Week Six Blog Post- Interactive Whiteboards

Before using an interactive whiteboard I was very timid about it and very confused as well. I felt as though I would never get the hang of it and therefore have so any excellent teaching aids passe me by and I would be at a disadvantage. However after doing my smart board lesson all of those fears and nervous feelings are gone.  I now feel that the smart board is an excellent way to enhance teaching and I plan to use it for some of my future lessons. It is a great way to get students to interact with the lesson and therefore be present for it both in state and in mind.
I also had the fear that I would not be able to learn how to use the interactive whiteboard, however I was wrong. After being walked through it I caught in to all the different ways to create pages and add games and pictures. I was not as difficult as I expected it would be.
I am a big fan of the interactive whiteboard. Some pros to having it in the classroom is that the teacher is able to incorporate the students, have the students be engaged and possible volunteer more. I also captures the students rather than a boring old chalk board and just writing down things that are on it. It is also more exciting than a simple PowerPoint. Some cons though are that some lessons will not always need the smart board as an aid and we cannot always be dependent  on technology.
Thinking back to my previous lessons I would have used the smart board. I always do a warm-up and a worksheet that goes along with the lesson. With the smart board the warm-up can be more inviting and it is easier to guide the students through the worksheet with the help of the smart board.

Week 5 Blog Post- Software Skills

I am glad that the time was taken to be taught how to use the software and also to demonstrate the skills which we acquired. All of the software skills are very beneficial to me and I now have the confidence as well to make an effective and an engaging worksheet, test, hand-out and so on. The software skills that I feel will be most beneficial to me are inspiration and word. I like that I can make charts on inspiration which I can make cause and effect charts, different branches of government and other social studies topics. Of course this could always be hand drawn but with inspiration it is neat and organized and help the students that are visual. Word I can make quick quizzes that are neat and organized and simple to asses my students. These software skills will aid me as a teacher they will allow me to be creative and produce effective items, whether it is a test, flyer or hand-out. I now have the tools to produce something of quality.

Week 4 Blog Post- Inspiration and Web Resources

Through-out my middle school and high school career I have only seen one teacher use Inspiration. This was my 7th grade social studies teacher. Yet, I feel that other teachers could have used this program and seen beneficial results. Once I am a teacher I plan on using Inspiration in my classroom. My 7th grade teacher used it to get the class to brainstorm the main ideas for a chapter before we started it. He would have a different student make the organizer and type the information in each time. I like this idea and would continue it in my classroom. I would also use it to organize the causes and events in history, for example the causes and effects that sparked the American Revolution. It is organized and clear rather than the information just in notes on a notebook sheet. Use inspiration as a chart and give it as a hand-out. When papers are assigned, making an outline of it in inspiration can be worth credit toward the paper and have them hand it in when the paper is due. After a chapter is completed the class can review by discussing the main events. Like the pre chapter organizer a different student will be the one behind the computer. When discussing different type of government or even our own government the different branches and duties and responsibilities can be hard to grasp and remember, but Inspiration can organize the information and clearly show the duties and responsibilities of each branch. There are always famous people in history. A chart can be made to highlight important one in the chapter and explain their accomplishments or contribution.Students can use it to break-down the duties of a group project and make sure that everyone will make a contribution. They can make a diagram and hand it in for extra credit during a chapter. I can be used to see how a chapter will be broken down and taught. With the sections and activities that will be done. An students can also use it to take notes and then change it to an outline form to study. These are a few ideas for Inspiration to be used in a classroom.

My favorite web resource was Rubistar. I used it in my Secondary Methods class last semester after a friend showed it to me. In history there will be presentations and papers, as a result there will be a rubric. Therefore I will be using Rubistar to create the rubrics. I love how it is easy to use Rubistar and the templates. All you have to do is tweak them a little but to create your own. With the assignment of oral and group projects and papers I will always need a rubric in order to grade them.It will allow the students to see the important areas and it will make my job to grade easy as well. Instead of looking at a paper and worrying if I graded one student to hard or one to easy.Which is a worry that I had while completing my early field experience.I really like Rubistar.

Week 3 Post- Social Bookmarking

When I first heard about Social Bookmarking I had no idea what it was and I must admit after seeing what it was I was a bit overwhelmed by it. However after letting it sink in for a few days I had a flood of ideas about it and how I could use in the classroom. It has an application in every classroom, probably more in the middle high school but still in the elementary schools. As a secondary history teacher I would use Social Bookmarking to post sites for the students that would be beneficial for research, extra readings, places for homework, and sites that they can go to to study for tests. I would use it to benefit the students. I would also encourage the students to create their own page as well. They could put up sites that they found beneficial to them so that other students in the classroom could explore it for themselves and see if it suites them as well. I would also post up lesson plans or ideas about activities. In turn I would hope that other teachers would also Social Bookmark  and put up some sites that they have found about activities and lessons.
Social Bookmarking can also be helpful to me now. If I am working on a group project and research is being conducted on the internet then the members of a group could post up sites that they found with good and valuable information. Also I as a student could post up sites where their are practice problems or more information regarding a class to help others, and any other student could this as well. these are no the only potions for Social Bookmarking but these are the ideas that popped into my head on how it could be beneficial.

Week 2 Blog Post

This is the first time every that I had used a blog, let alone even looking at a blog. When I think of how I could use blogs in my classroom one main idea pops into my head. I would use a blog to give an overview or preview of the class and the lessons. For example if we are going to be starting a new chapter I would post a mini paragraph explaining what the new chapter will be about along with the main ideas. I would also post what the class will consist of. If we have a work sheet that is due or post the main points that we will be discussing.I would basically use it to help prepare the class and hopefully incorporate more participation the following day. The advantages of using technology in the classroom are it provides the ability for everyone to participate and the more technology is used the better skills will be developed, therefore producing r more essential and point driven activities and projects, yet, a disadvantage is that technology is not always reliable.

After playing around with Goggle Apps today I must say that I am a fan. The advantages of using Google apps is that it is much easier to create a group project. With this app people can add in their ideas and work without the constant sending and returning of emails. Another advantage is that it doe not require hardware or software it is free. Also it provides many options that can be helpful, such as word documents, spreadsheets, calendars, etc. Disadvantages of Goggle apps are that some other software is more advanced or is better suited for certain function or programs that Google apps include, but that is the only big disadvantage that pops into my head.