Text Book Update Available!!!

To those who commented on my blog, I have updated and included the name of the book and publisher. Hope you enjoy, don't be afraid to make another reply on this blog if you get the chance to check it out!!!

History Help

When teaching history it is important to make sure your knowledge is accurate so you do not look like a clown in front of your students. Also, it is important to show your students short videos dealing with your topic. Therefore, the History Channel website is great for this. It provides videos dealing with famous speeches, U.S history, world history, military war, explorations, society and culture. With being a history major this site has come in handy a few times. I have used clips from the site for teaching a lesson and for presentations for class. The site is very easy to use and you can search just about anything you are interested in. Another good thing about the site, you can create an account very easily and purchase any movie that he history channel has ever played. This is great for history teachers because you can start building a collection of great films to show your students.

FREE! History Materials

After talking to Mrs. Forbes about history books I buy and read along with magazines that contain historical articles, she informed me of a method to get those magazines, along with supplemental classroom materials FREE! At that point I was introduced to one of many websites where you register yourself as a teacher and you will then receive free, monthly magazines and supplemental teaching tools. One site that I have already registered with and that seems very straight forward in accepting your registration and sending the material out quickly is http://www.aetv.com/class/theideabook/index.html. This site is a branch off of the A&E television program that is specifically for teachers to use and attain free historical documents, magazines, supplemental videos, recordings, and so forth. As you complete the registration part you are then taken to a website where you simply pick the magazine, video, audio recording, and so on, then they are mailed to you with suggestive methods on teaching the lesson with the material given. This “IDEA Book” as it is called will take the strain away from your wallet when you are trying to purchase productive and essential learning materials for your classroom and students. When you visit the site via the link above, fill out the subscription form in only the areas you are required* and then browse through the catalog on the acceptance screen. Here on this screen you will find an Adobe link to preview the upcoming magazine that will be sent to you, along with links to other sites like:
· http://www.HistoryChannel.com/classroom
· http://www.historyinternational.com/classroom.
Both of which are credible research and educational material sites. Granted, these sites pertain to only history, but under the “Classroom Tips” section on the main page, you will find an abundance of educational information on how to effectively convey your information to the students which could be altered and utilized for any subject. So here you go future history teachers, a credible list of sites that will give you FREE educational merchandise to use for yourself and your students.

Field classroom

For my field experience I was in a second grade classroom at Slippery Rock Elementary School. The first day I was there I made some observations about the students and about the classroom. I noticed right away that there was not a lot of technology in the classroom. Just by looking I noticed that the only computer in the classroom was the teachers, which was at her desk. However, there was an overhead projector, bulletin boards, textbooks, and other sources of non- projected media. I was not sure if that particular school had some sort of computer lab where the students could go as a class. If they have one, I was not there when the students went. Even though the classroom I was in did not have a lot of technology in it, our teacher did try as much as she could to use what she did have. Some days she would present material on the overhead projector. Also, during reading the students could borrow and use audio cassette players from a different classroom to listen to books on tape. They really enjoyed doing that since some of the second graders were not strong readers yet. Another interesting thing that i observed while I was in that classroom for field was the use of a braille machine. One of the girls in the class is totally blind and uses a braille machine to type into, with assistance from her aide. The keys of the machine are in braille so when you put your fingers on it you can feel the little dots that make up the braille letters. This way the student can write and read things in braille by using this machine. So, even though this classroom didn't have their own set of computers or laptops the teacher still tried to make sure to integrate technology into instruction. When you are in a school that does not have a lot of technology or resources you just have to use what is available.

