Economically Disadvantaged Students

Journal 10: "Making History"

Shein, Esther. "Making History." 7 Jan 2009 http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23394.

The ideas presented in "Making History" were really creative and great for technology the technology savvy generation. Creating a podcast to share with the class based on past events in World War 2 was a great way to get the creative juices flowing while helping the students learn and try to connect with what it would be like during those times. Using material outside of the normal textbooks was also a great idea because many times as students we are just given what is written in our texts and if it is not in there then we never hear about it. Using videos would definitely help assist students with history projects. History can be so interesting if the teacher really works at finding ways to help the students connect with it.

I remember in high school creating a business and having to come up with marketing strategies, numbers, and present on the new business; the hard part about it was that we had no feedback to know if are business would actually be successful or not. Having a program where it teaches you to make business decisions and their are consequences to those decisions gives it a very life-like feel and I think really helps students own their projects. Obviously other teachers have seen improvement in economic understanding of the students and will really help them in the future when going onto college and searching for a job.

In some cases I think paper assignments are necessary, but I think the future is moving more towards interactive assignments. For me as a teacher I am going to need to be up to date on what programs work well in the classroom and which ones do not. I think throughout these programs too the students really learn more about technology and how it can be of assistance in the future. For me it will be a challenge but one I am willing to take in order to benefit the student's education.

Journal 9: "Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students"

Reynard, Ruth. "Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students." 6 Jan 2009 http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23434.

With the growing popularity of blogs, it is no surprise that teachers are starting to use them along with other projects in class. With more teachers using blogs for students to post assignments there is more room for error in communicating what the teacher expects from the student. One of the interesting mistakes that Reynard points out is that the teacher is unclear in communicating the learning outcomes to the student. As a student myself, I like to know how a certain assignment is going to improve my education or what I am going to learn that it useful from the assignment. The same is true for the blogs. At first I did not understand the importance of them to my future career in education but now I have a better understanding of how I will be able to provide my potential jobs with a website created and managed by me displaying all my work. Other students might have the same concerns of how is this going to help me. I think it is important to provide the students with what they will learn in using blogs. Also blogs can help students create their own ideas and be more creative and push them toward increasing their analytical skills.

Blogs are also very useful for personal reflection or creating new ideas that you want to remember. The thing to remember about blogs that Reynard points out is that they are for personal use and not intended to be discussion boards. If information exchange is desired then a more appropriate site would be to create a wiki (which is intended for information exchange and discussions). This would fall under he common mistake of misuse of the environment.

Following up on both of these common mistakes, which I probably been the most likely to make until being informed more about blogs. Another mistake common is not evaluating students work and giving them feedback on it. It helps keep the student accountable to posting their work when they know it is going to be checked on by the teacher and evaluated and also if other people are going to see it then you want it to be the best work possible. A grading rubrics is a suggestion made and is a good one with the expectations in each area. Also a timeline of when blogs are due is good. Making sure ALL students have enough time to complete the assignments, make sure the timeline is realistic.

In my career as a teacher this article was helpful in noticing what mistakes alot of teachers make when trying ti incorporate technology into the classroom. Making sure that the student is comfortable with using the blog and that they understand what are expected learning outcomes from the blog and my expectations will be helpful in directing students towards a higher level of learning while utilizing tools such as blogs.

Journal 8: "A 'Fantastic Super' Use of Technology: Closing the Digital Divide"

Curtis, Diane. "A '"Fantastic Super" Use of Technology: Closing the Digital Divide." 5 Jan 2009 http://www.edutopia.org/fantastic-super-use-technology.

I thought this article was really cool and found it interesting that there was a school so focused on technology and helping the younger generation get a good start. The idea for the Mary Scrogg Elementary School is a very inventive one. The way they designed the school seems very user friendly for the teachers and the students. It is nice for the teachers to have an office so close to the classroom in order to access all the information they need. I like the idea of using email and a class web page as a main way to communicate with the school, students, faculty, and parents. If there is one place homework, what's going on in the class, finished work, and fun facts it keeps communication open with parents and students. A parent can always see what is being worked on and the finished project.

I noticed in the article it had said that ninety percent of the students are white. I do not know it that is because their demographic is different over there. It would be nice to see more cultural diversity in the school. I do like ow they give out computers on a loan basis for those who cannot afford or do not have one at home.

I wish that they would have had a school like that for me growing up. I would have liked to learned more about technology and used it throughout my school life growing up and I feel like I wouldn't have so many problems or fears about using technology now. I think that these kids are going to grow up and be very successful. They will have more tools to use than others that are competing for jobs or scholarships in college. Computers and technology are the way of the future and these students are going to be a huge part of it.

