Do you Believe in Me?

This week I would like to specifically speak on the youtube video that we were supposed to watched entitled "Do You Believe in Me?" Those that attendeed Whatever conference this was that this young student spoke to 20,000 or so people, must have been impressed with the audacity of this particular student. This student didn't look to be more than 10 years old.
I chose to particularly write about this movie because I feel that Believing in our students is one of the greatest ways that we can help our students achieve the greatest success. There are two challenges to this idea of Believing in our students in order to help them succeed. The first challenge would be how do we let our students know that we believe in them. To some students this may come by just telling them we believe in them, while to others us being there for them to support them, or being at their side to help them whenever they need help achieving is another way. These are just two of the many ways that students can perceive our faith in them.
Another challenge comes with helping students believe in themselves. It seems that all us believing in them does is help them to believe in themselves. Although this is an important and necessary way to help students have faith in themselves, it is also sometimes difficult especially if they don't get the same type of treatment at home like this young student mentioned. If we give them all sort of encouragement, support, and resources to help them achieve, and then they get home and are mistreated, neglected, and often times abused, then every day of the week, we will have to build their confidence back up again.
It seems that the best way to help children is by helping them to believe in themselves enough to develop confidence and a sense of resiliency when they are in situations that may be trying and difficult for them to overcome.
How does all of this apply to technology? Well, one word that this young student mentioned in his talk was "create". This word has stuck out to me all semester as we have learned more about technology and have had our own opportunity to create websites, webquests, digital stories, and etc. It has also stuck out as we have watched different videos for weekly reflections. We have learned that Technology is a good opportunity for students to exercise their own creativity. Some of the greatest creative people have achieved much success at applying their creativity to the domain of technology. If we have faith in our students, then we will be able to help them "create" and feel good about their own accomplishments, which in turn will breed more success.

Week 14

This week I have recognized that I have some serious learning to do about technology. My partner and I did our lessons for our classroom. Two of our lessons were technology enriched, while the other three involved just a basic use of a promethean. I learned something very valuable while we were doing these two lessons. I definitely need to work on basic troubleshooting with computers.
For one of our lessons, we created a virtual museum using power point. We linked different slides within the power point to each other in order to allow the students to navigate through this power point file. They were able to choose and click on any picture that was hanging on a wall and that would lead you to a slide with information about that person or pictures. I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with such a program, however when there were some basic problems with getting the program to work properly for these students, I didn’t have much of an idea of what to do. The computers in this classroom are all MAC’s and I typically use PC’s. I am not as good with MAC’s because I am not quite as comfortable. I see the importance of being able to work with all sorts of programs, and computers in order to help students advance technologically without worrying about taking time out so that you can fix your computer errors.
We were also able to use the Promethean this week. It seems like one good aspect about learning how to use a promethean as a teacher, is that it takes you back to learning how to write the letters of the alphabet. It was so difficult at first to write just our basic letters. I see that this board is a great tool in a classroom as our teacher uses It quite often, however if you don’t understand how to work it, it can really cut into important instructional time.
One last thing that I would like to talk about pertaining to the classroom and the teacher that I have been able to observe is that this teacher is one of the lucky teachers that is able to have a technology rich classroom. She has mentioned a few times that the reason she gets these resources is because she has taken extra classes and has received extra training in the use of technology. When I am a teacher, I will be eager to do any work that will provide me with the opportunity to have such resources.

