Questions for Panel Members

1. How has your classroom benefited by using technology?

2. In which ways do you use technology in the classroom?

3. Do your students respond well to technology? Do they know how to use it?

Assignment #4- SMART Board Activity

Preparation for lesson:

To prepare for this lesson I went on SMART board.com and found a lesson plan that was age level appropriate. I made a few minor adjustments by adding in the correct answers after each slide, as wells as adding a link to a useful website at the end of the lesson. I also put together a lesson plan to organize my lesson.

Instructional Plan for: Harvest Festival
Grade Level: 1
Subject: Social Studies

NETs
1. Basic operations and concepts
• Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.
• Students are proficient in the use of technology.
2. Social, ethical, and human issues
• Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information and software.
Objective:
I will give direct instruction and guided practice of how to use a SMART board while teaching about harvest time. Students, as a class, will join me in learning about harvest time by hands on interaction with the material. Students may volunteer to come up and answer questions concerning harvest time, as well as call out answers.

Introduction/ Anticipatory Set:• Introduce what class will be learning.
• Ask questions about what we do during harvest time. What is it for? Does it have anything to do with thanksgiving?

Teaching Steps:• I will present a smart board lesson on the subject of harvest time.
• I will go through the slides and ask students to participate in answering questions.
• Students will come up and answer questions by hands on interaction with the smart board.
• Once students have answered questions I will check for understand by providing the correct answers after each slide.

Closure:
I will close by allowing questions and open discussion about the lesson.

Discussion on Interactive board use in the classroom:

I feel my students would benefit by using a SMART board. The SMART board creates a fun, interactive learning environment. The SMART board provides a way for the students to participate in the lesson. Students are able to visually see the information as well as participating in a hands on way. For auditory learners the teacher can read the lesson aloud or add sound/music to aid in the learning process. The SMART board allows the teacher to meet the diverse needs of all students. Like I said before, each learning style can benefit from the smart board. The SMART board can easily accommodate to the needs of students. For example, if you have a shorter student in your class you can change the heights. If you have a blind student in your class you can add audio. There are many possibilities with this tool!

Harvest Festival SMART Board lesson- Grade 1

Assignment #3- Technology Integration

Lesson plan link: Family Interaction Plan/ About Me

I love the idea of using technology in a lesson. I find it a little challenging sometimes with my students because they need so much help using it. I came up with the idea of having my students and their families create a webpage using page creator. Since my students will be creating a project that tells the class about them I thought it would be great to give them the option to create that project online with thier families.

1. The only tools needed for this project would be a computer and parental supervision/help.

2. The technology would completely change the learning environment. The students would learn how to use technology and how to be creative when they are using it.
The students could also present their projects to the class using the overhead projector.

By adding technology to this lesson I feel it takes an expressive project and helps to make it a learning project as well.

3. Some of the challenges for my students will be their ability to use a computer and all the tools on page creator. They will need alot of supervision and help from their parents, that is why I made the project optional. They can create the project for extra credit.

4. "The student acquires the knowledge and skills necessary to create, to perform, and to respond effectively to the arts."

What are issues with the internet?

1st grade issues:

cyber bullying
can't read
system not compatiable with home system
internet predators
don't know the basics of computer use
exposed to inappropriate websites on accident
recieved inappropriate emails or messages

k12 Conference- "Oodles of Google"

I listened to "Oodles of Google" by Sharon Betts.

The information was very useful. The presentor went through five steps on how to create an online presentation or report using google. I was not aware of all the different applications google had available. I thought it was very useful and something that I would love to utilize in the classroom. I don't think 1st graders would really understand how to use it, but this would be a great tool for middle school and up. Using google you could do reasearch through notebook and save/share things in your notebook. After doing your research you can upload that research to google docs. You can create a presentation and also use page creator to allow students or teachers to access your presentation. I really enjoyed learning about this, the presentor was very good and very informative when presenting. She went through each step with the viewer and showed you exactly what to do. I will definetly utilize this tool!

Link to "Oodles of Google"

SMART Board vs. Active Board

I was observing at Newcastle Elementary today and I was in the fourth grade classroom. They are in the process of putting active boards in all the classrooms. It was interesting to see the active board in use. It is similar to the smart board but has some differences. There is only one pen, and the clickers are different. I really liked the active board it was very easy to use and the clickers were very effective. They were high quality and the kids could stay in their seat and answer. I though it might be hard for the 1st grade students to adapt to but they picked up on it very well. The teacher did a small assignment with the fourth graders and their 1st grade buddies. The 1st graders loved it and had a great time and use the clickers correctly and quickly. I was impressed. There were some things I did not like as much as the smart board. The pen makes this horrible screatching noise when you write on the board. There was also no tray to set your pens in and no eraser. I did not get to play with it so I am not sure how you would erase. I was really interested in learning more about it. The more I am at Newcastle the more impressed I am with the technology there. They have upgraded to new projectors as well as video projectors which I find very useful. They also have computers in each classroom for the teacher and a computer for the students to access. I feel they are embracing technology and teaching the students how to use it.

Childhood Development- Grade 1

I chose the category 'Childhood Development- Grade 1' because as a teacher I want to know where my students are at as far as development. I would like to know how they interact best, and what is going on with them intellectually, physically and socially. I believe that knowing about their development will help me to teach the effectively. Each site in this category focuses on ages 5 & 6 because I am planning on teaching this age group. The 1st site on the list named Child Development is a great site, it gives the reader specific bullets on the intellectual, physical and social development of a 5 or 6 year old. It tells the reader their characteristics, things they typically enjoy, and common moods. The site also lists some helpful hints on how to interact with children in this age bracket. Education.com is also another great site. This site gives charts with specific characters and qualities as well. What I really like about this site is it gives you indicators of development lag. I believe that important to know as an educator.