My Dear Webquest!

So, I decided that WebQuests are actually a neat way to give students opportunities to use the internet in a way that will be helpful to them. It's a good way to show them that the internet can be used to find information - it at least gives them a taste of that.

Reflection:

a) What works best on my WebQuest? I really like that we can put videos on there. I think it is a good way to motivate and catch their interest. I think that the links that I put up are fairly easy to navigate.

b) What more would I do if I could? I would like to take the children on a Field Trip to the aquarium so that they could see the animals that they did their research on in person. I think that would be a great learning experience that would add to what they learned by doing the WebQuest.

c) The planning sheet helped me to get an idea of what I wanted to do and how I should organize it. The peer evaluation was really helpful. It was nice to get ideas from someone else in the class and she gave me some good suggestions.

d) What have I learned about the planning process? I learned that as the teacher I am responsible for making sure that my students have authentic experiences. I need to be the one that finds materials that will be helpful and relevant to them. I learned that a little bit of effort and work put in by me can go a long way for my students.

Oops!!

Well, I don't know how this happened... But I failed to do my Website Evaluation! So, I'm going to do that now.

It was really interesting for me to look through all the links that talked about different websites, and what to look for to check for authenticity. There is a lot that I probably wouldn't have thought of.

I decided to do my Website Evaluation on an article posted on the Smithsonian Website. It is about the Giant Squid and it is for young children to read. Here is some of the information that I've used, by using the different web site evaluation forms:

1. This page didn't have an author, but it did include the website where it came from and information on how to get ahold of them.

2. The publisher corresponds to the site.

3. It had a date: 2007, and it's linked to the Smithsonian

4. The page looks very organized and neat. The pictures and text are easy to see and read. Children would be able to navigate this page with ease.

5. There were no external links, but I was able to redirect back to the main webpage.

6. Sources are well documented. At the bottom of the page, there was a list of the sources - they were well documented.

7. The document page was also very non-biased. I read through the materials and it was very factual.

8. This page is linked into Google - I was able to find it by posting it into the subject header.

Overall, I think that this is a good website to use for children. I think that they put it together well and that they contain information that would be valid.

WebQuest Link

So, if anyone wants to view my WebQuest, here is the web address for it:
http://ia.usu.edu/viewproject.php?project=ia:12992.

Comic Life

For our class, we were able to learn about a program called Comic Life. It is a fun little program. The children are able to take pictures and then incorporate them into a comic strip. I think this is a good way to motivate children, since they love taking pictures and having pictures taken of them. It also incorporates literacy and technology into the classroom

Some ideas that I feel could go with this:
- A class story or book
- A class newspaper
- Spotlights on the children
- Informational guide for the children

Here are some of the things that I experimented with on Comic Life:

These are photos of different shapes found in our world!

Online Resources

So, today we talked about different resources that we will be able to use for children in the classroom. There were many different websites that we were able to look at.

For Social Studies, I found a fun website that goes through the Underground Railroad - http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/index.htm. The children go through each step and listen to a slave as he goes through how he came to escape slavery. This would go well with 5th grade standard 1: Students will understand how the exploration and colonization of North America transformed human history, Objective 3: Distinguish between the rights and responsibilities held by different groups of people during the colonial period, and indicator a: Compare the varying degrees of freedom held by different groups (e.g. American Indians, landowners, women, indentured servants, enslaved people).

http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/grade-5-place-values was a good review for students to use with place value. It goes through a series of questions, and the students have to figure out the number by using place value. This website had a lot of different resources and I think that there are many different ways that it will be able to be used in the future. This link would be good for 5th Grade Math Standard 1: Students will expand number sense to include integers and perform operations with whole numbers, simple fractions, and decimals, Objective 1: Represent whole numbers and decimals from thousandths to one billion, fractions, percents, integers, Indicator a: Read and write numbers in standard and expanded form.

There are a lot of websites out there. Sometimes it is hard to know which ones to use, but I feel like they give the students more practice and can be a lot of fun in the process.

WebQuests!!

Today I was able to learn about WebQuests and how they can be used in the classroom. I think that this is such a good idea! Children will love being able to work on computers to find their research, and there are so many different and fun activities that they can do as well. I feel like it is a good way to stay organized, and it helps the children follow and carry out instructions. We also live in a world that uses the internet for research and it is important for them to be exposed to it in a friendly and fun way.

For my WebQuest I am thinking that I would like to do something about creatures that live in the ocean. I think that I will focus it for the 2nd grade Language Arts and Science Core. I would use Science Standard 3, Objective 1, indicator c, which talks about creating pictures and stories about real animals and comparing them to stories about those same make-believe animals. I'd have to find animals that were in both real and make-believe stories. I would want the children to pick an animal that lives in the ocean, and research more about it: the area of the ocean they live in, what they eat, what they do, whether they are alone or in groups, etc.... They could also do Language Arts Standard 8, Objective b and creat an imaginative story about a day in the life of their animal. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with this... I guess it's a start??

Survey Says...?!

