Reflection #3

What?

This week we learned how to set up UEN sites. We also were taught some of the features that UEN has to offer.

So What?

As a student UEN helps me in my assignments. It helps me to make lesson plans and include other activities in my teaching assignments. It is also good to get acquainted with UEN now, before I start teaching. It also helps me to learn more about my content area. It is fun to explore and see all that it offers.

This information means that as teachers we can plan more interactive activities with our students and get them more involved in the classroom. We can also have our students be involved with the UEN class website. This technology means that my life as a teacher doesn't have to be as hard as some make it out to be. There are a lot of great resources out there, the key is just knowing where to find them.

Now What?

Having a UEN site and knowing the features that UEN has to offer will be very helpful to me and my students. Having a site for our classroom on UEN will help them to stay organized and all of us be on the same page. A UEN site is helpful because it is a site made just for educational purposes and parents really should not have a problem with that. My students will probably enjoy the interactive features that UEN offers and I can use them in my teaching.

UEN will help me to be a better teacher. There are so many resources for teachers on the website. UEN will also lessen my workload because they have lesson plans for teachers. I can us the core curriculum found on UEN to make sure I am teaching the information the students need to know. UEN will help me out greatly when I become a teacher. UEN will help my colleagues and I collaborate. We will be able to tell each other about the resources we find and how we use them. We can also look up on each other's sites to see what kinds of things each other are doing.

Video:

I thought this video was really interesting. I was interested to see how the statistics had changed because the video was made 4 years ago. The video showed how times really have changed and they are just going to continue to change.

In order for our students to be able to compete in today's world and in the future they are going to have to understand technology. As educators are job is to prepare our students for the future and being successful. We need to prepare our students to be literate in technology and get them comfortable with it. Some of our students may not have very much technology access at home so we need to make sure we are exposing it to them in the schools. The world runs on technology and one cannot be ignorant to technology and hope to do well.

Reflection #2

What?

This week we used how to use Google Sites. We put a site together for our futures classroom.

So What?

As a student today I have many professors that use Google Sites. It has really helped me to stay organized in those classes. It also is great because my professors include other useful tools and resources that can not be put on a syllabus. It also can be updated whenever with announcements and other important information that helps everyone in the class stay better connected.

This technology means that as teachers we can have more than just a syllabus. We can include a lot more information on the website versus a syllabus. It also helps us because it gives us another way to remind out students of what is going on. We can tell our students in class what is going on, we can give them handouts, but by also having a website where they can find the information allows for less excuses from our students.

Now What?

After seeing all the different types of things you can include on your Google Site I think that it is a great idea and I plan on using it in my future classroom. I like the idea of my students and I being connected outside of the classroom but in a way that is not too personal. Having a class website keeps everyone organized and on the same page with regards to what is going on in the class. It is another source for my students to see what kinds of things are coming up in class. It is also great when kids miss class. They can look on the class website and see what they missed. I also think that a class website is really helpful to parents as well. It allows them to see what the class has going on as well and gets them involved.

Google Sites will also be a great tool for my colleagues and I. It will allow us to collaborate more on what we are doing in our classrooms. It would be neat to see what types of things my colleagues have going on in their classrooms by looking at their class website and seeing if there was anything I'd like to implement into my classroom. If we ran our classes the same we could even collaborate on the site.

Video:

This video made a lot of good points. I never really thought about using cell phones and ipods in class and though I am still not sold on the idea I do think that teachers need to have a more open mind about technology and how to incorporate it in their classes. One problem that I feel exists is that teachers do not know how to use these things in their classes. All they think of are the negatives of cell phones, like how texting leads kids to shorten everything they spell and to make up all these acronyms and then use them in formal writing. If we as teachers could learn how to use these things as tools in our classrooms then are students would also learn how to use technology for more things as well, instead of just for talking and texting and listening to music. There is a lot of useful and practical tools that these things have, we just have to learn how to use them the right way and teach our students the same.

I also felt while watching the video that if we are able to incorporate more technology into our students will be more engaged. Technology is a thing a lot of kids now days feel very comfortable with and if we could use it more in our classes I think they would be more excited about the material. It is something they are good at so why not play to their strengths?

Reflection #1

What?

This week in class we learned how to use Google Docs and how to use it to collaborate with our colleagues. We also learned how to use Google Calendar.

So What?

