Final Post

The most valuable aspect of creating a PLE was a way to gather my thoughts every week and write them down. It was a great way to reflect what we had learned and discussed in class. Then I was able to form my own thoughts and opinions and then express them in my blog. I also enjoyed going back and looking at what I had written. It was a reminder of what I had learned.
I didn't like that we were told what to write on our PLE. I would have liked more if we were free to write whatever we wanted to express.
I could see myself using a blog in the future when I have my own classroom. I would express lesson ideas that I found were helpful and also ones that didn't go so well. I would then encourage other teachers to read it and get ideas. Hopefully they would also do the same so we could all learn from each other!

Internet Safety-Watching

I feel like I learned a lot from watching these videos. I was informed even more of what is out there. These videos really made it real to me of what can happen to children if they are not careful. Friendships can be broken, running away, and scary situations can occur. I was made more afraid of the internet. If we are not careful, we can easily be taken advantage of. We have to not ever give out our personal information to anyone.
I could use these resources in my future home and classroom. I could prepare a lesson about the importance of internet safety and then show some of these videos to the children. This would inform them of what could happen if they are not careful. I will then let them know what I expect of them in regards to how and when they use the internet. It will be in an open space and they should always feel comfortalbe to tell me what they are looking at. I should also encourage them to tell me if they ever see something that is inappropriate on the internet, then they should tell me.

Technology

For my fourth article, I read "The Savior is Counting on You" by Elder Christensen. It was directed to Aaronic priesthood holders, but I still found it very helpful and informative. He discussed 3 ways that the Lord is counting on us. They are: be a champion of those who need you, avoid the trash that surround you in the media, and be worthy to enter the temple and fill an honorable mission. The other articles were more specific on ways to use technology. I liked Elder Ballard's statement that "our biggest challenge is to choose wisely what we listen to and what we watch." The other articles were specific on how to provide technology with children. We should have computers in open places, inform children of the dangers of technology, and also of the positive things of technology. What I have read, will certainly help me as a future teacher and parent. I know now that I need to be aware of the technology dangers and inform the children of what they are so they can be aware. But, I can help them use technology for positive purposes. These were informative for me to be aware of what technology can do. I have learned, though, that there are so many great parts of technology that we shouldn't disregard it all together! With family and friends, I can help them know of the good websites and what we can gain from them. Technology can be a great help to many.

4th Week of Practicum

I didn't notice any new use of technology this week in my classroom. As always, the overhead was used for several lessons. It is used specifically for spelling, grammar, and writing. The kids really seem to enjoy this and it keeps their attention focused. There is also a daily use of computers at their time of centers. A small group uses a few computers together. They play learning games off of uen.org. They all really enjoy this. There is not much other use of technology in the classroom.
I used the same amount of technology as I did in the previous weeks. I used the overhead to teach spelling and grammar. And then I also used the computers with the children to explain the games to them. Technology lessons seem to really catch their attention. It is something they are not used to and enjoy.
I know that the school has a computer lab. I think it would be useful for the class to use this lab once a week to get more familiar with the computers. Computers can be so useful if only children knew everything they could do on them. I think they should go to the computer lab and have lessons on everything they can do on the computers.

3rd Week of Practicum

This week I basically saw the same amount of use of technology in my classroom. My teacher uses an overhead every day for many lessons. This seems to really keep the kid's attention focused in one area. For math, she also used an audio CD for the kids to listen to. The CD explained the worksheets the students were to complete. This class really enjoyed this. Besides these few things, there really is not much technology used in my classroom.
I taught my technology lesson this week! I did a virtual tour on google earth. A few days earlier, my partner did a tour about the earth in general. She talked about islands, oceans, continents, and countries. Then I did a more specific tour on the 7 continents. So I used a laptop and a projector for my lesson and went through the tour with the children on google earth. I talked about each continent and showed them pictures that went along with each continent. The kids were so fascinated by this. They had never seemed to see the projector or laptop used before in the classroom. The lesson went really well and they enjoyed the tour on google earth. With other mini lessons I did throughout the week, I also used the overhead.
I feel that technology could be used a lot more with teaching math. I don't have a specific idea, but they could practice math priniciples by playing math games on the computer. They would enjoy this while also improving their math skills.

