First Two Weeks

Well I said I was going to try and keep this alive while student teaching this time but so far I have been failing... miserably! It seems that time has just been flying by. I couldn't believe that I am already done two weeks of student teaching!

Those first two weeks were very trying and telling. I learnt a lot about my students while not having to worry about planning lessons or scrambling to get supplies ready. My cooperating teacher and I have an understanding that I'll help her wrap up everything she had started before spring break and after that I'll start new with my stuff. I thought that was fair to the students as well. There is no way I could expect them to remember any new material after a two week break :).

This time around I am taking on a science unit in simple machines. I'm most excited about planning and executing that one! In the end I'm going to have the students design a Rube Goldberg Machine in the gym. The teacher that I am working with for this isn't actually my cooperating teacher but my students switch with the grade 7/8 so they can have French with my cooperating teacher (for the record my French level is more suited to grade 3/5 and not 7/8, ha ha). Anyways the teacher I am working with for this already had the grade 7/8's build one of those in the gym and it was AWESOME!

My focus will not entirely be science this whole time but also math. In math I will be planning a patterns unit for grade 5/6 as well as working on basic facts. Thankfully Sandy (my math professor from BU) has well equipped me to keep the students busy with fun basic math activities! On the other hand if anyone has any suggestions for patterns in math I am open. I was given a stack of textbooks but I would rather move away from those and find something hands on or fun at least.

For social studies I will be co-teaching a unit that my cooperating teacher already has a package on. We have already started that this week and so far it has been going really good. The focus is to get students thinking about the types of questions that are given to them or that they ask (thin and thick questioning). This is something I'm familiar with from another student teaching placement so I felt comfortable jumping right in.

The focus in ELA is the Daily 5 which is something that I was introduced to in my first year at BU (thank you Donna!). It is actually great to finally see it in action in a real school setting. This is something that I also had no problem jumping right into and I am already planning for after spring break.

Well that is it for now... I'll try not to let weeks pass by before I post again! If you have any recommendations or anything of that sort please leave a comment :)

Final Week At BU

Once again it is time to start my student teaching experience. I look forward to implementing a few of the things that I learnt in this class. One thing I definitely want to get my students to try is making a video. I think it will be quite a process but I feel confident in attempting it in a real classroom setting. I'm going to be in a grade 5/6 class of 18 students so I think this is something that could really work. I'm not too sure either what devices are available for our use, but it is something that I want to look into once there!

Looking back on the last few weeks it is hard to believe how fast time went by. Last year at this time I was hoping to keep this blog alive and document my student teaching experience. I'm hoping to try that again this year (fingers crossed) and really use this as a place to share what worked and what didn't. I'm also hoping to hear back from people on their own experiences and possibly helpful resources.

If that doesn't happen at least this will be a place I can look back fondly and remember the great times I had at BU, which were awesome! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to take Internet for Educators course last year and the ICT course this year with Mike. I felt that I was forced to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. It was great! I want to thank Mike for everything that he has shown and taught me over these past two years. I can't wait to get out in the field and implement what I have learnt :)

One Sentence Story

Last week in class we participated in a fun activity known as a one sentence story. Basically the one sentence is broken down and pictures are picked to represent the broken down parts of that sentence (specifically each word in that sentence if possible). When this was first introduced to me my mind immediately went blank and I couldn't think of anything to write or represent in pictures. After playing around with pictures an idea suddenly came to me. I took pictures from a summer trip to Portugal and organized them in a way to represent a sentence describing that trip.

When I was going through the process I used a familiar tool, Photo Story 3 for Windows, which made it easy to put the final product together. The great thing about this program that makes me continuously use it is that it easily allows pictures to be uploaded and added to. Another feature of the program that I really like is how easy it is to add music. In just a few simple clicks I had music playing at the volume and location I wanted it to. One last feature that I really like and find great is that saving and finding the document later is easy. Later when I needed to find the video I could easily because it was saved as something that I understood and knew where it would be.

