EDSC 3250 Tiffany Matson: marty and tiffany

EDSC 3250 Tiffany Matson: marty and tiffany: "Finally went through!!! i think i may have been trying to post it to a different blog or something but i finally got a picture up!!!"

If you follow the link it takes you to the photo

My Beliefs- April 18, 2011

I believe that technology is a fundamental part of the education process. I think that it is important to realize that we are in a informational era. We should use all the tools that we have to teach this new generation what they need to know. I also realized that students will be more interested in our subjects if we use something, like technology, that they can relate to. I think that we can also teach subject that are more up to date in the classroom if we use technology. I am going to use technology in my classroom so that history will be a fun and up to date subject for my students.

I also believe that technology is something that must be taught to the students. Many students will know how to use technology but they will not know how to use it in a safe and constructive way. I know in history if you tell the students to do a report on someone or something the main source of their information will be from wikipedia. This is not a reliable source I must teach the students how they can find information that is reliable and correct. I also feel that safety is a important issue to discuss when talking about and using technology.

Even though I feel that technology is something that is necessary in the education of students. I feel that it is something that can be very easily abused. I know that the use of cell phones in the classroom can be a great tool it can also led to a great distraction. I know if I am bored in the class and I can use my cell phone I for sure am not going to be listening to my teacher. I am going to be texting and playing games and probably do other things that will distract the students around me. I know that technology is the classroom is a double edge sword. I am going to try to use technology in my classroom but I cannot let it become a tool of distraction.

Lessons Learned- April 18, 2011

I learned many of new things from these different tools I am first going to discuss the lessons that I learned from the articles. From the article "New WWW" I learn that technology is something that can be accessed from every where. This article also made me think about how cautious I have to be in adding material to the Internet. Once something is on the Internet it can be accessed by anyone. I must be careful before I add something to the Internet. In the article "Why Integrate" I learned that technology is a essential part of education in the world today. As I read this article I was trying to think of ways that I could integrate technology in my future classroom. This led to so ideas that I know will allow me to relate to my students better.

The next area that I want to talk about is the videos. From the video "Millennial Generation" I learned that the students that I am going to have know a lot about technology and feel very comfortable with it. I need to use this to my advantage, I must use technology so that they can relate to the material better and so they can feel more confident in the projects that I assign them. It was cool to hear the students ideas of what they wanted from technology and what they thought was the future of technology. In the video "Did You Know" I thought the information was pretty interesting and I learned that technology is a world wide thing and that using technology in the classroom will help my students to be prepare for the outside world.

The last area that I am going to discuss is the different websites and other tools. I learned that the web is a place that you can find anything if you know were you are looking. I was able to find many websites other than the ones that were on the reading list in a matter of minutes. One of the most useful websites that I found was the website "Tech Term" this is a website that I can use as a dictionary for tech terms that I do not know. I also found many of websites focusing on how to troubleshoot different problems. I can use this to increase my knowledge on troubleshooting it is a nice step by step tool to learn new things.

Strengths & Weaknesses- April 19, 2011

My strengths according to the UNI survey and Net Standards are that I understand how to use and use correctly the Internet and other media presentation. I also had strengths in the use of CDs, projector, PowerPoint and other digital media. My weakness with the UNI survey and NET Standards are that I do not know the terms with computers. I also have a problem with troubleshooting and explaining how to troubleshoot to other people. These are my major strengths and weakness. I feel that the UNI survey and the NET Standards were something that really help me to see what types of problems I have with technology and the things I can do well with technology.

I feel that now that I know my strengths and weakness I will be better able to make goals that will help me to improve the areas of technology that I am really weak in. I am going to have a goal to learn five new computer terms every two weeks. This will help me to improve my technological vocabulary. The article entitled "Tools for Change" has some good vocabulary words so I with start by trying to learn some of them. The next online tool that I would use it a website called "Tech terms" it is a online dictionary for technological terms. I would also have a goal to try and help all the people I can with the problems that they are having with their computers.

I feel that these workshops and tools will help me to be able to understand new tech terms. I am also going to try to learn a new way to troubleshoot from the article "Did you Know" and other helpful web sites and videos. I am sure that if I continue to look for new workshops and other tools to help me to help me with my weakness I know that I will find more and more that I like better. I think I need to remember that the web is full of tools to help me.

April 5, 2011-Digital Camera

What?
I am learning about how to take pictures and use the different functions on a digital camera. I am also learning how to edit the pictures and apply different filters and features.

So What?
This means that I will be able to take good pictures and be able to use different editing tools to make my pictures apply to the subject I am teaching. We are doing this so that we can understand the importance of pictures and how we can use them in the classroom. I had a limited understand of digital cameras before this exercise so I am going apply this new information so I can have a new way of accessing my students. This technology means that I will be able to make slide show that show what I am talking about in picture form. I feel that this will help the students understand the material better. This means that my fellow teachers will be able to have the students use photos in their lessons. I feel that this will help the students to understand all the material that is being taught.