Week 13

Since I blogged last week about Social Networking tools, I thought that I would blog this week about some of the things that I have noticed pertaining to technology within the classroom. I was happy to see that this classroom was rich in technology tools, however I would like to note that I was disappointed in how they were used.
The first technology tool that I found rather interesting was the Promethean board, much like a smart board. I didn't really know what either of these tools were until I started my field work in this classroom. I liked this Promethean board. It seemed like a very useful tool within the classroom in that you can have a worksheet with different math problems on this board. You can add to the board, and much to my suprise, you can even take away from the board. I was suprised to see that the teacher was able to erase even what she dowloaded to project onto the promethean board. I would be interested to see how that program works exactly, however we were unable to have time to go over it. I was disappointed that the teacher didn't have the students use this board as much as she used it herself. I was also disappointed when one of the students asked the teacher a question about how to do something on the promethean, and she responded with, "we are doing Math right now."
A second feature that I was suprised at was that there are 15 MAC desktop computers. These computers were really nice, and I was suprised to see that they hadn't been used for about 4 days. I finally asked her if she used the computers much, and I think she may have been a bit embarrased. She did say she had an activity planned for after recess, and they did some sort of webquest to learn about different Biomes. I was mainly just suprised to see that these resources were so readily available, but she didn't use them. It seemed like they could do their bell work that they do everyday on some type of computer program.
In the future, when I have my own classroom, I only hope to have a classroom that is as technologically full of resources as this classroom. I would love to use a promethean board, and allow my students to be able to experiment with creating programs and presentations for this board. I would also like to use these tools more than this teacher did, as they will only help students to become up to date with the world.

Week 11 Blogs

This week under the reflection category on the class website, their were a lot of questions asked about Social Networking tools. Most of these questions had to do with communication with your students' parents, your students themselves and your colleagues. Most of the Social Networking tools that we have discussed have been facebook, myspace, and blogs. It seems that all of these tools would be helpful in communication, however they should be used with caution.
The first area is use with your students. First off, I believe that these Social Networking tools are tools that students, particularly secondary education students, visit frequently. My younger sisters are constantly checking their facebook account, which in some ways annoys me at home, but it seems to be really imperative for the survival of their Social Life. This fact makes it seem effective for you to be able to ensure that students receive a message. The problem is that students can deny that they received a message to prohibit them from turning something in on time, or being prepared. Another area of concern is classroom gossip. I can't tell you how many times I have heard my sisters tell me some type of gossip they have learned about on facebook. As much as you try to filter something, you have no way of monitoring what is said by or of students.
These tools seem highly effective as means for communicating with parents who have these accounts, however it seems to me that parents are reluctant to join some of these social networking sites because they believe that they are too old for them. Most of them seem like sites for teenagers to keep up with their friends. Another hesitation I have with using these sites with your parents is that a lot of parents won't know enough about technology, nor have a need to learn about technology, and would prefer other forms of communication. It seems that it would be important for teachers to accomodate their parents as they use different forms of communication. E-mail would seem to be a great communication tool among parents.
I am not a huge fan of facebook and myspace if you haven't noticed from this blog. If you need to get in contact with somebody, why not e-mail them. It also seems that some of these social networks require you to be in contact with certain people. How could you deny somebody when you are added as a friend? There are some people that I don't really care to know what is going on in their life, and don't want them to know about mine. I don't like feeling an obligation of having to respond to meaningless wall posts. I would rather just e-mail people. If they are somebody you really want or need to communicate with, you would have their e-mail address. Plus e-mail can be a private vehicle for communication. I have been in a situation where somebody lost their job because of something that was posted on a social networking tool, and I just don't feel that they are private enough, but I am typically a very private person. Because of some of these things, I would prefer to use e-mail with my colleagues, rather than social networking tools.

Webquests

Webquests is a great tool for communicating with Parents, Students, and Colleagues in many ways. The whole arrangement of the webquest is friendly for all. It gives you a brief introduction, the task, the process, the objectives, and the conclusion. They can all be reached online. It is almost like an online syllabus, or rubric per say, that the Parents can look up to see what their children are working on in school. It would be great if you e-mailed parents a link to the webquest, or better yet, posted it on your class blog or e-mail.

It seems that it would be extremely easy for students to understand. They just need to know how to navigate themselves through the webquest, which can be taught in the classroom. Once they are used to the process, they will be able to do more webquests. It is also nice because the teacher can put appropriate, and reputable websites with information that the student can use. This will prevent the students from having to cite, and be sure the information they found is correct.

After looking online at the many webquests that have been posted, I learned that webquests are not only a good way to communicate with your immediate colleagues, but also colleagues all over the world. This prevents the teacher from having to always create their own webquests. Teachers have a limited amount of time as it is, and with the development of the webquest, the teachers time is now freed up a bit more.