I think that using this activity in a classroom would be awesome, and I think that students wouldn't have as much trouble as me at being creative. Also this is an opportunity for students to try out different programs and navigate different tools just as I have.

Video Making

This past week in class we had the opportunity to make a video in groups. Our group had a great idea based on a popular trend in society. I don't want to give it away yet since we haven't published it yet! We had a great time making it and I even learned a few things along the way.

When it comes to filming a video the first important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are not filming vertically! No one wants vertical video syndrome!! This was something I had never thought of before but makes sense. It’s not a picture that can easily be passed around and turned whatever way. Another important thing to keep in mind is that there are tons of different programs out there so if one doesn't do what you want just move on to another. When we made our video one of the members has a macbook so we were able to make our video with little to no problems. We were able to speed up parts, cut the sound, add music, and even have credits at the end.

This is definitely something that I would want to try with my own class in the future. It would be a great way for them to explore creatively and use technology efficiently. The process was a great one and I can't wait to see the other video in class!

The Global Teacher

George Couros blogged recently about different types of teachers. He mentions the "classroom teacher" who is solely focused on their own room and students. They are often found to have their doors shut literally and figuratively. Next came the "school teacher" who is more open and aware of what is going on around them. They care about all students and are willing to share their expertise and experience. Last comes the "global teacher" who is a combination of both the school and classroom teacher but always has the students foremost in their thoughts. This teacher doesn't care who they are teaching because they are in this profession because they love to teach. The students could be from their own neighbourhood or miles away across the ocean. It doesn't matter who or where they are because they all present an equal opportunity to teach and share teaching strategies.

That is the type of teacher I will strive to be. I think it is important to build community on all levels of life. It also sets a great model for students to learn from. Education is something to be prized and passed around. I also like the aspect of teachers sharing their knowledge across oceans. The internet makes it so much easier for this to happen and I'm sure there are many opportunities to engage in this kind of learning.

Once again a really great blog post by George Couros! Check it out here: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/

Pictures Recreated

Last week in class we had the opportunity to play around with editing pictures. I am quite familiar with this process because in highschool my friends and I would do it all the time. There are so many different tools and programs available online to edit pictures (and even videos but that will be another post).

One of the sites that I really liked and found easy to use is Pic Monkey (www.picmonkey.com). The layout is easy to follow and there are plenty of options. The only problem I have with this site is that there are too many options that it can be overwhelming. Before using this in a classroom I would want to play around with it a bit more and work out the kinks.

I think that picture editing is a great activity for the classroom and kids would have a blast playing around with photos. A way of taking this even further is having students scrapbook any photos that they edit. A friend and I  did a presentation in another class based on using scrapbooking as a creative activity in the classroom. We found that it is a great way of students reflecting back on different experiences they had during school. Also it is a more hands on activity compared to just journaling in a notebook.

For class I took a picture of my brother and me from our 2008 grad;

 

I changed the lighting of the picture as well as added a border and text.

      

Overall I really like the use of photo editing in the classroom and will definitely be trying it in a future classroom.

A Visit from John Finch

Last week our class was fortunate to have an in-person visit from John Finch. He had many great things to say and it took me a bit of time to digest and decide what I wanted to blog about. The one thing he said that really caught my attention was that about 90% of grade 11 students have a laptop and about 40% of grade 4 students have a cell phone. This has changed quite a bit from even my time in grade 11 and, especially, grade 4. When I was in high school probably every third student may have had a cell phone, and that was by grade 11. Times change and I can only imagine what schools and students will have in only a few decades time from now when I'm in the teaching seat.

The fact that these students have access to these items right in their own backpacks or pockets is great. I think it will mean a lot in the classroom because it will empower student’s creativity and understanding. Just as John pointed out, time doesn't need to be taken to go look in a book or boot up the computer to find specific facts. Students can just pull out their devices and instantly have that information. In the end it is up to us teachers to show students how to determine which information is good and how use it in a productive way.

