Learning

Altec is a wonderful website.  There are many tools available too use.  My mom is a teacher at B.M. Williams Primary in Chesapeake, VA.  She has used Altec for a while and absolutly loves it. There is so much to explore and use in each subject and with all the different curriculums.  I love this site and i am sure i will use it more than once.

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I have learned so much over the past 7 weeks.  I never thought in a million years that I could learn so much about the internet, technology, and all that is used in a classroom.  I know that every school is different, and I know that I will never know 100% of what I need to until I can get into the classroom myself and work with the technology that is available and apply it to whatever I am teaching, and make it fun for the students.  I have enjoyed each day of this class.  My only regret is that I was not in a classroom.  I wish I could have been in a classroom setting for this one.  Maybe I would have learned a little more than I did being on my own at home.  I hope that I can take all of the knowledge that was given to me and take it with me through life and throughout my teaching career.  Thank you to everyone for all of your help and espically to Professor Danner!

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The first video I watched was abotu Harrison Central High School.  They used video cameras, computers, laptops, GPS, etc in all of their classrooms.  THe cheerleaders used a program that lets them know what their heart rate is before a workout and then after.  This lets them know if they need to work harder or if they have worked hard enough.  The same data was given to a algebra class and they graphed the results.  This school uses a lot of technology in each class.  I believe that the technology actually helped these students dramatically. 

The video on Mary Scroggs Elementary School was really interesting.  The school is a very old building but is one of the most up to date in technology.  They have a morning broadcast every morning.  Different students broadcast every day, and there are 5 fifth graders that help out everyday with all the backstage stuff.  They all have classroom websites and a school site also.  The kids work on classroom projects all together.  They blog, and use the internet starting in kindergarden.  This curriculum was so interesting.  These students were learning so much and it was related to the outside world. 

The video in King Middle School was in a 7th grade classroom and they were submitting a class project.  They had to produce a cd.  They have had a lot of different projects that the kids have created.  This school is a Chapter one school which means that over 50% of the students recieve free or reduced lunches.  This type of technology in this particular school is wonderful.   A lot of these kids cannot afford to have computers and such at home, so being able to use them at school is very helpful.

Leading with laptops was my favorite video.  This video talked about laptops that were recieved to all middle schoolers and their teachers.  The idea of this project was to make the children as digitally informed as possible.  No matter what we will always use computers and the more we know about them and how to use them the better off they are.  They can summarize data from a fieldtrip, write, and learn more then ever imagined. 

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The first article I read was about schools lagging behind in the use of technology.  What I have learned from this article is that most schools do have computers and internet connection.  A lot of them even track grades and progress through some sort of program.  However it looks to me that the teachers and educators around the US are not completely trained on all the technology that is available to them or that is being used in their schools.  I think when a new type of technology is put into a school and a classroom every person in that school should have enough training for them to know what the software or program is used for and for them to know how to operate it.  It seems like there is one person in a school that has the knowledge and then everybody else has to go to that one person.  If training was provided to everyone there would not be any steps left out and everybody would know exactly what they needed to know about the new software or programs. 

The article on dont just adapt to technology, adopt it was a great article.  The biggest thing I got out of this article is getting the technology and going as far forward with it as you can.  Learning, experimenting, and using the different types of technology is the only way to get the knowledge you need to teach with technology.  Teaching old things in new ways is the hardest thing to do, but if you are not affraid of the technology then it should be a fairly easy transition. 

The Apple Learning Interchange is a great website.  I found a lot of useful resources for teachers on this site.  It was interesting to go through and see how much was offered.  I love this site!

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I have read a lot about blogging in the classroom over the past few weeks.  I think it is very exciting and useful to blog between teachers, students, and parents.  Myspace is very popular all over the world, however it is not all that safe.  Yes some of us have private myspace, so only people you let be your friends can see your page, and it works that way if you put your age at 14, however sexual preditors are always out there looking.  A blogging situation that is set up by a teacher and controlled by a teacher can be much safer.  If the teacher sets up the blog and gives each student a login and password, it becomes a free but controlled environment.  The teacher can also approve what is said and who posts to what.  I like the idea from blogging in the classroom because it lets children have conversations with each other and their teachers outside of a classroom setting.  Assignments can be posted and the parents can be more involved and know more of what is going on in the everyday classroom and they will also know more about homework assignments and upcoming tests.

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Learning is one of the most important things we can do in this world.  When we are born we learn who our parents are, we learn if we cry that we will be fed, changed, and laid down for a nap.  As we get older we learn what we can and cannot do.  Then we start to learn right from wrong.  By this time we are getting ready for school.  We learn our ABC’s, how to count, play well with others, share, etc.  We learn so much throughout school!  Then we graduate from highschool and go off to college, or start working, or even join the military.  This is still a learning process.  We learn to be on our own, how to support ourselves, and some of us learn what we want to do with our lives.  Everyday we learn something new.  Each day comes at us differently and with a different situation, and we learn how to deal with it or maybe how to react just a little differently.  So I guess the point i am trying to get across is that we are always learning in each day that we live.  There is always something new and exciting happening.  There are different cultures, and countries to learn about.  We can learn about our laws and our societies and how in some ways they are so different, but in other ways they are exactly the same. 

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