Post #10

From reading back over my classmates' blogs, I found that most of us generally had the same idea and thoughts about the different projects we did and programs that we used. We all seemed to enjoy using hot potatoes, and everyone seemed to have a general knowledge of most of the Microsoft Office programs.

I would really like to learn more in Excell. I am currently taking a statistics class, and my professor is constantly telling us that we can use Excell to figure out the standard dievation, means, and other data simply by plugging in different formulas. As a math teacher I think that knowing how to do things like that would be useful.

My goal is to find ways in which I can introduce different medias into my class, so that the students have a greater appreciation for math and all of the different fields that use mathematics. I would like to be able to have the students watch the tv-show Numb3rs at least once because it does a great job of depicting mathematic subjects in a very entertaining way.

Post #9

I want to become a high school math teacher, so there aren't many web-based tools or resources that I would typically use in my class. However, I would like to use the website http://homeschoolmath.net/ as a resource for my students. The website requires your school to be imputed into their database and the students are able to join with their particular school and class.

The website offers a variety of tools for the students: tutorials, games, instruction, and quizzes. This is a great way to get students to practice certain mathematic principles, and to get help on any area that they may be particularly struggling in.

I think that using the new Microsoft Vista is probably beneficial to teachers. I haven't used this myself, but I've heard many good things about it. Plus I think that it is very important for teachers to try and stay as up to date with technology as possible.

Post #8

Chapter 8 discusses some of the many different computer viruses, and security issues that can affect your computer. It talks about how this can cause many issues in the classroom, especially with sites that may not be appropriate for children or websites that do not contain correct and up to date information. Sometimes these things can create problems that not only affect certain software but also the hardware in a computer as well.

Chapter 8 also discusses many ways for teachers to use technology in a way that would bypass most if not all of these problems. Creating this such as guidelines for students and setting up web page blockers, can decrease the risk of students accessing websites that aren't appropriate. There are also numerous amounts of new advanced softwares that you can use to help block against further infections of the computer.

This week I didn't really learn anything new, but I learned how to do certain things in a different way. We worked in PowerPoint, and although I did know how to do most of the tasks, I didn't know all of the different short cuts they had.

Post #7

Chapter 7 talks about evaluating educational technology, and integrating different strategies. It talks about making sure that the technology you use should always be appropriate to the students, it must has some relatibility to the topic that you are currently discussing, and that it should be educational and motivational. I think that the use of technology in the classroom is great especially to help keep the interest of the students, and the just using a little bit of common sense will be fine in determining which medias, and topics are appropriate for students.

The interent is a great tool for both students and teachers, but it can easily be a source for concern. Not all websites are accurate, and some are inappropriate for children. The chapter talks about different rubrics that teachers should try to use when thinking about incorperating them into their lectures.

This week we worked on PowerPoint agian. I know most of the basics of PowerPoint from working previous projects and assaignments. One of the things I did not how to do was link slides together. I think that using that option in the way we did today with the Jeopardy would be a great idea to use in the future.

Post #6

Chapter six talks about technology, digital media, and cirriculum integration. Digital media and technology both can be intergral in a classroom; helping the students to better understand a particular topic. With the constant use of technology and digitial media influence in everyday life, its almost necessary to intergrate them as part of the cirriculum.

I personally think that technology will greatly aid in helping the students to better understand certain topics. With math, watching a show like CBS's Numb3rs would benefit the students by showing them the vast areas in which math can be used, and it would bring the topic to a level better understood by the students. Also, there are many new programs being developed everyday and intergrating things like AutoCad into different projects would keep the students interested.

This week we worked in Excell. I had worked in Excell before so I had a basic understanding of Excell worked; but there were many things that I didn't know. For example: printing a select group of cells, centering a cell across a group of cells. I went to London and Paris for spring break with two of my friends and we had the best time ever!:)

Post #5

Chapter 5 deals with digital media, and everything that lies within in it like: audio, video, sound graphics, ect. It talks about the different uses that digital media can have not only in the classroom, but in everyday life. Digital Media is such a part of our daily lives. We are constantly using the internet and watching videos, listening to music, and reading articles; all of which lie under digital media.

As future teachers we can utilize digital media to our advantage, and I truly believe that our students will be the better for it. With it we can come up with interactive presentations that will help the students get a visual of what the lecture is on. Whether in math with different graphs and interactive problems, in an English class with the possiblity of watching a play you're studying with your class, or in so many other different ways. Digital media provides the students many different ways in which to help them better understand the topics, and integrating these things like sound clips, videos, graphics, and videos will improve the students chance of truly understanding the topic.

This past week I haven't really learned anything new. I had however, never used the crossword puzzle program which I thought was a pretty cool program; that would be interesting thing to use in the future.

Post #4

Chapter 4 talks about Hardware for Teachers; and all of the different components that make up the internal computer. It talks about the input and output of information, and the progression from floppy disks to fash drives. These new technological advances can be very benificial to teachers; helping their students better understand major concepts through educational programs, online teachers to help tutor the students in trouble areas, and so much more. Technology is in high demand in our society and there are thousands of people who constantly try to innovate exciting new programs, games, computers, and so much more. We've already developed the touch screen, and through web cams we can communicate globally; whats next for this new digital age?

I found that most of the comments that are posted on all of our blogs, not only share the same ideas and concepts, but also expand on those ideas. Some comments show reveal how much we have in common with each other, not only just teaching in general, but also the subject, methods, ideas through which we will be teaching. Most of the comments we leave are encouraging and help to build ideas and think about particular topics from someone else's perspective.

This week I've learned a lot more about Microsoft Word than I had before. I understood all of the basics, and even some of the shortcuts; but I new nothing about formatting the envelops, and printing out labels. I also discovered new ways to get to certain tool bars that I didn't know before; like the formating and page margins.