The instant feedback really changes the way of teaching. Time can be focused on being creative and productive and not always searching for the right information. Students will always be engaged because they have the ability to document and create right in their own hands wherever they are learning. So it is also up to us teachers to show students how to document their learning and publish it in a productive way.

Time to Stand Up

I have come to really enjoy my blog reader feed (I think that is what it is called...) and I find myself checking it out daily if not twice or three times a day. I have found that not all blogs are for me but there are lots out there I have yet to explore (any suggestions would be appreciated). Anyways, while I was doing my daily check this morning I came across a very awesome article titled Learning by Making is More Humane through Ann S. Michaelsen's blog.

In this article Phil Shapiro discusses this whole concept of how all students learn differently, and by changing teaching techniques to encompass this idea students will be more interested in school. He starts off by expressing how important it is to teach "humanely". Phil uses this term a lot and I think what he means by it is that teachers should realize that students need to have high interest levels to be engaged in learning. So, a way of raising that level is giving the students purpose and reason for what they do. This is a more humane way of educating students compared to making them read text after text and listen to lecture after lecture. That is something I am familiar with, as I'm sure many of you are, and I can see where he is coming from using the term "humane".

Phil later uses the terms "standing up and sitting down" to refer to the different teaching techniques. I totally get this! I have seen it in my own learning and I have seen it in my student teaching placements. Students need opportunity to get out of their chairs and make, instead of always sitting and having their heads crammed full of stuff. I find the more independence you give students in their learning the more they take from it.

When I went to elementary school, which wasn't too long ago, we had our assigned seating in rows. The day would start with the teacher coming in and telling us to find our seats and sit down. We were not to move from that spot all day because all of our learning was done from the same seated position. Sure there were special times when we would get to leave our seat and do something that involved more than a pencil and paper, and those are the days that I remember best. The lasting impressions I have include putting together projects by crowding around a computer screen with classmates, or grouping out in the hallway as we prepare for some kind of readers theatre.

At the start of the education program I was hesitant and worried about what and how I would teacher my future students. I really don't have that feeling anymore because there is no way I can truly plan for them. Every student is different and will want to learn differently about different things. All I can do is have a good base of resources that I can utilize in engaging my students learning.

Links:

Ann S. Michaelsen at Teaching using web tools

Phil Shapiro at http://makezine.com/2014/01/22/learning-by-making-is-more-humane/

Another Website of My Very Own

This week in class and next week Mike has us working on creating our own class websites. This is a daunting task and not because of the technical part but because of the creative aspect. I am a fussy person and I like things a certain way. Designing a website poses creative challenges for me (just like this blog did)! The whole issue of having to find pictures is tough especially since I don’t have a keen eye for photography. Although Mike showed us this place, Creative Commons, where people can just go online and help themselves to creative and neat looking pictures. So, basically it is a place where creativity and knowledge are shared through a legal and free way. I haven’t really explored it yet but I will definitely be checking it out once I figure out what pictures I want on my site.

I remember when I was younger (probably 10 or 11) and I made my own website. I can't remember what site I used (I think it was pic-something-or another) but it was fun and easy to do. Since I was young I really didn't have a lot of information to include on it and it was really only for my own fun. The front page was an all about me section and then the tabs broke off into my interests (mainly books that I had read and wanted to read). Since remembering about this website earlier this week I have been trying to find it online but have had no such luck.

Since remembering about my past website I am trying to have fun with this task but I find myself getting more frustrated than anything. There are two reasons to this frustration, or so I think. First one is that my laptop is ancient and needs to be replaced (I have lost my power button somewhere in my house!) The second is that maybe it might be easier if I had an actual class to build this for; I would feel like I had more purpose for doing this task. But, oh well, for now I will continue to play around and figure out all the neat features that come with building a website and try to get past my frustrations. One very positive aspect about doing this now and working through this frustration out is that when I do have my own classroom I should be an expert at building websites :)

Update on my ePortfolio; I think I have an outline made of what I want to include in this and the website I will use to build it. Some of this information will include personal information, professional development sessions, artifacts from student teaching and my teaching philosophy. Now it is only a matter of collecting all the information and sitting down to put it all together cohesively in an eye-catching way.