A visit to Norwin

As I have said in a few of my reflections, my school was renovated. Well, in the last 3 years the district has renovated and built 3 elementary, 1 brand new junior high, and the athletic facility. When I was doing my observations and I decided to stop at one of the new elementary schools. I only visited one class but on my way out I peeked my head into a few different classes. The class that I visited was very color oriented and organized. There were 6 different centers dealing with learning. Each center has new technology dealing with the subject center. Head phones, computers, CD player, VHS/DVD player, Television, internet and those are just to name a few. They have a fine motor skills center with small manipulative and things to enhance dexterity. The school also has 2 COW’s and a dell computer lab. The library has the e-books and digital media center for the students to access cameras recorders, and other software programs. I was really impressed with how the classrooms were modified after the renovations. I also observed at Lockley kindergarten Center. and the digital media and technology were lacking. Although I did not get to talk to many teachers there either it didn’t seem that the students were exposed to new technology. I wish that Lockley had the technology that the students from Norwin had. The students enjoy working with the media and work with it well. The students can explore so many aspects of life that they could not if they didn’t have all the new technologies. Incorporating technology is almost as important as having the textbooks. Use what you can get your hands on and use it to its maximum capacity.

Technology Experiences

I have recently completed Block 3 of the Elementary/Special Education Program and I have yet to see a lesson with technology in it and presented well. In my field school I was in a Life Skills classroom and I loved it ( I can't wait to go back and visit). They are lucky enough to have a Smart Board in their classroom but the board does not work all time. Often it was off center so when the students touch the screen they hit the right answer but it clicks the wrong one. And the school can not really afford another Smart Board. At SRU they stress a lot about getting the students up, moving and involved. There is so much that could be done with that and technology such as having a video that the students move along with too. It could be geared towards life skills students even with teaching them how to cross the street, look for danger and how to stop, drop and roll. I am lucky enough to have another classroom available to observe or teach in that has an Active Board. That is very similar to Smart Board so it was easy for me to catch on to how to use it. The students have remotes with this board that they can buzz in answers for during a game or review. It is more interactive than a Smart Board. This teacher uses the board for anything from math problems to reading concepts. This is not the only use of technology used in the classroom but it is the most interactive. The teacher is also very active and hands-on in the classroom. I feel that is a big part of teaching as well. The students can not sit all day. That is too hard and boring for them. These boards gets them involved with learning and with the lesson. I suggest to anyone that can to play around with the Smart Boards or Active Boards. They are a lot of fun and easy to work with.

Sirius Satellite Radio

The other day I was home with nothing to do. I turned on our Sirius Satellite Radio out of boredom and began flipping through the stations. While doing so, I came upon a couple radio stations that only spoke French. Being a French major here at Slippery Rock University, this interested me. I was surprised how much I could understand. There was a radio announcer who spoke the language and played songs all day in French. I think that this could be a useful tool in a classroom setting. For example, if there are a few minutes before class lets out and the students have nothing to do, playing the French radio station from Sirius radio could be an activity. Have the students see how much they can understand from a short clip of narration or song. Sirius radio is completely commercial-free and therefore you would not have to worry about interuptions. As stated above, there were several French-speaking stations (one with love songs, one with pop music, and two sports stations). As a teacher, you could pick which station would be the most appropriate for the students to listen to. Not only would be this be a useful tool for a foreign language class, but Sirius radio offers over 150 channels. It includes everything from music, to sports, to talk shows, to history discussions. The Sirius radio mount also allows you to plug in your iPod or mp3 player, and would also be useful in a classroom for those other items. Therefore, I feel this could be a useful tool in a classroom that I had never thought about before!

Windows Movie Maker

I was looking around on my computer one day, and I scrambled across a program called "movie maker". It had been on my computer for a while (I guess), but I had never saw it. I opened it and I have been addicted ever sense. In movie maker, you can really create a movie and share it. I haven't even begun the half of what you can do on movie maker. Right now, I just import pictures and music and make really nice digital slide shows. I have made some for friends and I made a really nice one for my Mom for Mother's Day. It is a fun program and I would really like to do more with it when I have more time. I love my computer, it has so much "media stuff" on it. When I bought it (almost 4 years ago) The guy was telling me how much of a great machine it was and how it has so much memory and this and that, but as I explored it, I found out it was everything he said it was. I don't want to be a computer whiz or anything like that, but I want to learn the basic ins and outs that can help me use my computer to its full potential. PICTURES are my hobby, and creating "digital memories" via slide shows and mini movies, is something, I want to master. Taking this class (SEFE 230) has really inspired me to learn more about the computer, because it really isn't as hard as I thought. I didn't know my technological capabilities until this class and I am ready to explore more and more. This is a great program, and to link it to an educational setting, the teacher can model (using the LCD projector) how to begin using "Movie Maker" and then from there let students explore and create some type of "mini movie".
It's just a great program and I enjoy using it.

