Week #16

This week I figured out how to fix the music on iMovie. I am so relieved. It was so obnoxious to have to use GarageBand to cut music.

Our digital story is awesome. I love it. I believe that it is powerful and the message that we are trying to send comes across through the video. I am really excited to be a teacher someday and be able to show my students videos that are available on the internet. Sometimes, other people can say things better than you can. I know I have said this a million times before, but I think that it is really important to be able to mix things up in the classroom. You don't want it to be monotonous and boring. And guess what! Technology is the perfect way to mix things up.

This class has taught me how to build a classroom website, on UEN and GoogleSites. On these websites I can keep parents informed and remind students of what assignments are due and when tests are coming up. I have also learned how to use powerpoint in ways that I never knew about. I learned about internet safety and now know where to send my students to learn how to be responsible on the web. I also learned about reliable sources and what sites I should trust and should not trust.

I learned how to do a podcast as well as a vidcast, and I believe that I will be using both of those things in my future classroom. I will also be teaching my students how to do those things because they definitely break up the monotony of school.

The thing that I am most excited to use in the future are digital stories. I seriously think they are awesome. I am grateful that I learned how to use PhotoStory, even though I am partial to iMovie. Photostory is offered for free on PCs, which is what a lot of schools have. I do believe that iMovie is easier to use, but some schools do not have a lot of Macs and I do not have enough money to buy all of my students Mac laptops.

I am 100% ready to keep up on technology for basically the rest of my life...or for however long I am a teacher. I know that the technology that will come out in the next ten years will completely blow my mind, but will make life a lot easier and will make teaching students a lot more interesting and fun!

Week #15

I am seriously so excited about my digital story. It has been a lot of fun creating it. I loved putting it to music and finding the pictures to put in the digital story. My partner and I decided to use iMovie since I was more familiar with it and since it can potentially make a better movie than Photostory. The only problem with iMovie is I can't figure out how to cut music and make it fade in and out using iMovie so we have had to cut the music using Garageband (another Apple application)

I think that digital stories are so great because it breaks from the monotony in classrooms. It allows teachers to be creative and to really get their point across using pictures, music and audio. I can't wait to make more digital stories and I definitely think that I will be using them in my classroom. I really want my students to have the option of doing digital stories as well. And it is great that I have learned how to use Photostory, since that is free on PCs. In my opinion, I would much rather make a digital story than write a paper. I can see myself giving my students that option.

This weeks video was really cool. I feel like we have had one kind of like it before, but this one presented some new information. There are 31 Billion searches on google every month, in 2006 there were 2.7 billion. This shows how dependent our society is on the internet. If i want information, I am not going to go to the library and find a book, I am going to go to google and find information. If myspace were a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world. I can't imagine my life without technology! I can't even go one day without checking my email or sending a text message. The first commercial text message was sent in December 1992. Today the number of text messages sent and received everyday, exceeds the total population of the planet (and I definitely make a huge contribution to that number). I was fascinated to know that soon China will be the #1 english speaking country in the world. IT'S NOT EVEN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE. It will be very interesting to see how the world is in a couple of years, because I have a feeling that it won't be anything like it is today.

Week #13

Digital stories have the potential to be really cool. I am really excited to make one. I love how they have the potential to be really powerful or really fun. There are so many great things that you can do and you can do a digital story about anything. In my future classroom I can see myself showing a lot of digital stories about events in history.

The digital story about The Holocaust was incredibly powerful. I think that sometimes when we are shown the number of casualties it doesn't really mean that much, but when you are shown pictures of the people who were in the concentration camps it really hurts your heart. You realize that these were people just like you and me and they had families, friends, and a full life ahead of them.

I watched some others on this website and I can see myself showing some of them to my future class. As I have said a million times before, it is really important to mix things up so that your students do not get bored. Anything that a teacher can use to teach something besides a powerpoint is a great because it breaks up the monotony of the class. I REALLY love the idea of having my students do digital stories. I think it would be a fun project for them and I think it definitely beats reading and grading papers.

For some reason the this week's video did not work on my computer. I found another digital story on youtube that I could possibly use in my future class.

I like this video because it shows pictures of the people who were involved in the massacre and I think that it explains the massacre well. There are some things about this video that I do not like, like how when they show the car they use pictures for some people and words for others. I do like the gun shots, but I am not sure if that is really appropriate for school. I like the pictures that are shown and how the author explains the situation behind the massacre.