 

The Start of New Things

This week in class we have been having discussions on what goes into an ePortfolio and how to go about making one. This is all brand new to me. I have little to no experience building my own website let alone one so important that will help determine the rest of my life. So far I have a notebook with a few pages of notes and this next week will be about putting it all into action. Wish me luck!

The last class of this week we went over a bit of Google Docs specifically Forms. I didn't realize something like that existed. I will definitely be playing around with that before student teaching so that it is something else I can put into action! Maybe wish me luck with this too!

Keep checking back for updates on my progress.

Back At It!

Wow it took me a while to figure out how to navigate this site again! I did try and give it a go while student teaching but of course life gets in the way and this blog was pushed aside. Just to recap quickly I had a great student teaching experience in the spring with a grade 5/6 class. I also had a really great experience student teaching in the fall with a grade 3/4 class. Next I am looking forward to my final student teaching placement which will be back in a grade 5/6 class. My two years at Brandon University is certainly flying by quickly!

 
To be honest the main reason I am starting this blog up again is because of the ICT course I am taking at BU (course name is actually Using Information Communication Technology in the Classroom). I am hoping in this course to further my understanding of ICT in the classroom and gain some tools that will help me in my future career. I am also very excited that this course is going to be more tailored to fellow students and my interests and needs.
 
So not only am I back blogging but back at Twitter (forced to leave twitter because of technical problems in the fall time). Follow me @AlauraArmstrong  and I'll try to follow you in return J

Student Teaching... Woo!

I survived my first week of student teaching (and the first day of the second week) :) that deserves a "Wooo"! For those of you who don't know I'm in a grade 5/6 split with an assortment of students.

My first week was spent in observation. Some of the students don't take well to change, so I spent a lot of time talking with them about their school work and interests. I think that the more comfortable the students are with me being in the classroom the better they will adapt to me teaching them.

Tomorrow will be my first time teaching the students a lesson I have prepared. I'm doing a science unit on properties of and changes in substances which is really awesome because majority of it is hands on. Tomorrow will just be an introduction to the unit, so nothing really exciting for the students to do. I plan on demonstrating how baking soda and vinegar mixed will create a gas, and then students will create word splashes, as title pages, for this unit. Nothing overly exciting but it is a short period time wise. I'm going to wait until after spring break to get into the fun stuff. No sense starting something that they will forget during that week away. So if anyone out there has any websites, ideas, advice, plans, assessment, ect for this unit please feel free to pass it on this way :) (Grade 5, Cluster 2).

Also my class does regular 'journal' time so I have prepared a writing activity for them to do tomorrow. I’m not going to share any details of that in this post because I am still unsure exactly how I'm going about it.

Overall I'm really excited to get lessons planned and materials gathered over spring break for the following five weeks. I have a great CT that is willing to let me just jump in and do my thing. I think it is important to do as much teaching, managing, and planning as possible every placement. May as well get the most out of it!

Final Project

This was definitely a learning experience for me!

Final project from AlauraAnne777

Class Presentations

Our class presented group projects on Tuesday this week and they were great! I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s creative side and their thoughts on different aspects of the internet and technology.

BYOD: Chantalle, Jocelyn, Tiffany, Erin, Carissa, Alaura
My group went first and we based our project on BYOD. I posted a blog about this last week and mentioned Roy Norris in my previous blog as well. I think this is great for classrooms. As it has been said numerous times students need to be taught how to properly use technology. By bringing their own devices they can take what they learn in school and, as Roy pointed out, seamlessly take it all home. Kids are going to be using these devices in the work place so why not start showing them how to in school.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Nick, Tom, Jenn, Lindsey, Micki
The next group to go were the other first years who did a really great job showing us the good, bad and ugly of the internet. One of their focuses was a debate about Wikipedia. I like Wikipedia as a resource because it is a secondary source for students to find information (I think it was Nick who was arguing this point). Students just need to be taught what information is factual and what is opinion based.

