Week 6

            This week presented a world in which I knew basically nothing about. WebQuests are something completely new to me. Not only have I never made one, I have also never even done one while I was in school. Now that I am working in a school, I go into several classrooms a day and have never seen a teacher utilize one. Needless to say I had to really delve into the world of WebQuests before I could start making one. I found a lot of WebQuests that were really well done and showed a lot of interesting activities. I feel like WebQuests really would go over best at a high school or upper middle school level. I made my WebQuest for a Kindergarten class since I am not currently teaching, but do help with some Kindergarten classes. While I know they would enjoy it, I’m not sure if it would be an activity that they could do independently. Some schools do not have the luxury of having aids in their classrooms at all times. With that, I’m still debating whether this would really be a tool to utilize in a kindergarten room. At our school we currently have software that children use to learn lessons that they have trouble with. The computer recognizes these for you and gives the child those assignments specific to their needs. It also reports the grades that the children got. Using technology time for this software makes more sense to me than using a WebQuest.

            The actual making of the WebQuest was incredibly time consuming. I first had to get an understanding of the steps of each WebQuest then really try to find good activities that the children would enjoy and benefit from. Then you want it to look visually appealing so children will be interested in participating. Getting used to the website was time consuming because the layout was a bit confusing. You really had to decide on your own what information was supposed to go where. I did this by looking at other WebQuests.

            Overall the assignment was a great learning experience for me because I learned something completely different. I was able to create a WebQuest and visit several WebQuests that were very effective. Although I don’t believe my WebQuest was great, I am still proud of what I have done since it was my very first time. If I keep practicing and researching other WebQuests, I think mine will get better and better.

http://questgarden.com/136/16/6/111123143214/

Week 5

Since I am not currently teaching, I really can’t say that I have used many online communication tools in the classroom before. As I have said before, I am currently a paraeducator and I don’t actually have my own classroom. I do use email for communicating with other teachers in the building though. This helps us discuss many important things like schedules, special events coming up in our school, and field trips that classes may be taking. In addition to allowing us to communicate with other teachers, it also helps us communicate with other schools and the district. The superintendent will often send us emails about upcoming board meetings and expectations. Other schools will inform us if they need help with events they are having or send articles that may be written about teachers or students. It really gives the entire district a sense of community and helps us support each other as best as we can. Emailing makes it very convenient for us all to communicate as well since it allows the teacher to look at the email and respond when they have time. It doesn’t disturb the class like a phone call or visit might.

The only thing that has prevented me from not using other types of technology in the classroom is that I don’t have my own classroom. I definitely understand the importance of utilizing all types of technology. Websites, podcasts, blogs, etc. are all things that promote better communication with students and parents. They also allow students to become more familiar with technology which is a growing medium that they will be using for the rest of their lives. Seeing their teacher use these things inspires them to also get their hands dirty.

If I did make a classroom website, it would be important that I teach my students how to navigate it. Using the projector I would be able to put the website up on the screen and click around showing them how they can use different sections on the website. I would do this within the first few days of school so students would know it would be something that we would be using all year. With older students you may be able to create a web quest that allows them to answer questions by navigating through the classroom website. I would also send a note home with students telling parents the URL and that this is where they should look for the most updated classroom information including schedules and announcements. I can’t wait to utilize online communication tools in my classroom.

Week 4

Since I have never really put things out on any sort of website (I find websites my technological weakness) I was interested to know that you can put PowerPoint presentations right on to a webpage. I have never tried this before, but the article stated that you just had to save the document as an HTML. I never would have thought it would have been that easy. In addition to what I have learned, I think that it’s important that teachers are not the only ones with their hands on PowerPoint. Even young students can use PowerPoint at a very basic level and letting kids make their own presentations gives them more responsibility and lets them use technology. It also helps them become used to getting up and talking in front of people.

I am not currently teaching and decided to do a PowerPoint presentation for 2 of my nieces. They are 5 and 6 and are currently learning their letters and some small words. While I know this isn’t typically how presentations are used I thought it would be a good way for them to be able to look at the words on a screen while we were reading them. I am mostly proud of the fact that they both really seemed to be interested in the presentation. I would fly in different letters and we would spend time saying the sound for each letter and then say the word. It felt like a game to them and they were really getting in to it. They wanted to make sure that they were saying the right sounds and would sometimes even try to guess the words before the letters flew in. If I did the presentation again, I would obviously have to change it up because it would be too easy for most of the kids in upper grades. I liked that it wasn’t exactly a “presentation” but more of a tool to allow  students to participate. If I was trying to teach brand new material though, I would not have as much participation and I would talk about each slide more. Also, if I was doing it again I might put in definitions. That way the kids would not only be able to learn the words, but could also be sure we know what these words mean. For that age, maybe I would just use a picture of the word just to make sure they associate the word with the proper definition. Like I said earlier, the kids did respond well to doing this because it was like a game. I think at that age it is important to use PowerPoint in a way that really gets the students to participate otherwise they would have lost interest in just a few minutes.

Week 3

This week provided a lot of important information regarding technology in the classroom. Many things I have actually seen being used in a classroom before so reading about them in the text provided more knowledge of why they are so important.

One thing that surprised me was how popular tablets are becoming in school systems. Some school systems are even letting the kids use these instead of computers or laptops. The school that I work out doesn’t have any systems like this.  The schools that I have seen are still concentrating on teaching students how to type on a keyboard but you have to wonder if using your “home keys” are becoming a thing of the past. With tablets students are now able to use pens, just like if they were writing on paper. I have also seen technologies that take that writing and turn it into whatever font style you like. These technologies can only get better in the future, so should we be spending more time allow students to learn how to write on tablets rather than showing them how to type at fast speeds on a keyboard?

The next thing up for discussion is handouts teachers send home to their students. I believe that in order to have a successful newsletter or brochure, you must first make it visually appealing to catch the readers attention. The reader in this case would be the parents. If you're sending home a newsletter, including pictures of some of the students in the class, parents are more likely to look at them. The pictures of students catch their attention. It is also important to make it easy to read. You don’t want to use crazy fonts, make the writing too small, or chose colors that might be  hard to look at.  Brochures would need to include the same ideas. It is important to be direct when providing information, but also use pictures, images, and colors to provide something to catch the reader’s attention. If there are too many words on anything you send home to parents I believe they are less likely to read it. They don’t want to hear all of the extra stuff. They want you to be precise and to the point. I think it’s also important that there isn’t just one chunk paragraph. Separate things into bullets and short paragraphs that make it easier to read. This way they can skim it and still understand the things that are going on.

In order for a document to be visually appealing for parents it needs to have a nice balance. You don’t want too much going on with lots of crazy colors and pictures everywhere, but at the same time you don’t want to send home a blank white sheet of paper with black font on it in paragraph form.

The following newsletter is a mockup of something I might create for a class since I am not currently teaching.