As a teacher I think this school would be a great place to work because it seems like the teachers really come alongside each other and help each other out. One of the points made in the article was that is a cooperative environment instead of competitive. That is the way I think teaching should be. It should always be about what's best for the students, not trying to make myself look the best. That should happen naturally if I am doing a good job. Also the way that they ask for parent involvement and feedback is great. Currently I work at a school where there is not a whole lot of parent involvement and having a website and teaching the parents to use this website would be beneficial to both the student and faculty to make sure the student is reaching their maximum potential.

Journal 7: Wiki

I decided that I was going to research Wiki's because I have heard it talked about in this class alot and also I want to become more familiar with with them since i use one. A wiki is defined as a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content and they are often used to create collaborative websites.

After reading what other educators wrote on Classroom 2.0, I learned alot more about the benefits of them. Some educators are saying wiki is the way of the future for students. Teachers have already implemented the use of them from middle school through college. I am sure some elementary school classes use them, but I did not notice any postings from teachers in that age range. Alot of educators use them for writing purposes and they agree that it is nice to have a place where students can go to put up their work and comment on their peers work.

From the couple of days I have used a wiki I noticed the benefits of being able to look at other people's comments on certain subjects and how nice it is to be able to ask advice from other people from around the country instead of the small circle of people we used to be able to ask. It could improve education everywhere for the better by sharing what works and what does not. Some other teachers also use it for extra credit projects for students to create their own couple minute lesson on how to do a math problem or something like it and then make a video and post it for other students to utilize. A class of gifted students uses it to make pen pals from other places and learn how to interact with other people about issues that are pertinent to our society today.

After looking at some of these kids work I am amazed at how advanced they are in technology and how this is the future. I do not give them enough credit for what they can produce with technology. This is so useful for teachers because I could create as a teacher a wiki for each of my classes to post questions they have about assignments or things they don't understand of about things they think are interesting and learn more about them and have them interact with others through technology. This would help build their technology skills. I like the idea of having a student create a video on a lesson. As a teacher it would also reduce the costs of paper supplies if writing assignments were turned in on the wiki. I also like the idea of making it a social network to learn about other areas on the country or the world through pen pals. That would definitely be something I would like to implement in a class is becoming informed about other cultures.

I think that Wiki's are a must have now and in the future for students and teachers.

Journal 6A

1. I really liked this program. I thought it was really cool and a great organizer for me and could be for students also. I also liked the variety of the pictures to choose from and how they were so easily inserted. Another cool aspect of this program is the choice of layout. I could either choose to enter the information through a outline format (which is what I chose to do) and then click on diagram and it would have one made for me to edit as I would like or I could choose the diagram tab and then look at it in a layout format if that was what I preferred. It was very easy to navigate through and the pictures were amazing. I felt like this was a really well designed program.

2. I could incorporate this program into the classroom very easily. In front of the class when we are brainstorming I could use this tool on the big screen so the who class could view it or I could organize it into an outline for everyone to see. It would be nice for the kids to have an input on what goes into the brainstorm and choose cool pictures for it. It makes the process more interactive which is always a plus.

3. I did not have to access Atomic Learning much throughout this project because it was so simple to use (which is amazing coming from a weak technology background). As stated before, Atomic Learning is a great tool for support for questions about these programs.

Journal 6B

1. I was really stressed out when I started working on the imovie project and thought it was going to be more difficult than it was. Now don't get me wrong, it was still a bit hard for me to do with my technology skills not being as good as they should be yet. Once I calmed my fears about my inadequacy to create a movie and jumped in to the project, I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was fun to choose the clips and add music to go along with it. I never realized how much work had gone into making movies before. I thought imovie was straightforward to use. I like the tabs located at the top for choosing sounds and different transitions and tiles, etc. I thought it made it very easy to navigate through the program. I was definitely glad I was taught how to use it.

2.I could incorporate this software into a classroom easily. We could make a class movie together or if we want to create a drama production for a class this would be a perfect program to demonstrate the hard work put forth by the students. I could create year end videos on this program or from field trips and present it to students and parents at the end of the year as a memory that they can keep forever. I could end up using this program for just about any class and use it to apply to something we are studying.

3.I did not end up using atomic learning that much as a resource. I used the teacher and my friend who is good at making videos as my main resources. Atomic Learning was a good step by step guide if there were no other resources there for me to use. I work better in a hands on with somebody instead a of a program telling me how to create something so I prefer a person rather than this teaching tool, but for instances when no one is available Atomic Learning would be very helpful!