Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I was Tagged by Meme have you been?
Have you been tagged?
I was just tagged by Noel Forte in the meme going around the education blog circles called “Seven Things”.
Here are the rules:
* Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter and/or Plurk.
1. I have built 3 houses for Habitat for Humanity 2 in Georgia and 1 in New Haven CT and helped build a school in New Orleans (before the flood).
2. I do not eat Pork or Red Meat and was a vegetarian from 3 - 18 all because of my brother pointing to a cow and saying that's dinner tonight when I was 3.
3. The first car I drove around we called the Ghetto wagon, the next we called the beast and then there was ARF and now finally Diva...Yes thats right I name my cars and each car fits the name.
4. I used to be allergic to perfume and have sneezing attacks. I once sneezed 35 times in a row.
5. I took up boxing when I was working in my last school to deal with my aggression and get it all out. Now I just box for fun.
6. I like to decorate cupcakes and cookies but I rarely eat the ones I decorated.
7. I am a technology teacher and I don't own an Ipod or MP3 play nor do I have any intentions of buying one.
I'd like to know more about the following people: Tag...You're it!
Keri Willis
Frank DeCelie
Tammy Chiang
**I will finish later..... its gym time!
I was just tagged by Noel Forte in the meme going around the education blog circles called “Seven Things”.
Here are the rules:
* Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter and/or Plurk.
1. I have built 3 houses for Habitat for Humanity 2 in Georgia and 1 in New Haven CT and helped build a school in New Orleans (before the flood).
2. I do not eat Pork or Red Meat and was a vegetarian from 3 - 18 all because of my brother pointing to a cow and saying that's dinner tonight when I was 3.
3. The first car I drove around we called the Ghetto wagon, the next we called the beast and then there was ARF and now finally Diva...Yes thats right I name my cars and each car fits the name.
4. I used to be allergic to perfume and have sneezing attacks. I once sneezed 35 times in a row.
5. I took up boxing when I was working in my last school to deal with my aggression and get it all out. Now I just box for fun.
6. I like to decorate cupcakes and cookies but I rarely eat the ones I decorated.
7. I am a technology teacher and I don't own an Ipod or MP3 play nor do I have any intentions of buying one.
I'd like to know more about the following people: Tag...You're it!
Keri Willis
Frank DeCelie
Tammy Chiang
**I will finish later..... its gym time!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Which Technologies Will Shape Education in 2008
In response the the article Which Technologies Will Shape Education in 2008 I feel that the way technology is growing and the amount of technology savvy teachers are growing we might even see more than what was discussed in the article shaping our education system. Distance learning is going on as we speak in some classrooms. With all of the podcasts that have been created as well as how easy it is to create a wiki or even a webpage teachers all over seem to be posting their homework, lessons, and help on the web so students at anytime can go online and get the help they need. Students are creating lessons and videos to help other students or even themselves. I sometimes think back to when I was going to school ( which was not that long ago) how sitting and listening to the teacher was so boring or how I needed help with my homework and no one was able to help me. Now you can find almost any help you need on the computer. I am excited to see where we are at the end of 2008 or even by 2010 what our students will be able to do using the computer!
Monday, February 25, 2008
It has been a while
It has been to long since my last post. So on my randomness of a night I have found at least two things worth blogging about. Not really sure if anyone really reads this blog to much but hey If I find something quite interesting why not blog about it and share it to whom ever might navigate to my place.
The first thing I would like to share is this place I found on the Curriki site that Karen had mentioned in class. I am starting my unit on animations with my 5th grade students. I decided to search for animation in this curriki. My search was not very successful in the way of finding lessons I could use however I found a wealth of other resources I could use. One of these worth investing is this place called Whyville. This site seems to offer many interesting games and adventures in a safe yet engaging way for students. I am not sure If I would really use it in classes however I find it is very interesting that a site like this is out there. I have not really explored the whole site but it allows students to create their own experiences. They are allowed to chat with others within the site only after they have taken the Chat License quiz, which to me seems very important. This site is mainly scientific and goes with the Title of Why Ville. It attempts to answer many questions students might have as to why things happen and the way things work. Check it out and tell me what you think!
The other object of my time went to a link a friend sent to me that shows a video of people having a bad day at the office. Sometimes I wish I could do what they are doing to their computers. For me it wouldn't be a bad day what work but just a bad day with technology. Bad Day Video Feel free to leave your reactions.