Webquests are effective in that they keep students in touch with the technological world, while they are simultaneously learning about different content areas. This seems to create a greater ability for students to stay engaged in areas that may otherwise seem dull.

Some of the cons of webquests are that, depending on the type of webquest, it may inhibit cooperative learning for some students as they could become better friends with the computer. As i was looking online however, there seemed to also be activities that involved working with your peers.

I would like to use webquests in my class quite often in that it would be very easy to communicate exactly what you want to the students. It also would be easier for the student to understand the process.

Strengths and Weaknesses

If I could choose my title for this Blog, I would just title it weaknesses. As I have gone over the standards I have learned that I don't have strengths when it comes to technology. I am a pre-novice or novice for most of the UNI standards. I do have areas that are better than others. They would be that I can operate a computer system. I can create files and organize documents, pictures, and etc. I can also back them up on a simple thumb drive. I know word processing programs, and I can do some work with spreadsheets. Those are areas that i could definately improve on, but have the most knowledge. There are many areas that I could improve on, but the two I chose for this assignment are troubleshooting (I didn't even know what that word meant. I had to look it up at dictionary.com), and adaptive assistive devices for students with special needs.
I often encounter problems with computers and other technological material. My main solution is to do something else instead. For exmaple, I can't work a comcast remote control. I have never had cable until just recently. I just barely learned how to turn the t.v. on and scroll through the guide. Prior to my "awakening", I would just have somebody else turn on the television, or I would just find something else to do. I don't want this to be the case in my classroom. I want to be able to at least fix basic computer problems without having to look like an idiot by calling a specialist for a minor problem that sometimes just has to do with clicking a button. I have found a website that could help me with this. I found it via delicious. It is located at www.computerhope.com/basic.html. The URL describes this website perfectly. This will give you some basic troubleshooting strategies to try when you have various problems. It could be considered like an online tutorial.
The next goal I have would be able to help students with disabilities work different assistive technology to help them function better in the classroom. Because we live in an age where all students are integrated into the classroom, regardless of their level of functioning, it is imperative that teachers know what assistive devices are out there, how they can help students with disabilities, and how to work these devices. I found a website called RehabTool.com. This websites does exactly those three things that I just listed. It even has an online forum if you have any questions, or need any feedback. It seems like a great resource for teachers to help students with disabilities.

Lesson Learned

There were a few things that stuck out to me as I watched the videos and read the articles that were assigned for our PDP. There are two things that I would like to talk about. The first topic that I would like to mention is summed up as the title of the Whatever, Whenever, Wherever article. Another summative word is ubiquitous as is stated in the first line of the "Why Integrate?" article. Technology could be considered the epitome of the word ubiquitous. It can be found anywhere and everywhere. This concept is demonstrated in the movie on Social Networking. They speak about how 94% of teens between the ages of 16 and 18 have a profile on one of the social networking tools (Facebook, and Myspace). In the movie "Did you Know" it mentioned that if myspace was it's own country, it would be the 8th largest in the world. Because there are so many people signed up for these social networking tools, we can connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. I was suprised to see that these tools had replaced the Yearbook at some schools, but then how can you compete with free. In the beginning of "The New WWW" article, it seemed that the writer was speaking negatively about the ability that we and our children have to do whatever, wherever, whenever on the internet, but he then spoke of choices that we need to make as we use the internet and allow students to use technology. The idea of making proper technological choices will be important to teach students in an educational setting.

The second topic I would like to talk about is from the last movie that we watched that spoke about some of the recent technological developments. I was suprised to see that they are now trying to make a computer monitor much like a touch screen that you would see with an ipod touch or an iphone. We saw a photo editing program that you could touch the photos to enlarge and crop them. This seems to be a better simulation of an actual photo lab. I like some of these new developments as it has made computers more user friendly. I didn't like the idea that comcast has recently thought of to charge those that use the internet more money much like paying more if you use more water, gas, and etc. This seems to be too difficult to manage with the understanding that a lot of people use the internet at all times for their different daily rituals.

