallways in the middle of a class period, kids would be scattered laying on benches, sitting in the hallway so distraught and weak that they couldn’t deal with sitting in a classroom. I don’t know if the response of administrators or teachers became any better through the year because I only sought help the last year I was there when my friend Andy died. The morning after his death they had counselors throughout the district at the High School, ready to help. Students were allowed to skip their classes and gather in a large room where there they could talk to each other, counselors or youth group leaders. Everyone was allowed to grieve because the classroom was too painful of a place to be. They created a room where people could bring pictures they had of themselves and Andy, things that reminded them of him. The school and teachers were very understanding but when I think about it, I feel like they could have done something more than simply begin the class with reading a piece of paper saying “Last night Andy drowned in the water of Lake Michigan…” but when I think what they could have done I am stumped.
Tragedy whether it be death or world disasters is unavoidable. Talking about the tragedy 100% depends upon the situation, there is no right answer for every tragedy. The situation depends on the severity, and circumstances of the particular tragedy and also depends upon the age and maturity level of the students. Teachers should not have to decipher this question by themselves, it should be the administrators job to send out information to the teachers instructing them what to talk about and how in depth. Above all, I believe that no tragedy should be ignored on ANY level. The classroom should be a safe environment for kids to grow and learn, they need to be informed on what is going on and how to handle it because many may not be getting that kind of support and instruction within their homes.
For example, in the recent tragedy of hurricane Katrina, I think handling the situation depends on how close you are to the area hit. If children can feel the immediate effect within their life like with losses, homes hit ect.. then the situation needs to be handle more fragile and with available support rather than here in Michigan where the majority of people weren’t hit on a personal level. Without the situation on a personal level, a teacher could handle the situation by teaching the students about the hurricane and recovery process.
From every situation a lesson can be drawn from within. Most times in a tragedy a teacher will need to drop all that he/she was planning on teaching, to teach a more pressing and valuable lesson that the students need more in their lives at that time.

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