Technology Articles

Ning's tagline is "Create Your Own Social Network Site for Anything" which means you can create a social networking site for your classroom. You have the ability to create forums, discussions, and blogs in your social network, upload videos, music and photos. Ning was created by Gina Bianchini and Marc Andreessen. It is different from social networking sites like Myspace because instead of joining a large network of people, Ning members can create their own social network. Ning is free, unless you want to pay for upgrades, but this is not necessary. Ning offers a customer support and has a FAQ page and if you have any other questions you email them.

According to starreviews.com the upside to Ning is that it is free and customizable. The downside to Ning is that there are poor search options, slow response time to your questions and there are ads on the pages.

In an article by Wade Roush titled Build Your Own Social Network, he discusses the features of Ning and says that it is better than networks like Myspace and Livejournal. He said that he created a social network especially for devotees of digital macrophotography. People who join his network have the ability to create their own personal profiles, upload phoots, connect with friends, send instant messages, write their own blogs, contribute to forums and many other things. One thing that I noticed throughout a lot of these reviews was how easy it was to create one of these pages and how it took only minutes and Ning makes setting up a custom social network as easy as starting a personal blog. Roush said that the interface reminded him of sites like Blogger, Livejournal, Typepad and Wordpress.

To start a social network on Ning, you must sign up for a free account. Then it will walk you through the desgin process step by step allowing you to choose a name and descripture for your network, pick the features (such as blogs, photos, chat windows, and forums_ that will appear on the network's main page, and you are allowed to arrange these features however you want to. Networkers can choose from a few dozen theme and color schemes provodied, or they can create their own HTML code and style sheets. If you want to pay $19.95, yoper month you won't have to deal with the ads in the right margin of ever Ning page. You can also add your own ads for that price.

I am not sure if I would ever really use Ning, but I think it has the pote

ntial to be really great for a high school class room. I think it would give those who are a little more hesitant to participate in class a chance to say what they would like to. You could also house sample projects and assignments that your students are going to do in the future. The parents could also be a part of the social network, or you could have another social network for parents. Another reason why I like Ning is that it is not facebook or myspace. The teacher can control what is being posted and can regulate what students can see. There is also an option that only invited people can see the page that way no one can join who isn't actually invited to join.

I actually set up a page and it was really easy. First you name your social network and specify what kind of network it is. Then you type in your zip code. Second, you decide if you want certain features on your Ning page and you drag them into a template. These features include: activities, members, forum, blog, music, photos, videos, events, groups, chat, and badges. I chose to include all of them. Third, you pick a theme. I chose the theme Hipster Purple. I don't know why, I guess because I like purple. That's it! Then you customize your page and add content. I could not believe how easy it was. I found it a lot easier than trying to create a group or an event on facebook.

This is what my Ning page looks like:

I think that this feature is better than a blog because it gives students more freedom to express their opinions and allows them to interact with each other outside of the classroom. In Ning they can upload a picture, and basically have their own page, but be connected to your social network.

Glogster EDU is a web application that allows students to create multimedia online posters, or glogs, which can be shared on the internet. These glogs are made using images, sounds and videos. Glogster encourages creativity and is a resource for innovative and interactive learning. On http://edu.glogster.com/ it lists reasons why educators should use Glogster EDU. They are:

1. A creative, dynamic, and innovative digital outlet that captures learner's excitement for online creatives, keeps learning engaged in course content, and makes teaching and learning more fun.
2. A private and safe platform, monitored directly by teachers. Teachers control all the activities of their learners.
3. A valuable teaching tool that integrates diverse core subjects including math, science, history, art, photography, music and more for individual learner portfolios, unique alternative assessments, and differentiated instructional activities.

The reasons why learners should use Glogster EDU are:

1. A fun imaginative, and powerful learning experience which fosters independent creative self expression, positive learner-teacher relationships, and teamwork on collaborative class projects.
2. A vibrant, multi-sensory learning experience which integrates learner's knowledge and skills into traditionally text-oriented subjects and motivates learner's desire to explore topics in which they may previously been less interested.

