James's+Page

James's PagePersonal Space

Virginia is for lovers! image provided by Google Images

 Gutern Abend.

[|www.google.com]

media type="youtube" key="0Ag8J2NMYmc&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"

Image provided by Youtube

Reflective Journal #1: I think the best use of the internet in the classroom is research. With the breadth of knowledge contained in the internet, it would be silly not to use it for this means. I also think it is an excellent source to provide multimedia experiences. For example, after reading (or before, as the case may warrant) in the textbook, it would benefit students who do not learn well in the traditional textbook format to display some videos or audio clips which augment the textbook material. The idea of Wikispaces seems like a good idea with older students, but I will be teaching third grade in a school where few children will have at-home computer access, so I am hesitant to pursue this route, both because of age and because of the economic situation of the students. For the most part, I think it will be wise to limit the use of computers to topically-specific research and material that I prepare before class. I have many fears going into my first year of teaching, and what students find on the internet is definitely one of them. Perhaps as time goes by and I become more comfortable with the classroom environment I will branch out into more interactive internet uses, but for the time being I will play it safe

I PROMISE I AM FINISHED WITH THIS JOURNAL

Project 1 superhyperglobalmegalink This is the end!

Reflective Journal #2: I thought the above assignment was a good idea. It forced me to think of a way to employ the internet beyond simple research. I think it is important that the children learn that they can be active members of the internet, not just passive recipients. I know this exercise helped to teach me that. After I completed the assignment I looked to see if the school I will be teaching at in August (Brookmeade Elementary) had a wikipedia page. It does not. I was very glad to see that, as I plan to implement the above lesson next school year. I think my concerns stated in the previous journal entry regarding what children may find on the internet may be assuaged in some part by providing a very structured use of the internet, as the lesson above clearly does. This definitely stretched my thinking about internet use quite a bit, moving it away from simple research to employing the internet as a creative means information transfer.

Done with this one too!

Reflective Journal #3: I am quite familiar with Word and Powerpoint. Teaching students how to use Word as a word processor has obvious benefits in this techno-savvy world. Additionally, I plan on using Word to create weekly newsletters to send home to parents in which the students and I discuss what we have learned during the past week. Powerpoint can really a really useful way to organize information, especially for students who learn best when information is presented in a more visually appealing way than traditional texts. While I could investigate those programs in more depth, as I am by no means an expert on either, I think the most beneficial enterprise for me would be to create a grade book. A grade book is something I can setup and have all ready to go for August, only having to enter the students' actual names. Additionally, I have never used Excel before, cleverly avoiding it for many years. Thus creating a grade book will serve as a very useful and immediately practical means of learning how to handle Excel.

Project 2 - Attached below is my Excel Gradebook which, with a few changes that will be dictated by changes in my classroom as they become necessary, I will employ in the upcoming year. This is new for me in every sense of the word, because I have never used Excel before. All other aspects of the rubric should be covered by navigating the spreadsheet and noticing the ease with which you can enter grades, monitor progress, and navigate through the various weeks of the nine-week grading period.



Reflective Journal #4: In reflecting on learning how to use Excel, I was quite surprised by the similarity it bore to so many classes I took in college. The formulae remind me of the numerous logic classes I took for my major (Philosophy). In particular, the program was a form of symbolic logic, treating the cells like propositions. I suppose my many-year avoidance of the program was due largely to the fact that the formulae required such specific inputs, whereas in symbolic logic one can use any format one wishes so long as the assumptions are stated beforehand. I suppose this makes me somewhat of a Luddite, but the rigor with which one must adhere to the program's limited input range turned me off of the program in general. I am glad, though, that in the last three weeks of my formal education, someone actually made me learn it. It is useful and while I by no means claim to understand the program in its entirety, I think I am on my way.