My Beliefs

My beliefs of the use of technology in the classroom have changed dramatically over the course of this semester, and as I have done the PDP assignment. Technology is something that students can identify with as we use technology more and more everyday. Not only is technology a great way to reach our students, but because an understanding of technology is valuable in the workplace, our students will be more marketable when they apply for jobs in the future. That is what we are preparing them for anyway. I do not however believe that online classes solely are a great way to prepare students for the workforce. Human relation skills are extremely necessary for success in the workforce. I don't think students would get enough practice in human relations if they took solely online classes, however I do feel that a few online classes can be highly beneficial as they help us use and understand technology.
In the area of writing and literature, technology can greatly enhance the writing process. It us much quicker to produce, and also to get feedback from our superiors. In the time of paper and pencil, it would make no sense to continue to use ink and a feather, nor would it make sense to use a hammer and chisel in that era. Because typing seems to be faster than handwriting papers, it seems that students have more time to get creative with their writing. One of the Articles that we read this week spoke of how students didn't believe that writing blogs, e-mails, and on facebook didn't help them or require them to use writing skills. I disagree with this because I have found it much easier to get creative with my wordchoice as we have many tools online to help in this area. I also believe that my spelling has improved as some e-mail providers have spellcheck for their e-mails. I do not think that technological writing should replace the conventional ways of learning to write, however I do think it is a great way to practice writing.
For the video portion of this weeks reflection, we saw the comedian talk about some of the different misuses of powerpoint that he finds aggravating. Some of these included typing out everything that you are going to say, too much bulleting, a bad color scheme, and the overuse of animation. From all of these irritations he found with some powerpoint presentations, I came to the conclusion that sometimes "less is more" when we are creating powerpoint presentations that are to enhance and not detract learning for our students.

Week 5 Reflection - More digital Story

It has been a great learning experience to work on photostory with my pod. It has given us a great opportunity to create, collaborate, and meet course objectives as we have done our photostory. Because the same questions as last week were posted, I will answer these questions as it pertains to our group work.
We have had a great opportunity to create a photostory together as a team. It has been exciting to hear some of the ideas that my other pod members have had, and to also be able to contribute some of my ideas as well. As we have created our photostory, we have had ideas that we don't really know how to do digitally, but we have sought out information for how to accomplish some of these different tasks. One of them is to have a line drawing on a map to show where we are headed on our virtual tour. We asked you how we could do this in photostory, and you said it would be best to create a bunch of slides, and have them change at a fast speed. This is something that I Probably wouldn't have remembered if we hadn't "created" for ourselves this photostory. This confirms the importance of having our students create for themselves in order to learn about different technologies.
As we have collaborated on this project, we have used a number of tools including e-mail and google-docs. Of course this collaboration requires technology. Without an understanding of technology, collaboration would take much longer. Again as we have collaborated it has been great to hear and get excited about new ideas. Our group has been very positive about everyone's ideas, which has created a greater sense of comraderie. This would be beneficial in the professional world among colleagues, as well as student to student.
The benefits listed above are evidence that these tools would be popular among colleagues, but another reason is because they are fun to make, and also fun to watch. I got a sneak preview of one of the Pods digital story about different careers. This was geared towards the early child, but it was so fun to watch because it was so simple and cute. It would really get a child's attention.
Our story follows objectives and standards of the Utah State Core, as we are taking our students on a tour of some of the different parks in Utah. This will help students to get to know the geography of Utah as they look at the map we add to our digital story, as well as some of the sites in Utah. I can't think of a better way to reach that objectives, since as we learned in the movies we watched this week, the best way to reach our students is through the use of technology.
Now that I have mentioned some of the many pro's of digital story, I guess the only con I can think of is the limited amount of resources available to students today. In the first movie we watched this week, it asked what congress would do about the populartiy and growing need for more technology in the school. It seems that it is difficult enough to get the teacher's paid well, and adding technology is just one more thing, but if we are really concerned about the students, we would lobby for more technology since it is what is most valuable to the 21st century.
I wanted to comment on the second movie since I haven't mentioned anything from that yet. I really appreciate that we don't have to purchase a text book for this class. Like many of the students in this movie, I never read text books that we get from class, and even if I do read them, it sometimes seems like irrelevant information. I also was suprised at how little students "create" written papers compared to written e-mails. I feel that I have learned the most about writing through e-mails, and blogs much like the one I am writing right now. If teachers want to be effective in what they teach, they need to get creative in finding ways for the students to get creative too. Technology is a great medium in exercising this creativity.