I looked at some of the projects that other people created on Glogster and they are seriously awesome. What is great about it is that it is another way to present information so you don't bore your students to death. Another great thing is that the students can use it and do projects on the internet. I remember doing projects on posters and having to bring them into school. It was always so hard to find one time that everyone could meet and usually one person ended up doing the whole presentation. With Glogster, it allows everyone to work on a project, but they don't necessarily have to be in the same place. This feature kind of reminds me of Google Docs a little, but it is a little more advanced.

In Glogster Brings Glitter Graphic Blogging To The Masses

by Josh Lowensohn he explains his experience with Glogster and what is good about it and what is bad about it. He says that Glogster is a service on letting people create posters of various bits of pre-made and user generated content using a Flash editor. The site is geared toward a teen crowd, or anyone else who enjoyed partaking in glitter graphics. Users can create classy looking stuff with distinct visual style. Glogster's editing tool is simple to use. Its categorization, which divides up all the contect you can place intoa Glog, places a limited number of items together that the user must then sort through one piece at a time. You may have to exercise some patience in finding exactly what you are looking for though. Site that are similar and may be easier to use for others are Flecktor and Scrapblog. Glogster also doubles as a social network, and users can add each other as friends and each Glog has a place for comments and ratings. You are also able to embed a Glog somewhere else. Here is an example of a Glog:

I think that these Glogs are pretty cool. And it allows for parents to see the projects that their students and other students are doing. It also makes it easier for the teacher to save projects from past students. I even created a Glog and it didn't take that long. There are many templates to choose from and it has A LOT of graphics.

Week #12

Week #11

This week we learned about picasa. It is a great tool that is free with a gmail account. It is fairly easy to use and has a lot of different ways to enhance your photos. This is great application because you can edit your photos and put them on your classroom website. In one of the photos below, I put text on the photo, which is awesome. I think that it would be fun to put some pictures up from your classes so that the parents can see and so that students can see other students in the class' work. Picasa uploaded all of the photos from my desktop and pictures folder without a lot of difficulty. The only downside was that it was a little bit slow while editing the pictures and while uploading to blogger.. but maybe it's just my computer or internet connection.

This video includes a song about the US presidents. I remember watching this show when I was younger and I would have the songs stuck in my head for days. I know that it might seem a little childish for high school students, but I think that it will be a fun way to present the presidents to the students. It is so much better than just showing them a list of the presidents that have served and when.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Concerning the UNI survey I am basically an apprentice in every category since I have not designed activities because I am not a teacher yet. I feel confident in most of these categories because I grew up using most of this stuff, or have recently learned how to operate the newer technologies. I feel like I learned a lot of these skills in junior high and high school. I believe that my generation as well as the new generations are just born with a knack for technology. From my experience, younger people are much easier to teach about technology than older people. For example, my little sister knows much more about how to use facebook (even though she doesn't have one) than my mom (who actually has a facebook).

Apple provides a variety of different workshops. They offer everything from just getting started to using specific programs on an Apple. For example, today there was a workshop from 3:00-4:30 titled "Getting Started Hands-On Workshop."Best thing about these workshops are that they are free! That's right--free ninety nine. Even though I have worked with an Apple for over 4 years, I am sure that there are still a few tricks that I do not know about. I typed "computer tutorials" into google and it came back with ____ results and a lot of them are free tutorials. One that I looked at is called Basic Computer Tutorial. Basically, it is just an overview of what services a computer can offer you. Again, it is free and there is lots of information there.

I believe that I am very good with technology and a feel that I am very good with a lot of computer programs, the internet, and other technologies. I am aware that there will be new technology that will come out soon, but I am prepared and excited to learn about these new technologies and will try and keep as up to date as possible. Currently, my weaknesses are certain websites such as UEN (yuck) and podcasts, but I am willing to work hard to understand these better.

Lessons Learned

One thing that is so great about all of this technology is that many resources are available online, in books, and there are even workshops that you can attend to learn more. The information is easily accessible if you are truly interested in learning about new technology. And how great is it that University of Minnesota researchers have found educational benefits concerning facebook and myspace! YES! I can use this as an excuse to get on facebook more often. From reading these articles and watching these videos it has really made me wonder about what kind of technology I will be using in my future classroom. I know that some schools are behind, but hopefully I will be able to use the newest technologies to teach my students and not bore them to death.

I have also realized that it is important that students learn about these technologies at an early age because they will most likely be using them for the rest of their life no matter what occupation they go into.

