Reflection on Chapter 13

Chapter 13 was a little boring, but I know it is very important for us to all know about copyrights, fair practice, and privacy. It is also important to teach the students about these things.
Ethan Zuckerman's Ted Talk was OK. It wasn't one of my favorites. I think he does say some good things about global communication. I think we should be thinking globally and not just about us. I have to admit, I don't take the time to be informed about what is going on in the rest of the world.
I do not like the idea of the Khan Academy. I think people, especially children, need direct instruction. I know I learn better with direct instruction.

Reflection on Chapter 12

I agree with Mr. C that distance learning lacks emotional support. I learn better with visual and auditory input. I did not enjoy my classes I took online as well as the classes I have taken in a classroom. I really like the discussions we have in our Tech. class. I like the give and take.
The "School Sucks" video was very intriguing, yet controversial. Since I already work in the school system I agree with some of the things he said, but I disagree about teachers not needing certification. I think there should still be guidelines for what a person must have before they can become a teacher.
I thought our powerpoints were all great. I was surprised with how different everyones powerpoint turned out. I appreciated the feedback. They were not as hard as I thought they would be, but they were a little frustrating.

Reflection on Chapter 11

Chapter 11 was interesting. I hope to use the webcam and microphones in my classroom when I'm a teacher. I think the webcam is a valuable tool that will give feedback to the students. It could show them what they are doing right and wrong. As Mr. C showed us with the Voki, the microphones are useful too. They can make learning fun and interactive.
I liked the new sites Mr. C showed us Tues. night. The Vocaroo and Voki seemed the easiest to use. I played with the Voki a little and it is neat. I'm not sure if I will use the rest.

Get a Voki now!

Refection on Chapter 10

I really liked the different ideas in Chapter 10 under Enhancing Classroom Communication. I hope that I am organized enough to make a classroom blog and keep up with it. I think it is a wonderful idea to have a website also. I'm not sure if you need both. What do you think? Although, a website would be helpful to parents. They could see what is going on in class. You could post homework and weekly news.
I am really enjoying this class. I do get a little overwhelmed sometimes because I'm one of those people who is not comfortable with the computer. Usually if it won't do what I want, I get up and walk away. But I am doing better with that now since I am taking this class. I am trying more things and having a little more patience. Hopefully, I will continue to do even better.

Reflection on Skype with Mrs. Mimi

I really enjoyed our Skype with Mrs. Mimi. She is passionate and energetic. I am currently working in the school as a teachers aide and I agree with most of what she says. I work in the Special Ed. room and we do not use technology very much. Sometimes we don't use the Smart board all week and when we do use the Smart board it is usually to show multiplication videos to the students. We have been using School House Rock. The kids really like it. I agree with Mrs. Mimi when she says teachers have so much to do all day that it is hard to find time to learn how to integrate technology into your lesson plans. I think a teacher has to have a great interest or passion in technology to make the time to learn new how to use it more. Otherwise it is so overwhelming that they don't know where to start. That is actually were I fit in, but I think this class is really going to help with that. I am doing more on the computer now than I ever did. I am excited to learn as much as I can.

Reflections on Chapter 9 and blogs

Chapter 8 was a little boring. Although, I did like how helpful the Academic Software Evaluation Rubic was with evaluating Poptropica. I had heard about most of the other systems and software except for authoring systems.
The first blog I liked was Mrs. Busha's class blog. She is a kindergarten teacher and her blog was very interactive. I'm sure even her students can navigate it. It was so darn cute too because it was all pink. My favorite color. The second blog was Comments4kids. This a great blog because it gives kids feedback, constructive criticism, and helps them learn about technology. The third blog was P5c Class Blog 2010/2011. They are doing a class Comic Project. The blog told about how the kids were doing their project and how they were sharing with each other. It was a nice blog. I commented on this blog and said I liked the idea of a comic project. It is very creative and will help encourage the kids to write. The fourth blog was BBC Learning  Scotland. They display their latest developments, production tales, and things they are learning in and out of school. They are doing an Olympic Dreams School Search; which is a project in the run-up to the London Olympics. The blog was easy to navigate and had some very interesting links. The fifth blog was The Greatest Middle School Social Studies Blog in the World. It has weekly post and weekly challenges. The blog was great and I think it was my favorite. I think my daughter would really like something like that for school. It was very user friendly and also had blog assignments for the kids.
This week was busy and hectic. I waited till the last moment to do my blog and that was not a good thing for me. I am usually more organized. I am very glad we get two days off school this week. I need it!

