Assignment #4

Mr. Walton's Website

For my technology project I decided to create a website like the one that I would use in for my classroom. I also wanted to create a blog that I could use to give students and parents
information about upcoming weeks.
Features:
For my website some of the features that I used were: choosing a template, background picture, background colors, making links to other websites, created classes, calendar events, uploaded documents, and created online quizzes.
For my blog I chose a website called voki.com. On this website instead of having a traditional blog it was more of a mix between a blog and a podcast. At voki you create a character to be the face of your blog and then you can either type or record what you want your character to say. I really liked this idea because it is more enjoyable to watch the animation then read a long blog, and it also makes it so students who can't read can still get information online.
Issues:
Some of the issues that I have faced with this is getting the voki to post to my website. I looked and looked for a way to get it on there, but it just wasn't happening. I solved this problem by finding a tool on my website that allows me to email my class lists. The voki does come in a format that emails so that way I could just email all my students the blog for each week.
I really didn't have any problems with setting up my website. I went to K12lessonplans.com and it really made the whole process pretty painless.
What it means to me as a teacher:
This project really showed how easy it would be to set up a website for all of my classes and how I could keep the students and parents informed. I always knew that it would be a good idea to have a resource like this for the parents, but I just assumed that it would be soo time consuming that realistically it would be something that I would never do. The voki website was really helpful because it is a really quick and fun way to get information across. I like the idea of my students being able to watch something without having to look at me.
NETS for Teachers:
2. Design and Develop Digital-age Learning Experiences and Assessments- My website full fills this in a couple of different ways. One way that it fulfills it is there are online quizzes that students are required to take throughout the quarters. It also is a place that I can post class lectures and activities.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership- The idea of creating a website, blog, or podcast at the beginning of this semester was kind of a daunting task, but now I feel comfortable doing all three. I think this project helped me accomplish this.
NETS for Students:
1. Creativity and Innovation: By showing the students how to use voki and requiring them to do it as well it really lets them show how creative they can be with their blogs and characters.
3. Research and Information Fluency- My website gives the students in my class a starting point when they are doing a paper or project for my class. They can come here and have a list of websites that they can use for their project and it helps them get the ball rolling.

Future of Education and Technology

According to what I have found it won't be long before every kid in class will either have a laptop or some sort of palm pilot that they can work on. This is already happening in most math classes with the graphing calculators. Now the leading graphing calculator manufacturer is adding new features to their calculators so they can be used in different classes.
Another thing that I think will catch on more as time goes by is online schools. This is already happening in colleges obviously but I think that at some point it could be integrated into middle and high schools.

Online Learning Experience

I chose a to watch a video from the K12 Online Conference 2009 called "Steal this Preso! Copyrights, Fair Use, and Pirates in the Classroom." This session talked about how we can use music, videos, and other peoples work in our classroom. He talked about when it is okay to have music, videos, or other peoples work in a class project. His main point was that it is okay to use videos and music and borrow stuff from different people as long as the content is going to be used inside your classroom only. So if you are going to invite in parents or staff members then it is not okay. If you are going to post it up on a school website or class blog then it is not okay. The only time you can use outside sources is if it is used for educational purposes inside the classroom. If you do want to use music or videos in a project and post it up on a website or something then you need to write to the copyright author and publisher and get permission from them. This can obviously take some time so if you are going to do this then you should do it early as it can sometimes take as long as a couple months. Another source you have is the public domain. You can use this for whatever project you have, but the problem you have is it is really old and very limited. Anyways there are obviously lots of other rules, but these are the ones that stuck out to me. We need to make sure that we are being a good example about copyright laws since we require our students to adhere to these rules in the classroom.

Reflection #10

What: Is there a point where we rely and use technology too much in our classrooms?
So What: Obviously technology is our friend in the classroom, and it helps make our classrooms new and exciting, but can we use it too much? I feel like there is a definite line, and we are quickly approaching it. Maybe I am just old fashioned, but it is much more enjoyable to read a book from an actually book then on a computer, and I would rather draw on a piece of paper then on a computer. I feel like there is soo much integration with technology that we are missing out on some things. I have this feeling that our schools are moving towards providing each student with a computer at school, and they will be required to all their work on it. It just seems like relying on something like technology could end up being a bad thing.
Now what: Make sure that we are differentiating our instruction. Use technology sometimes, but not all the time. Variety is our friend and it will keep our students more engaged.

Reflection #9

What: Incorporating our Christian beliefs into our classrooms
So What: Obviously we are not allowed to preach to our students, nor would we want to, but it is our responsibility to make sure that we are a good example. I think that so much is conveyed through our actions, and that if we are living right our students can see God through us. It is hard for some us to not incorporate our beliefs into our teachings, but we need to make sure that we are not because something like that could get us into a lot of trouble, and even fired.
Now What: We need to make sure that we are doing our best to live right, and let our actions speak for themselves. We also need to remember that we are there to teach them about our subject area and not God.

Week 13 Word, Excel, Powerpoint

Word features: Spell check, clip art, headers, tables and graphs, footnotes, envelope maker,
Excel features: List feature, templates, Protect mode, clipboard viewer, freeze panes,
PowerPoint: Clip art, backgrounds, adding links, graphs,

Projects for Students
1) Create a game like Jeopardy on PowerPoint
2) Record homework on an excel spreadsheet
3) Write what they did over the summer in Word