Concerning the disconnect of personal and school writing, I believe that when students write on a computer it is completely different than what they would be writing on a piece of paper. When students use the computer they are usually multi-tasking. They have more than one window open, they are chatting with their friends, looking up scores for the baseball game and probably texting 3 people. I think that multi-tasking is a great skill to have, but it can really affect the quality of someone's writing. I think that texting and instant messaging is affecting young people's social skills--they can't carry on a conversation with someone in real life. It also affects their grammar and sentence structure. If I ever see "LOL" or "JK" on any papers in my classroom, the student will get lecture from me.

My Beliefs

I have mentioned many times before how important I think technology is in the classroom. In one of the articles it mentioned how bored students might get in school now because of the "new WWW." I completely agree--the youth of this generation want things faster, less expensive and they want it now. Why do you think that businesses offer over night shipping? Because people want their stuff NOW. There are so many ways to present a subject if you use modern technology. I mean, possibilities are endless.

I feel confident that I will be able to keep up with the technology that will develop in recent years. I have always been pretty good with technology and I have an interest in it. I am the type of person that will sit down and figure things out if I really want to. In high school, when myspace was really popular, I figured out how to customize my own theme for my myspace. I hope that with my passion for technology and my work ethic that I will be able to keep my future students entertained in the classroom.

Week #9

First of all, does this guy think he is Dane Cook?
He made some really valid points in the video and everything that he mentioned does drive me crazy about powerpoints. I remember in my public speaking class that people would make powerpoint presentations and then read right off the slide. It seemed pointless. First of all it is really hard to hear the person when they are talking at the presentation, you need to face the people in the class and address them--the powerpoint already knows what you are going to say.

I love powerpoint but I do think it is important that you do use other resources just to mix things up. In my future classroom, I want to have a routine, but I don't want my students to know exactly what we are going to do everyday. In one of my current classes I know exactly what we are going to do every Tuesday and every Thursday. We sit and watch a powerpoint on every Tuesday and on Thursday we talk about a reading that we did during the week. It is such a bore. One day though, he mixed things up and I really enjoyed it. I understand the importance of having a routine though, because many students need structure.
I also love the option of putting pictures and videos in the powerpoint show. This makes it interesting and allows you to show the students pictures of what you are talking about that can help further explain the subject.

Week #8

I believe that it is important to know how to do powerpoint because it helps the students gather the information that you are trying to get across to them. In my personal experience, I'd rather have a teacher lecture with a powerpoint because you have the opportunity to write down what is on the slide and not just what the teacher is saying. Sometimes it is hard to catch everything that someone says, but with powerpoint it is all written.

The only downside with powerpoint is that students tend to just write what is on the slide and tune out to what you are saying. One way to fix this problem is to give them the powerpoint slides printed out and then they can write down extra notes onto the paper. This way they are listening to you instead of trying to hurry and write down what is presented on the slide.

Powerpoint is also great because you can put everything that you need into the presentation. This includes links, videos, music, pictures. This way you don't have to go searching the web for what you need to show the students.

I find powerpoint to be relatively easy and a good way to give information so I think that as a teacher I will be using powerpoint a lot in my lectures. Another reason why I like powerpoint is because it is so much better than using an overhead projector. I have found that it is so hard to see the information when it is presented on an overhead. It always seems blurry and the kids in the back of the classroom can't really see what it says. With powerpoint you can make the font big and everyone will be able to see it.

Week #7

Our webquest is coming along quite well still. During the week I have come up with more ideas of what I could use a webquest for and I have also researched other people's webquests. In all honesty I am not sure if I will use webquests a lot in my classroom because I am not sure what resources I will have available.

This assignment has made me realize all of the sources that are available through the internet. I know I have mentioned it before, but I believe that it is really important that you use different ways to teach because everyone has a different learning style. With different resources you can appeal to different students and they will be able to learn in many different ways. I have always found it easier to memorize certain things when it goes along to a tune.

In our webquest we have two youtube videos that are school house rock. Even though these resources might me considered elementary, they really do help students learn in secondary levels.

So first of all, this kid is an incredible public speaker. I wish that I had his skills. I have always believed that it is very important for teachers to believe in their students. If teachers don't believe in their students it really does show and students cant sense this. Sometimes it makes students not work as hard because they truly don't believe that their life will amount to anything. You should never give up on a student no matter how behind they are, how much they don't care, or how terrible they may be doing in school. The part about how teachers may be the only ones a child has/teachers may be the only ones that care/love them it brought tears to my eyes. It is so important that you recognize that every child is different and may not come from the same background that you did. I was lucky enough to have a lot of support from my parents, but I know that a lot of kids at my school were not in the same situation as I was.