Photostory

What a great tool we have as educators to use in our classroom! Photostory gives our students the opportunity to learn, while they create for themselves a potrayal of a certain event, an informational video, an opportunity to teach morals or ethics, and etc. This gives students an opportunity to expound and teach visually to their peers something that they are passionate about. This is a great way for students to explore different modes of learning, as well as to explore and come to know themselves through creative means.
Photostory is also a tool that teachers can use individually for their classroom, as well as collectively as they collaborate with other teachers. It would be beneficial to get together with other teachers in your grade and make a photostory depicting a historical even from your grade core curriculum. For example, if you were teaching fourth grade, you could make a photostory of how the state of Utah was settled, and the sacrifices that some of our predecessors made so that we can live in the state that we do now. In class we talked a bit about the emotion that photo story can portray. This gives students an opportuniy to connect with what happened 160 + years ago, and helps them to understand and appreciate the magnitude of the sacrifices that were made.
In another class that we had two days after we learned about photostory, one of our teachers showed a 7 minute clip of a movie that was made about the Civil War. It was a clip of one of the battles where many soldiers died. This provided us with an opportunity to see the impact that these deaths had on some of the other soldiers. It helped to enhance our understanding of the conviction and determination that these soldiers had in fighting for their cause. This was far more effective than reading about this event from a text book where you may only get the facts. The fact that this teacher used this clip in our class tells us why this could be so popular among teachers and other colleagues. You really are involved for a moment in what is happening, and it provokes a lot of questions. For instance, while I was watching this movies some of my thoughts were, "why did this really happen?", "was it worth it?", "couldn't there have been other means of settling this disagreement?". It eventually let me to want to learn more. What a powerful way to inspire our students.
Showing a photostory seems to be a good "anticipatory set" for our students, or way to grab their attention and interest as we introduce a new subject, topic, or unit. Finding an "attention grabber" seems to be the most difficult task in reaching any learning objective. In order for students to really learn, they need to be interested. I would use photostory in this manner, but I would also use it to supplement and enhance learning.
Their are many Pro's to digital story. I have already mentioned a few, but others would be that it would be something that you could use year after year. You could also share some of your creations, or other student's creations with your colleagues. I also saw a few on teacher tube that you could use. It seems that their are a lot of resources out their. One of the cons would be that they would take time, effort, and lots of creativity to create. It would be better to work with other teachers or collaborators to get a better product from your endeavors.
The Nasa Digital Story that was assigned for this week was another one of those emotional stories that got you involved in some of the events that occured along the road to outer-space discovery. The music fit this story very well. As music, as well as stories, has a climax, this music helped us to reach a point where we could realize the sacrifices that some of our astronauts have made on our behalf. Again, I thought it seemed strange that our country would put so much money, and risk so many lives to keep up with and eventually conquer Russian in outerspace aeronautics. However, when this story showed the benefits that our country and the world has received from flights to outerspace, it seemed that the benefits outweighed the costs.

Virtual Body Website

As another objective for my students, I would like them to learn the various parts and functions of the body, and how it pertains to their health. I found a website that is called the Virtual Body website. There are many different areas of the body that you can look at. Some of these areas include Brain, Heart, Digestive track, and the Skeletal System. In each of these areas, there are opportunities to receive instruction, to explore, and also a game at the end that could act as an assessment of what the child has learned.
The first segment is almost like a narrative or a lecture. It could be boring for some students, but it could also be very interesting for others. This provides background for the students so that they can explore for themselves as they “Zoom-In” to the parts that make up each of these systems or organs. The final component is a game that they can play where they arrange the parts of the body to create the body system. This provides an opportunity for them to show what they have learned as they have explored this website.
I feel that some of the pros of this website are that it allows students to students to learn on their own terms, at their own rate as they learn the different parts of the body. The narrative seems a bit advanced and boring, but it still provides the students with good information that they can use for a foundation as they learn more about the human body.
It would be neat to integrate power point into the objective of learning the different parts of the body. The students could do their own presentation of the human body and its various parts and functions. This would be a great activity to give the students an opportunity to “create” as we learned in the video we watched this week.