How NOT to Steal from the Internet: Tyler, Lisa, Jen, Kirsten, Kelsey
This group made a great video featuring Tyler the pirate! I really enjoyed this presentation because I never really gave this topic much thought. Whenever I take something from the internet I always copy the URL just in case I lose what I copied. In the end it is important to pay attention to where information is coming from and give credit where it is due. This project informed me a lot and I plan on using their Wikispace in the future to help educate students (hotnottosteal.wikispaces.com). As educators we need to make sure we are modelling correct behavior when it comes to attributing items from the internet.

Internet Filters: Anna, Jenn, Brooke
The second last group based their project on internet filters in schools. Just like stealing from the internet I haven't given this much thought either. I think that after seeing the presentation and reviewing the information I am against them. Students will find a way around any filters because they see it as a challenge. It gives the student responsibility if things are left open and students are expected to respect the school boundaries concerning internet use. Also how blocked content is decided will be an issue; everyone will have a different opinion on what is appropriate for students to use and not use.

Cyber Bullying: Scott, Adrienne, Mike, Sarah, Stephanie
The last group made a pretty funny video based on how media takes ideas and makes it worse than they actually are. Basically they asked; do the media make cyber bullying worse than it actually is in the classroom. I think that cyber bullying is happening just as much as other bullying. Differences that I see is through technology students are able to make their bullying permanent and mobile. Pictures and comments can be put online at any time and are there forever. It's just a bad imprint to leave on the internet for all involved, and awareness needs to be brought to it just like all the other forms of bullying.

I think our class did a really great job on choosing topics and creating informative presentations. There were many different programs used like Glogster, Today's Meet, Video, Wikispace, Wall Wisher, Poll Everywhere, and Google Docs. Basically all are different programs that I4ED has "forced" us to check out and try. It was great to see some of those programs in action and realize that they aren't that hard to use.

BYTE 2013

This was a great day :), right from beginning to end! For those of you reading this that don't know what BYTE (Build Your Teaching Experience) is, it is a conference for educators, which was held in Neepawa this year. It was great to meet and hear from educators across Manitoba and I really am looking forward to the next one.

I attended four different sessions throughout the day and here is a little overview of each:

1. Safe and Caring Schools in Cyber Times: Making Connections and Building Community by Kate Roberts. I really enjoyed this session and found it to be interesting. Kate brought a lot of personal stories to the table that really reinforced what is being seen in schools. Bullying is happening and it is not just localized to one type. Bullying just happens and with the rise of technology it becomes more permanent and, of course, mobile. Kate reiterated what has been said before in our classes, and that bullying is a power balance where teachers have to be mindful of mediation because it is not an equal balance. Some students also have bigger and louder voices than others and will do what they have to do to be heard. Teachers need to be aware of and teach protective factors as much as risk factors. I think that community and parental support is key in bringing this awareness about. It seems that everyone needs to work together in creating an equal power balance.

2. They All Have Computers Now What? Teaching in a BYOD Classroom by Roy Norris. This session was very informative and I appreciated Roy Norris' complete honesty. He didn't have all the answers and that was ok because they were working together at his school on figuring it out. Roy Norris is a teacher at Dakota Collegiate, a school that has implemented BYOD in grades nine and ten. It was a long process of trial and error and is still in process and for the most part Roy said it works great. One feature that I really liked about his classroom is that he sits on a rolling computer chair and just rolls from one student to another. This way he is on their level (student and technology) and they can comfortably have a conversation. A positive impact of BYOD that was mentioned is that the transfer between home and school is seamless. Students can access their studies anywhere at any time.

