Monday, November 17, 2008

Week Three: Cell Phones in Class, Cyberbullying, and Website building

My favorite part of this week's class was building the website. I really enjoyed the opportunity to begin implementing my goals and moving towards my visions of how my class will be. It made me think about what I really wanted my students to focus on, as that had to determine the focus and features of my website.

Of course, it still needs a lot of work! But, for a rookie website creator I was pretty happy with it. I am curious to know how many students do use the classroom website of their teachers? Maybe our goal is to get them to use it more. I looked at a few other classmates websites and got some great ideas from some of the things they included. I think it will be an ongoing process where I am taking things away and adding them to make it the best it can be.

The cyberbullying discussion was interesting. Overall, it just seems like another facet we as educators need to cover when we discuss acceptable behavior and how to treat others. If I use blogs, emails, pictures or any other type of technology that other students can view, I will be sure to view the material first, as well as have clear discussions with my students about netiquette and responsible communication with others in general. I'm excited to try and incorporate these things in to my teaching. Its a little vague to me still whether or not I will even have a computer available in my classroom. I wonder how teachers in lower budget schools incorporate technology in to their classes?


I also had fun browsing the teacher tube videos for the video reveiw. I am posting a playlist of my favorites for fun. This weeks video higlight: The Fractions Rap Video from Teacher Tube. This cracks me up! I think it is the last one on this playlist.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Week 2 Blog

Week 2 was pretty good. The only set back was the technical difficulties I had with Web CT. it took me all week to be able to log in to the class and access the classroom tools. But now that I am finally getting in, and the other class is finished, I am able to concentrate more wholly on this class.

I feel like I will learn alot form this class. I think that my perspective will change and expand to concepts of the use of technology in the class room. I look forward to using them as valuable tools.

One question that I had that I sent out in a class email was:
What kind of credible and scholarly sources are acceptable and realistic for elementary aged students? I think this may be something I can research on my own as well. I look forward to learning more about that.

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