Portfolio

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Presentation- Healthy Eating

Think Aloud

Please click here to view my Think Aloud

Presentation Topic

I am going to choose to do my presentation on healthy eating. It is never too early to teach children the benefits of eating healthy on their mind and on their body. For some, learning about a healthy diet at school may be the only place they are able to learn about it at all.

Video Games-Learning/Literacy

I agree with Gee's fundamental argument. If a game is too easy the player is not going to be interested in it for long, on the other hand, if it is too difficult the player may give up. There has to be a "happy medium". The same goes for school work learning, if the material is too easy for the student, he or she is going to become bored with it, but if it is too hard they are not going to understand and learn the concept. I think with good teaching, you have to find the in-between that keeps the students interested in the material they are being taught but also not make it difficult enough that they are not understanding and giving up easily. A good teacher will find that middle ground for the students which will help them learn all the material and also allow them to have fun with the material.

A program like Scratch could be used in the classroom to let the students learn the material by interacting with the projects. After trying to work with Scratch, it is a little difficult and I would definately suggest the teacher preparing all the Scratch work and then allowing students to view it.

Blogging with 5th Graders

The blogging with the 5th graders was a fun experience. Of course it has been a while since I have been in 5th grade so it was a nice change to see what students at this age are stressing about, what they love about school, and what they don't like about it. Some of the students that were blogging already know about the "internet language", using smiley faces :) putting "idk" instead of writing out "I don't know". They are using the shortcuts that help them type faster but also may cause an issue if they use this "internet" language in the classroom when writing papers or doing homework.

I definately learned that this can help students with communicating feelings and having fun, while also helping with their language and technology skills. I would absolutely be more apt to use this in my classroom, if I had an older classroom of about 3rd-6th grade, now that I have experienced it myself and experienced the benefits.

Convergence Culture

Convergence culture means that every media is connected to another media through the flow of content, ideas, relationships, and technological integration. Schools may be limiting kids' access to digital tools by not allowing some technology such as cell phones, and IPODS in the classrooms. Also some classrooms do not use comuter resources as much as they maybe should to allow their students to get more information on topics from internet resources. Some teachers are now allowing their students to "blog" with other classrooms or schools, which can help students because it gives them another source of editing coming from peers and or students older than they are. I think this is a good idea and can really help students. More teachers need to involve technology in their classrooms to help children get used to working with it. Also, children should what they should and shouldn't use in the media to research information. This will be useful for them later in life when they have to research for information. If only some students learn about the convergence culture then those who are familiar are going to succeed with the technology and media but those who are not familiar are going to fall behind the rest. Although students should have access to the internet and to its resources, they should also be monitored to ensure students are not abusing this right and uploading inappropriate material for others to view. The change in the participatory gap is not necessarily to change the curriculum and add another class to the children's schedule but to embed the skills into the classroom and in after school activities.

Magazine Cover

"The work can wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work." --Patricia Clafford--

Website Validation

I chose to validate the website "California Velcro Crop Under Challenge". I do not believe this site has very much reliability. There is only one author to the site and when you go to the information for the this author that is provided on the site the subtitle of the page is "A totally bogus Biography". Not only does the website state this at that point, but also at the bottom of the page, the author states "This totally bogus biography and completely fictional catalog of preposterous products will be updated as new developments warrant". If the author of the site creates a bogus biography and fictional catalogs, what is the chance that the rest of the material on the site is bogus and fictional? Very high!

There have also not been any updates on this site since January 6, 1998 when the "bogus wave" was added.

To visit the website, please Click here

Survery Results!!!

Charts of results from the questions on my survery:

My Survey

Delicious Bookmark

I chose to bookmark "O'Reilly--What is Web 2.0" because it has a lot of useful information in the article. It is easy to understand and easy to follow along with. This article also compares Web 1.0 with Web 2.0 to show what advantages Web 2.0 has. As an educator I could use this article to learn more about Web 2.0 which in turn would help me teach my students with the new technology. To view the O'Reilly--What is Web 2.0, please click here

WebQuest Artifact

While completing the WebQuest students will create an artifact which will show all the information the students gathered in a table they will create.

