Elementary Teacher Websites

Here are the websites listed in our video podcast. I hope you find them helpful.

http://elementaryteacherresources.com
http://edhelper.com
http://education.com
http://starfall.com
http://funbrain.com

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr.McClung

I thought this was a great article. It hit home for me because I had some of the same feelings my first year of teaching. I remember being scared to death. I felt like I had to be perfect all the time and that I had to know everything. I like how he starts his post,"An important decision I made this year is to stay positive." I wish I had that piece of advice my first year of teaching, but now that I am returning to the classroom after several years that will be my motto.



I like how Mr.McClung discusses that no lesson is ever perfect. Why do our college professors never tell us this valuable piece of information? Instead we struggle our 1st year to be perfect. I completely agree with him that the lessons you teach and the ones you plan are always different. I have experienced this in my own personal classroom . You have to learn how to adjust your plans, but in the long run they will work out fine. One of the most important facts that I learned my first year was that I do not have to be PERFECT. I had to cut myself some slack and realize that I am learning also. Another factor that Mr. McClung discusses is the role of communication. This is key to a great year. Not only is this important with the parents,but also with your peers. You need to know that you can turn to them for help. Everyone is their for the same purpose, the students.



Listening to your students is important. They need to know that you are paying attention to them, that they have your undivided attention. This helps you has a teacher build a trusting relationship with your students. Teacher's jobs are similar to the role of parents in a child's life. Just like at home no one is perfect, everyone wants to be listened to, and communication in the family is very important. All these qualities of a teacher and parent are key to a child's success in life. The most valuable piece of information that I could give teachers is to continue to learn. I totally agree with Mr.McClung when it comes to this subject. I am 33 years old, a mother of 3, a teacher, and I am learning something new each day. I try to view life as an adventure! Mr.McClung's post can be found at the following link http://is.gd/2c012.com

WIKIPEDIA

I have heard of wikipedia, but I was not sure exactly what it does. I had to do a little research myself. For those of you who are not technology literate, like myself, wikipedia is a free service that provides information on just about anything. It is basically an on-line encyclopedia. The controversy seems to be with the editing factor of wikipedia. I did not realize that anyone can alter wikipedia. When big companies like Wal-mart can doctor wages then it makes you wonder who else is changing things. You begin to doubt the accuracy of the information.

The question of whether Wikipedia can be a trusted source of information is still up for question. I do think you can still find valuable information on Wikipedia, but you need to be careful of the source. I think it is great that we have the tools to trace the source of the editing. If you are going to edit information then you better be ready to take the responsibility for it. I personally would use Wikipedia as a source of information, but I think it depends on the topic you are searching whether or not you would consider the source reliable.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

What a wonderful inspiring story. I really enjoyed Randy Pausch's lecture. For someone just diagnosed with terminal cancer to be so full of life and to have such a positive attitude is an amazing thing. This is a video that very one should see, it really puts life in focus. I love what Randy said, " We cannot change the cards we are dealt, but how we play them." What a wonderful way to view life. In his lecture Randy discusses his childhood dreams and how he accomplished them. Dreams like being Captain Kirk, playing football, and winning stuffed animals were a few of his dreams. As silly as some of them were, they were his dreams and he was going to some how accomplish them. I think as adults our childhood dreams fade away. We need to stop, refocus, and learn to dream again. As corny as this may sound I believe that if we keep dreaming then we will always have something to strive for. Teach your students to dream BIG! As teachers we need to remember what Randy said, "Never put a ceiling on what you can accomplish." What a powerful statement. Not only should teachers remember this, parents need to use this when raising their own children.

In his lecture Randy tells how everyone will hit a brick wall in their life time. A brick wall is there for a reason Randy said, they let us prove how badly we want things. How true is this in life. There have been many times in my personal life that I have hit brick walls and wanted to quit, but did not. Now as an adult I see how important that thinking is. We as teachers need to explain this concept to our students, that no matter how many brick walls you hit and there will be many that you just have to keep moving forward. Never quit and never stop dreaming.