2nd Week of Practicum

I saw a little more use of technology this week in the classroom. The teacher always uses a computer when she first comes in. She checks it for announcements concerning school activities. Every morning at centers, the students have a center for computers. There are a group of computers right outside the classroom. They go to a certain website and play learning games. These either involve numbers, writing, or spelling. An overhead is used a lot throughout the day. Almost for every lesson. The teacher teaches her lessons through explanations that she writes on the overhead for the whole class to see. I didn't see any negative aspects of technology used in the classroom.
I used the overhead in my teaching this week. I found this was a great way to teach my lessons. The whole class can see and they seem interested to see what I will write next. I felt it helped me to manage the class as well while teaching my lesson. I will continue to use the overhead in my lessons. I feel it is a great resource.
I thought this week that it would be a great idea to use my virtual tour that I created for my classroom. I think they would really enjoy it and find it interesting. I think it would be something unique that they never would have seen before. It would be a great way to grab the student's attention.

First Week of Practicum

I didn't see much use of technology this week in my classroom. The teacher had a computer, but didn't use it very much. She use an overhead occasionally. Outside the classroom, they did use computers as a part of their centers time. Each student participated in a learning activity individually.
I didn't use any technology while at the school this week. There wasn't much technology at all.
My idea of teaching technology in the classroom is with the computers that the students already use at their centers. While at the center, I could teach a lesson on something they could research on the internet that could be useful and interesting to them.

Virtual Tours

I learned a lot by looking at my classmates' tours. I looked at ones about plants, folktales, and animals. I was amazed at what people came up with. People are so creative! I found the folktales one very interesting and exciting. I thought the plant idea was very unique. This was a good educational topic to discuss with students. It was interesting to look at the one about animals, because my tour was on animals around the world as well. It was neat to see the animals they decided to talk about. I learn so much by looking at other people's work and what they came up with.

Google Earth

I have never used google earth. I think it is so cool! It can be a great resource to find locations and all that they entail. There are many great tools that can be added to it to create a whole tour of the world. This is such a great resource. I look forward to learning more about it and how I can use it in my classroom to teach about the world.
I found a link about Paris. This would be a great example in my classroom to teach about the different countries. I could create a tour of a lot of the countries and the great historical sites that would be very educational to learn about. I could really see this as a great resource to teach my students about remarkable places around the world.


www.pariserve.com/KMZ/Paris.kmz

Video

I learned so much by looking at other people's videos. People are so creative. This project made me realize that making a video is really not as hard as I thought it would be. I learned I could have taken my own pictures, drawn a story, or narrated a poem. All the videos I saw were so good!




I am intersted in teaching the younger grades. I could use a digital storytelling project to teach many principles. I could use a digital story to teach the ABCs, counting, fairy tales, and even grammar. This would all catch the student's attention. I feel digital storytelling is a great way to teach! I will definitely use this style of teaching. It is unique and makes learning fun!

Digital Storytelling

I think digital storytelling is so cool! We haven't even recorded the story yet, but I am so excited to put it all together! I think this was a great assignment to learn how to do this in our furutre classroom . This will definitely come in handy.

Storyboard

STORYBOARD
(print as many of these as needed)
Names: Jaime Batschi
Amanda Davis
Hayley Hicks
SceneScript/Description


Castle
Scene 1: Once upon a time there lived a Giant and his wife. They lived in a big castle high in the clouds. They lived very comfortably in the clouds and had everything they could ever need including some very valuable family treasures that have been handed down from generation to generation.

Castle door
Scene 2: This small family rarely got any visitors as they were the only giants around. One day as the giantess was cleaning the kitchen and preparing dinner for her husband, she heard a knock at the door. “Who in the world could that be?” she exclaimed. At the door she saw no one at first, and then she heard a small voice at her feet. “Please ma’am, I have traveled a long distance and am hungry. May I have something to eat?” As she looked down to see the speaker she found a small human boy. She was surprised to find him there, but as she had no children of her own, she welcomed him in and fed him. “What is your name boy?” she asked. “Jack”, he answered.

