Smart Board for Spanish

The piece of technology I would like to integrate into my classroom is a Smart Board interactive whiteboard. The technology allows the teacher to interact with their computer from touching the screen projected on to the board at the head of the classroom. They can type, draw, move, click, and write onto the screen and it is transferred to their computer. For a language classroom, I think this would facilitate student involvement in writing and reading. For daily work, students could have a sentence to copy off of the board that would need to be fixed. Volunteers could come to the board and fix what needed to be corrected, and then the sentence could be saved into an archive for future testing purposes. I think a Smart Board would be beneficial for culture lessons, too. Having pictures and videos on the board to interact with would most likely help retention of information. Having 20% more working space than a standard board, the Smart Board would also be beneficial with larger class sizes, and would attract attention of the majority of the class. The Smart Board can also be used with new, and more evolved technology. It’s possible to transition smoothly from using a word document to playing a segment from a VHS tape player. It is also convenient to use sound with the Smart Board. Interactively using Second Life with a class, or using Google Earth and exploring Machu Picchu with some música andina playing could be a great cultural experience.

copy(right?)

Within this video about copyright laws and fair use act, I learned a lot about what I'm allowed to use, for how long, and under what circumstances. The TEACH act is a great movement that opened a lot of doors and windows for teachers. I understand that using material that I have borrowed from others is under the conditions that I am using it for informational reasons, and not entertainment. That makes sense to me, because mass-producing a work of a writer or director at your own monetary gain doesn’t seem legally conducive. I know that watching out for copyright laws is going to be a significant part of my job, but I do appreciate the TEACH act that is there to allow me to use a large amount of material for educational purposes.

Eavesdropping Comment for Thought...

I'm sitting here, in Whitman Commons, listening to a group of education majors talk about their teaching experiences. One girl admits to her classmates, "Oh, the seventh graders today. I don't think I want to teach seventh grade. I was up there today, and you could just tell that all they wanted was to be anywhere but where they were. I don't want to teach a class where they don't want to be there, and not be interested. It's not fun for them, and it's not fun for me." Now that I cracked a smile at. Please, show me a grade (in the secondary curriculum) where students are bright-eyed, and enthusiastic about being at school each day. Or, better yet, take a look at your lesson and figure out: What is it that you're doing (or not doing) that's making their eyes glaze over? This was my initial reaction to her comment, and I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find an ideal class that wants to be there every single day.

Prezi - wow!

I'm really impressed with this software! Just from what I've seen already, I think this is something I could use in my classroom were I given the materials. I really like the idea of "one big canvas" instead of slides. It shows the idea as a cohesive whole, not cut up in to slides like powerpoint. I would be willing to bet students would like to use this as a presentation method as well. It seems more interactive!

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

The video makes me sad about how many students graduate high school in America. The statistic about the most English speakers in the world will be in China by 2016 shocked me. It's also a little disheartening as well. I see the numbers of China's population being a factor, and the immigration factor of America contributing to it as well. For me, I remember being a student and being plain BORED in most of my classes. When I start to teach, one of my main goals (besides comprehension, standards, and progress) will be to keep my students engaged. I want them to be intrigued about what's going on in the classroom. There's better chance they will retain the information if they are interested in it as well.

SUPERstudents

In our day and age, students must be able to multitask. The demand for their attention, their time, and their best effort makes everyday life a game of juggling priorities. Along with those priorities come choices that generations past have not had to make. our students today are deciding between social lives and extra curricular activities. Between reading an extra chapter in their literature books and getting an extra hour of sleep. I think as teachers, we need to keep things in perspective for our students. They are so overwhelmed by their own lives, I think we should inject humor and fun into the school day where ever we can.

The Machine is Us/ing Us.

I'm very impressed by this video. It explains where we are in the continuum of the evolution of the internet. The production of the video was done nicely too. I think this is something I would use in my own classroom, just to explain what is happening on the web. I'm sure by the time I teach this will be outdated, but it's worth looking at where we've come to see what might be ahead.

Google Docs

I've been looking through Google Docs, and there's a bunch of great stuff here! I think this will be helpful to me as a current student, and also as a future teacher. The accessibility of Google Docs is unparalleled. Not only can you save and work on Word documents through it, but there's access to slide show presentations, spreadsheets, and folders as well. This could make group projects so much easier. No longer is the excuse of not being able to reach one another acceptable. Every student can be accountable for his or her own work. Not only working from school, but getting work done from home will be incredibly easier. Organization has hit a new high with Google docs. I can't wait to get started using it myself.

Instructional Software

The students in the simulation for application technology are doing something I never would have done in my own experience. One of the plan's strengths is that it integrates different types of technology into one exercise. They are using Excel, along with publishing their findings onto the internet. This activity seems well rounded, and even targets content areas other than economics and technology. From an English standpoint, I could see using a webpage to update stockholders as an opportunity to practice business writing.

Post Experimentation

My first blog post! I'm new to this, so I hope I'm doing it right.