Learning Spanish

Throughout this course we've looked at alot of articles from TechLearning. I really like the site, I think its given us alot of information and I plan to use it in the future. For my blog, I looked up articles on TechLearning about Spanish, and I found one article that was pretty cool. It discusses three different programs that you can buy to help students learn Spanish easier. Since people in general learn a foreign language better by being emersed in it, these programs offer as much as they can about the language, culture, and places that speak it. Here's the link to the website in case anyone is interested, but mostly, just keep TechLearning in mind when looking up stuff about technology in your classroom. It's a great place to go for ideas!

http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2003/02/spanish.php

Various Experiences

Something that I think is great about SRU is that students have an opportunity to have vast and expansive experiences regarding field and student teaching. You can go to Philly, abroad, Vegas and stay close to home to see all the various SES at work in Western PA. Coming from VA. I saw the same things in my undergraduate work even in one county where you would think that resources would be spread more evenly. They are to an extent. I currently work at an alternative school. Coming to this class every night reminds me yet again why my students past and present should get it together to go back to their public high schools. While we use technology in a very limited way we will never be able to get enough grant money (we don't have a deignated grant writer) to get some of the awesome technology that Mrs. Forbes show us during this class. Soemthing that I can do is use resources to obtain stuff for free through organizations that I belong to. One of them being the Council for Exceptional Children. This is an organization for SPED teachers. They put out what they call the SmartBrief every other day with news stories and up and coming research and send it to your e-mail. This is sponsored by companies that want to sell you something. Sometimes its crap but a lot of times it is enough informaiton for you to request more info. or adapt it to help you. Even regular ed. teacher would benefit from getting this e-mail because with a glance through it you might catch something that you need to know. Lets face it we don't always get this information through administration. So check out subscribing to this free e-mail through http://www.smartbrief.com/cec/?campaign=CEC%20Headlines%20SignupLink
Hope that you can use this information.

The Classroom with No Technology

During my observation to apply to College of Education, I did my shadowing at George Junior Republic. I chose this school because it was on the list of acceptable institutions deemed by SRU and it was very close. I did my whole twenty hours there and they could be some of the most important twenty hours of my young educational career. The classroom that I sat in on was a social studies course which covered all four grade levels. To put it into perspective Georges Junior has a number of students placed there for various disciplinary reasons. There are constantly students coming and going and leaving sometimes in the middle of a lesson. For a student to remain for a while unit is rare. My teacher that I was shadowing was an older man who was well into his fifties. He said that following a curriculum is hard and mostly this is what he does. "What he did" was hand out a worksheet for homework and show the video "NBA's Greatest Dunks" to which the students sat and watched for the remainder of the period. After sitting through five periods of that I wondered why he used no other technologies? Even more so I wondered why he didnt have a single poster on his wall. The more I think about it I suppose teaching a high school class really gets in the way of reading fishing magazines. I learned a lot from that class, particularly how to recognize when its time to hang 'em up.

iMacs

Today in class we got to use the iMac computers. These computers are great for making videos and everday use. I like the fact that they are so small and compact and light in weight a little better than your average laptop. They are very high tech and fully loaded.

