As mentioned in my last blog, I'm working with a 6th grade class for my field experience. I have to admit that 6th grade is not my preferred grade that I want to teach once I graduate. However, I'm finding this to be a good experience and I enjoy working with my cooperation teacher and helping her in her classroom. She's been very good to give my partner and I plenty of experience working with the students and small experiences teaching and helping in a variety of subjects.
Right now the students are in the final touches of preparing reports on a different county that they have each researched for their "World Fair" that will be on Tuesday of next week. For their report, they have been taught how to type papers that include a table of content, bibliography and cover page.
One challenge with this project is that the students don't have time to complete their whole assignment during computer lab time. Since the schools use "Apple Works" for their word processing program and most students don't have that program at home, Tara and I have had to help those students e-mail their saved work from the school computers to their home computers in a format that they will be able to use. We worked with the students who needed this assistance one-on-one and helped them either save it to a flash drive, create an e-mail account if they didn't have one or know their parent's e-mail address, or sent it to a parents e-mail address.
It was interesting to see the vast differences in these 6th graders with their experience and abilities to use the Internet and e-mail. It was also interesting to see each of their typing abilities and what they understood about formatting their reports. It's obvious which student have computer time at home by watching their abilities in the classroom.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Week 11 - "Voki" Interview
You sure sound excited! Well it's nice to meet you Shelly. Tell us, what topic will you be teaching while you are with the 6th graders for the next three weeks?
That's great that you'll be able to use technology to enrich your lessons. Good luck in your field experience and keep us posted on how it is going. Thank you for the interview.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Week 10 - How will WebQuests help me collaborate with my colleagues?
The WebQuest process continues. Brook is doing an excellent job at putting together all of the information that we have gathered for our WebQuest. Putting together a WebQuest is a big task and takes many minds on the same page to bring it all together. I'm still tossed about my opinion of doing these as a group assignment. On the one side, it's sure nice to have other people to work with and be able to complete the assignment with. On the other hand, no matter how you throw the dice, there just isn't a way to make it equal work for all the members of the Pod and only one person really learns the process - especially since we've never discussed the process of making a WebQuest in class.
I love the idea of a WebQuest - but don't know the first step of making my own. I've helped contribute to the group as much as possible by looking at other WebQuests and seeing how they work. I've also helped with the ideas of what we want our WebQuest to look like and by finding the information and links for our WebQuest. As with all group projects, there are some students who contribute more than others and some students who fly under the radars and do the bare minimum requirements. I suppose this is good practice for when we are actually teachers. I know that we will have many opportunities to work together with our peers as teachers and that this same thing will happen in the field. By having these experiences as students, we will be able to know how to work with our fellow teachers to achieve a common goal.
VIDEO REFLECTION:
I remember watching this video in class and for a previous assignment. Watching it again made me think about my feelings the first time I saw it. This is a very powerful movie. This time I had my mom watch the movie with me. She was alive for most all of the events listed in the movie. It was fun discussing it with her after watching this movie again and being reminded about all the events in history that helped make us what we are today.
I love the idea of a WebQuest - but don't know the first step of making my own. I've helped contribute to the group as much as possible by looking at other WebQuests and seeing how they work. I've also helped with the ideas of what we want our WebQuest to look like and by finding the information and links for our WebQuest. As with all group projects, there are some students who contribute more than others and some students who fly under the radars and do the bare minimum requirements. I suppose this is good practice for when we are actually teachers. I know that we will have many opportunities to work together with our peers as teachers and that this same thing will happen in the field. By having these experiences as students, we will be able to know how to work with our fellow teachers to achieve a common goal.
VIDEO REFLECTION:
I remember watching this video in class and for a previous assignment. Watching it again made me think about my feelings the first time I saw it. This is a very powerful movie. This time I had my mom watch the movie with me. She was alive for most all of the events listed in the movie. It was fun discussing it with her after watching this movie again and being reminded about all the events in history that helped make us what we are today.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Week 8 - WebQuest Impressions
This week we have been working in our Pod to create a WebQuest. I've never really experienced a WebQuest before so this is all new to me. I have no idea how to create a WebQuest on my own so I'm glad that I'm working with a group. However, I do wish that we had some class time instructions on the procedures to create a WebQuest so that I would feel comfortable to make one of my own as a teacher. I've made PowerPoint presentations on an beginning level before, but haven't had experiences linking the pages together and referencing them to websites.
I really like the concept of WebQuests as an educational tool for teachers and students. I believe that these would be great for students to do at home with their parents so that they can work together on the computer in an educational task. I realize that not every student has a computer in their home, but times are changing and hopefully by the time I'm a teacher, there will be more students with computers in their home than there currently are and that this will increase even more over time.
As parents and students work together to complete the WebQuests, the parent's can feel comfortable that they are going to reliable websites that are engaging and safe for their children. It's a great concept and I look forward to learning more about them.
VIDEO REFLECTION:
Did you Know 3.0 = I remember watching this video for a previous assignment. I found it very interesting to realize that America is not the leading country with industry, technology, education and the other areas that were listed in the video. Video's like these are good reminders of how much further we need to go to increase and be caught up with the rest of the world.
I really like the concept of WebQuests as an educational tool for teachers and students. I believe that these would be great for students to do at home with their parents so that they can work together on the computer in an educational task. I realize that not every student has a computer in their home, but times are changing and hopefully by the time I'm a teacher, there will be more students with computers in their home than there currently are and that this will increase even more over time.
As parents and students work together to complete the WebQuests, the parent's can feel comfortable that they are going to reliable websites that are engaging and safe for their children. It's a great concept and I look forward to learning more about them.
VIDEO REFLECTION:
Did you Know 3.0 = I remember watching this video for a previous assignment. I found it very interesting to realize that America is not the leading country with industry, technology, education and the other areas that were listed in the video. Video's like these are good reminders of how much further we need to go to increase and be caught up with the rest of the world.
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