Resources for Teachers - Assignment 2

http://www.funbrain.com/
This site is full of games and activities for grades K-8. You can pick activities based on both grade and subject you are looking for.

http://www.sldirectory.com/teachf/languageteach.html
This site has lesson plans for teachers and activity ideas for writing, reading, language arts, grammar - anything you would need to teach middle school language arts.

http://www.pptpalooza.net/
You can find powerpoint presentations on just about any history topic you might cover, whether it's in world history or US history. There are even presentations that have been posted by students. If you have a student who has prepared an excellent powerpoint presentation you could post it on this site as well.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/lang_mid.htm
This site has everything - grammar, literature, poetry, activities and lesson plans. It provides links to multiple online resources that you may need in preparing for middle school language arts.

Click for the link to my delicious site.

These are all found on my delicious site. I could use delicious with teachers in my school as well as across the country. Being able to share and borrow from fellow teachers eliminates the time and energy needed to do the "footwork" to create a lesson, activity, or game. In my classroom I could create a delicious site just for my class, that each student can add their favorite sites to. I could add my own favorites as well. This would give parents assurance that these sites are safe and educational along with providing the students an outlet for sharing their online experiences with their classmates.

Generation IM (entry 7)

This article was a great reminder for teachers who want to keep their classrooms relevent to the students they teach. Most of our students will come to us with a wide variety of technological experience and if they don't use that experience in school, they may come to see school as useless. The article points out some reasons why today's teachers are struggling to incorporate technology into their lessons, and I can fully relate to these reasons. Teachers are strapped for time as it is trying to match their lessons to state standards, accomodate students needs, attend meetings, keep up with paperwork, etc. Trying to learn something new to the point of becoming comfortable enough with it to use it in the classroom can just be too time consuming. Many schools lack the appropriate training and follow-up needed to help teachers expand their tech-knowledge. I really think the younger generation of teachers is at a far greater advantage in this area as they have grown up with these media and are familiar enough with them to seamlessly incorporate use of technology into their classrooms. I appreciated the list of ways teachers can bring technology into their classrooms, but again, teachers need to be adequately trained how to set up wikis, social networks, blogs, bookmarking sites, and others in order to effectively use them with their students. I have a lot to learn if I want to catch up to my colleagues, my students, and even my own children! :)

great teachers (reflection 2)

I feel extremely blessed to be studying at Northwest University this year. Every single class I have taken (or am currently taking) has been taught by wonderfully qualified professionals. Each teacher is consistently prepared for class and actively engages his/her students in thoughtful discussions about relevent issues. I have been challenged to think more critically and more deeply than I have in past classes at past schools. I know these teachers want the best for their students and I hope I can convey that same message to my future students.

SMARTboards (entry6)

After playing with the SMARTboard tonight, I wished I had one at home to really get to know it well. It's going to take some time to figure out exactly all the "tricks" that can be done in the classroom using one of these boards. I especially liked the lessons done in the updated software as they tended to have many more interactive features and conveniences. These boards are extremely valuable in the classrooms, and I can definitely see how students can be drawn into participation just by mere fascination with these SMARTboards.

SMARTboard thoughts (reflection 1)

This new technology is amazing, but it will take some effort on my part to understand its capabilities fully. In working with it tonight, there were some "bugs" that we could not work around to make it work the way we wanted. If I have one of these in my future classroom or even one available to the staff as a whole, I would make time to learn the intricacies so I can make lessons more exciting and effective. The interactions that the students can have with this board will draw them into whatever topic we are studying. The more students "do" the deeper their understanding of ideas will be.

What about Technology? (beginning of semester reflection)

Sometimes I have no idea how much I depend on technology until it is not working. When the internet won't come up, or my cellphone battery needs to be charged I get irritated and wish things would move along faster. We live in a fast paced world with answers to most questions right at our fingertips. As a teacher I should be well aware of the wealth of information available to me and how to implement that in my classroom. I also need to be aware of what the students are using and know how to speak their "language." I think if we ignore these issues, we are turning the kids off to much of what we will teach. Integrating technology into the classroom will have more of a positive effect and draw students into their learning, giving them a larger internal database of information. I should be using the computer for simple tasks of making print handouts look sharper, keeping grades organized, creating and updating a class website, and exploring new sources of information so I can pass those on to my students.