Would Socrates approve of WebQuest?

I believe Socrates would approve of using WebQuest to teach students. Socrates was not a conventional teacher, he taught his students anywhere and everywhere, not confined to a classroom. With this in mind, I think he would approve of looking outside the textbooks and workbooks and allowing students to learn through working with technology since it has expanded so much in the last few years and will continue to grow in the years to come. Since Socrates believed we learn best by asking questions and testing answers against reason and fact, using WebQuests we can teach students how to do the research it takes to discover answers to some of the everyday questions in life and in school. I think Socrates would like to see us blending the knowledge from before the technology with the knowledge during and after the discovery of technology. One shouldn't out-weigh the other but should both work together to teach our students in the best way possible.

After looking at the Taxonomy WebQuest, I think my WebQuest is designed around the Compilation Tasks.

WebQuest Rough Draft

Here is the rough draft of the WebQuest I created. Any comments would be appreciated :)

Please click here to view the WebQuest.

WebQuest Changes

I chose to work on the WebQuest "Break -out at Rolling Hills"

The changes I would like to make to this WebQuest is the story line of why the animals escaped and I would like to change the tasks the students have to complete slightly. I think the WebQuest is a really good idea but I don't enjoy the reasoning the animals left the zoo. I think that with some work it could be better. Also I would like to change the tasks and make it to where the students need to learn what the animal's favorite food or activity is and use that to persuade the animals to come back to the zoo. By doing it this way the students will get to learn a little more about the animals in the zoo and their diet and day-to-day activities.

Media Collage

Students should be allowed to create multimedia projects instead of writing papers in school. Most school systems are allowing more and more time for students to spend on computers and in computer labs. Technology is becoming more of use among citizens, students, and teachers. There is one section of the NETS-T standards that is dedicated to using technology in the classroom to teach students to incorporate digital tools and resources into their learning and creativity, to develop technology-enriched learning environments that enables students to set their own educational goals, manage learning and assess progress. There are also standards that ask educators to customize learning activities to address learning styles, working strategies and abilities using digital tools and resources.

I believe students should still write papers sometimes, but they also need to be introduced more to technology since technology is becoming much more popular in the schools. They need to have the knowledge of the technology in order to progress later on in school and life.

My PhotoStory

During class we were asked to create a PhotoStory describing what we believe is a good teacher and stating what kind of teacher we are going to be when we get our own classroom. You can view my PhotoStory below or also at http://www.teachertube.com/members/myProfile.php

WebQuest

Our group decided Poetry of War was the best WebQuest because it allows students to be creative and it was well organized and easy for children to follow. The color scheme also set a good atmosphere for the subject matter being taught. The Creative Encounters WebQuest was also good for students because it is very kid friendly with the pictures and multimedia. Our group felt the Landfill and the John Wilkes Booth were the worst WebQuests due to it being more unorganized an harder for children to complete and follow along with.

Resume

Here is a link to my current Resume.

Indiana Mysteries

I looked at the blog "Indiana Mysteries". This blog is very educational for children. Each blog posting is a mystery animal posted with facts about the animal or insect, sometimes even fossils and plants. While looking at this blog, readers find interesting facts about the specific item being discussed and also can see a picture of it. If I were to use this blog in my future classroom I would be teaching my students interesting facts that other teachers have found about certain "creatures" and plants. I would also be introducing the following two NETS-T standards: 2a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity, and also 2D. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

For those who would like to check out this interesting blog, here is the link...enjoy!
http://authorvisitsindiana.blogspot.com/

Ed 2201

Hello, it's Amanda. I have created this blog account as part of a requirement for my Ed 2201 class. I am currently a full time student at Fairmont State and very excited that this is my last full year of classes. Next year I have one semester classes and then my student teaching. After many long hours and lots of stress I am almost there!!! and couldn't be happier!!!