Week 9- It's done!

This opportunity has actually been alot of fun. I really enjoyed the blogging and being able to read what other people had written about their experiences. I also enjoyed learning how to create a video through Animoto. I know that I will use that later (December :D) I also enjoyed the large plethora of resources that we found in one of the weeks. So many of these great resources will really come in handy this year when I teach. I still use my iGoogle page. I will be using it in the classroom as warm-ups, or just as brain teasers to get the student's minds working. As far as my least favorite thing that I learned or did was week 8. I did not like seeing how much I DON'T know about technology, but I guess it's a good way to make my knowledge better. I know that I will use several of the tools, like the one I just found through atomic learning in the library of lessons to integrate into the classroom, as well as previous lessons and activities that we were able to complete. I am also excited about using my wiki that I created for third grade lesson planning. I know that it will make life so much easier. It was very user friendly and easy to understand and follow. Overall, in one word, TECHAWESOME!!!!!

Week 8

After taking the pre-test, I felt a little embarrassed because I thought that I was a little more tech-savy than what showed, but I guess I need to be more aware and I OBVIOUSLY still have so much more to learn. I also browsed the 21st century lessons and the one that I liked was the Comic Science. Since I will be teaching science this year in 3rd grade, this lesson allows students to see the scientific method in a comical way. It would be a good intro to start science investigation, especially for the first week of school to show them what they will be doing as scientists this year in 3rd grade. At the end of the lesson, there is an opportunity for students to use critical thinking to show their understanding of the scientific method. I know that this will be a great tool that I will use this coming year. The only hurdle that I can think of will be the language barrier for some students since there is not a bilingual form of the lesson. However, there are enough students in my class that are good in English to help collaborate with one another as well as me being able to help these students when translating the information needed to complete the assignment.

Week 7

Read, Write, Think- This site is very useful for teachers in that it gives ideas for lesson plans and activities to use in the classroom. I liked how the searches used were topic and grade level categorized.
Kidpix Delux- Wow! Since I will be teaching math, science and social studies this year for third grade, this will be an awesome resource for my kids and myself! I really like how the site offers activity practices and resources that go with themes and lessons. It is also convinient that the lessons are also theme based and are easy to understand. GREAT RESOURCE! Thanks!
Wordle- this is a neat website that I had no idea existed. Especially for my bilingual students, any vocabulary words that we learn or any unfamiliar words that they come across, they could create a wordle that will help them learn the words in a new and fun way. The tool allows students to create a word cloud and can also be generated into a book cover or desk cover. CUTE!
At our campus, we have a teacher in the computer lab that creates the lessons for the students to complete in the lab. As the teacher, we monitor student behavior and help with anything that the computer teacher may need assistance with. We do have a mobile lab on our campus called the "COW" or computer on wheels. These sites could be used to help enhance student learning through fun activities on the web. These sites are very useful because we could use them for teachers as well as students, as well as in different subject areas. I really liked how all the sites covered all subject areas as well as several grade levels. The content could be spread across grades and could also created challenging as well as review for students in the classroom. Great sites!