Monday, September 21, 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Blog Journal #3

I think that incorporating technology into the classroom at an early age is a good idea, it would help students become more familiar with computers and various technologies that they would need to use later on. Right now I plan on being an elementary school teacher, I am not sure what subject I would teach but no matter what subject I choose I will use technology in my classroom. If I teach elementary school Mathematics, I could use instructional software to help the students learn things such as their Times Tables more easily. I could also teach them to use a calculator so that they can save time when they're taking quizzes or tests.

While I think technology could be very useful in teaching students, I would worry about them using the internet. It is very easy to accidentally type in the wrong word and then get an inappropriate website pop up instead of the one you intended for. Because younger kids are very easily influenced I would worry about them finding one of these inappropriate websites and then instead of clicking out of it right away, showing everyone around them. To avoid this I would probably need a Teacher's Aid or Classroom Helper while instructing the children on how to use the internet in the classroom.

While searching the internet, I found an interesting website that allowed you to print worksheets based on the grade level, subject, and activity type desired. I would use this when I'm teaching because as a child in school I always loved worksheets, they were more fun and interesting to me than just sitting there while the teacher put examples on the board. One of the worksheets I looked at on this website was for First Grade Mathematics, it was for children learning to count backwards from 10 to 0 and had an animal theme. Others I saw had ocean, jungle, and seasons as themes. These themes could also make it more fun and appealing to children. The link for the website is given below.
http://www.kidzone.ws/

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Blog Journal #2

As a student, I have used Microsoft Word for writing all of my essays and papers for various classes since middle school. I have seen my teachers use it to type up notes and outlines for the class. I haven't seen a very creative way of using Microsoft Word in a school yet, but I am hoping to see one sometime in the near future.

So far in this class I have learned how to properly format a quiz or test by using Microsoft Word. This will be very beneficial to me in my future because it will enable me to quickly and easily make tests for my students instead of struggling with indents, bullets, numbering and alignment.