Technology in the classroom

Technology in the Classroom

We live in an ever changing world that is filled with technology. The students that we will be teaching are going to know alot about "the new things" . We, as teachers do not need to be left in the dark by not being able to incorporate technology in our classrooms. Instead of not having technology in the classroom all together, we need to have the students help us teach. When going into a unit that a teacher knows that technology can be used, the teacher can assign homework that uses that technology. By doing this, studentsa re able to use a tool that they enjoy in the classroom and are able to have fun and show some of their peers what they can do.
Podcasts can be great because the students can either create one or they can listen to them on their own or as a class and still get the subject that is being taught and at hand.
Blogs are great because students can post journals or they can poste stories that they enjoy or that they have wrote themselves.
Cell phones can be used by using text messaging when doing a poll or quiz in the classroom. They can also be used if a teacher wants to do an open phone test instead of an open book test.
Technology plays a very big part in our world, and we as teachers should enbrace that concept and let the student teach us while we teach them!!!

Classroom Website!

Here is my classroom website!
http://www.quia.com/profiles/dshipley25

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Pros and Cons of Blogging in Education

There are many pros and cons to blogging in the education system. I believe there are more pros than there are cons. Pros in blogging that I see is that many teachers can use their blog as a homework source. Many teachers can create a blog that teachers and students can look at to see what the students have done that day and to see the homework that they have if they forgot to write it down. Parents want to stay involoved with their childrens lives and blogging is a big way to do that by seeing what they have done during school so that they can stay active in keeping up with their school work. Blogging can also be a great tool to use for just students because students can create a blog and start to publish their work of papers and things that they do online so that their teachers and parents can look at it. Blogging can be great for students to feel independent and also to learn some different ways to use technology and to get the standards down so that they can be more prepared.
There are several cons that I see that can be difficult to using blogs in the classroom. One of which would be the use of plagerism. If students are told to write papers and post it on their blogs than they may be more tempted to use the internet without sighting where they got their works. Another thing that can be bad is that some school systems do not allow access to blogs so they may not be able to use the school computers. Some students do not have a computer or the internet at their home, so they would not be able to do the assignment that the teacher has told them to do. Although blogging can be a great tool and resource to use in the classroom, it can also have its problems.
A site that I found information on was:
Jackson, L. (2005, April 13). Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson! . Education World, Retrieved March 14, 2009, from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml

Educational Podcasts

There are many podcasts that I found were helpful and educational, but these are a few that I liked the most and have had a chance to listen to each of them to see the contents of them.

CNN Students News (Video) was my favorite podcast, it can be used for either teachers to use for themsleves or for teachers to use in the classroom with their students to use in presentations. I saw several coments on this blog that teachers had wrote that taught middle or high school saying that they enjoyed using it to teach their students.

Another one was The Art of Storytelling with Children. This poscast was intended for K-12 students and teachers. I got to listen to a bit of it and it seemed like it would be very helpful to teach children of all ages to enjoy it storytelling and helping the teacher enjoy telling the stories.

NPR: Education Podcast, was a good podcast because it seemed to touch on all the changes that education is going through and it seemed to keep current. It would be helpful for teachers to keep up with the education system and all the changes that are occuring.

Aesop's Fables Podcast was a podcast that told different Aesop fables. It seemed to be enjoyable and interesting to listen to.

These podcasts were very interesting and the ones that I found myself wanting to subscribe to.

Wikihow

I decided to make a paper carnation. It is something that I learned how to do several years ago and thought that it was a neat process and would be a great activity for children to do. Check it out!
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Paper-Carnation

Social Bookmarking in the classroom

There are many ways that social bookmarking can help in the classroom. By going onto Delicious.com myself and experiencing what it is all about I can definately see how it is very useful to teachers in their everyday life as a teacher. I believe that by social bookmarking teachers can share ideas with one another by showing them the link to where they are getting their information and to show other teachers where they are getting there sources to have new ideas in the classroom for activities and for lesson plans. Social bookmarking is a great idea and great source for new and experienced teachers. For new teachers social bookmarking can be helpful by getting ideas from experienced teachers and the sources that they have found helpful over ther years. For experienced teachers, social bookmarking can help by getting new ideas from either some newer teachers or from other teachers that have different resources that they use on the internet. I belive that it is also helpful for students as well because they can reference what a teacher has used for homework or see what other students use for helpful links for projects and homework. All around I think that social bookmarking is very helpful and very efficient in the use that is provides for teachers and students!

Links to Educational Blogs

There are several blogs that I found that would help out teachers and to help them in the classroom, but there were a few that I found that I liked alot and that seemed very useful. They are:
http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/blogboard/

http://blog.news-record.com/chalkboard/

http://educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com/

All of these blogs seemed to help teachers out and I believe that all of them seemed to have talked about current issues going on in schools and in education. I think that these blogs are a tremendous help to any and all teachers.

Wikispaces Site Praxis Help

I have made a wikispaces site to help people prepare for the Praxis exams.
This is the site:
http://praxistesthelp.wikispaces.com/

Wikipedia article change

Since I work at Lane Bryant I know a few things about it.I have worked there for three years and felt that I was confident enough to write something on it's wikipedia site. I have added:

"Lane Bryant's "sister" stores that are owned by Charming Shoppes, include Fashion Bug and Catherines."
I added it at 6:26 on 3/11. I will post later to see if it sticks or not.

I just checked on 3/13 at 6:00 and it is still there!!!!!

Google Docs Survey

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Polleverywhere Survey

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Why I chose to Become a teacher

I chose to become a teacher for several reasons. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was young. I have a passion for children and want to help them learn by expanding their minds and helping them learn to enjoy learning new things everyday. Teaching is a rewarding experience and it is something that is not only a job but a calling. Not everyone has a calling to be a teacher. I have felt the need and want to be a teacher since I was in elementary teacher because I saw how many of my teachers were such an influence and had such an impact on my life. Teaching to me is something that is a passion and a journey that I am looking foward to.