3. Edmodo in Multiage by Barry Waldner. This was a good presentation to supplement the information we learned the other day in class from Don and Sophia, they talked about Blackboard though. Barry showed us that Edmodo is basically Facebook for education. After looking at it and using it a bit I`ve decided I dont like it. There is no chat feature which I think is important for students especially if they are online at home and want to connect with the teacher or other students. Another thing I didn’t like about the site is that students can resubmit submitted assignments as long as the teacher has not assigned a grade. Unless the teacher grades it right away that aspect defeats due dates. Althought I could be overlooking a feature that locks the assignment after it is submitted, but I don’t know for sure. One thing I did like about the site is that after tests the students choose an emoticon representing their reaction to what they just did. There were about seven different faces to choose from. That is an interesting aspect because it is always good to get student feedback so teachers can readjust the content or delivery is needed.

4. 21st Century Learners by Sophia Palahicky. It was great to hear from Sophia again and I really enjoyed the personal touches she added to her presentation. She talked again about the 4 C`s of 21st century learning, which are Community, Create, Collaborate, and Connect. When these are all implemented together students are receiving the most out of their learning. I think that every classroom should focus on the 4 C`s especially when incorporating technology.This session was discussion based and I really enjoyed hearing from teachers who have been in the field for several years. It seems that there is a consensus that teachers need to educate students on how to appropriately use technology and if students are using it anyway may as well implement it in the classroom. I found that really encouraging to hear!

The Future is on the Horizon

My thoughts on education have grown since beginning this course in September, especially concerning technology. Before I believed that technology had a small role in the classroom, but I have come to realize that that role is changing and needs to be addressed in classrooms. The future of education is one that is highly involved with technology. Students now have never known a world with no Google let alone no computers. These students are 21st century learners and teachers need to find a balance in their pedagogy to meet their needs. The best way is seen in integrating technology in the classroom.

With the incorporation of technology in the classroom teachers need to re-adjust how they address specific issues. One of the big factors that teachers need to address and teach students, which was pointed out in the Horizon report, is "sense making and the ability to assess the credibility of information". In one of my sessions at the BYTE conference someone brought up the idea that kids have digital ability but not digital literacy. Most kids can grab a device and automatically start using programs on it but it is a matter of whether they are using it appropriately or not. Students need guidance of where to go online and what sources are credible. They need to be shown productive ways of using technology and specifically the internet.

Technology also changes where and when students can learn. As we learned last week in class students have the chance to learn online wherever and whenever they want. The Horizon report also points out that technology makes learning mobile which is beneficial since many activities related to learning "take place outside the walls of our classroom". This touches on the idea of transparent walls in the classroom that has been mentioned before. Students in Canada are able to Skype with students from Australia. To me if technology is used appropriately the learning opportunities and experiences will grow and be endless.

I think that technology is emerging in our classrooms and that it is inevitable. Time needs to be taken to properly educate teachers and students on appropriate use in the classroom and ways to maximize use in the classroom.

Web Based Courses

This week in class we had a presentation by Sophia and Donald on Web Based Courses. They had a lot of positive things to say about LMS (learning management systems) and I agree with them. It is a great place to create an online learning environment for students. It is not only used for distance learning, but can be implemented in creating blended classrooms. Students want to be using the internet so teachers should give them a productive place to be on there. These courses are designed to be interactive because it is more than just a place to look at content it is a place to form discussion. Students can have a voice about what they are learning. Those students that don’t feel comfortable speaking out in class can lead a discussion on a message board as an alternative.  

One really good point that Sophia and Don made was that in rural areas if there is not enough students in one spot for a class the teacher can invite students from other areas to join the class. The important factor in making a class like that work is communication. The teacher and student need to be in constant contact with each other about content and assignments. Sophia also pointed out that teachers should set short time spans for the students to complete tasks so they won’t get forgotten. Another good point they both made was that these programs are not replacing teachers. Teachers are still needed to facilitate the courses and offer assistance for students.

I'm a little familiar with this type of learning because I took many courses through Distance Education at University of Manitoba. Some of the courses I really liked and some I didn't. The ones I really liked were biology and psychology because it was easy to read the text book/notes, watch/listen to the lectures, and teach myself the material. Later that week I would go online and take a quiz. It was pretty simple. The other courses I took were history and English. Those courses were a bit harder because they involve a lot of discussion usually and being online I missed that f2f aspect. There were chat rooms to use but it still isn't the same as being in a class room and having a conversation with my peers.

