How to Use Blogs in the Classroom

Blogs in the classroom can be useful for many reasons. In my case being and English teacher the blogs will most likely be used for a type of journal. The students will be able to share and store their ideas with myself and their peers. This will allow the students to become more equipped for the lives ahead of them which will be filled with a plethora of technology. They will also be able to share their ideas with other people not in the class which will expose their works to others outside of the classroom.

I will also have a blog which will share how and why I teach the lessons the way I do. They will also be able to check my blog to see what activities they missed in class. This is important because it allows students to not fall behind if they may miss class for any reason. Adding this type of technology in the classroom adds something fresh which the students most likely have not used in the classroom before. This will keep them engaged as well as interested in the new curriculum.

WebQuest Reflection

The WebQuest assignment may have been the most challenging of the year, but I found it as the most rewarding assignment of the year. I enjoyed coming up with a project that not only did I find interesting, but that would allow the students to think for themselves in the process. I enjoyed setting the project up in such a way which allowed for different possible outcomes depending on the group, this allows for more interesting presentations from year to year.

I have never much been a fan of group projects, but after learning about how students actually retain the information more it makes sense why teachers assign so many. I have come to respect the group projects and now that I wont actually have to do many more of them I can openly say that I like them.

Overall the WebQuest project was something I plan on using in my classroom if it meets the curriculum. It is something that can be adapted easily, and even better they are something which can be easily created over a few days time. They are very useful tools and will come in handy during project times.

Professional Development Resources Reflection

I feel that it is important for teachers to continue learning throughout their career. If a teacher stops learning then he or she has no right to expect their classroom to learn for them. Learning new knowledge is only going to make the teacher more knowledgable as well as more marketable for other positions. One of the easiest ways for teachers to continue learning is by attending conferences.

In the exercise we were asked to do we were able to find conferences, seminars, and webinars which allow a teacher to grow as an educator. I am very lucky to be given the tools necessary to find these sites before I become an educator, that way once I am a teacher I will begin learning more immediately. This will cut off the plateau period I imagine a lot of teachers are faced with before they decide to further there education.

I am glad I am getting the chance to learn about the inner workings of the teaching system now before I actually have to become a teacher. With these logistics out of the way I will be able to spend more time preparing lesson plans and finding ways to effectively teach my class the material.

Delicious Professional Development

Plagiarism, Copyright Reflection

I found that learning about these two things was very rewarding. I always knew that plagiarism was bad and things have to be properly cited. Once I become a teacher I think it is imperative that I am able to uncover those individuals that are choosing to copy and paste their assignments. I will only be helping them, because later on in life it is going to come back to haunt them. Making sure that my students are well informed about plagiarism not only deters them from using it because they know I know about it, but they can gain ways to avoid using it so they wont have to.

The copyright information was probably the most interesting thing I learned in this section. I never knew that you could not be allowed to watch a video which is not for an educational purpose. No more reward days for my future classes! I also found it crazy to believe that when showing a video in the classroom you are restricted to only using ten percent otherwise you will be infringing on the copyright. I have been apart of movies and clips which are much more than ten percent.

I believe that by teaching my class about the dangers of these two acts they will be better informed, which will result in less usage of either. They will know the consequences and know that I know them, so they will be less likely to dare to copy and paste in my classroom! This will inspire them to create much more creative works, and lead to better learning overall.

Excel Lesson Plan Reflection

Before the creation of this lesson plan I have only used Excel spreadsheets in regards to budgets and graphs. Now I am able to see that those are not the only things which are useful when it comes to spreadsheets. I was able to utilize the application in order to create a timeline which was much easier to design in Excel than it would have been in a Word document. The ability to merge cells and wrap the text is much easier than hassling with a text box. This ability to use Excel in new ways opens many doors when it comes to assignments for students.

The interactive spreadsheets were also interesting to learn about. I knew formula could be used in order to perform mathematics equations, but never had any idea they could be altered to show if answers were correct or not. This is a very useful tool when one is trying to integrate technology in the class room. It not only allows the students to become more familiar with Excel, but it also teaches them not to be afraid of it.

I know in many of my classes in high school the teachers seemed to be afraid of Excel, expect for the use of their gradebooks. I think with the teachers becoming more enlightened with its uses and abilities it will only cause increasing interest in the program. It is a very useful tool which will become part of my lesson plans in the future, not only for graphs but for it's interactive purposes as well.

PowerPoint Lesson Plan Reflection

In high school you are expected to be a proficient user of Power Point, however you are never specifically taught how to use it. In this class I have been able to utilize aspects of Power Point I never knew were possible. In learning these new skills I will then be more equipped to teach my students the things I know. This will allow them to produce better Power Points and help them in any future endeavours.

Not only does knowing how to navigate Power Point more efficiently help, seeing different ways students are able to use them for a project allows for more creativity. By choosing to utilize Power Point in the class room I am giving my students the ability to express their creativity through technology. They may choose to produce a linear Power Point or have one which is rifled with hyperlinks, either way students are able to create presentations while using technology.

I have also learned that presentations are an important part in the classroom. Most students want to show off their work, by creating Power Points this allows them to do so. I feel that if students know their work is going to have to be presented they are more likely to create better work. Peer pressure in some situations can cause those children who otherwise would slack off to actually show their true potential. Making children show their work allows me to better gauge what they are capable of, because I know they gave it their best attempt hopefully in order to not look foolish in front of their peers.