Women of the Web

This was interesting- I thought it was so funny that these women chat live online and share their conversation with whoever wants to listen in! I felt like I was intruding, but it was somewhat entertaining. I felt ADD with the instant messaging, which I think they referred to as "text chat". Between their live conversation and then the "text chatting" of everyone listening in it was a little chaotic but very interesting.

Active Board...Coming Soon

My cooperating teacher has attended a technology class hosted by the Issaquah School District for numerous years now. Her first year, she received a laptop computer and then in the next month or so she is receiving a Dell Tablet.

However, this coming year she gets her biggest piece of equipment yet...An Active Board! She is so excited! I look forward to seeing how the presence of an Active Board will enhance her classroom!

Trouble Shooting

The other day I was observing in a classroom and the teacher was having difficulties getting the elmo and the overhead projector to work. She asked me to make it happen as she needed it for her lesson. So I went to work...trouble shooting :)

I tried a few different things and finally I figured it out! On of the setting buttons was flipped on the wrong setting and keeping the projector from coming on. Therefore, by adjusting that setting, I was able to get the elmo working! She thought I was a genius and I had to admit it was luck and a result of my good old tech in ed class :)

Tech in the Inner-City

I have observed at a couple inner-city elementary schools and it is such a different world than the affluent schools I have previously and currently work at. Not only are the students, classrooms, faculty, and problems different but so is the technology.

Talk about a lack of resources. The first school I went to had white boards, an overhead projector, and an elmo. The elmo was newer, but that was were the technology ended. The other school I went to had black boards, an overhead projector, and an elmo. Both schools had a couple of computers in the classroom.

I know the technology resources are not great, but I think that the teachers are doing a great job of making ends meet.

SMART Board Math Lesson Template

Here is the link to my SMART Board lesson!

Math Lesson.notebook

Assignment #5: SMART Board Lesson Plan

I decided to do my technology project using the SMART Board Notebook. At first, it was a very frustrating process, as I have very little experience working in this program. However, after a while, I began to get a better grasp on the program and even came to like it.

There are so many functions. I really enjoyed the cloning option as well as the shade screens to cover part of a slide- genius!! The grouping and ungrouping tool came in handy when using the same visual slide after slide. Unfortunately, I did not learn this until a few hours in...Oh well, now I know and am very impressed by its convenience.

I have mixed feelings about the SMART Board Notebook. Part of me feels it is not user-friendly. However, after finally understanding many of its functions I feel this is only part true. I do not think that this technology is un-user-friendly, but I would say it is not new-user-friendly. I say this because as a new user, I found myself very confused for a while. After many trial and error moments though, I have come to a place of great appreciation for this program and am excited to see it bring learning to life for my students!

I attached a word document as well as two publisher documents to my SMART Board template. These are two worksheets and one letter home explaining the concept of Function Machines (the math lesson). I included these so that the teacher would have adequate resources. See the next entry for the link to this lesson in SMART Board Notebook.

Despite the time it took to make this lesson, I really did enjoy seeing it come together! I know that I am no where near proficient at this program, however, now I do feel more comfortable using it!

What's Ahead...Classrooms in the Future

It is weird to think about what classrooms will look like in the future. Five years doesn't seem like much, but at the rate we are improving and expanding technology, I can only imagine what tools will be in the classroom then.

People talk about all students having school via computers. While this may happen someday, I do not see this across the board five years down the road. However, I would not be surprised to see technology adjust and advance what the classroom looks like.

There will probably be many more computers available to students in the actual classroom. Tools like SMART Boards will have advanced even more and will probably still be used in classrooms.

Many things will go from being paper assignments to on-line, or computer assignments. This will be interesting to see what systems work for turning in work, grading work, receiving input on work, and even how much is what students know verses how much the technology aided their assignment.

All that said- education is education. No matter how it happens- people learning is the goal. Therefore, it will be exciting to grow in technology so that we can prepare the next generation to live in a world that is ever-improving and adding technology.