You can view this website at the following URL:

www.metropolis.com/VBody.asp

Cool Math For Kids Technology Website

As one of my objectives for my class, I would like my students to be able to think critically about patterns and shapes in the math content area. This is an area that seems to be quite intimidating for some students, but for others it seems to keep students interest and engagement regardless of the material. I found a website called coolmathfor kids.com. This website caters to those that need a little extra help with math, as well as those that would like more of a challenge. There are instructional portions of this website that will give students an opportunity to look up vocabulary on certain terms that they may not understand, as well as opportunities to interact and see this instruction in action.
As some examples of the above mentioned benefits of this website, I saw some places where students could see a picture as well as the name of certain geometrical shapes. In my experience in the field of education, it seems that it is commonly difficult for students to distinguish between the different names of shapes, and their properties. This website will allow students to visually guide their own learning as they explore. This could be a huge benefit to those that struggle in recognizing shapes. This is just one of the many opportunities that our students have to expound on their math and reasoning skills.
As an example of how students who need a bit more of a challenge, is an example of the virtual games that are on this website. My husband and I looked at one of the games together that had to do with noticing differences and similarities of two images that look virtually the same. There are some minor differences. My husband is one of those that always excelled in math areas. He thought that he would have loved this game and others that he saw on this website.
Some of the cons of this website would be that there would need to be more teacher involvement because some of the concepts seem somewhat difficult. You would need to be specific about what activities you feel that your students should be working on. I also saw that part of this website was directed to young children, and others to Junior High and High School kids. You may get kids who want to do too complicated activities, and then find they are frustrated with math.

Here is the URL for this website: http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

Pay Attention Video

After watching this clip from You Tube, I learned that I really need to get serious about technology. As I mentioned in my first blog, I am not very good with technology. Because of this, I said that I would like to have some specialist come in to teach our class how to work with technology, because I always just want to avoid having to learn about it. After watching this clip, that has changed dramatically. I will learn and discover everything about technology because perhaps my handicap in that area is because we never were able to use technology in the classroom during my education.
I will be able to reach my students in a variety of ways as I use technology in the classroom. At the beginning of the film it listed the various different types of learner which included things like kinesthetic, natural, mathematical/spatial, musical, and etc. Then it listed a digital learner in red text. There is an example right there of communicating importance through the change of the color of text. It seems that people often times think that you can't learn as much through communication via technological means because you can't read body cues, or body language, but you can by knowing HOW to use the right tools. For example, the other day I sent a text message to my husband. All it said was "What are you doing right now?" But it looked more like this "WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?". I didn't know how to turn off my caps lock, and because of this my husband called me right away. When I didn't answer he called and texted numerous times to get a reply. He was worried, and thought that I needed his help right away. Communication is very effective and effiecient via technology through text messages, e-mail, and Instant messaging. There also may be a student who doesn't feel as comfortable asking for help in front of the class, or in person. They could Instant message the teacher for an immediate response.
Communication with parents is also very useful via e-mail. If one of your student's has shown significant improvement in an area that may have been difficult for them before, you could shoot their parents an e-mail letting them know about the great progress the child has made. You could also inform them of other personal items, or problems the student may be having. You could also request help. This could all be done while your students are checking out one of the great technology tools you have provided for them. You wouldn't have to go to the office to make a phone call, and leave your students behind.
You could communicate with your colleagues by Instant Messaging, or e-mail. If you are working with other classes in an area or subject, you could communicate with your teacher via IM rather than going to their class and leaving your class behind. If your class is not quite done with their work and you need a few more minutes before you meet with other classes, you could shoot the teacher an IM telling them you need a few more minutes. There are so many ways that technology can be useful for communication.
There are many classroom objectives that teachers have for their classroom. One huge objective I have is that we build a strong sense of classroom community with our classroom. Is there a better way than having your studnents chat with someone new on IM each week to tell them about their weekend, or ask for help on homework. A student could have an IM partner that they ask questions to before they ask the teacher. This is just one of many classroom objectives. I also have a strong desire to help my students not be afraid of Math. There are so many tools on the internet to help students engange, interact, and create. This will help them feel more comfortable and confidant in subjects that may seem difficult.
The Pro's and Con's of using technology in the classroom are difficult to weigh, but when you see the advantages of technology it is not so difficult. In one of our classes recently, somebody raised their hand and said something like this to the professor, "If students seem to love texting so much, why don't we use that as a means to help students learn." I was reminded of this as I watched the movie. The teacher very quickly rejected this student's comment because she thought cell phones were a nuisance to the class. I thought the student had quite an insight at this comment. This is an example of how cell phones can both be a pro and a con. The pro is that they get to use a means that they are excited about to learn, but the con is that sometimes students can get carried away, and get distracted. Although technology is useful and effective for a students learning, it seems that you can get "distracted" or "immersed" in what your doing, which isn't all that bad unless it is excessive. Another con is that technology is quite expensive for the classroom. Schools just don't have the means to purchase ipod's and podcasts for the classroom. There would need to be an increase in budget to utilize technology to it's fullest potential.
Although it seems easier for me to list more cons than pros for using technology in the classroom, I still feel that the few pros way outweigh the cons, in which case I will do all I can to use technology as an educator.

