I created a Google website the other day and it was so easy and fun to create! There is not an abundance of material on the site at the moment but as the days go on I will be adding to it and then eventually using it for my own classroom website!!
I am excited to share it with you all!! Check it out!!
http://sites.google.com/site/langegroupnow/
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
INTASC Self Assessment
Here is the link to my self assessment form.. Check it out!
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgw5v3n_52cvkrcrrf
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgw5v3n_52cvkrcrrf
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
New Tech Standards and Requirements
There are many different ways in which I can implement the technology standards in my 4th grade classroom. I want to have a classroom blog or website so the parents and the children can stay connected to the classroom even if they are at home. I will then get permission from all of the students parents to make sure that it is ok to have an email for their child. This will involve the parents help when they set it up and when they check their emails. The students emails will be on Google this way we can connect and share class documents, and I can show them most of the Google tools that are available. We will use ones such as the spreadsheet and Google presentations.
Another tool that I will implement in my classroom is Skype. With the permission of the parents I will have a class Skype account so we are able to communicate with other people from around the world (once I make the connections with them) to talk about differences in the cultures.
I will also introduce to the students Photo Story 3 so they are able to make presentations for classroom research. I plan on having weekly class trips to the computer lab so the students can become familiar with computers and the different programs that we will be using. Through this I will explore with the class how to research online so they are able to find multiple resources for their research projects and papers.
Other tools that I hope to implement if time permits are Scribblar, Tokbox, and student blogs.
The last tool that I will introduce to the class is a digital camera. This will be used to document what will be going on in the classroom so we can share with the parents and others who are not able to join classroom activities. I will also allow students to take the camera home to take pictures of things they did over the weekend as well as things needed for in class assignments.
As with all of the tools and ideas that I plan to implement into the classroom I will make sure to go over rules and guidelines with my students before use of the products begin. My hope is that by implementing these specific tools and ideas into the classroom I am broadening their awareness of technology, inspiring creativity, and meeting all of the technology standards as a teacher.
I am excited to start this process and can't wait to impact the lives of my students through one technology tool at a time!
Another tool that I will implement in my classroom is Skype. With the permission of the parents I will have a class Skype account so we are able to communicate with other people from around the world (once I make the connections with them) to talk about differences in the cultures.
I will also introduce to the students Photo Story 3 so they are able to make presentations for classroom research. I plan on having weekly class trips to the computer lab so the students can become familiar with computers and the different programs that we will be using. Through this I will explore with the class how to research online so they are able to find multiple resources for their research projects and papers.
Other tools that I hope to implement if time permits are Scribblar, Tokbox, and student blogs.
The last tool that I will introduce to the class is a digital camera. This will be used to document what will be going on in the classroom so we can share with the parents and others who are not able to join classroom activities. I will also allow students to take the camera home to take pictures of things they did over the weekend as well as things needed for in class assignments.
As with all of the tools and ideas that I plan to implement into the classroom I will make sure to go over rules and guidelines with my students before use of the products begin. My hope is that by implementing these specific tools and ideas into the classroom I am broadening their awareness of technology, inspiring creativity, and meeting all of the technology standards as a teacher.
I am excited to start this process and can't wait to impact the lives of my students through one technology tool at a time!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Photo Story 3 Presentation
Photo Story 3 is a really neat tool to use on regular PC computers. I had a fun time putting together our slide show of Greg's adventures with the rest of the group. It was really quick to install and to get started. The process of creating a photo story was super easy and you can customize it to your own personal liking! This would be a great tool to use in the classroom or to put up on the classroom website to show parents what has been going on in class. Another use in the classroom is to have the students create reports on their summer vacations or other research projects. I can not wait to use this tool for my own personal life and classroom.
Check out our Photo Story that we made as a group!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Neat Video
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet
I really enjoyed learning how to use the Google Docs Spreadsheets. I was somewhat familiar with excel before, but now I feel very confident in using this program for all my spreadsheet needs! It was very easy to learn and to move around the tool in order to do the things that I needed to. I can not wait to use this tool for many projects throughout my teaching career!
The summary of the test results were very interesting to me. When I did the total averages of all the student averages and all of the test averages they ended up being the same number 191.92. Another observation was that all of the below average students besides for two (Katherine and Walter) had an increase from test to test. The other two students fluctuated up and down with their test scores.
I find this spreadsheet tool on Google to be very applicable to my new career as a teacher! I am very excited that I learned how to use it and can't wait to apply it to my own classroom!
