3 lessons

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd2g9mtg_1htjq4kd9
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd2g9mtg_2hp8q23cp
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd2g9mtg_3cv7jk9g3

and i taught the literacy lesson in class.

week 10 videos response

After watching the videos, I was amazed at how easily the students were able to grasp all the concepts. It was always difficult for me to comprehend how easily children pick up on all the new technology coming out these days. One important thing I learned from these videos was how varied the lessons were. Technology is an important aspect in teaching lessons. Not only is it engaging and interesting, it changes the “normal” style of teaching so students are more actively involved; especially if they have the opportunity to participate in using the technology. It can be used for more than just researching or writing papers. The technology available to us, as educators, has increased so much that we can use it for teaching any subject; whether it be math, science, language arts, social studies, or even P.E. Technology adapts to our lessons and makes the lesson more captivating and engaging for students and teacher. Being in the practicum this month has allowed me to experience this first hand in the classroom. Each day students use technology for a reading program online and for math. It has been an interesting and new experience for me to see it utilized so easily in the classroom.

technology available

This week I have learned how essential and useful technology really is in the classroom. They have so many things in the schools now that I never had when in elementary school. Instead of lunch tickets, each student has a lunch card which they scan in to a machine located in the lunchroom. My elementary school growing up never had document cameras and my first exposure to them was this semester in my management class. I've had experience with overheads but not document cameras. Document cameras save so much time.

In the classroom I am working in, they have access to computers, t.v., cd player, projector, document camera, and many more. I have noticed my teacher utilizing all of these for various activities and to help teach a specific lesson. It's really interesting to see how much technology has really become a part of our lives and how it continues to grow.

I completed the midcourse evaluation, informed consent, and the classroom technology inventory list.

Physical and Chemical Changes

I watched the following voicethreads:

http://techbrooke.blogspot.com/
http://nataleeb.blogspot.com/
http://alyssah287.blogspot.com/

After learning about the different technologies I could use in my classroom, I have become a lot more comfortable with the idea of actually using them in my class for the benefit of my students and myself. I really liked the idea of using voicethread to document the activities because it is a great way of keeping track and record of what we did. I'm also glad that I learned about the electronic microscope a lot more and had the opportunity to use it because I learned how easy and resourceful it can be versus an regular microscope. I enjoyed watching other peers' voicethreads because it gave me great ideas for future lessons using all the different technologies that we have available as teachers!

science challenge week 7

5th grade: physical and chemical changes and plants

For this assignment, I wanted to have the students do a unit of plants by planting seeds and caring for them. They would document the growth by observing the plants. At some point in the unit, we would talk about the different types of plants around the world and use google earth to view at different places and the types of climates that allow for certain plants to grow in those specific areas. We would talk about the physical and chemical changes that occur in plants and use digital microscopes to observe those chemical changes.

For content, we will be focusing on chemical changes in plants for the 5th grade. Pedagogy: we will be observing the chemical changes that take place in plants (ie. leavee changing colors). It will be a good fit with the content because it will allow us to see the differences between chemical and physical change and what is classified as chemical changes. Technology: we will be using digital microscopes to compare the differences between the different colored leaves. It is a good fit for the content and pedagogy because it will help solidify the term (chemical change) and allow students to explore chemical changes.

Virtual Tour Completed

Here is the final virtual tour that I have uploaded to my website: Pacific Islands.

And here is the embedded version:


This tour explores the different cultures throughout the Pacific Ocean.

I watched and commented on these three blogs:
http://techbrooke.blogspot.com/
http://betsy-elizabeth-rodriguez.blogspot.com/
http://julsosa.blogspot.com/

Virtual tours are such a great idea for using in the classroom because they help you as a teacher give students the opportunity to "travel." It allows students to learn about cultures, history, and many, many other things. I think the downsides of it might include the students getting off task just playing around with the different tools or trying to look up familiar places to them that don't have to do with the lesson. But other than that, I think it's a great tool to use!!

Virtual Tour Planning

For this assignment, I wanted to explore the Pacific Islands. I found one island from each division (melanesia, micronesia, and polynesia) and then I also decided to add another island that isn't part of Oceania but rather associated with the nearest continent. I thought this would be an interesting way to learn about the different cultures within the Pacific Islands. This could be taught using standard 2, objective 1 for the 3rd grade curriculum. A tour on this would be useful because these islands are "hard to get to" places and being able to view them and learn about them through google earth will allow students the opportunity to learn about each island and the culture. It is more entertaining for students to actually see the place and for them to be able to navigate around it will help increase their own interest in learning about each island.

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Ni`ihau (Hawai`i: Polynesia)	Students will determine the island's position in relation to Kaua`i and how far away it is (southwest, 18 miles )	Ruler
2. Saipan (Marianas Islands: Micronesia)	Students will determine how far north Saipan is from Guam (about 120 miles)	Ruler
3. Taveuni (Fiji: Melanesia)	Students will determine the latitude and longitude of the volcano on the island and the type (lat: 16.82 S, long: 179.97 W, shield volcano)	Gallery: volcanoes
4. Taiwan	Students will determine how far north Taiwan is from the Philippines (about 225 miles)	Ruler