In oven
Scene 3: Before she had time to ask anymore questions, they heard loud footsteps coming towards the kitchen. The giantess rushed to explain to Jack “my husband has been in a bad mood all day and won’t take kindly to having a stranger in the house.” She let him hide quickly in the oven, as it was the only place low enough that he could get into.

English muffin
Scene 4: Now the giant was indeed in a bad mood that day but the prospects of a good meal had cheered him up greatly. He sat down saying “Fee fi fo fum, I smell an English muffin.” His wife was happy to hear that he was excited for the muffins she had made for dinner. In her haste to serve her husband dinner she forgot about the boy Jack. After the good meal the giant fell asleep at the table.

Coins
Scene 5: When it was time for bed, she roused her husband so he could get ready. As she cleaned up the kitchen she noticed that her bag of coins was missing. As the she listened to the beautiful sounds of their magical harp, she decided not to mention it to the Giant because it might bring back the bad mood he was in earlier that day.


Hen
Scene 6: Now the Giant and his wife had a special hen. This hen laid golden eggs and they were very proud of it. Everyday she would go out and collect the eggs from the hen. But on this particular day she went to collect the eggs and discovered the hen was missing. She spent all day looking for this hen but it was no where to be found.

Moon
Scene 7: That night she decided to tell her husband. “What?” he says, “it’s missing? It couldn’t have gone far there’s no where for it to go in these clouds.” They decided that it was too late to deal with it that night. They would search for their again hen the following day.

Harp 2
Scene 8: The next day, as they were about to eat lunch, they heard a terrible screech coming from their bedroom. As they ran to see where it came from, to her amazement, the giantess saw Jack running out the door carrying their beautiful harp! “Stop, Jack, stop!” she yelled.

Jack Running With Harp
Scene 9: She sent her husband after Jack to retrieve their harp. She waited anxiously for their return. Soon he returned with Jack and the harp. They questioned Jack until he confessed to stealing all of their missing items, including the coins and the hen. The Giantess kindly explained to Jack that stealing was bad and how worried they were. Jack agreed to return the items and to never steal again.

Castle/nice giant
Scene 10: As the Giant couple learned more about Jack, they discovered he found their castle by climbing a giant beanstalk, and that he lived with his mother who is very poor. The Giant sent Jack home to bring his mother so they can meet her. From then on Jack and his mother were always welcome in the castle in the cloud…..as long a Jack did not steal anymore. The End.

Peers Tech Savvy Teachers

I learned that there are so many great ideas out there! Everyone around has such amazing teaching ideas that I realize now why it's so important to communicate and share with others. We can all learn so much from each other. We can get such good teaching ideas by sharing with each other what we have. I look forward to learning so much more from everyone else

The Tech Savvy Teacher

ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS!!!! HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF STELLARIUM?

This months's issue we will discuss the new-found software Stellarium and how helpful it can be in your classroom! It's a wonderful way to have a visual aid for your students representing the solar system. You can zoom in on particular plantets and soar over the whole solar system with your class! It is a software that comes free on the MAC computers.

A group of teachers put together a science activity for their classrooms. We decided to take a trip to the Solar System! We wanted to have our class land on each planet and learn something imporant about that planet. At each planet, we planned an activity that would involve the students and help the learning process. For a couple of the planets, we used the Stellarum software to show the students where we were and what was unique about that particular planet.

This Stellarium software enhanced the student's ability to observe the planets on a closer level. They were able to connect the location of the planets in relation to the other planets. They were able to gain a better picture of what each planet looks like and what makes them distinct. Further more, they were able to see the solar system as a whole at a closer level.