As a student, colleague, and future teacher Google Calendars will help me to stay organized. Not only will Google Calendar help me in my future but today it will help me to manage all that I have to do. I am a very busy person and being able to make a schedule of my week will really help me to not feel so overwhelmed. Google Calendars will also be helpful for my colleagues and I to make appointments and remember our meetings. It also is very helpful to remember birthdays.

Google Docs has already been extremely helpful to me as a student. It was been a great tool to collaborate with my other classmates. It is great to be able to work on assignments together but not have to be in the same place and have to work around each others busy schedules to meet. This technology definitely will continue to help me in my other classes.

Now What?

This new information will be very helpful to my students. Google Calendars will help me to be organized and to run my class more smoothly. It will also help my students to keep track of all the things they have to do, especially when they are really busy with other things in their lives. Google Docs will allow me to plan more outside group projects while still being mindful of my student's busy schedules. This new information will help me to use technology more in my classes, which in this digital age will hopefully strike a lot of my student's interests.

This new information will be a huge help in my department with my colleagues. We will be able to collaborate more of our ideas and lesson plans over Google Docs. It will allow us to be more in sync with one another and on the same page. Google Calendar will help us to plan meetings. This new information will change a lot about how we work together. Mostly is just makes it so much easier which in turn allows us to work together more often.

Video:

I completely agree with what Rene said in her video. We can't let the bad situations in life that we are in take control of our lives. We have to make the best of them because in the end it is only up to us to reach our goals.

I have been really lucky in life and haven't had many difficult things to overcome. Not all of us are that fortunate though. Having been lucky to have it pretty easy and seeing this video makes me realize that I can't take anything for granted. I have no excuses for not making my dreams come true.

As a future teacher I think that this video would be great to show my students. I can try my best to help them to realize that can reach their dreams but ultimately the decision is up to them. I definitely believe that I can be a source to help them see their potential though.

Ideal Classroom Reflection

Ideally I would teach at a school in California. Either near my sister in Northern California or in sunny San Diego. The community would be involved in the lives of the students and parents and community members would have an active role in student success. Members of the community would be involved in fundraising, guest speaking, athletics and clubs.

My classroom will be rectangular. One wall of the room will have a lot of windows. Outside these windows will be lots of tress and greenery. I believe that seeing the sunshine puts people in good moods, these windows will allow the sunshine to shine into my classroom and thereby help to put my students in good moods. The other side of my classroom will have bulletin boards were student work can be displayed. The front of my classroom will have a large white board on it. The back wall will have a large map of the world, united states..etc. My classroom will also have primary documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and other such documents posted on the walls. I will have a library full of many history resources that my students will be able to use when needed.

My classroom will utilize technology. My class will have a locker where laptops will be available for students to borrow for the period when needed. We will also have a large projector, tv, and cd player.

I will teach U.S. history and my students will be excited to learn the history of this nation. We will do a lot of group work and interactive activities in my class. I will make history come alive for my students. Not only will I teach them history but I will also teach them life lessons and help them to prepare for their future.

My students will make goals and will feel how great it is to accomplish their goals. Goals will drive student success. My classroom will function as a team and we will all respect one another. No one will be embarrassed to speak up and let their opinions be heard because of the the respect. My students will also come from many different ethnic backgrounds. We will all learn about each others cultures and there will be no racial dividers.

My colleagues and I will work together and share ideas with one another. We will be friends with each other.

My students will be very lucky and will have the opportunity to go on field trips to enrich their learning. They will be able to go back to Washington D.C., Gettysburg, and other historical sites. These field trips will be a huge factor in them loving history!

VIDEO:

My first thought after watching that video was, "Wow!" That boy had so much confidence! There is no way I could get up in front of that many people and give such a honest message like he did. That is what the boy was trying to tell us though, that if we believe in our students than they will believe in themselves and will have the confidence that he did.

I really liked what he said about believing in ourselves. I had no idea that believing in ourselves helped our students so much. But it does make sense because we are their example and believing in ourselves teaches them to believe in themselves.

From what he said I also was struck by how as teachers we aren't just here to teach our students the content knowledge. Teaching is so much more than that. It is teaching our students life lessons, teaching them how to work and most importantly how to believe in themselves and succeed.

I really enjoyed this video. It has inspired me to work to become a better teacher, to get to know my students and believe in them. Even when I have a student that is disengaged from the learning, causes problems, and makes teaching difficult I still need to believe in that student. I may be the only person who does and believing in that student can make all the difference in his/her life.