Randy was a wonderful teacher. I found his way of teaching very inspiring. I loved the head fake theory. The head fake is football technique that is used to make your opponent believe you'll do one thing when you are really doing something else. Randy implemented this concept into his teaching lessons. Whats amazing is that to get your students to do something fun and interesting, while the whole time they are learning something. I think this is a great way to get children involved in school so that they REALLY enjoy it. They can learn while having fun too.

I thought it was a great idea when Randy talked about letting children paint their rooms. They are expressing themselves. This is a great lesson for myself that I need to remember with my own children. I loved how Randy took his college class on field trips. Even adults can have fun learning. I have learned a lot from Randy Pausch's Lecture and hope to bring his enthusiasm into my own classroom one day. Not only did I learn how to be a better teacher, but learned lessons on how to be a better person and just enjoy life. After watching the video it made me examine my own life and how I choose to live it. Like Randy I choose to be TIGGER!! You can view this wonderful video at the following link http://tinyurl.com/mvy4oq.

Is It OK to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I enjoyed reading the Karl Fisch post. I agree with many of his points and I understand that teachers are very busy. It is not ok for teachers to be technologically illiterate. As I a stated in an earlier post that I have know teachers who have taught for 30 years and they will tell you that they teach the "old school way". They have told me they do not like to use computers in their classrooms that much. I am not sure if it is that they are just set in their ways or if they are intimidated by the advancement in technology. I think that it is a combination of both not knowing how to use it or how to adapt it to their way of teaching. Either way I feel that these teachers are doing their students a HUGE injustice. They may have experience and be great teachers, but they are not giving their students the chance to learn with the aid of technology.



I believe that it comes back to the statement that teachers must continue to learn. It is not acceptable for teachers to be technologically illiterate at all. Teachers must continue to learn alongside their students. I also agree that no one should be proud of illiteracy. Everyone has the opportunity to learn, free use of computers at libraries, and schools have the tools available to take advantage of. We as educators have a responsibility to ourselves and our students to be Technologically Literate, it is a must in today's society.

It's Not About the Technology

I really enjoyed the article by Kelly Hines. I thought she did a great job on discussing how teaching is not all about the technology. I agree that technology is very important in today's society. It is a must for children to have the use and understanding of technology. I think as teachers we need to use technology as an aid for students. I do not believe that technology is the fix all for education.





I agree with Ms.Hines that teachers must be learners. They must be willing to learn alongside their students. That means as technology changes, we as teachers need to implement these changes into the classroom. I have known teachers that say they are old school. They teach like they were taught 20 or 30 years ago. I know that these teachers are very experienced and have adequate subject knowledge, but I think that they are holding their students back. These teachers do not like all the new technology. I actually think they are intimidated with the different technology devices available for teachers. I can understand this myself because when I started EDM 310 I had no clue what blogging or facebook was about. As I have continued to learn about it I am amazed at how much you are able to do and how you can bring these things to the classroom. The key to it is to be a continual learner and be excited and motivated along with your students.



I also agree that learning and teaching are not the same. Children learn in a variety of ways so teachers need to adapt their teaching styles to the student, not the student adapting to the teacher's teaching style. I love what Ms. Hines said in her article, "We must look at learning as the product of a successful day." This statement says it all! Technology is useless without good teaching. Teacher's have the tools at their hands to use, but they need the proper instruction on how to use them. Students today have to have some technology use and teachers need to use it as a tool to aid in the student's learning. A little use of technology is better than no technology at all. Partnership for 21st Century Skill was a interesting website that discussed how to teach with a little technology. The link to this website is http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php..

A VISION OF STUDENTS TODAY

I thought the movie was a little harsh, but I can relate to some of the comments. As I watched the movie I reflected on my own college experience. I attended a large university and had large numbers of students in my classes. The majority of the teachers did not know my name. I spent lots of money on textbooks that I did not use. I spent countless hours studying information that was never used in class, but this is what I had to do if I wanted to get my degree. I had to take the good with the bad in order to graduate. Fair or not there are some things in life that you just have to do to accomplish the goal, GRADUATE.