Using the iMac to do the Digital Video Project is going to be an experience like no other. I have never had to do anything like this before. I think that this will have many benefits to me in the future. For one, learning how to make video's is something that I can incorperate into my future classroom. I could have my students make a class video at the beginning and end of each school year to see how they have grown and matured through out the year. Another use could be as a way of presenting material to my students in a different way other than straight leture and PowerPoint.

I have a feeling that iMacs are going to become the computer of the future, more than just the computers we use in class.

Field Comparison

Before I came to Slippery Rock, I went to Malone College, which is located in Canton, Ohio. There they have the education majors doing field experience their freshman year. I completed 40 hours of field experience in a Second grade classroom at Cedar Elementary School. This school was in the inner-city and had very little money. During my time there the students were exposed to very little technology. In fact, there was only one computer in the room and it was probably made in the early 90's. This experience left me with having no idea what kinds of new technology was out there for classrooms. However, last semester here at SRU, I had the opportunity to do my field work at Pine Richland Elementary School, which is a rather wealthy district. In the classroom I was observing there was technology everywhere and it was incorporated into the teaching. One of the assignments that the students were working on was using the computers to create storyboards. I saw first hand how they exposed the students to technology while still meeting academic goals. It was also quite evident that they enjoyed what they were doing and they were learning as well. Pine Richland also uses laptop carts which I had never heard of before.
So just keep in mind that the district you end up working in may be full of technology or it may have very little resources available for you to use. I personally want to work in an inner-city school, but hopefully I will find one that has resources that I can use in my classroom to integrate technology into the curriculum.

Learning About Technology

On the 1st day of class, I didn't think I would comprehend any of the main concepts. I was under the impression that this class was hard and being that I wasn't as technologically literate as I should have been; I was nervous. After we completed our first day of class, I was overwhelmed, but I could tell I was about to learn some valuable information. From each day thereafter, I continued to learn how to manipulate technology and implement it in the classroom setting. I practiced everything we learned on my own computer, so that I could remember it. I feel that as a future educator a class like this is EXTREMELY critical. As a teacher, we are the main example the students have; we can't know everything, but to know something is the key. Technology in the school systems and in our society is on the rise and it's taking over. We cannot dismiss the fact that these skills are important for us; even more our students. I am thankful for this class, and I believe all teachers should be required to take a class like this. It is crucial for their development as well; they have to be up to date (and this is the way to get them their). I know as teacher, I will use technology in the classroom. I LOVE Kidspiration [by Inspiration] software, and I definitely will use it in my classroom for concept maps and other creative activities that I may think of. Some teachers over-do technology in the classroom and others don't do use it enough; I will use it just enough, making sure my students meet the ISTE standards and have time to sharpen and master their technological skills. Lastly, I like the ISTE standards and I feel they are attainable and simple. It shouldn't be problem helping students reach those standards.

Calling All Spanish & French Teachers!

The other day I was browsing the internet for games in Spanish to keep my vocabulary in good shape. I came across a wonderful site for teachers and students. It's called MFL Games and it was created by LinguaCentral. This website has tons of vocabulary games in French and Spanish with each language on it's own page. I have linked the French page here (For some reason the link won't go directly to the French Website, but if you look to the left side of the page it goes to there is a button that says MFL Games. Just click that link and you are there.) and the Spanish page here. They have games and puzzles for students including crosswords, hangman, flip card, and word speed games. At the end of the game, you are given your score. I think our future students would enjoy these sites and learn vocabulary while playing fun games. If students finish a game you have assigned before the rest of the class, it's ok because there are literally a hundred more to keep them busy. I could really use this site (even for myself) to keep vocabulary on top. Check it out!