Now what?
This technology means that my future students would be able to do a new type of performance assessment. This new information has helped me expand my current schema. It has helped me to understand more of how digital cameras work. I feel that this is going to make me a more technologically sound teacher. I am going to try to use this in my education to help the students apply what they have learned. I could have my students make a silent movie using digital pictures and then you could make them apply a certain filter that would make the pictures seem more like a silent movie. I think that this has helped me to become more creative. I feel like trying to find a way I can use this new technology has opened up my mind to new possibilities and way to teach my subject. I think that this new information will help me be able to help the other teachers will their problems with digital cameras. I think that this was a very useful thing to learn and I am thinking of new ways to use it in my classroom.

Mar. 21, 2011- Digital story 3

What?
This week we did our digital story. I have had a few problems with the story but I feel that it is moving along nicely. It was a good experience.
So What?
this making of a digital story helped me to understand how easy a digital story can be easy and fun. I feel that we are doing this because this is one way that we can make our subjects come alive for our students. I also feel that this is a great way we can involve our students. I feel that these could work as assignments. I can apply this by create digital story for things that I do not understand. I feel that this will help me to understand and will also help other to understand it also. This technology means that I can make history come alive for my students.

Now What?
This technology mean that my future students will be able to learn history in a new way. I am excited to learn more about technology because I find this technology so useful. This new technology makes me open my eyes up to technology before I never really liked using technology in my teaching but now this has shown me that technology is very useful and fun for the students and the teacher. I could have the students write down their feelings and something they learned and then they could go a make a project showing what they learned in more depth. This information for sure has made me a more technologically savvy teacher. I feel that it has made me understand the true potentially that technology has.

Mar. 8, 2011- Digital Story 1

What?
I learned about what is a digital story and how to make one. My partner and I are going to do a digital story on the Vietnam War veterans and how they were treated.

So What?
This information means to me as a teacher that I will be able to make good opening or closing to my lessons. I also will be able to test the students by having them make there own digital story about a topic that we are studying. I am going to use digital story to capture the students attention. Also we are going to use them so that we can diversify our teaching. In my other classes I could make digital stories when I have to teach a lesson on a certain subject. This technology mean that I can apply my education to all different learning types. This means that teachers can make their own movies about whatever subject they want so these movies can be tools in their classrooms.

Now What?
This means that my future students are going to have a lot more fun than they wold before. I am going to use digital stories in place of test and papers. I think that sometimes the students will be able to show me they know more about the subject by doing a digital story than a test or paper. I think that this new information has change my schema by allowing me to make a connection between technology and testing. This information made me a more creative teacher I feel. I think that I am going to use my creative in my teaching and invite students to do the same in their assignments. I am going to give my students the opportunity to make a digital story to better understand a certain subject. I feel that my teaching has improved because now I am a more diverse teacher. This I feel will also help other teacher to use their creative in their classes. I love this new technology I feel that it is going to greatly improve my teaching and classroom management.

Mar. 1, 2011- Vidcast

What?
I learned about how to make a video and post it on you tube. I used jing to make a video. In my video I discuss how a student would write a research paper. I think it when great it was very informational and easy.

So What?
In my video I learned that jing is a very good program to use to make a how to video. As I teacher I have learned that using this programs to make a video is something that can be used as a project for students and a great educational tool. The reason for why we are doing this is so that we can be able to teach this to are students and also so we can use it in our teaching. It is important because I think this knowledge will help your students to better relate to us as teachers. I think that these programs would help us to make our subjects interesting. I think that we should apply this in the way that we test our students. I think that they will respond well to a test like this. this technology means to me that I can make video to describe things that are hard to describe in an e-mail or in a phone call. It also will help visual learners like me to understand almost any subject.

Now What?
This technology will be a big part in my teaching process and also in the way that my students take tests. This new information is something that I knew very little about before. So it really help me to understand what my students are capable of and what they enjoy. This new information is something that will make me a teacher that can use information that my students like and understand. This will also help me to be a more diverse teacher. I can also use this information to help the other teachers to become more technologically sound. I really enjoyed making a video and I was surprised at how easy it was to create and save a movie. I thought that my video on how to write a research paper is something that would have help me in high school and it will help my students.

15 feb. 2011- Podcast

What?
I learned about what a podcast is and how to successfully do one. I did a podcast with a partner and then learned to upload it to my website. It was pretty easy to understand and do.

So What?
This mean for me as a teacher I will be able to create a podcast that will be able to show my students how to do many things. I am going to use this is my classroom to give the students that were absence or just need to hear how to do something again the change to hear it. I am going to also use it to give my students announcements. I am going to do this because it is a easy way to insure that all my students have the opportunity to have the same instructions. I can use podcast today to go over what we studied in all of my classes that day and then use the podcasts to study for my tests. This technology means that I will be able to connect and teach all of my students even if I am not there. This is a great way for teachers to teach and diversify their teaching.

Now What?
This technology means that my future students will be able to learn from me even when they can not come to class. Before this lesson I did not know anything about what a podcast is or what it is used for. Now I feel that I will be able to use it in a way that is going to help my students. I feel like this technology will help me to be more comfortable in using multi media in my classroom. I think that I would give my students the assignment of making a podcast to talk and warn public of the great depression. I believe that this will make me a better at being understood as a teacher. This will also help me to be able to teach the other teachers about how and when to use a podcast. I think that podcasts are great and I am glad that I learned about them.