One thing I really found annoying and frustrating about LMS overall is when the server crashed or was down for a lengthy period of time. I experienced this quite a bit at U of M and it annoyed me because I would schedule time to sit and listen to an online lecture but the server would be down for 24 hours. Although I must say that overall I really did like the courses because I could access them wherever I wanted and work on them whenever I wanted. It made going to university and completing courses a lot easier for me.

I think that this type of learning would be great to implement in high schools. Many students now want to work and some need to work. By having courses offered online students are able to work during the day and do school work at night. They can set up meeting times with their teachers to check in and get progress reports. When I was in high school there was a paper program called Self-Directed Learning where students would pick up packages of units and do them at their own pace. It was still a schedule time slot on the day though so students had to attend a class with a teacher present.

BYOD

One of our projects for the I4ED class was to research a topic to do with technology and the classroom. Our topic is BYOD which is an acronym for Bring Your Own Device. This is a rising issue in schools that is being met with positive and negative feedback.  In our group of first year students we made a PowerPoint on Google Docs while incorporating different programs like word mapping and infographics.

For my part of the project I looked at the different devices available. The list I compiled consisted of laptops, tables, cell phones, audio recorders, cameras, and Ipods. The greatest thing about all these devices is that they are mobile and files are easily stored and transferred. They are great organizational tools and a way of engaging students in lessons.

Two concerns that I ran into were the amount of plug points a room has. It will be important for students to charge their devices at home during the night so that they will be prepared for school the next day. Although some devices are able to hold a charge all day others will have to be plugged in eventually. The amount and location of lets would have to be dealt with if it became a problem. A solution to this could be that the school provides power bars for classrooms.

The other concern was that there are many different devices available now and teachers have to become technology gurus in a way. If students are bringing devices from home then they will have an assortment of operating systems, internet security, anti-virus programs, scanning programs, search programs, and other such items. Teachers have to become knowledgeable so that these devices are an aide in the classroom and not a hindrance. Students will also need an existing knowledge of how their devices work before bringing them to school. Devices should have similar capabilities so that students have the same access to learning content and programs.

Web Apps for the Classroom

Another tech task in class was to find educational web apps we would use in our classroom. I think this is a great task and one that I will put to use in my next placement. Many classrooms today are coming equipped with a few ipads and lap tops. Students spend quite a bit of time using that technology, so it is important for educators to show students how to use it productively. There are many different apps available that would be beneficial to a students learning.

The first app I would suggest is Dragon Dictation. This is great for students who have trouble writing what they want to say. All they have to do is speak into their device and it records the information into text. Students will still need to learn how to write and type properly but Dragon Dictation is a good alternative when writing/typing is not the focus of the lesson.

The second app I found is Evernote. This app is also great for students because it will help them stay organized which is very important. It had text, audio, and video features for all kinds of learners.

I personally don't own or use these apps but I have seen them used in a middle year's classroom. The students liked them and some even used them daily.

There are many more apps out there and I'm sure there will be even more in the future. I think when it comes to getting apps for the classroom it will be important for the teacher to consult their students since they will be the ones using them. One of the teacher's goals is to interest the students and I think that letting them help choose apps will engage them.

Always Something New

We did not have a speaker this week in class but we did have a class discussion with some really great snacks :) . I'm really finding this class to be pushing me and my use of the internet. At first I was really frustrated with it but now I'm starting to enjoy all the new things that I'm finding out and learning about.

I never realized how many functions Google had until now. Tuesday in class Mike showed us about Google+ which is a really useful tool. I like the idea of making circles and sharing. I think it would work great in a classroom for students to gain new information and connect with the world. It is also a great way for students to connect with each other (and the teacher) without having to be at school.
Another cool feature on Google that I never knew existed is GoogleFight. Tyler, another student in class, shared this with us. That would definitely get the attention of any student!