Online textbooks

For my assignment this week I read three articles about online textbooks. I seems that they are becoming more and more popular. In some of the articles they talked about how many students who have online textbooks still prefer to print things off and have a physical copy. That is the same thing that I do. I really like being able to have access the the information right away, but I still feel like I need a copy in my hands. I think that as time goes on my feelings towards this topic will evolve, but as for right now, not having a laptop and having to read at my computer drives me nuts!

Internet Awareness

I think that internet awareness is extremely important. I think it is important for kids to realize that not everything on the internet is true. So learning to be able to verify info on different sites is important.
Learning about internet safety is a big part of being able to use the internet. I think that technology is a wonderful thing, but I also think it is super important to help children be prepared with the tools and skills of using the internet to help protect them and their families. I think that doing a Internet Awareness night is a great idea to do as a real teacher.
I also really enjoyed learning about Publisher these last few weeks. Making a brochure, newsletter or flyers with this program will come in handy when I am an actual teacher!

Google Docs

I really liked learning about Google Docs. I have already started using it a great deal for my other college classes. It is a wonderful tool that you could use in your classroom to help keep things in order and limit the amount of paper that you use! I think, even though this is a less fancy tools that we have learned about, it is one of my favorites. I set up a Google Doc today to help out some kids who were missing from my Student Success Class today to provide them with information that they missed!

Picture, pictures and more pictures

These last two weeks I must admit that this was not my favorite assignment. I thought it was going to be hard and that even though I was taught what to do, that I would feel lost. However, as time went on and I started really working on editing all my pictures in Picasa, I realized that i really enjoyed it. I liked seeing how you could have a picture more interesting with those options. It was also good to learn how to do a power point. I think that these have been extremely valuable skills to learn that will assist me in being a teacher and helping keep my students attention in certain lessons.

Photo editing and power points.

This week it has been hard for me to find anytime to actually do this assignment, but what with what I have been able to do I have really enjoyed learning how to use Picasa. It is good to finally know some basics about photo editing. This week I'm very much looking forward to learning about Power Points. I feel very behind the times that I don't really know how to put one together. I think combining these two skills will help me be a better teacher and find new ways to make lessons more attention grabbing. I know that I enjoy my classes more when the teacher has a power point. Currently my Health teacher does a lot of cute fun things with her power points. I want to be able to do that too!

Digital Camera

I think having a classroom camera is a wonderful idea. I know that in my mothers class she had a camera and she uses it to make class posters of the students. I think that would be a cute thing to have up in your classroom. I also think that it is a fun way for them to do their work, because kids today are very skilled when it comes to technology. You could have their name and a little fact about them as a get to know you thing. I also think that it is a good idea to have to kids do assignments with the camera. Whether it is for them to find specific things and take pictures of them... or to create charts, stories, art projects and instructional posters! I think this will be something that I will implement in my own classroom!

RUSSIA!

I really liked this assignment. I think that the Culture Grams website is a wonderful resource for students to use for research. I remember when I was in 6th grade and had to do a report on India. This tool would have helped me amazingly. I know that I was still able to look up information in books, but this is nice to have your students use because it is so up to date and offers so many different options.
The only problem I had this week is that I did this assignment at work and I am unable to download Russia's National Anthem and link it. I will have to hurry and do that before class starts!

Pioneer Library

I liked this weeks assignment of looking through all those different resources. I was able to go home and show my mom how to use the eMedia source and now she is super excited to us it in her classes. The resource that I liked the most was the World book page. I thought it was so fun to be able to research so many things and have a huge variety of information show up! I spent more time on that site the other day at work than anything. It got me excited to use these resources in my own classroom!

Whole Numbers Lesson Plan

This weeks assignment seemed hard to me at first. I didn't know how well I would end up doing on it. I took notes in class so that I would be able to recall how to add different things such as the bookmarks. With my notes, this assignment turned out to be easier than I thought. I am pleased with my end result. I think this would be a really fun way for students to do some homework with their parents!

ALL ABOUT ME PROJECT

I really liked doing this weeks "All About Me" assignment. I liked learning the different ways to upload picture and how to make words or pictures into links. I feel like this would be a cute way for your students to get to know you. You could even do fun little games with the information you put of there. I think it is also a great way to help the parents get to know you as well. I am looking forward to when I am finally a teacher and can personalize this site even more to my school and students.

Learning new things!

I am extremely excited about this Computer Technology class. I can't wait to learn how to use the technology that is provided for many teachers to be able to engage their students. I feel like I know the bare minimum when it comes to computers and just have enough knowledge to squeak by. I want to be able to know and feel confident about the technology that I have in my classroom and make my students enthusiastic about the different ways we can learn. Hopefully I will leave this class at the end of the semester with those goal accomplished. My parents also hope I get the most out of this class so that I can help them with computer technology!