Feb. 8, 2011- UEN

I will use UEN in my future classroom in many ways the first way that I would used the lesson plan that are on UEN. As I was browsing the lesson plans that are available at UEN I saw that their were a lot of lesson plans on subjects that I would teach. The lessons plan were very well thought out and very detailed. I think that I would use the interactives with the lesson plans. I think that it would bring some fun into the lesson. I saw that there were a lot of good interactives that I could use.

The pioneer library was a great source of information. It has so many great things you can find all kind of information. You can look up videos, pictures and music. I think that it is important to use different forms of teaching to help my students to understand a historical event. I feel that pioneer library was made to help teachers diversify their teaching. This is how I am planning on using pioneer to bring new forms of information to my students.

I think that the next thing that I would use UEN for is the core curriculum part. This part included the core curriculum of all social studies classes. I think that this would be useful because I could add a link that the parents and students see what they are going to be studying. This can also be used to explain to the parents why you are teaching a certain topic. I feel it will be very useful.

The last thing that I would use UEN for is for the sirs part. This part has many controversial topics. It included the ideas that support both sides. I could use these when the class is having a debate. I can have the students research their sides view on this website. I can also use it for my teaching. I can bring up opposing ideas so that my students can open there minds up to new ideas. I feel that UEN will be a useful tool in my future classroom.

Feb. 1, 2011- Google part 2

What?
This week I learned about Google websites. We made our own website to show that we learned what week needed to know. It was very information and will come in useful.

So What?
This knowledge about websites is something that will help my students check up to date in my class. My as a student it can help me to stay organized. With the calender I can put in my homework and make sure that I can see what I have to do all in one place. We are making websites to help our future students to succeed in our class. I think that it is going to help me a ton and be very useful. This technology is something that is new to me but I can really see the befits in using them in my future classroom. This is also something that I can use to help with group discussions and group presentations.


Now What?
This technology mean that my future students will be able to see all that they have to do to succeed in my class. It will also help me to have an easier time teaching when students are absent I can just say check the website when they ask what was due. This new information has changed the way I have thought about help the students succeed in my class. Before I did not know exactly how I could help my students now this is a great and easy way to do this. I think that this will help me to use more technology in my classroom. I think this will help my students understand the materials better. I can give the students assignments on my website and I can also show them how to do the assignment. This information helps me to understand technology and it's purpose in the classroom. It also showed me how easy it is to do. Maybe when I am a teacher I can teach this to the other teachers.

Jan. 24- Google part 1

What?
I am learning about the different functions that Google has which include: Gmail, google docs,google forums,and google spreadsheet. I had a good time learning all of these tools and I feel they will be very helpful.


So What?
The tool that made the biggest impression on me was google docs and google forums. First in google docs I learned that it simplified many steps in adding pictures and other multimedia activities. This means that I can use these tools to diversify my teaching. The other thing that I feel will help me and lot as a teacher is the google docs translate tool. This allows me to be able to communicate with parents of students that don't speak English. The google forums is something that I can use to have the students take quizzes on so I can get instant results. This is also something that with help me to do grades in my future classroom. The translating tool is very useful in my other classes. I have three Spanish classes and if I have a hard time understanding something I can type it in a google doc and translate it to English to help me understand. This technology is something that I could see myself using everyday.

Now What?
This technology means that my future students will be able to learning in there different learning styles in the same lesson. I as a teacher will be more effective in provide a good education and helping all the students to understand. I could also use this to help my English language learners to understand the material. This technology changes my schema mainly because it shows me that diversity is something that will be easy and fun for me to do. I think that I will be able to have the students do a lot more group projects and presentations. The assignment that I can give to my students are with google docs: presentations, power-points,research papers and more. With google forums I can give the students tests and quizzes so they can take many practice quizzes before the tests. I could also give them different homework assignments. I was really impressed with the material that I learned in google part 1. I really enjoyed it and can see myseld using it in the future.

17 January -Introduction

What?
I learned about the importance of technology in the teaching process. I also learned about the benefits and disadvantages of using technology in teaching. I watched some videos that show us what technology can do to help the students learn.

So What?
This information affects me in many ways. I am a history education major so I am going to be struggling with trying to teach history in a fun and interesting way. Technology will help me to have the students experience history in a new way. They will be able to see virtual reenactments and take virtual tours of the important areas and thing that we are talking about. This will help them relate to the people in history which will allow them to understand history better. We are learning about this and doing this because it is so important to capture the students interest because if we as teachers have the students attention they will learn more and have a better attitude about learning. I can apply this to my classes that I have this semester so that I can succeed in these classes. If I get interested in my classes I have not I will try harder and what to get a good grade in the class.

Now What?
This technology will help the future students to be better rounded in all areas. It will also help the future students to learn the important of all the subjects that we have them study. This information will change teachers in many ways. The main way is that teachers will have to be educated in the use of technology in teaching. It will be a hard change be it is possible. I belief that this information will help the future of teaching.