Reflective Journal #5 For my grade level (third) I think teaching the children to use the admittedly difficult programs of Photoshop and imovie would be a bit much. Rather, I could use the programs to enhance the classroom environment by being able to make my own images through photoshop to add an additional visual dimension for a lesson. For example, one of the third grade standards for science is understanding the relation between animals and their environments, as well as how ecosystems differ. I plan to create an image that helps bring this point home; it will feature a typically Tennessee background and feature cropped images of various animals that are known to live in Tennessee. I also plan to add "word art" highlighting the names of the animals to snazz it up a bit as well as bring an additional layer of literacy into the classroom. For video, I really like the idea discussed in class in which a podcast of sorts is made in which the teacher videotapes elements of the day critical for an absent child to observe. Unfortunately, practice with this in a real setting is unrealistic during this short summer course. In its stead we plan to make a video highlighting the physical features of the Nashville area and overlaying them with voiceover that describes the features. This would be useful for children new to the area to get an appreciation of the physical aspects of this region.

Reflective Journal #6 Photoshop is so frustrating. While I appreciate that it can be used in numerous different ways to alter or enhance photographic images, the learning process of trying to get it to comply with my demands was terribly painful. I clicked and reclicked in a vain attempt to get a function to employ. I would stop and come back a few minutes later, press the same series of buttons, and it would work. The learning curve seems to be a bit steep with regards to photoshop and thus I am disinclined to use it in my classroom. While I completely acknowledge the wonderful things that one may do with the program, the act of figuring out how to use a paucity of the functions took too long for me to justify using my valuable time during my first year of teaching trying to learn to make this program like the way I know it can. Maybe in the future.

Reflective Journal #7 One use of technology that springs to mind is the use of audio equipment. Beyond the obvious use of CD's in the classroom, perhaps some audio recording could be an effective means of allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge. Programs like Garageband could be great for students to record simulated radio broadcasts covering some material. A news program, for example, dealing with current events would be a nice touch. While imovie is a great program, it might be a bit much for my third graders. It seems that audio recording programs would be a bit simpler and easier for them to manage. Another way, one I plan to use, is iCal. With the amazing amount of requirements placed on teachers, it seems like a necessary idea to have an effective calendar system. Something like iCal, that can alert you when deadlines are approaching, seems a good way to multitask without frantically looking through a paper calendar all the time.

Reflective Journal #8 I thought this class served very well to my technological needs. The way in which you tailored each assignment in a way that challenged everyone to push themselves within each technological application was a good means of ensuring that everyone got to try something new. I considered myself thoroughly average with regards to technology. I was certainly not the best, nor was I the worst. Despite my relative capacity to work with a computer, I was able, for each project, to use a new program. While I will most likely tread technological waters in the classroom slowly and carefully, I definitely feel as though I have been sufficiently acclimatized to those waters. I suppose that wikispaces and imovie are a bit beyond my students' capabilities (since they're relatively young), but they were still valuable to learn. You'll like this: my roommates and I have an expense ledger on excel that I am now able to add to and I will soon be transferring it to a wikispace so that we may access it remotely (not just from the communal mybook at the house). Now how's that for practical application! I know it's not classroom related, but I definitely feel as if the technological world has become a little more open to me. Thanks!

Extra Credit: I really liked how the course was set up. The continuity from week to week let me know exactly what to expect and with a class that meets from 5-7, I needed continuity. Otherwise, the uncertainty combined with the lateness would have made it unbearable. And to be honest, I expected the class to be unbearable (more because of the time than anything else) but I found it quite helpful and fun. If I would change one thing about the class, it would be to have differentiated levels of programs based on the grade levels various students are going to teach. For example, perhaps a project involving something more accessible to elementary students than imovie (perhaps audio, as I suggested previously). I understand that that makes it difficult to teach all the various programs that would be entailed by such an approach, but in the interest of open and honest criticism, I found imovie somewhat irrelevant for my students. I certainly see its benefits for middle and high school students, and for myself as an educator, but in terms of enabling my students to become my techno-savvy, it seemed a bit of a dead end. But I gotta say, making the movie was the most fun project in the class, so maybe you should keep it anyway.