The first thing I would like to share is this place I found on the Curriki site that Karen had mentioned in class. I am starting my unit on animations with my 5th grade students. I decided to search for animation in this curriki. My search was not very successful in the way of finding lessons I could use however I found a wealth of other resources I could use. One of these worth investing is this place called Whyville. This site seems to offer many interesting games and adventures in a safe yet engaging way for students. I am not sure If I would really use it in classes however I find it is very interesting that a site like this is out there. I have not really explored the whole site but it allows students to create their own experiences. They are allowed to chat with others within the site only after they have taken the Chat License quiz, which to me seems very important. This site is mainly scientific and goes with the Title of Why Ville. It attempts to answer many questions students might have as to why things happen and the way things work. Check it out and tell me what you think!
The other object of my time went to a link a friend sent to me that shows a video of people having a bad day at the office. Sometimes I wish I could do what they are doing to their computers. For me it wouldn't be a bad day what work but just a bad day with technology. Bad Day Video Feel free to leave your reactions.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Cognitive Learning
Question: 1. How could software applications and/or other technologies help you provide opportunities for your students to access their prior knowledge and better organize new information? That is, describe a lesson for which you might use technology to help with organization and describe the technology(ies) you might use?
Response:
While reading about the cognitive approach to learning and memory, I found myself thinking about how I personally remember things and how I best learn. I know that I am more of a hands on and visual learner. I found it very interesting taking those memory experiments. I noticed that I did much better when the information was organized. In order to teach my students to access their prior knowledge and better organize new information I would use a graphic organizer program (Kidspiration). This program allows students to create concept maps using pictures, words, or sentences.
I would use this program from the beginning of the lesson or unit if we are starting a new unit. I would give the students a word or picture that has to do with the lessons to follow and just have them create a map of what they already know about this word or picture. They could write down things that go along with the word, where they would find or use it, when they heard or saw the word, etc. That would have the students access their prior knowledge. Then as the lessons and unit continued the students would go into and add to their map.
While adding they might reorganize the map into different categories but the information that they have learned has now been already connected to something they already knew. According to the cognitive approach getting information into your long term memory is tough to do however it is easier if you attach it to something you already know. By having the students create these maps and place words and pictures into the map before they started the lessons on a certain topic will have the students creating the links to their prior knowledge when then learn something new.
Response:
While reading about the cognitive approach to learning and memory, I found myself thinking about how I personally remember things and how I best learn. I know that I am more of a hands on and visual learner. I found it very interesting taking those memory experiments. I noticed that I did much better when the information was organized. In order to teach my students to access their prior knowledge and better organize new information I would use a graphic organizer program (Kidspiration). This program allows students to create concept maps using pictures, words, or sentences.
I would use this program from the beginning of the lesson or unit if we are starting a new unit. I would give the students a word or picture that has to do with the lessons to follow and just have them create a map of what they already know about this word or picture. They could write down things that go along with the word, where they would find or use it, when they heard or saw the word, etc. That would have the students access their prior knowledge. Then as the lessons and unit continued the students would go into and add to their map.
While adding they might reorganize the map into different categories but the information that they have learned has now been already connected to something they already knew. According to the cognitive approach getting information into your long term memory is tough to do however it is easier if you attach it to something you already know. By having the students create these maps and place words and pictures into the map before they started the lessons on a certain topic will have the students creating the links to their prior knowledge when then learn something new.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Smartboards
So yesterday I went to the Smartboard workshop that was led by one of our TEAM members. It was great! Very interactive and showed me some new tools to use on teh smart board! Sharon lead the workshop and the way she led it was great! I particularyly liked how when we came into class we had to sign in on the smartboard and then she used our names to call us up to use a tool! This gave me an idea of how to start my lessons with my fellow teachers as well as my students!
During my free time I had read an article in Digital Directions. The atricle is Whiteboards Inc. It talked about how schools started using the interactive whiteboards and the many uses of them. Within the article I came across a stunning statistic: about 60% of classrooms in the United Kingdom have interactive whiteboards while in the United States ONLY 12% of the classrooms have them! It makes me feel very fortunate to be a school where each classroom has a Smartboard (even if it is the portable one that can be quite annoying at times!)
During my free time I had read an article in Digital Directions. The atricle is Whiteboards Inc. It talked about how schools started using the interactive whiteboards and the many uses of them. Within the article I came across a stunning statistic: about 60% of classrooms in the United Kingdom have interactive whiteboards while in the United States ONLY 12% of the classrooms have them! It makes me feel very fortunate to be a school where each classroom has a Smartboard (even if it is the portable one that can be quite annoying at times!)
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