THE TECH SAVVY TEACHER:

Standard 3: Objective 1: Describe and compare the components of the solar system.
Setup: Have the class split into 7 groups. Assign each group a planet to learn about. Have Stellarium already downloaded on your computer as well.
Hook: Have the children come in to a classroom already prepared for takeoff. Have all the desks to the side and all the chairs in three or four lines.
Teacher in Role: Tell the children that you are going on a space adventure. You are going to visit all the planets and learn about the different qualities of each planet. They need to get their space helmets on and all their space gear ready for lift off!
Chorus: COUNTDOWN!!! 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1…BLAST OFF!!
Improvisation: Have the children act out what they think it would be like to blast off.
Teacher in Role: We’re off to the sun! What do you know about the sun?
List on whiteboard the different characteristics.
It’s too hot here…Let’s go!
Improvisation: Travel to Mercury. While they are traveling, have the children figure out what their weight would be on Mercury. (http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight)
Instruct: Bring up the Stellarium software. Show the children what Mercury looks like. Have the children describe what they see on the planet. Have the Mercury group present on what they learned.
Improvisation: Have the children act out what they think moving around on Mercury would be like.
Teacher in Role: Ok everyone! Let’s load back on the spaceship and prepare for take off to Venus!
Instruct: Travel to Venus. Bring up Stellarium and the view of Venus. Have the Venus group share what they learned. Have the children describe what they see.
Teacher in Role: Ok we’re going to travel to Mars now! Wave to Earth as we zoom by!
Instruct: Bring up picture of Mars. Ask the children what they know about Mars. Have the Mars group talk about what they learned. As a teacher, make sure you include information on latest space discoveries that NASA is currently involved in.
Teacher in Role: Ok space cadets, we’re going to travel through the asteroids. Everyone make sure you’re buckled up and ready for a ride!
Improvisation: Have the children act out how they would dodge asteroids. Make sure you clarify that no one should touch each other or bump into each other.
Teacher in Role: Phew! We made it to Jupiter. What do you know about Jupiter? Have the group present about Jupiter. Make sure you tell them about all the moons. Also, make sure you have them find their weight on Jupiter.
Freeze Frame: Walk around like you think it would be like on Jupiter. Remember, there is a lot more gravity acting on your body, so you can’t move as fast. When I say freeze, hold your position!
Teacher in Role: Ok everyone, back on the shuttle! It’s time to head to Saturn. Have the Saturn group present on their planet. (Make sure you bring up the Stellarium picture of Saturn) Make sure you remember to talk about the distinctive rings.
Improvisation with items: Take the children to the gym where you have enough space to play with hula hoops.
Teacher in Role: When you get the kids back in class, ask them how that activity was like Saturn. Then take off to Uranus. Ask the Uranus group to present. Tell them you are flying off to Neptune next. Have the Neptune group explain what they learned.
Improvisation: Have the children walk around and then freeze! It’s really cold on Neptune, so they froze solid!
Teacher in Role: “I’ll save you!” Pretend you’re flying around and as you tap each child on the shoulder, they can then go back to the space shuttle where you are preparing to go back home to Earth.
As you get back to Earth, have the children get out of the space shuttle and act like it’s a normal day. Tell them to freeze, and then select a few children to thought track. Have them talk about what they learned, or what their favorite planet was and why.
Assessment: Have the children fill out a chart with the different planets and what they learned. Throughout the week, have the children work on a model of the solar system. You can also show the students using Stellarium where they can find the different planets in the night sky.

Copyright & Fair Use

I learned a lot about copyright and fair use. It's actually not as strict as I expected it to be. There are more guidelines. As long as we use the information to educate our students, we are basically allowed to use the information as teachers. As teachers, we are allowed to use most the information we find. We need to be cautious and give credit to those who deserve it. It was good to learn that if we want to download a song, we are only allowed a minute, and for something audio it is 30 seconds. I look forward to learning more.

New Web Tools

I found these new tools that we discussed really interesting. These will be really helpful to use as a future educator. It can be an easy fast way to look up something that we may need in our classroom.

Blog

I decided to do a blog because it seemed easier than the other options! I've never had a blog. This should be fun!