Reflection on Chapter 7

Chapter 7 was a little boring. As you said, most of us currently use a lot of the applications disscussed in the chapter.
I use Microsoft Office to type my papers for my college classes and to make fliers for my Support Group. I also use Microsoft money for my checkbook. I learned how to use Google Presentations this past week. The presentation I did was my very first power point. I think it turned out pretty good. I should have used short phrases instead of paragraphs.
I liked the video "Sharing: The Moral Imperative". I plan to share the video with my principal. I was impressed with how wide the information was shared. I agree that we should share information on what works and doesn't work. I currently share information in my Support Group with other parents.

Reflection on "Once Upon a School"

I really liked the Ted Talk "Once Upon a School". I thought Dave Eggers was nervous but, he did a good job presenting the material. He was passionate about what he was saying and that made everything else alright.
The way the writers and editors created the "stores" to tutor children is an amazing idea. I especially was impressed with their ability to get so many volunteers so that they could tutor the children one on one.
I don't think this concept would work around here. I'm not sure we could get volunteers to help the children. I think it would be wonderful for the kids.
I also liked how Dave Eggers challenged everyone to get involved with their local schools. I think it would be wonderful if we could make this happen.

Reflection on Cool Tools for Schools

I thought the website Cool Tools for Schools is extremly useful. I shared it with many of my colleges. My daughter even played with it over the weekend. I think I will definitly use Cool Tools for Schools with my students.
I liked Photobucket for working with your photos. I think this would be very useful for a science project. The students could take pictures of their science project at different stages, and then  make a video out of their pictures.
Prezi looks easy to use for presentations. The presentations can be shown on a white board. You can zoom in and out of a picture during the presentation. The pictures can be arranged in different ways and you can express many things at the same time.
Cool Tools for Schools is a neat website. I think the students will like to use it, and it seems to be user friendly.

Reflection on the video of "Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education"

The video was very interesting because he did actual experiments with computers and children. I thought his idea to place a computer in a hole in the wall was odd at first. It was amazing to watch how the children interacted with the computers and each other. I was surprised at how they were able to learn more as a group than alone and how one child became the teacher. I was also amazed at how fast they were able to find the answers to his questions in the Italian school.
Sugata Mitra's experiments showed us that children are capable of learning so much with computers. I wish our students could use computers more. I know at me daughters school, she does not get to use the computer daily. Some of her classes do study island and sometimes they look up information to write papers. But I do know that each of those projects are done independently. They are not allowed to work in groups. We have so much to learn to help our students learn more.

Chapter 5 Reflection

I thought Chapter 5 was very informative. I had never heard of several of the assistive technologies and programs. I am going to do more research on the Text - to -Speech software. I would like to get that at school and at home for my son. He has autism and has a lot of problems with speech and language.
Ira Socol was awesome. I loved the Skype with him. It was very interactive. He is an amazing person. I hope I can figure out how to help my students the way he does. He really inspired me to learn more and that we do not have to teach all kids the same.

Reflection - from 9-7

Last Tues. I missed class because my daughter had her first volleyball game in Wheaton. She is in the 7th grade and plays on the county team.
The drive to Wheaton was very long and it rained hard the whole way. Wheaton is out past Rocky Comfort and it is a small town. They have one school for all of their grades.
The 8th grade played first and the Mustangs lost in two matches. They played pretty good . The 7th grade played next. Wheaton only had four 7th graders, so the 8th grade played with them. The 7th grade lost in two matches. My daughter only got to play a very short amount of time. She grew about two inches during the summer and has had a lot of growing pains and has missed some practices. The Mustangs were nervous and tried hard but, it wasn't enough. They played hard.

Chapter 2 Reflection

In the second class I learned how to find my g-mail account and I posted my reflection on my blog ( I was having problems with that). That was a big relief! Im not really sure about the Google Reader, or what we plan to use it for. I hope to learn more about it.
I am learning to be more confident on the computer. Although, it sometimes takes a couple of tries to understand all the steps to get things done. I am sure this class will help with that.
I enjoyed "Ken Robinson says Schools Kill Creativity." He was funny and insightful. I discussed some of his topics with the teacher I work with and she agreed with him. It is actually very sad that he is right.
You said to tell you if you talked too much, well ... you did. I think our goal for next week should be to get out of class five minutes early. I did not get the cut and paste steps on Google Reader. One of the other students showed me how to do it. Maybe you could write the steps down or show us on the projector very slowly.
I enjoyed the class. We always learn something new.

Kellie Pankau

Reflections on Chapter 1

I enjoyed my first class very much. I was surprised by how much we accomplished. I learned many new things. I had never heard of a g-mail account and I had never talked to anyone that had created their own blog. I am excited to learn new technology that I can use in my daily life and in my classroom to help our students learn.
I finally found my blog on the internet today- August 31st. I haven't been able to find my g-mail account, and I tried several times this past week. I found my blog on my school computer but, I couldn't find it at home. I don't understand why I couldn't find the blog at both places.
I can't wait to see what we learn next.