The summary of the test results were very interesting to me. When I did the total averages of all the student averages and all of the test averages they ended up being the same number 191.92. Another observation was that all of the below average students besides for two (Katherine and Walter) had an increase from test to test. The other two students fluctuated up and down with their test scores.
I find this spreadsheet tool on Google to be very applicable to my new career as a teacher! I am very excited that I learned how to use it and can't wait to apply it to my own classroom!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Skype!!!
I absolutely LOVE this tool on the computer. It really comes in handy when you want to see and talk to friends and family who live in other states. It is very convenient and FREE, which is even better! I am so glad that this tool is out there because I get to chat and see my parents in Arizona and my brother and sister in law who live in Bulgaria!! Overall, Skype is a great tool and I can also use it for personal productivity reasons. I can use it to talk to other teachers when they might be in other states to get new ideas and actually be able to see what they have created. Or for my classroom we might be able to adopt another classroom and chat face to face through Skype. I am so excited to work this interactive tool into my curriculum!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Doodle Presentation
Assessment 3 WEb 2.0 Presentation on Doodle. Please enjoy the fun presentation that Chelsea, Katy, and I created about Doodle!!!
Doodle can be used in the classroom in many ways! You can set up a voting page for the students to vote on what they would like to study next. You could also use it by putting up a schedule on the classroom website for the parents to go and sign up for confrences! This can be a great tool to use which can save paper and time!
Doodle can be used in the classroom in many ways! You can set up a voting page for the students to vote on what they would like to study next. You could also use it by putting up a schedule on the classroom website for the parents to go and sign up for confrences! This can be a great tool to use which can save paper and time!
Monday, September 28, 2009
OTEN Conference
I attended the OTEN conference on Saturday in Forest Grove. I found it to be very informative and interesting. I attended the keynote address, podcasting in elementary schools, and visual learning with concept maps. I really enjoyed the podcasting session and can not wait to create my own classroom website, and use technology throughout the year!!
Here is the link to my Yodio: http://yodio.com/yo.aspx?cardid=P9X4cFWURM6rNKc4BHJBM8
Here is the link to my Yodio: http://yodio.com/yo.aspx?cardid=P9X4cFWURM6rNKc4BHJBM8
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
My Favorite Web 2.0 Tools
Web 2.0 is a "web-based platform for applications and services." This means that I can use ANY computer to access my information because it is all web-based with Web 2.0. The applications that Web 2.0 has include: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, audio and video productions, communications, tech support. This is a huge jump for technology and is a great way to keep all of your information in one place without having to carry your laptop around with you everywhere you go.
These types of technologies can have a huge impact on my effectiveness as a teacher. It is obvious that the world is moving towards more advanced technology. It is up to teachers to make sure that children in today's age come into contact with this technology. One way to make sure that this happens is by integrating it into the classroom. A way that these technologies can improve my effectiveness as an educator is by being very organized because I use a program like Web 2.0. Since this program is web based I will never have to "forget" anything at home, so I am always prepared for my lessons. It will also improve my effectiveness as a teacher because there are lots of ways that I can use this tool to introduce technology into the classroom, such as spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing. If I can use all of these tools in my classroom, the students then have a better chance at succeeding in their education because it is very technologically based. I hope to use all of these wonderful tools in my classroom, with my students someday.
One tool that was of my interest was Google docs. This tool is very neat because all you need to have is a Google account and then you can save anything you want, on Google docs, and it is web based so it can be accessed anywhere. This can be used many ways within my classroom. I can use it to make sure that I have all of my papers necessary for teaching. I can also use it with my students by showing them how to use it and how to send papers to me through Google docs and email. This can help my students achieve by learning their way around the computer as well as the Internet.
One other tool that I was impressed with was Scribblar. This tool is an online whiteboard where you can upload images, add lines, shapes, as well as add live audio and chat. I can use this to have my children interactively follow along on their computer at school or at home. This can have a huge benefit, not only it is interactive and the children are learning to use computers, but they are learning the lesson as well. I really liked this tool and think that I will be able to use this tool with no issues attached. This will help to make me an effective teacher as well as a technologically efficient teacher. All of these tools are very cool, and I can't wait to use them in my classroom someday!
These types of technologies can have a huge impact on my effectiveness as a teacher. It is obvious that the world is moving towards more advanced technology. It is up to teachers to make sure that children in today's age come into contact with this technology. One way to make sure that this happens is by integrating it into the classroom. A way that these technologies can improve my effectiveness as an educator is by being very organized because I use a program like Web 2.0. Since this program is web based I will never have to "forget" anything at home, so I am always prepared for my lessons. It will also improve my effectiveness as a teacher because there are lots of ways that I can use this tool to introduce technology into the classroom, such as spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing. If I can use all of these tools in my classroom, the students then have a better chance at succeeding in their education because it is very technologically based. I hope to use all of these wonderful tools in my classroom, with my students someday.