Assignment #1 - Literacy

Ten remarkable middle school language arts teachers
Mary Mercer Krogness. English Journal. (High school edition). Urbana: Jan 1998. Vol. 87, Iss. 1; pg. 98, 4 pgs

This article outlined ways in which these ten middle school teachers excelled in their field. I related these ideas to how this translates to the field of technology. Some main ideas I came away with are:
1. Start at the students' confidence level and not at their frustration level. Bring in literature that they feel confident in reading and understanding and build them up from there. This includes using technology that the students are comfortable with and are used to using regularly.
2. Immerse the students in literature-based programs - poetry, plays, music composing and performing, dramatic productions, etc. These can be found online and the performances the students make up can be videotaped and even posted to a class blog.
3. Help them tap into their own creativity and connect to real-world experiences.
4. Connect yourself to other professionals in your field through dialogue and reading about current issues and theories. Many schools have a technology consultant on staff, so regular meetings to learn new skills and keep up with technology would keep you connected.
5. Be willing to make a paradigm shift from outdated modes, constantly evaluating your style and self-reflecting on its relevence. This especially applies to me as so much has changed in the past 10 years in the area of technology that is used on a regular basis. I need to be willing to try new things and get rid of old modes if they are not effective any more.
6. Be an "expert kid-watcher." Meet them where they are. Get to know the students. Know what kind of technology they use; find out the songs on their ipod, who they IM with, what they look up on the computer, and be ready to engage them in conversation about these things.

I came away from this article with ideas swarming in my head on how to implement these ideas in my future classroom!

Since I want to teach in middle school, I have been observing students at that level and the technology they use on a regular basis.
- cell phones and ipods
- computers (popular websites, gaming, social networking sites, blogs, research)
- game systems (portable and stationary)
Kids these days are plugged in to the world around them. They are familiar with "buttons" and gadgets of all kinds and would adjust easily to using them in the classroom. My challenge as a teacher is to connect those experiences to learning in the classroom. A computer would be the easiest as it is an instant source of information. I could guide them in effective research, show them sites for educational games, help them connect to classmates through blogs and social networking sites. We could start a class blog to discuss topics we read about in literature. I still have to do some brainstorming for how to use the cell phones and ipods in the classroom, but I'm sure with enough research I can come up with something.
The NETS standards for teachers are extemely important as a compass for directing our classroom experiences and setting goals for integrating technology into our lessons. We should seek to adapt our plans to include multiple levels of technology and model the appropriate way to use them. The standards for students set them on a real-world path of creating, connecting, researching, and problem solving. All of these ideas will be found in future careers they choose, so starting in school will prepare them adequately for their jobs. Our world is focused on improving what we have and developing new ideas on the foundations of old ideas. Engaging our students in updated technology will help them be responsible citizens in the future.

article - Improving Instruction with Interactive Whiteboards by D. Schaffhauser (entry 5)

This article excited me! I hope school districts across the U.S. are moving in this direction. This author emphasized the importance of this interactive technology in drawing the students in to actively participate in their learning and broaden the horizon of available information. The results this particular school district saw were substantial and the amount of participation of students grew to 100%. That should be enough to convince most school districts to make this kind of technology a priority. The author also gave suggestions for how to "cut corners" by purchasing only the necessary components and doing without the upgrades until funds were increased. The only idea mentioned that took me back was the suggestion to do away with textbooks. I dont know if I would make that drastic a suggestion unless every student had equal access to the same information. A teacher would also need some kind of curriculum guide to save time and effort on the preparation side of learning. I still need to think this one over to decide if I would make such a statement.