It is also important that you believe in your staff. It is a good support system and you can really learn a lot from the people that surround you at a school. I believe that teaching is one of the hardest, but most rewarding jobs in the world. With a good support system you will be able to do things you never thought you'd be able to do.

I really enjoyed this video and I am glad that I had the opportunity to watch it.

Week #6

I think that webquests have the potential to be really cool. I believe it is important that it actually involves the world wide web or else it will be completely pointless. You don't want your webquest to be something that you could have just put on a piece of paper. In the classroom this will be a great tool because you will not have to print out sheets for everyone and all of the information will be up on a screen for everyone to see. It is also great because all you have to do is click and it will show exactly what you want it to show. This is great because you can just put the video clip you would like your class to see and then you won't have to go searching youtube for it.

I am really excited to complete the webquest assignment. My group game up with a really good idea and I believe that if all goes well it will turn out really great. I think that I have learned the value of having other people to work with so that you can share you ideas and come up with the best possible idea.

The link to the video did not work, so I did a little research and tried to find a video that I could possibly use in my future class. This is what i found:

I like this video because it explains the electoral college in simple english. It is also nice because it gives drawings to try and explain it in a clear way.

Week #5

I think that the internet is a great resource for education. There is so much information on the world wide web. I think it is important to use the internet in your classroom because students these days are very technology oriented. My sister, who is ten years old, knows how to look up information on the internet. The only danger is that there is false information online and there are websites that are not friendly to people under eighteen. This is why you should always post links to secure websites that are not going to take your student to a bad site.
We should evaluate the sites we use because you do not want your students to get false information from a site that you provide, or get the idea that just because the information is on the internet it means it is correct.
The questions I would ask myself while evaluating a site are:

• who is the author? is he/she a credible source?
• are there citations/a bibliography
• when was the website last updated?
• when was the website published?
• is there a "~" in the web address?
• do the photos add to the information?

You can keep your students safe by providing the websites you want them to use to look up information. Obviously, wikipedia is not the best idea since anyone can write whatever they want on that website. There are many tools on pioneer that the student can use to get information. Ebsco is a good resource along with the newspaper databases. These links will give the student correct information and it is safe for them to use.

I absolutely love this video. As a history education major this will be perfect in one of my lessons. The reason why I love this video is because it gives a picture with the name that is in the song. All of the names brought up in the song are very important events in history. I have mentioned it before how I would incorporate this video into my lesson by seeing how much they knew about each of these people/events or have the students pick one of the people/events from the song and do some research on it and present it to the class. Another reason I love this video is because it is a fun song and it is a great way to present these people/events to the class instead of just lecturing.

Week #4

To be completely honest.. I don't really like the UEN website. I think it's very confusing to use and the google site looks a lot better. Maybe in time it will become easier, but for now--not so much. I wish that UEN had the option of importing my google calendar instead of having to make a whole new one. It has some really great resources, but I am just not as excited about that website as I am about google sites.

I have really thought a lot about what you said about needing to relax when you are learning about new technologies. While trying to work on my UEN website I began to get really frustrated because it seemed like I had to do all these extra steps just to have one thing on my page. I think what was most frustrating about UEN is the whole public and private pages. This is a great feature, but I just don't think it is necessary for me. But I did find that when I relaxed and just had fun with it that things came a lot easier and it was much more enjoyable.

Pioneer is also a great tool. It amazes me how many resources there are out there for teachers and students. The invention of the internet has definitely changed the way that people do things. I haven't worked all the way through the scavenger hunt yet, but from what I've seen I am very impressed with what Pioneer has to offer me.

I LOVE the video "Did You Know 2.0". It was so interesting to me and I loved all the facts about technology. I still can't believe that that many children are born within 8 seconds, and I can't even begin to imagine what kind of technology the children born today are going to be using at my age. I was also impressed that 100% of college graduates in India speak English. I had NO idea. I also loved the quote by Albert Einstein that said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." It's complete common sense, but it is so true and it just really impressed me.

