Day 28 April 29,2010

The website that I chose to validate was Martin Luther Kind Jr. I found out that this site was hosted by Stormfront, which is a "white pride" site. This shows that this site is not credible because it is created by Stormfront. In the summary of the website, there is a curse word. This shows that it is not reliable information for children to use. Overall, this site is not a good website to get information from. Learning how to validate a website is a good skill and it will be useful to me when I am looking up research for a paper.

Day 27 April 27, 2010

Something new that I learned today about searching for information on the interent is how to tell if the site is creditable or not. I learned that sites that end in .edu is one of the most creditable sites. The information is more accurate and more reliable. The ISTE-NETS standard that fits this activity is Standard 3d. Standard 3d says Teachers model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning. This is a good way to figure out which information to use for a research paper or any project. This will come in handy when I start teaching and assign a paper to my class. I think that they will enjoy learning how to validate sites.

Day 26 April 22,2010

One new thing I learned about the smartboard from my peers was that you can write on it and change the line sizes. Also, I learned that you can use the notebook part of the smartboard, which is good for showing presentations and writing on it. I also found out that it is useful for Math problems. You can write the math problem on the board and work it out. I think that the smartboard is very interesting, and the children in the classrooms would definitely enjoy them. I think smartboards would be good in the classroom, if they were used for the right thing. I would use a smartboard in my future classroom if I knew how to use them to their fullest potential.

Day 25 April 20,2010

Are smartboards worth the financial investment? Our group had a hard time on deciding on if smarboards were worth the financial investment or if they weren't worth the investment. I think that smarboards would be worth the financial investment if educators were trained in how to use the samrt boards properly. Also, if teachers could find the right lessons to use with teh smartboard, then they would be useful to teachers and students. If the smartboards are not being used and are just sitting in the classroom, then they are a waste of money. I think that teachers who know how to use the smartboards, and find them useful should be able to get them, but teachers who do not use them, then they should not waster their money on buying them.

Day 24 April 15, 2010

Today in class we worked with the smart board agian. We worked in groups and found lesson plans that would be good to teach in a history class. Using smart boards in the classroom helps teachers to meet Standard 2a. Teachers design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incoporate digitial tools and resources to promote student learning and creavity. Smart boards would be a wonderful thing for me to use as a future educator if I could find the right lessons to use it with. If I could find the right activities to use for hte lesson I am teaching, then the smart board would be great to use. I think a lot of teachers would use it if they knew what lessons to use with it. The children would also enjoy it becuase it gives them the opportunity to take turns and work together.

Day 23 April 13,2010

Today in class we are learning how to use smart boards. White boards are used frequently in schools today. I remember using smart boards in my 8th grade and 12th grade year. In elementary school, we did not use the smart board. Now it is used more often in the elementary schools. In the reading called, "Interactive Whiteboards and Learning: A Review of Classroom Case Studies and Research Literature" shows white boards are worth the investment by this quote, ""One shared image in the classroom encourages discussion….The pace of the lesson is increased…. It encourages teachers to plan lessons which involve interactive whole-class activities. The teacher can look at the class, rather than at the computer keyboard (which would be the case if a computer and large monitor or image projected onto a wall were used)…. The teacher can concentrate on pupils' responses" (Ball 2003). This quote shows evidence of why smart boards would be worth the investment. It encourages students to interact with each other, and to be more willing to speak out in the classroom. The teacher isn't sitting behind a computer, but can stand in front of the classroom and interact with his/her students. I think that the smart board would be a good investment in the schools.

Day 22 April 8,2010

Today in class we worked on our WebQuest pages. Here is the link to my WebQuest. I am finding new videos to use on my webquest and pictures to go along with my theme of farm animals. I think that children would really enjoy completing this webquest. As the students are completing the webquest they are developing 21st century skills in core subjects. WebQuests in general are involving students in learning about different subjects and different topics. My WebQuest focuses on English, reading, or language arts. This WebQuest also helps students to become familar with using computers. Which for kindergarten and first grade is useful for them to learn how to use computers at an early age.

Day 21 April 6,2010

Today in class we worked on our WebQuests with Google sites. We went through and made changes to our WebQuests and modified it. The ISTE-NETS Standard that creating this webquest fit is standard 2d. Standard 2d says, teachers provide students with multiple and varied formative and summat assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. I think webquests will be a good activity to use in my future classrooms. It uses technology and helps students to corporate.

Day 20 April 1, 2010

The webquest that I found, that I am going to modify is called Farm Animals. One change that I am going to make to this webquest is to add pictures to it. This webquest is to help students on reading and comprehension, also to assess their ability with computers and begin to learn about reseach. There are no pictures on this webquest, and it looks boring and plain. I don't think kindergarteners would be interested in this assignement because there are no pictures. The CSO that my webquest will help students meet is use meaning clues to aid comprehension and make predictions about content (e.g., pictures, title, cover, story sequence).