Awesome Primary Source Material

For my Textbook evaluation I checked out a book on the Civil War. The book was compiled using almost all primary sources. It does a great job of showing the difference between a primary source and a secondary source. At the end of the book are a bunch of worksheets to test the students knowledge of the Civil War through primary sources. There are letters from soldiers on each side describing the Battle of Antietam. This is excellent because it will show the younger student biases in evidence, which is very important in the field of History. I would absolutely recommend this book to any teacher who will be teaching at the tenth grade level or higher. The book is called "The Civil War: A Survey". It features original documents from the National Archives and Records Administration. It is a great source to teach with primary sources. I absolutely loved this book!!! The book was developed by Cobblestone Publishing in conjunction with the National Archives and Records Administration. There are typed documents describing the battle of Antietam from both the Union side and the Confederate side. These documents are straight out of the National Archives and are original. All the documents in this book are stellar and will make teaching primary sources very easy. I suggest this book to anybody who will teach History at a 9 grade level or higher!!!

Useful history website

A History Website As a history teacher you are expected to know everything about history. If you do not know who the 23rd president of the United States was, what year the Crimean war started, or the date the Titanic sunk you lose face in front of people asking the question. It is also important to have primary sources readily available to you. That is why as an aspiring historian I use only the finest. TheHistoryNet (http://www.historynet.com) is an excellent site historical website. Completely reliable as a source and contains a wealth of information. While there are a lot of sites out there that deals with history it is mostly military history. TheHistoryNet has military history as well but also discoveries, exploration, and culture from countries all over the world from ancient times to modern. The site is easy to navigate but what I find most useful is that every article about a historical event will have a primary source(s) with it. Sometimes it is an interview, eyewitness account, or a document. This is extremely useful as adding primary sources to any presentation or paper will strengthen it. I encourage future history teachers to use this site or anyone who needs a primary source or any information in history.

write to read

In an elementary school that I observed in, the kindergarten and first grade students attended a program called Write to Read. Write to Read is a developmental program where students learned to read by writing what they say, and then reading what they wrote. Each computer was had a set of headphones. The computers phonetically talk to the children. The children choose letters based on what the word sounds like. Write to Read encourages key literacy skills such as reading, listening, speaking and writing. The students not only learned about phonics, they also learned about important computer skills such as typing.

SEFE 230-02 Blog

I have just finished my student teaching at West Hill Elementary in Sharon Pa. I had a sixteen week placement in a first grade classroom. In this district the students have a technology class once a week for forty-five minutes. Because of my longer placement, I was able to see what first graders were doing throughout several months. From what I had viewed, the ONLY items ever talked about or printed out from technology were pictures using a program that has picture stamps. Sometimes it would have their names typed at the top but mostly just scribbles. Now don't get me wrong, I know they are still little, but I'm sure they could be doing something more beneficial. At my job, which is in the same district but after-school, we have the students do twenty minutes a day of a program called Plato. It has games and questions focusing on each child's specific level. This is something I think the children should be doing during technology. Or have them exploring new technology like the ones discussed in our read and respond articles. I think schools really need to focus on what they are doing in that short time period that the students are actually exposed to technology.

A bit about the blog...

As many of you may recall, I’m a full-time student at Duquesne University & hope to graduate in the summer session this year. I’m writing my dissertation on Internet use among faculty in teacher preparation programs. I’m at nearly 200 pages right now & still have a chapter left to write! I have senioritis pretty bad!! With all the time I’ve spent on my primary job of teaching at SRU & whatever time is leftover working on my dissertation, I feel like I haven’t been keeping up on information about new technologies. So, this is a place I set up for you, my students and colleagues, to share with me & with each other cool stuff you know.

I’m hoping that we will learn a great deal from each other. Please feel free to share things like:

Tips about how to do things faster or easier on the computer

Free resources

Lessons that incorporated technology & your observations about them (surely there are more stories than the ones I’ve shared in class about good/bad episodes in the realm of tech use for instruction!)

How to…

You can also use the blog to communicate information about upcoming events that you think might be of interest to SRU pre-service teachers!

This is also a place for you to ask questions & support each other as we go into the last segment of the semester in which there is much independent work to do. You may post original items or comments to one another.

Again, I’m looking forward to the collective knowledge base that will form & the opportunity to interact with each other.

Thanks for participating in the Summer Tech Class blog!