I honestly can not wait to see all of the new technology that will be coming out in the next couple of years. I wish that I could think of some of it so that I could be filthy rich, but I don't think that will ever happen. I am so excited for it because some of it could potentially make learning so much more interesting for students. I think that almost anything is better than sitting there and listening to a person talk for 50 minutes. This class has really made me think outside of the box for teaching strategies and what I can do when I have my own classroom. Now I wish that I could just hurry up and graduate so that I could apply all of the things that I am learning.

Video Reflection Week #3

Technology really is a great way to teach the youth of this generation. It offers so many interesting way to give your students information then just lecturing. I"m sure that students get sick of hearing the same voice for an hour a day--so why not let them hear more voices? Play a youtube video, show a movie, let other students teach the class, let them listen to a podcast. There are SO many options.

I loved all the facts that this video gave.

"Todays average college graduates have spent: over 10,000 hours playing video games, over 10,000 hours talking on cell phones, and roughly 20,000 hours watching TV."

"70% of our nation's 4-6 year-olds have used a computer."

"Did you know that there are over 2.7 billion searches performed on Google each month?"

"Did you know that our Digital Learners have sent and received over 200,000 emails or instant messages... by the time they graduate from college?"

"Think of the ways you could use cell phones to teach..."

"Only 28% of 12th grade high school students believe that schoolwork is... meaningful"

"21% believe that their courses are interesting... and a mere 39% believe that school work will have any bearing on their success in later life."

All of the points that the video made were completely relevant. The only one that I have a slight problem with was using cell phones to teach--pretty much everyone has a cell phone these days, but what about those who don't have one? What about those whose parents can't afford for them to have a cell phone? You don't want to leave anyone out or make anyone embarrassed so you have to make sure that everyone actually has a phone before you do that. But I love how this video thought out of the box and really came up with ideas that use modern day technology.

As a teacher you need to recognize that every student has a different learning style and cater to all of them. You should also give your class homework and in-class assignments that are meaningful--and not just busy work. Explain to them why they would want to know this and how it will help them in their later life.

Weekly Reflection Week 3

I am really excited to use the google sites feature. It is so easy to use and I think that students and parents will love it. Like I have mentioned before, when I was in elementary/junior/high school it would seem like every time I was supposed to give a paper to my parents my backpack would eat it and it would never get to them. With google site you can basically put everything you want on your site and don't have to worry about parents being misinformed or uninformed.

This website has a lot of features--like announcements, classroom calendar, and homework that will keep students on track and will reduce forgetfulness. I know from personal experience how busy high school students can be with extra-curricular activities and everything else that they have to do. I also understand that many people are not going to remember something that they heard at 8am when they get home from school. With the homework tab you can put what assignment they have to do for every day and it is great because you can go in and change it in case your plans change. One of my teachers used to give us a piece of paper with the homework assignments for the week, but the problem was that it would change all the time. If you missed class the day that the homework changed, you would have no idea and you would do the wrong homework.

The calendar feature is also great because you can put the calendar events that are important to your classroom and the calendar events that are going on in the school. Hopefully students will get involved in what is going on outside of class. When I played sports in high school and junior high it was always great when other students would come to the games and cheer the team on. It was also really cool when teachers would come too.

The educational technologies tab is really cool because of all of the gadgets. There are so many applications you can put on your site! There are lots to do with history--including a "Today In History" gadget. Even though it might not relate to class it is cool to see what happened that day in the past.

And the best part about google sites?! IT'S FREE!! Seriously, I am super excited to be able to use this when I am a teacher.

Video Reflection Week #2

I absolutely love the Mr. Duey video. I will never forget when my 6th grade english teacher said: "How come you all can memorize all these rap songs, but can't memorize your prepositions?!" It is so much easier, for me at least, to memorize things when they have a tune with them. When I was a senior in high school I had to memorize the preamble. I tried so many ways of memorizing it, but only one was successful. I went to youtube and found this gem:

I still know the preamble today--because of this song.

I feel like the Mr. Duey video would be a fun way to present fractions to a math class. It is something different and it is hilarious. Even if the student did not memorize the tune they would still at least be entertained. In my future classroom I think that I will use a lot of videos. I think it will be nice for my students to learn from someone else sometimes instead of just hearing from me everyday. I will most definitely be using this video in one of my lessons:

It's a great song.. of course and it gives a picture to everything that is presented in the song. Maybe I will have my students pick one thing from the song and tell me what the significance of that person/event is concerning history. (Maybe they'll even be able to use google tools and do a powerpoint presentation and show it to the classroom).