My Ideal Classroom

Defining my ideal classroom is difficult because so much of a class or classroom depends on the people who are a part of it. It seems that it would be entirely too much to control 20+ students. I am typically not one to idealize anything, because it heightens my expectations. I tend to be more of a realist, but for the sake of this assignment, I will venture in idealization.

My Ideal classroom will be very organized, yet simple. I am not one to manage many items or details. It would be rather plain at the beginning of the year, but as the year rolls along, it will be filled with color and other exciting elements that the students will pick as they help to create the classroom set up. This will include representation of their artwork, as well as writings, or any other activities the students enjoyed throughout the year. There will also be centers for learning as we go throughout the year. This would involve the different content areas such as science, math, art, social studies, and etc. These centers will be places for students to explore on their own time. For example, if we are studying Ancient Egypt, there will be a place in the room filled with books, artifacts, and activities for all types of learners.

It will be set up in a way where everyone has a responsibility in the classroom, and fulfills their responsibility. This would include peer partners, as well as responsibility within the classroom. There will be complete inclusion of all students, no matter what their nationality, race, gender, ability, or etc. is. Every students will be able to capitalize on the strengths of their peers, and be helpful in the learning process. There will also be responsibilities in the areas of keeping the classroom clean, and the normal procesees that occur throughout the day such as a lunch leader, recess leader, and etc.

The parents would be highly involved in the children's education, but at the same time, they would have complete trust in me and my expertise as an educator. They wouldn't tell me how to do my job, but merely provide ways for me to be efficient in doing my job, which could include constructive positive and negative feedback (although all feedback would be considered positive if it was constructive).

I would like for my students to be more literate with computers and other technology than I am, however I would not like to teach students about technology, or deal with any technological errors. I would love for the extent of my teaching technology to be integration of technology among other subjects such as doing power point presentations for book reports, or using calculators to perform mathematical equations and functions. I would appreciate a specialist coming in to teach about technology within my classroom, and I would always encourage participation in this area.

If I could teach what I wanted to teach, I would focus on Math because I enjoy it, but I would also like to focus on real-to-life skills that each students would need to know to get by in this difficult world. This would include getting along with all types of people, acceptance and understanding, resolving conflicts, hard work and smart work, and etc. I would like to be able to engage all students in activities that will be for their good, and help inspire students to be better at what they do everyday.