I am not saying that my college experience was bad, but I do agree that our teaching methods need to change. Nothing much has changed since I graduated in 2000. Some of the course requirements may have changed, but I feel the teaching methods have not advanced much. I do not believe one's college experience is all in the hands of the teachers. The student's need to take responsibility for their part. I have been in class and seen other students on facebook while the teacher is lecturing. This is very rude, but if you are going to do it then do not whine about the class. Not every class is going to be interesting, fun, or even going to help you out in the real world. The opportunity to learn is there. The students have to take advantage of it!

POST #3 Podcast

1. Vidoecast Review

My assignment was to view past videocast and give my opinion on improvements that I would take during my own podcast. I first viewed the videocast that Dr.Strange and his students did on The Technologically Literate Teacher. I thought they did a great job. The students seemed a little shy at first, but once the conversation started they opened up more. They did a good job introducing themselves and the purpose of the videocast. I liked how they did not waste time, they jumped right into the topic of discussion.

I do feel if you are going to do a videocast that anyone can see then it needs to be a little more formal. I think the host should have dressed professionally. If you are presenting yourself to the world along with your topic of discussion then you should dress the part of an educator. I also thought that some of the hosts did not have adequate knowledge of the topic. After viewing the videocast and several podcast I realized that your personality needs to shine through in the podcast. Your tone of voice is very important to your audience because you want to keep their attention. Having adequate information is a must. You just need to relax, have fun, and share your information.

2. How to Produce a Podcast

The second assignment was to view several websites about preparing a podcast and then describe what I learned. I viewed the langwitches website. I thought it was a great website. It had a lot of great ideas on it. I liked how the website goes through the basics of how to produce a podcast. I found this very helpful since I will be doing one in the near future. The website was so easy to follow that it broke the process up into steps that even Kindergarten students could do.

The website provided many links to help with the auto recording of the podcast. One site that I viewed and thought was helpful was http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/what-is-a-podcast.htm. This link had free downloads for audio editing software. This may come in handy when doing our class podcasts. I viewed the other sites, but found this one the most informative. It gives you a guideline to follow when producing your own podcast. Having correct adequate information on your topic and enthusiasm in your voice seemed to be the keys to podcasting!


3.Mr.Stephen Sullivan Power Point

My third assignment was to view Mr.Stephen Sullivan's power point presentation and give information on various tools used for alternative web browsing. I viewed to powerpoint presentation and thought that it is wonderful that people with hearing, visual, or cognitive impairments have these great tools to help them in their communication with the world. It is amazing how far in we have come. I did not realize the different software available to those with disabilities. This is a great resource for teachers to look at and improvise into their classroom if needed.

I thought that the software Zoom Text and Magic were incredible. This software enables people who have low vision or learning disabilities the opportunity to learn. The software enlarges part or all of the computer screen for the viewer. The screen reader software JAWS is available for those who are totally blind. This software reads all parts of the screen for the individual. The voice recognition software is what I thought was truly amazing. It is for those individuals with limited hand use and it lets them enter commands by speaking into a microphone. I think it is wonderful how technology has advanced. Every person with or without disabilities has the opportunity to learn and express themselves. These softwares give people that chance.

4. PLAGIARISM

I viewed the websites on plagiarism and found them to be very similar. They all defined plagiarism, how to detect it, and how to avoid it. I liked the Indiana University Writing Tutorial Service website to be very helpful. It was simple and easy to understand. It gave a simple definition of plagiarism to a complicated subject. The website gave different examples of plagiarism and how to identify it. I liked how the website gave examples on how to take notes and make it clear where you got your information. If it comes from a quote then mark a big Q next to it or write the source name by the information given. These are great tips to give to middle and high school students.


The basic understanding of these websites is to define plagiarism, how to avoid it, and follow the copyright & regulation rules. It is important for writers to always cite their sources. These websites also offer information of what has to be credited or documented, and list of things that do not need to be credited. As a teacher I think this is a great tool to share with your students. You can clearly define plagiarism for them, how to avoid it, & how to credit their sources. If you approach this complex subject in an understandable manner then I think the students would appreciate it more.