Lesson Five

In Week 5 I learned about different types of communication tools and how they are used in the classroom. In a way it is ironic that we are discussing communication tools because our class basically revolves around the use of these tools. In our online class alone I use email, chat, and blog on a regular basis. It really shows you how society has progressed with the use of technology and how postal mail and face to face correspondence are replaced with the use of these communication tools.

          I would say the email would be the number one tool that I personally use on a daily basis for what seems like everything! I keep in contact with family and friends, I am able to send out correspondences for work, and I communicate about questions regarding school/and or class with the use of email. I am not much of a phone talker anyways so I always rely on either text or email to communicate with many people. I feel that email comes in handy especially in my work perspective because I am able to send out mass emails about information or updates rather than having to call each person individually. I am also able to upload/download pictures and documents and attach them to the emails so they are viewable to others.

          Email seems like it has always went hand and hand with school for me. I always felt like teachers, and professors prefer the use of email because it is convenient and it is a faster method of response. Especially now with the use of smart phones and tablets we do not necessarily even have to be in front of a computer to access email.

          Email is not only useful for the teacher but parents and students can communicate effectively with the teacher as well. I think email is a great way to keep effective communication between the parent and teacher so you can talk frequently about the students’ performance. I think in some ways students who may not feel as confident as others can ask questions about assignments over email without feeling embarrassed in front of their peers. Students can upload/download assignments via email, and they can also collaborate with the peers and use email to discuss and share their opinions/thoughts and work on group assignments that way.

          Usually when a person hears the term “communication tools” your first thought is of email. As I stated above, I use email constantly for school, work, and personal use, and it is an effective way for me as well as others to communicate globally and conveniently.

Lesson 4 Blog

In this week’s lesson I have become more familiar with Presentation Programs for both the teacher and student. I have used Power Point in many classes for assignments and this lesson helped me to better understand why this presentation software is so effective. With Presentation software becoming so resourceful in the classroom we see less use for chalkboards, and overhead projectors. I can remember using overhead projectors when I was younger and what a hassle they could be time to time. Now with presentation programs, the teacher is able to present lessons in a more modernized way while creating a presentation that is visually appealing to the students, gaining a better response for students paying attention.

          As a future educator, I plan to use Power Points often in my classroom. I have developed Power Points for classes during my student teaching and it was always an effective teaching method. Students genuinely seemed more interested with the Power Points because I was able to incorporate lively text, colors, and graphics that capture their attention. This is a big improvement from the standard overhead projector that was once used religiously. I am able to add graphics and audio to the slides therefore allowing myself to teach to both visual and aural learners.

Power Point is also a great tool for students to become familiar with when working on assignments.  Students are able to familiarize themselves with the program when doing an assignment which is beneficial because they will most likely use this software again. I think that when programs like Word and Power Point are used by students, they have fun creating their own presentation and exploring all the different layout styles which in turn helps them become more familiar with the computer and its programs; as well as the topic they are discussing.

One of the things I like best about a Power Point is I am able to create a presentation and save it, so I store it for later use and I can easily transport it to and from school. This for me is an easier way of keeping up with my work rather than worrying about where I have placed a paper based presentation.         Many of the training I go to today incorporate Power Point into their discussion. I just think that people can become bored easily sitting through a lecture, While a Power Point at least gives you something visual to process. The only downfall I can see with Presentation software is that sometimes it ends up being a “user error”. Often time’s presenters will try to cram too much information into a presentation which conflicts with the time management aspect of the presentation. Another problem is that people can also choose colors, and or texts that are not appealing to others, or simply may not be visible to others. I have also run into the problem where I have been in a lecture and the speaker keeps having “Power Point Malfunctions” this is always unfortunate because I feel it takes away from the presentation they have worked hard on and focus all the attention to a piece of technology that they cannot control or work properly.

So although there can be some issues with Presentation Programs, I plan to use them in my class because I feel comfortable enough with the software and I do think it is a successful tool in the classroom. I think that throwing a Power Point Presentation into the mix every now and then, is a nice way to take a break from the normal everyday grind of learning and treat the students to a more advanced presentation of the material we are are learning.
For my Power Point Presentation, I created a "Wheels on the Bus" Song Slideshow and presented it to the one year old classroom at the daycare I work at. I presented it during circle time with the children and they really enjoyed it! The love to sing the song, it is one of their favorites, so it was a nice change to have something different to present to them rather then just singing lyrics. The children really like the pictures I included because they could easily point out "school bus". They also liked how I added effects to the word on each slide because they thought it was fun when words would move and bounce around, they got tickled everytime something would move! I think if I were to change one thing, I would like to add maybe so audio to the presentation, or I though it would be cute to add their pictures to some slides and incorporate them as though they are "passengers on the bus". They love anytime I say their names and interact with them in songs so I think they would have took a liking to that in the presentation. I really like that I was able to add graphics because I think for this age group seeing pictures and associating them with words is a very effective teaching mechanism to help them remebering words and meaning.

