Blog 9

I have been pleasantly surprised with how much I've learned and enjoyed this class. I came into it a little nervous because I wasn't very familiar with a lot of computer programs, but I've learned so much! I really liked the format of the class, I was worried that having a 3 hour class would be SO boring, but it really wasn't at all. I liked that we were able to work on our assignments in class- so if we had problems it was easy to get help. I also liked that there was a combination of ways which the material was taught- regular instruction, online videos, classmates showing different things, etc. The only thing I didn't really like was when we had to get up and work with partners and discuss stuff sometimes. I'm really not an antisocial person- but some of the activities felt kind of forced and awkward.

I'm really excited to start using all the things I learned when I have my own classroom. Since I will be teaching elementary school I can't wait to use the technology not only with the kids- but to keep in contact with the parents as well. I really enjoyed the newsletters and the idea of having a class website to share information with parents. In the classroom I hope to be able to use activities like nonlinear power points to keep my students engaged and introduce them to technology.

I'm so excited and nervous about starting my major classes this fall! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I even get into the program. I can't wait to be a teacher and have my own classroom! I'm still kind of struggling with what age level I want to teach, but I'm sure that will come as I do my observations and student teaching.

Ch 8

I thought chapter 8 was pretty interesting. I had a pretty basic idea of what viruses, hackers, spam, and the like were- but this chapter went into much more depth about these subjects. To be honest I've never been very careful about protecting my computer against viruses, I rarely ever run scans and my virus software has been out of date for as long long as I can remember. However this chapter shed some light on just how serious viruses can be and how damaging they can be to your computer (even destroying data on your hard disk!) I thought the section on internet ethics was very important as a future educator, particularly with the way the internet has become such a prevalent part of the educational system in recent years. The information on issues such as cyber bullying, and filtering software are important things to be aware of as future educators. Finally the section discussing educational software and web enhanced digital textbooks is important as these technologies are becoming more and more prevalent in this high speed world. It is important as future educators to keep ourselves informed and up to date on the latest classroom technologies so we are able to effectively use these technologies to benefit our students.

I really enjoyed working on the website this past week, although I was a little bit disappointed with the limitations on the free website. However I feel like building a website from scratch would have been FAR too much to effectively fit into one class. I think the free websites are actually probably one of the best options for teachers, because it they have limited experience with technology (or time) it is a simple and quick way to set up a site for use by their students. I had a lot of fun creating my own website and was actually very relieved by the freedom we had to do what we want with it. I feel like I was much more interested and got so much more out of the project by being able to put what I wanted on the site, instead of following a specific detailed rubric.

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break! I can’t believe the semester is over half way through now. I really enjoyed having the week to relax. Now it’s back to the grind- yuck. Now I’m just anxiously awaiting my admission decision for the Elementary Education program- hopefully it will be a good one!