One tool that was of my interest was Google docs. This tool is very neat because all you need to have is a Google account and then you can save anything you want, on Google docs, and it is web based so it can be accessed anywhere. This can be used many ways within my classroom. I can use it to make sure that I have all of my papers necessary for teaching. I can also use it with my students by showing them how to use it and how to send papers to me through Google docs and email. This can help my students achieve by learning their way around the computer as well as the Internet.
One other tool that I was impressed with was Scribblar. This tool is an online whiteboard where you can upload images, add lines, shapes, as well as add live audio and chat. I can use this to have my children interactively follow along on their computer at school or at home. This can have a huge benefit, not only it is interactive and the children are learning to use computers, but they are learning the lesson as well. I really liked this tool and think that I will be able to use this tool with no issues attached. This will help to make me an effective teacher as well as a technologically efficient teacher. All of these tools are very cool, and I can't wait to use them in my classroom someday!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Reflection for 6. 3 and 6. 13
6.3
I looked at my 4th graders Regions Adventure in Time book to find the results of the race and gender tally. First of all I found that there were no Arab Americans that were presented within this book. Other than that I at least found one of each other category in the table including: Asian American, African American, Latino American, American Indian, white American, ambiguous group, mixed group, and disabled American. The most I found was of white males, although there were many white females shown. Out of the genders there were definitely more males that were shown than females. I was surprised to only find two disabled people (male and female) within the entire book.
Here is the tally from the book that I flipped through:
Asian Americans: 4 male, 3 female
African Americans: 18 male, 13 female
Latino Americans:7 male, 7 female
American Indians: 6 male, 4 female
White Americans: 52 males, 21 females
Ambiguous: 3 males
Mixed group: 7 males, 3 females
Disables Americans: 1 male, 1 female
Some of the people shown throughout this book were Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, BB King, and Bill Clinton.
6.13
Here is the site that I usedhttp://www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/steps.html
The person who produced this website was Paul Gorski, he is affiliated with Edchange.org.
This website is intended to be used as a resource for teachers to take a look at. It explains a certain process that other teachers have used in the past to incorporate multicultural curriculum into their classrooms. It shows a slow 5 stage process of how to incorporate different multicultural ideas these include: curriculum of the mainstream, heroes and holidays, integration, structural reform, and multicultural, social action and awareness.
The biases that the developers have are they think that the textbooks create a big gap in the multicultural education and that there are no good things about textbooks because they do not typically represent every culture, and that they leave out voice, and experiences of non-dominant individuals. This website also gives off the feeling that their strategy is the best way to go about incorporating multicultural ed into the classrooms.
The view of the world that this site tends to support is one that thinks that the classroom needs to be more well equipped with better multicultural teachings. They promote the view that the classrooms curriculum needs to be drastically reformed. They think that there is not enough out there and that each classroom no matter how diverse it is, needs to have more of this type of education. They also clearly state that in the process of changing the classroom they also want to change society towards social justice and equity.
The view that this site undermines or ignores is the one where people think that there is already enough multicultural ed in the classrooms, or the one that thinks it is not necessary to teach it. This site clearly states that the classrooms do not incorporate enough multicultural ed and that this should change so that children can have a better education as well as have their voice and ideas heard within the classroom.
I looked at my 4th graders Regions Adventure in Time book to find the results of the race and gender tally. First of all I found that there were no Arab Americans that were presented within this book. Other than that I at least found one of each other category in the table including: Asian American, African American, Latino American, American Indian, white American, ambiguous group, mixed group, and disabled American. The most I found was of white males, although there were many white females shown. Out of the genders there were definitely more males that were shown than females. I was surprised to only find two disabled people (male and female) within the entire book.
Here is the tally from the book that I flipped through:
Asian Americans: 4 male, 3 female
African Americans: 18 male, 13 female
Latino Americans:7 male, 7 female
American Indians: 6 male, 4 female
White Americans: 52 males, 21 females
Ambiguous: 3 males
Mixed group: 7 males, 3 females
Disables Americans: 1 male, 1 female
Some of the people shown throughout this book were Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, BB King, and Bill Clinton.
6.13
Here is the site that I used
The person who produced this website was Paul Gorski, he is affiliated with Edchange.org.
This website is intended to be used as a resource for teachers to take a look at. It explains a certain process that other teachers have used in the past to incorporate multicultural curriculum into their classrooms. It shows a slow 5 stage process of how to incorporate different multicultural ideas these include: curriculum of the mainstream, heroes and holidays, integration, structural reform, and multicultural, social action and awareness.
