my first attempt!

Me and some friends this past weekend! :) I think this copyrighting is right!


memorial day weekend is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License


Incorporating images into the curriculum is a way to make learning more vibrant for young students. Without pictures, everything would be plain text (and no fun!). Learning how to correctly copyright images is extremely important however. It thunderstormed here today, AND I am extremely interested in weather and how it works and teaching it to my future students so I chose a fun picture that really exemplifies a perfect cumulus cloud (which are formed by a cold air mass moving into a region where a warm air mass is sitting over FYI! :]


Figuring out copyright and fair use is tricky! Here is my first attempt at doing so! Any comments would be greatly appreciated! :)

Photo Attribution:
Original image: "cumulus clouds"
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/bigs/wea00082.jpg
by: Ralph F. Kresge

Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

copyright craziness

WOW! I definitely did not realize what a thin line there is between copyright and fair use. In Copy Cop I did not even realize that those everyday scenarios can get a teacher and school into some major trouble! This weeks beginning readings have opened my eyes to something that I was not particularly careful about before. I hope to learn more about this as I continue to do Week 3's tasks!

classroom integration

Technology integration in the classroom is a topic that I have been thinking about more often than not, due to my continued experience in the classroom. I would like to start with sharing my own personal experience of using technology as a student in my middle school classroom. In eighth grade, we were given PDA hand held devices to use. This became more problematic than not. Well I am quite aware that the year I was in eighth grade technology was only just beginning to appear, I think that it could have been handled much differently. Most student's did not understand the purpose of the technology (that it was to be used for school). Most students messed around and even a few were suspended for downloading games when they were supposed to be using it for school work. Since my experience as a student was not a pleasant one, I thought when I was in the teacher role, I would handle it much differently.

I had field placement in a kindergarten classroom last year. The school was in a lower budget district and did not have much technology. The few items of technology I witnessed were computers (probably at least ten years old), tape players, and videocassettes with headphones. I feel that the technology did immensely help the children and made it seem more fun for them. However, the students who were struggling could have benefited from more recent technology. However, my collaborating teacher maximized the usage of it and it definitely helped the students. I hope that I can use technology like this in my classroom.

Based on a previous course (CEP 452) and through this course, I am now aware that there are many different technologies that can be utilized in the classroom. Some are expensive and some are not. I hope that when I do become a teacher, I will be able to give my students the best technological environment so that they can perform a comfortable level and also feel comfortable with technology in general.

peers are a great source of information

This week, we had to choose a classmates blog to read and respond to. I did not know who to pick, so I chose Melissa's (because that's my little sister's name!) and was pleasantly suprised. We have many similar feelings about technology. In my house, I am definitely the most technologically advanced and my family often looks to me to help them out. I do use technology quite frequently although I, also like Melissa, still prefer face-to-face communication. I think when she talks about using technology to make learning more interesting, she is making an extremely valid point. I remember using technology in classroom always was a "special" day and the information actually stuck with me. Using technology to get to know one another better is also something Melissa and I share in common. I feel that through technology, we can learn things about each other almost instantly that would usually take weeks to getting to know someone in person. Melissa mentions using laptops for students who have difficulty writing. I am a special education major and we learned that this and many other tools can help students with disabilities.

I hope to continue to learn and collaborate with my peers throughout the rest of my schooling and my professional career!

xoxo

my background and expectations

I feel that I am not as up to date on technology as I should be. Fall semester '09 I took CEP 452 which dealt with using technology for students with special needs. That class really opened my eyes and pushed me into a world that I had not known. It was unbelievable to me how much technology there really is out there, and how it is constantly changing. I also learned that technology is a great way to collaborate with other teachers and professionals (which is extremely important!) On a personal level, I feel that I am competent in technological areas such as cell phone use (texting, calling, email) and basic computer programs such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. I have had a little experience using GoogleDocs and VoiceThread (from CEP 452).

My expectations for this class are high. I am hoping that I will learn how to use and integrate new technology into my classroom and use it in my professional life as well. I hope that the websites I learn to use are useful for my students as well as for myself. I hope that this class makes me feel more competent in learning about new technology.