Today we talked about using spreadsheets in our classrooms. They can be great tools for the teachers. It is a great way to store data, whether it is grades, assignments, and pretty much any other thing that you can think of. That way, we could even make charts that would show where all our students are at, or who is falling behind. As far as participating with the class, you can take surveys with your students, make data charts, and all that good stuff. We did a chart with M & M's and the colors that people had in their packets. For the younger grades I wouldn't think that they would be able to use spreadsheets as much, but as the teacher you could still record data. With the older grades it would be a lot of fun :) I think there are a lot of positive ways that you could use these programs.

We also learned how to do surveys in google docs. This would be a fun activity for the kids! They can see what they like as opposed to their friends and any time that kids will love anything that they can do with technology.

Surveys are FUN! So you should take my FUN SuRvEy!!

G-g-g-google Docs!

Google docs would be such a fun way for my students to be able to express themselves through writing. I like that it allows them to work in groups and share their ideas.

I'm still not sure which grade I want to teach. I am definitely leaning more towards the younger grades, but for the sake of this I am going to go with 5th grade. I feel like at this age they will be more computer savvy.

With google docs, my students can collaborate on different ideas. They could write short stories, poems, and conduct research together. As each of them find information on their topic, they can post it to their google docs and help each other with the information that they need. The only problem I can think of is that there may be some students that do more work than others. At the same time, children like using computers, so it may be motivating enough that they would all contribute. Another way around this problem would be to assign each child in the group with a different sub-topic that they are responsible for.

All in all, I think that google docs would provide a positive learning experience.

As far as contributing to the Utah Core Curriculum, it allows them to:

• work and present with various forms of media
• practice their spelling
• practice comprehension as they work with others
• identify author's and reader's purpose
• relate prior knowledge to text

...and many others!!

Copyright Laws!

Today I was able to learn a bit more about Copyright Laws and how it is going to apply to me as a teacher. As a teacher, I am going to want to use many different sources in order to enrich the learning experience of my students. I want to make sure that I use sources legally.

I didn't realize that there were so many little things that needed to be taken into consideration when using a material from someone else. In the case studies, when I brushed over them, I thought that it was easy to know whether or not the person in the study needed to ask permission to use material. After reading through them a little more, it seemed to be a little more complicated than that.

Something that I found to be very interesting, was that the Copyright Law applies the moment there is something tangible. I never would have thought that something written on a napkin would be eligible.

It will be very useful to know about the Copyright Laws!

YETC Awesomeness!

Today we went into the YETC, and there seemed to be a lot of really useful things in there. I never thought about all the ways that we can implement technology into the classroom! There were so many fun websites. I liked the spelling website. That would be such a fun way for children to do their spelling! I also liked the organizational tools that are out there. I think that science is taking more of a back seat to language arts and math, and there were so many resources that will be useful in bringing more science into the classroom. Also, I know that for me it is nice to be able to have all my things in one place that I can get to easily. As a teacher, I can use these organizational tools to keep myself on track.

I think there is still so much to learn, and YETC has a lot to offer!

my.uen.org - a great tool!

Today in class, we were able to take a look at the my.uen.org website. I found it very useful and interesting. It's nice to have a place where I can keep all of my things organized and in one place. It seems to be relatively easy to use, and I look forward to exploring it more.
I like that there are so many links and tools available. I never thought that I could use Wimba as a tool to have outside speakers talk directly to my students! I think that will make reading more meaningful to students when they can interview the author.
I also really like that you can build lesson plans, find lesson plans, and get different video tools. I feel like technology can be used in so many ways to help children understand different concepts. Plus, it is more fun for the students - it will add variety to their day... and to mine :)

Blogging in the Classroom

I think that blogging can be an effective tool for children in the classroom, their parents, and teachers themselves!

A blog would be another fun way to bring literacy into the classroom. In this age, computers are going to be a big part of a child's life. Children like computers! Especially when they can personalize their own pages, and see their friends pages. Instead of competing with computer time, I can use this to my advantage. I can have them post different types of writing: poems, short stories, etc.. Not only will they have theirs posted, but they will be able to read their classmate's work as well. I believe that this will connect the student's to each other as they will be more likely to read each other's work when it is on a computer.

Concerns: That students would rely on what others are doing
rather than coming up with their own creative ideas... Anyone have any thoughts
on that?
Safety measures: Before setting up the blogs I would make sure
that the children know the dangers of giving out specific
information on the internet. As I check their blogs for their
writing, I can double check that they are being safe.

A blog can serve as a tool to connect teachers with parents:

• Class posting showing what we will be doing for the week to keep them updated
  
• Post pictures of their children doing projects that they could view (with parental permission of course!)
  
• Post different activities that the parents can do with their children at home to extend what we are learning in class.

I think it would be a fun way to stay connected. Plus, if parents are connected to the blog, they can keep a watch on their child's blog as an added safety measure.

I also would like to follow other teacher's blogs. I liked looking at some of the blogs that were already online. I am still learning and I know that it will be helpful to me to see what they have done. This is a great way for teachers to stay connected and share ideas with each other!