Lesson 3

This week’s lesson although I am familiar with using word processing in my daily life, really helped me to understand how effective the program is in the classroom and even learn some different uses for the program. I use word processing for a number of reasons; I use it mostly for my school work and I use it when I need to create a flyer or advertisement for personal uses. I use Microsoft word for my school work when I need to write a paper. I like that I am some-what familiar with the software so I feel i can easily accomplish homework. I feel as though I can type fairly fast so typing on word processor is easier then writing with a pencil. I also like all the tools equipped in the program. I can use the spell check to correct any spelling issues, and I can use the thesaurus if I can't put a word to the meaning I am trying to define. I feel like word processing programs have allowed students to come a long way from grammar and writing assignments of the past. I can remember writing papers when I was younger and how stressful it was worrying about the spelling and layout of the paper. I feel that now I am able to focus on writing a paper and getting my points across first then I can go back and do any revisions necessary.
I also use word processing a lot when it comes to making flyers and advertisements. I teach Wilton Cake Decorating Classes and also Make Cakes as a side job. I am able to create things like business cards for Cake Decorating with ease. Microsoft word allows me to pick the business card template, insert my desired information and it is easily created for me. This is the same for when I am creating resumes, brochures, labels, and certificates. I just feel like I can be creative and explore around with my options of layouts and have the comfort of knowing I will create a document that is organized and professional.  I have attached a document that I made recently for a “Mommy and Me Cupcake Class” I am having. I was able to create a flyer and add a “cupcake” graphic to it as the bullets. I recreated the item to make it more visually appealing to the customers. I think that the only negative I could find creating documents is sometimes it is just a matter of picking the right color schemes, fonts, and graphics that can appeal to your whole audience. What I may think looks good may not appeal to someone else.

Lesson Two

This week we have been learning about Spreadsheets and Databases and how effective they are in the classroom. I found the website http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/ict/ict2.htm that had many different post on interesting ways to teach about Spreadsheets and Databases and creative ways for students to learn how to use them. For myself spreadsheets have always been a very organized grid for financial affairs. Once you can understand how to input formulas into the spreadsheet it is easy to see how inserting different inputs affects the outcome.  The website above had a couple different exercises for students to practice with spreadsheet. One was called "Ben's Burger Bar" where you can input the food items your friends are purchasing and play around with different combinations of food items to see how much you will spend on your food. There are also a couple party budget spreadsheets where you are given a budget and have to create your own party list. I think this is a great tool for students to learn early on because it can help them when they need to financially plan for things in the future. The big thing about the spreadsheet that I really like is that you can change any cell's input and it automatically recalculates the entire sheet.
I know that in a lot of my music undergrad classes we used Excel to create budgets for a beginning band program and trip planning. We were given a budget and we had to research prices and list out exactly how many of each items; music stands, books, instruments, etc. that we needed to purchase in the scenario given. We also used Excel to plan "spring fieldtrips" and we had to list out bus cost, ticket cost, meal cost, etc... I really like using excel because you can research different options and their cost and input the prices into the cells and see that different outcomes. That way you can organize and manipulate the numerical data and play around with "what if" situations. Aside from student use with spreadsheets I feel that teachers can also use spreadsheets when it comes to attendance, and grade books. In my classroom I would try to show students that they are many purposes for spreadsheets and I would give them an assignment to do by giving them a budget of say $100 and plan a classroom party.
I have learned that in databases you can store data and use keywords or similarities to group items so it eliminates the time you spend searching for information. Students could research place like the "Museum of Natural History" or the "Smithsonian" and see that they use databases to organize their museum collections. Students could really see how they use databases in paleontology and anthropology to classify and group things together. I think that the biggest thing I would want my students to understand about spreadsheets and databases are that they are used every day in so many ways. We use them to budget, classify, and make predictions.

Lesson One

In this lesson, I leaned some interesting concepts in why technology is such an efficient teaching tool in the classroom. Beginning with the passage about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Age, you understand that our ancestors were using technology in various forms that I was unaware of. It is unbelievable to see how far the integration of technology has come over the years. It is hard to imagine a society with computers, software, mobile device, etc... Since they play such a major role in the way our society functions in today’s world. It really makes you realize how beneficial technology is, and with it being such an everyday function it can easily be taken for granted. With all the advanced technology we use today you can really see a difference in the past and today’s society and how we have technology that helps simplify and enlighten us.

 I also learned a lot about how useful implementing technology in the classroom can be for both the teacher and the students.  I learned a lot about different programs available for use in the classroom as well as how to make better use of programs I am already familiar with such as Microsoft Office Suites. I also learned that both the teacher and the students can benefit in multiple ways from technology. Using the computer for electronic communication I find very important since so many people communicate using email. I personally would like to use the electronic grade book in my classroom because it seems like a very organized and effective method of keeping track of grades and assignments. I also learned that students can really appreciate using technology in various forms for classwork and homework.  This generation students have been subjected to technology at such an early age that they are comfortable maneuvering their way around software programs. I think that they find technology not only an easier tool to work with, I think that with all the creative programs available students can learn while using creative, and innovative tools as mentioned with memorization and review.
 I would like to better familiarize myself with Web Page Development and Web 2.0 tools because I have had little to no experience with using these. I think that both would be very useful in implementing in the classroom, especially with me being a music educator I could create a "band webpage" for students to access for important information/documents.
 The last thing that I would like to be more knowledgeable about would be troubleshooting with technology. I would want to be more comfortable with troubleshooting programs so in the case that something were to go wrong, I would not have to spend all my allotted class time trying to solve the problem.