First of all, the music on the Introducing Web 2.0 is awesome--really keeps you on the edge of your seat. A lot of the information that the video presented I already know about. However, I did not know about all of the sites that were in the video. I think it is an important video because it shows what kind of world we live in now--a technological world. Of course with technology comes pros and cons, but I truly believe that the good things outweigh the bad things. Future students have so much information available to them with the click of a button. Research papers have become so much easier to write, projects have become so much easier to do, all because the information is available on the internet.

Weekly Reflection Week 2

I have had a gmail account for almost 4 years and I had no idea about all of the other resources that google offered. I am totally amazed at everything in google documents. I wish I would have known about it sooner! I always have to email my documents to myself so that I can print them out in the library or show the class a powerpoint. It seems as if powerpoints are always too big to send. With google documents I can just put it on there and there will be no more attaching and emailing. The other thing that is so great about it is that it will ALWAYS be there. No matter what computer you are using, your documents will be there. I am seriously so excited to utilize this tool.

Someday in the near future I think that the world is going to go paperless. With google documents I will be able to send assignments to my students using google documents. It will also make group projects that I have to do and that my students will have to do so much easier. It allows you to not have to meet face to face, which is great because not everyone has the same available hours as you do.

I am also completely blown away by all of the things that the calendar can do. I had no idea that you could share it with others and I definitely had no idea that I could get USC football and UNLV's basketball schedule on my calendar. I consider myself a pretty forgetful person so it is so great that the calendar will text me and tell me what to do. I think that I will encourage my students to use a calendar so that they can be more organized. When I was in high school I played 2 sports and did student council. My schedule was always so busy and it would have been so much easier if I could have input it all into a calendar and then show my parents/fellow classmates what I would be doing that week and what time everything was.

Another great thing about both of the tools that I have mentioned is that you can send it to the student's parents. I remember so many times in my early schooling career where I was supposed to give a piece of paper to my parents and then my backpack would eat it and it would never be seen again. With these tools you can let the parents know exactly what is going on and then hopefully they will become more involved in their child's education.

Ideal Classroom Reflection

I want my classroom to not be too hot or too cold--all you know is a light sweater. My ideal classroom will not have white walls, but it will not be obnoxious and distracting. I want to be able to accommodate every student so distractions will be kept to a minimum. When I was helping out in a school in American Fork, I went into a classroom and I was completely overwhelmed by everything on the walls, how the bookshelf was organized and how the room was set up. It seemed like whenever a student didn't want to do their work they would just look around. I feel that I do my best work in a clean and organized environment so I would want to provide the same for my students.

I want my students to be abel to feel safe in the classroom. There will be no bullying, no one that is better than them and ideally I want everyone to be friends (but this doesn't mean that they are encouraged to talk during my lectures). When I was in high school a lot of my friends decided to take a college credit course. I decided that I didn't want to do that so I was really nervous about not having any friends in the class I was going to be in. This is when I met my favorite teacher of all time--Mr. Beam He is actually the reason why I decided to become a history teacher. He was an amazing teacher and I hope to follow in his footsteps. The class I was in that he taught had all different types of students, but we were all friends and the learning environment was so great because we were comfortable there. Another thing about Mr. Beam was that he was 100% approachable. I had so many teachers in high school and so many teachers in my college career that are so intimidating. I know that it is cliche but I want to make sure that every student in my classroom knows that no question is a stupid question.

Of course it would be perfect if every student actually wanted to be at school and wanted to learn, but not everyone is like that. I am hoping that I can encourage this behavior and the students will eventually love learning new things and love taking tests so that they can prove to themselves what they actually know. As for parents, it would be a dream come true if all of the parents were involved in their child's education, but I know that this is only a dream. I recognize that a lot of students might only have one parent, or living with their grandparents or anything else. I want to be there for that student and if their guardian cannot get involved with their education then I will. I will praise them for excelling and for participating. All I will really ask of parents is that they encourage their children to be at school and encourage learning. I won't really expect much help from parents, since I will be teaching high school history. I feel like classroom parents help is a little too elementary.

I hope to teach not only about history, but about life. I want all of my students to be successful and be able to reach the goals that they have set for themselves. At the beginning of the school year I will always ask for suggestions from the students about what projects, papers or assignments they would like to do. I want my students to get the most out of their education.