The biases that the developers have are they think that the textbooks create a big gap in the multicultural education and that there are no good things about textbooks because they do not typically represent every culture, and that they leave out voice, and experiences of non-dominant individuals. This website also gives off the feeling that their strategy is the best way to go about incorporating multicultural ed into the classrooms.
The view of the world that this site tends to support is one that thinks that the classroom needs to be more well equipped with better multicultural teachings. They promote the view that the classrooms curriculum needs to be drastically reformed. They think that there is not enough out there and that each classroom no matter how diverse it is, needs to have more of this type of education. They also clearly state that in the process of changing the classroom they also want to change society towards social justice and equity.
The view that this site undermines or ignores is the one where people think that there is already enough multicultural ed in the classrooms, or the one that thinks it is not necessary to teach it. This site clearly states that the classrooms do not incorporate enough multicultural ed and that this should change so that children can have a better education as well as have their voice and ideas heard within the classroom.
How can I use a blog for my future teaching?
There are many ways that I will be able to use my blog within the classroom. Since I want to teach an upper elementary grade (4), technology will be more relevant to the students and more applicable in the classroom. One way I plan on using the blog is in the form of a weekly newsletter home to the parents. I will post some very exciting things that have been going on with the class important information, and upcoming events that the class will be attending. This is one way of connecting with the families. Another way that I can use a blog for the classroom is by putting up slide shows of the kids projects and assignments for the parents to see. I could also post the slide shows of what I have been using for the students during class time. This way they can see what their kids have been doing and learning in school. Another way that I can use my blog is by putting links for the students to use for reading homework, as well as important videos for the parents or students to view. Another way I can use my blog is by having students post on my blog with their homework for that night, so I can view them all at once. The last way that I can use a blog is to connect with other teachers, either in the same school or in different states. This can help to share ideas and even lesson plans if necessary.
My Bibliography
I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little kid. Growing up with a teacher for a mom has also influenced me to become a teacher myself. Fourth grade would be the ideal age group that I want to teach, but I am also open to any grade within an elementary school. I really love science, within school this would be the subject that I am most passionate about. The other subject that I really enjoy learning about is nutrition (eating right), and new ways to exercise. This is something that I would love to teach to the kids if there is time within the school year.
I am a very active person. I love being outdoors, riding bikes, or going on hikes. I also really enjoy exercising as a way to get out some of my energy. I am a lover of sports, especially volleyball which I played all four years of my undergrad. I also enjoy watching movies, scrapbooking, and coming up with new creative activities to do. The thing that I love doing the most is spending time with my husband, family, and friends.
I am a very active person. I love being outdoors, riding bikes, or going on hikes. I also really enjoy exercising as a way to get out some of my energy. I am a lover of sports, especially volleyball which I played all four years of my undergrad. I also enjoy watching movies, scrapbooking, and coming up with new creative activities to do. The thing that I love doing the most is spending time with my husband, family, and friends.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
About ME!
I graduated from Biola University in May of 2009, with a degree in Communication Studies. During my undergrad I played volleyball for my school which has helped me to develop a sense of teamwork. This is key to my teaching in the future because I want my classroom to be seen as a team all working together and I feel as though I have the tools now to progress my students towards a team oriented attitude.
I am currently attending Willamette University, which I will graduate in the Spring of 2010 with my Masters of Arts in Teaching.
I have been around children most of my life and I love working with students. I have such a passion to teach children and see that I can make a difference in their lives. In the past I have worked in a daycare helping out with the children, I have been involved with coaching many children in the sport of volleyball, and I have completed an Introduction to Teaching class at my former school. Here is where I was involved in two different classrooms observing as well as helping the students with problems or answering questions.
I want to teach so that I can help students. I also want to teach because I have a passion for learning and for sharing my knowledge with students. I cannot imagine a better or more rewarding career for myself.
I am currently attending Willamette University, which I will graduate in the Spring of 2010 with my Masters of Arts in Teaching.
I have been around children most of my life and I love working with students. I have such a passion to teach children and see that I can make a difference in their lives. In the past I have worked in a daycare helping out with the children, I have been involved with coaching many children in the sport of volleyball, and I have completed an Introduction to Teaching class at my former school. Here is where I was involved in two different classrooms observing as well as helping the students with problems or answering questions.
I want to teach so that I can help students. I also want to teach because I have a passion for learning and for sharing my knowledge with students. I cannot imagine a better or more rewarding career for myself.
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